The Walpolean

Roll Call – Board Present: Chair Tom Murray, Vice-Chair Dave Edkins, Clerk Pauline Barnes, Tom Winmill. Alternates: Don Sellarole, Myra Mansouri. Absent: Board member Shane O’Keefe.

Call to Order: Mr. Murray called the meeting to order at 7:03 pm. The Chair asked Alternate Sellarole to fill in for the absent board member. Mr. Sellarole agreed to do so.

Minutes: The date of the year of the meeting was corrected to 2024. Mr. Murray made two corrections. On page 1 the word “is” is repeated in the last sentence of paragraph 4 and on page 2 he corrected the spelling of the word “would” in criteria No. 3. Mr. Sellarole made a motion to approve the minutes as corrected. Ms. Barnes seconded the motion and the motion passed 4 to 0, with one member not voting.

Discussion of an email about Airbnbs:

This discussion came about because of an email about two potential properties in the Walpole village becoming Airbnbs and both are owned by people who would not live in Walpole. Both locations have limited parking. The email was sent to the chairs of both the Planning Board and the Zoning Board, the Manager of Administration and a Select Board member. The chair of the Zoning Board asked the chair of the Planning Board if he would be adverse if he brought it up at the meeting tonight. He said he would not.

Mr. Edkins immediately said that the board should not discuss this topic. If any board member gives an opinion or makes a statement about Airbnbs it would compromise their being impartial if some time in the future the issue comes before the Zoning Board, he said. He repeated what he has said may times that “the Zoning Board is an Appeals Board.”

Ms. Barnes said she disagreed. She read from the NH Supreme Court decision of May 2, 2023. Town of Conway v. Scott Kudrick. 

“Currently, many municipal ordinances do not clearly address STRs, and, as the trial court recognized, until they do we ‘will make decisions based on the language of the ordinances in effect, even if results vary from one municipality to the next.’ “

She continued by saying Town counsel Jeremy Hockensmith suggested a couple of years ago that Walpole should have an article in its zoning ordinances about Airbnbs. And Ms. Barnes reminded the board that that was also suggested at the joint meeting of both boards with the Southwest Region Planning Commission in July. She suggested that the topic be brought up at the next joint meeting with the Planning Commission and someone could ask them for suggestions regarding our ordinance.

Mr. Edkins said he didn’t have a lot of confidence in Mr. Hockensmith and that we did not have to take the advice of a former Select Board member. He said he wanted to preserve his integrity and would not take part in a discussion of Airbnbs and would leave. Mr. Edkins departed at 7:15 pm.

Mr. Winmill made a motion that the email be attached to the minutes. His written motion says

“Resolved, that to comply with the spirit of RSA 91-A-2, Right to Know law and to be open and transparent to citizens of Walpole the full and complete wording of the emailed references in the agenda of tonight’s meeting and the subsequent chain of responses be recorded in the minutes in an appendix as follows:

Mr. Sellarole said he agreed with some of what Mr Edkins said but also the Zoning Board has discussed the idea of needing an ordinance on long-term rentals on and off for the last couple of years. 

Ms. Mansouri said it is the role of the Planning Board to write articles for the Zoning Ordinances, but they haven’t been doing it. Past experience has been that when the Zoning Board has written a new zoning article to be put on the warrant, the next step was to present it to the Planning Board and they would tinker with it by adding, moving or changing the wording. The required public hearing is then held and when approved it would go on the warrant. She also thought the topic should come up at the next joint meeting with SWRPC.

At this point in the meeting Mr. Windmill’s motion was seconded by Mr. Murray. The vote was 3 yeas and 1 nay.

Discussion of the New Hampshire Municipal Association article, titled “N.H. Supreme Court Throws a Curveball on Short-term Rental Zoning Regulations,” was postponed to next month so that everyone would have a chance to read it.

Adjournment:

Mr. Murray made a motion to adjourn. Ms. Barnes seconded the motion and the motion carried. The time was 7:40 pm.

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

Respectfully yours,

Marilou Blaine

ZBA Secretary

This is the email referenced in the minutes to be posted with the minutes – Lil

Email from Peggy Pschirrer to Tom Murray, Jeff Miller, Steve Dalessio, Sarah Downing

Sunday two residents of Elm Street came to ask me about the legality of Airbnbs in Walpole.

A small house on Elm which shares a driveway is about to become an Airbnb as is the house under renovation on Main St. and Roger St.

We have no ordinances which speak to Airbnbs although Hockensmith has in the past told us it would be wise to write such an ordinance.

