Planning Board - Regular Meeting

Hello and welcome to the Tuesday, March 17, 2026 meeting of the Lichfield New Hampshire Planning Board. Will everyone please stand for the pledge of allegiance? I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. So we will start with the roll call of members present. Jared Okonnell vice chair Letha Riley member Steve Ganis selectman's rep Russell Bland chat member Jesse no alternate Travis Tucker member.

Okay we also have Joan our planning board administrator. Um so um we have an alternate and we have one two only five voting members today. So um Jesse, would you like to um participate in voting today? Yes, I do.

Uh perfect. Um so you will be a voting member today. Um public input on non-aggenda items. Does any member of the public wish to comment on items that are not on our agenda? Seeing none, we can move on to item one of the agenda, which is Finnegan fence application for an exterior wall-mounted sign at 457 Charles Bankcraft Highway, tax map 20, lot 18-1. The sign will be internally illuminated. Measurement is 24 in overall height. Area is 54.8 square ft, 35% of the building length. Owner is 457 Charles Bankcraft Highway LLC. uh it has been renotified due to the meeting uh cancellation.

Okay. Is the member or applicant present? Yes. Would you like to uh speak about your application?

Absolutely. Well, good I'm going to say evening at this point everyone. My name is Jason Gagden um with SUS Science here on behalf of Finick Defense. We are here before you to see if we can have a um externally illuminated with halo illumination wall sign approved for the design. This is a second rendition if you will. We had gone back in front of the ZBA board for a slightly larger sign and that was uh ultimately denied. So this is kind of the scaled down version if you will. It meets all of the sign aspects as far as criteria for the linear length of the building as well as the square footage. So exterior wall sign is going to be like I said it's a internally illuminated. So it's going to be a front lit which means the acrylic lens will have light shine through but it will also have the aspect of the halo illumination which casts light out the back of the sign onto the building as a like a uh halo or drop shadow. So I mean very simple sign but if there's any questions please ask away. Okay, thank you. So, um this is

we have a letter from Jay. You have that on the portal, right? Yeah. So, this is something that has to be accepted is accepted and um approved. Yes. Okay. Um so, based on the comments on uh from Jay uh everything is present are all the fees and all that stuff been paid and butters have been renoticed. Okay, sounds good. So um I would like to entertain a motion to accept the um application which is not approving it's just accepting it for completeness. So moved. Do we have a second? Okay. We have an approval and a second. Uh any further discussion?

Okay. All those in favor of accepting the application please signify by saying I. I. Those opposed abstain. Motion passes. 6 0 and uh next uh this is pretty straightforward. Uh comments um have we gotten any uh comments uh online? No, not online or or um no written comments, but there are buggers here for whichever sign. Is there anyone that like to comment before we uh open this up to public for comment?

No. Okay. Uh would any members of the public like to comment on the application? Okay. Seeing none, uh any further discussion uh by the board? As long as Jay's okay. Jay's letter.

Yep. I can read uh Jay's uh letter since that might be helpful for those here. Uh I have reviewed the application for this this sign. Uh the height would be 30 23 and a half um inches which is below the maximum height of two feet. Um and the proposed length of sign is 28 ft which equals 35% of the length of the building. Therefore the propo proposed sign meets the requirements of the section 1503.01B of the zoning ordinance. So uh looks like it uh follows all zoning. So, um, any further discussion?

I just want curiosity is the sign be lit 24 hours a day or is it going to be, you know, scaled back at night? What's what's the overall plan? I know we do have some abunders that are here. They're not speaking up. So, I assume they're in favor of it. They do not have an issue. It's just for my own Yeah. No, very good question. Uh, we usually don't recommend signs to be illuminated 24 hours a day. Um, with the monument sign, I believe that thing is on a time clock. Okay. So, the same system would probably be applied for the wall sign. So, it would be on, you know, from dusk to more or less not I'm assume I don't know what time it's off at now, but I would assume probably 10:00, 11 or so. Okay. So, it would not be illuminated all night long. It'll correct.

There'll be a certain time. That's our recommendation and the intent. Correct. Okay. And yeah, I think it would probably make sense for it to match. Um, speak to that. That's my building and it would certainly be shut off some 9 10 would actually probably be late. So, I don't think that should be any concern to the residents. Not looking to have it burning at 3:00 in the morning. Thank you, sir. Is it going to be matching the hours of the business or just whenever it makes sense?

Business isn't going to be open late at night. Okay. But probably 650 o' depending on the time of the year. Uh but again with the activity across the street I would like to be able to you know at least have a presence in that regard but certainly not going to be uh late at night. I would I would think 9:00 actually probably be on the on the later end and if it turns into an issue certainly will talk to whoever. Okay. And what's your uh uh name uh for uh for the uh for the minutes? Thank you. Um and any question? Okay. Uh in in in that case, would someone like to make a motion to uh approve the application?

