Lempster Planning Board

Minutes of Meeting

Held on

Monday, April 21, 2008

at the Town Office

             

Members present: R. Mark Adams, Bill Rodeschin, Kirt Wirkkala, Richard Fairweather

Alternate: Terry Spada

Others: Peter Dzewaltowski (UVLSRPC)

 

Meeting called to order at 6:39 p.m. by Chairman Mark Adams.

 

Zoning

 

The agenda was as follows:

1.           Process, Timeline and Outreach Plan

2.           Conditional Use Permits vs. Special Exception

3.           Permissive vs. Prohibitive Zoning

4.           Discuss Conservation District Maps

5.           Floodplain Provisions

              - Administration

              - Allowable Development within the Floodplain

Peter provided the Board with several documents with respect to each of the above discussion items. He spoke with Paul Sanderson of the Municipal Law Center about special town meetings. The Planning Board or the Selectmen may call a special town meeting.

 

Timeline.

Public outreach could occur in June, July and August, 2008 with meetings held at least twice a month. The suggested special town meeting date is October 14, 2008; thus, the Planning Board must be ready by Labor Day, September 1, 2008.

 

Task Force.

A task force would plan and implement the public outreach and citizen participation process. This could include several Planning Board members and other community citizens. The duties could include:

-            Preparing for a Special Town Meeting – working with the Selectboard to create a warrant, checklist, etc.

-            Organizing meetings and events

-            Creating public information materials

-            Hosting e-mail and/or telephone hotline

-            Providing refreshments at the focus group meetings, open houses, etc.

 

Public Outreach.

Members of the Board could host open houses, “coffees”, meetings at Goshen-Lempster School, etc. Ideas for focus groups (special interest groups) might include, for example: Long Pond residents, Fire Dept., Historical Society, Conservation Commission, Jolly Farmer neighborhood, etc. Opponents would be identified and invited to attend a meeting so their issues and concerns could be addressed.

 

The Town of Lempster website would include the draft ordinance, maps, schedule of meetings and events. Notices of meetings and events could be posted at the Town Office, Post Office, Lempster Store, Recycling Center, and local newspapers. The Owl could include an article about zoning and the upcoming associated meetings, etc.

 

The Board discussed going through the ordinance and creating a “story” for each part.

 

Mr. Dzewaltowski suggested getting authorization from the public as part of the ordinance for site plan review regulations.

 

A special exception vs. a conditional use permit was discussed at length. See: RSA 674:21,II and RSA 674:33, IV.

 

The Board decided that Lempster’s zoning ordinance would be “permissive” as opposed to “prohibitory”. Most ordinances in New Hampshire are permissive ordinances. From the Office of Energy and Planning’s Resource Library: “…in the absence of a variance or special exception, such an ordinance functions generally to prohibit uses of land unless they are expressly permitted as primary uses or can be found to be accessory to a permitted use. The rule of accessory use is in response to the impossibility of providing expressly by zoning ordinance for every possible lawful use. Even under a permissive ordinance, a given use may be allowed even if it is not explicitly allowed. Those types of uses are said to the accessory to the use that is expressly permitted. Most ordinances expressly provide for some accessory uses, although the common law provides for them when the ordinance is silent on the matter.”

 

The Conservation District maps provided by UVLSRPC were viewed and discussed.

 

Floodplain Provisions.

The Board was given a draft model Floodplain Management Ordinance to read in preparation for the next meeting on May 5^th.

 

 

The agenda for the zoning work session on May 5^th at 6:30 p.m. will include discussion of the following:

-                   conditional use permit/special exceptions;

-                   should development within a flood plain be restricted?

-                   a list of names of possible task force members.

 

Approval of Minutes of the April 14, 2008 Meeting.

The minutes, with modifications, were approved.

 

Miscellaneous.

Lempster Wind’s driveway permit was briefly discussed. The road agent will be requested to attend the May 12^th Planning Board meeting to discuss the driveway permit application process.

 

 

The next zoning discussion meeting of the Planning Board will be Monday, May 5, 2008, at 6:30 p.m. at the Town Office.

 

The next regular meeting of the Planning Board will be May 12, 2008 at 7:00 p.m. at the Town Office.

 

Motion made by Kirt Wirkkala, seconded by Bill Rodeschin, to adjourn the meeting. Motion passed unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 9:55 p.m

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

Linda Y. Murgatroy,

Recording Secretary