Planning Board

CITY OF LACONIA PLANNING BOARD Tuesday, August 2, 2016 – 6:30 PM City Hall Conference Room 200A Accepted Sept 13, 2013 I. Call to Order; Chairman Hutchins called the meeting to order at 6:30 PM W. Patterson called the roll with the following members present: Mike Limanni- Alternate, Jay Tivnan, Jerry Mailloux, Bill Contardo, Gail Denio, Planning Board Chair, Warren Hutchins and Interim Planning Director, Brandee Loughlin. II. II. Presentations; None III. Extensions; None IV. Continued Public Hearings; None V. Public Hearings B. Contardo recused himself from the first case. Chairman Hutchins appointed Mike Limanni a full voting member for the meeting. 1. Revocation of PL2013-0096SU, 0097CUP (wetland buffer), 640 Elm Street Decision; B. Loughlin explained that the CUP that was granted in 1997 has expired and there have not been any extensions asked for. The new owner of the property would like to build a single family dwelling and wants to make sure that the land is properly designated as a single family lot because the previous plan had been recorded with the registry of deeds. It was reiterated that since the previous approval had already expired this is just a formality. Chairman Hutchins asked if there were any questions from abutters, the public or the Board. There being none he closed the public session of the meeting at 6:36pm. MOTION; J. Mailloux moved to revoke the previous approval of application PL2013-0096SU, 0097CUP (wetland buffer), 640 Elm Street to revert the land back to a single family lot of record. Seconded by J. Tivnan. Motion unanimously passed 5-0. 2. PL2016-0082CUP, 18 Cole Street, bed and breakfast ~ Application Withdrawn. 1 B. Loughlin explained that this application has been withdrawn and no action is needed. 3. PL2016-0086CUP, Parade Road Switching Station improvements Chairman Hutchins opened the public hearing at 6:37. No one was present to speak on behalf of the application, and was postponed. Hearing was re-opened when applicant arrived at meeting but after all other public hearings. MOTION: J. Mailloux moved to postpone the public hearing until the applicant arrived. Seconded by B. Contardo. Motion carried unanimously 6-0. 4. PL2016-0087SP, 523-571 Main Street, Work Out World; Applicant; Rod Turpin spoke on behalf of the owner of the property. The proposed project will take up approximately 2/3 of the street level of parking garage structure as well as a mezzanine level. There is no anticipated changes to surface level parking, dumpster location, or site utilities. The project is primarily on street level and will stop short of Soda Shop area. As has been discussed in previous technical review meetings, there are no plans for significant changes to lighting with the exception of low lighting to be added near the exit on the south side of the building. Chairman Hutchins asked who would be in charge of signage. Brandee Loughlin explained that a sign application will fall under the Zoning Department. Mr. Turpin explained that the proposal is for signs facing back toward Union Ave. and Court Street and a hanging sign to match the style of others on Main Street as well as signage on doors. They plan to go through and more clearly describe sign sizes and take into consideration what is already there. Chairman Hutchins said his only concern is the sign facing the river and that it be an appropriate sign. B. Contardo noticed that the FD has some comments on the project. Mr. Turpin explained that he has addressed the concerns and that the exit sign location has been clarified as well as a wall that was shown on the plan that is in actuality a half wall. Also addressed and added to the updated plans is the small storage room in the NE corner that had previously been cut off from the initial set of plans. B. Contardo asked about sprinkler systems, Mr. Turpin said that they are being reevaluated. Chairman Hutchins asked if there were any other questions. Brandee Loughlin explained it will be a minimal impact of work done, primarily on the interior of the property and that had the square footage been smaller, it would have only been a minor site plan. The Planning Dept. recommends approval with conditions as shown on staff review. Chair asked if anyone had questions. There being none, the public hearing was closed. J. Mailloux, asked about impact fees, Brandee Loughlin explained they would be due at time of Certificate of Occupancy. She further explained that if the planning board chooses so, and upon an approval of the Planning Board for this application, they can allow for the applicant to apply to reduce the impact fees. MOTION: J. Mailloux moved to approve PL2016-0087SP, 523-571 Main