Pittsfield Planning Board
Town Hall, 85 Main Street
Pittsfield, NH 03263
Minutes of Public Meeting

DATE: Thursday, September 5, 2013

AGENDA ITEM 1: Call to Order

Chair Clayton Wood called the meeting to order at 7:04 P.M.

AGENDA ITEM 2: Roll Call

Planning board members present:
Clayton Wood (CW), planning board member and chair;
Pat Heffernan (PH), planning board member and vice-chair;
Jim Pritchard (JP), planning board member and secretary;
Bill Miskoe (BM), planning board member; and
Eric Nilsson (EN), selectmen’s ex officio planning board member.

Planning board members absent:
Peter Dow (PD), alternate planning board member, and
Larry Konopka (LK), selectmen’s ex officio alternate planning board member.

On August 20, 2013, LK withdrew his resignation from the board of selectmen and was elected Gerard LeDuc’s replacement as selectmen’s ex officio alternate planning board member. See the board of selectmen’s minutes of August 20, 2013, and the planning board’s minutes of August 15, 2013, agenda item 6, Selectmen’s Report.

Other town officials present: Chris Hill, chair of the conservation commission, and Ralph Odell, chair of the master plan committee.

Members of the public appearing before the planning board: None.

“Members of the public appearing before the planning board” includes only members of the public who spoke to the board. It does not include members of the public who were present but who did not speak to the board.

AGENDA ITEM 3: Agenda Review

CW had no changes to make to the agenda.

CW said that the board would hear an application for a lot line adjustment for the Leslie Miner Federhen Trust on October 3, 2013.

AGENDA ITEM 4: Approval of Minutes of the August 15, 2013 Meeting

BM moved to approve the minutes of August 15, 2013, as written in draft.

EN seconded the motion.

Discussion:

No board member saw any problems in the draft minutes.

Vote to approve the minutes of August 15, 2013, as written in draft: carried 5 – 0 – 0. (Voting “yes”: JP, EN, PH, CW, and BM. Voting “no”: none. Abstaining: none.)

AGENDA ITEM 5: Master Plan Update – Ralph Odell

Ralph Odell, chair of the master plan committee, said that the committee has six members but would like to have more. One of the members has moved out of town. The master plan committee meets two times per month and follows guidance from the Central New Hampshire Regional Planning Commission.

Ralph Odell said that the master plan committee does not have any amendments to the zoning ordinance for the planning board to propose to the March 2014 town meeting.

Ralph Odell presented (1) an outline of the chapters of the master plan and (2) a map of Pittsfield showing conservation areas, bodies of water, and highways. The chapters are as follows:

Demographics (approximately finished)
Housing (2/3 finished)
Transportation (at the state of rough draft)
Public Services and Facilities (in progress)
Education (in progress)
Recreation (in progress)
Natural/Historic Resources (in progress)
Land Use (in progress)
Economic Development (in progress)

The outline presents demographic numbers showing that the number of school-age children is declining and that the number of people aged 55 and over is increasing. The greatest increase, in both number and percentage, is in people aged 65 and over.

Ralph Odell said that the master plan committee is about six weeks behind schedule on the above chapters labeled “in-progress.”

Ralph Odell discussed the master plan committee’s recent town-wide survey. The master plan committee has finished summarizing the results of the survey, and the summary is available for posting on the town web site. The committee sent the survey to approximately 1700 households, and 209 households responded. The survey showed strong support for (1) commercial growth town wide (92%), (2) commercial growth on NH Route 28 (87%), (3) conservation (67%), and (4) housing for older people (25%).

Ralph Odell said that the aging of Pittsfield’s population is part of a state-wide trend.

Ralph Odell said that some large areas in town have no development whatsoever. Using cluster development adjacent to these areas would make good use of the currently large vacant areas.

Ralph Odell referred to potential development on NH Route 28 and said that the town should balance its desire for commercial development and its desire to retain rural character.

Ralph Odell said that the town’s senior center is operating at its capacity.

The board observed that the New Hampshire Department of Transportation controls driveway permits on NH Route 28 and that the town’s land use regulations already permit commercial development on NH Route 28.

PH asked about conservation.

The board discussed that conservation requires a conservation steward and that the steward will need money to do his task.

The board observed that the master plan is approximately half way through its five-year development cycle. The plan is due to be finished in 2015.

CW asked whether the master plan committee were talking to the economic development committee.

Ralph Odell said that the master plan committee communicates to the economic development committee via the chair of the economic development committee (Ted Mitchell) as a member of the master plan committee.

CW said that, because the land-use regulations already permit commercial development on NH Route 28, commercial development on NH Route 28 appears to be more of an issue for the town’s economic development committee than for the planning board.