We have a zoning ordinance for B and Bs. Article IV L which requires a site plan approval by planning etc and RSA definitions/requirements. Our ordinance is a permissive ordinance. If it doesn’t specifically allow airbnbs, then they are illegal.

There are several airbnbs in Walpole which, to my knowledge, have not caused problems but parking could be an issue on both these new places. Also, I doubt that any existing Airbnb had a site plan review. Both houses are owned by out of town owners.

The NH Supreme Court issued a decision in 2023, Town of Conway v. Scott Kudrick, which ruled against the Town in an airbnb case. It had an interesting dissent. Obviously language is important in any ordinance.

I call this to your attention because while the current airbnbs seem not to bother anybody, these two new places are in tight neighborhoods with limited parking which may provoke objections. 

Best

Peggy

Roll Call: Board members present: Chair Tom Murray, Clerk Pauline Barnes, Shane O’Keefe, Tom Winmill. Alternates Don Sellarole and Myra Mansouri. Absent. Vice-Chair Dave Edkins.

Call to Order: Mr. Murray called the meeting to order at 7:02 pm. He asked Mr. Sellarole to fill in for the absent board member and Mr. Sellarole agreed.

Minutes: Review minutes of May 2024.  Page 1, paragraph 5 Mr. Murray changed May to April and on page 3, last paragraph May to June 19. In the paragraph about alternates Ms. Barnes removed the word “and.” Mr. Murray made a motion to approve the minutes as amended. Mr. Sellarole seconded the motion and the board voted 4 yeas and Mr. Winmill abstained.

New Business:

Request for a Public Hearing in July for a Variance: Cathy Robinson, 105 North Road, Tax Map 22, Lot 14, Residential A district, is proposing to build a 12-foot-by-50-foot front porch. Article V, D-1 and 2 Yard Requirements. No building may be erected closer than sixty-five (65) feet to the center line of the abutting right-of-way nor closer than twenty feet (20) to any side or rear property line.

The board received a copy of Ms. Robinson’s application for a variance and had a chance to look it over. Mr. O’Keefe called it complete and made a motion to hold a public hearing in July. Mr. Murray seconded the motion and rest of the board voted in favor of holding a public hearing at the July meeting. 

Signage at Tractor Supply, 8 Red Barn Lane, Tax Map 12, Lot 13-2 Commercial District. The company intends to keep same size as now but reface it with additional information about the Garden Center. It’s the sign out by the road. Ernie Vose, zoning coordinator, said Tractor Supply does not need to have a variance or special exception. 

The secretary explained that the garden center would be on the north side of the building. There is a Tractor Supply sign on the building. Tractor Supply wanted to put another sign above the entrance to the garden center. It was 45 square feet. The maximum size for any signage in the commercial district is 32 square feet and signs must be 100 feet from another sign so a sign is not allowed at the entrance to the garden center unless the applicant gets a variance or special exception. The secretary said that Mr. Vose said that no one from the company needed to be present. It is located in North Carolina. The applicant decided to reface the sign on the road. Mr. Winmill objected to the secretary presenting any information on the signage saying her job was to take minutes of the meeting.

Board members received three pictures regarding Tractor Supply’s signage for its new Garden Center.  

Picture No. 1 shows what the new sign will say. Picture number 2 gives the dimensions of the sign as 10 feet by 29 1/2 feet or 30.33 square feet and details its construction, support structure and illumination. The third picture shows the sign with the building in the background.

Mr. Winmill said it’s too large. It is 32 square feet on one side and 32 square feet on the other side. Ms. Mansouri said free-standing signs are double sided and advertising on both sides is permitted. Mr. Murray read Zoning Ordinance Article IV D-1 and 2. “Free Standing Sign – is defined as any sign not attached to a building. Structural dimension of a free-standing sign shall not be used in calculating the area of such sign. A free-standing sign may have two sides exhibiting advertising matter, and only one side shall be used in calculating the area of such sign.”

Mr. O’Keefe asked if there are any other signs (besides the two mentioned) that are on the property. Ms. Mansouri said that Tractor Supply came to the ZBA when it opened and received permission for the two signs that are there now. That’s all there are now, she said.

Mr. Murray made a motion to approve the sign at Tractor Supply. Ms. Barnes seconded the motion with four board members voting yea and Mr. Winmill voting nay.  

The board also received copies of the sign form, signed by both a member of the sign company,  Laurie Bisnko of the Sign Source in Denver, NC, and the owner of the property, Martin Wasserstein of New Preston, CT. All parties in the matter of signage at Tractor Supply will get letters of approval of the sign and a copy of the form.