Uh Mr. Vice Chair, I will make a motion that we approve the Finnegan fence application for an exterior wall-mounted sign at 457 Charles Bankraftoft Highway, Tax Map 20, lot 18-1. uh with an internal illumination and the dimensions as specified. Okay. Thank you. We have a motion. Any second? Second. Okay. We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Okay. All those in favor of the motion to approve the um sign application, please signify by saying I. I. I.

Okay. Anyone opposed or abstained? Motion passes. Uh 600. Okay, thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Enjoy your evening.

So, uh, next on the agenda, we have another sign. Um, so an application for a sign at 461 Charles Braftoft Highway, tax map 20, lot 18-3. So, this is basically right next to the other one. Um the sign will uh so this is owner 461 Charles Highway LLC built electric signed to be internally illuminated and mounted on to the building face. Measurements are 84 in wide by 24 in tall or high. Okay. Um is the applicant present? That would be me. Would you like to speak about your um application?

Yeah. My name is Michael Gallagher with Spectrum Science and Graphics. on behalf of Jolt Electric. Um basically the same as the previous sign that was proposed. It's going to be internally illuminated. It meets all ordinances. Um there was an update which I did bring um the design drawings along though I'm not sure that um it's going to look too much different from what you may have. Would you like for me to distribute these? Uh sure. Sean. Yes, please. Thank you. I would say it's going to be Thank you. Thank you. We can share one.

Yeah, we can share one. And if if I may, Mr. Vice Chair, um a comment to the public at home who's listening watching this and also our audience here, we do have files that last application that was before us. We we weren't we were looking at a visual of the sign. So I didn't want anyone at home to think we weren't. We were just blindly accepting. Um so um typically we would have it up on the screen up there, but it's currently not. So I apologize for

No, not a problem. That's actually why I wanted to offer to pass these around. So, um the main difference from the um design that was submitted in the application to now is that there's it's going to be a halo illumination. Same as the exact sign. Um it's going to a very soft glow. This is actually from pretty close up to the building face from the uh right of way. Um it definitely will not be as dramatic. Um and it meets all ordinances to 2 feet at maximum. It's 14 square ft total. Um and I believe all the voters have been notified as well.

Okay, thank you. Um so, um Joan, as are all the uh requirements, um taken care of? Nobody is notified, fees are paid. Okay, thank you. So, um I guess uh looks like everything is that's required is there. So, would someone like to make a motion to accept the uh application? So, moved. Second. Okay, we have a motion and a second. Uh, any further discussion? All those in favor of the motion to accept the application, please signify by saying I. I.

Those opposed and and abstained. Motion passes 600. Um, so yeah, this looks like a pretty straightforward um application. um and it appears to meet all um uh zoning ordinances. Uh any uh discussion by the board? I would have the same question as the last one. Um the hours of illumination.

That's a great question. Thank you for asking that. Um right now we don't have any restrictions on it being um powered off during off hours for the business. Um the intent of a halo lit sign is to be visible at night with that backlight. Um if there are concerns, we'd certainly be willing to um have a shut off. I believe I saw the ordinances 11:00 p.m. to 7 a.m. Um but we would be certainly willing to accommodate any other kind of requests before that time. Um I believe everyone's out of the building by 9 as well, so if so be it, we could do that. Yeah. Yeah.

And Eric, the owner, has been a long time, long time resident of Lichfield, and he's more than willing, I'm sure, to accommodate any neighbors that may have an issue. Certainly a really nice guy. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm assuming you would also not recommend the that uh the illumination be done 24/7 for the like the lifespan of the sign probably. So, we're actually graded to have the sign on 24/7 without any detrimental um impacts to the longevity of the sign. Um but again, if there were concerns, then we would certainly address those. That's not an issue. Um especially Joel Electric, they're going to be pretty handy in any kind of regard to the lighting situation. So, yeah.

Okay. Okay. Any further discuss uh comments from the board? Just have a comment on that on that uh time of the sign that where that building sits back and this is not a very big sign that it would almost have a presence if the sign was on that people were there that you know to dissuade any kind of problems. That's initial intent for a halo lit sign is for that nighttime hours to be visible. So again, thank you. So let me understand correctly then if I may. So the the ordinance says that it has to go off between 11 and seven. Call that in the ordinance, but

no, I've been doing a lot of permitting between here and London and back and forth. So it may be London's permitting ordinance that actually says that, but Okay, maybe double check that. But I mean, as you're going to be neighbors with I mean you're neighbors with Finnegan Fence anyway. Um, I imagine your timing of illumination would probably be pretty similar. So, and we are outfitting it with a timer as well if needed. So, we are prepared for that in the case that they would like that to be shut off at a certain time.

Yeah. Like this is a commercial section of town, but we definitely would recommend um just Yeah. not having it on 247, but that's that's just a re like personal recommendation, not a not what the ordinance says. Okay. Uh so do any members of the public uh uh wish to comment on this application? Okay. Seeing none. Um, so we definitely a question to look into our ordinances on what the illumination hours are. Yeah, it's only applies to off- premise uh signs. Yeah, there's nothing in 15 to 1503 that has ours.

