TOWN OF WALPOLE

PLANNING BOARD MEETING

MAY 13, 2014

Presiding:        Jeffrey Miller (Chair), Robert Miller (Vice-Chair), James Aldrich (Secretary), Kelley Hicks, Dennis Marcom, Jason Perron, Chas Street (Selectboard Representative)

Alternates:      Ed Potter, Jeff White

Recording:      Regina Borden, Recording Secretary

These Minutes are unapproved and will be reviewed at the June 10, 2014, meeting for corrections, additions and/or omissions.  There were eleven people in attendance.

Meeting Opened:  Mr. J. Miller, Chair, called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM in the Walpole Town Hall.  He advised that meetings are tape recorded therefore asked anyone who wishes to speak to identify themselves.

Roll Call:  Mr. J. Miller noted that a full Board was present therefore there was no need to call upon the alternate members.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING ON April 8, 2014, and Workshop Session on April 22, 2014:  Mr. Perron moved to approve the Minutes of the regular Planning Board (PB) meeting on April 8, 2014, and the Workshop Session on April 22, 2014, as printed.  Seconded by Mr. Aldrich.  With all members in favor, the minutes were approved.

PUBLIC HEARINGS:

Mr. J. Miller called this Public Hearing to order at 7:04 PM.  He advised that the application was received, fees were paid, it was duly posted, published in the Keene Sentinel and abutters were notified.

Hodgkins & Sons, Inc. – Lot Line Adjustment:  Lot Line Adjustment of one 13.88 acre lot into two lots of 6.88 acres and 7.00 acres.  Town Tax Map #001, Lot #010.  This is in the Industrial Zoning District.

Mr. John Hodgkins advised that Mr. Ruggiero owns the property to the north and has expressed an interest in purchasing a portion of their property so they want to move the boundary line to enlarge the Ruggiero lot by 7 acres leaving Hodgkins & Sons, Inc. with a 6.88 acre lot of their existing 13.88 parcel.  They will keep the required road frontage for their lot for a possible future sale.

Mr. Aldrich moved to accept this application as complete.  Seconded by Mr. Marcom.  With all members in favor, the motion was approved.

Mrs. Patricia Rodriguez questioned why Ruggiero wants to purchase this land.  Mr. Hodgkins assumes it is to expand his business.  After the lot is purchased it will be up to Mr. Ruggiero to come before the PB with any future building plans.  Mr. J. Miller pointed out that any future expansion would require a Site Plan so there would be another Public Hearing and abutters will be notified.  Mrs. Rodriguez looked at the map last week.  She mentioned there is a monument that she believes should be on the survey and questioned why it was not.  There is excavation right up to the end of the bridge abutment.  It looks like the railing is falling down and the soil is falling in; that should be taken care of before they do any subdividing.  Mr. Hodgkins said every year there is a pit inspection with the Town, they have records, the State was involved for their Excavating Permits for which they were grandfathered in.  They are no longer excavating in there as it is more of a holding area now.  There is one hole they will have to fill in before they can sell.  They are regulated by the State and Town.  Mr. J. Miller noted that they have to comply with the State and Town regulations as far as the excavation is concerned.  Mr. Hodgkins responded they do have to comply.

Mr. Chuck Redfern from Keene asked where the rail bed goes on the plan.  Mr. Hodgkins pointed out the location.  The railroad is an abutter.  Mr. Redferm asked if it was being touched by this project.  Mr. Hodgkins said “no” and neither are the bridges; they are historic.  They will not be impacting the rail bed at all.  They are just going to sell the land.

There being no other comments, Mr. J. Miller closed this Public Hearing at 7:16 PM.

Mr. J. Miller called this Public Hearing to order at 7:17 PM.  He advised that the application was received, fees were paid, it was duly posted, published in the Keene Sentinel and abutters were notified.

532 Main Street, LLC – Site Plan Review:  Improvements to front of building.  Take down the existing bays in front of Valley Tire Service and move them to the back of the building.  Town Tax Map #012, Lot #014.  This is in the Commercial / Industrial Zoning District.

