Planning Board member Eric Merklein tells me that at its last meeting the Planning Board agreed to set a second monthly meeting for the rest of the year devoted exclusively to discussing broad issues of planning and zoning and not for hearing specific petitions of individual citizens.
The first of these special meetings, Tuesday eveing, May 24, at 7:30 p.m. in Town Hall is open to the public, and Merklein hopes that a large number of people will attend. (Board Chair Jeff Miller is away on business, and Vice Chair David Edkins is away on vacation, but other members of the board will attend.)
Merklein noted that New Hampshire is the fastest growing state in New England and that we have a crisis in "workforce housing," i.e. housing other than the high-priced variety. Merklein hopes that "we can get everyone working together to plan for balanced growth rather than unplanned or unconctorlled growth." As he puts it, "We don't want to look like Route 5 north of Brattleboro!"
The next regular Planning Board meeting is June 14, and the next "working " session is set for June 28.
Chuck Bingaman
