Town of Fitzwilliam, NH - Planning Board Minutes 08/17/04

7:00 p.m. Preliminary Consultation with Joe Pagano to discuss subdividing his property on Templeton Turnpike by creating one hammer head lot. This property is known as Tax Map 11; Lot 35 and is located in the Rural District – Mr. Pagano told the Board that he has had his property surveyed and he is here to see if it is possible for him to subdivide this parcel by creating a hammer head lot. Mr. Pagano gave the Board some history about his property noting that there used to be a road (Baldwin Court) that went right in front of their house and since they didn’t want people parking two feet from their front door, they gave the road back to the town and moved their driveway so that it went up around their house. Mr. Pagano isn’t sure if it is still a road that still crosses the railroad tracks or if it is their driveway; this is gray area for him. Mr. Pagano explained that he sold the house with 5 acres or so, and gave the buyers a right of way over his driveway to their property, and then he put a road in up to one site, about 1200’ long. Mr. Pagano is looking to create a second lot further in on his land and noted that there wouldn’t be any wetlands issues however, if he went further into the property there could be. Chairman Silverman asked about the small piece in the front and Mr. Pagano explained that this thin pencil piece in the front is all wet and it’s all frontage, and goes up to Collins Pond Road. They cannot access the property from this. Paul asked about the dash line shown on the lot and Mr. Pagano explained that it is the old property line from when they first purchased the old Baldwin house and he explained that they reshot the lines and sold the house with about 5 acres, but this is all part of the original estate and it is all contiguous. Paul questioned if this was a separate tract by deed. Mr. Pagano wasn’t sure and said that he could find out and explained that they bought these separate and then before they sold the house they recarved the lines to have one part of the property go with another part. Paul noted that it does not seem to have a separate lot number on the tax map. Paul noted that if they are separate lots then they are already separated. Mr. Pagano clarified that the large lot is already an element of its own.

Chairman Silverman questioned if Mr. Pagano wanted to build on his proposed #1 and #2 lots. Mr. Pagano said that he doesn’t want to build on lot #2 right now but he would like the option to have this as a buildable lot and perhaps somewhere down the road it may be sold as such, but he has no definite plans at this time. Mr. Pagano noted that he is looking to build in the spring on lot #1 and he thought that he would pursue the hammerhead lot now and he also doesn’t know if he needs to do anything to bring the driveway up to code, etc. Paul said that the problem he sees is that the large lot does not have any frontage on a town road because of the railroad which is separate ownership; separate entity. Even though they own three separate lots it looks like the railroad tracks prevents any frontage. Mr. Pagano clarified that because the railroad tracks run through, it is not a buildable lot. Carlotta asked about access and Mr. Pagano spoke of the right of way from his driveway that was given to the people that bought the house, and then he mentioned that the Road Agent back in the 40’s and 50’s used to live in that house and he built a barn that was used for town equipment. The road was paved and maintained by the town, but when he purchased the property in 1987/88 they stopped plowing up to the barn and they found that this was technically a town road. Mr. Pagano had the driveway moved and they gave it back to the town, through a vote at Town Meeting. Mr. Pagano noted that it is an unusual history. Paul explained that you have to have legal frontage on a Class 5 road. Mr. Pagano questioned if he could not create the #2 lot off of Templeton Turnpike if he could obtain more frontage on Collins Pond Road and use that for the frontage requirement. Chairman Silverman noted that he needs to use the frontage for is access. Mr. Pagano said that this would not happen as he does not want to build a road and he doesn’t want to build right on the road. He spoke of the view that he has in which there are no houses, and then he mentioned the substation that he already has on lot #1 which could go to lot #2. Mr. Pagano asked if he could put a barn on his proposed lot #2. Chairman Silverman noted that it is his lot and it would not be a separate dwelling. Carlotta questioned if this was a grandfathered lot. Mr. Pagano explained that when they moved the road the idea was that their road frontage was on Collins Pond Road for the #1 site. Mac clarified that they would be accessing off of Templeton Turnpike. Mr. Pagano said that they are. Paul suggested that he may want to speak with the Selectmen about access from a Class 5 road. Chairman Silverman suggested that he apply for a building permit so that he knows where he stands. Paul noted that it sounds like this may have been a Class 5 road previously. Mr. Pagano questioned if he should try to determine the status of the road before he gave it back to the town and the Board said that they think that the status of it now is more important, and the Selectmen would be the ones to determine this; it could be a common driveway, etc. The Board agreed that he should obtain a ruling on a building permit first.

