Planning Board Minutes

Minutes of 8/5/2021

August 11th, 2021

Town of Carroll Planning Board
Meeting Minutes
August 5, 2021
7:00 PM
“These minutes of the Town of Carroll Planning Board have been recorded by its Secretary. Though believed to be accurate and correct, they are subject to additions, deletions, and corrections by the Planning Board at its next meeting when the Board votes its final approval of the minutes. They are being made available at this time to conform to the requirements of New Hampshire RSA 91-A:2.”

Planning Board Members Present: Chairperson Alex Foti, Brian Mycko, Austin Alvarez, Selectmen’s Representative David Scalley,

Public Present: Lisa Harley, Planning & Land Use Secretary, Evan Karpf, Thomas Smith, Cathy Conway of Horizons Engineering, James Phillips participated via conference call, Tom Godfrey, Bryan Smith, John Warren

Minutes Taken By: Judy Ramsdell

Item 1: The meeting was called to order by Chairperson Foti at 7:06 p.m.

Item 2: Pledge of Allegiance

Item 3: Approval of July 1, 2021 Minutes

Dave Scalley made a motion to approve the July 1st minutes as written. Brian Mycko second. Austin Alvarez did not recall on the Boulder Mountain View discussion the off-lot septic on Page #3. The Board said it was stated at the meeting that the leachfield is on a separate lot across the street. All in favor, no opposed. The minutes of July 1, 2021 are approved.

Item 4: Sub-Division Application: Thomas Smith on behalf of Forrest P. Hicks, II, is looking to sub-divide with existing road frontage on Route 115, Twin Mountain, New Hampshire, Map 407/Lot 054-000-000 and Map 407/Lot 066-000-000. Approximately 100 acres on one side into 4 lots and 20 acres on the other side into 3 lots

This is a new application, and Thomas Smith is representing Forest Hicks. Tom said he has got some updated maps. They have the same log configuration. These new maps are showing proposed driveway locations and proposed test pit locations. He did change one of the driveways because he has been in contact with DOT and they requested we come in at 50 feet. This was a last minute deal when DOT called him, and he talked to them extensively. They are happy with all of the locations they picked. We are just waiting on them to process the permits. Alex said last time we talked about the grade, but it looks like those are ok. Tom said that they can meet the 12% with a little construction. DOT is squared away. He does show test pit symbols on these lots, and those are areas he picked. Cathy has actually read ½ of these already and will have the rest for the next meeting. So far they are turning out fine. Other than that, It is the same plan. There will be shared access with three of the lots. Everyone seems to be giving Tom good feedback. DOT said since he owns the other lot, give him a driveway permit for that as well. They had granted the properties back when they did the road back in the 50’s with three possible accesses on each side. Tom said he showed them those old plans they didn’t dispute it one bit. They said just pick the best spots. Alex said we do have a completed application, and as the first order of business we should accept the application as complete. Tom said the only thing he is waiting on is the test pit data, which he will have for the next meeting, and the driveway permit. Any questions from the Board on the application? Test pits are marked on the plan. NO drainage required by DOT. He needs to show the culverts for DOT. Tom said he can put them on the plan if the Board wants. They requested it per their plan. He can include it for the next meeting, as he is drafting it on there anyways. He will bring all new copies and a mylar next month. It will be served by private wells.

Brian Mycko made a motion to accept the application as complete. Dave Scalley seconded the motion. All in favor, no opposed. The application is accepted as complete.

Item 5: Site Plan Review Application: 28 Bill Barb Road, Map 407/Lot 055-004-004 looking for Approval of Hardship Situation for a Driveway, per Planning Board Meeting on 7/1/2021

Dave spoke with applicant and the owner today, and we have to do some final paperwork internally in the office and it will probably go right to the zoning board.

