Grafton Planning Board Action – September 2011

Two Public Hearings – One Approval
by Kieron Kramer
Two public hearings were held before the Grafton Planning Board regular meeting on Monday, September 19.
At 6:30 pm the hearing on the Marcel Forette two lot minor subdivision on Miller Way, a private road off of Blue Factory Road, was opened by Planning Board Chairman Tom Withcuskey. The Forettes were present as was the irrepressible Bill Darling, the surveyor who has represented the Forettes during the application process. Even though no other interested parties were present, Darling felt compelled to comment. “Just for the sake of the audience,” he said, “the Forettes are subdividing 3 acres out of their approximately 40 acre parcel to sell with their house.” There were no comments by anyone else, but during the remaining 14 minutes of the hearing the various medical complications of Lime disease were discussed by the “audience.” This is completely irrelevant to Planning Board business but was a satisfactory way to pass the time and emphasized that people should beware of deer ticks which seem to be proliferating in our area.
At 6:45 pm the hearing on Ken Bruno’s minor subdivision application on Pondview Road began. There were no interested parties present – not Ken Bruno or his representative and no member of the public. After 15 minutes of silence the hearing was closed.
At 7 pm Withcuskey called the regular meeting to order. The minutes of last month’s public hearing and meeting were approved unanimously.
The Forette minor subdivision was approved unanimously contingent on the inclusion on the survey map of the verbiage to be written by Town Attorney Sal Ferlazzo, which has not yet been added since requested at last month’s meeting. The statement on the survey map to be recorded by the County will make it clear that the landlocked parcel in the subdivision has always been inaccessible and will continue to be considered landlocked and “unusable.” After the meeting Withcuskey said that he would not stamp the map until the verbiage appeared on it. Without the Planning Board stamp the subdivision cannot be recorded with the County.
Bruno Subdivision Tabled
Turning to the Bruno minor subdivision, Withcuskey said that the Board had not yet received the engineering plans for the septic system, which was a contingency when the Board  moved forward with this application last month. The 2 lot subdivision will create a 4.43 acre parcel, half of which has  frontage on Dyken Pond with the other half of the parcel above the access road and a second parcel of 6.92 acres, the site of the existing house, also above the access road. Withcuskey had written the Homeowners Association asking for a letter stating that they had no objections to the subdivision, but he has not yet heard back from them either. As a result Withcuskey made a motion to table action on the Bruno application until the next Planning Board regular meeting on October 17. The public hearing earlier in the evening was the public’s chance to express its positions on the 2 lot minor subdivision. The Board will vote on the application at the October meeting if the engineering plans and the letter from the Homeowners’ Association are received.
The regular meeting lasted two minutes, adjourning at 7:02 pm.