Village Planning Committee Minutes

Wednesday, May 20 7 p.m. Library

Present: Mary Covington, David Drasba, Mike Fallon, Kurt Grasset, Tom Pisaturo, Dennis Rossiter.

Absent: Jim Gamble, John Jordan, Howard Mansfield

Visitors:. Roberta LaPlante Steve Fillebrown, Nahida Sherman.

1. Kurt noted that Hancock has been notified that federal funding is in place for this project. Funding will be cover %100 of the project cost. The project has been moved from IRA funding to other federal funding. The only stipulation is that the project stays on schedule. The current schedule is to be out for construction bids at the beginning of September of this year.

2. The project will be funded up to $600,000 in line with the NHDOT latest budget estimate.

3. Howard, Kurt, Tom and Dave met with the Hancock Historic District Commission on May 12th. VPC members presented the overall plan for Main Street prepared by MLS. The Historic Commission found the plan to be general acceptable. The only concern expressed by Dave Robinson was about the amount of new signage that might accompany this plan. The VPC will pass this concern along to MLS.

4. Kurt, Mike, Dave and Chad from MLS met with New Hampshire’s State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) on May 14th. CHAD presented the overall plan for Main Street prepared by MLS. SHPO was general supportive of the design. SHPO was open to the idea of possible reconfiguration of the Common at the intersection of state routes 123 and 137. SHPO noted that work near Norway Pond or the Commons, in the area of the monument marking the original location of the church, could trigger archeological assessments. The main conclusion of this meeting is to keep the majority of the work for this project within the existing right of way. Work in the area of the Commons may be best approached as a second phase to the project, as to not jeopardize the project schedule and therefore federal funding.

5. Kurt, Mike, Dave and Chad from MLS then met with Jim Marshall form the New Hampshire Department of Transportation (DOT) on May 14th. Jim was also generally supportive of the plan for Main Street. We discussed options for adding a stop sign somewhere at the west end of Main Street. Jim encouraged us to pursuer this but cautioned us that the district engineers at DOT will most likely not be in favor of adding a stop sign. Jim noted that we should keep in mind the potential noise a stop sign can generate. Jim also noted that will trees cannot be place very close to the road for safety reason, other planting such as lilacs can be.

6. The second public meeting will be tentatively scheduled for Thursday June 4th at 7:00 pm in the Town Hall. This needs to be confirmed by the Selectmen.

7. The purpose of the next public meeting is to present this plan to the residence of Hancock. The engineers will have a large scale plan of Main Street that incorporates the solutions to the six topics discussed at the first public meeting; Walkways, Pedestrian Crossing Areas, Parking Areas, Traffic Control, Edge of Pavement and Drainage.

The engineers will also have additional drawings to give residence three dimensional views of these improvements.

8. Dennis will prepare a press release for the Ledger. Mary will prepare inserts for Happenings. Dave will prepare new posters which Dennis will install in sandwich boards.

Dennis will get a copy of the press release to Nahida Sherman for the Hancock Website.

9. Next Meeting: Wed., May 27, 7pm. Daniels Room, Library.

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