Planning Board - Regular Meeting

Okay. Hello everyone and welcome to the May 5th, 2026 meeting of the Lichfield Planning Board. Will everyone please stand for the pledge of allegiance? I pledge allegiance 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. First up is roll call members present. Jared Okonnell, chair. Travis Tucker, vice chair. Russell Blanchett, member. Jesse, no, member. Diane Kinsky, select representative. Letha Riley, member.

Okay. And we also have Jane Tara for from NRPC and Joan McIn. Uh, so first up, we have public input on non-aggenda items. Does do any members of the public have any comment on items that are not on our agenda for today? Seeing none, we'll move on to the first item of our agenda. Corning farm sign application tax map 22, lot 14, originally 540 Charles Maycraft Highway. Applicant Reginald Maro is the applicant present. Okay, don't see the applicant present. So we have the the signed documents.

Uh should we proceed without the applicant present? I think it's a question of if the board feels comfortable if there's any questions. Obviously there's no one to answer them. Yeah. Yeah. Uh would the board like to proceed without the applicant or maybe loop this to the end of our agenda for now? I would put it at the end opportunity to maybe come back, you know, from wherever he is.

Sounds good. So we will move on to item two of our agenda. Continuation of a site plan and a conditional use permit for Kobe Farm owned by Morgan Road Investments LLC. The property is located at the corner of Charles Bankcraft Highway and Albuquerque Avenue. Tax Map 21, lot four. The parcel is located in the northern commercial commercial district and requires a conditional use permit in the mixeduse village development uh district. The uh parcel is 25 acres and is currently undeveloped. Proposals for 86 residential units and 11 buildings. The site will also contain 10,000 square ft of a multi-tenant retail building and 8,35t uh day care facility. So I see the applicant is present. Um like um so would you like to speak on the updates on your You bet, Mr. Chairman. Good evening. Um for the record, my name is Jim Petropolis. I'm a professional engineer with IMEG Corp doing business at three Congress Street in uh Nashville, New Hampshire. With me is attorney Morgan Hollis. I've got a procedural point to raise. Maybe we should take it off the table. The project off the table.

It wasn't tabled. It was continued. But Okay. Is that good? Pleasure. As long as you're good with that.

Good. Thank you. Uh, as you know, Mr. Chairman, this is our our second kind of formal hearing uh on this project, this Colby Farm project. Um, and as a recap, the first meeting we had before you was about a month ago, April 7th, where we presented the entire project in pretty good detail. I went through all the different elements of the project uh including uh the how we feel we comply with the 11 criteria points for the conditional use permit um for the MV MUVD project. Um we listened to your comments that evening, took some good notes uh along with written plan review comments both from from Lou and NRPC. Uh we also had a sitewalk Saturday uh which despite the weather I think went went well. Um and we have kind of a twofold presentation for you this evening. First I'm going to bring forth uh and discuss kind of the changes that we've made to the plans and the application since our last hearing here. And with us this evening is Scott uh Thornton from Vaness Associates. Scott's our traffic consultant. We thought it'd be a pretty good idea if he came up, gave you a recap of kind of where he's at, what his conclusions were, where DOT is with with their review. Um um the changes that we brought forth were formally submitted to Joan and staff and NRPC and Lou on April 21st of 2026. And in no particular order, we presented a graphic for this evening. It kind of redclouded some of the the changes up on the screen. Um, in addition to some minor note and typos that are probably typical for a project like this, um, some of the changes included, uh, we've incorporated the street addresses that the Lichfield Fire Department provided to us. Obviously, 86

units in a townhouse development. Uh notification of addresses is very important for life safety and uh rather than us take a stab at it, we usually allow uh the the professionals, the fire department to go ahead and assign those which we did and brought into the drawings. Um Jay and team asked for notes regarding the cup request and the project phasing to be brought into the drawings. Uh just as a reminder, we communicated to the board, we're looking really at a three-year timeline for the project, uh the first phase would be the commercial buildings uh along the Charles Bankraftoft Highway. We see that happening, uh in year one, takes about a year to construct. Um and then in the 86 unit multif family resi portion probably two years. So 40 to 43 units per year uh for a three-year total buildout. Um a number of the amenities we've added to the plan set. U Jay if you could point out uh just south of the the um retail building we added a bike rack uh to Yes. Uh actually the other side of the building there's a small little clouded area

you know in case anybody's biking if there is a tenant in there that um you know would have the need for somebody to bike to the facility they could do so. So we provided a bike rack there. Uh we made the sidewalk connection um from Hollis Drive uh to Morgan Road um through the main body of the project behind the proposed daycare. actually Jay. Yep. Right in through there. We made that connection that provides a nice loop within the uh residential portion of the project. Uh we've also cited a a couple of benches over near the storm water area which which we intend to have hold water. So it might be a nice little view spot. Um, you while not really identified on the plan, we we see that open space area which measures about an acre in the backs of some of the garages and the units. We pointed out during the sitewalk what a nice space that was. Uh flat um open lawn area and it's likely to be kind of an informal green space. If there's children in the development, they could certainly find a way to find that space. Um, moving over towards the intersection of Morgan Drive and and and Hollis Morgan Road and Hollis Drive. By the way, did you notice the names of the streets?

I forgot to point that out at the last meeting. It was I vested interest.

It was Rick's It was Rick's idea. Um, we relocated the mailbox to that location right there. Much better location, I think. Thank you, whoever thought of that. That was a good idea. provided some parking to it and so it pulled it away from um behind the commercial and it gave us a little bit more kind of transitional buffer area uh between the two uses. Um we were asked to kind of introduce some color along the Charles Bankraftoft Highway uh with some of our plant materials. We have I think three different locations. One in front of the daycare, one in front of the retail building, and one really at the corner where our landscape architect introduced 22 Pocahontas lilac shrubs. And those are the purple color for you non-plant experts. And those are shrubs and five ivory soil Japanese lilac trees, which are white. So, a little bit of color variation to the front as requested. Um, we talked about the Morgan Road sidewalk and we we also talked about that in the field how that also completes another loop from the sidewalk along Charles Bankraftoft that we're building to the sidewalk on Albuquerque to our sidewalks. It provides yet another loop for the for the residents or the public to walk. um street trees was brought up uh as one of the comments and um you know being a townhouse development our plans show what we call foundation plantings or building plantings right around the building. Uh we also um are proposing uh two street trees for per each building per each residential building uh along those private drives to kind of give it some some vertical uh relief as well. Uh Rick mentioned um in the sidewalk over

at the intersection of Albuquerque and Morgan Road, a crosswalk there and a continuation of sidewalk to the Hidden Creek uh parking lot. Uh in case any residents want to walk over to Hidden Creek, either the Pro Shop or for breakfast in the morning uh or to go to the driving range, they're able to safely cross Albuquerque in that location. Um other comments that came up at the board meeting um and also during the sitewalk was um distances from the development to some of the residences I believe on Robert's Drive and quickly measured them uh the two closest homes uh uh in excess of 400 ft to the closest residential building. But really more importantly, you know, what we saw on Saturday was a very uh mature um I think uh I call it well-graded buffer in the sense that it had pine trees and hardwoods and things like that. And even during the time of year where leaf is not entirely out, uh we could not really see the residents over on on Robert. So I I thought that was a good visual to uh to address that particular comment. Um, lastly, there was a comment about headlights across the street on our entrance drive. We looked at that. Our front door is pretty much close to being directly across from the driveway right across the street from us. Um, which is always desirable. Um but again, Rick pledged that if that does continue as a problem, you know, he has the ability to uh either add landscaping on that particular property if need be uh or to try to address it. I think the right turn out will get that vehicle who wants to enter onto Charles Bankraftoft Highway. He'll be making that right turn and he won't be pointing directly at that particular house. He'll be pointing