Bryan Smith asked if there is going to be public input on the sub-division application. Alex said usually the public input is done at the next meeting when the final paperwork is submitted. Bryan said he has four questions. One is where they are clearing will there be a buffer zone? He said there is already a strip cut around the boundary. Sometimes they require no clear-cutting up to a certain point. He is just wondering if there is any consideration for that in this process. He lives south and behind. Bryan said that there is only one split in the guard rail for a long way and that is where the moose cross. Moose have been hit there a lot. There have been 26 accidents in less than 10 years, half of them are animal vs. car. Speed limit is posted at 55. With all these new sub-divisions going in, he is wondering if the town could request a speed limit or safety study on the crest of that hill given all the accidents. That one area is the only cut in the rail. Moose cross there all the time at the top of the crest of the hill. Dave asked Mr. Smith for the data he has on the accidents, which would be helpful. Alex wondered about density requirements. Dave said he is not sure we can justify anything with the state on a state highway. Alex said he is not sure we have any jurisdiction. Bryan said when he spoke with DOT they told him the town or town selectmen can request a study. People are going over 55 mph once they hit that hill, sometimes even 65 to 70 mph. South of Lennon Road it is 45 mph, and it is easy to monitor speeds if you put up a speed-radar type sign, and people pay attention to that, and they slow down when they come down the hill but they go 65 on the crest of the hill. With two new driveways going in in that one opening, the moose are going to be crossing there. Bryan said the state said they don’t care about the moose, and he is wondering if the town can do something with that. There have been a lot of moose accidents in that area. Dave said one of Bryan’s concerns is, he would like the Board to discuss as a traffic study in the area. Also, requesting if they are going to clear cut, and/or to leave a buffer in the lower section. Dave said he is not going to speak for them, but they are not going to be able to do much in behind the wetlands. They are not going to be able to cross it to get there. There is a little section of buffer next to Bryan’s property that Dave can see. We can as a board discuss that.

Bryan said that he spoke to Mr. Hicks about buying a section for the sugar maples. Mr. Hicks said he didn’t want to mess with the sub-division process. Bryan was wondering if it is possible to get like a pre-authorization that says contingent upon a survey that the 5-10 acres on the southwest corner wouldn’t affect the buildability of that lot so maybe when someone buys it he could pay for a survey and purchase it . Dave said he could do a lot line adjustment. He is interested in 5-8 acres. The Board can’t give any pre-anything. Alex said Bryan should talk to him, and if he agrees it would only be a lot line adjustment coming before the planning board. He is not creating a new lot. He would only be doing a lot line adjustment to increase the size of his lot.

Item 6: Site Plan Review Application – Boulder Mountain View (Boulder Motor Court) James Phillips & Melissa Burke/Map 418-001-000-000. They are looking for construction of a 16’x20’ Pavilion, removal of existing office, three-bedroom house, and the replacement of this structure with a 25’x46’foot barn with a three-bedroom rental, and also create an electric car charging port.
1. Driveway Permit for the new car charging area.
2. The 2019 plan accepted by the ZBA and the Planning Board
3. The septic design verifying that it has not changed

Alex said that we would table for this now and see what happens. Alex said we don’t have a quorum for this tonight because Alex has to recuse himself. Dave has a call in to Becki to see if we can appoint someone right now. We are making an effort. Brian sent Becki a text message as well.

Item 7: Site Plan Review Application – Evan Karpf on behalf of Birchwood Commons, LLC, for additional use to include Residential Apartment at 529 Route 3 South, Twin Mountain, NH, Map 206/Lot 074-010-000. This property is zoned Residential Business (RB). Suites 2, 3, & 4 to be used as an apartment.
1. State approval for the driveway
2. Design of the existing septic plan
3. Layout of the apartment

Evan has provided the Board with a copy of what we requested last month.

Evan said that The first page is the entire building. Looking at the front you will see Suites 2,3,& 4 which are the remaining rooms that are approved as apartments. Chances are Suite 2 will remain as an office for Androscoggin Beverage. If they move out, he will convert it at that time. Subsequent pages show how the rooms are set up. Dave asked if units #3 and #4 being combined into one, and Evan said yes. Page 2 shows Suite 2 as occupied by Androscoggin Beverage. The rooms are all the same, just the bathrooms flip. Evan said that he spoke with Jeremy and did some diagrams for fire codes. He submitted an application to the DOT. Got a letter today that says it doesn’t warrant any changes. Evan presented a letter from DOT. They told him he would need to apply for a change if it was a drastic change like a grocery store. They told him to keep the permit he already has.

Septic was the other issue. With the help of the town office, he has the original septic design that was accepted. subsequently to that there was a sand filter that was removed.

Chairperson Foti said we have a member of the town here who would like to join the Planning Board as an alternate, which is very much needed and appreciated. Tom Godfrey said he has been a full-time resident her for two years. He lives at a condo at Bretton Woods, which is a property they used a second home since 2015. As he is a full-time resident, he is willing to serve as an alternate. Alex said we appreciate it.

Dave Scalley made a motion we appoint Tom Godfrey as an Alternate for the Planning Board. Alex second. All in favor, no opposed. Motion passes.



