Planning Board Meeting ~ September 6, 2017

2017-09-06 · Planning Board · 3:27:59 · watch on YouTube →

The Planning Board spent the first half of this meeting finishing its review of Mr. Baldwin's Mineral Springs Estates subdivision, which is reached over Granite Hill Farm Road, a discontinued county way the developer does not own, and approved it with eight conditions. The chair, Mindy Warder, opened the meeting as the September 6 planning board meeting, and acceptance of the August 2 minutes was tabled because they were not finished. Much of the subdivision discussion turned on what the town can require for a road nobody in the subdivision owns; the board concluded it could not require maintenance and settled for a note on the plan and in the deeds telling buyers the road is a discontinued county way with no guarantee of upkeep. The second half was a new conditional use application from Durham Youth Baseball for four youth ball fields on ten leased town acres on Swamp Road. The board waived four submission requirements, deemed the application complete, took public comment from four residents on traffic, lighting, security, well water and field chemicals, and made findings on traffic, sewage, fire protection and several other criteria. It could not finish the criteria on water pollution, water supply, screening and the league's financial capacity, and tabled the application to the October 4 meeting with supplemental information due September 25.

What was discussed

1. 0:13
   Opening, quorum and the August minutes

   The chair, Mindy Warder, welcomed those present to what she called the September 6 planning board meeting, said one member was still expected but a quorum was present, and led the pledge of allegiance. Acceptance of the minutes of the August 2 meeting was tabled at Joe's (?) request because she had not completed them, having been waiting on documents from board members.

2. 0:13
   Mineral Springs Estates: revised plan handed out

   The board took up Mr. Baldwin's Mineral Springs Estates subdivision. A new plan sheet had been produced adding the storm water work; John and Brian were seeing it for the first time and read it at the table. The engineer said the storm water permit had been reviewed and accepted by the state but the written permit had not yet been issued.

3. 7:22
   What changed on the plan: storm water buffers

   A storm water buffer easement was added at the bottom of the 5.17-acre lot Mr. Baldwin owns outside the subdivision, and a second buffer area on lot five, both to treat runoff from the new road. The rest of the road, built on a ridge with no ditches, drains into a 50-foot roadside buffer measured from the edge of the right of way, which allows driveway crossings up to 20 feet wide.

4. 12:35
   How the buffers work, and the lot five overlap

   Culverts discharge into a level lip spreader, a stone basin that turns the flow back into sheet flow across undisturbed woods; the engineer said the state now prefers buffers to ponds and bio-retention because structural measures are not maintained well in rural areas. Buffer corners must be pinned before any lot is disturbed, and each deed will carry a page showing the buffer and stating it cannot be disturbed. Brian said the constructible area and setback line drawn on lot five run into the storm water buffer and should be trimmed back to the buffer edge, which the board agreed to handle as a condition.

5. 17:44
   Access over Granite Hill Farm Road

   The board could not require lot owners to maintain Granite Hill Farm Road because it is not their road. The town attorney's letter said off-site improvements for safety could be required, and members read that as width enough for fire trucks to pass and drainage that will not wash out. Mr. Baldwin said he had already agreed to that and had built the road 24 feet wide up to near the power line years ago.

6. 23:07
   Who maintains the road once the developer is gone

   Mr. Baldwin said he intends to maintain the whole road personally for two years and has bought two plow trucks with wings to do it. Board members said the risk is what happens afterwards, when lot owners without heavy equipment expect someone else to plow, and eventually ask the town to take the road over. It was noted that banks have not lent on private roads without recorded agreements since the crash.

7. 28:24
   Notice to buyers settled on a plan note and the deeds

   The board adopted Ann's suggestion that the plan carry a note that Granite Hill Farm Road is a discontinued county way, with the deeds referencing the plan so title searches pick it up. The staff member consulted said she does not give the board legal advice. Members said they did not like the arrangement but that making buyers aware was the most they could do.

8. 33:28
   Performance standards, public comment and whether to table

   The board moved from the approval criteria to the performance and design standards in Article G, for which no checklist existed; the chair said she would make one up as they went. No members of the public spoke on Mineral Springs Estates. A member asked whether the item should be tabled until the submission was complete, and the board decided the missing pieces, the written storm water permit and notes on the plan, could be handled as conditions checked off by Calvin before the mylar is signed.

9. 33:28
   First approval criteria findings

   At the chair's suggestion John made the findings and the board voted them one at a time: no undue water or air pollution because the project is engineered and permitted under the state storm water rules, no air quality issue because it is residential, and no degradation of surface or subsurface water supplies because it is designed to meet state water quality standards.