No. Okay. Well, like most things, we want to be sensitive to the neighbors in the area. So, I'm sure you'll do that. I think the intent is 9:00 p.m. Mhm. Ideally, that would make sense. And if you go a few hours beyond that just to for the Mel's to awareness for Mel's customers, that might make sense. But yeah, a staying keeping it on after all the neighboring businesses are closed doesn't make much sense. But um that's not a requirement. Okay. Uh any other comments or questions, comments, concerns by the board? Okay. In which case,

Mr. Chair, I'll make a motion that we approve the sign at 461 Charles Bankraftoft Highway Tax Map 20, lot 18-3, owner 461 CBH LLC, Jolt Electric. Uh, an internally illuminated sign building mount with dimensions specified. Okay, we have a motion. Uh, do we have a second? Second. We have a second by Jesse. Uh, any further discussion? Okay. All those in favor of approving the sign at 461 Charles Braftoft Highway, please signify by saying I.

I. I. All those opposed and abstained. Motion passes 600. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, board. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Uh, okay. Next on our agenda, we have storm water management and MS4. And for that, we have our town administrator.

Good evening, Kim Kleiner. Um, so here I am back again. Um, as the board I'm sure remembers, um, a couple years ago, we wor with Nick Christophori from CI on some regulation changes, um, due to storm water management and MS4 regulations. Um, this is really the second part of that. Um once we concluded that review, we are required we're actually uh about a year and a half late um on doing an LIGI um and an impervious cover creation review. So part of this um is the 2017 permit requires that you go through all your ordinances and um your regulations and you look for areas where you could incorporate different low impact design um models of storm water management. Um, in order to do that, um, as part of their contract, their 2024 contract, uh, CI started this review for us. Um, so we and we waited, um, I got this last fall. We waited realizing that we wouldn't have the time to really put together, um, some discussion and movement in time for town meeting. um this this March, we now have until from now until about September um to have some discussion over what CI has found and what they recommend

um to incorporate that in our MS4 um report for October 1st and if necessary make any changes. is um in time for town meeting in 2027. So that's kind of the time period. Um we included a chart of that Mr. Christophory um completed going through all of our existing regulation and our ordinances and his recommendations before bringing uh Mr. Chris Christophori in I so much want to say Nick because that's what I say every day. Um we thought it would be better to give it to the board so that you could have some discussion. I know Mr. Manara um because NRPC works on storm water also he may have some other suggestions. Um there are other towns Amherst has done a great job with this. So there are partnering NRPC towns that we can look for additional language from. Um road agent Brown and I have gone through the recommendations. We have some concerns already um more related to the paving um and the size of driveways and and that things of that sort which they recommend that you cut down um your paving areas. That's one of the recommendations throughout the MS4 quite frankly. Um, but because of our existing equipment that creates challenges for us. So I think there's going to be a lot of discussion. This was really just bringing it forward

so we could start those discussions and whenever the board would like we're happy to bring um CI in to have more formal discussion. But I think that looking at the other towns, working with NRPC and Mr. Manara, um, is probably a good start. And certainly I can answer any questions if the board had any right off the bat. So, are the um like driveway ones that you're talking about and the pavement ones related to like the site design one shown in the assessment that is sent?

Yeah. So, um when road agent Brown and I were reviewing them, um we were particularly concerned where you know currently the roads are 24 ft due to the size of our plow. We have concerns um with going to 18 to 22

um and how have other towns addressed that? That was one of the questions that we have for CI. Um, we thought if we created more of a well-developed list so that we're not going back to CI piece by piece, that might be um, we do have a contract aligned for this year with CEI, so they're certainly available um, to assist us in any way. Uh the other um concern was you know when you talk about this al alternate um paving what's what is the makeup of that material

right and and how does that hold up in our New England weather and with our existing equipment and so we just want to make sure we do our due diligence. um some of the other, you know, when you start talking about, you know, gardens and rain gardens and I mean that's worked into a lot of towns regulations. I'm not sure how much use that gets. Um but some towns get up working up like they advise that you build up and not out. Well, we have existing concerns about that. Um, you know, we keep the rural culture of our town. Um, so we want to take all that into consideration. So, we thought if we got a comprehensive list of all of our concerns together, then um, and Mr. and car's suggestions then we could bring in uh CI and have a discussion. Um we have to at least for the MS4 uh permit to satisfy that we have to have gone through this procedure and adopt some recommendations. So you have to have some low impact design um written into your ordinances.

Yeah. Yeah. regarding certain like some of these requirements. It definitely looks like a lot of it's hard to enforce because a lot of it's up to the site builder and if they want a bigger driveway, it would be hard to stop them from building a bigger driveway except for the cut to the road. Um and alternative pavement that seems theoretical. Yes. Um I mean there are alternative sources out there. Um I think you also get into the cost to the developer,

right? And so some of these low impact design uh procedures have a higher cost. And so looking at other towns and the ways they've adopted these principles, their ordinances actually speak to that. Right? So if if the developer can come in and can address that it raises the price of the project by such and such then they it's waved. So that can certainly be built into our decisions but um so is it fair to say Mr. Mr. Chair, can I ask so is it fair to say then that when you say we have to incorporate or take some of the recommendations that we can word it in such a way that we acknowledge what was said. We put it in there that it would be a nice to have under certain circumstances. Mhm.

