Wales Planning Board
March 29, 2005, Meeting

Minutes

 

 

In Attendance:  Ed MacDonald (Chair), Lori Blier (PBM), Alice DiPaolo (PBM), Paul Burgess (Selectmen)

 

·         Lori distributed the following items to the board:  March 8 Public Hearing Record, meeting agenda; final draft copies of the road ordinance, the response from Carol Fuller of AVCOG to our questions about section 9.1 in the subdivision ordinance, and the response from SPO to our proposed amendments to the comp plan.

·         The meeting was called to order at 7:10.

·         The Public Hearing Record was read and approved as written unanimously by the board.

·         Paul had some questions on the land use zones defined in the land use ordinance – specifically the 500’ and 600’ mark references to the Sabattus Mountain and Oak Hill Limited Rural Areas.  He wanted to know how we were to determine where those lines were.  It is fairly well written out for the Sabattus Mountain zone but is not as clear on the Oak Hill zone.  He wanted to know what the elevation was on the upper half on the other side of the road on Oak Hill because those parcels don’t seem to be in the zone.  There was some discussion that anything with a slope greater than 20 degrees was not considered buildable anyway and that most of that would fall into that category.  Paul indicated someone had come in who owns some property up there that might not be able to sell it as planned after the ordinance is passed and feels we need to have some means of answering this question at the public hearing.  He indicated if we had a topo map that we could outline the specific elevation more clearly.  Lori indicated she would inquire at the GIS division at the state’s Information Systems bureau to see if we could obtain topo maps of both mountain areas for this purpose.

·         Lori distributed to updated Public Hearing Notice to Paul and Alice for distribution at the normal places.  Alice indicated she had already posted the notice in the paper and that it had been running on Channel 4 for the last month.  This notice will replace the original notice which advertised both hearings.

·         The board went on to the changes requested to the ordinances at the public hearing.  The members were fine with the single addition Lori had incorporated in the road ordinance.  Lori indicated that the note from Carol showed where the definition of owner/heir/applicant was for section 9.1 of the subdivision ordinance.  Lori felt that it would be best to add it as a definition to the definitions ordinance and perhaps reference said definition as part of that section in the subdivision ordinance.  After looking at the section in question, the board decided that approach was appropriate.  Upon checking the definitions ordinance, we found that the definition already existed in the form that we required and that no additional changes would need to be made.

·         The board went over presentation details for the April 12 public hearing.  We will present the Proposed Amendments to the Comp Plan document first followed by any discussion or questions on those amendments.  Lori asked Paul if we had any copies of the comp plan in case someone at the public hearing wanted one.  We don’t.  Paul will have some made up and Lori will get 81/2 x 11 color maps to insert where the larger maps are inserted in the bound plans we had made up last year.  We need to emphasize that we are only voting on amending the existing plan and that if we do not incorporate these amendments we will not be able to pursue things like impact fees and other methods of dealing with the increased growth in the town because we don’t have a state approved plan.  After the comp plan amendments, we will give a quick overview of the minor ordinance changes and the definitions ordinance (shoreland, floodplain, telecommunications etc.).  We will give a broader overview of the updates to the subdivision, land use, and road ordinance.  Lori will try to get the topo maps for this and will plot out copies of the maps that Carol forwarded from the comp plan for the hearing.  Ed will stop and pick up the copies of the ordinance left over from the last hearing to bring to the public hearing.  Lori will make 25 copies of the proposed amendments.  Everyone should bring the original response from SPO to our comp plan and all other communications regarding that for background if we need it.  Lori still needs to fix the page numbering on the shoreland zoning index prior to the town meeting.

·         The board discussed other items that need to be created, updated, amended, etc. following adoption of these ordinances.  We decided we should look at the Driveway/Entrance Permits and references to culverts, the building permit, the subdivision checklist, the subdivision application and instructions, creation of a site plan review application??  These are some of the things we’ll look at when we meet next on April 26^th.  We will also schedule a meeting time (perhaps a weekend gathering instead of our May 10 meeting) to go through the planning board files and clean them out, organize and inventory them.  Ed will get clarification on how long we need to retain what records – he has been told everything forever.  Lori will look into the possibility of archiving old files, plans, and permits at the state archives.

·         The next meeting will be the April 12^th public hearing.  Board members should try to be at the Wales Central School for the meeting by 6:45. 

·         The meeting was adjourned at 8:20.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Lori Blier, WPB Secretary

 

Related Documents:  Final Draft Road Ordinance, SPO Letter