Walpole Planning Board

Walpole Town Hall

July 14, 2015 Minutes

Presiding Members: Jeff Miller (Chair), Robert Miller (Vice-Chair), James Aldrich (Secretary), Kelley Hicks, Steve Dalessio (Selectboard Representative), Jason Perron. Alternate: Jeff White.  Absent:  Dennis Marcom, Member. Alternate Ed Potter.

Recording: These minutes are unapproved and will be reviewed at the August 2015, meeting for corrections, additions and/or omissions.

Meeting Opened: Mr. J. Miller called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m.

Roll Call: One board member was absent so Mr. J. Miller asked Alternate Jeff White to sit in his place.

Minutes: Ms. Kelley Hicks made a motion to accept the minutes as written. The motion was seconded and passed by the board.

New business:

            Request for a Public Hearing for a Site Plan Review – Commonwealth Construction LLC.   Renovate one building. Construct another approximately 7,000 square-foot building. Both on the former LaValley property in North Walpole. Map 27, Lot 3. Zoned Industrial. Yobhel Brosseau Manager.

Mr. Brosseau said there is already a millwork facility in one building on the property. That will remain.

The plans were to renovate an existing open L-shaped structure into a heated and unheated warehouse space. The building would be closed in.

Phase two is the erection of a pre-engineered single-story metal building approximately 7,000 square feet for production space, office and support space. This building will be used for the manufacture of  USDA certified organic personal care products. This building would be placed in the front right corner of the of the property.

Mr. J. Miller asked how many people would be employed. Mr. Brosseau said he wasn’t exactly sure yet, but probably under 10.

Mr. Brosseau said there would be no new driveways, no change as far as drainage because the whole piece is paved. The chain-link fence would be removed making it more aesthetically pleasing.

Mr. Brosseau spoke with Mr. Mark Houghton, water superintendent, who told him Route 12 was being repaved so any utility hookup could go under the road. But Brosseau’s site engineer suggested cropping the property so there wouldn’t be a need to dig under Route 12.

Mr. Dalessio wanted to know the square footage of all the buildings – the existing ones plus the one that will be built. Mr. Brosseau wasn’t sure but he said he could figure out if the board gave him a few minutes. Mr. Dalessio asked if it would be more than 40,000 square feet. Mr. Brosseau said he didn’t think so.

Mr. Brosseau said he was following regulations that stated one-third of the property had to be free space. The frontage and setbacks follow Planning Board guidelines. There will be no retail sales.

After being asked about the number of employees at the millwork building, Mr. Brosseau said six. The millwork area is where it says “Proposed Addition” on the map. In back of that is warehouse space.

Mr. Dalessio asked if he had talked to the fire chief in North Walpole regarding sprinklers and other matters. Mr. Brosseau said the fire chief walked him through the requirements. He plans on putting in a modern sprinkler system and all the things the fire chief said needed to be done.

Mr. Dalessio asked if the board needed anything from the North Walpole Zoning Board. Mr. J. Miller said that this comes under commercial and therefore is handled by this board. He asked that out of courtesy a legal notice be sent to the North Walpole Commissioners.

Mr. R. Miller asked in what district the property was in. Mr. Brosseau said Industrial. Then he read from the handbook which clarified the purposes of an Industrial District.

Mr. J. Miller made a motion to hold a Public Hearing next month. The motion was seconded and approved unanimously by the board.

            Request for a Public hearing for a Site Plan Review – SVE Associates or Ruggerio a solid waste business located in the Industrial Park. The company has already built a pole barn without a building permit or site review plan. It also wants to add a concrete slab which will be a scale to weigh trucks, a business office and another pole barn.

Mr. Robert Hitchcock of SVE Associates did a survey for Mr. Joe Ruggerio, also at the meeting and who  had a company that collected demolition debris at its facility on Industrial Park Road.  Mr. Ruggerio said he thought because a pole barn was not a permanent structure and not on a foundation, he didn’t need to go to the Planning Board for permission.

Mr. Hitchcock said since Wheelabrator closed in Claremont, Ruggerio’s company had to travel farther to get rid of the waste and that make it more expensive. The company applied for and received a permit from DES to haul MSW or Municipal Solid Waste, which Mr. Hitchcock described as household waste. Mr. Ruggerio said he brings in the MSW, repacks it into larger dumpsters and then hauls it away to Berlin or whatever place he can.

Mr. James Aldrich asked if the containers had to be on an impervious surface. Mr. Hitchcock said not according to DES rules. That’s the reason why the pole barn was built, Mr. Ruggerio said,  was so containers with MSW could be under cover in the pole barn until being moved out. He said that’s why he wants to build another one.

Mr. Aldrich asked how long the containers stayed at the Industrial Park. Mr. Ruggerio replied a couple of days, typically 72 hours. He added that all the loads have tarps over them. Right now we’re bringing in a couple of 100 “yarders” a week, so the trash that’s coming in is rotating every couple of days.

Mr. Aldrich asked how much of this trash is generated in the town of Walpole. Mr. Ruggerio replied that right now the company has about one-third of the trash it collects is New Hampshire trash. The rest comes from from Vermont and Massachusetts.

Ruggerio continued and said when he set up operations in Walpole, he was a Vermont operation handling about 3 to 5 percent of New Hampshire trash. In the last three years, this has changed. There’s a lot of opportunity and  has contracts with several neighboring towns – Acworth, Gilsum etc.

In this area there are only a couple of haulers – Waste Management and Casella and the only places you can dump now are owned by WM and Casella in Newport. They charge a premium. Mr. J.  Miller said so you offer an alternative to these  larger haulers. Mr. Ruggerio agreed.

Then Mr. Aldrich asked how far the facility was from Houghton Brook. Mr. Ruggerio didn’t know but said there was a large berm there. Mr. Aldrich said the Brook has had several washouts when there’s heavy rain.

The board voted to hold a Public Hearing next month. Mr. J. Miller asked him to make sure he brought to the meeting things that concern the new definition of waste, runoff, lighting and safety lighting.

Mr. Dalessio suggested that he read the new Wellhead Protection Ordinance.

Respectfully submitted,

Marilou Blaine, secretary