more towards the northbound of Charles Bankraftoft Highway. Um lastly, I want to bring up the fiscal impact study that was submitted as part of um our application. If you recall at our last meeting, we had yet to fine-tune and finalize that. Um I'm not an expert in fiscal studies. Uh what they do is we hired a consultant that looks at um in talks extensively with the town assessing department police and fire and he tries to get an understanding of what expenses a project like this might create for the town. Uh and then of course he looks at annual revenues that the development may generate for the town. And I'm just going to point out uh in his summary sheet some of the key findings of the fiscal. Uh the project uh upon full completion is really estimated to generate annual annual revenues of $400,000. Uh the anticipated fiscal impact is estimated conservatively at 105,000. So a yearly net positive of $295,000 to the town. Um, in addition to that, uh, the development increases the site value, uh, to close to $30 million for for taxes. Uh, they're anticipating nine school age children within development. And that really is based on going back to Callaway Circle and going back to Rose Meadows and determining the number of children in those two developments. Um, building permit fees are estimated to be in the thousands of dollars. uh the added residence uh will help support local businesses, not only for our front door of our project, but also in town. And then lastly, over $700,000 in impact fees to the town, one-time basis, but over a three-year period. And those impact fees are listed in the

drawings as Lichfield requires based on square footage of the housing and of the two front buildings. So, significant uh significant fees there. Uh so this kind of completes what I wanted to present. Again, my goal was to uh outline, you know, the differences and how we addressed some of the items since the last meeting. Uh I'd like to call up Scott Thornton, a professional engineer with Vanessa and Associates. Scott's team prepared the uh traffic study and um Scott the uh the goal here probably talk a little bit about the study but you know um you know where's DOT at and maybe address some of the comments we heard in some of the staff reports and some of the town comments when Scott's done Morgan Rick myself Scott Mike Miku and our project architect is here will be happy to answer any questions you have for the public as well so thank you

thank Thank you, Jim. Uh, again, Scott Thornton with Vaness Associates, uh, traffic engineers for the project. Uh, we prepared a traffic study, um, that was developed in consultation with folks from the town and for uh, from DOT. Uh, we had a scoping meeting with DOT early on in the process. That was in August of last year. They identified a number of intersections for us to study, what time periods to conduct those counts at um and also what types of analyses to look at in regards to the intersection of Albuquerque with Charles Bankraftoft Highway. Um we conducted those counts in September once school was in session. Um looked at four intersections. uh the Charles Bankraftoft Highway intersections with KBY Road, with Albuquerque and with Corning Road, and then also the intersection of Albuquerque with uh with Morgan Road. And in general what we found is that uh with or without the project those intersection with the exception of Albuquerque and Charles Braftoft Highway and uh Charles Bankraftoft Highway with Corning Road um those intersections generally operate at level service C or better. the but the Corning Road intersection obviously has more delay operates you know with a with significant queuing and then the current configuration of Albuquerque Avenue with Charles Bankraftoft Highway also operates with a lot of delay with some significant queuing. DOT asked us to do a signal warrant study uh of that

intersection to see if it met warrants for a traffic signal. Um, one of the things that we also do when we look at that intersection, um, that configuration is to identify if, uh, the side streets meet warrants for turn lanes and if or exclusive turn lanes and if that's the case, turn lanes would be installed before uh, traffic signal would be installed. So when we did that analysis, we looked at the um uh we looked at the the turn lane warrants. Turns out that uh Albuquerque AB meets the requirement or meets a warrant for a right turn lane. So with a left turn lane and a right turn lane on Albuquerque Avenue, it no longer meets the warrants for a traffic signal installation. And we looked at that with the background projects that we're aware of. uh including the the convenience store up the street. There's a couple residential developments. Um we had also looked at that in conjunction with um the development uh for that's off of St. Francis Way. Uh with that project and the right turn lane in place on Albuquerque Avenue, that signal warrant is still not met at that intersection. Um, so as far as the study and our D and where we are with DOT, DOT has approved the study and has cleared us to go to 60% design of the right turn lane concept. Um, so we are, you know, we're we're waiting to get some clarification from the district office on where they stand with with some other items uh with that design. Um and you know with that with that turn lane uh provision the

operations for Albuquerque a for the left turn are at uh level service E or better goes up to level service C I believe during one of the during the Saturday midday time period. So um so we feel that the you know the the that change will help to improve the operations and and address the impact of the project. The right turn lane will be formalized. It'll be about uh 150 or so feet long. So it's it's longer. I know it's kind of an informal use of a of a right turn movement there, but that's just at the intersection. If we extend that, we've got enough room for about six cars to queue. six to seven cars to queue. That allows the right turning traffic to slip by and get back into the Charles Bankraftoft Highway um movements. as far as oper uh questions that we've heard about um or some comments that were made previously about um traffic. Um there I believe there were there was a comment about the operations from the driveway near the retail building

coming out. Yeah.

Yeah. Right there. And there was a request to do a simulation I believe of because of the concern that there were a couple concerns. One was right turning traffic going into that driveway and also uh left turning traffic coming out of that driveway. So we did run a simulation to see what the operation was like there. There's no queuing for traffic turning right into that driveway. So, that's a pretty, you know, pretty straight shot. Uh, in terms of, um, conflicts, there's really no conflicts for for that movement. And in terms of, uh, vehicles turning left out of that driveway, uh, that cues up on average about one to two cars during the any of the peak hours. Worst case is two to three cars. So, that can be that can be accommodated. you know, that that queue just would go back further into the driveway. You know, a couple cars is 50 feet or so, 40 to 50 feet. Um, and you know, we think that that that can be, you know, that delay is just something that gets felt on our site. Um, I think there was another question about potentially opening up uh the main Yeah, that driveway to uh to left turns out and um we, you know, we took a look at it early on in the process and it just seemed like there was there was a lot of um a lot of speed carried true that I mean it feels like like the like vehicles can comfortably go at a high rate of speed. We clocked uh vehicles moving at between 41 and 42 miles an hour in that area. And with the embankments on the other side of the I guess on the on the east,

no, this is reverse. So on the west side of the road, it just seems like you're you're coming around the curve. If you're going north, you're coming around the curve. the embankments are there and then there's the there would be the intersection. It just doesn't seem um it doesn't seem like there's enough sight distance to really allow us to recommend that movement uh for left turning traffic out of the site. Um I think that's I think that's it in terms of traffic. I'm sure there were some other comments that I could get.

If I could add to that one, Scott, the other worry about letting a left going southbound on the Charles Bank at our main entry. We fear a lot of people will continue south on Brooft, go past Albuquerque, and go in the wrong way into the site driveway uh as kind of cheating to get into the development. So, y we're trying to eliminate that conflict. So, so with that, answer any questions you have. We're both here to answer questions. I think in summary, you know, we feel the project's, you know, ready for action this evening. We're anxious to hear comments from you and the public and as well and answer any questions you might have. So, thank you.

Thank you. Any uh questions or comments from the board? I have a question for the traffic engineer. Hi.

