town of Searsmont

Planning Board Minutes

December 5, 2006

1.     Call to Order:  7:00 p.m.

2.     Attendance:   Chair: George Sprowl, Evie DeFrees, Peter

                               Jolliffe, Jack Degraff, Steve Porter, and Dave Marceau.

3.     Review of Applications and requests: None

4.     Minutes: review of last meetings minutes November 21, 06.

Motion made to accept minutes with corrections, seconded, passed

                       unanimously.

5.    Communications:

·        Dave has the DVD.

·        The Board will  try to meet with the Maritimes and  Northeast Pipeline on

             concerning issues with the compressor station on the New 

             England Road. No date has been decided as of yet, when there is a date it will

             be posted.  

Ÿ     All Planning Board Meetings are open to the public. 

7.    New Business:

·    Discussion was  held on defining impervious surface 1101.3 sec. B. The concentration was  focused on increasing its square footage size to meet better   standards for a major site plan. 

   1.  The Planning Board Concluded that it would be in the best interest to increase the square footage to 10,000 sq. feet in  Section 1101.3 part A and B to better serve the community. the wording will be:

1101.3 A. Minor developments shall include  those projects involving the construction or addition of less than 5,000 sq. ft. of gross nonresidential  floor area, or projects involving the installation of less than (was 5,000)10,000 sq. ft. of impervious surfaces, or projects in involving the conversion of existing buildings or structures from one use to another use which requires site plan approval.

     1101.3 B.   Major  developments shall include projects involving the construction or addition of 5,000 or more square feet of gross nonresidential floor area or projects involving the installation of more than ( was 5,000) 10,000 sq. ft. of impervious surfaces, projects involving the establishment or expansion of motorized vehicle race tracks or drag strips, a telecommunication facility, campground or other projects requiring review which are not classified as a minor development.

     This will be voted upon at the  annual town meeting.

2. The Board also concluded that this will be added to the Permit Fee Schedule immediately, under Non- Residential Buildings, Impervious surface of 5,000 sq. ft. & up, and take into consideration the and/or clause in section 1101.3 A and B.

      A fee has not been decided upon at the current time.  

6.     Old Business:

·    Further discussion on site plan review requirements and expectations, was held.

Dave presented the Board with another revised mock, site plan map with all the requirements that will be expected of applicants to follow, on it.  It was to scale and differentiated a major and minor Site plan template. The Board liked it; it will be presented to the code enforcer for his suggestions. 

Ÿ It was also discussed that applicants are to be reminded that they should expect   to attend at least two Planning Board Meetings before a permit can be issued.

·    Continued discussion of the implementation of a Site Plan Application that Paul presented the Board with at the last meeting concluded that there should be a check list and an application for the applicant and code enforcer that both the Planning Board and Code Officer agree with.

·   A brief discussion on the comprehensive plan, pertaining to the five

     zoning districts, focusing on growth management, took place when Peter

     presented the Board with a map outlining zones. Further discussions will be held

     to elaborate on the map.

1.  Update on the new wording of the in-law apartment. Will be as follows:

      706. Accessory Apartments

In all districts except for the Shoreland District, one accessory apartment may be constructed on a lot that does not meet the minimum lot requirements for two dwellings (as set in table 803 of this ordinance), provided the accessory apartment does not contain more than 550 square feet of habitable floor area, contains only one bedroom and conforms to all other residential dimensions set in table 803.  In the Village Core and Village Extension districts, this accessory apartment shall be constructed consistent with the architecture of the existing primary dwelling unit.  The apartment may house one or two people.

This will be added to the warrants to be voted on in the annual town meeting

Ÿ The Immediate relative definition will not be included in the warrant. 

2..   Motion made, seconded and unanimously passed to take the petty cash bag off the accounts for the Planning Board, as the Planning Board no longer needs it.

8.     Adjournment:  Motion to adjourn at 9:05 p.m., seconded and passed unanimously.