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PB Minutes of 2-5-26
February 5th, 2026
Town of Carroll Planning Board
Meeting Minutes
February 5, 2026
5:00 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: Chair Alex Foti, Vice Chair Austin Alvarez, Paula Murphy, Selectboard Rep. Brian Mycko, Don Jones
Public Present: Lynn Acquard, Nathaniel Lesch-Huie, Angela Loring, Joseph Loring, Donna Goettler, James Goettler, Charlene McGee, Thomas McGee, David Scalley
Minutes Taken By: Steffanie Apostle
Item #1: Call Meeting to Order
Meeting was called to order at 5:00pm
Item #2: Pledge of Allegiance
Item #3: Attendance / Quorum
Attendance taken; Quorum met
Item #4: Approval of Minutes – January 8, 2026
Brian Mycko made a motion to accept the minutes and Paula Murphy seconded.
Meeting was opened for discussion of the minutes.
Brian Mycko had a minor correction on page #5. Minutes say “landfill was supposed to be capped at a certain height” and it should say “capped at a certain capacity.”
Steffanie Apostle to make correction.
Paula Murphy had a correction on page #4. Where it says “upping the price of people who have a second home is them trying to help with the housing shortage” it should say “upping the price of people who have a second home is an attempt to help with the housing shortage”
Steffanie Apostle to make that correction.
Paula Murphy had a correction on page #4 under the discussion of hotel tax. It says “That is based on the number of residents and not on the number of hotels or lodging so Towns with no hotels get 4-5 more times than us who have hotels” This should say “That is based on the number of residents and not on the number of hotels or lodging so Towns with no hotels get 4-5 more times than Carroll who have hotels”
Steffanie Apostle to make that correction
Paula Murphy had a few corrections on page #5 under Casella. On the top of page #5 where it says “Paula Murphy said they have leaks” it should say “Paula Murphy said the Bethlehem Dump has leaks”
Steffanie Apostle to make that correction.
Where it says “Paula Murphy reiterated they leak all over the roads” it should day “Paula Murphy reiterated the trucks leak all over the road”
Steffanie Apostle to make that correction.
Brian Mycko made a motion to approve and accept the minutes as amended and Paula Murphy seconded the motion. Austin Alvarez abstained and all other Board members were in favor. Motion to accept the minutes as amended was approved.
Item #5: All Other Business
Chair Alex Foti opened the forum up to the public for Other/New Business.
Nathaniel Lesch-Huie is a resident on Parker Road across the Street from where Casella wants to build the transfer station. Nathaniel Lesch-Huie said he was incredibly concerned about why Casella was so focused on Twin Mountain. Is there an advantage or loose regulations? Casella does not represent the values of Twin Mountain. Nathaniel Lesch-Huie said he reviewed the ordinances and there are things about emissions, noise, pollution, unsightliness. Twin Mountain is the crossroads of the White Mountains and it seems that everyone coming to the White Mountains either intentionally or inadvertently come to Twin Mountain. it is a place of importance and I think we need to keep it important for the right reasons. Allowing large scale corporations to use our beautiful community to make a lot of money doesn’t seem like the right reasons. Nathaniel Lesch-Huie said he understood that there is a need for a trash facility but there are other Towns that are better suited for something like this. It seems like we need to make sure our ordinances protect us. I don’t know what we can do differently as a community. I believe everyone should make money but it needs to be done in a mindful manner. Having transfer stations or trash mountains its not the image we want. If you hike the Lafayette Ridge and you look down you can see Trudeau Road Trash Mountain. That is not the image we want of our white mountains; it seems to be very contradictory. Nathaniel Lesch-Huie said he drives to Saint J every day for work and often gets behind a trash truck on the way and can smell it for 3-5 miles before he even sees the truck. The first few times it happened he thought it was his car and then he realized that it was from the trash trucks driving down the road. I want to be verbal, I want to be involved, if there is anything I can do.
Alex Foti said the Board has heard a lot of the same thing. The Board has also received some letters from residents in regards to Casella. Alex Foti reminded everyone that there is no application in yet so there is no action to be taken at this point for the Board. Alex Foti said when the time comes, we will be working with Legal Counsel to make sure we do what’s best for the Town with the parameters we are allowed to operate in. Alex Foti said he has yet to hear a single voice of support for Casella which will come into account. Casella is going to be a very delicate balance and we will need help from legal.
Nathaniel Lesch-Huie said he read some minutes from a Haverhill meeting and there has been talk about a place down there for Casella. Haverhill is a big area and better suited.
Alex Foti said the Carroll just redid their Master Plan and its almost totally focused on the beauty of our area, protecting our natural resources and tourism. We will ask counsel for some guidance on how we apply that to Casella.
Nathaniel Lesch-Huie said if there was any way he could help to let him know.
