June 19, 2014 Minutes

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

DATE: Thursday, June 19, 2014

AGENDA ITEM 1: Call to Order

Chair Clayton Wood called the meeting to order at 7:06 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:

Gerard LeDuc (GL), selectmen’s ex officio alternate planning board member.

The planning board has no alternates at this time.

Other town officials present: Jesse Pacheco, building inspector and code enforcement officer.

Members of the public appearing before the planning board: Daryal Klitz, 57 Center Road, Chichester, NH.

“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 said that he would have to leave between 8:15 and 8:20 PM.

CW said that he would like to reschedule the board’s regular meeting of July 3, 2014, to July 10, 2014, to avoid interfering with the long weekend including the national holiday of Independence Day on Friday, July 4, 2014.

CW said that he would like to reschedule the board’s regular meeting of January 1, 2015, New Year’s Day, to January 8, 2015.

CW said that he would like to use the meeting of July 10, 2014, to determine the completeness of and to review the merits of an application for major subdivision of Keath and Patricia Wood, 275 Shaw Road, Pittsfield, NH 03263, tax map R-03, lot 5-5, to create three residential lots in the Rural zoning district.

JP asked whether the Wood application had actually been filed, and, if it had been filed, what was the filing date.

CW and BM said that the Woods had filed their application on April 17, 2014.

CW asked board members to review the report dated May 29, 2014, from Matt Monahan of Central New Hampshire Regional Planning Commission. The Woods are asking for six waivers of subdivision regulations. The subdivision application includes a long wetlands application and design package. Because the wetlands application and design package is very long, the town has only one copy. The Woods are using the wetlands and design package as a reason not to submit a drainage report. The Woods propose to build a driveway over five wetlands areas. The NH Department of Environmental Services (NH DES) has approved the plan for the driveway.

BM said that the planning board had considered a similar application in 2005 and had found problems with the wetlands assessment. The Woods withdrew their application.

JP said that a plan that he had seen recently showed one of the lots without a frontage as defined in the zoning ordinance. JP said that the Woods should not be led to spend a lot of money on a plan that is not zoning compliant.

Jesse Pacheco said that he and JP had discussed this problem very recently.

BM asked whether the board could have a preliminary review of the application before considering it formally.

JP said no, preliminary review cannot happen after the applicant has filed for formal review. (RSA 676:4, II, (c).)

CW said that he would reconsider whether scheduling a completeness review and a merits review on July 10, 2014, would be appropriate in view of the problem that JP raised.

CW said that the planning board had received for informational purposes a boundary survey according to RSA 676:18. The survey does not show a subdivision. The property owner and address is Shirley Bleckmann, 44 Carroll Street, tax map U-04, lot 3-2.

AGENDA ITEM 4: Approvals of the Minutes of the May 1, 2014, May 31, 2014, and June 5, 2014, Meetings

BM moved to approve the minutes of May 1, 2014, as written in draft.

PH seconded the motion.

Discussion:

No board member saw any problems in the draft minutes.

Vote to approve the minutes of May 1, 2014, as written in draft: carried 3 – 0 – 2. (Voting “yes”: JP, PH, and CW. Voting “no”: none. Abstaining: EN and BM.)

CW moved to approve the minutes of May 31, 2014, as written in draft.

BM seconded the motion.

Discussion:

JP asked for the following change: Change “RSA 79E” to “RSA 79-E”.

Vote to approve the minutes of May 31, 2014, with the change that JP requested: carried 4 – 0 – 1. (Voting “yes”: JP, PH, CW, and BM. Voting “no”: none. Abstaining: EN.)

CW moved to approve the minutes of June 5, 2014, as written in draft.

JP seconded the motion.

Discussion:

No board member saw any problems in the draft minutes.

Vote to approve the minutes of June 5, 2014, as written in draft: carried 5 – 0 – 0. (Voting “yes”: JP, EN, PH, CW, and BM. Voting “no”: none. Abstaining: none.)

AGENDA ITEM 9: Public Input

Daryal Klitz said that he owned property at 27 Barnstead Road (NH Route 107) abutting the Rustic Crust project at 31 Barnstead Road. Daryal Klitz read a letter, which he subsequently submitted to the board. In brief, the letter complains (1) that the town’s approval of 2-foot front and side setbacks for Rustic Crust’s proposed new building is unreasonable, (2) that Rustic Crust uses very hot pizza ovens and that these ovens caused the fire that destroyed the Rustic Crust building and damaged abutting properties, (3) that Rustic Crust’s building will be a new bakery requiring a special exception because Rustic Crust expanded beyond the building’s old footprint (see zoning ordinance article 2, table 1, Zoning Districts and Uses), and (4) that the planning board should reverse its approval of Rustic Crust’s site plan because Rustic Crust does not have a special exception for the project. Daryal Klitz also said that his insurance carrier of nine years had just sent him a letter at the end of May canceling his insurance because the insurance company now considers his company, Any Make Auto Care, a high risk. The Rustic Crust fire was Daryal Klitz’s only insurance claim. Daryal Klitz repeated that the 2-foot setback is too close and that the planning board should reconsider its approval of Rustic Crust’s site plan. Daryal Klitz said that he had filed a motion to rehear the Rustic Crust variance application. Daryal Klitz said that he understood that Rustic Crust is an important employer, but Daryal Klitz said that he is a business and an employer too, that he provides an important and honest service to the community, and that the town should not push him aside for Rustic Crust. Daryal Klitz said that he had studied the zoning ordinance and that the requirement for a special exception is clear.