10. 38:45
    Findings on water supply, erosion and traffic

    The board found sufficient water supply based on the well results in the application and a hydrant within a reasonable distance, with the fire chief having reviewed the distance. It also found no unreasonable soil erosion, given the engineer's erosion control plan and stabilisation after construction, and no unreasonable road congestion given the size of the development.

11. 38:45
    Paving once the fourth dwelling is built

    The current ordinance requires the road be paved once the fourth dwelling goes in, and the road section on the plan does not show paving. Mr. Baldwin asked to be released from paving if the ordinance changes; the board said it cannot waive the standard but could word the plan note to require paving under the ordinance in effect at the time each additional dwelling unit is permitted.

12. 43:50
    What the ordinance requires of a road maintenance agreement

    Where a private way extends an existing private way serving lots created before March 6, 2004, the applicant must contact those lot owners, offer them the chance to make their property subject to the maintenance agreement, and file a notarised affidavit with the town confirming he did so. The draft agreement in front of the board covered only the subdivision road.

13. 48:50
    The right version of the maintenance agreement was not in the room

    Two versions from the applicant's attorney were in circulation and nobody was sure which was current; the original had gone back to the lawyer's office. Calvin went to copy the fuller version. A member moved to reconsider the road maintenance finding, then held the motion until the end of the item.

14. 48:50
    Groundwater and solid waste findings

    The board found groundwater protection met because each lot will require a state subsurface wastewater permit. On solid waste, members discussed that the hauler will only go down approved town streets unless everyone in a subdivision signs a form asking it to come in on the private road; nobody had the town's solid waste contract at the meeting.

15. 54:09
    Who will own the subdivision road

    The ordinance requires the maintenance agreement to state how ownership of the private way is structured. Members explained the options: deed a proportionate share to each lot owner, deed to the centreline, create a road association as its own corporate entity, or keep it. Calvin warned that subdividers who keep the road leave heirs to be chased later, and another member noted the fee owner can be sued over injuries on the road. Mr. Baldwin said he will keep ownership and decide later.

16. 59:51
    Abutters on the discontinued county way

    Because a discontinuance leaves each abutter owning to the centreline subject to a public easement, the ordinance requires Mr. Baldwin to ask the abutting landowners along Granite Hill Farm Road whether they want to join the maintenance agreement. He said it was a lot of work to come up with nothing because none of them are interested; the board made the affidavit a condition rather than requiring anything of the abutters.

17. 1:05:07
    Conditions imposed on the maintenance agreement

    The board reconsidered its earlier finding on road maintenance and imposed conditions: the agreement must describe ownership of the road, must include the statements the ordinance requires at B2 through B5 and B7, and Mr. Baldwin must give the code officer an affidavit that he asked the abutting landowners up to where his own road starts whether they wanted to join.

18. 1:05:07
    The remaining approval criteria

    In a run of separate votes the board found the project met the standards for aesthetic, natural and cultural values, the developer's financial and technical capacity, noise, odour, glare and vibration, schools, and conservation of trees, streams and topography. On schools it found seven lots will not increase Durham Elementary by more than ten percent. Liquidation harvesting and land designated for public use were found not applicable.

19. 1:10:29
    General provisions: monuments, snow removal and selling lots

    The board reviewed the general provisions, most of which concern town road requirements, and picked out monumentation, the subdivider's obligation to maintain improvements and provide for snow removal, and the rule that no lot or dwelling may be sold until the infrastructure serving it is built as approved. Lot one had already been sold, which is what brought the plan before the board, because it has frontage on Granite Hill Farm Road and a subdivision is created at the third lot.

20. 1:15:36
    Conditions on road materials and testing

    The written conditions were read through: remove the setback lines inside the buffer zone on lot five, and submit the storm water permit to the code enforcement officer before construction begins. Road materials must be documented with gradation reports for the aggregate base and subbase and compaction testing at a minimum of one test per base and subbase for every 300 linear feet, with two of three passing tests deemed acceptable. Submissions go to the code officer rather than the road commissioner, which is the same person at present.

21. 1:15:36
    No requirement that Granite Hill Farm Road be maintained

    A board member said that, as the attorney's letter had pointed out, maintenance of Granite Hill Farm Road is not something the town can request, and stated that she would not make a motion to have it be a requirement. No such condition was imposed.

