Regretfully, the incorrect minutes were previously posted as being the December ones. These are the ones you have been awaiting and we apologize for the mistake. – Lil

December 12, 2023

Town Hall

7 pm

Present: Board members Chair Jeff Miller, Vice-Chair Dennis Marcom, Clerk Jason Perron, Jeff Harrison, Joanna Andros, Trevor MacLachlan, Select Board Representative Steve Dalessio. Alternate: Bill Carmody. Absent: Alternate Travis Adams.

In addition to Dunkin’s presentation team, there were about 25 residents at the meeting.

Minutes: Review of November 2023 minutes. Mr. MacLachlan made one correction on page 2 in the section on building on Class VI roads. Change RON to IRON. Mr. Marcom made a motion to accept the minutes as amended. Mr. Perron seconded the motion and the motion carried. 

Call to Order: Chair Jeff Miller called the meeting to order at 7 pm. There was a full board present so an alternate was not needed to fill in. 

Old Business:

Public Hearing continues from October meeting. Site Plan: NGP Management LLC/Walpole Properties, LLC, Tax Map 12, Lot 56, Commercial district, proposes 1815 square-foot Dunkin coffee shop with drive-thru at intersection of Route 12 and Upper Walpole Road. 

Present from TFMoran, the company which is facilitating the building of the proposed Dunkin, were NGP applicant Jim Clifford, architect George Delegas, Attorney Eli Leino of Bernstein & Shur in Manchester and presenter Jason Hill PE.

Tonight’s meeting was mainly about the discussion and concerns of the Board made at the October 10, 2023 Planning Board meeting, which were about traffic. Mr. Leino said the Board received explanations and copies of diagrams explaining Dunkin’s responses to the Board’s concerns. The explanations show different sites, mainly around Manchester that he said had twice the volume of traffic as Walpole and with no signage, showing similar Dunkins with similar situations. He also said there are no Dunkin establishments that have parking for trucks. There were a couple of photographs of Dunkins showing where there is considerable truck traffic. One photograph was of traffic on West Hollis Street in Nashua. The caption says “Located off Route 3, West Hollis is a high traffic street connecting the highway to downtown Nashua. The site is small and there is no accommodation for trucks. The store does a high volume of sales and has no issues with trucks.” Mr. Clifford repeated that there are no Dunkin establishments that have parking for trucks. Considering truck parking, Mr. Hill stated that parking along Route 12 is unsafe because of the limited amount of space and the soft shoulder of the road.

Regarding cut-thru traffic between Upper Walpole Road and Route 12, the applicant agrees to install “No Thru Traffic” signage on the property. However, Mr. Hill said it has been Dunkin’s experience that this is not a problem at other Dunkins and to his knowledge it doesn’t happen that often. Mr. Hill showed a property on Beech Street in Manchester. The site is similar to the Walpole site in that the property is at an intersection. According to his written notes, Mr. Hill says “We have also enclosed a map of the Beech Street, Manchester, NH store. This store is at a high traffic intersection with substantial volume backing up at the light during the day. Traffic cutting through this property has never been a significant issue,” he wrote.       

Regarding the issue of sight distance of cars coming from the south on Route 12, Mr. Hill provided three photographs, two coming from the south and one from the north on Route 12, showing that a car at the entrance to the proposed Dunkin can be seen from a distance of 500 feet away. He said that was well within the required distance of 325 feet. Another photo confirmed that vegetation along the right side of the highway going towards Upper Walpole Road could be a problem for drivers turning south if mowing is not maintained. That’s up to the NHDOT maintenance which is responsible for mowing, he said. 

What the board was also waiting for was traffic mitigation from NHDOT. Mr. Leino said the department is swamped and Mr. Hill said it could be March before an official letter is received.

Mr. Miller mention another of his concern –  traffic queuing on the east side of the road while waiting to enter Dunkin because there are too many cars in the queue. Mr. Hill said there was room for a queue of 13 cars from the entrance to the menu board and room for another five cars from the menu board to the window for service. That’s a queue of 18 cars Mr. Hill said and he couldn’t anticipate any time it would back up into the shoulder on the east side of Route 12. Mr. Miller wasn’t so sure of this. 

