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Planning board advances master plan edits, maps and implementation tasks; approves consultant spending cap
Summary
Planning board members debated map accuracy, workforce housing overlays, a missing capital improvement program and other master-plan content. The board approved up to $7,500 to proceed with consultant work and agreed to send the draft and appendices to town counsel and SRPC for review.
The Planning Board spent the bulk of its meeting reviewing the draft master plan and ordering further work on maps, appendices and implementation steps.
Marshall Goldberg, Planning Board member, summarized the draft and the board’s outstanding questions about map intent. Members debated whether the land‑use map should show current conditions or a future vision. Goldberg noted the map’s title and content dated from 2006 and recommended removing dated proposals that are not intended policies.
Board members asked SRPC to provide clearer road maps and a separate workforce‑housing overlay. Goldberg said the workforce overlay “is going to be a 500 foot buffer around those” and recommended placing the overlay on a separate map to avoid clutter. Members asked SRPC for larger paper prints and clarified that SRPC should supply maps the board already pays for when possible.
The board discussed several content edits: delete or shorten a detailed description of a state representative’s remarks, add language encouraging home‑based businesses, and relocate economic‑development text into the land‑use section. Members noted the town lacks a current capital improvement program (CIP) and agreed references to a CIP should indicate that it is not in place now.
On historic resources, the board asked the Heritage Commission to supply an index of historic assets for an appendix rather than the main body. The board also requested SRPC or staff identify state‑owned parcels on plan maps and consider adding town‑owned parcels for clarity.
The board approved payment to SRPC/consultants not to exceed $7,500 to continue work on the plan and related tasks. Marshall Goldberg summarized prior budgets and said earlier years had higher totals; the motion carried with voice vote (see Votes at a glance).
Members asked staff to pursue parcel and ownership data from the AGS/GIS system and to ask SRPC for larger-size map prints. They also asked that the draft and appendices be sent to town counsel Laura for review for consistency with New Hampshire statutes (RSAs) and to SRPC for technical checks.
Several implementation items remain unresolved: whether to pursue an impact‑fee policy tied to a CIP, how to handle recreational uses (noting conditional‑use requirements for snowmobiling and camping), and whether to require proof of driveway access for ADUs and new dwellings built on Class 6 roads. The board discussed drafting warrant articles for November/January on zoning changes—one member proposed reducing minimum lot size to two acres along Governors Road and Route 109 as a separate warrant item.
The board asked staff to produce a consolidated, version‑controlled draft for the next meeting and to circulate proposed ordinance language for any zoning warrant articles well before January so counsel can review.