Street, Work Out World with the conditions as stipulated in the Staff Review on file. Seconded by J. Tivnan, Motion carried unanimously with a 6-0 vote. 2 5. PL2016-0092CR, 1085 White Oaks Rd, Conceptual Review for long-term outdoor watercraft storage & indoor long-term vehicle & RV storage. This is a conceptual review to have discussions with the board. No decision is required. Chairman Hutchins opened public hearing at 6:54. Bernie Temple, with Eric Mitchell Associates spoke on behalf of the applicant. The property being discussed is the Old Surf Coaster property at the corner of White Oak Road and Endicott St. This 10+/- acre property has been vacant for 10+ years and is in the CR zone. The applicant would like to turn the parcel in to a boat, vehicle and RV storage facility and ideally working with Marinas for putting in and taking out service. There is mature vegetation that would minimize the view of the outdoor lot that would only be for boats. It is also a conceptual idea to have an entrance from each block with a future thought of a restaurant on the front 2 acres. Brandee Loughlin stated that outdoor storage and storage facilities are allowed however, it is the long term vehicle storage that would require a variance. It was requested that Ms. Loughlin read the definition of the Commercial Resort (CR) District. The Commercial Resort District is primarily intended to set aside areas where establishments catering to the dining, lodging and recreational needs of tourists or seasonal residents may be located. Also to be permitted in this district are such commercial residential uses as garden apartments and condominiums. The district shall generally be located adjacent to major tourist routes and attractions. Development will be encouraged which is characterized by open space, attractive landscaping and ample off-street parking areas. It is anticipated that small shops and retail stores may be located within this district as they meet the intent and requirements of this chapter. Discussion was held on the proposed project meeting site plan regulations, how this project would mesh with the vision captured in the outreach that has been done with the Master Plan, drainage, swale, use of existing structures and concern about seeing the outdoor storage from the road & water. Chairman Hutchins opened public hearing to abutters and other concerned citizens. Ava Doyle, City Councilor and owner of Sun Valley Cottages submitted a letter to the Planning Board in opposition of the proposed project, which in summation expressed concerns for traffic, property values and the overall feel of the area. Mike Lamanni stated that resorts have had ten years to explore putting a resort there. Ernest Millett stated that he has been the realtor for the property for 10 years and in that time approximately 70 prospects have looked at it including Peaks, Disney, people with inside experience in recreation. They have all turned away from the property because the area is just too seasonal, site too small for a resort, and the site is removed from the general foot traffic. In ten years this is the best plan that has come to light. Chairman Hutchins stated that the Weirs area has had a lot of work done by the State in recent years with the new rotary and sidewalks. The City is now preparing for a 2.5 million dollar upgrading project to Lakeside Ave to begin in the fall. 3 Charlie Morgan stated that he would like to build some first class looking buildings for storage and owns another facility in Merrimack. He thinks it is a great site and there is a demand for this type of storage space needed in the area. J. Mailloux asked how tall the buildings would be, Morgan said about 28’. Mr. Morgan said that his facility in Merrimack is fully subscribed and he stores ½ million dollar RV’s. Primarily he stores them from October to April. Barbara Dick 76 Lucerne Ave stated her concerns about increased traffic and reminded the Board that a company wanted to put in storage units at the St. Helene’s site and it was denied. Discussion was held on where the owners of the boats would launch from and the potential for increased traffic in the area with people taking their boats in and out of the facility and a potential other use for the property. Millett reiterated that the site is too far removed from the pedestrian traffic for other projects to come to fruition. Fred Clausen, owner of Proctors Cabins, agrees with Ms. Doyle’s’ letter. His personal concern is where you come in the channel now it is a blemish. How the sight would look at night with lighting when entering the channel. Though he agrees that there would probably be business garnered from this, the down