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Minutes of the Hancock Planning Board Meeting November 2nd, 2011
Members present: Tom Bates, Carolyn Boland, Steve Froling, Dan LaPlante, Rich LeFebvre, Roberta Nylander, Mark Stevens, Ellena Weston-Zimmermann and Linda Coughlan, Recording Secretary
7:00 P.M. – Froling called the meeting to order. The minutes of the October 5th meeting were approved as written.
Froling had copies of a draft article for the December Hancock Happenings for the Board to review. He said the article was to serve as a reminder that even though one story, small structures under 200 square feet such as tool and storage sheds don't require a building permit as adopted by an amendment at the 2010 Town Meeting, these structures must still conform to set-backs and all other code requirements. He noted the Building Inspector has had some problems with this issue. The consensus of the Board was to go ahead with the article for the Happenings, and if the problem persisted, they could look at the issue next year.
Froling also had copies of data from the 2010 Census. He said data from the 2010 Census has the population in Hancock dropping down to 1,654 from the 2000 figure of 1,739 and data had the average median age at 50, up from the 2000 median age of 42.6.
The Board briefly discussed questions that had been posed to the town office from a prospective buyer of the property at 37 Main Street. One question had been regarding whether they could keep goats at the property. Froling had copies of the State RSA's governing Agriculture. In particular they reviewed RSA 674:32-a Presumption which states, "In accordance with RSA 672:1, III-d, whenever agricultural activities are not explicitly addressed with respect to any zoning district or location, they shall be deemed to be permitted there, as either a primary or accessory use, so long as conducted in accordance with best management practices adopted by the commissioner of agriculture, markets, and food and with federal and state laws, regulations and rules." Weston-Zimmermann suggested checking out the UNH CO-OP Extension for best management practices regarding space and housing guidelines for farm animals. The prospective buyer also had a question regarding adding a kitchen to make another apartment in the house, but records indicate that there is already an accessory apartment located at that residence. If this is the case, adding another apartment wouldn't meet the zoning regulations which allows for only one accessory apartment per dwelling.
There being no other business, the meeting adjourned at 7:35 P.M.
Respectfully submitted,
Linda Coughlan, Recording Secretary |