Brookfield planning board puts three zoning warrant amendments on ballot; fourth to be revised after legal review

BROOKFIELD, N.H. — The Brookfield Town Planning Board voted Jan. 29 to place three proposed zoning warrant articles on the March 15, 2025, town-meeting ballot, and directed staff to work with the town attorney to rewrite a fourth amendment that would clarify how permitted and conditional uses relate to site-plan review.

The board's actions came at a public hearing at the Brookfield Town Offices to review four proposed amendments to the town zoning ordinance that would (1) clarify grandfathering for the five-acre minimum lot-size requirement adopted last year, (2) adjust road/lake-frontage requirements, (3) clarify whether permitted uses in Appendix E require site-plan review, and (4) add state definitions for undefined zoning terms.

Planning board members said the first amendment would add a sentence stating that “any lot which legally existed as of 03/12/2024 may be developed without complying with the 5 acre minimum lot size,” language intended to clarify whether lots between two and five acres that already existed before last year would be subject to the new five-acre minimum. The board agreed to change the wording to read that such lots “do not have to comply with” the five-acre minimum and to check the precise legal phrasing with counsel.

Resident…