Evan said subsequently the sand filter was removed. What is there now is a 1500 gallon tank and he added another 1,000 gallon tank. They looked at the system and said it was functional and good. The new one is located by the parking lot. This does not show the sand filter because it was removed, and now it is a 1500 gallon tank and another 1000 gallon tank. Evan has an approval for operation. If we can get the approval from the state. One does half, and the other one does the other half—he has the 1,500 gallon taken and added the 1000 gallon tank. Alex said the number of bedrooms is not changing. Evan said it is actually decreasing. The 1500 gallon tank would meet the needs of what Evan is doing here. They said more tanks the better. Dave said that the state doesn’t require permits to add the tanks. It is above and more than adequate. Already spoken with Jeremy for what he needs. He will make copies and drop them off. The Town has a copy of the original with the state approval on it. He will drop off a copy for the additional tank.

Chair Foti said we open for comments from the public. There were none

Board comments or questions: Dave asked if he is only doing those two units? Evan said yes with a possibility of the other one, but they will probably stay for a long time. Those two rooms, only one is going to have a bathroom and one will be a kitchen. Dave asked Cathy Conway about the gallons per day. Cathy said that gallons per day for a single, one-bedroom is 225 gallons per day Two bedrooms or more is 150 gallons per day per bedroom. A motel is 200 gallons per day per room. So that is 400 gallons for two rooms, and a one bedroom is 225 gallons.

Brian Mycko made a motion to approve the Site Plan Review Application for Evan Karpf on behalf of Birchwoods Commons, LLC for additional use to include Residential Apartments. Alex second. All in favor, no opposed. The application is approved.

Tom Godfrey was sworn in as an alternate for the Planning Board by Becki Pederson, Town Clerk.

Item 6: Site Plan Review Application – Boulder Mountain View (Boulder Motor Court) James Phillips & Melissa Burke/Map 418-001-000-000. They are looking for construction of a 16’x20’ Pavilion, removal of existing office, three-bedroom house, and the replacement of this structure with a 25’x46’foot barn with a three-bedroom rental, and also create an electric car charging port.
1. Driveway Permit for the new car charging area.
2. The 2019 plan accepted by the ZBA and the Planning Board
3. The septic design verifying that it has not changed
The Board is back in session at 7:51 p.m. Cathy said that Jim Phillips is participating via phone.
Tom is now activated as an alternate. Alex Foti & Lisa Harley recused themselves. Austin is serving as Chair.
Austin read the description of the Site Plan Review Application.

Cathy Conway said that on Sheet c-3 we added a table at the bottom left corner that highlights what was approved in 2019. Basically in 2019 what we were looking to do was:
demolish 10 cabins and construct or replace them with 10 units
Had obtained approval to remove 10 units and construct 10 new park model rv’s, and Cathy made it clear on the sheet items highlighted in pink were the items that were approved in 2019. Not all of those have ben constructed yet. 10, 11, 1, 2, and 3 have been constructed. On the plan we have got some gray shading labeled as future for the ones that have not yet been constructed.
The additional parking was part of the 2019 plan.
Today Phase II what we are looking to do is:
--construct a pavilion up in the back for use by the guests on the premises.
--Down by the road an existing white house which was used for an office and 3-bedroom home, we are going to demolish that and replace it with a barn which is a three bedroom unit.
--Install a car charging station at the end of the parking area for electrical vehicles
Septic system was approved in 2019, but has not been installed yet. Because we are demolishing a three-bedroom home and putting in a three bedroom home there is really no change in the flow.

The Table outlines the existing structures, approvals to demolish, approvals to build and which units were constructed. Last column is what they are asking for today—the 2021 request.

The Board had asked for the plans from 2019, and Cathy submitted that plan set and that shows on sheet c-3 of the plan set dated august 1, 2019, and it shows those units Cathy described. It is the the other plan set that was submitted.

Those parking spaces are not there. They were part of the 2019 plan. They just haven’t been bult. The lighter gray is what is existing for parking right now.

Dave Scalley asked the original Phase I approval by the planning board – are we working from that or are we going with this new phase and are there going to be any future phases further ahead that we should know about? Dave said that previous approval was for 9 units not 10. 9, one-bedroom park models and one, two bedroom carriage house. That is 11 bedrooms. How many bedrooms are going in this new unit in phase 2. Cathy said that in phase 2 there are three bedrooms to replace three bedrooms. So that is swap or a wash. No more than 11 bedrooms in this phase 2. If you total everything up there is 14 bedrooms, including the three bedroom swap. Not adding anymore bedrooms so the flows will stay the same.