Alex Foti said when the application comes in and they have the meeting being there at the meeting with their voices will help.
Donna Goettler said down in Connecticut Casella has done some not so great things. They have contaminated the water in a small Town and were sued by Bethlehem for 1.9 million dollars which is why they are leaving Bethlehem. This Town is not the place for this. Casella wants to do a transfer station and once they are here, we won’t be able to get rid of them. The transfer station becomes a dump and it will never end. A Town as small as us with about 800 people does not need this.
Austin Alvarez asked for clarification that it was the landfill part and not the transfer station part that Donna Goettler was against.
Donna Goettler said she didn’t think in a town this small we needed a trash facility.
Austin Alvarez said we already have a transfer station
Donna Goettler said that was for the community and that was absolutely appropriate.
Alex Foti said this would be different.
Donna Goettler said if this was Littleton or a bigger Town, she could see the need for it but it is not. Casella is not in the Towns best interest. Once they are here, we are not getting rid of them. Casella is in 40 states and if you do your research, it is lawsuit after lawsuit.
Joe Loring said he read the minutes from last months meeting and it got his curiosity going. From what he understood Casella was proposing a transfer station; however, he saw a picture of the Site Map from Pike Industries and they have enough space there for a landfill. His concern is if they are allowed to get in with a transfer station that they will add on a landfill and then it becomes much more problematic. The real concern is that we are a small Town and they have great legal representation. Casella is a 6.5-billion-dollar company and Pike Industries is a 5-billion-dollar company so there is a lot of money on the side of getting something done. Curious as to what are the next steps that they would have to go through and what is the potential recourse that we have as a Town to handle it. Who is involved in that? Does the Town get to vote on this?
Brian Mycko introduced himself to the audience as the Selectboard Rep. and said Casella came to the Selectboard a couple of meetings ago. They are not buying the property from Pike, that land is owned by another company who was going to do an electrical supply warehouse.
Joe Loring asked who owned the property?
Brian Mycko said it was in an LLC and he was usure of whose it was.
Joe Loring asked who owned the LLC?
Brian Mycko did not know the name. Casella came and presented a plan to the Selectboard for a transfer station. I have heard that once they get their foot in the door things can change but we don’t know that. The plan is just a transfer station. Their next step would be to go to the Zoning Board first to get a special exception and then they would come here to the Planning Board with a Site Plan.
Joe Loring asked if the special exception would be to allow them to have a transfer station.
Brian Mycko said that was correct.
Joe Loring asked if there were rules in regards to approving or not approving it?
Alex Foti said that would be the Zoning Board of Adjustment decision. They do have guidelines on what can be granted and what can’t be. People showing up at that meeting will be helpful. It will be open to the public.
Brian Mycko said if the Zoning Bord of Adjustment denies the application, Casella can appeal to the Selectboard. Then it would go back to the Selectboard to make the decision. This is not going to be a quick process.
Joe Loring asked if it was a political decision and a matter of people showing up to the meeting and saying we are against it? Would that make the Zoning Board not approve it or does that open us up for legal?
Brian Mycko said that no matter what decision is made we could get sued. You get sued for everything; that is the world we live in. The only people making money these days are lawyers. If we approve Casella somebody could sue over that, if we don’t approve it, we could get sued over that. This is going to be long process. It would go to superior court and that takes time and the court could kick it back to us to go through the whole process again. It could go through several cycles of that.
Joe Loring asked if we had the money to fight them. They are a 6.5-billion-dollar company, they could kill us.
Brian Mycko said the Selectboard does budget for legal but he wasn’t sure of the amount.
Joe Loring said more importantly than just public outrage is statistics; guidelines and ordinances.
Brian Mycko told everyone in the audience to study the ordinances.
Alex Foti said that was where legal could really help us. We are a quasi-judicial body. We have to follow our regulations. Planning more than Zoning has some leeway in the sense that our job is to make sure it is in the public interest and our Town develops in coordination to the Master Plan which really does focus on tourism and natural resources. We do have to do that in the context of the RSA and our own regulations. We unfortunately don’t have time to change our Zoning Ordinance because that vote is in March and we would have needed to have this in place in December.
Joe Loring asked if the public shows up and we are loud and vocal and say we don’t want it and the Zoning Board denies it, can we as a Town do something and put the ordinance in or vote on it?
Brian Mycko said he wasn’t a lawyer but he didn’t believe the Town could because the process will have been started.
Alex Foti said for something like this if it turns into a legal case they will use the ordinances in place at the time of submission.
Brian Mycko said the cut off for warrant articles is December. The Town has already done deliberative and just waiting on March to vote. The Selectboard did not have a heads-up that Casella was coming and if you read the minutes from last meeting, you will see my comments as to why they waited until the last minute.