The planning board discussed the difficulty of finding sites for business or housing for older people. BM said that redeveloping existing lots would be difficult because many of the buildings near the town’s center are historic.

Ralph Odell said that the master plan would like to have some public hearings for feedback on rough drafts of master plan chapters as soon as rough drafts are finished.

EN asked whether the master plan committee thought that the zoning ordinance were good as it is or whether it needed change.

Ralph Odell said that he could not say either way.

AGENDA ITEM 6: Selectman’s Report – Eric Nilsson, Selectman Ex Officio

EN said that LK had withdrawn his resignation, which LK could do because the board of selectmen had not accepted his resignation. (See the board of selectmen’s minutes of August 20, 2013, and the planning board’s minutes of August 15, 2013, agenda item 6, Selectmen’s Report.)

EN asked whether the planning board had heard anything from AHG Properties.

CW said no.

AGENDA ITEM 7: Members’ Concerns

No board member expressed any concern.

AGENDA ITEM 8: Public Input

Chris Hill, chair of the conservation commission, said that the building inspector had told him that an owner of a vacant lot in Bailey Park is eager that the planning board lift the moratorium on building permits for vacant lots in Bailey Park. (See the planning board’s minutes of May 2, 2013, agenda item 5.) Chris Hill is trying to expedite the board of selectmen’s acceptance of a conservation restriction on the conservation area of Bailey Park so that the planning board can lift the moratorium. Chris Hill said that no property owner in Bailey Park had approached the conservation commission about the town’s accepting a conservation restriction on the conservation area of Bailey Park. Chris Hill said that the selectmen will ask him for documentation from the planning board that the acceptance will satisfy the planning board.

CW said that Manny Sousa, president of K & M Developers, had proposed dedicating the conservation area of Bailey Park to the town conservation commission. (See the planning board’s minutes of May 2, 2013, agenda item 5, page 4, paragraph 12: “Manny Sousa said that he wants to dedicate the conservation area to the conservation commission.”)

JP suggested that the planning board’s minutes of May 2, 2013, may satisfy the board of selectmen. (See the planning board’s minutes of May 2, 2013, agenda item 5, page 3, paragraph 10; agenda item 5, page 4, paragraph 3: “JP confirmed that Bailey Park’s conditional approval does not require a homeowners association.”; and agenda item 5, page 4, paragraph 9: “CW said that the essential requirement is a permanent conservation restriction.”) JP emphasized that the planning board’s essential requirement is that the conservation area must have a permanent conservation restriction regardless of who, including the town, owns the conservation area. (Subdivision regulations section 5, K, 4.)

The planning board agreed that CW, as chair of the planning board, EN, as the board of selectmen’s representative to the planning board, and Chris Hill, as chair of the conservation commission, would review the planning board’s minutes of May 2, 2013, to decide whether those minutes adequately state the planning board’s position for the board of selectmen.

BM asked whether the planning board would want to lift the moratorium on building permits on the board’s belief that Manny Sousa is working toward a conservation restriction.

The board agreed that lifting the moratorium on building permits would be improper at present.

Chris Hill said that he would consult with the board of selectmen. Chris Hill said that the conservation restriction would create a nice conservation area that would be good for Bailey Park and for Pittsfield.

EN asked whether the planning board should send Manny Sousa a letter observing that he had not contacted the conservation commission. Charles Eccleston, owner of a vacant lot in Bailey Park, cannot build until Manny Sousa imposes the conservation restriction.

JP said that the board should not approach any of the property owners in Bailey Park to pressure them on a conservation restriction.

The board agreed with JP. The board does not want to appear to be pressuring someone to give away property.

Chris Hill repeated that no property owner in Bailey Park had approached the conservation commission.

CW said that the conservation commission should do nothing on Manny Sousa’s behalf until Manny Sousa contacts the conservation commission.

AGENDA ITEM 9: Adjournment

PH moved to adjourn the meeting.

EN seconded the motion.

Vote to adjourn the planning board meeting of September 5, 2013: carried 5 – 0 – 0. (Voting “yes”: JP, EN, PH, CW, and BM. Voting “no”: none. Abstaining: none.) The planning board meeting of September 5, 2013, is adjourned at 8:00 P.M.

Minutes approved: October 3, 2013

______________________________ _____________________
Clayton Wood, Chairman Date

I transcribed these minutes (not verbatim) on September 6, 2013, from notes that I made during the planning board meeting on September 5, 2013, and from a copy that Chairman Clayton Wood made on September 6, 2013, of the town’s digital recording of the meeting.

____________________________________________
Jim Pritchard, planning board recorder and secretary