Zoning Board of Adjustment

December 17, 2025

Town Hall

7 pm

These minutes are unapproved and will be reviewed at the January 2026 meeting for corrections. 

Role Call: Present board members: Chair Tom Murray, Vice-Chair Dave Edkins, Clerk Pauline Barnes, Shane O’Keefe, William Sommers. Alternate Don Sellarole. Absent: Myra Mansouri.

Call to order: Mr. Murray called the meeting to order at 7:01 pm.

Minutes: Review of minutes of  November 2025.

Mr. Murray made two additions. He said under old business he said he would discuss more about ADUs. He reminded the secretary to put the unapproved minutes notice at the beginning of all minutes. Ms. Barnes made a motion to approved the amended minutes. Mr. Sommers seconded the motion and the motion carried unanimously.

Permanent Posted Meeting Time.

Mr. Murray talked with the staff at Town Offices and offered two laminated signs that would permanently be posted on the outside bulletin board at the Town Hall and on the bulletin board outside of the Post Office. It said Zoning Board meeting third Wednesday of every month at the Town Hall at 7 pm. Mr. Edkins suggested it say Zoning Board of Adjustment and Ms. Barnes thought (ZBA) should also be included. Mr. Murray will add these to the permanent laminated signs.

Old Business: 

In regard to a joint meeting with the Planning Board, Mr. Murray and Ms. Barnes attended a meeting in November about ADUs. At that meeting new state mandates for ADU ordinances were the topic of discussion.

Mr. Murray distributed a copy of a letter written by Town Counsel Jeremy Hockensmith. It was sent after the Planning Board Chair emailed him about a list of new state mandates regarding ordinances about RSA 674:71 to 73, ADUs or Accessory Dwelling Units. The Chair wanted to know if Walpole’s Zoning Ordinances required the Planning Board to comply with some changes. Mr. Hockensmith replied with 16 suggested revisions to the Ordinance. For example, one of them was “Per the new statute, definitions of “attached unit” and “detached unit” should be added. I would add another definition of “existing structure” to read as follows: “a structure existing before 2025.”

Mr. Murray talked about following up with the Planning Board. Mr. Edkins didn’t think it should be Zoning Board of Adjustment participation as it’s the Planning Board’s job to write ordinances not the ZBA. But since the Planning Board is planning to work on a new ordinance. Mr. Murray and Ms. Barnes offered to be part of the group as “knowledgeable citizens,” not as Zoning Board of Adjustment members. 

New Business:

Pauline Barnes and the Board will work on prioritizing menu on left side of the ZBA web site content.

Ms. Barnes prepared a suggested menu to put on the left-hand side of the initial page on the web site. The purpose of doing this, Ms. Barnes said, was to make it easier for townspeople to navigate the web site and better understand how to fill out the applications.

1. Zoning Ordinances

2. Variances

• Definition
• Application

3. Special Exceptions

• Definition
• Application

4. Expansion of a Non-Conforming Use

• Definition
• Application

5. Appeal of Administrative Decision

• Definition
• Application

6. Fees

7. Meeting Minutes

8. Board Bylaws

The rest of the Board liked what Ms. Barnes has done however they thought the last three, fees, meeting minutes and Board Bylaws should be in another order. Mr. Sellarole thought fees should be last. Mr. O’Keefe thought Bylaws were important and showed procedure so it should be number 6. That made Meeting Minutes between the two, so it remained as 7. The final three entries would now be: 6. Board Bylaws, 7. Meeting Minutes, 8. Fees. The next step is to talk to the staff in the Town Offices and having the menu changed after definitions have been written and applications copied. Also applications should be checked for updated information such as fees.

RSA 91-A

Mr. O’Keefe handed out a couple of copies of RSA 91-A. It was the NH Attorney General’s analysis of the Right to Know law. Mr. O’Keefe said he wanted a Zoning Board of Adjustment agenda posted every month. However, posting an agenda is not a requirement of the Right-to-Know Law. He said he wouldn’t attend a meeting if he didn’t know what was on the agenda of a meeting. If there were a meeting about something happening on the road where he lives, he be interested in attending. But if there is no agenda, he wouldn’t bother to attend a meeting. 

Adjournment

Mr. Edkins made a motion to adjourn. Mr. O’Keefe seconded the motion and the motion carried. It was 7:45 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Marilou Blaine

Recording Secretary

Tagged: Meeting Minutes, ZONING BOARD