The Milford Planning Board on July 15 approved sending proposed revisions to the town’s development regulations to a public hearing after staff and board members worked through formatting, enforcement and substantive edits.
The board’s motion, made by Peter Besselier and seconded by Tina Filbrick, directed staff to incorporate the changes discussed at the meeting and publish notice for a public hearing; the motion passed unanimously.
Key substantive points discussed:
- Parking substitutions and enforcement: The draft included an allowance for municipal or privately owned off-site parking to meet on-site requirements. Board members removed the word “leased” from the text to avoid creating a requirement that developers provide a lease document for third-party spaces. Staff and members agreed municipal lots would remain available as an alternative and that enforcement would be complaint-driven. “If someone’s coming in and saying, my neighbor is letting me park there, then we'd say, well, do you have a letter from your neighbor,” a member said; the board left enforcement as complaint-based rather than establishing continuous monitoring.
- ADUs: Members discussed accessory dwelling units at length. The current local cap is 750 square feet; the board noted state legislation may allow larger ADUs. Staff and a consultant reference suggested ranges from 950 to 1,200 square feet for local consideration. Members asked staff to prepare the draft with current local language while noting the possibility of rapid state changes so the board can adopt administrative revisions later if needed.
- Stormwater threshold and terminology: The board noted the draft should consistently reference the town’s “stormwater management ordinance” and that thresholds in state guidance increase regulated disturbance from 5,000 square feet to roughly one acre (43,560 square feet). Several references to older “erosion control” language will be updated to the ordinance title for consistency.
- Escrow accounting and staff time: Board members directed staff to add language stating applicants will receive an accounting of all funds held in escrow for third-party reviews and town staff time; members discussed whether the accounting should be automatic at project close or provided upon request, and agreed to add language requiring an accounting upon completion of the work so applicants can see how fees were used.
Other edits discussed included small formatting fixes, page-number consistency and clarifying references to RSA citations in the definitions section. Town planner Terry Dolan and Director of Community Development Camille Patterson said staff will update the redline and schedule the public hearing for Aug. 19, 2025.