That's that's where we're going with this. Okay. That's where we're going. So, I mean I I would want to hear Have you talked with Jay Manara about any of these particular items yet or No, I provided the report. I would I I unfortunately I didn't realize he wouldn't be here. Um they have at NRPC they have a storm water

um consultant who's very good. Um, and I'm happy to call her and have some discussions with her. Um, I think that in all of in all of these areas, there's best practices, right? Best man, your BMPs, your best management practices, and you're trying to incorporate as many as you can into your regulations. But everybody knows that at the end of the day, you can't double the cost of a project. You can't um we have to be very careful with our storm water infrastructure. So, as much as we can deal with the cleaning of the water and the and keeping the ultimate end result and not increasing our storm water infrastructure, that's a that's a save to the to the town, right? So I was I was wondering if you had talked to Jay already because I would envision this conversation with us to be with to have asked Jay to kind of hone in on those sort of lowhanging fruit that you know those topics or those areas where we could probably um be able to to update our ordinance in a in a mindful way, an intentional way, but not one that's you you know, um rather burdensome to developers and then save that other stuff for suggested um suggested ideas that you know uh it would be encouraged if they wanted to do that.

I think that's a great start. Um because I think that Mr. Cars knows I mean obviously working as your circuit writer and under your contract that's probably the best. I think the other concern is working with the road agent um on the roads um and the driveways and things that fall under you know more under the road agent authority with the board of selectmen and then kind of bringing the two together. CI is our MS4 expert.

Um and then taking whatever we come up with and um you know giving that to CI for for their review at the end because they will help us incorporate that into our MS4 report. Um, but if we can do as much of it at our level as as possible without CI having to walk us through it, I think we'll have a better product. And yeah, looking through, I see definitely a lot of recommendations for permeable surfaces for sidewalks. And I think that might be used in some parts of Europe, but

it's difficult to do in New England. Yeah, it they're difficult to clear. Yes. And it like obviously it's designed to handle the um per like water pering through it. Permeating through it. Um this could be could cause some maintenance concerns because if it's not designed well, it will cause it will get washed away. Yeah. Right. It'll end up in the in the drainage ditches after you plow it. Yeah. So, the water will freeze and crack it. Yeah. It'll probably like if if it doesn't have good drainage, it will swell and then crack and

and there are other things. I mean, certainly when you're talking about especially when you're talking about paving and things like that, there's other things to take into consideration. I mean, if we go, you know, over an acre, we have to ask for a permit from the state from dees. So there there's other rules and things that that do work together. Um asphalt is is one of those areas where it's the necessary evil, right? We we all need it. Um but it doesn't generally help our storm water infrastructure. And there's ways through natural vegetation and buffers and and to to work with that those surfaces to help. So I mean I think probably uh Mr. and car will definitely have some suggestions and I'm sure that the other towns within NRPC who have already adopted this will have some some great ideas that we can learn from as well. So, first step.

Yeah. But yeah. Yeah. Looking through um I can definitely imagine how like rain gardens and stuff like that can help filter out like nitrogen runoff,

whereas the current thing just pipes it all to a ditch basically. Um, so more square footage of greenery can help remove nitrogen before it infiltrates into the ground. And even, you know, conservation has come up with some great um concepts for helping um with the with Dar Pond and, you know, the geese and uh those are all they're different ideas to help with the storm water and with the cleaning of our waters that don't involve chemicals and and things of that sort. So those are all and there's innovative ways every day being created. Um but I would say you know looking at the other towns that fall within NRPC's um territory that they've probably already worked with um will be helpful.

Yeah. Interestingly it also recommends parking maximums. Y which is an interesting requirement but it would it would satisfy that requirement. Um, then there's a question on figuring out appropriate maximums because we don't want there to be situations where there's half the parking that's necessary, but oh, we also don't want triple the parking that's necessary either. So, and you know, we look at businesses like, you know, metals. I mean, you know, a lot of their parking is the cornfield. I mean, that's an alternative that doesn't um require asphalt and and

but you deal with other situations that make business operations a little bit more difficult, but like there were close-offs for parts of days to month. Definite tradeoffs. Yeah. doesn't fit every situation, but it may work for for some situations and it could be a best practice in others. Right. Okay. So, I guess the next step is to talk to NRPC and Jam Car. Um, any further discussion for this item? We found our summer project. Yeah, I was gonna say

sorry. Yeah, it's got to be talked about. It's got to be dealt with. So, yeah, some of it we discussed during last year's, you know, style guide of the the water gardens and other ways of treating the water before it reaches the Yeah. All right. Thank you so much. If you know Joan Joan and I talk every day, so um she always knows where to reach me and uh the road agent has already given me his comments. So when you're ready and you want more discussion, just let us know.

