Meeting transcript
Zoning Board of Appeals - Regular Meeting & Public Hearing
February 17, 2021 · Watch on YouTube · All meetings
Alright. Who are we missing? Missing Walter Ware, I think, right? Or is he here? I haven't seen Walter. And Cathy, right? I haven't seen Cathy either. How are you, Gerard? Doing well. Thank you. How are you doing?
Was it any better? It'd be illegal. How's that? You can write that down and use it if you wanna. Thank you. Let me just bring up my other documents here. All right.
Mr. Monroe. Yes. At some point, would you be willing to share your email with me? For some reason, I don't have that. Yeah.
I don't know if you want to do it aloud now or later. I guess right now is fine. Okay.
Actually, my wife's but. I kind of figured that much but. And and Mindy, I don't want you to say it now, but I don't have your phone number. I was trying to call you tonight, but maybe I could reach you. I don't know. Or you could call me. You got my number, right?
I don't, but I can direct chat you my phone number.
Okay. That'd be great. Thank you. Okay. Well, it is 702. We do not have Kathleen yet. I'm here.
Oh, you're here. All right. Thank you so much, Kathleen. So we have Gerard, we have Bill, we have myself and Kathleen. That is enough for a quorum, I do believe, right? I don't know if I believe you're right. Good. I don't I do know that Jim Halsey had told me that Walter was gonna join us tonight, so hopefully he'll still make it. So it is 07:02. I'd like to call the meeting to order. Have a well, first of should we do a roll call real quick just for the public record? Maybe the people from the Phillips could just let us know who's here.
Sure. We have Bill Phillips, Tom Fioretina, Andrew Bushnell, Megan Phillips, and Donna Phillips.
Thank you. And we have Gerard from May. We have Bill Monroe. Hello?
And who's that? This is Walt. Hey, Walter. How are you? Good. How are you, Kent?
This is Bill, but I am doing good, Walter. We have everybody online. That's great. And I see Jim is back with us. Yes. We have a whole board. I see Kathleen is with us. That's great. Thank you all for coming on tonight. So first call of business is open public hearing. It's the application of Donna Phillips and William Phillips, the property located at 57 Hendy Road, seeking an application or relief from Section 10.5 in accordance with 4.1.2 of the annual zoning regulations So as to allow for the deposition of fill instruction of a single family dwelling the Flood Plain District. So Jim, I just I'm going to refer to you here real quickly. Do we go through this first and then go to the regular meeting yes and so at this point I guess so we would open it to public comment would that be correct
yes And perhaps this would be a good time for the applicant to address any open questions. But for one thing, there is a memorandum from Attorney Fiartino, which I believe was sent out. Well, I I did say I sent it out. So know it was sent out and it's posted online. It should be entered into the to the record. Assuming everyone got one, is that would that be accurate? I got it. Okay. Did Kathleen, Walter, Jerry?
I received the memorandum as well. Thank you. Yes. Kathleen, I do.
Excellent. And I read through it as well. I'm Bill Monroe, I saw it. Thank you, Bill. So is there anything that the Phillips' would like to address before the board?
I'll add that I submitted the memorandum primarily because these two meetings are awfully uncomfortable at times. It's difficult to get information across, so I thought it might be helpful to have this type of summary and helpful that you guys have it in advance so you can formulate any questions for us. Today, the memorandum pretty much sums up all that we discussed at the last Zoom meeting and also some of the issues that we talked about at the on-site visit. Right. And so I think everything that we need to say is pretty much contained in this memorandum. If there's any specific questions that the members have, we can try to answer those questions now.
Okay. I'll open it up to the other board members if they have any other questions they would like to post at this point.
Bill Monroe here. Just want to make sure that I know saying about what this is about. The the variance it's for four point one point two a. It's like, I guess is it is it because a lot is non conforming or is it because it's too close to something or why why are we giving them a variance on that? That's what I need clear it out.
I I'd be happy to address that from the staff perspective and the applicant. It was on the application. It's just that it's a nonconforming structure. I'm sorry. Nonconforming Building site?
Well, it existed prior to to the adoption of zoning. And it was included in the application. So I simply transferred it, included it the the agenda and in the public notice. I personally don't think it's an integral part. I didn't want to leave it out because it was on the application. So it's really the section 4.12 a that the applicant is seeking relief from. Which Which is Is the first two
permitted special permit uses flood hazard zone. Flood problem zone.
