Unofficial Minutes from Last Wednesday's Zoning Board Meeting
Thanks to Ernie Vose and Judy Trow, here are the draft minutes of last week's Zoning Board meeting. Of course they only become official when they are approved at the next meeting. CCB
July 20, 2005
Present: E. Vose, M. Mansouri, L. Weber, J. Galloway-Leclerc, B. Webb (alt)
Absent:L. Britton, L. Carignan (alt), T. Chiffriller (alt)
NOTE: THE FOLLOWING MINUTES WILL BE REVIEWED ON AUGUST 17, 2005.
All notices were posted and abutters notified for all hearings.
The meeting was called to order at .
Mr. Vose appointed Mr. Webb to serve as a regular member.
NEW BUSINESS.BOB JASSE ALYSON’S
ORCHARD WENTWORTH RD
SPECIAL EXCEPTION.Mr. Jasse is building an access road to the orchard from Route 12 to alleviate some of the traffic volume on Black Jack Crossing and Wentworth Roads.He said the new access will be the principle entrance at least nine months of the year.He is proposing an “entrance structure” on the access road- such as that seen at Mt Rainier- to mark the entrance to the orchard.There will be about 50 solar-activated lights along the new roadway and a living fence along Route 12.He said the orchard has 15-20 weddings per year and is finding that the number of weddings is limited by the guest capacity of the hall.
(Ms. Galloway-Leclerc arrived)
He showed the board a preliminary sketch of a 46’ X 50’ addition to the existing event space.He said it will have a standing seam roof and will be a steel-framed, pavilion type structure.He said the pavilion may be closed-in with walls in the next few years.The space is intended to be used for over-flow and to accommodate weddings of 150+ guests without the need for a tent.He would like to begin construction in November. He does hope the new structure will allow the orchard to have larger weddings.Mr. Jasse said he is planning to build a farm stand on Route 12 next year and that he has an antique cider press he hopes to display there.He said they are beginning to produce hard cider and are licensed to do so.He said the largest wedding has had 210-215 guests and that he does not propose to have larger weddings than that- but to do them better.The access from Black Jack Crossing and
Wentworth Road
will not be discontinued.Mr. Jasse said the delivery trucks and lodging guests will still come that way.He said the major functions guests and pick-your-own customers will use the new entrance.He said the pick-your-own fruits will all be on one side of the road.The current event space is 2000 sq ft and has a fire rating for 132 guests.The liquor license covers the area of the property that is inside the orchard’s deer fencing.
The Special Exception will require a recommendation from the Planning Board and an approved Site Plan.Mr. Jasse said the park-like entrance will be 75-100 yards from Route 12 and will not be visible from Route 12.He said they will put up temporary banners to announce the new entrance and the state signs on Route 12 will be wrapped.Mr. Jasse said the deer fence will be attached to entrance structure which will be 14-15’ high and 18’ wide.Mr. Jasse said he does not have a conflict with Mrs. Weber sitting on the board for his hearing.
MOTION. Mrs. Weber made a motion seconded by Ms. Galloway-Leclerc that a hearing be set for the August meeting subject to and pending the receipt of a completed application, the required fee and a recommendation from the Planning Board.All were in favor.
TOM BEAUDRY WENTWORTH ROAD
EXPANSION OF A NON-CONFORMING USE.Mr. Beaudry is proposing a 48’ deck across the front of his house on
Wentworth Road
within the setback.The house is 54’ from the center of the road.The deck will bring the house 10’ closer to the road.
Minutes- July 20, 2005- Page Two
MOTION.Mrs. Weber made a motion seconded by Ms. Galloway-Leclerc that a hearing be set for the August meeting subject to and pending the receipt of a completed application and the required fee.All were in favor.
EXTRA INNINGS ROUTE 12 SIGN.The board has not received written permission from the property owner on Route 12 allowing the sign to be placed in its present location.The size and setback requirements for the sign have been met.The board will write a letter to the business owner requesting the written permission for the sign to be placed where it is, or for the sign to be removed.
LETTER OF RESIGNATION.The board received Mr. Tom Chiffriller’s letter of resignation.MOTION.Mrs. Weber made a motion seconded by Ms. Mansouri that the board accept the resignation with thanks for his service.All were in favor.Mr. Vose will send a letter.
MINUTES OF JUNE 15, 2005.Ms. Mansouri made a motion seconded by Ms Galloway-Leclerc that the minutes be approved as written.All were in favor.
Other: The hiring committee has hired a new secretary to the board.
ADJOURNMENT.The meeting was adjourned by Mr. Vose at .
Ernie Vose tells me that he's made a small correction on the Zoning Board agenda he sent out yesterday: Alan Johnson's hearing will be in August (17th).
Agenda for Wednesday's Walpole Zoning Board of Appeal Meeting
Thanks to Ernie Vose, Chairman, here is Wednesday's tentative agenda for the Zoning Board meeitng at 7:30 p.m. in Town Hall...
July 20, 2005
Public Hearing:
Mr. Johnson is proposing to place a pre-fabricated, John Deere supplied, 7’ X 10” sign and sign structure that will be 10’1” in height,. The sign will require a Variance for size and setback. He is proposing to place it perpendicular to the split rail fence at the RN Johnson Inc. store property 15’ from Main Street. The sign will be internally lit.
New Business:
Extra Innings, 15 Lanbro Lane, wants a sign in the Industrial Park on Rt. 12.
Bob Jasse is wants to expand his conference center on Wentworth Rd. It now has a special exception on it and will probably need another special exception for the change.
Today, July 14, is Bastille Day, something like our Independence Day. The band is playing right now, the grocery has spilled out onto the sidewalk, and fun things are happening!
It's not been very well advertised, but if you stop by, you'll be rewarded with some fun events!
