UPDATE – December 18, 2017:  Please note that the Planning Board has withdrawn the third amendment described below (No Building on Class VI or Private Roads).  An update of the proposed amendments will be published in the next Beacon edition.

PLANNING BOARD PROPOSES FIVE AMENDMENTS TO THE ZONING ORDINANCE Public Hearing to be held at the Town Office at 8 PM on Tuesday, December 12.th

While addressing individual building and land use requests, it is the responsibility of the Planning Board to see that the Zoning Ordinance is up-to-date and consistent with state law and the priorities set by the Town in the Master Plan.  To help accomplish this, the Planning Board is proposing five updates and amendments to the Zoning Ordinance, to be on the ballot for the 2018 town meeting.  An initial public hearing will be held at the town office at 8 PM on Tuesday, December 12th.  Public input and opinion on the proposals is an important part of the process, and the Planning Board will consider all input from the hearing in preparing final versions of the proposed amendments. You can pick up copies of the full text of the proposed amendments at the town office or download them from the town website.  Copies will also be available at the public hearing.  Written comments are encouraged, and you don’t need to be present at the hearing to submit written comments. You can mail them, give them to Lois at the town office, or give them to someone who will be attending the hearing to deliver on your behalf. Here is a brief summary of the proposed amendments:

1.      Storage Trailers, Storage Containers, Fabric-Covered Garages and Pre-Fabricated Carports.  These structures are becoming more and more common.  The current Zoning Ordinance requires a building permit before erecting them or moving them onto a property, just like any other structure.  However, this requirement has not been enforced. The proposed amendment would replace the building permit requirement with a requirement that these structures be registered with the Zoning Administrator. There would be no fee for registration.  Registration would allow the town to keep track of these structures and to check that they are not placed in violation of setback and height requirements.
2.      Tiny Houses.  The Planning Board has recently had inquiries about constructing so-called tiny houses.  Under the current Zoning Ordinance, new dwellings with a minimum ground floor area of less than four hundred eighty (480) square feet are prohibited. The proposed amendment would allow special exceptions for dwellings smaller than this in all districts except Village and Forest and Agriculture, where the Planning Board feels that they would be incompatible with the character of the village areas or with rural farm and forest landscapes. All other requirements in the ordinance for dwellings would apply.
3.      No Building on Class VI or Private Roads.  State law (RSA 674:41) generally prohibits erecting buildings on lots that do not have frontage on existing Class V or better roads because this creates inappropriate expense, need for municipal services, and risk for the towns.  Amendment No. 3 incorporates this provision explicitly into the Zoning Ordinance.  Because of state law, and also because development on Class VI roads and private roads goes against the Master Plan priorities of preserving our Town’s scenic views and rural character, the Planning Board has consistently opposed such development.  Including this prohibition in the text of the Zoning Ordinance will provide clear direction to the Select Board in administering RSA 674:41, and ensure consistent treatment of future requests to build on Class VI or private roads.

4.      Purposes of the Zoning Ordinance.  The stated purposes in the preamble of the Zoning Ordinance are important when town officials, boards, and committees need to interpret the ordinance in order to administer it – for example in granting or denying variances and special exceptions, or reviewing subdivision and commercial site plan proposals. The preamble of the current ordinance has very little substantive language describing its purposes. The proposed amendment would add the purposes allowed in state law as well as the guiding principles of the Master Plan, thereby providing a better basis for interpretation, giving clear, fair and consistent guidance and standards for all decisions that need to be taken by Town officials under the ordinance .
5.   Update of the Special Exception Process.  The proposed revisions fix some longstanding errors and ambiguities in the Board of Adjustment special exception process.  First, the requirement that the Planning Board find a site appropriate before the Board of Adjustment can grant a special exception. Although Planning Board input on special exception requests has often been useful to the Board of Adjustment, the law specifies that the Board of Adjustment alone has the power to decide on special exceptions. The proposed amendment would make the Planning Board’s input on a special exception request advisory only.  Second, the proposed amendment revises the process for “additional” (changed to “unlisted”) special exceptions.  As in the current ordinance, any use in any district may be approved by the Board of Adjustment as an unlisted special exception.  The amendment adds concise criteria, conditions, and safeguards that such an unlisted special exception must meet in order to be approved.