22. 1:20:41
    Engineer certification and improvements to Granite Hill Farm Road

    Further conditions: the applicant must retain a professional engineer to oversee erosion control, road construction and storm water work and certify compliance to the code officer, and must amend the plan to show that Granite Hill Farm Road is a discontinued way. On improvements, members settled on the width requirement and drainage to stop the steep section washing out, rather than full compliance, since the 8 percent grade at the pipeline crossing cannot be met.

23. 1:25:53
    Subdivision approved with conditions

    The board agreed the road would be built to the private road standard in Article 7G7 except for the paving and grade requirements, to be done before any additional lots are transferred, and that a plan note would require Mineral Springs Road to be paved under the ordinance in effect when each additional dwelling unit is permitted. The full motion, with eight conditions, was then read out and voted.

24. 1:31:05
    No performance guarantee was required

    After the vote, members said they should have required a performance guarantee and that the financial statements the applicant provided were not one. The concern given was that developers sometimes build half a road, run out of money and leave the town with the result.

25. 1:31:05
    New business: Durham Youth Baseball conditional use application

    Durham Youth Baseball applied for a conditional use permit for the ten acres it leases from the town on Swamp Road: four fields for ages 4 to 12, a parking lot, a 24 by 24 building for storage and a snack shack for prepackaged food, no lighting, and portable toilets because the water table is high. The applicant said the town has two softball fields and one middle school field, and that the school and town fields go to the RSU booster programme first, leaving the league to rely on Lisbon and to manage barely one practice a week this season.

26. 1:36:43
    Site history, cost and phasing

    The development plan the lease requires was approved by the selectmen on January 26. The pines were cut about eight years ago and Sappi cleared the remaining scrub last year at no cost to the league. The league is a state corporation and a 501(c)(3) with $13,000 on hand against a project cost of about $400,000; it is talking to the Army Corps of Engineers and chasing grants, and would build one field and the parking lot first and wait for full funding before the rest.

27. 1:41:49
    Storm water design, soils and who is engineering it

    The state told the league two weeks earlier it probably is not permit by rule for storm water, so Sebago Technics is helping with treatment; ponds are out because the seasonal water table sits about 16 inches down, leaving vegetated swales with underdrain. The construction estimate was $325,000, rounded up to $400,000 to cover the additional requirements. The applicant said he is a licensed Maine engineer doing the engineering himself on his own time, Bruce has done the surveying, and Bonnie Cobb dug the test pits, three at 12 to 15 inches and one at 58.

28. 1:46:56
    Stump dumps

    The state will allow only one stump dump area on the site rather than the three shown, and has asked the league to look at grinding the stumps for use as erosion control mix on site instead of burying them below the water table. Shaw Brothers was named as a firm that does the grinding.

29. 1:52:14
    Submission checklist, lot numbering and the leased land

    The board waived the requirement that the plan carry the engineer's, surveyor's and owner's information and made it a condition instead, with the town shown as owner. The project is on lot 26, not the adjoining 25A and 25B. The land was tax acquired, taxes having gone unpaid since the 1890s and early 1900s; a former league president, Rod Stinson, found the parcels about ten years ago, the town paid Howard Mann (?) for a boundary survey, and the league has held the lease since 2007.

30. 1:57:59
    Checklist: buildings, drainage and screening

    The 24 by 24 building is shown with a finished floor elevation of 206, and driveways within 450 feet are shown on an attached aerial image. No new landscaping is proposed; the league is relying on existing vegetation and a berm across from the parking lot, which the board flagged for later. Site drainage runs to the larger wetland behind the property and out toward Evergreen Lane.

31. 2:03:05
    Checklist: signs, lighting, utilities and the well

    One 4 by 6 double-sided sign is proposed, within the maximum size, plus one-way and entrance signs for the parking lot. There are no easements, no exterior lighting, and no storage of more than 50 gallons of hazardous materials or petroleum. Power comes overhead to a pole then underground to the building, and a well at the corner of the snack shack would supply irrigation water, with no fixed irrigation system and no potable water.

32. 2:08:16
    Waivers granted and the application deemed complete

    The board waived the requirement for state approvals and permits at the time of application review, waived the construction schedule and made it a condition of the permit, and waived the financial information submission on the understanding it would be addressed in the approval review. The chair said the financial requirement was the one she had real trouble with. The application was then found complete.

33. 2:08:16
    Public comment opens: notice and the tax map

    Tom Fornier of 231 Swamp Road (?) said he and his wife were told about the project two days earlier, on Monday night, had received nothing from the town, and had not known a ball field was planned. The applicant explained the abutter letters went out according to the tax map, that lot 25A is owned by Mrs. Lois Carter, and that a map he had seen shows 25A and 25B on the opposite side of lot 25 from where the tax map puts them.

