Belgrade planning board tables subdivision sketch for 970 Manchester Road pending deed and survey records

The Town of Belgrade Planning Board on June 18 heard a site-sketch application from Peter Dion for a potential subdivision at 970 Manchester Road (Map 2, Lot 4A). Dion said he wanted to "make a clean break" in property lines to separate a roughly 6.78-acre parcel from a larger holding and that "it's my first time going through this." Staff and board members asked him to provide definitive registry-of-deeds records and the surveyor's registration number before the board proceeds.

The central legal question was whether an earlier lot split around 2022 counts toward the ordinance's five-year test for counting preexisting divisions. Hans Musen (CEO/staff) and board members explained that if Lot 4 was created or altered within five years of the current filing, the proposed division would be treated as part of the same subdivision and could require major-subdivision review — a more involved process than the site-sketch stage. The board noted the application forms lacked a clear surveyor registration number and contained inconsistent acreage totals that the applicant agreed to correct.

Because the deed and registry dates are material to whether the town must treat the filing as a major subdivision, the board voted to table the application and asked Dion to return with registry-of-deeds evidence and an updated survey. The board also encouraged him to begin the three-stage process (site sketch, preliminary application, final application) while the record search is completed. No final determination on the subdivision status was made at the meeting.