Mr. Wendell told the Board that he is looking at a 56+ acre lot on Rt. 12 South, which is right next door to the parcel where the new mini storage unit facility is going in. Mr. Wendell went through the proposal with the Board. Mr. Wendell is proposing that the radio station program local community news and noted that he believes that the only way a local station could actually compete with metropolitan areas such as Concord, Manchester, Nashua and Boston would be to have local news. Mr. Wendell explained that the format would focus on local oriented news, community news, anything local. He would look at doing a three hour morning program and an afternoon program focusing on local news, and Saturday programming would be specific to topics like gardening, automotive, consumerism, real estate, tourism, legal, fashion, etc. Mr. Wendell added that it would also give the opportunity for community groups such as Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, the Rotary, etc., to get air time, free public service announcements and basically to come on the air. Mr. Wendell stated that hopefully this station would become the emergency station for the south central area of New Hampshire and he would like to coordinate with the State, County, Federal and local officials to have this as one way to communicate with the public. Emergency information would be broadcast as well as local information, such as school closings, snow storms, traffic reports, etc. Additionally, they would like to offer free public service announcements for local non-profit groups, etc. The other part of programming would be syndicated programming from some of the national businesses.

Mr. Wendell then handed out two more papers to the Board members, one being a copy of the tax map showing the parcel and x’s indicating where the towers would be placed, and the other sheet shows different phases of installation. This radio station would require three separate towers each sending a signal in a different direction; for AM frequency you have to make sure that your signal does not interfere with other stations around the nation, and although this would be one coverage area, each tower would send a particular signal to save the signal from other stations in places like New York and Canada so that they do not interfere with each other. The towers would be 88.4 meters in height (291’) and Mr. Wendell explained that the towers act as antennas and require a particular height for a particular frequency. Mr. Wendell added that the higher you go up on the radio dial the shorter the tower height and noted that this is all in the physics of this because towers act as an antenna. Mr. Wendell proposes to locate the towers 1000’ from Rt. 12 into the woods and he noted that the property is zoned Industrial and the towers should not visible from Rt. 12 by someone traveling because of the woods. There are no plans to cut any of the trees there. The base of the tower would be on a 5’x5’ cement slab and guy wires from the tower would be hooked into cement. These towers are put up in 20’ sections and in the event they came down, they would crumble down because they have three guy wires hooked into them at different locations, therefore they would not fall straight down. Mr. Wendell added that this has nothing to do with microwave; and if you put your head in the tower when it was on then yes, you would get burned, but there is usually a fence put up around it so no one can get in there when the actual power is on to the station, and there is no radiation from the tower, so after about 4’ it would be very difficult to pick up actual “electronic radiation”. Mr. Wendell is also proposing to put at the base of one of the towers a 5’x10’ or 10’x10’ transmitter hut. This would be a full time radio station broadcasting twenty-four hours a day and Mr. Wendell would like to hire 15-20 people for this station for reporting and to sell advertising. Mr. Wendell ended by saying that this is his goal in his life.

Carlotta questioned who owns the property now and Mr. Tieger showed the Board a survey of the property that has been done. The property belongs to Frank and Angelina Conte is right next door to the property where the new mini storage unit facility will be going. Paul asked where the actual radio station would be. Mr. Wendell said that the actual studio would be someplace in town and there would be no need for anyone to be at the tower site except for perhaps once or twice a week to check the transmitter. There would not be an office on this site or anything like that. Chairman Silverman asked if these towers would be lighted for aircraft and Mr. Wendell said that he believes that the FCC and the FAA require this, he is not absolutely sure and would be checking on that but he believes that there would be red beacons at night. Suzanne questioned the building on site and Mr. Wendell explained that there would be one small transmitter hut, approximately 5’x5’ or 5’x10’ which would service all three towers. Each of the towers would be hooked up to one major wire from the transmitter. Suzanne asked where they would transmit from and Mr. Wendell said that they could actually do this from anyplace but they would be looking for a storefront right here in town, and this is done through high quality telephone lines where a signal would go from the studio through the phone lines to the transmitter. Mr. Wendell noted that he plans to keep most of the trees on the site but some would have to be taken down for the tower site, the three 5’x5’ blocks of cement for each towers and the three smaller blocks of cement for each guy wire on each tower would be the only other disruption to the property, as well as the transmitter hut to be built.