side would be the increased traffic. He further stated that he does not agree with the project but if it should go through then landscaping would need to be addressed so that when you are coming in by boat it is not an eyesore. B. Contardo inquired how tall the buildings can be in that Zone and was told 60’. Denise Poirer of Abakee Cottages stated that she grew up here and it is a shame to see the Weirs go all condo. She does not oppose boat storage but does not think this is the area for it as it is prime real estate that would not bring any business, other than storage, to the area. She is also concerned with the possible increased traffic this would bring to the area. Chairman Hutchins reminded everyone that this is just a conceptual meeting and if prospective developer decided to go forward then there would be a plan brought to the board with a formal hearing. There being no further comments, the Chairman closed the public hearing at 7:39. Summation from Chairman Hutchins is that if the applicant decided to proceed with this proposal, he feels that the people have given an indication on how they feel at this meeting tonight. 6. 06-010SU-amd1; Route 106-107 Lilac Valley Estate waiver from underground utilities. Brandee Loughlin stated that the application is complete. Gail Denio moved to accept application as complete. Second by J. Tivnan. Motion carried unanimously 6-0 and the public hearing was opened at 7:41. John Rokeh stated that the application as presented this evening is to request a waiver for underground utilities. He explained that everything will go underground from the poles at the 4 entrance and in to the project and that the waiver is only for the poles. Reasoning being that with the three phase power needed, they require one pole for pump station, one for power to come down and the third for the return line. They are only seeking the waiver based on information they have received from Eversource that the three poles will be necessary. Discussion was held on the phases of the project, conduit lines, transformers on site (3) and the location of the poles which would not be in front of any residences. B. Loughlin said that the final impact is not significant and that a large majority of the development is underground and will only be above in this area. A little encouragement was made to the general public to bring issues to the board as soon as they are know they have them. J. Mailloux asked if there should be a limit of 50’ into the area for the extra poles. B. Loughlin said the Planning Department is requiring amended plans to show the added poles. The meeting was opened to abutters and members of the public wishing to speak on this topic. There being none, the Chairman closed the public hearing at 7:51 PM. MOTION; J. Tivnan moved to accept application 06-010SU Route 106-107 Lilac Valley Estate waiver from underground utilities as amended with the request for 2 additional poles in addition the one previously approved which shall be placed as reflected on the revised plan that will be presented. Seconded by M. Lamanni. Motion passed unanimously 6-0. 7. 05-016SP, 63 Blaisdell Ave, Irwin Marine, 8,100 sq ft watercraft repair facility; Application Acceptance/Decision. B. Loughlin stated that the application is complete. MOTION; B. Contardo moved to accept the application as complete, Seconded by G. Denio. Motion passed unanimously 6-0. Nick Sceggell, of Fluet Engineering based in Laconia, spoke on behalf of the proposed plans. This project will straddle the Laconia/Gilford line and is the former Grossmans site. The property as redeveloped in 2004 added an approximately 50k sf facility that is there now and at the time included the 12,000 sf building that used to be Grossmans. That building has been taken down due to structural issues and they propose to put in an 8,100 sf repair facility. The use is planned to alleviate some of the congestion and growth at Irwin on Union Ave and to move those activities away from the water. This proposed facility would not be customer based, may be some drop offs, but will mostly be staff bringing the boats from Union Ave and back to Union Ave. There would be site grading and site improvements and permits were given by the town previously to do this to mitigate erosion. The northern long eared bat has been identified and clearing happens over the winter as not to bother their roosting. Discussion was held on wetlands impact and the process. Mr. Sceggell stated that the proposed building is designed for maintenance and washing with wash bays for indoor boat washing. The water would get directed to a grit sedimentation 5 center and then discharged to a sanitary sewer system that