34. 2:14:00
    Tax map error, clearing and security

    The board said it would send the tax map to be corrected. Mr. Fornier (?) said the clearing came right up against his property line with no buffer left, and raised traffic on Swamp Road, which is used as a shortcut, and what happens in the parking lot at night if it is not gated. Asked what had been there before, he said ten acres of woods with trees 12 to 14 inches through.

35. 2:19:53
    Public comment: headlights, sight lines and ATVs

    A neighbour across the road, Rocky (?), said his house sits above the site and he can see the whole field area, so headlights in the parking lot will show in his bedroom, and that the application says no lighting at this time rather than none. The board replied that lighting would require coming back to amend the conditional use permit and that the parking screening in the ordinance is measured from the public road. He also said ATV, snowmobile and motorcycle use of the open land is increasing, and that as vice president of the Thompson Trail Riders he sees the damage that causes.

36. 2:19:53
    Public comment: wells and field chemicals

    Deborah Fornier (?) asked how a well irrigating the fields all summer would affect the neighbours' wells, and how birds and wildlife would be protected from whatever is used on the turf. The board said runoff would be covered by the storm water treatment the state requires, and that the effect on wildlife is one of its own approval criteria.

37. 2:24:54
    Public comment: traffic danger, and a planner in support

    Mrs. Fornier (?) said she has lived on Swamp Road 16 years and seen three deaths there, and called the Route 9 intersection at the bottom of the hill dangerous, particularly for teenage drivers at night. A resident who is a professional town planner and has lived on the road 12 years spoke in favour, calling the package a quality one for a volunteer project, saying the scale is right for Durham, and arguing that more local traffic can slow a road where the state sets the limit on the 85th percentile.

38. 2:30:02
    Approval criteria and field maintenance

    The board began the conditional use approval criteria on page 54, starting with the water pollution standard and the concerns raised about turf treatments and the irrigation well. The applicant said local landscape companies quoted about $7,000 a year to maintain the facilities, and that selling sign space on the fencing would make fundraising easier once the fields exist. The board warned that signage facing the road would run into the sign ordinance and would have to be considered separately.

39. 2:35:20
    Fencing, and the missing field management plan

    About 2,500 linear feet of chain link is proposed, each field fenced but not the parking lot, which leaves the four-wheeler concern unanswered. The board said it lacks any definition of how the fields will be fertilised and weeded, suggested an integrated pest management plan of the sort the school has, and said it cannot judge the environmental impact without one. The applicant said the storm water and tier one permits cost about $1,500 and he did not want to spend that twice if the board later wanted the layout changed.

40. 2:40:28
    Water supply and irrigation volume

    The site is not in an aquifer and the well is for irrigation only, with no potable water and no drinking water testing. The board said that if the league is going to irrigate it must give an estimated volume of water and evidence the well can produce it without affecting abutting wells, and asked for that as part of a management plan.

41. 2:45:46
    Erosion control plan and what the board would settle tonight

    The board agreed to require an erosion control plan prepared by a qualified engineer, submitted to the planning board rather than only the code officer, and accepted it can be the same plan prepared for the state. The chair set expectations plainly: the board would approve what it could tonight, but there would be no approval, even a conditional one, until it has the erosion control plan and a few other pieces.

42. 2:45:46
    Traffic volumes and sight distance

    The applicant used the state's map viewer, which gives Swamp Road an average daily traffic of 1,370, took 10 percent as a peak hour and split it 50 percent directionally for about 70 vehicles an hour. He said even if all 108 parking spaces emptied in the same peak hour the road stays well below a theoretical capacity of a thousand vehicles an hour. Sight distance was checked at both entrances, including for a car leaving the wrong way, with plan views and profiles showing the sight triangles.

43. 2:50:52
    Traffic calming and the speed limit

    Members discussed children-at-play or traffic-entering signage, with Calvin to check the manual for what is allowed, and possibly conditioning the permit on the league paying for signs the town would install in the public right of way. The state sets the speed limit even on a town road, and members warned that asking for a speed study on a road where the 85th percentile runs above 45 could raise the limit rather than lower it. Any approach to the state would have to come from the town, not the applicant.

