MARSHFIELD DEVELOPMENT REVIEW BOARD MINUTES

Approved Minutes of June 1, 2006

Board Members present: James Arisman, Paul Brierre, and Tom Daley. Also attending: Planning Commission member Mike Fritz (arriving 7:30), Zoning Administrator Bob Light, Mark Hart, Florence Mucherino, Dan Mucherino, Sue Morris, John Morris, Brad Washburn, and Scott Prosser.

At 7:10 pm the DRB still did not have a quorum, with only Paul and Tom present. As Marshfield’s regulations provide that members of the Planning Commission can serve as substitute members of the DRB, Tom called Mike Fritz at home, and Mike agreed to come serve in that capacity.

At 7:15 pm, James arrived and opened public hearing on the Subdivision application of Mark and Karen Hart. In February 2005, these applicants had received approval to subdivide their property on Holt Road. They now wish to divide one of the resulting lots, of approximately 15 acres, into two smaller pieces: a 9.6 acre lot, containing an existing home, and a lot of 5.5 acres to be a future building lot for a single family home. A few questions followed from the Board, but no particular objections were raised to the project as presented. The hearing was closed at 7:22 pm.

The Board then held an Initial Meeting with Daniel and Florence Mucherino, who have applied to subdivide their home lot on Cree Farm Road into 2 pieces. The source parcel is one of the resulting lots from an earlier subdivision for which the Mucherinos received DRB approval in September 2004. As proposed, the new subdivision would create a lot of approximately 26.8 acres, containing their existing home, and a lot of 49.1 acres, which the Mucherinos plan to retain and leave undeveloped. This second lot would have no road frontage, but would be served by right-of-way of two other adjoining parcels, both of which are currently owned by children of theirs. The Board set a public hearing date of this application for Thursday, July 6, 2006 at 7:15 pm. In the meantime the Board will issue a Sketch Plan determination letter on the application.

At 7:40 pm the Board opened public hearing on the Site Plan application of John and Sue Morris. The applicants seek to add a second dwelling to property they own on the Groton Forest Road. The new building would be a two family home, and would share the installed septic system that serves the existing home. Bob Light testified that he had made a recent site visit to the property, and verified that the site designated for the new house construction does not lie in the portion of the lot that had been determined earlier to exceed the 15% slope threshold. Hearing was closed at 7:55 pm.

The Board then held an Initial Meeting with Scott Prosser and Brad Washburn. Scott represents Gruss & Co., which plans to apply for a nine lot subdivision of approximately 2,208 acres. The land is owned by Evergreen Timber, LLC, of which Gruss & Co. is a subsidiary. They wish to create 8 new building lots from 146 acres along Laird Pond Road, reserving the remainder — approximately 2062 acres — as forest land.

            Upon inspection of the sketch Plan map, the Board noticed immediately that the building area of one of the proposed lots was clearly in the Forest and Conservation zoning district. Bob explained to Brad, who had prepared the sketch plan, that Marshfield’s regulations do not permit year-round residences in the F&C District. Mike noted that some of the other building sites appeared to be close to the F&C line, which in that area begins 600 feet from the public road. Brad and Scott said that they would consider adjusting their plans to accommodate the zoning limitations, but for now would like to schedule a public hearing on the proposal. The Board tentatively set the first public hearing on this matter for Thursday, July 6, 2006 at 7:30 pm. Brad will contact Tom within a week to confirm whether they wish to proceed with the hearing at that date. In the meantime they will be submitting their application to the Town Clerk, after which the Board will issue a Sketch Plan determination letter.

At 8:35 the Board entered into closed session to deliberate on all of this evening’s matters. At 9:20 they returned to the record. Paul moved to accept the minutes of May 18, 2006 as drafted; seconded by James, all in favor. Paul then moved to adjourn the DRB meeting. Seconded by James, all in favor.

                                                                                                Respectfully submitted,

                                                                                                Tom Daley