Oh yeah, send that our way. The more information we have, you know, as I'm sitting home doing my reading in preparation for meetings, the more I have to read, the better informed I'll be when I arrive here. Certainly. I'll get that to Joe. Great. I'll get that to Joe. Good idea. Thank you. Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thanks. So Joan, maybe um Jay, we could ask Jay in advance of the next meeting if however they want to schedule it, I guess, just to

to figure out, you know, maybe he can put it into smaller chunks like he did with all the other stuff that we worked on in the last year or two to um piece it apart and help us walk through the important points of of that. So we can have some meaningful discussion because otherwise we're going to bite off more than we can chew in any given meeting. Don't you think? Yeah. I think he'll be good at kind of helping us identify what are maybe the practices and ideas that are going to be most applicable to us and pacing ourselves through the process. Yeah. Yeah. Very good to get the road agent comments to see what his concerns are. Yeah. Yeah. Good point.

Yeah. Because a lot of the practices that we may recommend would then be his responsibility. Oh yeah. Once they for maintenance and repair replacement and he is not equipped to repair permeable pavement I'm sure. So we've had this discussion at the Morris Falls property. Okay.

Yeah. Okay. Anything any further discussion for the MS4 stuff? Okay. Uh lastly, we have um election of planning board officers. So, Michael Croto is no longer here. Um and um we we also lost um Jeremy Jeremy Uh he so we we now no longer have our former chair and we no longer have our um clerk I think clerk.

Yeah. But I'd like to take a moment and thank both of them. Um, on behalf of the planning board, if you guys are listening, we thank you very much for your service and um, we would like to more formally thank you in particular, Michael, for your service to the planning board for the last 15 years, which is pretty substantial commitment to this town. Oh, yeah. Indeed. Yeah. Yeah. There's only one other person that sat on the board longer. Yeah. That's Joan and she's knocking 50 years out conservation. Okay. So Mike Mike needs to come back and sit a little for a couple more years.

Oh well appreciate very much service to the town. Yeah. And he stepped up to chair for years uh when no one else uh stepped up for that position. Yep. So, so I believe you could also now that Jeremy is gone, you could appoint Jesse as a full-time member if he's willing also. So, that would probably be a recommendation to the board of selectman to be to make him a full-time member in place of a Yeah. Now, you can appoint or suggest and then it'll go to the board and then the board will approve. But that's something also to consider tonight.

Yeah. And Jesse, are you interested in becoming a full-time board member? And I I have a clarifying question for you. So, does that change like my term or does it give you a new term? Like, how does that work? I think my understanding, but um if you recommend it, then I will put it on the board of agenda for Monday night. Um and then your term will stay the same, but you'll be a full member. Okay. Got it. Thank you. But he he does what? He doesn't have to get res in by Terry, right? Because he's still an alternate. We haven't in the past. No. Okay. Okay. No, only if your term changes. Your term ends and

then you have to be re Okay. Right. And my current term ends March of next year. March of 2027. Okay. Okay. Are you interested in But my answer would be yes. Sounds good. Uh, in which case would someone like to make a motion to recommend? I was going to say I think you know Jesse's attendance has been fabulous and if he's willing to be a member, we'd love to have you as a full member. So I would glowingly endorse you. We've almost exclusively had you become a voting member almost every time you I've learned a lot in the past year. So, I would make that motion to ask Jesse to move from alternate to full-time member. I would second that approval from the select board.

Okay, you got my second on that one. Okay, so we have a motion and a second to recommend to the board of selectmen that Jesse gets promoted to a full voting member for the planning board. Uh, any further discussion? Okay. All those in favor of the motion, please signify by saying I. I. Can I cast a vote? Sure. You can vote for yourself. If you want to be on time, I'm going to abstain because you are on the next train. Yeah. And we have no votes against. So the motion passes um 501. Okay. Thanks for uh helping out the board. An honor and my pleasure to do that for the town.

Good. Okay. Um so next is uh planning board off officer. So um chair, vice chair and secretary. Yeah. So in the past we've gone without we have gone peers without a secretary before. Y um with the current way things are I don't think it's too important to elect a secretary. Yeah. Because you have an admin kind of fulfills that role.

Yeah. I love the admin and the note the um minutes are helpfully taken care of by this the staff here. Um so we just have the chair and vice chair. I'm open to becoming a chair.

I was going to say if you're open I'm making a motion. I I I in my the short time I've been on the planning board. I don't know how the, you know, the rest of you have more history with this young man here, but um I, you know, I I've been impressed with your ability to steer things and, uh, understand, uh, some complicated topics, frankly, and, um, you know, you're always pretty levelheaded. you give everyone their their due and to speak up and say things and I think you serve this town really really well and you clearly love it here and it shows. So I think no better person to make a motion to put into the chair position than Jared Okonnell.