Is there a future Phase beyond Phase II? James said right now, no there is not. Jim said that the two of the older cottages they had torn down each had two bedrooms. The carriage house was two bedrooms and two baths. The yellow is a pavilion, which is four posts with a roof. No sleeping quarters.

The gallons per day have not changed.

Cathy said she had submitted in the package a copy of the approved septic. Cathy spoke with Mr. Hogan and filed the driveway permit. Dropped off the signed application and check on Monday. He said he didn’t have any issues with it. Dave asked if Jeremy has reviewed this with the new driveway layout?

Cathy said the driveway layout is not changing since 2019. She did send the plans to Jeremy, but she did not hear from him. Only thing changing since 2019 are the two structures and the electric car port.

Jim said he had a site visit with Jeremy a few weeks back, and went over everything with him including the pavilion, barn and car port and he did not have any issues with it.

Dave said if this is going to be Phase II of the original sub-division that was already approved so we are changing what has already been approved by the Board as Phase I.

Cathy said that we are going to continue with Phase I not changing anything that has already been approved. We are just asking to remove a building and replace that building. We are not changing Phase 1—we are adding to it.

If this does get approved as Phase II, and if Phase III or IV comes in, they would have to start over? We can continually add to it, but the boards previous and ahead will have to be able to follow it. Dave said the Board may not be able to come up with a definitive decision tonight where we just put an alternate in place. Dave was here when the approval for the first phase was done. Dave said one of the requests was he was doing sections of it. Five are complete. Are they going to be processing (installing) the septic system while doing Phase II? Cathy said that Jim had wanted to install it a month ago and trying to get contractors to do it has been difficulty. Jim said he spoke with Thad Presby and the plan is for him to do everything concurrently. He is going to remove the five cottages and do everything concurrently. He may have already sent a letter to the town indicating his intent. Should be done the beginning of October. They are going to remove the other cottages and put the septic system in October. Going to demolish the white house along with the remaining work on Phase I.

Dave asked if this is no longer a campground? Jim said we are not making a campground. No intent to do that. Dave said his only question is, is we have approval form the ZBA for the operation as a campground was approved. Trying to clear up all the loose ends so going forward we don’t have any issues. ZBA meeting rescinded that application or the status. Dave asked Lisa to research the paperwork to see if the ZBA did in fact rescind that. If they didn’t, we should close that loop so it is clean going forward. Jim said he agrees that for clarity that makes sense. Dave had a copy of the approval from the ZBA for a campground. If it hasn’t already been rescinded, the ZBA should rescind it so it can be cleaned up for the file for the applicant and the town in moving forward. Austin said we could make that as a condition if it is not already rescinded.

Dave asked Jim if he has a copy of the letter rescinding that . Jim said he does not, but it should be in the meeting minutes. The attorney had said they found out that they didn’t need the status of a campground. She said we are not going for that. We don’t require it so we don’t need it. He believes that was part of the agreement. We will follow-up on that. We can put it on as a condition until the next meeting.

Cathy has answered all the questions from the last meeting. Do we have any other questions?

Dave said he would like to see as a condition that the new septic system goes in with new construction of the new units so that is done. Brian: Is that part of getting the occupancy permit? They can’t get their occupancy permit without the septic removal. Sometimes the state will approve a new system but you can use the old one until it fails. Make sure Jeremy is all set with it. Get his signature on that. Would need a copy of the driveway permit once it is approved.

Tom Godfrey was curious with the car charging station, what made you go forward with the charging station? Jim said GM and other car manufacturers want cars to be electric by 2030. See a lot more of those in the future. Makes sense to get ahead of it when we are going the construction. Smart move.

Austin said they have addressed the items we wanted looked at.

Brian Mycko made a motion to approve the Site Plan Review Application for Boulders Mountain View (Boulder Motor Court) with the following conditions:

--zoning board has rescinded the Notice of Decision of March 12, 2020 for the campground designation

--septic system be installed prior to the completion of the construction

--sign off by the fire chief on the regulations and roads and the driveway permit approval.

Dave Scalley seconded the motion. All in favor, motion passes. The Site Plan Review Application is approved.

Alex Foti & Lisa Harley rejoined the meeting.

Dave Scalley suggested that the Board should at the next meeting go over any changes to the ordinance or any warrant articles for town meeting. If everyone could review that before the next meeting, that would be good. Alex asked Lisa to add it to the agenda for next month.

Item 8: Adjourn Meeting –

Brian Mycko motioned to adjourn the meeting at 8:16 p.m. Dave Scalley second. All in favor. Meeting adjourned at 8:16 p.m.