Chairman Silverman told Mr. Wendell that the property is in the Wireless Communication Overlay District and he reviewed some of the restrictions within the ordinance that this proposal does not meet with. First is the height restriction on towers; second is the width of the overlay district which is 300 yards from the center lines of Routes 119 and 12, and the restriction regarding the number of towers over 80’, and that they must be ¼ mile from any other tower over 80’. Chairman Silverman added that the main stumbling block that he sees for this proposal is the height of the towers themselves, and even though they will not be seen from Rt. 12, the viewing of towers in the distance in this area seems to elicit a lot of emotion. Mr. Wendell asked if these restrictions were specific to wireless cellular towers and Chairman Silverman said that it does include radio towers as well. Carlotta noted the definition includes radio tower and Paul added that they have actually had one application come in under this ordinance for a radio tower. Chairman Silverman read this definition aloud: “Antenna- Shall mean any exterior apparatus designed for telephonic, radio, television personal communications service (PCS), pager network, or any other communications through the sending and/or receiving of electromagnetic waves of any bandwidth. This definition is not to be construed to include residential rooftop antennas and/or satellite dishes”. Chairman Silverman said that this proposal is covered under the ordinance.

Paul asked if the heights are different for FM and Mr. Wendell said that they are, and usually FM is line of sight so the higher that you can build for FM the signal goes down, if you put up a lower antenna you get a lower coverage area, whereas for AM the signals bounce and you can pick them up further away. Carlotta asked if this was the reason for the radio tower height that they approved and Chairman Silverman said yes. Mr. Wendell asked how high that tower is and Chairman Silverman said that it was approved for 125’. Paul then asked if the distance between the towers is related to the height and Mr. Wendell said yes, and explained that physics plays a big part in this and he spoke of tower heights and locations as well as the wires in the ground all playing a part in getting the signal out.

Mr. Fournier is proposing a small retirement business for himself which would be a custom leather shop where he makes items like key hobs, gun belts and holsters, sheaths for knives, etc. All of the goods would be made on the premises and he would like to have a small retail area. Mr. Fournier has obtained his construction permit for the garage and he wants to get started on the Site Plan Review process. Mac asked if this garage would be attached to the house and Mr. Fournier said that the business would be located in a separate building, a 2-bay, 2-story garage, on the property. He added that he would like to use the last 20’ of the building for a retail area and his work area would be in the upstairs of this building.

Mr. Fournier provided the Board with a plot plan showing his existing home and driveway and garden area, where Holman and Royalston Roads connect, the land that has been cleared and the proposed parking area. Suzanne asked how many employees there would be and Mr. Fournier said that it would be just himself. Suzanne noted that there are a lot of parking spaces and Mr. Fournier explained that he really does not know what to expect at this time, and he is not going to develop all of the area into parking right away. The bulk of Mr. Fournier’s sales would come from shows and he explained that people that attend the shows ask quite often if he has a shop that they can visit.

Carlotta asked Mr. Fournier what he gets for raw materials to make theses items and Mr. Fournier said that he buys the hides and then he cuts and stamps them. Carlotta asked if he treats the hides in any way and Mr. Fournier stated that they are already treated when he obtains them. Mac noted that this proposal is an accessory use under section 127-14 Home Business, which requires a Site Plan Review. Carlotta asked if there would be a sign for advertising and Mr. Fournier said that it depended on what was allowed and noted that he is in a residential neighborhood. Mr. Fournier suggested perhaps having one off the side of the road. Carlotta asked if he thought that perhaps he might want to put his hours on it. Mr. Fournier noted that he is an engineer full-time so this business would probably be part-time or by appointment to start and eventually he would have regular hours.

In reviewing the regulations, Paul noted that a retail store is not allowed in the Rural District. Carlotta referred the Board to Home Occupation noting that it talks about occasional traffic, craftsmen, etc., conducted within a residence or an accessory building. Mac stated that he felt that the “retail sales” is what separates these. Chairman Silverman added that he feels that this is “craftsmen”, noting that this proposal is different from a retail store itself. The Board discussed the primary business use and other factors used to determine if it is a Home Occupation or a Home Business. Mr. Fournier asked the Board if he wanted to go out West and buy materials and then retail this, if that would change this and Chairman Silverman said that that scenario would be more of a retail store and they would need him to come back so that they could review the Site Plan Review again.