Attorney Robert Kasper, representing 532 Main Street, LLC, advised that they are proposing some changes to the existing building.  Right now the Walpole Valley Tire Service has three bays in the front.  The idea is to try to improve the appearance of the building by taking the bays and moving them to the rear of the building.  There will be a door so they can get into the tire changing room.  Attorney Kasper went before the Zoning Board last month as they are trying to improve the signage out front.  Currently they have existing signs of 19’ x 14’ each that do not match.  They are proposing, and it was approved by the Zoning Board, to replace those signs with 8’ x 3’ signs and put them in between the poles; they will all match in color.  There will be letters across the front of the building for each business.  Mr. Marcom asked if there will be enough room with the proposed structure for emergency vehicles to have access.  Attorney Kasper said there will be enough room as they have to get trucks / vehicles around the building.  Mr. Jack Franks mentioned the stacked tires.  Attorney Kasper said right now they are stacked on the side but they will be putting them in an enclosed area.

Mr. Aldrich moved to accept this application as complete.  Seconded by Mr. R. Miller.  With all members in favor, the motion was approved.

There being no other comments, Mr. J. Miller closed this Public Hearing at 7:22 PM.

Hodgkins & Sons, Inc.:  Mr. Aldrich moved to grant final approval to Hodgkins & Sons, Inc. for a Lot Line Adjustment, as submitted.  Seconded by Mr. Marcom.  With all members in favor, the motion was approved.

532 Main Street, LLC:  Mr. Aldrich moved to grant final approval to 532 Main Street for a Site Plan Review, as submitted.   Seconded by Ms. Hicks.  With all members in favor, the motion was approved.

NEW BUSINESS:

STEVE GUILD:  North Meadow Plaza – Site Plan Review – Addition onto back of store.  David Zhang, Staff Engineer with Engineering Ventures, PC, was representing J.R. Development, LLC.  They are proposing to add a 2,030 square feet building to be used as cold dry storage behind the existing building.  He displayed the location on the plan.  This expansion will be behind the existing NH State Liquor Store and Used Furniture Store.  It will be 70’ x 29’; there will be metal roof.  It will be up against the existing building, will have the same height elevation and will pitch down to 9’.  There will be an over-head door for loading.  It will be used by a future tenant undetermined at this point.  Mr. White asked if this will go from the corner where the Liquor Store is down toward the open dumpster.  Mr. Zhang said they will have to re-locate the dumpsters.  It will not be touching the Ocean State Job Lots portion of the building.  Mr. R. Miller asked about a rear exit.  Mr. Zhang said currently the store is being occupied by one tenant; they will be adding a new metal door as a rear exit and keeping the same existing egresses in the front of the building.  They will make sure they are in compliance with the fire code.

Mr. Street asked about the color of the new metal roof as it is facing a residential neighborhood.  Mr. Zhang explained they are looking to conform with the color of the existing building; a similar color of tan / brown.  Mrs. Mansouri asked about the tractor-trailers that are outside.  Mr. Zhang said they are working that out with the OSJL people now.  This building will not be touching where the trucks are always parked.  The trucks are actually about 25-feet on the J.R. Development property.  This addition will not be affecting their operation.  Mr. White said the only other trailer that is sitting there year-round is to the southeast; it is an old UPS truck sitting on blocks that is closest to the ball field.

Mr. Aldrich moved to schedule a Public Hearing for the June 10, 2014, Planning Board meeting.  Seconded by Mr. R. Miller.  With all members in favor, the motion was approved.

JACK FRANKS:  Up-date on Projects:  Mr. Franks, Avanru Development, submitted a letter for the record that he read at this meeting.  Regarding the November 12, 2010, PB meeting, Mr. Franks pointed out that in Section 6 of the Procedures it states that the applicant will be notified by certified mail of approval / disapproval of the Site Plan.  He recently came in and got a letter from Mrs. Borden but it was not certified.  Mrs. Borden explained that confirmation letters are not sent by certified mail.  In Section 13 it states the applicant is receiving a Site Plan Agreement but he never received that.  Mr. J. Miller pointed out that there were no conditions set forth so they are all set.  Mr. Franks wanted to let the PB know that the project is moving forward.  There will be some excavation done to prep the site later this week.  He has some items to take care of with the Selectboard; he should have answers for them this week.  He has also been working on a project with two different companies to work on lots #1 and #2.  He cannot discuss it at this time but it will be an asset to the Town and would create many jobs.  Mr. Street spoke about the conditions on the Building Permit.  Fire Chief Hurlburt would like certain things addressed; he submitted a list to the Selectboard.  Mr. Franks is working diligently to answer those questions.  They are still waiting for details on the life safety alarm system.