Joint Meeting

There is a joint meeting of the Planning and Zoning Boards on the fourth Tuesday of July, July 23. The purpose is to go over the suggested organization of the Town of Walpole’s Zoning Ordinances with Todd Horner and Carol Ogilvie. Mr. Horner is the executive director of Southwest Region Planning Commission and Ms. Ogilvie is a planner with the organization. They have been working on the Walpole Ordinance since a joint meeting earlier this year. Ms. Barnes mentioned that the secretary’s email from the Planning Board chair indicated that everyone would get a copy of the Ordinance before the meeting. She wanted to be sure it happened. Chair Murray said he would contact Jeff Miller about this matter. The secretary will do the same.

Article IX

The secretary read Article IX from the Zoning Board of Adjustment’s Bylaws approved in March 2023. She read it in response to Mr. Windmill’s request that the secretary keep minutes for a year. 

“RSA 91 Raw Materials: Tapes and notes used to compile meeting minutes are governmental records as long as they are retained: policy to discard/reuse after minutes are approved is acceptable.”

Other 

Chair Murray reported he went to a meeting of the Select Board and discussed indemnity for board members. The issued was raised at the May meeting by Mr. Winmill. Mr. Murray reported that the Select Board said members of Walpole Board needn’t worry as they are covered by indemnity insurance. However, they should be vigilant as Mr. Murray said Mr. Dalessio warned that the legislature had been looking at the matter. Mr. Winmill said he had read the Select Board minutes on the matter.

Recording Minutes

Mr. Winmill again brought up the topic of requiring the secretary to record minutes and keep them for a year. Mr. Murray said we brought this topic up before at the last meeting and the vote was 3 nays to 2 nays for requiring the secretary to do this.

Mr. Winmill made a motion to require the secretary to record minutes. No one seconded the motion. 

Ms. Barnes then read from a JUSTIA brief that related to a 2023 NH Revised Statutes regarding electronic records. Section RSA 33-A:-a.

II “Electronic municipal records listed on the disposition and retention schedule of RSA 33-A:3-a that are to be retained for 10 years of less may be retained solely electronically in their original format if so approved by the municipal committee responsible for the records. 

“Electronic municipal records listed in an approved format, the records shall be transferred to paper, microfilmed, or stored in portable document format/archival (PDF/A) or another approved file format on a medium from which it is readily retrievable.” Mr. O’Keefe said having to transcribe minutes would be onerous on the secretary. He suggested looking into this matter and discussing it next month.

Adjournment

Mr. Murray asked for a motion. Mr. O’Keefe made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 8:05 pm. The motion was seconded by Mr. Winmill and agreed to by all board members.

These minutes are unapproved and will be reviewed at the ZBA’s July meeting for corrections.

Respectfully submitted,

Marilou Blaine

ZBA Recording Secretary

Roll Call: Present board members Chair Dave Edkins, Clerk Tom Murray, Pauline Barnes, Shane O’Keefe, alternates Myra Mansouri and Don Sellarole. Absent board member Tom Winmill. 

Call to Order: Mr. Edkins called the meeting to order at 7:03 pm. Mr. Edkins asked alternate Don Sellarole to fill in for the missing board member. He agreed.

Election of officers:

Three motions for a candidate for Chair of the Zoning Board were made before someone was finally chosen. The first motion for a candidate was not seconded. The second motion had a vote of two yeas, two nays with one person abstaining. So the necessary threshold of three votes for approval was not met. In a third vote Mr. Murray received a unanimous vote for Chair. That followed with a unanimous vote for Mr. Edkins for Vice-chair and a unanimous vote for Pauline Barnes as Clerk.

Role of the Board

Much of the meeting was a back and forth about the role of the zoning board.  Mr. Edkins read from a letter written by Jonathan E. Cowal Esq. of the Municipal Services Counsel of the New Hampshire Municipal Association. The letter was in response to a question from Select Board member Steve Dalessio.

Mr. Dalessio’s question was “Recently we had a question regarding Zoning. The Town of Walpole does not have a Zoning Administrator. In the past, the ZBA would handle all zoning questions and matters. This practice has been challenged by several ZBA members. 

“The questions are:

“If the town does not have a zoning administrator, who administers zoning matters?

“Can the SB delegate this authority to the ZBA.”

Mr. Cowal’s response was “The role of the ZBA is restricted to interpreting zoning ordinances and granting relief under the ordinance. They are not an enforcement agency. I am assuming that by zoning administrator, you are referring to someone to enforce the provisions of the zoning ordinance. If you do not have someone filling that position. This duty falls to the select board and cannot be delegated to the ZBA.”