Chairman Silverman asked the Board how they felt with regard to the retail sales. Carlotta said that she feels that this should be part of the Site Plan Review process and Paul said that retail sales is what put this into a Home Business rather than a Home Occupation. The consensus of the Board was that Mr. Fournier did not need a Variance but if he wants to expand the business beyond what he has presented he may need to do something further. Chairman Silverman told Mr. Fournier that his plan seems to fall within the Home Business classification and he was all set to schedule this for Site Plan Review. Paul suggested that Mr. Fournier provide some dimensions with regards to property lines and setbacks on his plot plan and Mac asked that he address lighting and signs. Chairman Silverman added that they would need to know about the output of trash, what happens to the waste, any dyes, etc. Mr. Fournier said that he makes key hobs or trinkets out of the scraps and any pieces that he does not use goes into a paper trash bag which is organic and breaks down which he could probably compost. As far as the dye, Mr. Fournier said that the dye is applied to the finished product and it is not chromium dye it is a tanning dye that is strictly for tooling leather and there are no chemicals in it. Mr. Fournier thanked the Board for their time.

7:15 p.m. Public Hearing for Mace and Mary Ann Wenniger who propose a three-lot subdivision of land located on Rhododendron Road, Tax Map 13; Lot 05 in the Rural District – Chairman Silverman opened this public hearing at 7:18 p.m. and read the case title aloud. Carlotta recused from the Board. Mr. Wenniger introduced himself and his wife to the Board and presented them with plans for this subdivision that were prepared by Richard Drew. Mr. Wenniger noted that the last time they were here the Board asked that the wetlands be delineated on the plan. The wetlands are outlined with blue lines on the plan and the black lines outline the high land. The proposal is to create three parcels, two would be for sale and the third lot would be a conservation parcel which is essentially a pond which is getting to be a marsh. Mr. Wenniger indicated on the plan where their house is located and noted that Widow Gage Road is to the West and Rhododendron Road is to the South. Chairman Silverman asked about the stipulation that this property could only be divided into two lots. Mr. Wenniger said that they have checked this with the Follansbee’s sons and they have the agreement.

Paul asked if the restriction on the property was that they could only subdivide two lots and Mr. Wenniger said two residential lots with a single family house. The Board spent some time reviewing the plans and determining the wetlands and the upland. Chairman Silverman noted the entire property except for the blue cutouts is upland and it is all contiguous. Chairman Silverman added that the black is the setback. Paul said that he would like to look at the road noting that a good portion of it gravel and the further West you go the narrower and softer it gets. Mrs. Wenniger questioned the relevance of that and Paul explained that when you start to get further from the center of town they have to look at the accessibility for emergency vehicles and he added that this is one of the things that the Board looks at and considers. Mr. Wenniger noted that there are lots of new houses going up. Mrs. Wenniger noted that the pond has gone down considerably and it is more like swamp, and she asked if the Board knew if this has happened with other water bodies in town. Mac told her that his suspicion is that vegetation has taken over.

Chairman Silverman asked the Board if they wanted to conduct a site walk to which they agreed that they did. The Board agreed to do the site walk next Tuesday, August 24, 2004 at 5:30 p.m. and they will meet at the corner of Rhododendron and Widow Gage Roads which they can access from Old Troy Road. Margo will contact Jeanne Sable, Secretary for the Conservation Commission to invite them to participate. Chairman Silverman asked the applicants to bring the letter that they have with regards to the restriction on the number of lots for this property to the continued public hearing which should be scheduled for the Board’s next meeting.

7:30 p.m. Meet with the Board of Selectmen to provide comment regarding the issuance of a construction permit for property owned by Jason and Donna Hill located on Crane Road, Tax Map 8; Lot 24 located in the Rural District – Paul Grasewicz recused from the Board. Selectwoman Susan Silverman stated that the Board of Selectmen met with Jason Hill and Paul Grasewicz last Wednesday evening regarding Jason’s proposed subdivision of land located off of Rt. 12 and the former Crane Hill Road. The Board of Selectmen is present here this evening to address this with the Planning Board as outlined under RSA 674:41. The purpose of this meeting is for the Board of Selectmen to obtain the Planning Board’s input as to whether or not this subdivision would create a buildable lot. Mrs. Silverman noted that there are questions regarding access to this proposed lot.