Is that your question, Bill? I'm sorry. No. I I guess that was that I I was trying to figure out if it was because the the flood prone zone, I understand that. It was the other one. I just didn't quite understand what it was addressing. And it's
So that was a good question. It it I simply put it in there because it's in the application. You're not actually waiving. There's no waiver required. You concur with me, Attorney Ferentino? Time is fine. Okay. Thank you. Okay.
I would also like to share with the board that I had asked, and I know a number of other people on the Zoning Board of Appeals had a question in your mind regarding if there was any liability on the town's part if a flood did occur for having approved this. And the town attorney, the land use attorney, did speak with Jim. And Jim relayed to me that we really don't have any liability by approving, at least from the zoning board of appeals, and I believe from the town as well, any real liability. The applicant knows they are building in a flood plain. They're taking steps to raise the house up, to install a watertight septic tank. They're taking appropriate steps to mitigate whatever risks there are. So they're well aware of the risks. And I guess that was the main thing that I had in my question in my mind. Know as far as going forward was our land use attorney. Did he have any reservations about us doing appeal approving this or with regard to any you know liability for the town and there doesn't seem to be any so that was the only concern that I had and I want to share that information with the rest of the board. Thank you Bill.
Yeah. Hey, Bill. I have another question. Yes. On past variances, we've had to have approval by the adjacent property owners.
Mhmm. Is that necessary for this one? I'm not sure if it's approval or it's just they're notified and they can make known if they have a problem with going forward. So I think that's right. Is that correct, Jim? If they have an opportunity to speak And I think at the walk through, I think many of the neighbors were actually there. So I don't think they actually have to approve it. They just have an opportunity to raise any questions or if they disapprove for any reason to bring their concerns to the town. But they don't necessarily have to prove it.
That'd be accurate. They have no ability to vote or I mean, they can weigh in and have their opinions heard. Right.
As anybody actually as anybody else could as well. Right. It's just that the neighbors are the statutes and our regulations both require that that neighbors be notified or waters be notified. And that's, I believe, defined by people within 100 feet. In fact, they were. And we have documentation to that effect provided by the applicant. Does that answer your question? Yes, it does. Thank you. Great.
Walter, anything else that you would like to pose before we take action?
I think that they this is Kathleen. I think they did a good job with the walk through. I mean, they really explained everything.
Would agree. Good. So Jim, at this point, could we entertain a motion to vote
on approval? No. No. The appropriate thing to do would be to close the public hearing. Okay.
And open the regular meeting. Now, once you close the public hearing, obviously, you don't have the ability to take further information for other than staff or consultant, meaning, know, the county engineer, me, county county engineer, county attorney, I meant to say. I'm sorry. So that's if you close public hearing, that's what happens.
Do we need a motion to close the public hearing? I'm sorry? Do we need a motion to close the public hearing? Or do we just go ahead and close it? I say close Close it. Okay.
If there's no further comments by the board, then I will close the public hearing and we will call to order the regular meeting. And we've already kind of gone through a roll call. We know who's here. Are there any additions or changes to the agenda?
I possibly have one. Under the approval of minutes, I did not include the special meeting, which was the sidewalk. If you'd like to add that and act on it tonight, that's fine. If you choose not to, that's okay as well. It has no bearing on the vote.
Right. I would agree with that. As long as it's okay with the rest of the board, then we will just add those minutes in at next week's next month's meeting, Jim. That's fine. Great. Any other public participation that? Anybody else we need to hear from? Any new business? Okay. Old business goes back to the application of Donna Phillips and William Phillips. At this point, Jim, I guess if there's no further questions or dialogue at this point, do we go ahead and accept the motion to vote?
If you're prepared to certainly, if somebody wants to put forward a motion to approve or deny the application, this would be the appropriate time. Then discussion after the motion is out there, there can be further discussion. Okay, so anybody has the permission so desired.
Right. Is there anybody who would like to make a motion regarding this application? Yes, I make a motion that we approve the application.
I'm sorry, who was that? Walter? Walt. Yeah. Okay, so Walter Ware makes the motion that we accept the application as submitted. Would anybody like to second that motion? I'll second it. Thank you, Gerard, for that. Is there any other discussion before
we vote? I'd just like to add that if the Commission should have its reason for voting either way in the record. And if I'd be happy to provide some direction in that realm there. The basis for refusal or approval or denial is what I'm saying should be noted in the in the record. Okay. That can be handled after the vote. Right.