Hi. you mentioned um when you were addressing the driveway from the commercial properties out to Albuquerque, you mentioned the queueing of one to two cars uh internally and perhaps up to two to three. Where do you get your data from? So that's based on the distribution of the of the traffic from the site where we expect that to head back out to when they're exiting. Okay. And then we also um we have uh one of the programs that we have is a simulation program and that estimates um does random arrivals and uh identifies the average or the the probability of uh of uh queuing for both a an average condition and a maximum condition.

So you didn't just pick it out of the hat. There's actually data to support calculations that you use to support that. Yeah. Yeah. And in general, it's about um 30 to 37, maybe 38 cars that we are expecting to come out of there. Some of those will be turning right, some would be turning left. Um but that's about a vehicle every two minutes during a peak hour. So, not not a lot of traffic.

I know we focused a lot on the commercial component, but that does it go to to think then that your expectation is that the residential folks who live there would probably route out through most likely route out through um Morgan Road. Yes. Thank you. Sure. Any other questions for the traffic consultant?

Uh one question I have is while it's probably offensive have in terms of like future developments and stuff. There's obviously the right of way across the street to the potential future mixeduse development off of St. Francis Way and obviously there's the concern of the commercial traffic being dumped onto Albuquerque there. So is how practical is like a roundabout in that area? Um because like like it's traffic goes very fast there and while people have trouble adjust like aren't used to roundabouts, they can be very safe uh in that type of situation.

Yeah. Yeah. You know, the thing with roundabouts is they they take a lot of a lot of land. They're very resource intensive. Um, so that's that's one thing. Um, another issue with them is that um they don't they slow traffic, but they don't stop traffic. And so people that are that are looking for gaps to get out of their driveways, um, with the roundabout, the the the gaps just kind of slow down or or or or shrink, but they never they never then flip to um to something that's long enough, you know, three to five seconds for a for somebody to turn out of their driveway. Whereas if it's if it's unsalized like it is now, you know, traffic kind of bunches up and it comes in a platoon. So you may have five cars go through right right on, you know, right next to each other and then there's a gap that allows traffic to to exit from the side streets. With a roundabout, they slow down to go, which is which is a great thing to go through the roundabout and then when they're leaving, you know, they all just get maintained at about a two second gap. And you know, one one that five car platoon then kind of gets joined by another fivecar platoon and they're all kind of they're all moving at about, you know, two seconds separation. So, I mean, they're absolutely um you know, roundabouts are are definitely a good traffic calming uh measure and uh and a safety enhancement, but but there are some other issues that that have to be considered.

So, you think the lack of platooning could make it worse maybe even at the Albuquerque 3A Avenue? I mean, it could. Um the you know if the if the roundabout was there um the traffic would be you know the queuing might be might be lower on Albuquerque a um but the um you know on on uh Charles Bankraftoft Highway um you you would have that issue with the platooning. Okay. Thank you. Sure. Any other questions for the traffic consultant? Okay, thank you.

Sure. Any questions or comments for um regarding the development? Well, maybe we should talk a little bit about the sitewalk that we did for the benefit of the folks at home and the folks here in the room.

Yeah. So, we did the sitewalk on Saturday at 9:00 a.m. and we walked uh clockwise through the property starting at Morgan Road, then followed by towards the woods where we had some residents express their concerns. Clockwise back to Morgan Road and then to the commercial area. We looked at the potential access points on 3A and uh Albuquerque and then back to Morgan Road. We had trouble seeing any of the houses that were on the other side of the brook. Uh and there appears to be great levels of uh evergreen trees in that area to judge because the we just timed it just before the leaves came back. So that's really good for the residents living nearby. I think it's the best case scenario in my opinion. Um, and we were able to see the large areas of open space that will be behind units and and yeah, mainly behind units. Uh, any other comments regarding the sitewalk that are worth mentioning?

We don't have any of the photos we took, do we? We do. I would have to email them to Jay Mar to display. I don't think that's necessary, then. Yeah. Just to note though that the corners of the buildings, the key buildings were staked, so we were able to see them in relationship to, you know, the surroundings. Yes, exactly. Um, I could probably send a few pictures just to put on the screen for the residents to see.

Yeah, I think We're going to let the public speak.

Um, in the meantime, anything any other questions or comments?

I found the sitewalk to be very helpful. visualizing where, you know, the buildings are going to be and just walking along um the tree line. I also like had a really hard time seeing through it buildings on the other side. Being just being there in person was helpful for me to visualize things. And there's a significant buffer of grass from the edge of the road all along Albuquerque to the front of the buildings which I think will help with the the height of the buildings. So visually it'll be more of a graduated up versus just on top of you. Um I believe that was about 100 feet. Is that right, Jim?

They were. Yeah. Um, if I may be so bold, I thought the three things we we walked away with was the 100 ft, the proximity of the front of the building to the back of the sidewalk in Albuquerque, the buffer looking to Roberts, and then also the the setback of the driveway that we talked about, the commercial driveway from Charles Bankraftoft was on the drawing, it looks like it's only this far back, but you know, in the field it uh it was well past 200 feet and quite a distance back from Charles Bankra. Yeah. Little difficult to visualize some of it because there's BMS out there that we know will not be there. Correct. Um so we were trying to

Correct. Envision it being more flat. Yeah. Correct. Um

yeah, I think something that I I came away with was there there's just a lot of space. There's a lot of open space in the plan and I think you you feel that a little bit. Um, so I I I think it's it's going to be um has a potential to be a really nice place to live and and I think you can kind of see some of that come through. Um, I think some of the concerns um we definitely share, but I think that kind of that natural buffer in the back kind of where the wetland is um is pretty dense and even kind of in some some cooler temps. And so um I I think that that was kind of comforting um to to our perspective, I think. Seems like you listen to everything everybody had to say, including the lilacs. So, it's really nice to see how quickly you respond to to to questions and concerns and

appreciate that. Um, so, um, one of my questions is, um, can you reiterate what, uh, if there are any landscaping changes between the, uh, buildings along, uh, Albuquerque and Albuquerque? Yeah, that we would like to along the front add to the lynen trees that exist in your rightway. We're adding two street trees per per building. Um uh of the seven buildings that face Albuquerque will have street trees as well. So, and how will the where will the street trees be?

Well, be on our property, of course. It'll be up closer to the building and likely in between likely in between the buildings, kind of framing each building. We have, as we said, septic between the face of the buildings out 50 feet because we have a setback from the roadway. So, Yeah. So, um, how how big do you anticipate those trees to become

initially? Six to seven feet is pretty much the standard. And, you know, I have to say this from experience, you have to be careful with trees in in townhouse developments because in 20 years, they will be so big that you're they affect your lighting, they affect visuals, and uh they become problematic. They end up having to get taken down. So um yeah I know that there are certain trees like arborvide which if if they're well taken care of can become basically a gigantic bush for privacy.

These would be more hardwood trees like a maple uh or again a lynen type tree something drought drought tolerant. Um so that's generally what spec for a project such as this. Yeah. Yeah, because I know the trees that are along Albuquerque are judicious trees, which means during the winter time, right, you're just going to see all the town houses. Yeah.

And the bit I think the residences residents of Woodfield's biggest concern is the character change because this is going to be a character change to that part of the neighborhood. So if you can just see building after building after building which of longer buildings than people are used to seeing in Lichfield without anything to um block some of the view that would be a concern. Okay. I think a few evergreen trees okay between the septic bleach fields would probably be enough to just make it so you just don't see a gigantic line of building.