has been approved by the Winnipesaukee River Basin as environmentally friendly and will be monitored by that group through a required maintenance schedule. The building height is 25’ not including skylights, there will be underground electric from the pole, rooftop drainage goes to Gilford and will they will add catch basins to discharge down to the exiting grasslands swale to Black Brook. Standard erosion control will be in place by way of a silt fence and there is existing landscaping from the original site plan that it be replaced in kind if needed. The existing site plan has screened dumpster locations and those are proposed to be used and the new building lighting would match the existing building with the same LED dark sky lighting. Chair, will there be security systems? Nick, yes there will be. All parking as required is on the plan and exceeds what is required. There is no proposal for outside boat storage on this site, there is storage proposed on the Gilford side of the property. Brandee Loughlin stated that this project is straight forward, will be built in same esthetic style aren’t a lot of plan revisions, and that the information requested about the Gilford side of the property has been placed on the plans and recommends approval. Chair asked about maintenance schedule. Brandee a note could be right on the plan. Nick said that they have a utility noted section where the note could be added. Brandee said if it is on the plan as a note C. All sediment traps must be maintained per schedule. Chair asked if any abutters would like to speak on this. There being none he closed the public hearing at 8:16. MOTION; J. Mailloux moved to approve application 05-016SP, 63 Blaisdell Ave, Irwin Marine, 8,100 sq ft watercraft repair facility as presented with the conditions of the Staff Review and with the additional condition that a note be placed on section C on the plans regarding maintenance for the water separator. Conditions must be met prior to final approval. Seconded by J. Tivnan. Motion carried unanimously 6-0. Chairman Hutchins asked Mr. Sceggell to please convey the Boards thanks for the work that Irwin does to keep things aesthetically pleasing. 8. PL2016-0090SP, 144 Lexington Drive, change of use to indoor watercraft storage; Application Acceptance/Decision. B. Loughlin stated that the application is complete. MOTION; B. Contardo moved to accept the application as complete for public hearing. Seconded by J. Tivnan. Motion carried unanimously 6-0. Nick Sceggell again represented Irwin Marine in this hearing. The proposed site is located at the Cormier Building, 144 Lexington Drive at corner of Primrose and is owned by JBB Properties, Inc. It is presently a mixed use property with LRGH laundry in the facility and TiteFlex manufacturing and warehouse. They are proposing to change a quadrant of the building to indoor storage and will need to add to existing driveway to get boats in to the site to back in to the building, offloaded 6 and stored. They have a little over 5,500 sf of pavement being added. A storm water analysis was done and it is negligible in the analysis. There is an existing draft swale with a catch basin and some grading will be done to get water to the catch basin with crushed stone, 4 inches of loam, and seeding. The greenspace coverage would be approximately 75.6% which leaves more than the required 20% for the zone. There are some existing trees and as many will be saved as possible but there are a few that are dead and they are proposing to plant 5 additional trees, 8- 10’ balsam firs, as a screening. The whole site is nicely landscaped and he does not feel this proposal will detract from it. They will use the existing entrance off of Primrose Ave for ingress and egress. Brandee Loughlin stated that the project is straight forward with about 40,000 sf of water craft storage and some plan revisions have been made for clarification purposes. She further stated that it is at the Boards discretion that there were no impact fees suggested but if the Board would require them then they would be $9600. Chairman Hutchins inquired if there were any comments or concerns from the public, there being none, and the public hearing was closed at 8:30 PM. MOTION; Gail Denio moved to approve application PL2016-0090SP, 144 Lexington Drive, change of use to indoor watercraft storage with the conditions of the Staff Review. Seconded by M. Lamanni. Motion carried unanimously 6-0. Chairman Hutchins reopened the public hearing for application PL2016-0086CUP, Parade Road Switching Station improvements at 8:32. Adeli Fiorillo spoke on behalf of Eversource Energy. They are seeking a conditional use permit to install a