44. 2:55:57
    Traffic finding, and portable toilets

    The board found no congestion or unsafe conditions on the basis of adequate sight lines and appropriately located driveways, and suggested a site walk to see the neighbours' view for themselves. On sewage, it applied the shoreland-zone approach of requiring a contract with a pumping company; the league has rented a portable toilet at the school from GA Downey for three or four years at about $105 a month and anticipates two, possibly three. If the project is phased, the whole parking lot would still be built at once.

45. 3:00:59
    Fire protection, resource letters and zoning

    The board found fire protection adequate given limited structures and the fire pond on Evergreen Lane and Meadow Brook beyond it. The league still needs letters from the historic preservation commission and inland fisheries and wildlife on deer wintering areas and rare resources, which its state permit will require anyway. The site is in the rural residential transitional district where this is a conditional use; there are no dwelling units and the building is under 35 feet.

46. 3:06:08
    Impervious cover, fences and setbacks

    The parking area is 41,480 square feet on a ten-acre site, about 10 percent against a 25 percent maximum, and the state has treated the ball fields as pervious. The board asked for the areas in a written report rather than relying on its own reading of the plan. Fences are excluded from the definition of a structure, so back stops do not sit in the setback, but members warned that a dugout added years from now would be a structure and could not go where the layout leaves room.

47. 3:11:51
    Landscape screening for the neighbours

    The chair said the berm will not be enough to shield the houses across the road from the parking lot once the entrance is built up, and asked for a landscape buffering plan showing what natural buffer exists and what would be added, with photographs from the site. The buffer has to be on the league's own land, not the abutter's. The landscaping and buffering section was cited at page 61.

48. 3:11:51
    Financial capacity left undecided

    The chair said her main concern is that the project starts and never finishes, particularly the mitigation work, and passed over the financial and technical capacity criterion for now. She invited the league to propose phasing, proof to the code officer of $100,000 in the bank before starting, or a performance bond.

49. 3:16:51
    Noise and the last of the criteria

    The applicant cited a case study of a complex with soccer, baseball and T-ball fields built within 15 feet of property lines that measured 50 to 60 decibels at the line with occasional peaks of 70, and noted there will be no lights and no PA system. The board found the great pond and river criterion does not apply and the site is not in a flood zone, and held over groundwater, spawning grounds and the noise and glare criterion pending the additional information and the buffering plan.

50. 3:22:04
    Application tabled to October 4

    The board found no excessive burden on municipal or educational services, then tabled the Durham Youth Baseball application to its October meeting on October 4, with additional information due by the September 25 deadline. Members noted the abutters would be dealt with again at that meeting and discussed whether one month was realistic for the state agency letters.

51. 3:22:04
    Marijuana ordinance workshop and adjournment

    The ordinance item was tabled and the board agreed it needs a separate workshop, held in public but without public comment. With a public hearing on the moratorium set for the 19th, a member's out-of-state conference on regulation, and a moratorium running at least six months against state rules expected around February 2018, the workshop was pushed to November. The board then adjourned.

