Town of Wilton, NH

Zoning Board Minutes

February 13, 2007

Faiman called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. and announced that the first order of business would be the minutes of the January meeting. He said that he received an email from Cindy Keyes which he read out loud. In the letter she stated that at the meeting Mr. Faiman stated: “If Mr. Beers should apply for a variance in the future, it would certainly be denied, as it is a self-created hardship.” Mr. Faiman felt that it was a reasonable request to include the statement in the minutes since it was an observation that he made.

Minutes — January 9, 2007

Corrections: To add the statement made by Faiman above; Page 3, Para 5, add Letter in file; Page 4, after second Motion, add: Roberts asked Mr. Beers if he would consider putting a set of his plans in the zoning board file. He declined.

Faiman introduced the members of the zoning board. There were only four regular members present so he assigned alternate member Andy Hoar to sit on the first case. Because two of the cases, Westview Farms and Provost involve land in Lyndeborough as well as Wilton, the state requires, through RSA 36:54-58, that the board determine whether or not the application has a regional impact. If it does, a second meeting is required. Faiman asked that Westview Farms and then Provost give a short summary of their projects so that the board can determine whether if there is a regional impact.

Case #2/13/07–2 — Westview Farms, LLC

Westview Farms, LLC has applied for a variance to Section 6.4.2 of the Wilton Zoning Ordinance, to permit a proposed cluster development on Lot B-70-5 to take its access from Lyndeborough Center Road, where the lot has 500 feet of frontage on Pead Hill Road, but not on Lyndeborough Center Road.

Dawn Tuomala, Monadnock Survey, represented Westview Farms and said that the lot is 80 acres in size and has 500’ of frontage on Pead Hill Road, but they would prefer to take their access from Lyndeborough Center Road, where they have less frontage. She said that if the Planning Board grants them the bonus, they could have up to 36 units.

Faiman asked how close to the Lyndeborough town line the access would be. Tuomala answered 800’. Faiman said he thought a development of 36 homes within a quarter of a mile of the Lyndeborough town line with a proposal specifically to take access from Lyndeborough Center Road… doubt concerning regional impact should be resolved in a determination that the development has potential regional impact.

Case #2/`13/07 – 1 Kevin J. Degroot and Corey R. Chappell

Kevin J. Degroot and Corey R. Chappell have applied for a special exception under Section 5.3.7 of the Wilton Zoning Ordinance, and for variances to sections 5.3.7(a), 5.3.7(c), and 5.3.7(d) of the Ordinance, to permit the use of the existing building on Lot J-16-9 Dale Street (the Odd Fellows Hall) as a three-family residence.

Dawn Tuomala, Monadnock Survey, represented the applicants and asked the board to grant a one month continuance on the case. She stated that Mr. Degroot has hired an attorney who needs more time to get up to speed on the case.

Case #2/13/07–3 — The Pierre E. Provost 1993 Trust and the Lura S. Provost 1993 Trust

The Pierre E. Provost 1993 Trust and the Lura S. Provost 1993 Trust have applied for a special exception under Section 11.4 of the Wilton Zoning Ordinance, to permit the construction of driveways and drainage improvements impacting 9544 square feet of wetlands as part of a proposed subdivision of Lot B-14 (accessed from Cram Hill Road, Lyndeborough).

Alternate John Jowders was appointed to sit as a full board member for this case and Andy Hoar sat as an alternate member.

Attorney Robert McKenney represented the applicants along with Steven Keach. Mr. McKenney said that they will be before the Lyndeborough Planning Board next week and they have had a few conversations with Steve Wagner at NRPC. He said the total of the land in Wilton and Lyndeborough was 79 acres with less than 9 acres in Lyndeborough. He said the applicants plan to develop 19 lots.

Faiman said that he felt that what the board is being asked to decide is a local wetland impact and not a regional impact. He said the application to the Wilton Planning Board certainly is a matter of regional impact.

In answer to a question from a board member, Steven Keach said that the proposed wetland impacts in Wilton are 9,544 sq. ft. in addition to 299 sq. ft. in Lyndeborough. Faiman asked Conservation Commission member Spencer Brookes if he had any questions or thoughts about this. He asked which direction the water flowed in this area and which bodies of water the affected wetlands normally would replenish. Mr. Keach said that the water flowed in a north east direction, toward Beaver Pond.

Faiman explained the rules for hearing and presenting a case.

Attorney McKenney handed out an addendum to the application dated 2/12/07 which covers the presentation that Steven Keach will make. He also pointed out that the applicants have placed 50’ buffers on the west and south sides of the property to protect the subdivision.

Steven Keach, Civil Engineer with Keach-Nordsrom Associates, Inc., said that the property, in total, is 70.25 acres with 61.5 acres in Wilton and 8.69 acres in Lyndeborough, and is located on the south side of Cram Hill Road. The proposed town road, “Laurel Road,” is 2,400’ long. The wetland crossings in Wilton consist of #2 – 5,132 sf; #3 – 1,275 sf and #4 – 3,137 sf. He estimated the total amount to be 12 acres in Wilton and 1 acre in Lyndeborough.