Mr. Hill, Mr. Leino and Mr. Clifford all asked if there couldn’t be conditional approval of the site plan dependent on the ruling from NHDOT. It is not Dunkin holding up final approval of the project. It’s NHDOT. Their hands are tied. It is a slow process. During the time they were waiting for approval, there are things that they could be working on regarding the proposed building and site.

Mr. Dalessio reminded Mr. Hill that he still had to get a letter regarding safety as well as water and sewer conditions from Mark Houghton, water and sewer manager as well as Walpole’s fire chief. Mr. Hill said he has already had some discussions with Mr. Houghton and would follow up on a letter.

So, what to do? Mr. Perron said the only thing holding this up was approval from DOT. Mr. Marcom made a motion to approve the Dunkin proposal on condition that the project gets approval from NHDOT. Mr. Harrington seconded the motion. 

Mr. Miller explained why he was not in favor of the project. He described what he sees every morning at the current Dunkin at the Jiffy Mart while driving his grandson to school. At 8:30 in the morning traffic is backed up to the front of the building. He also had concerns about this Dunkin being directly across from Diamond Pizza and the amount of traffic in and out of that their driveway. He didn’t think it was a good place to have another driveway cut on Route 12. He was convinced it was a place where there was a serious traffic accident waiting to happen. In good conscious he was against the project, he said.

A vote was taken on approval of the site plan with the condition that the traffic pattern be approved by NHDOT. The vote was five yes votes and two no votes. Mr. Marcom, Mr. Perron, Mr. Harrington, Mr. MacLachlan and Ms. Andros voted yes. Mr. Miller and Mr. Dalessio voted no. Also a recent email letter from Mark Houghton about water and sewer “requires a valid easement on the 6” water main that traverses this property from west to east in the new deed – is a requirement before construction begins.” 

Public Hearing for Site Plan: Alyson’s Orchard: Adam Naeck proposed an addition to the farm store and seven clamping sites. Tax Map 4, Lot 44, 57 Alyson’s Lane, Commercial/Industrial district.

Mr. Naeck introduced himself. He had a photograph of the location on the Alyson’s Orchard property where he was planning on putting up to seven glamping sites and add a post-and-beam two-story building to the farm store. He said there was already an apartment above the store. He explained that the word “glamping” stands for glorified camping. The glamping sites would be around Lily Pond, which is on top of the road, the entrance to the orchard from Wentworth Road. He already has three glamping sites established. The tents, which are water and fire proof come from Colorado. The tents are 16-feet-by 20-feet and 16-feet-by-24-feet, The larger tent can accommodate two queen beds and a couch. Inside are wash stations and a microwave. Outside are port-o-potties and grills for cooking. There is also a bathroom with a shower about two minutes away in the northern section of the farm store for use only by glampers.  Down the line, he said, he will be adding another septic system specifically for the glampers but it is sufficient for now. However, he said, this is orchard property and he has no intention of creating a campground. Parking for campers is not a problem, he said. There is room around each tent for two or three cars.

The addition to the store of 40-feet-by-56-feet with the second story being a loft in one portion. He plans to sell farm products, have a bakery in the current section and maybe a place to hold birthday parties for kids. 

Mr. Miller reminded the public that this was a public hearing for only the seven glamping sites and the addition to the form store. Any other projects, such as a tree house which he mentioned, he must come back to the Planning Board. Mr. Naeck agreed.

Mr. Dalessio said since it’s a site plan it should have a lighting plan, a parking plan and a landscaping plan. Mr. Naeck was asked if he could get that together for the January meeting. Mr. Naeck said that right now he was focusing on the orchard and was withdrawing the project.

Mr. Miller asked for a motion to adjourn. A motion was made to adjourn by Mr. Marcom, seconded by Mr. Harrington and the rest of the board agreed. 

These minutes are unapproved and will review next month for omissions, corrections and/or additions.

Respectfully submitted,

Marilou Blaine

WPB recording secretary

cc: WPB, ZBA, Town Offices, The Walpolean.

Posted: Inside the Town Offices, on the bulletin board outside the Post Office, http://www.walpolenh.us

​