What was decided

• 0:13
  Table acceptance of the minutes of the August 2 meeting, which had not been completedtabled
• 33:28
  Findings on the Mineral Springs Estates subdivision that it will not result in undue water or air pollution, will not create air quality issues, and will not degrade subsurface or surface water suppliespassed
• 38:45
  Findings that the subdivision has sufficient water supply, will not cause unreasonable soil erosion, and will not cause unreasonable highway or public road congestionpassed
• 43:50
  Finding that the subdivision meets the road construction requirements, with the added condition of a plan note requiring paving under the ordinance in effect when each additional dwelling unit is permittedpassed
• 48:50
  Finding that the subdivision meets the groundwater protection requirements, each lot requiring a state subsurface wastewater permitpassed
• 48:50
  Finding on whether the town's contracted solid waste hauler has sufficient capacity for the subdivision. The board did not have the solid waste contract in the room, and the recording says only that there was a vote of 3 to 1 without stating which finding it belonged to or that it carriedoutcome unclear
• 59:51
  Motion to reconsider the board's finding on criterion eight, the road maintenance agreementpassed
• 1:05:07
  Impose conditions on the road maintenance agreement: it must describe ownership of the road, must include the statements required by the ordinance at B2 through B5 and B7, and Mr. Baldwin must give the code enforcement officer an affidavit that he asked the abutting landowners up to where his road starts whether they want to join itpassed
• 1:05:07
  Findings that the subdivision meets the criteria for aesthetic, natural and cultural values, the developer's financial and technical capacity, noise, odour, glare and vibration, schools (seven lots will not increase Durham Elementary by more than ten percent), and conservation of trees, streams and topography; and that liquidation harvesting and land designated for public use do not applypassed
• 1:10:29
  Findings that the subdivision does not require additional street trees, esplanades or open space, and that it meets the flood plain management requirements, there being no flood plain in the proposed building envelopespassed
• 1:25:53
  Approve the Mineral Springs Estates subdivision with eight conditions: remove the setback lines within the buffer zone on lot 5; submit the storm water permit to the code officer before construction; road dimensions, geometry and materials to conform to the ordinance including gradation reports and compaction testing; amend the road maintenance agreement as discussed and attach it to the deeds; retain a professional engineer to certify compliance to the code officer; amend the plan to show Granite Hill Farm Road is a discontinued county way; build Granite Hill Farm Road to the private road standard in Article 7G7 except for the paving and grade requirements, before any additional lots are transferred; and add a plan note that Mineral Springs Road must be paved in accordance with the ordinance in effect at the time each additional dwelling unit is permittedpassed
• 1:52:14
  Waive the Durham Youth Baseball application requirement that the plan show the engineer's, surveyor's and owner's information, and make it a condition of approval insteadpassed
• 2:03:05
  Waive the requirement that state approvals and permits be in hand at the time of application reviewpassed
• 2:08:16
  Waive the requirement for a construction schedule with beginning and completion dates, and make it a condition of the permitpassed
• 2:08:16
  Waive the submission of financial information at the application stage, on condition that financial capacity is addressed in the approval reviewpassed
• 2:08:16
  Find the Durham Youth Baseball conditional use application completepassed
• 2:55:57
  Find that the ball field project will not cause highway or public road congestion or unsafe conditions, because it has adequate sight lines and the driveways are located appropriatelypassed
• 3:00:59
  Find the sewage disposal criterion met, on condition that the portable toilets meet state standards for the number of users and that a maintenance contract is in placepassed
• 3:00:59
  Find that the ball field site has adequate fire protection, given limited structures and nearby fire ponds as a water sourcepassed
• 3:16:51
  Find that the criterion for land situated wholly or partly within 250 feet of a great pond or river does NOT apply to this site; the recording states that everybody voted in favourpassed
• 3:22:04
  Find that the ball fields will not place an excessive burden on municipal government or educational services. The wording of the vote is garbled in the recordingoutcome unclear
• 3:22:04
  Table the Durham Youth Baseball conditional use application to the October 4 meeting, with additional information due by September 25tabled
• 3:22:04
  Table the ordinance item and hold a separate workshop on marijuana regulation, agreed without a formal vote and pushed to Novembertabled
• 3:22:04
  Adjournpassed

An outcome reads "unclear" where the recording does not state it plainly. The recogniser drops short words, and "the motion does not carry" is one missing word from its opposite.

Motions the minutes record

The town's own written account of what was decided, taken from september_6_2017_minutes.txt. It owes nothing to the recording or to a model: the clerk typed it, with the vote. Where the summary above claims a decision this list does not carry, the summary is the part to doubt.

• table the approval of the minutes until the next meetingcarried 3-0

  Moved by John Simoneau, seconded by Brian Lanoie

• table the application until the October meetingcarried 4-0

  Moved by Anne Torregrossa, seconded by John Simoneau

• Adjourn at 10:30p.mcarried

  Moved by John Simoneau, seconded by Anne Torregrossa

Worth knowing

• 17:44
  Lots in Mineral Springs Estates are reached over Granite Hill Farm Road, a discontinued county way the developer does not own. The board concluded it cannot require anyone to maintain it, and settled instead for a note on the plan and a reference in the deeds so buyers know the road is not a town road and there is no guarantee it will be plowed or repaired.
• 1:36:43
  Durham Youth Baseball has about $13,000 on hand against a project it estimates at $400,000, and told the board it needs the permit in place before it can raise the money. Its plan is to build the parking lot and one field first and wait for full funding before the rest.
• 2:14:00
  The tax map for the Swamp Road site is wrong: lots 25A and 25B are on the Evergreen Lane side of lot 25, not where the map shows them, and the board said it would have the map corrected. The direct abutter said the clearing came right to his property line with no buffer left.
• 3:22:04
  The ball field application was tabled to the October 4 meeting, with any additional information from the league due by September 25.

Motion language found in the transcript

Located by pattern matching, with no model involved: "I move that", "I'll second", "all those in favour". This is an independent check on the summary above: 11 passages of motion language, against 24 decisions summarised.

Elsewhere

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