Okay. I don't see any reason why we couldn't accommodate that. There's a few clusters probably where the se leech fields aren't because I know you have to have be at least 20 to 30 feet away. You want coniferous trees. Is that what you're saying? Yeah. Any a few probably a mixture of evergreens and um judicious. Okay. Um because the judicious ones will of course be bare during the winter time. Yeah. Does any members of the board have any comments regarding that? and character of the landscaping. I think anything that helps visually break up, you know, different different looks is certainly helpful. Deciduous is the word.

Deciduous. So deciduous is I can't spell it, but I deciduous is the ones that drop their leaves and then evergreen are the ones that coniferous is a type of evergreen ones that produce cones. I don't see any reason why we can't accommodate that. I think that would be the the best balance. So, I think Jay has the pictures. I do. So, should we walk through them?

This is I believe from one of the building. I think I took this from the back of one of the townhouse buildings, the one that was closest to the woods. And on the left you could see a building that is I think April Drive. Uh is that the nearest one? Yeah, it's the one across from Albuquerque. That at the corner. Yeah, that's April Drive behind Hidden Creek.

Yeah, behind Hidden Creek. And then to the right is the house uh is the cluster of the is the where the creek woods are. And then if we move on to another picture, this is the front of that building looking towards the woods. And you really can't see any buildings. Like we couldn't really make out any buildings. And this is just a view from the edge of the woods towards I believe this is straight towards a building uh on 20 Roberts Road. And I can't see a building. And you can see the wetlands down below. This is just uh this area I think will be near the planned um storm water management area.

Uh near the creek. And this is further up closer to uh this is I think further from 20 Roberts Road closer to between 20 and 18 Roberts Road looking towards Robert's Road. And I you can't really see anything but the trees. Um same thing. And so yeah, um I think this is a great natural buffer.

Any uh other comments regarding the pictures or sidewalk? No, I think we all thought it was really useful and um we hope that um the pictures maybe give some some other useful context to maybe what it looks like um kind of when you're standing there and what we saw. Okay. Um, so any other questions or comments before I open it up to the public for comment? Okay. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Uh, would any uh members of the public like to come up to comment on the proposal? Please come up and state your name and address for the record.

Hi, I'm Sonia Cast. I live on 7 April Drive. Um I just had a couple questions. I'm here to just gather some information and understand the project a little bit better. And this is the first time I'm seeing it um in this form other than what I saw on Facebook a little bit. So um I live on April Drive. So when you go down Albuquerque, it's the first street on your right just behind this development. Out my front window is the the brook and the tree line of this project. So my first question was, were any of the trees that are currently there going to be taken down for this project? Um, so in other words, is my view going to change? You were talking about how right now, you know, you can't really see any of the homes, but will any of those trees come down during the project that might change that view?

Yeah, I believe the developer stated that that those trees will be staying. I think there was one tree that was dead that's going to be taken out. So if you see a tree coming down, it's a planned t take down of a tree that um is dying moved down. The large large pine trees that are maintenance risks or fall risks are going to be taken down. And that was on the side facing the property, not like facing Robert's Road. Like if the tree could crash onto one of their buildings, I saw the tree was huge. It was big. Pretty big, which is sad to take down, but if it's a it's a risk, it's got to go, right?

Yeah. Other than that, I believe they said the only kind of trees they planned to touch um were at the back kind of around proposed building 10. Um correct me if if that was incorrect. Yeah. Um but but the wetland was everything is staying as is. Okay. So, at the end of this project here, is is April Drive on this map at all? It's or is it beyond this map? Okay. If you It's to the left. Yeah, it's all the way to the left right there.

Okay. Okay. My other question was regarding the traffic. Um, and it sounds like you did some uh review regarding some of the entrances, but was there any thought put into um doing some sort of review for the increased traffic that we're likely going to see on April Drive? I say that because taking a lefthand turn out of Albuquerque onto 3A isn't that great. Isn't that fun? And so I imagine a lot of probably the residents or people who come in and out of this new development area, whether it be the commercial space or the residential space, might choose to take a left or I'm sorry, a right onto Albuquerque and then a right onto April to avoid the Albuquerque um 3A intersection and through the neighborhood there.

Okay. When you uh when you're done, we'll call the applicant back up to answer the question. Okay. I appreciate that. I really appreciate the fact that you guys did take into consideration um any view, you know, through the trees and if that would change, you know, um our view from, you know, from our from where we are. So, I appreciate that very much. Okay. Thank you. That's it. Thank you. Thank you. Any other members of the public? Okay, we have two. Um yes, please.

My name is Linda Jacobson. I own the property at 502 Charles Bankraftoft Highway and 496. I did go to the town hall and I did look at the map since we had the last meeting and I do see where the driveway comes out pretty directly across from 496. So, I understand that they're very willing to work with me and I appreciate that. I just would like the board to make it a stipulation that once they've completed that entrance way that they'll set up a meeting with me so that we can discuss the problems with the if there's any with the lighting with the high street lights. So, I just like to have the board make that a stipulation. Yeah. Jay, what um options exist for that type of stipulation?

I I think in in this case um the applicant has agreed to provide mitigation on that on the property across the street if if it's necessary. So I I think that um a stipulation that the mitigation provided in coordination with the property owner would be reasonable. Okay. So would they put that on the plan? Yeah. Okay. Make it a condition of approval. I think Yep. We don't we don't want to specify exactly because I think you need to work out what would I understand that. Right. So I think I think just saying in coordination with the property owner I think that would make sense. Okay. Sounds good. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Um, we have another.

Okay. Please state your name and address for the record. Good evening. Uh, Mike Parker, 12's Neth Court. Um, I have a question. We have a similar uh similar area in town. Rose Meadows. Is that correct? What's been the impact of Rose Meadows in terms of budget, infrastructure, services, those kinds of things? I know it's it's still in its infancy, but what are we expecting for uh that impact? I think the best data we have available for that is they included some of that in their physical impact study, including the number of police calls, fire calls, students. Um so I think that's the best data we have available.

Okay. And is that available for Rose Meadows? Um, and that was for this development and they reference the their other they reference that. Okay. Because it's a it's a good touch point in my mind. Yeah. Uh to see what it will be like as we almost not quite double but close to double. Basically identical units. So it's definitely a good point of comparison. And if the applicant would like to speak more about that um when they come back to speak uh they may do so. And when will the financial impact study for this be available?

Oh, it's already available. So, if you go to the uh planning.lichfieldh.gov and click on the May 5th meeting, it is uh one of the documents on that page. It says physical impact analysis KBY farm mix community New Hampshire. You have to go to the portal from the planning board page. Okay. If you have trouble, could could they call? I I mean I had trouble. I went to the I went to the portal and it was there was nothing there but a nice background.

Yeah, I would suggest if you have questions, not to inundate Joan, but it is public information. We want to make sure the public sees it. So, um you know, if you're having trouble finding it online, please feel free to call the planning. I mean, I was happy to hear it was announced tonight because I've been been looking waiting for it and it hasn't been available. So y header on the header you have to click there and then and then go to May 5th will come up. Mhm. Hard to see on the on the heading. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. The other option is just planning.lichvilleh.gov and then on the menu on the top navigation bar there's a May 5th 2026.