gravel work pad that is within the wetland overlay. They have met with TRC on June 8th and there were recommendations for changes. On the 2nd review on July 20th, the proposal was to use silt socks instead of silt fence and to revegetate any exposed soils with the proposal of a seed mixture of grasses and flowers. The revised plans show the proposed changes. This project is more to clean up the site and make it easier for the workers. Chairman Hutchins asked if materials will be added to the driveway off of Parade Road. Ms. Fiorillo said it is not part of the proposal as it is outside of the buffer zone. Brandee Loughlin stated that this is straightforward and there is a need to expand the area. She added that the Conservation Commission has incorporated any of their concerns into the plan, of which there are none. Chairman Hutchins asked if there were any abutters or members of the public to speak in regards to this application. There being none, he closed the public session at 8:36 pm. 7 MOTION; B. Contardo moved to approve the application subject to Staff Review. Seconded by J. Tivnan. Motion carried unanimously 6-0. Chairman Hutchins stated that the site needs a little TLC and he would hope Eversouce would take pride in their site and clean it up a little. VI. Application Acceptance; None VII. New Business 1. Review of Impact Fee per Council request; ; Review of impact fees per council; This was not a resolution by the Council to us but was recommended by David Bownes who is not in attendance this evening so it shall be postponed. 2. Planning Board CIP appointees; Bill Contardo and Gail Denio stated they would serve on the Committee. MOTION; J. Mailloux to appoint Bill Contardo, Gail Denio and Hamilton McLean as CIP appointees. Seconded by M. Lamanni. Motion carried unanimously 6-0. 3. Request for Zoning Task Force (ZTF) to address changes to ordinance resulting from RSA 674:71/72 (Senate Bill 146) regarding accessory dwelling units. Request that Zoning Task force change City ordinance based on state law action. The State passed a new RSA relating to accessory dwelling units. At this time our ordinance limits them to 400 sf maximum with specific criteria, the new RSA changes what we are allowed to have in our ordinance regarding those ADU’s so we will need to bring our ordinance in to compliance. B. Loughlin is suggesting that the Planning Board hand that to the ZTF for review and comment. MOTION; M. Lamanni moved to send this to ZTF to investigate. Seconded by Gail Denio. Motion carried unanimously, 6-0. VIII; Old Business; None IX. Reports 1. Planning Dept. Report: B. Loughlin explained some of the changes taking place within the Planning Department. Wendy Patterson, who has previously worked in Gilmanton and Milton, NH has been hired as the Zoning Technician. There have been approximately 12 applicants for Scott McPhee’s position in the Conservation Commission office and she is hoping someone will be hired soon. The Con Com members have put in a lot of time and effort and have been mentoring us in the office. Paul Moynihan has retired from DPW, he will be sorely missed. The new DPW director is scheduled to start Aug 15, Wes Anderson. 8  Chairman Hutchins stated that the family is wonderfully involved and a professional family with a lot of experience. 2. Wow trail phase 2 is under construction from Downtown to Belmont. The Lakeside Ave project is scheduled to start after Labor Day and is a 2.5 million project. They are hoping to have a basecoat on by Memorial Day and finish the project in the fall of 2017. Motorcycle week follow up meeting was held and there were no negative comments. There will be public tours of the Colonial Theater available on Wednesday. 3. B. Loughlin said that Con Com is doing water testing and site checks reviews for TRC, they are really stepping up to the plate. 4. Chair would like to thank Armand Bolduc for being here with us this evening. Armand Bolduc said they would be better served to speak more in to the microphones. He thanked the board for their service. X. Liaison Reports; None 1. Lakes Region Planning Commission: W. Hutchins; A. Chairman Hutchins reminded the Board that his Saturday is hazardous material day. 2. Conservation Commission: W. Contardo; None 3. City Council: D. Bownes None XI. Other Business; None XII. Minutes; Minutes; July 12, 2016. MOTION; Gail Denio moved to approve the minutes as written. Seconded by Jay Tivnan. Motion passed unanimously, 6-0. XIII. Adjournment; Motion to close the meeting of the August 2, 2016 Planning Board meeting made by J. Mailloux. Seconded by M. Contardo. Motion carried unanimously 6-0 at 8:55 PM Respectfully submitted, Wendy L. Patterson 9