CW asked whether Daryal Klitz had raised his objection to the zoning board of adjustment.

Daryal Klitz said yes. Daryal Klitz said that he had hired a lawyer.

CW said that the question of a special exception is unclear because the Rustic Crust project has grandfathering.

Daryal Klitz disagreed and said that the project would have grandfathering if and only if Rustic Crust rebuilt on the same footprint. Rustic Crust is not grandfathered because their new building will be larger.

JP said that the board must address Daryal Klitz’s complaint quickly because Daryal Klitz said that he had brought his complaint to a lawyer and because the board has only 30 days after the date of the decision (June 5, 2014) before the matter will go to court and the board will not have the option to correct an error. (74 Cox Street v. Nashua, 156 N.H. 228, 931 A.2d 1194 (2007).)

The board agreed to have a meeting on Tuesday, June 24, 2014, at 7:00 PM to consider the Klitz request to reconsider the board’s approval of the Rustic Crust’s site plan.

JP asked Jesse Pacheco whether Rustic Crust had ever had a special exception in the past.

Jesse Pacheco did not know.

AGENDA ITEM 5: Commercial District Discussion
1. Plan for Continue Discussion prior to September All Boards’ Meeting
2. Proposal to All Board Meeting in September

CW said that he wanted to involve more people beyond the all-boards meetings to revitalize the Commercial District. He suggested a town-wide seminar to discuss the problem, or that Old Home Day might be a good venue to attract public interest. The town could have a booth with a short information flier or survey questionnaire. The planning board could also have a public hearing on the downtown section of the master plan.

CW said that the board of selectmen’s leadership and the code enforcement officer’s leadership is particularly important because the board of selectmen and the code enforcement officer are involved in every project.

CW said that the City of Claremont might have experience that could help Pittsfield. JP and CW discussed possibly someone from Pittsfield first going to Claremont rather than asking someone from Claremont to come to Pittsfield.

Board members discussed at length BM’s proposal to allow residences as a principal use by right in the Commercial District. BM argued that Pittsfield’s future is as a bedroom town for Concord and that this demand for residential housing would prompt developers to build high-quality, high-rent properties in the Commercial District and to create parking space for those rental properties if the zoning ordinance allowed developers to do so.

The other board members and Jesse Pacheco were skeptical of BM’s plan and worried that adopting BM’s proposal would make the problem of low-quality rental apartments in the Commercial District worse.

CW and Jesse Pacheco suggested that a more affluent Rural District could more immediately support commerce in the Commercial District because the Rural District has more room for quality development and parking and because driving to Concord is expensive in gasoline. Residents could spend this travel money in town and save time.

Jesse Pacheco said that better zoning enforcement has already encouraged one business to locate in the Commercial District.

JP asked why landlords would spend substantial money on improvements when the landlords are already making money from rundown apartments. JP said that Steven Aubertin and Gary Volpe could have built residential buildings where abandoned cellar holes now exist, because these sites had grandfather protection, but Steven Aubertin and Gary Volpe evidently did not see the market opportunity that BM says exists.

CW said that the Commercial District is not a bedroom community for Concord because the residents of the district apparently do not have cars because the residents have no private parking spaces.

Jesse Pacheco said that the high vacancy in commercial properties would ordinarily drive commercial rents down and thus attract business but that allowing residential rental would thwart this market force.

AGENDA ITEM 6: Update to the Planning Board’s Rules and Procedures

The board did not discuss the board’s rules of procedure because the meeting did not have time.

AGENDA ITEM 7: Selectman’s Report – Eric Nilsson, Selectman Ex Officio – Gerard LeDuc, Alternate

The board did not have a selectman’s report because the meeting did not have time.

AGENDA ITEM 8: Members’ Concerns

The board did not have a members’ concerns period because the meeting did not have time.

AGENDA ITEM 10: Adjournment

BM moved to adjourn the meeting.

JP seconded the motion.

Vote to adjourn the planning board meeting of June 19, 2014: carried 5 – 0 – 0. (Voting “yes”: JP, EN, PH, CW, and BM. Voting “no”: none. Abstaining: none.) The planning board meeting of June 19, 2014, is adjourned at 8:16 P.M.

Minutes approved: July 10, 2014

______________________________ _____________________
Clayton Wood, Chairman Date

I transcribed these minutes (not verbatim) on June 21, 2014, from notes that I made during the planning board meeting on June 19, 2014, and from a copy that Chairman Clayton Wood made on June 20, 2014, of the town’s digital recording of the meeting.

____________________________________________
Jim Pritchard, planning board recorder and secretary