Okay. My only point is whatever we're experiencing with uh with Rose Meadows we're going to get more of the same. Of course. Whether it's good, bad, or indifferent. So, all in there. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Any other members of the public which would like to speak on the development? Please state your name and address for

Carrie Douglas, 900 Street. Um, I'm going to look at the cost analysis because I have questions on it. We are anal, we're assess assuming nine students. The town of Lichfield pays 21,000 plus per student. Once you factor in the state's contribution, maybe it's 14,000. 14,000 * 9 is greater than 105,000. So whatever expenses we are assuming are going to be associated with this, they're they're in my opinion are not fully capturing all of the expenses. That does not include the hydrants. I presume they're hydrants on this plan. Hydrants are paid for by the town at a cost of what $2 to $3,000 a pop. So that's not included in this um the impact on other town services. So I question the $105,000. I'd like to see a more thorough respon analysis because on students alone you're already over that number. That's a fact. That that's a mathematical fact. So, I question that and that then calls into question every other assumption in that. I'll take a look at it myself, but I already have questions. I don't think it's accurate. Um, yeah. So, in looking at Rose Meadows and some of the other projects, my understanding those are built at still at 2.5 units per per acre. Is it do we have any other similar projects in town constructed at this density? Are we setting a precedent? Because I get it. Some people think it's great. I think it's obnoxious. The amount of of units they're being placed on that spot. 2.5 units per acre at 25 acres. And let's face it, not all of them are probably buildable is 63 units. That's not even accounting for the fact that we take out a bunch of that land

for res for restaurants and other purposes. The number of units that are being proposed is excessive and beyond, in my opinion, the scope of what we built anywhere else in town. Are we ready for this precedent? We build this at this density. What's to stop the next one? Have we looked at the septic impacts? My understanding is we do not have town septic there. Can that land handle 86 residential units and restaurants? What's that do to the neighbors who are also on septic? Does this have public water? If it does, okay, so it doesn't have any impact to the town, the local water table then or does it? Have we considered the impact to the neighboring water tables? Because I know where I live when they put in the high school people were complaining about how the water table got reduced because it drew down around Dera. I can tell you that there's been a change in the water table since they built in the page road developments. My water is a little higher than it used to be. So, what is the impact? Have we even looked at the water table impact to the neighbors? Is there an environmental engineer who's looked at this this this land? Have we considered, you know, giving gas prices? Are there any charging stations? What if somebody in this one of these units wants to bring in a Tesla? Hey, we're going through this big development. Why not use the opportunity to put in a charging station or two? We have residential. It's a great spot. Why not? So, I just don't think and I don't think it's fully fleshed out. I don't think all the implications have been considered. I think it's the question of the view in the winter is absolutely valid. That it does not match anything else in that neighborhood. Now, I don't have to see it because I'm in the south end of town, but I do have to see it. Actually, I do drive it once a week. Take my kid to class lessons in

Manchester. And let me tell you, a little concerned about that turn. So, I would hope that you guys take the opportunity, look a little further into this. Is this project creating a precedent, opening a Pandora's box that we're not prepared for? Because this town is growing. When I moved to town, there were 2,000 houses. We've put in several hundred in the last couple years. Is this town even I mean at what point do we say we need to take a break and absorb what we've already got? My biggest beef honestly is the density is excessive and I don't think the impacts have been considered for the rest of the neighbors and I don't have a horse in that race because I don't live near them. Thank you.

Thank you. Uh any other members of the public which would like to uh comment? Okay. come up and state your name and address for the record.

Name is uh Bill Lucette. I live at 494 Charles Bankraftoft Highway. So, it's the residence just to the north of Morgan Road. I guess the primary concern I have with this would be the traffic. I know we've talked about it, but seems like it's going to be a lot on that road and for us on that side of the or that side of the west side being able to pull out onto 3A um with all the stuff that's going on, the develop the new development that's going to be on the other side where by St. Francis also events for like spooky world and stuff like that. The traffic gets pretty bad there as it is and so just have concerns about that and you know what it might do to property value on that side of the uh that side of the road. Yeah. Okay. Thank you.

Thanks. Thank you. Thank you. Any other members of the public which would like to comment? Hi Trish Tannon 36 Lance A. Um, I'm curious. I I think the number was like nine new students. Is that per building or whole development? Whole development because these are two bedroomedroom houses or town houses. So, they um tend to not bring in full families, but they can and they are using data from their other nearly identical developments. I see. So, but the potential is we could have much more uh children in town

if the economy changes and a lot of people decide to start having kids in small apartments maybe. But and so have you looked at how that will impact the schools? Uh that's what uh all all the data is in the fiscal impact study for that is in what the fiscal impact study. So these developments are required to submit a fiscal impact study that um estimates all the costs. Um so I would definitely recommend looking at that on the planning board portal. Okay. All right. It shows their logic. Um if you you can if you disagree with it, you might be able to contact them. up.

Joe, is it possible to have those fiscal impact studies available printed out at the So, if you want one that's printed out, okay, you can call town hall. Okay. And um Miss McGiven will make sure that you get one. Okay. It's got a lot of different information in it that that is kind of what has been already looked at. Well, if you're offering absolutely know me. I like paper. I mean, I'm just concerned that, you know, if it is higher, I mean, we've already had issues with the school and trying to get new schools in town and they haven't been voted on. And so I'm curious how this will impact um

there's a lot of data that they were able to use from not just Rose Meadow but um over by Callaway Street, the Weatherstone development and what came in as well as what's happening in the state. The whole state is in declining enrollment of schools. So the people aren't just aren't having as many kids as they were. There's a lot of data that's out there. Okay. As well. Okay. All right. Thank you. The school number is a number I I really worry about. What's that? It's not a number I really worry about. Thank you. Thank you. Any other members of the public that would that wish to comment?

I am seeing none. So, I will close public input at 7:59 and uh I'm going to make uh leave make a few comments in response to some of the comments and then I'll give the applicant a chance to respond to some of the comments as well. Um, one thing, one comment was on EV charging. Uh, we asked the applicant in the past about this and they put conduit to the garages,

but it's the residents's responsibility to pay to have an electrician run a line uh, run wires through the conduit if they want to charge it, which is not insignificant, but it is at least possible. And if that isn't incorrect, the applicant can correct me if I'm wrong. All these developments have public water. I believe it's even required if it's available. And with given the groundwater contamination, this is not too far from where the contamination occurred. So, they definitely have to use public water. Uh in terms of density, uh it's not really setting a precedent. It's just what's required for that section of town. This is the commercial section of town, not a residential section of town. Uh, and the physical impact study, uh, one thing to keep in mind is, um, the roads are private. That saves the town some money. They're all two-bedroom units. Uh, and when assessing the costs to the town, you have to look at the marginal costs because adding a adding a few students to the classrooms won't trigger excessive costs to the school. Um because if you the main cost of schools is payroll and it would take a lot of students to probably increase the required payroll. Yes.

Is the density of this project more than the density of Rose Meadow or It is. Okay. Yeah. The Rose Meadows is probably around two and a half units per acre and we require actually a minimum of two and a half and a maximum of what? Four. Uh, and they're doing it based off of probably what they could fit and what the septic uh, septic supports. They do have to do studies with engineering for what they can what the ground can load um, with the new New Hampshire um,

dees. Um, so they are all within what their studies show they can fit. and uh I'll turn it over to the applicant to answer anything. Yeah. Thank you uh Mr. Chair. Jay, I'm wondering if you'd be kind enough if you could call the aerial that was on the the previous submitt package. Yeah, there you go. Okay. And and Roberts is the road in the upper left, but April is on the other side of the street or April is over there. Okay, that's it.