We just got back last night from a quick trip with Barbara and John Bragg of Old Drewsville Road to Appledore Island, part of the Isles of Shoals off the New Hampshire Seacoast. Great fun!
Appledore, actually just across the line into Maine, is about 10 miles straight east from Portsmouth, but you take the boat from Eastman Docks in Hampton Beach, NH. Reservations are required, and one gets information from the Shoals Marine Laboratory at www.sml.cornell.edu/garden/pg-home.htm.
From the 1870s to 1890s, Celia Thaxter was the hostess in a tourist hotel on the island and created a famous garden there. The hotel burned down long ago. In the 1970s, her garden was restored, and it is available for visitors to see on Wednesdays in the summer by reservation. It's a beautiful flower garden, and the island itself is a beautiful place for a picnic and hike. If you'd like further information, let us know.
In a conversation this morning with Town Road Agent Jim Terrell, he agreed that Main Street is a mess now and said "it will be for some time!" But Jim did say that they began digging for the water main improvements this morning and Monday they'll begin digging on the drainage improvements that are part of the project.
This joint project between the streets and the water departments will be a "summertime project", according to Jim. But he's shooting to have it all finished and paved before school starts. And the current dusty, dirty, rough surface is just temporary until they can get all the needed digging done.
So we'll all be patient and be rewarded in a month or a bit more with a really nice surface and better drainage besides! If you have further questions, you can call Jim Terrell at 381-0726. You'll find him very communicative and responsive.
Our Planning Board meets tonight at 7:30 p.m. If you haven't attended in the past, you will find it is usually quite interesting and occasionally very important! (The month's second, "working", meeting of the month is scheduled for July 26.)
Several people have suggested small procedural changes recently--distributed agendas, name cards for board members, improved room set-up so audience members can see and hear better. It'll be interesting to see if and when the board responds.
Here is an article that appeared in yesterday's Eagle Times based on an interview I did with Chairman Jeff Miller last week...
7-7-05
Walpole Planning Board Chair Vows Support for Additional Meetings
By Charles C. Bingaman, Contributing Writer
Walpole Planning Board Chair Jeff Miller, despite missing the first two of the Board’s new meetings on the fourth Tuesday of the month, says that he supports the meetings and intends both to attend in the future and to make them valuable.
In its regular second Tuesday April meeting, the Walpole Planning Board agreed to schedule an additional, less formal monthly meeting on the fourth Tuesday evening of the month beginning in May to focus on broader planning issues than current applications for sub-divisions, etc. that are the meat of regular second Tuesday meetings.
The trouble has been that, despite the some public interest in the new working sessions, Chairman Miller had work related conflicts with the first two new working meetings in May and June, and only one regular Board member even appeared for the second working meeting June 28.And that member, Eric Merklein, arrived to find a number of citizens milling around a locked Town Hall that apparently had no preparation for the meeting.
Miller, serving his fourth or fifth term on the Planning Board—he can’t remember for sure since he began serving in the late 1980s—saidWednesday that the Board has used supplemental meetings in the past to consider “big picture type things” such as planning capital expenditures and revising regulations.He said that all meetings of the Board are posted every Tuesday in the Town Hall but that notices to Planning Board members are not sent for regular or other meetings.He also noted that poor attendance at the newly set second meetings have probably been caused in part by their beginning in summer vacation season.
Nevertheless, Miller said that he thinks “the new fourth Tuesday meetings will be a good opportunity to go back and forth about ideas and issues the Town needs to work on.”
With respect to suggestions for procedural and format steps to improve Planning Board meetings, especially for citizens that wish to sit in and understand what is happening, Miller said that the current approaches “are the ways we’ve always operated since I’ve been on the Board.”With respect to facilitating room set-ups so that citizens can hear and understand initial planning notices to the Board—difficult without required use of a PA system and means of showing the public present initial surveys of properties—Miller noted that “new business is basically a conversation between the applicant and the Board”.While agreeing that the Town Hall downstairs meeting room has difficult acoustics, Miller said that complaints made at the June meeting about the inability of some public observers to hear presentations were “the first time we even heard that people had a hard time hearing.” He also noted that the room’s PA system was currently under repair.
At the June regular meeting of the Planning Board one member of the audience asked about the possibility of the Board’s publishing an advance agenda for regular and other meetings and using name plates for Board members.Chairman Miller said this week that, although publishing an agenda was not required by statute, the board had been doing so for several months.He also noted that the Board’s long-time secretary, Judy Trow, had resigned and that adding clerical functions would be difficult until a new secretary is found.
The regular meeting of the Walpole Planning Board is set for 7:30 p.m. July 12 and the special “working” meeting is set for 7:30 p.m. July 26 at the Town Hall.
The Walpole Veterinary Hospital won the Grand Prize for Best Float in last Saturday's Old Home Days parade! But it must have been close as there were a LOT of great floats entered!
Other prizes awarded during Sunday evening's concert on the Common were as folloows...
Most Original
1. Crescent Farms
2. Walpole Red Hatters
3. E E Houghton
Funniest
1. Walpole Veterinary Hospital
2. Walpole Village Salon
3. Fall Mountain Building Supply
Best Theme
1. Hubbard LLC
2. Great Brook Farm
3. Pinnacleview Farm Equipment
Best Junior Entry
1. Walpole Elementary School Recycling Program
2. Walpole Village School
3. Girl Scout Troop
Best Neighborhood Entry
1. Valley Road Float
2. Walpole High Alumni
3. Murray's Restaurant
Best Band
1. Hills Band
2. Nelson Town Band
3. Gerry Grimo and the East Street Jazz Band
If anybody got some GREAT pictures of winning floats, email them to me and I'll put some on The Walpolean!