Thank you. My motion. Okay. So we have a second. Okay. So, we have a motion to appoint me as chair of the planning board by Letha and we have a second by Travis. Uh, any further discussion? Okay. All those in favor of um making me chair of the planning board, please signify by saying I I run for 15 years now. You're going to be around a long time. Okay. And no post, no abstain. Um, so motion passes. 600. You're going to be great. Yeah. Thank you. You're going to do great. Um Yeah. So, yeah,

we're all here for you. Yeah. Interestingly, since I joined the planning board, there has been full turnover. So, uh fortunately, we have someone who has prior experience in in history. But, um yes, everyone's new since I joined. That's right. Yeah. Uh okay. So now we have who wants to be the vice chair and chair the meetings when I'm not here and and it and Jesse it's also an option for you because you will or at least once um you're um a full-time voting member if you're interested.

I would look to the two folks over here to my left that have been here for a while. I know Raj you have served once before so you you know I don't know what your feelings are. Uh Travis, I mean both of you have have done excellently since you you know since I've been here. So I I I don't know who has any idea of wanting it. It's also a great do even even better job.

Um if if you have interest, I'd say it's yours. Um, if you're not, I would say I love this town and I love um being able to be a part of this board. So, I would, you know, do it if if no one else wanted to, but you're a great guy, so it's yours if you want it. Come on, Russ. You'll do a great job at it. I'll teach you everything I know. All right. I'm going to need that. Okay. So, I'm going to make a motion then. Am I making a motion? Are you Are you not You're not wanting Motion away. Yeah, I shall second.

Okay. So, I make a motion that Travis Stucker will step up into the vice chair position of the planning board. And um yeah, that would be awesome. I will second that motion. We have a motion and a second to uh appoint Travis Tucker as vice chair of the planning board. Uh any further discussion? Okay. All those in favor of the motion, please signify by saying I. I. uh opposed or abstained. Motion passes 600 Z. Congratulations. Thank you. Nice. Um okay, we got we've got a good board. All right. And I think we are opting to You guys are going to do great.

Of course they are. Of course they are. They love this town and it shows. Yeah. Yeah. And we're all here, too. So, we'll help you. We're going to need you guys. I learned a lot from everyone here. Yeah. and then you'll be chair next year. We're going to need a uh recruitment effort for new alternates. That's a good point. I think like we have we are we missing any full-time members to I was going to say, do we need to consider more members? Yeah. Yeah, we need more members because right now we lose. You have a full board. It's difficult. Seven commitments.

Seven's a full board with alternates or alternates. Seven Oh, seven people is as full members, three people as alternates, right? Is that Yeah. Yeah. That's what the bylaws call for. And that includes the um Boris Suckman's rep. Seven. Yes. Okay. So, that's basically six non non Yes. So, Steve is our seventh person. Yeah. So, um we currently have one, two, three, four, five. So we need two more multimembers, but we're also open to alternates if uh people are not the counts in as the seven as seven. We have six, but you need one. So we need one more full one more full three alternate. We have five right now.

So yeah, we need six. Yeah. So we have one more fulltime member, one full member and up to three alternates. Three. So the big question is how do we advertise? Do we put on that big sign out by the town hall like we normally do and leave it out there for a year and a half until like people realize we're desperate for members?

So unfortunately we anticipated that this was coming. So um it went out in our newsletter um last month. It'll go out again this coming month. We're going to look to put something um on the town sign and on the transfer station sign. We have three boards that were concern more concerned about um the planning board, the zoning board, and the recreation commission. Um so, you know, we've received a couple in um this month and you know, but we are really putting it out as as much as we can. um including on the website. So if anyone has any ideas on other places um that we should post, please let us know um and we will do so. But um there is a volunteer application right on the website that people can fill out. Um, depending on which boards you choose, it will go to Joan and I or the chair of zoning and I and um and we'll get it taken care of right away. So,

I love the newsletter, by the way. I think it's great. I've been telling all my neighbors and they're like, "We've never seen that." Oh, you got to see it, you know. So, I think it's great. It's It's a way to know what's happening in town and Yeah. You know, you feel connected. Oh, glad. I'm glad to hear that if they if people sign up for the Lichfield alerts on the website, then when the newsletter goes out, it will go to your email and um you know, so we really are trying to push that Lichfield alerts.

Um and we had a great time at the resource fair. You know, everyone was there um in January. We're looking to do that. Uh spoiler alert to the selectman. Um, but we already have a date in 27 that they want to do it. Um, and I think that was really good. Um, so we're trying to get information out as best we can. But then people, we've had a number of people sign up for the town Facebook page. We're really happy to see that. Um although we try to cro cross cross post over to the Lichfield what's up um you'll definitely get it faster if you do the town page.

Yeah, I would say out of all the boards too if you really want to understand what's going in town, the planning board is the one you want to be on. You know, um recreation's great if you have you want to be involved in recreation and you have young kids and you want to get involved that way. Conservation is great for longevity of the town, also knowing what's going on. But to really have a finger on the pulse of the town, the planning board is really the one that a lot of people ask questions about what what's going here, what's going there, can they do that?

And the zoning board, it may not have it doesn't have the same commitment certainly that they only meet the third uh Monday. And there are some months they don't have cases so they may not not meet. Um but it's very very important and if you don't have a full board you can run into statutory problems with not hearing cases. So um it's a very important board or simply not having a meeting because there's no quorum. There's a statutory requirement that we meet monthly. Yes.