So, um Mr. Chair, you answered several of the comments and questions that were addressed by the public. Um, we thank them for their input. Uh, I try to take good notes, so I'll do my best. And then, uh, Scott's got a couple things to answer. Uh, the first speaker spoke to buffers that I think really the point I'd like to make is over in that lower left corner of our property on Albuquerque, that tree cluster, nothing will be cut in that location. Okay. And in fact, with the storm water practice there and then the units closer to that kind of sand disturbed area right in the middle. Yeah. Um, will that person see the effect of the project? Maybe, right? Uh, but there'll be no tree cutting in that that area. And I think that was the question. Uh, she also brought up traffic through a uh through April Drive. Scott will address that momentarily. Uh the second speaker, Miss Jacobson, uh spoke about concerns about visuals along um the Charles Bankraftoft Highway across from our site entrance. And uh hopefully we'll get to talk about stipulations this evening. And um as Rick nodded saying, yeah, that's something that that that we could uh word smmith Jay. I feel confident we can get that done. Um Mr. Parker spoke about Rose Meadows. I don't know if he knows it's the same team, the same building, the same product. Uh, Rose Meadows is about twice the size of this project from a residential standpoint. So, it's a good visual. If you like the look of Rose Meadows and the open space and the separation of units, I think it's a good it's a good visual. This is on a little bit tighter piece of property, a little bit more closer together on the buildings. And then from a fiscal standpoint, I certainly encourage everybody who spoke to get a a copy of the fiscal study. Um,

Miss Douglas spoke about about fiscal. She brought up nine children. It doesn't necessarily mean all those children have to go to school in the town of Lichfield. Um, so um she uh asked about hydrants. Hydrants on the project are private hydrants. there's no expense to the town for the private hydrants. Uh she spoke about density. Uh the the density for this uh part of town is four units per acre. 100 units are allowed actually even more. 102 I think we're providing 86 which is less than what's allowed by code. Uh her environmental concerns about septic and water table. You're correct. New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services reviews the project from a storm water standpoint. Um, which takes into consideration all the soil testing that was done out there, impacts to water tables, um, and septic uh, also uh, there'll be septic approvals needed for the development. Um, there is a uh, a a a density associated with septic. You just can't put unlimited septic on a small piece of property. And so, um, my testimony this evening is that we abide by and comply with those rules. Um, and you're right, Mr. Chairman, uh, about EV, uh, EV, um, is provided in the garages for the tenants, uh, at their expense to get it wired up. I don't know the specifics. I don't personally own a an electric vehicle, but um, I probably should. Um, but uh, they would need to create the wiring, and I think a number of them do over at Rose Meadows. one one okay one uh the gentleman who lives on Charles Bankraftoft spoke about traffic um we've talked about traffic quite a bit understand his his concern and then

lastly um about school impacts I would agree agree with u the select woman that uh we see across the state declining declining enrollment in schools and I think uh the number of children here that go to tonal litial school system should not have an adverse impact on on the school system. And then don't forget impact fees are what you collect for impacts for fire, police, and schools and wreck spaces and such. Uh and so they will be part of this project as well. So Scott, if you'd like to respond to traffic.

Yeah, sure. So, um I'll take the the last traffic comment first. Um and you know we understand that traffic increases every year. Um it's always going up by a percent or so and um you know those those do those increases are felt by people. Uh as far as this project, what we're thinking is that you know the improvements both with the um the access that's planned for Albuquerque or I'm sorry for the driveway coming into Charles Bankraftoft Highway. We think that's going to raise awareness for people that are traveling the road that and the the changes on Albuquerque Avenue with the additional turn lane. We think that'll help to increase awareness for people that are traveling through the area, get them to lower their speeds, and in in that way make it a little easier for people to get out of, you know, the people that live on the on the on the west side of the highway. The project is adding between one to two vehicles uh a minute during the peak hours. So, it's, you know, the the increases are we feel they're manageable. Um and in terms of in terms of the uh the other speaker uh questioning about April Drive, what we um we're assuming about 17% 17 or 18% of traffic would be headed south uh from the would be turning left at Albuquerque A. And if if we were to um if we were to assume half of that traffic would be turning would be traveling uh April to come out to Roberts or to to connect to Charles

Bankraftoft Highway. You know, that's somewhere in the range of 11 9 to 11 vehicles an hour, which is a really small. It's not the kind of volume that you would notice unless you were watching for the entire hour. Um, so there may be some people that would that would make that change or that would that would change their route to to go through the go through the neighborhood. We don't think that that's going to be likely with um uh or very noticeable in terms of the amount of traffic that could make that move. Just wanted to put those responses out there.

Okay. Thank you. Any uh Um any other questions or comments? Um one question I had is uh was any thought considered regarding the large um um faces of the backs of the garages because I know that those are very they're very long and our regulations do require some um breaking up of the large surfaces with something like a window.

Uh, not really. Um, you know, I think a sixcar garage measures about 78 ft. Uh, they're very similar to Rose Meadows. Um, many of them are are low profile, uh, where there's grade coming up. Uh, and so they're they're not really seeing a lot of exposure back there. I think what you're suggesting is jo is is jogging the the garages to give it a break in the elevation. Is that is that what you're suggesting? Just something to break it up, including windows or something else because it's just a big face. All all you're going to see is the back of a roof and a wall.

Okay. Well, um I will consult with our architect who's here this evening and get back to you as we continue our discussion this this evening. Yeah. Great. Okay. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. in the uh open space area between the garages and the uh sidewalk there. And I don't know how much visibility there would be from Albuquerque. I do know that from that spot you'll have like one like two eightcar garages and two sixcar garages all right in front of you. So just a lot.

Jay, could you call up the drawing? I'm sorry. Oh, it is on this one. Hold on. And just a comment, there's a variety of ways you can break up facades under the regulations. You want a different one? This, Mr. Chairman, which which ones are you talking about now? Like um like right there. There's

inside inside the area. Okay. It's less important in the back because it's just facing woods for others.

That was the best view. Yeah. Oops. Oh, you think it's the last one? It's the better one. That's the front. There you go. That's the front.

Okay. Well, if you look up the upper top left, you can see how the with kind of that quasi salt box look uh on the roof line, you'll see it's uh it's a plain wall out back. Uh it is there's not a great height there, only six to seven feet to the eve of the roof. Um I was just chatting with Mike briefly. He he thinks probably the best way to break that up would be some some landscape plantings on the surface of things instead of architecturally trying to introduce something that doesn't make sense. You can tell uh well it doesn't show in the elevation but Mike said that that often they put windows on the two end units. Okay. Um so the end units have some break up to it but in the back Mr. Chairman we would suggest maybe breaking that long run up with with plant materials.

Okay. I think that would be beneficial to follow the um regulations that we have.

Okay. Any other questions or comments from the board? So, um what is the will of the board? So, are we ready to conditionally approve or do you believe that they're unresolved things that would um suggest that we should continue to a time and date certain? I believe a lot of the questions have been answered. I believe we've been at this for a long time. I believe they've answered sufficiently our questions. Um I the you know you could debate the merits I suppose of the fiscal impact study but it's out there. It was stamped by professionals. The um traffic study same thing. Um, you know, I don't know what more we what more we could ask of them to provide aside from some of the things we've already asked. Um, I feel like it's been vetted pretty heavily, including a sitewalk that met our satisfaction met to our satisfaction on the buffers for sure. on the impact to the neighbors. Um, we've had professional after professional give us their professional opinion in their subject area.

I I don't really know what what else I could ask of them at this point. Okay. Any other comments regarding how we should move if if we're ready to move forward? Um I would concur with the only kind of conditions that we had labeled so far the stipulation for um working with the other property owner and I also had the addition of evergreen strategically placed to break up uh building groupings to break up the and landscaping to break up the visual impact of the rear of the garage units.

