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ZBA Minutes of April 10 2025
April 10th, 2025
Town of Carroll Zoning
Meeting Minutes
April 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: Andy Smith, Janet Merner, Karen Moran, Anita Greer, Diane Rombalski, Bill Briggeman
Public Present: N/A
Minutes Taken By: Steffanie Apostle
Item 1: The meeting was called to order by Andy Smith at 6:32pm
Item 2: Pledge of Allegiance
Item 3: Attendance Taken; Quorum Met
Item 4: Approval of Meeting Minutes April 10, 2025 January 9, 2025
Karen Moran had a question about the minutes. There was an edit to the minutes dated in June of 2025. Steffanie Apostle to go back and verify dates.
Bill Briggeman made a motion to approve the minutes as amended and Janet Merner seconded the motion. All were in favor and motion passed to approve the minutes as amended.
Karen Moran & Anita Greer abstained from voting as they were not present at the meeting the minutes were for.
Andy Smith mentioned Mike Spinelli who had come before the Zoning Board last month had taken their advice and went to the Planning Board and was approved for their subdivision. Andy Smith was very happy because he likes to help guide people about how they can use their land.
Item 5: Review of New Hampshire Laws
Andy Smith said there is a lot of debate at the State level and motions to assert much more State power to help break the backlog jam on housing. There is a lot of support and opposition for the State to assert more and more Zoning and planning Board authority. This is something Andy Smith wanted the ZBA to be aware of.
Bill Briggeman had a question on the Summary of Changes. Bill Briggeman went through the changes for RSA 674:16 and discovered that sections 2,3,4 & 5 were the same as what was in the published book but #6 is new. Bill Briggeman went through and compared and found out where the new information should be added. RSA 674:18-A parts 1,2 & 3 Bill Briggeman could not locate in his book.
Karen Moran asked Bill Briggeman when his book was published?
Bill Briggeman said he had the 2022/2023 book.
Andy Smith said the Board needed new books.
Steffanie Apostle had the new books and distributed them to the ZBA.
Diane Rombalski arrived to the meeting.
Steffanie Apostle collected the old Zoning books from the Board and will store them
Andy Smith said let the minutes show that the Board has been presented with the new Zoning Books for 2024/2025
Andy Smith said the books get published 6-12 months after the laws change so there is some lag and the Board needs to be aware in case of any contradictory information. There are some regulations the Town has that contradict the State laws but that is up to the Planning Board and the Selectboard.
Steffanie Apostle said that has come up at a few Planning Board meetings. There has been some discussion about hiring someone to help the town go through them.
Bill Briggeman had a follow up question as he believed the number at the top of the handout should have been 674 not 675:51.
Anita Greer believed that may have been a typo.
Andy Smith said he liked Bill Briggemans eagle eyes in regards to the changes. Andy Smith asked if anyone else had reviewed the changes as much as Bill Briggeman.
Steffanie Apostle said Bill Briggeman will be able to write the next book.
Andy Smith said he was talking with Steffanie Apostle about the process of a retiring member and appointing a new one and there is a little bit of a conflict with the State Law and our Ordinances and who has the authority. Andy Smith said he wanted that to be reflected in the minutes. The State law says the elected Board does it but our Zoning Ordinance says it’s the Selectboard. Last time when the ZBA appointed Diane Rombalski, they took it to the Selectboard for approval just in case there was any contradiction. If there is in fact a committee formed to review the Zoning procedures this is one that needs to be looked into.
Karen Moran said she would think until the regulations change that would be the way to do it. The ZBA should pick and then bring it to the Selectboard for a yay or nay.
Item 6: Webinar – You’re a Board Member Now
Andy Smith talked about the webinars for Board Members and highly encouraged everyone to take it as it is only an hour.
Bill Briggeman asked if they were updated each year?
Andy Smith said they were.
Bill Briggeman said he had asked because he did it last year and wasn’t sure if he should do it again.
Andy Smith said every year there are changes to the State Law and these webinars should be updated.
Item 7: Election Results – March 11, 2025
Andy Smith was reelected for another 3-year term. The Board congratulated him.
Andy Smith said next up was to elect the officers of the ZBA.
Karen Moran nominated Andy Smith to stay on as the Chair of the Zoning Board
Bill Briggeman seconded the motion
All were in favor and motion passed to keep Andy Smith as the chair of the Board
Andy Smith said the next person to elect was the Vice Chair of the Zoning Board
Diane Rombalski nominated Karen Moran to stay on as Vice Chair of the Zoning Board
Bill Briggeman seconded the motion
All were in favor and the motion passed to keep Karen Moran as the Vice Chair of the Zoning Board
Item 8: New Member in place of Janet Merner
Andy Smith said he had been notified that Janet Merner was moving
Janet Merner said she was moving to be closer to her daughter and granddaughter. This was something that Janet prayed and thought hard about as it was not an easy decision for to make but she really felt it was the right decision.
Andy Smith asked if she was moving to Saint Augustine?
Janet Merner said she was moving to Saint Augustine and she had always said if she were to move to Florida it would be to Saint Augustine.
Andy Smith asked if anyone wanted to make a motion to accept with disappointment Janet Merner’s resignation?
Steffanie Apostle asked if we could deny it and keep her?
Bill Briggeman made a motion to accept Janet Merners resignation.
Karen Moran seconded the motion.
All were in favor and motion to accept Janet Merner’s resignation passed.
Andy Smith made a motion to elevate Diane Rombalski from an alternate member to a full-time member of the Zoning Board
Karen Moran seconded the motion. All were in favor and motion to elevate Diane Rombalski to full time member passed.
Andy Smith challenged the remaining Board members to help find 1-2 alternates
Janet Merner said she knew Tom Fohr who was retired Navy and may be interested so she would ask him.
Andy Smith said alternates play a very important role for the Zoning Board. This allows the Board to be able to have a hearing without delay if they are short a member. Also, for this exact case of when someone leaves, they have an experienced person to step up. The Board can have up to (5) alternates but would be happy with (1) or (2).
Anita Greer said Lisa Gemmer would be a good person to reach out to and ask.
Item 9: New Business / Other
There was no new business or other topics discussed
Item 10: Meeting Adjourned
Karen Moran made a motion to adjourn the meeting.
Anita Greer seconded the motion.
All were in favor and motion passed to adjourn the meeting at 6:52pm.