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ZBA Minutes of 7-10-25

July 10th, 2025

Town of Carroll Zoning
Meeting Minutes
July 10, 2025
6:30 PM
“These minutes of the Town of Carroll Zoning Board have been recorded by its secretary. Though believed to be accurate and correct, they are subject to additions, deletions, and corrections by the Zoning 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.”
Zoning Board Members Present: Chair Andy Smith, Vice Chair Karen Moran, Anita Greer, Bill Briggeman, Diane Rombalski
Public Present:
Minutes Taken By: Steffanie Apostle
Item 1: The meeting was called to order by Andy Smith at 6:30pm
Item 2: Pledge of Allegiance
Item 3: Attendance Taken; Quorum Met
Item 4: Approval of Meeting Minutes May 8, 2024
Bill Briggeman had a few minor corrections to the minutes for May 8, 2025
• On the bottom of page 5 it says “Andy Smith Said” and then on the next page it starts with “existing” Bill Believes there is something missing.
o Steffanie Apostle said it was supposed to say “Andy Smith said it is existing” Steffanie Apostle to add the missing words to the minutes.
• On Page 6 where it mentions straw pull it should say straw poll.
o Steffanie Apostle to correct spelling error.
• Typo on the bottom of page 2 in the last paragraph. It says “in the crooks of it” and it should say “in the crux of it”.
o Steffanie Apostle to correct spelling error.
• On page 3 in the last paragraph the Board was talking about SB-84. There should be quotation marks around where it starts with “in a majority of land” up through “66,000 sq./ft”.
Anita Greer said in that same sentence there is a semi-colon that should just be a colon.
Karen Moran made the motion to approve the minutes as amended and Bill Briggeman seconded the motion. All were in favor and nobody opposed. Motion to approve minutes as amended was approved.
Item 5: Approval of Rules & Procedures
Andy Smith said that we had adjusted the time in the Rules & Procedures.
Steffanie Apostle said the time changed from 7:00pm to 6:30pm or as noticed.
Diane Rombalski asked if we were changing that start time should we be changing the end time from 10:00pm to 9:30pm? Diane wasn’t sure if anyone from the public would have issues.
Karen Moran said she didn’t believe it made a difference. If we get to the point, it is really late and people are getting cranky, they will end the meeting and continue at the next one.
Andy Smith said he liked having the deadline at 10:00pm. At some point we will have to say we need to go home.
Steffanie Apostle asked if they had ever gone to 10:00pm before?
Andy Smith said they had in the past with some of the Cell Tower hearings and tiny home parks.
Anita Greer made a motion to accept the Rules & Procedures with the time change and Diane Rombalski seconded the motion. All were in favor. Nobody opposed. Motion to approve the time change in the Rules & Procedures was approved.
Zoning Board chose not to sign the signature page because this was all discussed and would be in the minutes.
Item 6: Discussion on Brenda Garneau
Andy Smith had asked Steffanie Apostle to put Brenda Garneau on the agenda because she was unable to attend the meeting so Andy Smith gave her some information.
Anita Greer said she liked Andy Smiths letter to Brenda Garneau.
(Letter to Brenda Below)
Good afternoon, Brenda
Please accept my apologies for the delay in responding. Also, I am providing this information as a courtesy to assist you in your planning, but please acknowledge that I can't speak for the Zoning Board without being at a public meeting. As you dive into a project deeper, we recommend you engage a land-use attorney to counsel you. With that said, here are a few thoughts:
Your land is Zoned R-B (Residential Business). I have provided a link to Carroll's Website, and directly to the Zoning, and Site Plan regs. In the Zoning regs, you will see a grid of allowed uses, and those allowed by "SE" or Special Exception. Additionally, there is a minimum lot size and density standards. For RB, they are as follows:
403.4 Residential - Business: R-B The minimum lot size in this district shall be one acre. Multi-family buildings in this district shall have an additional area of 10,000 square feet for every 1,000 square feet of livable space in addition to the minimum lot area required for a single-family dwelling. Minimum frontage shall be 100 feet. The minimum yard setback requirements are as follows: FRONT SETBACK: Commercial - 40 Feet Residential - 30 Feet SIDE SETBACK: 20 Feet REAR SETBACK: 25 Feet
Allowed uses include 1 and 2 families by right, and multi families (3 units or more in one building) by SE. However, notice the requirement above that for every unit, there be an additional 10,000' of land. As your parcels are only 1 acre, the regs would not permit a multifamily building without a Variance. You might be able to merge the lots into 1 2-acre lot and build a multi-family that way.