Yeah. We seem to have this problem in this the summer when people go on vacation sometimes and then of course in the you know in the winters a number of us have got have work obligations that just conflicted with travel or and then you get sick right you know and I think the with the increase of ADUs and the the state allowing everybody to have an au the zoning board's going to be challenged a lot so we do have to build that up. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. and it's a longterm member. Um, Mr. Dero, thank you very much to him. Um, but you know, he served very long time. Um, so he's stepping down this year, isn't he? He is. Yeah.

So, how many members of the ZBA are there? Currently, there's Steve Perry's stepping down too. Yeah. So, one became a select. There'll be three left, Mr. Four. Or four? Maybe three, I think. Well, I think I think Laura and and um Oh gosh. Um I can Yes. Exactly. I can picture his face, but I can't.

Yes. And I would say, you know, for anyone out there who's interested in um, you know, planning and development in a town in general, that the zoning board is a really great place to start because, you know, there are very defined criterias under which you operate. It's very black and white. You know, it's either in or it's out and and and they follow that code and it really helps you understand um what you need to abide by. So, I find that that's if you have no experience in that area and you're looking to volunteer in town, I would recommend to start there first

and then move to the planning board eventually. But I think that um we could probably use the help in zoning and we are we're very fortunate to have a very educated and experienced chair. Yeah. On that board. Um, but I I agree if you learn all the zoning ordinances and everything, it's a great kind of step to come here and and be able to use those. So, um, it's a very important board that unfortunately I think gets overlooked sometimes.

Agreed. But so anytime Joan or I if you have any ideas, shoot us. I think the physical sign I think two of the members here saw that sign and I encouraged them to apply. Oh, very clear. It weird it wore me down and my husband kept saying to me, "Don't do it. You're retired. Don't do it. Don't do it." I'm like, "But they need someone." So you did signs going up tomorrow. It's gonna flash now. Doesn't work out everybody. Yeah, we need a flashing sign. We really need flash.

Major guilt as I drove by every day. Everyone everyone has an internal clock, right? And that is how long as yours is. And when I saw the sign like, "Oh, it's still there. It's still there." Yeah.

They did that to me in 2012. Same thing, huh? Yeah. Same thing. Gotcha. Then it it works, right? The sign works. It works. I guess it does. The old analog way of doing things is just fine. Thank you very much. And congratulations both. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks, Kim. Any uh further discussion regarding the election of planning board officers? Nope. Okay. Next we have committee reports. So I think that would mainly be uh select rep.

Sure. So from board of selectman obviously we had the elections. I was reelected. Steve Perry was elected. Uh Dr. Kim Queenan has stepped down. Um our first meeting with Steve would be next week. Uh thankfully the majority of the ballot was approved, especially the budget and the police. Uh there's a couple items I would say personally I think more get approved than I was anticipating.

All the school warrant articles get approved as well. So that's going to help us out next year as we move forward and try to set the plan going forward. I would say one of the things we all kind of agree on is next year there cannot be 28 items on the ballot. You know, it was four pages. It was just too much. People get analysis paralysis reading it. But the as you went down through the votes, you could tell people were actually reading it because I I expected them to go down halfway through and then just say, "No, you know, I'm done reading." But the way the votes went, you could tell that they actually read it and understood. I did see a lot of people walking around with the uh voters guide and they used that as a basis. So, they knew what they wanted to do. So, they did the homework, they came prepared.

Um, next step for me, I'm not sure. We we will also reappoint towards boards next at our next meeting. I'm more than happy to stay on the planning board, but we also like to give other members opportunities to rotate through. So, if I'm here, great. If not, uh it's been great working with you folks. I'm not far away. Um I have definitely learned a lot on this board and I've enjoyed it. Um you know, if there's opportunity for me to stay, I will. Um we'll leave it up to the board next week. Yeah, Steve Perry's uh he was he's spoken to us, I think, a few times. Yes. He served on this board. He's chaired this board. He's Yeah, he's been he's been in town for a while. He was on ZBA until just now. He was

selectman a while ago. Selectman at one point. He was the town moderator. Yeah, he's he's been involved for a long time. He has a lot of experience. A lot of experience. Very levelheaded, very logical. I think it's going to be a good year working with Steve. Sounds good. And yeah, looking at the uh uh uh the ballot items for the uh zoning that we proposed, it looks like the one that got voted down the most but still passed was the uh one regarding um the funds for public works facilities and bas and I think that's probably just confusion because yeah, that wasn't worded. It's just allowing us to spend money we collected on public works facilities.

Yeah. Yeah. It's but it it it people I think read that as oh they're asking for money. No, it's just it's the the way it's allocated from impact fees are going to Yeah. It's money that comes from uh impact fees which are from new construction. Um yeah, I think there's definitely some confusion there how that was communicated. Um do we have any other committee reports? April 2nd is the um conservation commission will hold elections also. Who was on the I Michael was on a whole bunch of committees. He's on he's staying on conservation. He's staying on conservation. Yeah.

