WALPOLE PLANNING BOARD MINUTES

NOVEMBER 12, 2024

Town Hall

7 pm

Roll Call: Present: Board Members Chair Jeff Miller, Vice-Chair Dennis Marcom, Clerk Jason Perron, Jeff Harrington, Trevor MacLachlan, Select Board Representative Steve Dalessio. Alternates Travis Adams and Bill Carmody. Absent: Joanna Andros.

Call to order: Mr. Miller called the meeting to order at 7 pm. He asked alternate Bill Carmody to fill for the absent board member. Mr. Carmody agreed.

MINUTES of October 2024 and Joint October 2024 meeting. Mr. Perron made a motion to approved the minutes of both the regular and joint meetings as presented. Mr. Harrington seconded the motion and the motion carried.

OLD BUSINESS:

Public Hearing No. 1. The Planning Board has drafted a zoning amendment to be placed on the town warrant that excludes formula businesses in the commercial district, Section 6, of Downtown Walpole Village, Article VI. Formula businesses include retail sales and restaurants regulated by contractual or other arrangements. Certain standardized features may include uniforms, logos, interior or exterior design, array of services or merchandise, menus, ingredients and food preparation. 

Copies of the amendment were made available for the public. Two members of the audience handed them out. Mr. Harrington was instrumental in the writing of this document and said that this amendment is typical of articles about formula businesses. This one is similar to a zoning article in the town of Jaffrey. Mr. Harrington mentioned that this pertains to business that are the same as 15 or more such establishments.

Another question was about where if Section 6. Mr. Miller explained that Section 6 of “downtown” Is the Commercial Zoning District. It includes some sections of Main Street, starting with where Mr. Rob Kasper’s former law office is. Then the district turns left onto to High Street and then right on School Street. There’s an imaginary line that comes down from about the middle of School Street, across Main Street to Middle Street. At the end of Middle Street, turn right onto Washington Street where the Congregational Church is, left onto Westminster Street, right on Elm Street and then finally back up to Main Street.

One gentleman asked about the gas station in the village  – Irving. Irving probably has more than 15 gas stations. Mr. Miller said it will affect only retail businesses and restaurants, not other business such as gas stations, insurance offices, banks, etc. Also, the new amendment will not affect existing businesses. The same man then asked what about a business that transfers ownership. Mr. Miller didn’t think it was relevant but he did say he would check with town counsel, Jeremy Hockensmith.

The board is considering further information on formula businesses. The public hearing on the zoning  amendment will continue at the December meeting. 

Public Hearing No. 2. Elm and Pleasant LLC propose a Lot Line Adjustment for property at the corner of Pleasant and Elm Streets, Town Map 20, Lot 32 and Town Map 22, Lot 3 in the Residential B District. Wendy Pelletier of Cardinal Surveying & Land Planning explained the plan.

The two parcels of land are bordered by Main Street, Pleasant Street and Route 12. After the boundary line adjustment, the parcel with the apartment on it will be 1.3 acres and the adjacent field would be 18 acres. This is a loss of 7 acres for the apartment parcel and a gain of 7 acres for the field parcel. Road frontage on Pleasant Street is 236.93 feet, 680 feet on Route 12 and 460 feet on Main Street. Entrance to the field is between Lowell Bauer’s property and the western boundary of Lot 1.

There being no questions from the public a motion was made by Mr. Perron to approve the boundary line adjustment as presented. The motion was seconded by Mr. MacLachlan and the motion carried.

Public Hearing No. 2. John McKee Pratt Revocable Trust proposes a subdivision on Reservoir Road, rural/ag district, Tax Map 11, Lot No. 1 There are three lots. Two lots are building lots and the one in the middle between the two building lots is an Agricultural Easement for the benefit of Lot 1. 

Surveyor Joe DiBernardo presented this subdivision to the public. He said that the property is at the end of Reservoir Road and was originally a 40-plus acre lot. Lot No. 1 has a barn and a shed on it. It will now be 26.07 acres and the driveway will in corner near the property line of the property expected to have an agricultural easement on it. That section of road is Class V, but the Class V road ends a short distance from the end of the house across the street. That Class V road turns into a Class VI road and eventually goes to property under the care of the Monadnock Conservancy. The second lot is 15.44 acres and has 200 feet of road frontage on Reservoir Road. The driveway to Lot 2 is next to the lot with the agricultural easement. It has a right of way over adjacent land owned by Barbara Laroche Revocable Trust. In between Lot 1 and Lot 2 on Reservoir Road is a 2.2 acre lot that is an agricultural easement to benefit Lot No. 1. 

A question was asked if any land was in current use and, if so,  what happens to it when the land is sold. To put land in current use a landowner must have a minimum of 10 acres. The answer is that the land in current use is simply transferred to the new owner along with the rest of the parcel.

There being no further questions from the public, Mr. Miller closed the public hearing. Mr. Perron made a motion to approve this subdivision as presented. Mr. Harrington seconded the motion and the motion carried unanimously.

NEW BUSINESS:

Ball Park Realty, LLC, at 418 Main Street propose subdivision of lot into four lots. Commercial District. Total parcel is 9.3 acres.

