2011 - Sandown, New Hampshire

Sandown Planning Board ReportThe Planning Board had a productive year in 2011. The board spent the year working on severalinitiatives that will have positive long term impacts on the way Sandown is built out. Work was alsodone on improving the board’s internal procedures to better insure sub-divisions stay in compliancewith the Town’s rules and regulations.A Master Plan Sub-Committee is being led by Planning Board member Fred T. Daley to update theTown’s Master Plan. With a handful of dedicated volunteers, the sub-committee spent the yeargathering input from individual residents and department heads. This process will continue into 2012with a goal of having all the chapters of the Master Plan updated with current data and goals until thenext update in ten years. The Master Plan is an enabling document forms the basis of the Town’s landuse regulations.After many months of education and discussion the Board passed a Variable Road Width change to theTown’s Sub-Division regulations. This change allows developers to build sub-division roads withdifferent widths based on the number of estimated car trips the road would support on a daily basis.This change will result in narrower roads and smaller cul-de-sacs for most future sub-divisions. Asresult this change there should be less impervious surfaces in a sub-division which will reduce stormwater runoff and its impacts to our natural resources. It will also reduce snow plowing andmaintenance costs to the tax payers of Sandown once the roads are accepted by the town.The Board has also put forward two zoning ordinances for this year’s ballot. One to improve erosioncontrol practices on lots with new construction and one to comply with legislative changes in regardsto involuntary lot mergers. The majority of the Planning Board, hopes that you vote for both of theseordinances.The Planning Board continued to ensure sureties issued for sub-divisions under development arecurrent and on track for renewal on a timely basis. As a result of this work several roads werecompleted and accepted by the town in 2011.2011 also brought a new Administrative Assistant to the Board. Ms. Andrea Cairns moved in to thisvaluable position on the retirement of the former assistant, Ms. Bette Patterson. The board wasfortunate to have Ms. Patterson work with Ms. Cairns for a month to make the transition smooth andproductive.Finally much of the board’s work on sub-division changes and the Master Plan would not have beenpossible without the knowledge and insight of the Town’s Engineer, Steve Keach and the RockinghamPlanning Commission. The Planning Board received approximately $9,000 in grant monies throughthe Rockingham Planning Commission in 2011. This allowed their planner, Julie LaBranche, to spendmany hours working with the Board and with other town boards to develop new and updated MasterPlan chapters. She is continuing to work with the Master Plan Sub-Committee on their updates in2012.Respectfully,Mark TraegerChairman, Sandown Planning Board127 122