Okay. So we have no further discussion. Would all those in favor please indicate so one by one. Walter Ware, a yay or a Yea. Kathleen. Thank you Walter. Kathleen. Yea. I'm sorry. Yea. Bill Monroe. Yes. Gerard Gourmet. Yes.
Bill DeRoziers, yes. So that is unanimous that the application by the Phillips is approved.
Okay. I may add that the basis, what I would recommend as the basis or what you may consider as a basis for approval, it could simply be a reference to attorney Fiorentino's memorandum in the 7 Hendy Road. Yep. Which which encompasses the compliance compliance with the town's plan of conservation development, which is always an important part about when it comes to actions, planning and planning commission action.
Perfect. And we've already entered that memorandum into the minutes. To the record, yes. Into the record, yes. Okay, great. Well, Mr. And Mrs. Phillips. You. Thank you for all your hard work and for everything that you've done to help enlighten this board, which is a fairly new and young board, not young in age, but young in tenure. So we appreciate all the additional help that you gave and bringing to light all of the various complexities of this application. So thank you very much for that. Obviously, you're welcome to stay on or leave the meeting. So I guess the next thing to do would be to go over the approval of
we will be leaving the meeting, but I just wanna thank you for all your support. Yes. Thank you again. You're welcome. Thank you. So thank you very much, and good luck with the house. Just like the record, I'd like to thank Jim Halsey as well. He was very instrumental in providing a lot of information to help with that. Yes. Thank you, Jim. Jim.
You're welcome. I would like to thank Jim as well. Obviously, he helped a lot with a lot of with a lot of information and and again with this young board. So thank you, Jim. So let's go on if we could to approval of the minutes from January. Has everybody had a chance to review those minutes? I have.
Thank you Joe. Bill? Yes. And Kathleen? Walter thank you very much. Are there any changes or minutes or to those minutes?
I would like to make a change. Okay. Mindy. I spell the attorney's last name incorrectly. I spelled it f l o r e n t I N O instead of F I O R E N T I N O. Well, shame on you. Just wherever that's mentioned, just to correct spelling. Great.
Okay, so any other amendments to the minutes? Can I get a motion to accept the minutes as amended by Mindy?
I'll move that we accept the minutes from the meeting on 01/20/2021 at 07:00 to include the amendment as indicated.
Thank you Gerard. Can I get a second on that? I'll second it. Walt Weir.
Thank you, Walter. All those in favor of accepting the minutes as amended? Aye. Bill? Aye. Walter? Jim? I mean, Kathleen? Aye. Okay.
And I vote aye. So the minutes Aye. Amended and accepted. Thank you, Bill. All right. Do we have an administrative report from our zoning agent?
I have nothing to report. However, we did jump over the six B, filling of vacancies. I don't really have anything to add. Just am trying to keep it on the agenda so that it stays in folks' minds that we are in need of a couple new members. Right. Just that's all. That's all I just want to want to keep it keep it fresh.
Thank you. Thank you. That's a that's a good one. Yes, we just make sure we keep that on the minutes that helps too and reminds everybody that if you know anyone that wants to do their civic duty and help out the town that would be fantastic. Thank you Jim. Okay, so that pretty much brings us I believe to the end of the meeting. Unless there's anything else I would entertain a motion to adjourn. Do you guys all want hang up? We adjourn. I think that was Kathleen first. Kathleen made the motion and it was seconded, think, by Bill Monroe. Yes.
No, it wasn't me, but. Oh, it was me, sorry.
You want to second it, Bill? Okay, I'll second it. Bill got it. Okay, so Kathleen made the motion. It was seconded by Bill Monroe. And can we just have a vote? So all those in favor, Bill? Yes. Walter? Yes. Kathleen. Yes. Jared. Yes. Bill. Yes. Okay. That's unanimous. Well, you everybody. Appreciate your taking a little bit of time out of your Could just
ask a question? No. You don't want to be a Chairman, correct? We don't have the time? I am a Chairman. Or do you?
I know you are now. Okay. So you're going to stay as our Chairman? Yes, I am.
Okay. Very good. Okay all right so what vacancies are left?
Have a vice chair vacancies I think we we need a vice chair yes and I think we still need a What is it called Jimmy? Alternate. Thank you. Yes. Yeah, Okay. How many alternate do we need?