Mr. Edkins interpreted this to mean that zoning board should decide only on applications that come before the board and are presented to the board at a regular meeting. No one should be asking the zoning board what he/she should do regarding a particular building project. That should come from the Town Offices, Select Board or more recently the zoning coordinator.  

The other side interpreted this differently and does not consider the ZBA solely as a tribunal. That group feels it has worked effectively over many years and does not need to change. They feel the public should be able to approach the board during a meeting and ask for information about their individual concern. It is not advising. It is informing. This is a small town and it’s important to have this type of engagement with the public. Zoning ordinances may be bewildering to many townspeople who haven’t had much experience in interpreting them.

Riggins Rules

Mr. Murray read from a handout Jan Galloway-Leclerc gave to the board when she was chair. She retired about a year ago.

He read rule No. 1. 

No. 1 “Don’t accept an appointment or nomination to a Board, commission, or Council unless you expect to attend 99.9999 percent of the regular and special meetings, including inspection trips, briefings and public functions where your presence is expected. If your participation falls below 85 percent during any 6-month period, you should tender your resignation. You aren’t doing your job. You aren’t keeping well enough informed to make intelligent decisions, and you are making other people do your work for you.”

He said Mr. Winmill is again not present at tonight’s meeting. He also wasn’t present at the January and March meetings this year. That’s well below the 85 percent attendance. 

Mr. Murray asked the secretary and Mr. Edkins if Mr. Winmill had notified either of them that he would not be at the meeting. The secretary was not notified but Mr. Winmill notified Mr. Edkins. Mr. Edkins said that Mr. Winmill did not say why he would not be at the meeting but he responded that it was unfortunate because the meeting was going to elect officers for the coming year. 

Minutes of March 2024

Mr. O’Keefe made a motion to amend the minutes of the March 20, 2024 meeting by striking the second sentence of the paragraph 6 on page 21 to read “Mr. O’Keefe disagreed noting that changes can only be made by voters.”  There were two typos corrected. On page 1, paragraph 3 there is an extra “the.”  On page 2, paragraph 2  sentence the word “be” should come after the word “to.” Mr. Edkins made a motion to approve the minutes as amended. The motion was seconded and passed by a vote of 4 yeas, 1 nay and 1 abstention.

Handouts

Mr. Edkins noted that every board member and alternate received a copy of “The Zoning Board of Adjustment in New Hampshire.” He encourage all the members to read the handbook, which was updated in 2023. Attendees also received a copy of a Keene Sentinel article, dated March 23, 2024. The article was a roundup of Upper Valley towns voting on short-term rentals. This board is not considering any planning on a future discussion of this topic but has discussed short-term rentals in previous years.

Alternates

Mr. Edkins wrote an article on the board seeking new members for alternates. The article appeared in the March issue of The Walpole Clarion. Mr. Edkins had one response with a possible candidate and two board members also had “a maybe.” Further discussion on this topic will take place next month.

Joint Workshop on April 23

Most of the board members at the meeting raised their hands when asked if they intended to attend that meeting on the fourth Tuesday of the month. It will be in the main meeting room of the Town Hall instead of the conference room in the basement. The topic is updating/recodifying Walpole Ordinances document. Executive director Todd Horner and Carol Ogilvie from Southwest Region Planning Commission will be assisting both Planning and Zoning Board members in this task. Mr. Edkins wanted to limit the talk on the meeting tonight but some members had questions they want to raise the concerning Mr. Horner’s eight-point proposal but were asked to wait until the first meeting of the group.

Mr. Edkins said that the boards should not spend time on policy issues but on what the ordinances say. Mr. Horner and Ms. Ogilvie have reviewed Walpole’s Zoning Ordinances document and suggestions made by Ms. Barnes and Mr. Winmill at the previous joint meeting.

Adjournment

Mr. O’Keefe made a motion to adjourn the meeting of the 20^th of March at 8:25 pm. Mr. Edkins seconded the motion and the motion carried.

These minutes are unapproved and will be reviewed at the ZBA’s May 15 meeting for corrections.

Respectfully submitted,

Marilou Blaine

ZBA Recording Secretary

Roll Call: Board members Chair Dave Edkins, Clerk Tom Murray, Pauline Barnes and Tom Winmill. Alternates: Shane O’Keefe and Myra Mansouri. Absent: Alternates Don Sellarole and Carolyn Vose.

Call to Order: Mr. Edkins called the meeting to order at 7:03 pm. Mr. Edkins asked Mr. O’Keefe to serve as the fifth board member. He agreed.

