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Planning board votes to send draft comprehensive plan to state for review
Summary
The planning board voted by voice to forward a draft comprehensive plan to the state for preliminary review after staff outlined required steps, public outreach and concerns over water availability, density and school capacity; the board approved the motion without recorded roll-call tallies.
The planning board voted Monday to forward the town's draft comprehensive plan to the state for preliminary review and comment.
Megan Gossett, a member involved in drafting the plan, told the board the town's current comprehensive plan dates from 2003 and "we are overdue for an update." She outlined the plan's chapter structure and said the town solicited public input through a survey and workshops in September 2023 and May 2024. Gossett said a consultant was hired to prepare the draft and staff recommended the planning board authorize submittal to the state for its preliminary review.
The presenter summarized the approval steps the town must follow before adoption: post the draft publicly, provide copies at town facilities, advertise and hold at least one public hearing (the planning board and the town council may hold joint or separate hearings), solicit written and oral comments for the required notice period, review and address state comments, and then submit a formal recommendation to the town council.
Board members pressed staff on several practical issues. A member raised water-supply constraints, saying at times "the water flows pretty weak" in parts of town; Gossett said the draft adds language documenting water availability and that some areas are better suited to higher density than others. Members also asked about school capacity; a board member said classrooms "are…no more room," and Gossett said the schools topic is addressed in the plan but did not provide exact capacity figures on the record.
Gossett also described an area of potential disagreement with the state: the transcript shows the state's 2025 land-use plan identifies Lincoln within an urban service boundary with lot-area and density expectations for properties on water and sewer. She said the town revised its draft to document locally preferred densities and to note where town-approved projects have exceeded state-recommended densities.
Member Riley moved that the planning board forward the draft comprehensive plan to the state for preliminary review; the motion was seconded and approved by voice vote. The board recorded the motion and approval on the record but did not record numerical vote tallies. The presenter said staff and the consultant (identified in the record as Weston and Sampson) will receive state comments, which typically take a few months to arrive, and staff will return to the board to address comments before final council action.
Votes at a glance: The board approved (by voice vote, tally not recorded) dispensing with the reading of the June 25, 2024 minutes; approved a motion to accept a submitted bid described in the record; and approved forwarding the draft comprehensive plan to the state for preliminary review.
Next steps: staff will submit the draft to the state for preliminary review and then return the plan, with responses to state comments, for the planning board's recommendation to the town council. The record indicates the state review process typically takes a few months; depending on the review and any needed resubmissions, final adoption could extend into 2026.