Paula Murphy told the audience that the Town has its own Zoning Ordinance and regulations and everyone should be reading and studying them because that will be our ammunition. Paula Murphy said there are things in their application that the Board could justifiably ask for like certain studies to be done. As Brian Mycko said, this is not going to be a fast process. The Planning Board will ask them for information and we will see where it goes.
Brian Mycko said Casella is going to come prepared so we need to be prepared.
Joe Loring asked if the Zoning Ordinances are online?
Brian Mycko said they are on the website and the best thing to do would be to download them, read though them, study and learn them. The Planning Board is all volunteers so we don’t necessarily know everything and all the nuances.
Alex Foti said the Zoning Ordinances are not perfect and it is one of the things the Town is working on improving. That’s what the lawyers will do; they will read through the ordinances and decide what angle to use. Let’s face it, ultimately this is probably going to end up in Court to decide if the Town of Carroll has the right to deny the application. They might say yes you have the right or sorry you have to approve it. This is something we need to discuss with legal counsel and see the safeguards we can put in place to best protect the Town.
Brian Mycko said if the Planning Board denies it, Casella can still sue us.
Paula Murphy said anybody can sue.
David Scalley said the Town can have a special meeting. Bethlehem had a special meeting to put in a warrant article to stop the expansion of Casella landfill.
Brian Mycko said he wasn’t sure if it has to be in the summer or not because the ball is already rolling for election.
David Scalley said it didn’t matter, it’s a special Town meeting.
Brian Mycko said we will have to check with the lawyer.
David Scalley read to the audience RSA 675:4-A
675:4-a Adoption of Emergency Temporary Zoning and Planning Ordinance in Certain Towns. –
I. In any town which does not have a planning board, as provided by RSA 674, or a zoning ordinance, as provided in this subdivision, or in any town which has a planning board, but which does not have in effect a zoning ordinance, the selectmen, upon recommendation of the planning board, or upon written application to them for this purpose signed by 5 percent of the voters of the town, shall call a special town meeting, warning the same as provided by law, to act upon the following question: "Shall the town adopt the provisions of RSA 674:24-29 entitled 'Emergency Temporary Zoning and Planning Ordinance'?"
II. The provisions of RSA 675 relating to method of enactment shall not apply; provided, however, that there shall be a public hearing, with notice as provided in RSA 675:7, not more than 7 calendar days before the proposed special town meeting. There shall be reasonable opportunity for debate of such question at such town meeting before balloting commences. Voting shall be by ballot, with the use of the checklist used at the most recent annual meeting plus any new registrations, and the polls shall remain open at least 2 hours after debate has ended for the casting of ballots. If the question in paragraph I receives affirmative votes amounting at least to a majority of those present and voting, the provisions of RSA 674:24-29 shall take effect forthwith in the town and shall remain in effect until 2 annual town meetings shall have been held or the voters of the town consider a zoning ordinance as provided for by this chapter, whichever period of time is the lesser.
III. If no zoning ordinance has been considered and no zoning ordinance under the applicable provisions of this chapter has been proposed for action by the time of the second such annual town meeting, the selectmen shall include in the warrant for such meeting the following proposal to be put as a question to be voted upon by ballot after discussion: To see if the town will vote to continue for one additional year the temporary zoning ordinance enacted under the provisions of RSA 674:24-29. If a majority of those present and voting on said article vote in the affirmative, the provisions of RSA 674:24-29 shall remain in effect in the town for one year from the date of such meeting. If a majority of those present and voting on the article vote in the negative, the provisions of RSA 674:24-29 shall cease to be in effect.
Steffanie Apostle to check with Meg & Legal about if this is something we could do and when can it be done?
Nathaniel Lesch-Huie said that RSA 510:1 says no land within the Town of Carroll shall be used in a manner which constitutes a public or private use otherwise unduly, disorderly, unsightly, obnoxious, offensive or detrimental to the public welfare of the owner’s occupancy of adjacent properties.
Brian Mycko said his recommendation was to write all of this information down and create a document so when you come to the meeting you can rattle these off. That is the type of support we need from everybody.
Charlene McGee said that her and her husband were abutters and they object to this. We as the abutters all say no and you as the Board have to pay attention to the fact that we don’t want it. Our laws here should protect us; the Zoning laws of the Board of Adjustment. It says they can’t come in here with trash and do this and move it all around. There will be all kinds of trucks every single day. You can’t just come in here and say I am going to buy this land and put a rubbish compactor. We don’t like it and we don’t want it. I already have a petition going. I believe Nathan Lesch-Huie has a petition going as well.
Alex Foti said that will be helpful when we get the application because its supporting data.
Steffanie Apostle said when the time comes, they will get an abutters notice for the meeting and it will be posted at the post office and in the newspaper.