HAL WILKINS and CINDY WESTOVER:  Cindy Westover is representing Alan Johnson of R.N. Johnson and Mr. Wilkins represents Teragram Properties, LLC who is interested in purchasing approximately four acres of this property.  They discovered there are two Deeds in the park; one Deed is from Marie Quinlar.  On the plan she explained the proposal to move one line over to create four acres.  The applicants propose to adjust the boundary line between Lot #2 and Lot #3 and annex 1.56 acres of Lot #2 to Lot #3, creating a single continuous 4.0 acre lot of record (Lot #3 = 4.0 acres). She questioned if it is a Boundary Line Adjustment because they are making two lots into one lot or is it a Subdivision.  Building #10 is right in the middle so they are taking down building #10 plus buildings #11 and #9; that is the 20-feet between both buildings.  Teragram Properties has agreed to take them down and after they are taken down they will fill in the sides so it looks like they are the end of the building on both sides. Mr. J. Miller advised it would be a Boundary Line Adjustment but they have to be sure they meet the set-backs because they are not creating another lot.  Mr. Wilkins noted that they are actually eliminating one lot.  Mrs. Westover asked if a Boundary Line Adjustment can be done at this meeting or do they have to notify all the abutters.  Mr. J. Miller explained that either way the abutters need to be notified of a Public Hearing.  Before the PB can sign off on the plan the adjustments to the buildings will have to be done.  Mr. Wilkins noted that the critical matter is the time the actual demolition is done.  They would request that a slot 42-feet wide (3 bays) will be eliminated so they have the two 20-foot required side line set-backs for both the center parcel Lot #2 and southern parcel Lot #3.   They would like to postpone the actual demolition because there are still a lot of items in there and the present owner will need time to get them out.  Mr. J. Miller explained that the PB cannot sign the Subdivision because it is non-conforming.  Mrs. Westover asked if it can be approved subject to completion by a certain date.  Mr. J. Miller explained that to purchase it it has to be a lot of record which means they have to sign off but technically they cannot because it is non-conforming.  He does not feel that anybody objects to what they want to do but the PB cannot do it as presented.  Mrs. Westover said the proposed owners want to own it before they expend the money.  Mr. J. Miller said it can be a condition of the sale between the parties involved not necessarily the PB.  Mr. R. Miller stated the burden should not be on the PB to make set-backs.  Mr. Wilkins said there is not much time between now and the closing to eliminate three bays.  They are not asking for a Variance but just an extension of performance.  The owner does not want to tear them down until there is a closing and the buyer cannot tear them down until he owns them.  Mr. J. Miller recommended the PB set the Public Hearing for next month.  In the meantime he will contact Attorney Jeremy Hockensmith, Town Attorney, to explain the dilemma and have him provide a legal opinion.

Mr. Aldrich moved to schedule a Public Hearing for the June 10, 2014, PB meeting.  Seconded by Ms. Hicks.  With all members in favor, the motion was approved.

OLD BUSINESS:

EXCAVATION TAX and RSA 72-B – Proposed Draft For The Site Plan Review:  Mr. J. Miller handed out a draft for the Excavation Tax and RSA 72-B.  The members were asked to review it and then set a date for a Public Hearing during their June meeting.

PLANNING BOARD WORKSHOP:

Workshop Session – Reminder:  There will be a Workshop Session on Tuesday, May 27, 2014, at 7:00 PM in the Walpole Town Hall Downstairs Office.

ADJOURN MEETING:

Mr. Aldrich moved to adjourn this meeting.  Seconded by Mr. Marcom.  With all members in favor, the motion was approved.  The time was 7:58 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Regina Borden, Recording Secretary