Board member William Pusey asked Kuhn if she was planning to transfer the new parcel to one of her children. “No,” replied Kuhn. “The purchaser is here, Mr. Joe Bruno,” she continued, turning to indicate Bruno in the audience.
No one present objected to the subdivision, so once any questions from board members had been answered, Alboum was prepared to recess the hearing for deliberation. But then a neighbor, Charles Molineaux, voiced his concerns about two gravel pits elsewhere on the Kuhn property.
Although Molineaux’s questions were not germane to the issue at hand, Alboum encouraged him to ask them, noting that an important aspect of public hearings is to allow the public to ask questions and express concerns. He also made it clear to Molineaux that, as the pits lie outside the proposed new lot, the board’s findings will in no way relate to them.
Molineaux said he had environmental concerns, as the gravel operation abuts a stream. Although the pits are not part of the parcel in question, Molineaux thought that, because they are shown on the plot plan map, approval of the subdivision would constitute approval of the gravel pits.
Kuhn told the board that the pits existed before her late father’s purchase of the property, and that her father had used gravel from them to improve Aldrich Road. Kuhn’s family still operates the pits, and sells gravel to the town.
Norman Fajans told Molineaux that environmental concerns are a matter for the state, not the town government, that the gravel extraction is a permitted use under the town’s zoning regulations, and that this operation is “grandfathered” in. In short, there is nothing the town, and specifically the planning commission, can do about it.
At this point, Alboum recessed the hearing. After a deliberative session held at the end of the evening, the board reconvened and voted to approve the subdivision. Approval will not be final until the findings have been written up and signed by the board members. Board secretary Phyllis Evanuk said she would have the findings ready for the regular meeting on January 13.
The board also took up Merrill Mundell’s request to redraw lot lines on the Plumb Lane property owned by the Hardgrove family. The lines are presently confused and undeedable. Mundell has tried to redraw them so that each dwelling is located on the same lot as its own well and septic system, “without shortchanging” any of the residents. This will bring the lots, which were created in the absence of zoning, closer into conformity with current regulations. “Less nonconforming” was Mundell’s description.
Sirean LaFlamme had some questions regarding an occupied trailer on the property that did not appear on the plot plan. “That’s across the road,” said Mundell. “No, it’s on the same side,” LaFlamme, who once rented the trailer, assured him. Mundell said he would look into it.
Alboum had some concerns about septic systems on the property and questioned whether altering the lines might void the lots’ grandfathered status. Mundell said the systems were permitted. But his knowledge covered only the systems shown on the plot plan. No one was sure whether or how grandfathering might be affected.
\But in the end the board concluded that approving the changes could only improve the current situation and voted to do so. Zoning administrator Rick Gay will issue the permits for the newly redrawn lots.
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