Chairman Silverman stated that the Planning Board obtained legal advice from Attorney Bernie Waugh as well as Attorney Jim Bassett regarding this case. Chairman Silverman reviewed information that the Board has obtained; according to RSA 674:41 Crane Road is in essence an easement and comment on the construction permit request where access to the lot is not via a public highway is: RSA 674:41 III states: “the street giving access to the lot means a street or way abutting the lot and upon which the lot has frontage”. Chairman Silverman continued adding that although the proposed lot also has frontage on Rt. 12, it is the Crane Road easement that Mr. Hill would actually be using for access and therefore this is the street giving access as defined by RSA 674:41 III. Chairman Silverman said that basically it is at the discretion of the town as to whether a construction permit would be issued or not. Chairman Silverman stated that he feels that the Town has had an ongoing policy of not issuing construction permits on Class 6 roads and lots that do not have Class 5 frontage.

Mrs. Silverman told the Board that with their input, the Selectmen are going to meet with Mr. Hill tomorrow evening at their meeting and they will make a determination. Carlotta asked if the Selectmen received a copy of their minutes regarding this case. Margo stated that they receive a copy of every set of minutes to which Mrs. Silverman concurred. Carlotta noted that they know what the Planning Board’s thoughts are regarding this then. Mac added that there is concern about the Lot Line Adjustment creating a buildable lot per the definition. Mrs. Silverman asked Mac to elaborate and Mac stated that it cannot create a buildable lot and noted the definition of Lot Line Adjustment. Mrs. Knight asked for the corresponding number in the Subdivision regulations and Mac told her it is section 221-12., Definitions on page 22107. Paul stated that the Lot Line Adjustment has already been voted on and approved and Mac said “yes”. Chairman Silverman said that this Lot Line Adjustment in this case does not create a separate lot, which he believes is what the definition is referring to and then added that people often add frontage to get the needed frontage for a lot, which is why the Lot Line Adjustment was approved. Mrs. Silverman told Mac that she wanted to be clear on what he was saying and Mac presented a scenario of having a lot without the proper frontage and by doing a Lot Line Adjustment he now has the required frontage; but what Mr. Hill wants to do is now subdivide it and that is the problem; by doing the subdivision and the Lot Line Adjustment he would then have subsequently created a buildable lot. Carlotta said that if they read the minutes of the Planning Board’s last meeting they will see the discussion about this, they dealt with the Lot Line Adjustment itself, separate from the subdivision and by itself it is fine; but if you consider the two as one it gets a little sticky. Mrs. Knight and Mrs. Silverman said that they understand. Paul said that from the access point of view they do not need to worry about the Lot Line Adjustment and the subdivision is proposing access from Crane Road.

Mrs. Silverman said that they are going to review all of that first and asked if there was anything else they wanted to say. Chairman Silverman stated that the Planning Board felt that access from Crane Road was not in the spirit of what our Master Plan states nor with what Town policy has been. Mrs. Silverman stated that Crane Hill Road is not a road and has not been since 1918. The Planning Board agreed with this and Suzanne added that there is discussion about that in the last meeting minutes. Carlotta added that Attorney Waugh said that it is not a private road to which Suzanne added that it is an access and Carlotta noted that he is already accessing. Mrs. Silverman said that was correct and it is a legitimate access that he obtained through the Zoning Board of Adjustment. The Selectmen thanked the Board for their time.

Report on Conservation Commission Work Session re: Proposed Overlay District - Carmen told the Board that he just wanted to give them an update from the Conservation Commission’s work meeting they held last week, and he said that he was sorry that no one from the Planning Board was able to attend as the Commission would have enjoyed their input. The Commission worked on the drafted ordinance and removed four items that there were a lot of issues with. The four items removed were: all utilities to be underground except where it is not feasible; hand propelled reel-type mowers only; no cutting trees beyond 10’ of driveways and walkways; and allowing only above ground swimming pools. Carmen said that there are still issues that need to be addressed and more work to be done, and the bottom line is that they realize that they are going to have trouble doing what they want to do. For example; clear cutting. Carmen said that they can understand logging but they prefer that lots are not clear cut and he asked how they go about putting regulations in place regarding not cutting beyond an established buffer a certain distance from the house; for example 30’. Other things the Commission discussed and agreed to be more flexible on was road widths, allowing a Variance for solar panels in a roof, and trying to define how much cutting could be done outside of the building area. Carmen said that they discussed the current 3 acre zoning requirement and they question if 1 ½ acres would be reasonable. Carmen told the Board that if any Board member has any advice for them they are open to hearing it. Carmen continued by saying that areas within current ordinances and regulations that they have discussed and are considering seeking changes to such as the 3 acre lot shift, or perhaps in looking at the excavation regulations, having something regarding moving gravel from place to another and adding screening the area. Chairman Silverman noted that the regulations already require screening. Carmen questioned a parcel that is not commercial.