Minutes: Mr. O’Keefe made one clarification. Regarding ski areas near where he works in Londonderry, VT, he changed Okemo to Stratton. Ms. Barnes, on page 2, second paragraph, added an “s” to the word requirement. Mr. O’Keefe moved the motion to approve the minutes as corrected. Ms. Barnes seconded the motion and the motion carried.

New Business:

Mr. Edkins said he spoke with Walpole Planning Board chair, Jeff Miller, and Mr. Miller invited the Zoning Board to a workshop meeting on the fourth Tuesday of the month, Tuesday, February 27, in the conference room in the basement of the Town Hall to discuss updating/recodifying the Walpole Zoning Ordinances. He sent an email to the board about the meeting shortly after talking to Mr. Miller. Ms. Barnes said she thought Mr. Edkins was going to talk with him about hiring a consultant to work with the Zoning Board on the language of some of the zoning ordinances. Carol Ogilvie’s name was mentioned at the January meeting as a consultant that had recently worked with the Planning Board on updating the Natural Features section of the Master Plan. Mr. Edkins replied that he thought Ms. Ogilvie was semi retired and wasn’t sure if she would be available. He added that the Planning Board had money, $10,000, in its budget for consultant work. In the past they have used Southwest Region Planning Commission. 

Mr. Edkins asked the board for topics or sections of the document that should be discussed.

Mr. O’Keefe said he wasn’t ready to answer that request yet. He wanted to spend some time before the meeting rereading the document. Ms. Mansouri suggested starting with one item, maybe definitions, and that would lead to next item. Mr. O’Keefe said he didn’t think we have the expertise to do this. We need some help from a consultant who has done this before and knows the latest statutory language. But before the board spends any money, it has to figure out what it wants. We have a year to do this before presenting anything to the public. This will make it easier for the public to understand this document. Mr. Edkins said he didn’t see doing a radical reformatting of the document. It just needs updating of some of the language and clarifying some definitions. Mr. O’Keefe said “like the word boarding house.”

Someone suggested that the ZBA could use the Southwest Region Planning Commission.

The secretary explained that the problem the Planning Board had with SWRPC last year was that it was understaffed. Several times last year the commission was scheduled to work with the PB on its Master Plan but canceled right before the meeting because it had no one to attend the meeting. Mr. Edkins and Ms. Barnes said there are other people, such as in the Department of Municipal Services. People such as Tara Bamford, whom they both mentioned as worthy of considering. 

Mr. Murray said we’ve done this before. He mentioned the board’s work on signage and the bed and breakfast ordinance. The board spent a good deal of time working on ordinances about feather flags and temporary signs. Both issues were brought to the board’s attention by the public. It took a while but the language was worked out and it was put on the warrant and ultimately is in our current sign ordinance.

Ms. Barnes said in the beginning of the document should be a description of the type of ordinance the town of Walpole has, which is a permissive ordinance. A permissive ordinance means if something is not mentioned in the ordinance, it is not permitted. If you can’t find it there, you probably need a variance to do it. 

Someone suggested starting with definitions. Article XVII is a sections solely devoted to  definitions on all subjects. Article XVIII Flood Plain District has definitions related to the flood plain but there are also definitions about manufactured housing and historic homes. Besides putting all the definitions together in one article, Ms. Barnes stressed that they should be alphabetized.

The board agreed there are Articles in the ordinance that are untouchable such as Article XIX Wellhead Protection Overlay District Ordinance. That article was written by members of the Walpole Conservation Commission and members who had expertise in groundwater and drinking water matters and were concerned about contamination. It includes definitions specifically related to this matter, and an explanation of where the district is, spill prevention and control, a countermeasure plan and a list of permitted, prohibited and conditional uses.

So the board’s marching orders were: reread the Town of Walpole’s Zoning Ordinances document and be ready to discuss at next Tuesday’s workshop with the Planning Board zoning ordinances or sections on which the board needs to focus its attention to the language. Also, discuss getting a consultant who would be knowledgeable about the current statutory language.

Handout

Board members received a copy of an update of the state of local land use regulations printed in a copy of the January/February 2024 copy of Town and City compiled by the NH Municipal Association.

Adjournment

Mr. O’Keefe made a motion to adjourn. Mr. Murray seconded the motion and the motion carried. The time was 8 pm.

These minutes are unapproved and will be reviewed at the regular March 2023 meeting for corrections and omissions

Respectfully submitted,

Marilou Blaine

ZBA Recording Secretary