APPROVED TOWN OF SUTTON
Planning Board
Meeting Minutes
June 9, 2009
Present: Dan Sundquist, Bob Wright, Courtney Galluzzo, Peter Blakeman, Roger Wells, Julie McCarthy and Carrie Thomas. (Dave Burnham, Joe Burns and Paul Raynor were absent.)
7:00 p.m. Chair Dan Sundquist opened the meeting.
A public Hearing for Jessica Blaney, 2 Lot subdivision with a common shared driveway on Rte. 103, M/L # 1-406,086 was not held as there was no one present to represent the Blaney’s.
A Motion was made by Roger to table the Blaney hearing. Seconded by Courtney. It was unanimously approved.
The Board will wait for the Blaney’s to reschedule. There will also need to be renoticing. It was noted that the engineer, Jeff Evans, was not on the abutters list and was also not noticed of the meeting. Dan will have Linda notify Jeff.
Review Previous Minutes:
A Motion was made by Roger to accept the minutes of May 12, 2009 as written. Seconded by Carrie. It was unanimously approved.
A Motion was made by Roger to accept the minutes of May 26, 2009 as written. Seconded by Bob. Unanimously approved.
Correspondence:
A notice of the CNHRPC Annual Meeting on June 11th
A notice of a Public discussion led by the NH Legislative Groundwater Commission.
Miscellaneous.
Budget:
The expenses for the last month were all staff costs. There is 64% of the Budget left.
Reports:
Bob reported for the Selectmen’s office that there is an ongoing issue with the Angel Hawk development. At some point here will need to be a road upgrade, although not until a second house is built in the development. A letter was sent out but there has been no response so far.
Dan reported Elly was working on the FEMA floodplain zones and that only a couple were found. Of 94 building permits, only one was in a questionable zone.
The next June meeting will be reserved as a work session on subdivision regulations. It was suggested that the second meeting of every month be used for work sessions.
Workforce Bill:
There was a Board discussion of the Legislative Workforce Bill recently passed. Roger updated the Board on his findings. He stated it was important to have something reasonable in the ordinances or the court would be the decider. He added it is not necessary to dictate development in detail, just to provide a mechanism to make the housing possible. The State bill implies each community must “meet its fair share”. This is a statement that is not easily defined. The State law is very open and may apply differently to each community. It was stated a good range to focus on should be $150,000-200,000. Bob was concerned how the total cost and annual income would be figured. Roger said the Board would need to gather some information from the CNHRPC. Carrie asked if the housing lots need to be a two-acre minimum.
Roger answered no. Courtney asked if the development could be flipped for a profit. Roger answered no. Pete added Sutton needs to provide housing that is reasonably priced and meets the needs of those that can’t afford other housing. Dan said our children cannot afford to live in Town presently, and that the elder set is also directly affected. He added starter homes in the $150,000 range would be reasonable. Courtney asked if there were any tax benefits. There are not. Bob said what the Town will be focusing on is the medium income levels and assessment of our fair share. He added the developed ordinance should provide sufficient flexibility. Dan spoke about build ability and a blanket overlay verses figuring out particular areas where this type of development would be best suited. He added this is a good context to begin looking at improvements to the Town zoning ordinances. Carrie added it would be good to get the cluster housing regulations going. Roger said this is not a
front burner issue until the economy picks up. Bob added there is now a law and regulations, but that the State hasn’t even figured out the details yet; it is still a work in progress. He added as long as a town is making a good faith effort to address the law they are covered. Dan thanked Roger for putting all the information together. At the next meeting Dan will bring in the maps that he has developed for the SCC. He will also talk to Sharon Watson at CNHRPC and get some new numbers.
There was discussion regarding the Mathew Falvey subdivision on Baker Hill Road. This project is moving from concept into design. The grades were discussed, as they are steep in some areas. Lot access and required frontage were also reviewed. It was noted the involvement of the fire department in the process would be beneficial. Roger will contact the architect to get updated numbers.
Bob will check with Linda to make sure all scheduled items are relayed to Dan.
Roger noted the Planning Board dates for meetings are not on the Town website calendar. Bob will follow up with Elly.
8:30 p.m. Motion by Pete to adjourn the meeting. Seconded by Bob. Unanimously approved.
Respectfully Submitted,
Jennifer Swett
Acting Secretary
Sutton Planning Board 2 June 9, 2009
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