Regulation- 403-4 discus's PUD's, which gives the Planning Board some leeway on a development design but does not deal with allowing higher density than stated above.
Consequently, a condo development would not fit into the allowed uses, and a variance would be required. This is where I send you to a land use attorney.

Your other potential use as a campground is an allowed use by SE. This would require a public hearing from the Zoning Board and would be subject to Site Plan review by the Planning Board.

Forms and Applications – Town of Carroll

2024-Zoning-Ordinance.pdf

Site-Plan-Regs.pdf

I hope this helps a bit. Please feel free to reach out if I can provide any clarification for you.
Sincerely
Andy
(End of Letter)

Karen Moran asked if Brenda Garneau had responded
Andy Smith said he had not heard back from her
Item 7: New Business / Other
• Water Issues
Andy Smith mentioned there may be a water concern
Karen Moran said it was a capacity issue
Andy Smith said the capacity issue is just with fire protection
Steffanie Apostle said this was discussed at a Selectboard meeting. They are looking into legalities of saying no to any new water hook-ups. Insurance rates have gone up because of the capacity issues. Some people have been approved such as David Scalley who has been approved, has his water hook ups but has not been turned on yet. The Selectboard has a third party doing a water study.
Andy Smith said he thought they did a water study not too long ago.
Steffanie Apostle said they were looking into the possibility of adding another water tank somewhere or other options and she believed that was what this latest water study was for.
Karen Moran suggested talking to the Selectboard about it so they don’t approve any new apartment complexes and the find out they can’t have a water hook up.
• Discussion about Zoning being a part of making rules
Anita Greer said that ultimately the ZBA job is not to make recommendations. The ZBA wants to steer clear of making any rules because they are the ones to enforce them. Any one of us can go to these meetings as residents and comment but it needs to be clear it’s a personal comment as a resident and not a comment as a ZBA member.
Anita Greer brought up a seminar she had gone to in Concord, NH where someone there was saying only take into consideration what is brought before you. Anything else is not the Boards business and not to use any history that they know of. The member did say you could use common sense from living in the area but that was it.
Andy Smith said he didn’t agree with all of that but he agreed with 75% of it. We have had cases where knowing the history has helped them in decision making. Andy Smith said the Board likes to be proactive but understands the potential for lawsuits.
After a brief discussion of the ZBA members it was decided that the Zoning Board would not advocate for changes because they are the ones to enforce them.
• Lexis Nexis Updates
Karen Moran had gone through the most recent updates to the Zoning Book that was distributed earlier this year to see if she could find any of the updates that Bill Briggeman could not find. Karen found all of the updates and mentioned most of them were put in as footnotes and not into the actual paragraphs.
Steffanie Apostle to hold off on mailing letter to Lexis Nexis
• Alternates
Anita Greer to send Andy Smith Lisa Gemmer’s contact info to discuss the possibility of being an alternate for the Board.
Tom Fohr is unable to be an alternate because Thursday’s he is not available
• Emails
Anita Greer had a question on who gets emails because she is unable to see who they were sent to.
Steffanie Apostle said she blind copies the board so if there is a lot of back and forth with questions or comments it does not flood everyone email.
Item 8: Adjourn
Karen Moran made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Diane Rombalski seconded the motion. All were in favor and nobody opposed. Meeting was adjourned at 7:10pm

Town of Carroll, New Hampshire ®2025