Uh do you have any other uh comments? Uh no, I think that you know my issues and comments have been addressed. I think that who articulated those uh in a couple of the staff reports. I did only just want to add um if it hasn't been said that the town's uh consulting engineer uh also reviewed um the the drainage and all of the you know roads I mean all the really the technical details engineering details of the project have been reviewed. And he had a question about parking spaces and soil contamination. Were those both answered? I can't remember. Yeah, the letters in the Yeah, and I think the parking um I don't think a waiver is required in the parking

if if I may. I I kind of aired I I meant to include a note uh in the drawings on Lou's behalf. If if a condition is at all uh Lou Karen Engineering and NRPC comments are addressed, that's pretty standard in town. We would agree with that. Um I would also like to bring forth uh Mr. Mr. Chairman, if I could uh for your consideration, um a very similar situation to Rose Meadows where uh DOT here in the state of New Hampshire is taking uh an exorbitant amount of time in reviewing engineering plans. Um we'd like the board to consider this evening uh a condition that reads building permits may be issued for the commercial facility may be issued uh prior to receipt of the DOT driveway permit. Um that was similar to what we did at Rose Meadows. It allowed um that one-year project to get going um in advance of the state doing their thing um rather than have to wait 8 n months to start this project. So we'd ask for your consideration there.

May I ask a question of Jay? Jay, is there do we ever have any issue with that? Is there any downside for the town? Uh no, I think we we held up occupancy permits. Okay. um as I recall. So we issued building permits but we held the occasy permits. We did it for Rose Meadows. We also did it for the gas station for the similar reason because the it's taking so long to get through

DOT. Okay. So uh I have been writing down some of the conditions of approval. Um, so we need to have a stipulation uh of talking to the property owner across from the Charles Bankraftoft Highway entrance to address concerns regarding traffic lights. Um, landscaping behind garages, evergreen strategically placed between Albuquerque and the units to break up the um view. Uh and how would we would how would we condition that? Would I would be the one to review that or

Yes. So, so um these would all become conditions of approval and then the plans would be amended to reflect those conditions and then yes, you would refuse them. I'll look at them too obviously, but you will be the approving party. Yeah. Um and you asked about um a condition regarding blue fans.

Building permits for the commercial buildings may be issued prior to receipt of New Hampshire DOT driveway permit. Um and are all of L's comments addressed? Uh so and that would be the other condition would be satisfactory addressing uh comments from uh Luke Karen and NRPC

you generally add the restoration bond note too. Yeah. And the standard conditions. Yeah. The standard ones. So was restoration bottom. What else was that? And the stand standard conditions.

Okay. So to review the conditions uh a second time uh stipulation uh for the property owner across from the child's backup highway entrance and exit uh landscaping behind garages. Evergreen strategically placed between Albuquerque and units to break up the view u on view from Albuquerque. Uh condition satisfactory view of um town engineer and NRPC comments. Uh building permits may be issued for the commercial section prior to New Hampshire Department of Transportation driveway permit. uh restoration bond um what included

standard conditions for approval and the standard conditions um and what what's the requirement for the bond? We'll calculate that. Okay. Um so would someone like to uh make a motion to conditionally approve the development based off of these conditions? I'll make the motion if I don't have to repeat all those things you just said. So based off of as stated condition as stated. I'll second.

Okay. We have a motion in a second to conditionally approve the development at uh for Colby Farm at Albuquerque Avenue and Charles Bankraftoft Highway um with the conditions um just mentioned. Uh any further discussion? Okay. All those in favor of conditionally approving, please signify by saying I. I. All those opposed, abstained. Motion passes. One, two. Thank you very much. Thank you. Jared, can you just say we I'll make a couple copies of these in the fiscal impact and put it in the selector's viewing area by the selector's office. Okay. Thank you.

Will those be copies for them to take or will they have to just view them? They can take them. Okay. Okay. Thank you, John. Thank you. if you're looking for one. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Um so next we will go back to the first item on the agenda and then we can uh if the applicant isn't present um then we can decide if we have if we believe we have enough information to u make a determination on it tonight. Does not look like it's he's present. I do not see uh reg kind of work session anytime nothing eventually. Yes.

Is there any I just would like to come in because we there's things that that you guys need to do I think you need to do that we need to talk about so that projects get completed the way that people agree to do them. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Um so back to uh agenda item one. Corning farm sign application tax map 22 lot 14 originally 540 Charles Mcraft Highway. Applicant Reginel Monroe. Um seeing no one uh no applicants in the gallery. So uh let's see if we believe we have enough information to proceed.

Well, what's the ask? What's the purpose of tonight? to just approve the look of a sign, the aesthetics by three uh sign and it has the location I put on the portal. He's got to be 10 ft off the property line. Um so yeah, the sign was there no sign in the original plan? No. No. Okay. So he's got So you've got the sign and the location. I got to get back in for some reason. There's too much clicking.

Be placed against It says signs will be placed against Sorry, I'm reading it on the side. White fence and be mounted on two granite posts. See photos of sign and location attached. Dimensions, as Joan just mentioned, 6 foot by three foot. Uh 18 something. I don't know what that means. Square feet. Square feet. Sorry. Thank you. No lighting proposed. There's a visual of it that we were provided. It appears to be a pleasing, pleasant looking sign. One up. Certainly not ugly. Up there a little bit. There we go. Which is good.

Yeah. And so the placement is right at the corner there of the entrance, right? Can you point that out again, please? right here. It's that tiny little area in red. The northern entrance. Okay. The northern entrance. That signed looks pretty fitting for where it was. It was the horse farm. Yes. Yes. That was a nice touch. Um and we don't see any issue where it right where the entrance is, do we?

Doesn't look like there. And they're not requesting it to be on the all other side as well of the entrance. Just like that one side. Okay. So yeah. Um any any thoughts on the board? Seems rather typical. Yeah. Seems I think it's attractive. Yeah. It's good looking sign. My question is from a procedural standpoint. Have we ever approved or disapproved without the applicant being present?

Um, we have in the past, but if we believe that there's missing information, then we can um make we can decide to not approve at that time. He's pretty he's, you know, supplied the location, the picture. Yeah. I don't know much. No lighting. He did pay the fee. Nobody's need to be notified because no lighting. It's not You may have assumed that it was just minor enough that it might not have needed to have come. So, procedurally for a sign application, um, is it just approving a sign application? Yes. Okay. Do we have to accept anything as complete or just that's just all part of the one package? Typically, it's just a

because they paid and all the other stuff. Okay. I will. So, yeah. Yeah. I will make a motion to approve the sign application for Corning Farm Tax Map 22, lot 14, originally 540 Charles Bankcraft Highway. Applicant Reginald Maro. Okay, we have a motion. Do we have a second? Second. We have a second by Jesse. Any further discussion? Okay. All those in favor of approving the sign application, please signify by saying I. I. I.

All those opposed? Abstained. Motion passes. 600 Z. Okay, so that is it for the main agenda items. So next we have committee reports. So any committee reports?

Jay and I attended uh the CIP meeting last night. Um capital improvements committee. Um it was just kind of brief meeting. We went over our tenative schedule of dates. I think we'll meet on June the 1st next month. It will always be the Monday before our first meeting. So we'll have a good update for you. Um, other than that, we just kind of talked about some some things to have on on the agenda for the year, thinking about um, you know, kind of how impact fees are are are assessed, what they can go to, and um, some other things that that we want to uh, have on our radar, like what's going on with schools and paving and um, library concerns. So, I think next meeting we'll probably have another better update. And Jay, uh, let me know if I miss anything. I think you got it all.