I think we need one alternate. Is that right, Jim? Actually,
I'm looking at the at the sheet and it's just five members selected by by elections. And there's only four listed. That's that's the form I have. If that has changed, I'm not I'm not aware of it. Are you saying of one of it. And there should be three. And, you know, I have to remind you that I'm I'm choosing to remind you. I don't have to. It's very important. I mean, as far as the CVA, they need the four affirmative votes. So it's always a good idea to have a full full board. By a full board, it would be eight people. Obviously, you know, you're getting by without with less, but but it you know, ideally, there'd be eight people. It you know, there'd be five regulars and three alternates, ideally. Five regulars and three alternates.
Wow. Okay. So we have five regulars. Right? We have myself, we have Bill, we have Kathleen, we have Walter, we have Gerard. So we need three alternates. I have Gerard as an alternate. I thought Gerard became a I
was originally an alternate. That I was voted in as an alternate. You lost members, and you asked me to come on as a full member. Okay. Alright, so then I went to Carol Lee. Yeah, I sent her a letter of resignation for the alternate position. Okay. And I asked to be put on as a regular member. Yep. And then she gave she swore me in. So that's where
Okay. That's great. I'm I'm just gonna have to update have the form updated and where this came from. So now we have five, okay. So I will track my statement. We have five regulars and that so we need no more regulars. What we do Are any of our terms expiring in June?
Yeah. Have I have down that Walter's expires in June. I I think I'm due.
They called me. June? Yeah. Yeah. Gotta gotta run Okay.
I have Bill DeRosier and Kathleen as '23. Yeah. 2023. Yep. Right. Now, Gerard, she says '23, but that as an alternate. So my guess is it would be '23 and Bill Monroe, there is no date. So we'll have to figure that out. I'm a '23. Okay. Bill Monroe. Everyone is 23 right now. So are elected. Yes, I mean, process is something like the Democratic and Republican town committees fill those nominated folks for the slots for the That May election,
is correct. And I was on a call with the Republican Committee. And I don't believe anybody on the Republican side anyways. No new names were added to the list. I'm not sure if we risk them for since then, but we didn't have everybody that night. That was a couple weeks ago. Okay. So we pretty much need three alternates.
Three alternates right now. Yep, we're in good shape and we just need Walter to rerun and when Walter reruns and we'll we'll still have a full full board except for the three alternates. So, keep your eyes and ears open folks.
And they could be, I mean, we we do operate with a minority representation, whereas at least I believe it works one member of each. Party. I think we're covered there. So any it could be either party or an affiliate or another party, meaning any other party. Okay. Anything else?
Let's see. Gerard, would you be willing to be a vice chair?
Let me give that some thought. I need a lot of guidance. I know that Jim is there. He's very helpful to Bill. If he'd be as helpful to me, I wouldn't mind. Okay. Well, great. Why
don't we add this to our next meeting to address that? I think we have to vote on it, if that's correct. Right. And we'll do that at the next meeting. And thank you very much Gerard for stepping up. And we'll give you another month to think about it. And we'll address it at the next meeting.
Okay. Sounds good. I'm looking to see, I think the DTC is meeting Friday evening to do some more endorsements. I was looking to see if I could find the email that would tell me who who they're they're looking looking for endorse for the alternate. Let's see. Alternate. This doesn't make sense. Walter Ware is the endorsed candidate for the ZBA. So the DTC is going to endorse Walter to renew his term. Great. They're asking us to reach out to anybody. I
don't think they have anybody aside from Walter Weir to be put forward onto the ballot for a permanent regular member of this board.
Again, so that would be we would have the five full members that we have with Walter running. We wouldn't need to have anybody else except for alternates. And alternates, they don't run. They don't they're not voted on, right Jim? No. They're they're voted. They're accepted by us. Are they?
No. No. Let me go over this, Steve. If they're filled, they are it is an elected position. All votes are voted on just like regular members. If right now you have three empty spaces, you the board, the ZBA could fill those slots before now and June. Right. You filled slots to become vacant between elections. I believe I'm going to double check on it. It's certainly how most commissions do it. I will look at the I will double check on the the the Board of Appeals. The I'm sorry. The the bylaws to make sure that that's consistent.
I think you're correct, Jim. It's in the town charter. Okay. Okay.
Anything else? I think we already adjourned officially. So I will thank you all again and look forward to seeing you all next month. Thank you, Bill. Thanks, Bill. Thank you, guys. Thank