Town of Otis
Planning Board Meeting Minutes December 9, 2024
Call to order 7:00 PM
• Roll Call:
Mark Anthony – Chair
Hal Kobrin
Barb Gallagher
Ross Knowles
• Approval of November 18, 2024 minutes
Hal motion to accept, Ross second, all in favor.
• Public Hearing: Update to Otis Zoning Bylaws and General Bylaws
General Code is a company that digitizes bylaws
Our bylaws are online, not searchable, and are so large that it is split up into multiple files
This puts bylaws into online platform so it is all in one place and searchable
This makes it easier for both the staff and members of the public to be able to find the information they need
Have paid for it and done several drafts with the company already
The proposed article has changes on there, updates are grammar, numbering, gender neutral language, things capitalized that weren’t,
Larry, wording corrected in some sentences,
Indexing, numbering
Hal motion to accept changes as is, Ross, second, all in favor.
Mark, motion to close public hearing on bylaw changes, Barb second, all in favor.
• Public Hearing: Special Permit D&J Development, LLC 1367 & 1341 Reservior Road
Proposing a shared driveway
1341 is the lot that was cut out of the larger lot,
1367 is the larger marina lot
Driveway is going to be a dual purpose driveway, shared between the marina for boat parking and building at 1341.
Section will be at 14% grade
Hal, question on grade, and units in building.
Note, they will be going in front of Zoning board for the approval of the building and units
Hal, typically require drainage plan showing where the water is going
Mark (D&J), this is largely already here, not much is changing, bank is already there
Larry, there were storm drains and retaining pond in the previous townhome plan.
Hal, bylaws note a drainage plan is required for special permit
David, existing driveway has culvert that catches water and takes it underground not across the road
Mark (D&J), it will be paved or gravel
Mark, bylaw says driveway should be constructed so that water does not drain over road, seems like that issue is figured out
Hal, if you pave it, that would largely change runoff, applicant is required to show us drainage analysis
Mark (D&J), current plan is to do gravel
Ross, what is changing from current conditions
Hal, major concern here is water flow
Mark, can we approve it being gravel and not pavement because that is not a significant change and less concerns with drainage and runoff
Hal, can require they come back with drainage plan and runoff if they intend to pave it in the future
Matt P, yes gravel has less impact with stormwater and runoff
Larry, main concern is if driveway is approved as it is laid out, no extensions of where else on the property it will impact this proposed driveway here,
Any changes to future plans to the larger property would go through here if no access is allowed off rt 23
Need to maintain easement
Want to see complete plan on what you are going to access and how you are going to access it overall,
Mark, this is what the plan is now, no other future plans are proposed at this time
Larry, will need to come back to the board if this driveways use or anything is to be expanded, will be no traffic on that road
Terry G, condition this to remain gravel ,and require if there is any issue with drainage that they be required to come in immediately and fix it and get a drainage plan, they should have a drainage plan for this application tonight, risk to give them approval without a drainage plan, condition it is never a paved area,
Hal, that is my concern weather it is gravel or paved a drainage plan is important part of review for this
Mark, can we have a drainage plan by next month to review as part of the application?
David, this is proposed here because it is similar to what was proposed and approved in the townhome plans, so they can reuse some of the work that was done in the past
Hal, that permit is expired and no longer relevant. Drainage analysis is needed for liability
Ross, how much work is being done? Large portion of this is already there, not much is changes
Hal, there is an impact even though it is minimal work, if you have already done the calculations on the previous plan it should be easy to adjust them for this current plan and include that information so we are all covered, if this does have an impact then there is an issue and it comes back to us
Mark, Dave said they have calculation from previous plan should be able to adjust them and add it to plan
Matt P, said he should be able to have the drainage calculations by January meeting
Ross, does not want to see people have to keep coming back to multiple meetings for little things.
Mark proposed to continue public hearing to January 13th, Hal second, Barb voted to approve continuing public hearing, Ross abstained from vote.
• Planning Board Budget FY26
Brandy sent out budget and request to get budget back budget by first week of January
Terry, can comment is on finance board, when they vote on cost of living adjustment increase increases it would be for all boards, board can write a recommendation for merit based increase if they feel clerk is doing good work
Mark, heard zoning board into stipend instead of hourly
Terry, zoning does not meet every month and still calculates hours but it is a stipend, town typically has cola increase every year
Terry, gone over advertising and legal notices, over on postage,
Stacy, should check and see if the cost of applications cover the boards costs of a permit
Stacy, no line for planning/mast plan
Hal, would be a capital expense or line item, but it would not be something you do every year, with that would like to note we are on our 9th year of our paster plan, would be prudent to work with Select board to secure a grant to update plan, will take close to two years to get it online, would ask for support of select board
Mark, this has come up several times in the last year and a half,
Terry G, it is a large commitment, a lot going on at the moment,
Hal, concern if the plan is over 10 years old it hurts our grant opportunities
Terry G, would be good to review current master plan to bring specific notes to town
Hal, yes that is what updating the master plan would include going through the current plan and updating it, bringing it to the public, updating statistics, not for us the board to make decisions on it is our job to bring to the public, there is money out there for this, states are encouraging towns to update their master plans, need to work together to get the grant money so that the town doesn’t need to spend our own money on this
Stacy, library building project has hired a professional who is using the master plan and because the plan is outdated t is impacting the project. The outdated master plan will impact future projects in the town. Library building subcommittee, need current document that is representative of broader town goals, if not committees have outdated report and are filling in gaps with singular views from their committee
Hal, prospective of town, town needs, exc all needs to be updated and represented in town master plan
Mark, don’t disagree, but want to make sure we are working together, and don’t want to waste time working on something the select board won’t move forward with
Terry, can’t speak for the board, but it’s not that they don’t have interest in it but the board does have some other things going on
Stacy, wants to know when the next grant deadline is so that everyone knows how much time we have to get the information we need. Bring some information on what has and has not been accomplished to
Mark, suggest Hal get the information on grants and deadlines
• Any other business old or new.
• Mark motion to adjourn 8:06 PM. Barb Second. All in favor.
Members of the public:
Stacy Schultz
Larry Gould
Terry Gould
Lyn O’Brien
Mark Amanti
David Donahue (via zoom)
Matt Puntin (via zoom)
Susan Ebitz (via zoom)