Town of North Harmony
Planning Board
Tuesday, 7/11/2017, 7:00 PM
Members Present: Pat Rice Dick Johnson
Walter Geist John Warner
Louis Rieg Phil Strand
Others Present: Dick Sena, Sally Carlson, Frank Stow, Louis Ortman
Mr. Rice called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM.
Discussion on New Building/Addition
Sally Carlson said the town board is working on prices for a new building to compare it to an addition on the existing building. Mrs. Carlson pointed out that we are running out of space.
Mrs. Carlson presented the plans to the planning board and told them that the architect reduced the size from 6200 ft. down to 5200 ft.
Mrs. Carlson said they are going to do some investigation to see what their options are as far as financing. She also said that if the building is fire proof you can finance for 30 years. If it’s not there are other things that come into play.
Mrs. Carlson said the building the architect is looking at would have the possibility of adding on if you needed to in the future.
Mrs. Carson said they are looking to build next to the fire hall because of the level of that land and because of the proximity to the fire hall that if we do solar energy we could share it with the fire hall.
John Warner asked if it was possible to tie into the gas well. Mrs. Carlson said no because we already get free heat at the highway building and they will only do it once.
Mr. Geist asked if using the existing building has been discounted.
Mrs. Carlson said the problem is the flooding issue that has not been frequent but it has happened and there has not been flooding by the fire department.
Mr. Geist asked if the new building is a building without a basement
Mrs. Carlson said yes.
Mr. Stow said that would make it handicap accessible everywhere without having to have an elevator or extra ramps.
Mrs. Carlson said as we get a little further down the road and have something more tangible as far as square footage and cost we will get the boards involved and hold public hearings.
Mrs. Carlson said it looks like we will need a special permit so that would be the board’s opportunity to review it.
Mrs. Carlson said that Don McCord thinks the building should be located in the same location for foot traffic but we don’t have foot traffic.
Mr. Stow said there is a possibility of combining utilities and sharing the emergency generator with the fire department.
The board asked if they will combine the parking.
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Mr. Stow said they really don’t want to because if there is an emergency they don’t want to have a bunch of cars down there and that we will have onsite parking for the new building.
Mr. Geist asked how close the two buildings will be.
Mrs. Carlson said they would be fairly close.
Mr. Geist asked how much the town owns.
Mrs. Carlson said 13 acres.
Mrs. Carlson said depending on the cost the money will come out of the courts.
The board discussed grants.
The board discussed having a sprinkler system opposed to a fire proof building. Mr. Stow said he doesn’t feel it is feasible to have a sprinkler system with a well for water supply.
There was more discussion on having a basement in the new building.
Mr. Geist asked about future consolidations.
Mrs. Carlson said as of now other towns are not interested.
Mrs. Carlson said there is $100,000 put away in a capital building fund, and our highway building is completely debt free.
Sally asked what the planning board is currently working on.
Mr. Rice said solar and that don is putting together a proposal for September.
Mrs. Carlson asked if there would be a meeting for next month and Mr. Rice said he didn’t think so unless something pops up.
Mrs. Carlson asked if we were approaching the solar for it not being able to be seen from the road. Mr. Rice said that was not discussed.
There was discussion on setback for solar and different kinds of solar.
Sally said once they get more info on the building they can plan for a joint meeting with the architect.
Next meeting will be September 12, 2017
Meeting was adjourned at 8:05 PM.
Stephanie Gibbs
Deputy Town Clerk