Charlene McGee said they were involved last time when they tried to do the warehouse. This LLC that owns the land is trying to get Casella. That Sand pit was already decided to be down over the hill. This has been going on for years. They keep changing ideas and coming back and now they are back with Casella.
Paula Murphy said another thing we want to be mindful of is Casella has a secondary company called NCES and they can act independent of one another. We want to keep in mind that we could have 2 names that surface.
Charlene McGee said our laws don’t allow for transfer stations like this.
Brian Mycko and Paula Murphy both said that when they read the ordinances and regulations there was not anything specifically for transfer stations.
Brian Mycko said that Bethlehem has one very specific Ordinance that outlaws transfer stations that are not run by the Town.
Paula Murphy said that all we have is the 510:1 RSA that Nathaniel Lesch-Huie cited about noise and odor.
Nathaniel said 510:1 & 510:2 both seem extremely relevant.
Brian Mycko said he would reach out to the Selectboard secretary and look into holding a special Town meeting. We will try to figure out if this is a possibility.
Donna Goettler said when they had the special meeting where she worked, they had to post it for 10 days and they had to have at least 70% of the residents vote in favor of the change.
Brian Mycko said he believes for any Zoning changes you need to have 2/3 of the residents in favor. Super Majority it is called. There are rules around having a special meeting like posting it for a certain amount of time prior in specific places. Sometimes it needs to be in the newspaper. They have very strict rules around that. Let me reach out to our administrator for the Town Meg, and have her reach out to counsel.
Alex Foti said the message is pretty clear on how the Town feels about Casella. Alex Foti said he has yet to meet 1 person who is in favor of it. Alex Foti said it is the Boards duty to try and support that with legal guidance.
Nathaniel Lesch-Huie said he lives on Parker Road and is working with the neighborhood because they will be directly affected. Anger is good but we really need to unify as a community. We are working on putting a Facebook page together and ordered some signs for people to put in their front lawns in a legal way. We have petitions going. Nathaniel Lesch-Huie said he has been going neighborhood to neighborhood and talking to residents about this. Nathan Lesch-Huie said we need to get some noise stirred up and people to care.
Alex Foti said everyone needs to keep in mind that the Planning Board has to follow the Zoning Ordinances and RSA’s. Another element is if Casella sees enough noise, they might decide it is not worth it, lets find somewhere else we can do this.
David Scalley introduced himself to the audience and reminded them to take their emotions out of this and stick with facts and data, that’s will be what works.
Alex Foti said we will find our ammo in the Ordinances and RSA’s.
Joe Loring asked Brian Mycko when Casella came to the Selectboard?
Brian Mycko said it was mid-December. It was a couple days before the cut off for the warrant articles. Brian Mycko said his personal opinion was the timing was planned. Our hands were tied.
Nathaniel Lesch-Huie said this is the cost of doing business with them.
Joe Loring asked if it was possible to make a sub section on the Town page and call it Casella for folks who find RSA’s or anything else?
Brian Mycko said he believed that would get us into some legal trouble. There are plenty of Facebook pages out there.
Joe Loring said what he was trying to do was have a central depository so people have one spot to put everything and stay informed.
Nathaniel Lesch-Huie said that was something they were working on. He would touch base with joe Loring after the meeting to get his info. The goal is to have 1 place everyone can post.
Brian Mycko said from a legal standpoint it has to be kept separate from the Town. We have to be very careful not to give them any fuel to add to the fire. We have been through this stuff before with the campground and that took years. We have to dot our I’s and cross our T’s.
Alex Foti said that’s how Towns get in trouble. The other hot potato going around is the short-term rentals. That is how every single Town has lost. They get very emotional instead of trying to figure out what they can do in the context of the rules. This is going to be key. How can we address this according to our rules.
Brian Mycko said to study the rules and ordinances. Come to the meeting with facts.
Alex Foti said we need to try our best to get all perspectives and then get with legal to see how we can do this and what can we use effectively. If we spend all this money on a lawsuit and lose, that will not be beneficial.
Joe Loring asked if as a resident they can go onto the Town of Carroll webpage and post the link to the site they create for Casella.
Brian Mycko said there is not a place for them to do that on the Town page. Nobody from the public has the ability to post on that.
Joe Loring said he meant to say community page not the Town website.
Brian Mycko said anyone can post what they want on the community page. Brian Mycko is the admin for the community page and said he would add a disclaimer that anything done on the community page has nothing to do with the Town website.
Nathaniel Lesch-Huie said that Kelly Ayotte just passed a 3-year moratorium on landfills. Kelly Ayotte strongly feels there should be no landfills in northern NH.
Alex Foti asked if anyone in the audience was interested in being an alternate member of the Planning Board to let the Board know because they have open spots.
Item #6: Adjourn
Brian Mycko made a motion to adjourn the meeting and Paula Murphy seconded it. All were in favor and meeting was adjourned at 5:43