Robert Duval, an engineer for TF Moran, Inc., presented the proposal and asked for a public hearing in December.

Mr. Duval said that the proposal for the property is that it will be divided into four parcels. The southern most parcel, Lot No. 1, is for the Dunkin coffee shop. The lot size is 1.73 acres with road frontage on Main Street or Route 12 of 806.2 feet. It has a driveway coming off of Route 12 and one on Upper Walpole Road. The lot In the middle is Lot No. 3 and this is where the ball park will be. It is 2.90 acres with road frontage on Upper Walpole Road of 502.2 feet. It shares a driveway that goes to Lot No. 3, which is 2.04 acres with 336.7 feet of road frontage on Main Street. Lot No. 4, which is where the proposed police station will go, is 2.62 acres with 514.8 feet of frontage on Upper Walpole Road. On the plan that was submitted there is no indication of where a driveway cut would be and in a letter from The State Of New Hampshire Department of Transportation dated October 29, 2024 there is a statement on page 2 under conditions that says “These two drives are the second and third drives permitted on the lot of record, no additional drives will be permitted on the lot of record. See permit #04-461-0056 for the first drive permitted on the lot of record.”

At this point in the meeting it was decided that Mr. Duval had to go back to NH DOT and straighten this matter out. Mr. Miller and Mr. Dalessio offered to work with him. Mr. Marcom made a motion to hold a public hearing in December for Ball Park Realty. Mr. Perron seconded the motion and the motion carried..

Chad E. Branon, Civil Engineer, Fieldstone, Commercial District property next to Dollar General, Tax Map 12, Lot 13-3, 2.9 acres with road frontage on Route 12. It was an informal meeting to discuss possible use of the property, which is termed a “condo” lot.

Mr. Branon was representing Bobby Oakes who owns a licensed development company under his name. The proposal was this lot, which is called a condo lot because it had three building parcel on it with common space, but has one owner. The property is “L-shaped. 

The proposal was threefold. It included a gas station with an island for gas pumps and a 5,000 square-foot convenience store that would border on Route 12. Above that or to the east would be a retail building and next to that building on the driveway heading toward Red Barn Lane would be a Domino’s pizza. Entrance to the parcel of land would be from from Route 12 and Red Barn Lane. The land was at one time considered for Dunkin coffee shop so a curb cut from Route 12 has already been approved.

Mr. Miller said there can only be one building on that lot. Multiple buildings are not allowed. Mr. Bran brought up the storage facility next door saying that lot has five or six buildings. 

A board member mentioned that the property is in an aquifer zone. This was confirmed by Mark Houghton, who oversees Walpole’s water and sewer. Therefore that location would not be appropriate for a gas station. A person in the audience said that Walpole already has two gas stations and doesn’t need another one. Mr. Branon said the there have been many new technological safety requirements now for gas stations from the state and that it might change attitudes. He was asked if he knew there was a wetlands area to the south that runs along the edge of the property. Mr. Branon said he was aware of the wetland and that this proposal would not be a problem to it.

This was an informal informational meeting only so Mr. Branon and Mr. Oakes may or may not be back.

Walpole Foundation: Site Plan for the new Walpole Village School at 75 Westminster St., Tax Map 20, Lot 11. Residential B District.

Peggy Pschirrer, a board member of The Walpole Foundation, said the Foundation was requesting a public hearing for December for a new school on Westminster Street property that they purchased last year.  Ms. Erin Lambert, Senior Vice President of Wilcox and Barton Inc. of Concord presented the proposal for a the new school. She said the Walpole Village School will be 5,300 square feet on one floor on the 4.02 acres of property. It will include classrooms and a multi-purpose room. The existing school will remain open while the new school is under construction.

The driveway into the school grounds starts where the current driveway is and goes around the building so cars and school buses will drop off students at the front door which is in the middle of the north side of the building. The driveway is a one-way driveway that is 22 feet wide. There are 48 parking spaces and 2 are ADA accessible. Some of the spaces are on the south side of the building and some on the east side. There are sidewalks around the school. On the northwest side is an outdoor playground. The building has town water and town sewer. Electricity will be underground. Heating the building will be by propane. There is stormwater management plan which consists of two bio retention systems, building drip edges, pervious pavement sidewalks and one subsurface infiltration system. According to Ms. Lambert the stormwater mitigation provides water quality treatment, quantity reduction, and rate control to pre-development levels.

Ms. Lambert said she will bring the lighting and landscaping plans to the December meeting. Wilcox & Barton are responsible the construction of the new school and parking lot to be followed by demolition of the existing school building.

Workshop: There will be a workshop on November 26 to work on the zoning amendment excluding formula businesses. 

Adjournment:

Mr. Perron made a motion to adjourn. Mr. Harrington seconded the motion and the motion carried.

These minutes are unapproved and will be reviewed in December for corrections.

Respectfully submitted,

Marilou Blaine

WPB Secretary

Next meeting: December 10, 2024.

Tagged: Meeting Minutes, PLANNING BOARD