Planning Board OKs Revised Charter for Master Plan Committee

The Planning Board has approved a revised charter for the Master Plan Implementation Committee.

“The concerns, thoughts and suggestions of both the Planning Board and the members of the Committee were considered in the creation of the Charter,” Geographic Information Systems Manager and Comprehensive Planner John Vogl wrote in a report to the Board. “Both the Planning Board and members recognized the need for further direction and clarity, as well as the need for guidelines in setting up and establishing members for the Committee. Scheduling, priority and delegation of tasks concerned both members of the Planning Board and the Committee.”

According to the newly approved Charter, the Committee is officially charged with assisting the Planning Board in reviewing, updating and tracking the recommendations of the 2013 Comprehensive Master Plan. The Committee is to work with staff and coordinate with other town departments, boards and committees on priority tasks, as directed by the Planning Board.

The Committee is to hold monthly meetings, with town staff to provide notice to the public of any meetings, workshops or public hearings the Committee schedules.

Additionally, town staff are to maintain a permanent project file with the Committee’s meeting agenda, public notices, meeting minutes, quarterly reports to the Planning Board and project correspondence.

The Charter also outlines a much more active role for the Planning Board, charging the body with reviewing on a quarterly basis recommendations of the Committee and determining what further actions are necessary.

In addition to approving the new charter, the Board voted to appoint as At-large members Dottie Grover and Ray Breslin.

Anyone interested in serving as a member or alternate to the Committee should submit an application to Executive Assistant Kirby Wade.

In other business at the April 6 meeting:

  • The Planning Board granted Continental Paving final approval for the construction of a two-story office addition on its Continental Drive and West Road property.

The Board also approved three waivers to the Subdivision Plan Regulations and final approval of Continental Paving’s concurrent application for a lot line adjustment, which Earl Blatchford of Haynor Swanson said was driven by the property owner’s request to complete a small office addition.

According to Swanson, the addition to Continental Paving’s existing colonial-style building will match in color, style and materials.

The Board approved four waivers to the Site Plan Regulations for final approval of the amended site plan, including a waiver to submission of an application fee calculated on the entire area of the parcel; to permitting the plan to show the entire parcel on a single sheet; to requiring a benchmark for every 5 acres; and to requiring the provision of existing topography for the entire parcel.