Okay. But I mean we but we I mean aren't we supposed to put people at different places? We don't have to. Laura Laura Marramck I think has uh two and NRPC has representatives. Lac River Advisory Water Advisory. too, right? Do we have any NRPC representative um uh positions that will need to be um I don't know. I have to check on that. I think Dr. Queen is staying on with the NRPC. Okay. And there was somebody else, but I don't know the name. Yeah, I don't remember the second person. So, maybe we can figure that out for next meeting or something because just think we don't want to be

Sounds like you're looking for more work to do. No. No, I just I don't want to be I I don't like surprises. So, you know, when we sit here and we're asking people questions and I, you know, I don't want to find out after the fact that, oh, well, somebody already talked about that on the whatever. I Yeah, I don't like that. So, I I think we'd be better served if we know what's going on in the other Yeah.

committees or groups. So, I don't know. and we can make a judgment call and I guess I would look to you two to make a judgment call on on where you think we should place ourselves if necessary. Was Mike on the PC? He's on CIP. Um he's on Limmerlac. Laura Marramac Marramac. Okay. Yeah. And I don't think he's on that. It's Kim Queen and somebody else. I can't I don't know the name, but I'll find out. Okay. Uh, so I think yeah, we don't have as many people on committees anymore. So,

it's not committee related, Mr. Chair, but I I um like several of you, I was at the polls. I worked the polls on um election day, and I was pleased to see, didn't we have like 1500 people come out to vote? 1700. 1700. Was that the final? Yeah, I think so. Cuz I was only expecting like 1300. There have been March meetings where it's, you know, we have 6,000 registered voters, though. But town elections, you get hardly anyone. So, I was really pleased to see, you know, it's it's interesting to see behind the scenes on what actually happens to and how late you stay. And

uh yeah, it's it's a lot of work, a lot of effort. I went home, my knees hurt, my feet had blisters here all day. Yeah, that was only half a day. 10:30. It's a long day. Yeah, it's a really long. You were there all day, too. Crazy. Especially on a 72 degree day. Yeah. Oh, I know. That was hard. But it's definitely something like I would encourage everybody here and even on TV if you want to volunteer a little and understand more about the process. It's it's interesting. Could always use the help. We had the young gentleman behind the camera spent the day there as well.

I was gonna say he and I were were at a table together. It was kind of nice. I got to meet another younger person in uh in Lynchfield. It was great. So, so anyone out there who wants to work for on the polls or wants to volunteer during election, see Terry Briand who's our town clerk, Yep. she'll hook you up and get you all, you know, oath and all that good stuff. And yeah, Terry was reelected as town clerk and she's been, it'll be 20 years. Good. Very cool. Okay. Do we have any other business for this evening? Just the minutes.

Yes. So, but the that meeting was canceled, was it not? We have the February 3rd. The March 3rd before that meeting was canceled. These are the February minutes. Yeah. March 3rd. We would have approved them. Yeah. I thought it was March. These are February. Yeah. I gave it a look and I didn't notice any problems. Um, everyone else had a chance to Yeah, they looked good to me. I was fine. Yeah, there's um in section 13A, appointment of alternate members. My first name is misspelled. Should be Jes. Yes. J E S I E. Oh, yeah.

Missing an I. There's another thing that I forget if I stated it properly in the prior meeting but um like the previous contamination threshold was 70 um parts per million probably or or parts per billion I forget but I didn't specify a unit uh for the PAS and then it says noting that levels had been below it but now be approaching it the the levels are now approaching the new lower requirement which is

what page are you on this is on page the beginning of page three. Um, okay.

I think it we could clarify by saying Mr. Connell referenced a previous contamination threshold of 70 noting that uh uh levels are below it but now may be approaching the lower the new lower threshold of I think it's 10. I can look up the current threshold. Yeah, 12 parts per trillion for PFOA. So you can clarify by saying the um the new lower threshold of 12 because it's definitely it's nowhere near 70. It's I think I remember the last testing was like 10 parts per million

or parts per trillion. Uh any other um uh items from the that needed to be amended in the February 3rd minutes. Okay. Y in which case uh would someone like to make a motion to approve them as amended? So moved. Okay. We have a motion. Second. And we have a second. Any further discussion? All those in favor of approving the February 3rd, 2026 minutes as amended, please signify by saying I. I. All those opposed and abstained. I'm going to abstain. I don't remember if I was there or not.

Well, the minutes will tell you. Um I don't think I was. You were. Uh you were absent. Uh okay. Motion passes. Uh 52. Okay. Uh any other business for this evening? Okay, I guess uh would someone like to make a motion to adjurnn then? So moved. Okay, we have a motion. Second. Motion and second to adjurnn. All those in favor of adjourning, please signify by saying I. I. I.

All those opposed, abstain. Motion passes 600. Okay. Thank you for watching the uh um the March 17th meeting of the planning board. Uh when will the next uh meeting be? the first April