Thank you. Okay. Thanks for volunteering for that committee. Yeah, look forward to it. It should be a fun, you know, learning experience for sure. It is a good learning experience. Yeah, it's very important for the future of the town. Certainly. Um Diane, do you have any um

the selectman have been busy as always. Um but we do also have a new um deputy um in our office for tax collector. Um and we also have um a couple of new library trustees that were approved through the selectman last week. Um that was Monday. Then Wednesday was the first um check acronym um of the circumventual highway exploratory committee. Um that was really interesting. The people that are on that committee, every single one of them had impact. Um and it was a great meeting. We found some some things that we needed to attend to. Um for instance, we are looking at is it possible for the town to buy if not all of that land, part of that land. Um and then turn it around and have it have a commercial impact in that northern area of southern area of town rather. Um and how that would be and Jay has offered to come to our next meeting to explain to us some of those processes, how that can occur legally. um because we can't just buy it. We would have to form another committee. But um the meeting was it was very informal, very informational. Um at times informal because I'm a little informal.

Um and then the next night after that, I was at uh Dar Pond looking at the setup for the um the 250th party that's happening on July 25th and 26th. And then the week after that, there's going to be a pow that should be kind of pretty interesting. and where everything is going to be laid out for that. And it looks like fundraising is on point, which is very good. So, we should be able to fund um a very good party with um fireworks and a hot air balloon, tethered air balloon rides, um a stage with music all day and some some food trucks and stuff. So, that should be good. So, that was Thursday and Friday. I think I rested. Saturday, I was a little late for the sitewalk, but I appreciate um you all doing that. It was, I think, beneficial to everybody to be there. Um and then Tuesday's tonight. So, yeah. So, it's been a busy week for for me and um I continue to enjoy being here. I do have a question. Um it's turned out that my golf league is the same night as planning, so I kind of ran in here today. Is it a problem if I show up a little bit late or would you rather have me reassign it to John Bernell? It's at the committee at the board's decision.

Um, how much additional time do you think you need? I might be 15 minutes late occasionally. 15 minutes. Like that's generally we don't vote on something during that time period. So it would be okay. And how long will this likely go for? It's all summer. All summer. Okay. It's all summer. What what does the board think about that? Yeah, it's I think that's more than acceptable. I think we'd definitely rather as long as you can attend. Uh I think it'll be helpful especially when on days John will come in if it becomes a problem and I become a distraction. Well, I'll ask John to cover and he knows. But it is my recreational. It's good health time for me and stuff. So I prefer not to give it up if I could.

Thanks for letting us know. Okay. Thank you. I mean, I'm on the committee that Diane just stole my thunder. So, okay. Oh, I'm sorry. It's okay. You had a lot of great input, Letha. The the check uh committee, the circumferential highway um that I I attended. But you had a lot of input on the commercial ends of it. What's what? Yeah, but she gave a great update, so we're good. So, I don't need to say anymore. Sorry. Next time I'll leave that one.

No worries. No worries. So, next we have um well I don't I think that's all the committees, right? So, next we have the minutes. We have one on the agenda and we also have the sitewalk one. We don't. Can we attend approve both? Yeah. Yeah, I think you could. Yeah. Um so, has everyone had a chance to review the both of the minutes? And does anyone have any comments or proposed amendments on the sitewalk one? It was I think it was just start time was listed at 9:30. So just amend that to 9. Oh yes. Um no meeting called 9:02.

Oh yeah say it was definitely Diane joined. I might have been a little bit late. Oh I think that might have been what I was looking at. Never mind. Thank you all. Where does they looking at? Yeah, we journed exactly a 10. Okay, I see in attendance it says selectments rep 9:30. Um, it probably is sufficient. I don't see anything on the sidewalk one. The only

Oh, citizen. Okay, beautiful. Okay. I just wanted to make sure you had all folks accounted for who were on the sidewalk. Okay. Okay. Um, so we What about the April 21st, 2026? Any proposed amendments? The only thing I saw that that uh I went was on the bottom of page four under committee reports, the 250th anniversary celebration committee. Um, Miss Plansky also provided an update on the town's 250th anniversary celebration. It's not the town's 250th. We're It's the country. It's the country's 250 country down is over 275. Yeah, that's coming right closing in on 300. If we if we have any funds left over, it's going to 300.

Yeah. Sweet. Okay. What funds left over to go to what? If we don't spend all of our money and there will be because there's going to be um food trucks that are going to be there that give 10% of their um as a a fee. So that money will be coming in after um we're going to be needing it. So that money will go towards the 300th anniversary. Eight years away from being 300 years old. I know, right? Yeah. I hope I'm here to see it. So we have an amendment to change it from towns to the countries. So 250th anniversary celebration.

Um just a minor typo on um the Saturday May 2nd sitewalk minutes. Um, my first name is misspelled and members in attendance should be Jesse spelled J E S I E. I'm proud of my name. I'm sure that's auto correct. I'm I have no doubt that's probably auto correct every time. You have to teach these machines to learn or sometimes it changes Jesse with an IE to Jessica and Oh, yeah. Yeah, I could see that. I could see that. Yeah. Yeah. But if you don't correct it now, it's going to be copied over and over and over forever. It's followed me.

Yep. Okay. Any other amendments to either of the minutes? No. Um, so we probably I'd make a motion that we approve the uh well, I guess first the minutes from the what? April 21st. April 21st meeting, planning board meeting 2026 22 2026. Yes. Okay. We have a motion to approve the April 21st, 2026 minutes as amended. Um any other second.

Okay. Uh any further discussion? Okay. All those in favor of approving the amended April 21st, 2026 minutes, please signify by saying I. I. Those opposed, abstain. Motion passes 600. Next. Sidewalk. Would someone like to make a motion to approve those as amended? So moved. Okay, we have a motion. Do we have a second? I'll second. Okay, we have a second. Any further discussion? Okay, all those in favor of uh approving the May 2nd, 2026walk minutes as amended. Please signify by saying I.

I. All those opposed, abstained. Motion passes 600. Okay. Lastly, any other business? Any other business for this evening? Have a bill for you to sign, but that's after. Okay. And uh when will we likely schedule our next workshop? So, I was wondering what I was going to ask what does our agenda look like?

We are pretty clear. We're very clear from the 19th and there's still time for June 2nd for people to apply, but I mean, if we feel like there's enough time, I think the 19th would be good. We also still have the natural resources chapter of the master plan that's been kind of hanging out there. Oh, that's right. It be good to agenda that. Okay. Have there been any changes since we last discussed it? Uh, no. We've just been waiting for input. So, yeah, it was about 30. It was There were a lot of pages. Yeah, there was a lot of pages and we've had a lot of stuff come in between, which is kind of why. But it it would be good to get that kind of back on the agenda and maybe talk also about the storm water stuff.

Okay. Yep. Sounds good. So storm water chapter of the master plan and potential input um from citizens, right? Residents and businesses. Um so is there any are there anything's on the next agenda? No. Okay. So everyone good with the next meeting being a workshop for the these items? Yep. Yep. That would be great then. Yeah. A little window we're slipping in between project. Okay. Uh any other business? Okay. In that case, would someone like to make a motion to adjurnn?

So moved. Have a motion. Second. Have a second. Uh okay. Any further discussion? All those in favor of adjourning, please signify by saying I. I opposed. Stain. Okay. Motion passes 600. So, thanks for watching the May 5th, 2026 meeting of the planning board. Our next meeting will be on the 19th of May. Thank you. That's been