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Planning board discusses subdivision rules, fire safety and options for cisterns or fire ponds
Summary
Board reviewed subdivision regulations, discussed requiring water supplies (cisterns or fire ponds) in subdivisions and considered conditioning approvals on fire access or pumps for sites with limited hydrant access.
Board members reviewed the town's subdivision regulations and discussed recurring fire-safety questions for new subdivisions, including whether to require on-site cisterns, fire ponds, or approved fire pumps to ensure an adequate water supply for firefighting in areas without hydrants.
Members noted technical limitations and costs associated with cisterns (one member described large fiberglass cisterns as expensive) and discussed alternatives such as fire ponds or requiring fire pumps or mutual aid tanker access. The board agreed it could require water-supply measures as a condition of subdivision approval and that the requirement could be applied to subdivisions above a small-lot threshold (discussion mentioned more than three lots as an example), with the planning board using conditional approval to set site-specific requirements.
The planning board also reminded members that subdivision regs are available on the website, that certain requirements (road widths, drainage, etc.) are standard, and that the board will perform site visits and request specialist review as needed when subdivisions are formally filed.
No regulatory change was adopted at the meeting; members directed themselves to review the subdivision regulations ahead of future applications and to handle fire-safety requirements case by case during conditional approvals.