Jowders asked which town would maintain the road. Mr. Keach said that the towns would work that out. Tuttle had another question about the road. Mr. Keach suggested RSA 674:53 might be helpful.

Mr. Keach addressed the specific criteria in Section 4.4. See file.

Jowders asked if the utilities would be underground. Mr. Keach said yes and showed the sheet with the ditch lines planned for the utilities. Jowders asked for descriptions of the individual crossings. Mr. Keach replied that Crossing #2 would be a bottomless concrete box culvert 2’ high and 5’ wide with head walls on each end. Crossing #4 would be the same as Crossing #2.

Spencer Brookes pointed out that the aggregate 9,843 sf of wetland disturbance is awfully close to the 10,000 sf cutoff where the state requires active mitigation. He also asked about a few small areas near Cram Hill Road which he thought were vernal pools. Mr. Keach replied that when they began the project they thought they would end up with somewhere near 8,000 sf of wetlands disturbance, but after adding rip rap pads to the inlets and outlets of the culverts it came to quite a bit more. As to the wet area near Cram Hill Road, Mr. Keach said it is a soft mushy area but not a vernal pool. He offered the possibility of a conservation easement around the area.

Abutter Matt Ballou, 135 Cram Hill Road, asked if the wetlands were mapped at one time of year, couldn’t they change at another time of year? Mr. Keach responded that the way the wetlands were mapped was based on soils, vegetation, and hydrology, not the amount of water on site.

Bill Ball, Lyndeborough Planning Board, asked that given that the total area under consideration is so close to the 10,000 sf cutoff, is it the purview of the Wilton ZBA to ask for an independent analysis of that data? Faiman said that the Board’s normal procedure on requests under this special exception is to send the plan out for review. What it is that the Board asks for as part of the review is somewhat open-ended, if there is the belief that the Board should ask for an independent on-the-ground delineation of the impact areas then the Board could take that request into account and decide whether that would be an appropriate thing to ask for.

Abutter Dan Bowerly, 185 Cram Hill Road, was concerned that a wetland very close to his property will be disturbed by the project. The wetland he refers to drains all the rain and snow runoff from his property.

Mr. Keach pulled out Page 6 of the engineering studies packet and showed the Board and Mr. Bowerly and anyone else who wanted to see the location of Mr. Bowerly’s home, marked Map 23B,

Lot 10, across Cram Hill Road just NE of the westerly intersection of Laurel Road. He pointed out the wetland areas that Mr. Bowerly was referring to and Mr. Bowerly agreed. He explained that these wetlands were not connected to any of the wetlands that were going to be impacted by the crossings. Faiman agreed.

Spencer Brookes brought up the subject of the 10,000 sf limit of wetland disruption and said he had gone to a workshop and learned that there can be consequences for someone who goes over that limit. A conversation followed – Faiman summarized the discussion by saying that the impacted area is very nearly 10,000 sf, as measured by the applicant; that if it were in excess of 10,000 sf, there is a statutory provision requiring mitigation by the state. It has been suggested that the Zoning Board might wish to request, when it gets independent review, that it also get independent evaluation of the areas to be disturbed. Furthermore, the Board has been told that if the 10,000 sf limit is exceeded there may be consequences. Bottom line… the state has found 10,000 sf to be a meaningful disruption and the Zoning Board ought to regard it likewise as a significant disruption and not as something to blow off. Mr. Brookes agreed.

Sandra Wright, 20 Cram Hill Road, asked who is responsible if something happens to one of us, like Dan Bowerly, after the project is finished. Faiman said it would depend on what the problem was. If it was something that one of the planning boards had required, and it was not done, then that is an enforcement issue. If it is a problem not tied to a planning board requirement, then you would go to one of the select boards. She also asked who would look at the aquifers in the area and how they might be affected by this subdivision. Faiman said that would be the planning boards.

Dan Bowerly asked which emergency services would serve this subdivision. Faiman said that this would have to be worked out between the two towns.

Matt Ballou voiced his concern about the wetlands being impacted.

The applicant gave permission for Board members to walk the site. Mr. Keach said he would mark the wetland crossing sites by Friday, February 23, or he would contact Mr. Faiman. Board members decided to walk the site individually if they were interested in doing so.

Faiman said that the town now works with an engineer in Brookline, Mr. LaBombard. The Board decided to ask him to do three things: a) independently evaluate the areas of impact b) evaluate whether or what mitigation he believes the town might want to request c) does he concur that the applicants have accurately described what the affect is going to be and is it his opinion that this would meet the requirements of the Wilton Zoning Ordinance.

Mr. Keach said he would put together a packet of plans of broader scope including the drainage report etc. and have it delivered to the town office, to Mr. Faiman’s attention, by the end of the week.

Faiman said he will contact Mr. Keach with a dollar figure before proceeding with the study.

The Conservation Commission and Mr. Keach will meet at some point before the next ZBA hearing.

Faiman announced that Saturday, April 28 will be the spring planning and zoning conference in Manchester, Registration information will be available February 23, 2007 at www.nh.gov/oep.

The meeting adjourned at 10:10 p.m.

Submitted by Diane Nilsson

Posted February 21, 2007