Planning Board Minutes, November 10, 2015
Planning Board Minutes
10 November 2015
Members present: Robert Jones, Victor Smith, Michael Rossney, David Carter and Patricia Egan. A quorum was present. Peter Neill and Peter Atherton were absent.
Old Business: Robert Jones said we are still waiting for the Select Board to respond to our requests. Michael Rossney brought up the fact that, in the past, permits issued were vague, leaving no opening for the Planning Board to follow up if the extent of such permits was exceeded. There was discussion about more specificity when issuing permits and Robert Jones brought up the Site Plan Ordinance, which contains the specificity we seek.
Patricia Egan asked whether simply adding to the permit a statement that the permit was subject to the Site Plan Ordinance would take care of the specificity question. There was tentative agreement that it would.
Duane Ford said that plans ought to be reviewed by the Fire Chief and David Carter said that had been done in the past, but rarely.
Robert Jones said that we could include page 11 of the Site Plan Ordinance with the issuance of permits as it contains a checklist of all that is required of individuals seeking permits. Michael Rossney commented that it had been the Planning Board’s practice to give individuals copies of the Ordinance with their permits.
David Carter mentioned that many towns insist that subdivisions construct their own farm ponds.
Duane Ford was asked whether there were any projects on the horizon. He said there were indications of some, but no formal approaches by landowners. For example, he mentioned two cottages for sale on Carter Point Road and discussion of possibly rebuilding them as well as whether the property could be split. Also there has been some discussion of changes to a family compound near the bridge
New Business: Duane mentioned that an entertainment ordinance has been proposed for presentation at the Town Meeting. The Selectmen are working on it. Patricia Egan asked whether that ordinance could be given to the Planning Board ahead of time. Otherwise it could only be voted up or down at the meeting without its having been reviewed and any questions dealt with before the vote.
Duane also said that the State was making changes to the shoreland zoning and the town would be voting on those as well. Victor Smith said that, while the State changes were mandatory, the town could make them more stringent but not less.
Questions were raised about whether the town needed to have a minimum lot size and whether it should reinstitute minimum requirements for side line footage.
There was also some discussion about whether we needed to tighten definitions, for example: What exactly does dilapidated mean?
The meeting was adjourned until Tuesday, December 8th.
Respectfully submitted,
Patricia Colling Egan, Secretary