Town of Walpole, Walpole, NH 03608
PLANNING BOARD WORK SESSION
April 24, 2007–7 pm
Town Hall Basement
MINUTES
Members Present: J. Miller, Ch., B. Miller, V-Ch., Ben Daviss, H. Fletcher
Master Planners Present: Mel Schupack, Mary Lou Montgomery, Dennis Marcom,
Robert Jasse.
Recording: Pamela Aslinger, Sec.
These minutes are unapproved and will be reviewed at the May 8, 2007 meeting for errors, omissions and corrections.
I. Meeting opened at 7:05pm.
II. Ongoing Business - Master Plan Update
Ch. Miller asked Mr. Daviss to report on the meeting with SW Reg. Planning Commission. Mr. Daviss said he, Mr. Schupack, Mr. Bob Miller and Ms. Aslinger attended the meeting on April 17th from 10:30 - 12:30pm, meeting with Jeff Porter, Joanne Carr, Chief Planner and Andrea Santoro, Mapping services. The meeting was in 2 parts, the first being about the requirements and results of GIS mapping, the second part about the vision statement. Mr. Daviss said Ms. Aslinger would discuss the mapping. Mr. Daviss said Mr. Porter and Ms. Carr thought the initial effort on the vision statement needed more citizen input. They suggested a friendlier more informal approach like “asking around Town” - what do you want to see for Walpole’s future? Rather than just mailing a survey, actually physically go to some of the civic organizations such as the Grange, Library, Historical Society etc. with a list of a few questions as a semi-survey, pooling the responses to create a vision statement. The result would reflect the genuine wishes of the Town. Mr. Daviss said the results could be a valid basis for not only the vision statement but also necessary to begin the task of rewriting the zoning ordinance and regulations to reflect the Town’s wishes. He noted it would take additional time but mentioned one way to speed things up is using the new website that will be up and running in a week or so. The questions could be posted for comments along with the supporting documents such as the draft vision statement and current land use section of the master plan complete with a blogged comment page for each issue.
Mr. Schupack and others were concerned that by posting only a few questions, would it steer responses? Mr. Daviss thought it is important to post the current information to give responders a context but agreed in framing the questions to “let the mind roam somewhat” in the responses.
Ch. Miller referred to the three basic questions shown in the current master plan suggesting while very generalized, they could be used. He thought the current land use section needs “tweaking” rather than an entire rewrite, but agrees an informal survey would help determine the scope. He thought one weak area in the current land use section is in the implementation of the prior goals and objectives. He reiterated, keeping it simple, staying focused on the land use section only. He said the goals and objectives are still very good although somewhat generic, the informal survey could be used to add more detail especially based on the past 5 years of changes in the Town.
V-Ch. Bob Miller thought the survey would yield generalized statements and the respondents would rely on the Planning Board to implement ways to incorporate them into the ordinances and regulations. Mr. Schupack and others thought a more detailed list of specific questions such as: Do you want track housing, large retail centers, apartment buildings, cluster housing, or light industrial and further commercial development, might help the Board in determining the vision statement, plus help in the ordinance and regulations updates. Ch. Miller said the State has stopped funding of conservation easements, perhaps a question could be asked if the Town wants to fund conservation, preservation or protection easements. Mr. Marcom suggested the Planning Board include specific questions drawn from some of its more recent applications, incorporating and highlighting them for comments. The attendees fully agreed with the suggestion.
After further discussion among the group, it was decided to have Mr. Schupack and Mr. Daviss draft several questions, some generalized and some specific. The questions will be reviewed at the Planning Board’s May 8, 2007 meeting before circulating or posting them.
Mr. O’Keefe reminded the board, not everyone is “on-line” so connecting with individuals and groups was just as important, he suggested making up a flyer that could be located at the gas station or have the library as a drop off for completed questions.
The group came up with a list of organizations to contact: Senior Citizens Group, Fire Department, Historical Society, Schools, Church Groups, Grange, The Walpolean, Library, 4-H Group, Hooper Institute, Snowmobile Club, Horsethieves, Walpole Tomorrow. It was suggested to hold a Public Meeting on the questions for those not part of the groups mentioned above. Determining who will approach each organization will be discussed at the May 8, 2007 meeting.
GIS Mapping - Ms. Aslinger said the GIS mapping portion of the meeting was very helpful with SWRPC making suggestions as to how the Board can obtain the needed information. She displayed 3 maps showing how other Towns had been able to create overlay maps showing land uses for future planning. She said the necessary information is: Map and Lot and sub lot numbers, the PID (parcel identification number) and the actual land use. She said the information itself is not “sensitive” but the Board of Selectmen and Town offices have prevented the Board from access to the information or access to the Town tax assessor due to lack of understanding how the information is gathered and worries about disturbing Town records. She said without the digitized 3 pieces of information the 2003 maps cannot be updated. She said Andrea Santoro offered to meet with the Town office persons and help to create a disk with the required information, without having actual access to the Town computerized records. Mr. Porter said the information could be gathered by doing a physical “windshield” survey, but the information would still need to be compiled and digitized. He said it was impossible to give the Board a cost estimate for the updated mapping because it depends on being able to obtain digitized information from the tax assessor, how many changes have occurred since 2003 and how many undocumented tax records would need to be researched. Ms. Santoro said to purchase a completely digitized tax map from Cartographics could cost $60K - $110K, some Town’s are adding it to their Capital Improvements Program $10,000.00 at a time. Ms. Aslinger will attempt to explain the necessity of obtaining the Town’s information in a memo to the Board of Selectmen, determine what information is shown on the PID’s and gather the changes since 2003 in order for SWRPC to estimate a cost. Mr. O’Keefe and others thought preventing the Board from accessing the Towns digitized information to create the planning maps is unacceptable.
Ch. Miller and V-Ch. Bob Miller remembered doing a windshield survey as part of the master plan in 2000. Ch. Miller firmly believes there are already overlay maps available for Walpole and SWRPC has them. He asked Sec. Aslinger to follow up with an inquiry to SWRPC. If there are no available maps, Ms. Aslinger will continue with gathering the land use changes since 2003 and re-approaching the Town office with the request for PID digitized information.
Other: Planning Board member Mr. Henry Fletcher brought in 2 sets of aerial maps, one from 1952 showing a section from the Connecticut River east to Whipple Hill and south into Merriam Rd. area, and one from the early 1980’s showing a north eastern section of Town including Drewsville. The detail was tremendous and the amount of open farm land impressive. The group enjoyed seeing the changes over time and Ch. Miller’s memories of growing up and some of his favorite places to play, now part of Rte. 12. Other group members reminisced about their Walpole experiences and neighbors. It was the highlight of the meeting and helped to frame and put into context some of the many changes in Walpole over the past 60 years.
Thank you, Henry!
III. Meeting closed 8:15pm
cc: file, PB, MPU, ZBA, WCC, BOS, NWVC
Posted: Town Hall, Lobby, Burdick’s Market,
Town website: www.walpolenh.us, www.thewalpolean.co