RULES OF PROCEDURE
For the
GREENFIELD, NH PLANNING BOARD
Authority
These rules of procedure are adopted under the authority of New Hampshire RSA 676:1
and approved by vote of the Planning Board on October 18, 2004.
General Procedures
1. Any individual wishing to meet with the Board must notify either the Board Chairman, the Corresponding Secretary or Greenfield’s Administrative Assistant no later than 4:00 pm on the Thursday immediately preceding the meeting. With the intention of avoiding excessively long meetings, the Board may limit the number of individuals meeting with the Board on any particular meeting.
2. If contact must be made with outside agencies, including the Southwest Region Planning commission and the Board’s counsel, it will be the responsibility of the Chairman to designate the Board member that is to make the contact.
Officers
1. A Chairman shall be elected annually by a majority vote of the Board at the first regularly scheduled meeting following the March Town Meeting. The Chairman shall preside over all meetings and hearings, appoint such committees as directed by the Board and shall affix his/her signature in the name of the Board.
2. A Vice-Chairman shall be elected annually by a majority vote of the Board at the first regularly scheduled meeting following the March Town Meeting. The Vice-Chairman shall preside in the absence of the Chairman and shall have the full powers of the Chairman on matters that come before the Board during the absence of the Chairman.
3. A Secretary shall be elected annually by a majority vote of the Board at the first regularly scheduled meeting following the March Town Meeting. The Secretary shall maintain a record of all meetings, transactions and decisions of the Board and perform such other duties as the Board may direct by resolution.
4. A Corresponding Secretary shall be elected annually by a majority vote of the Board at the first regularly scheduled meeting following the March Town Meeting. The Corresponding Secretary or designee shall receive all applications to the Board, check them for accuracy and completeness, and if necessary, contact the applicant for any necessary information, documents, or other material needed to complete the application. The Corresponding Secretary/designee shall obtain from the Board, a date for a public hearing on the application. The Corresponding Secretary shall then schedule the public hearing and complete the notification procedures
as outlined in RSA 676:4. The Corresponding Secretary shall, at the direction of the Board, maintain verbal or written contact with outside agencies, businesses and individuals as may be deemed necessary in order to meet the responsibilities of the Board.
5. All officers shall serve for one year and shall be eligible for re-election.
6. Up to three alternate members shall be appointed, as provided for by RSA 673:6, to serve whenever a regular member of the Board is unable to fulfill his/her responsibilities.
Meetings
1. Regular meetings shall be held at the Town Office Building at 7:00 pm on the second and fourth Mondays of each month. Other meetings may be held on call of the Chairman provided a public notice and notice to each member is given at least 24 hours prior to such meetings. The 24 hours notice requirement excludes Sundays and legal holidays.
2. A quorum for all meetings of the Board shall be four members, including alternates sitting in place of members.
If any regular Board member is absent from any meeting or hearing or disqualifies himself from sitting on a particular case, the Chairman shall designate one of the alternate members to sit in place of the absent or disqualified member, and such alternate shall be in all respects a full member of the Board while so sitting. If there are two or more alternate members of the Board, the Chairman will establish a procedure to assure that all alternate members are afforded an equal opportunity to share in Board decisions.
3. If any member finds it necessary to disqualify himself from sitting in a particular case, as provided in RSA 673:14, he shall notify the Chairman as soon as possible so that an alternate may be requested to sit in his place. When there is uncertainty as to whether a member should be disqualified to act on a particular application, that member or another member of the Board may request the Board to vote on the question of disqualification. Any such request shall be made before the public hearing gets underway. The vote shall be advisory and non-binding and may not be requested by persons other than Board members.
4. The order of business for regular meetings shall be as follows:
a. Roll call by the secretary
b. Minutes of the previous meeting
c. Unfinished business
d. Public hearings and meetings with the public
e. New business
f. Communications and miscellaneous
g. Adjournment
Public hearings and meetings with the public will not begin before 7:30pm. This can be waived by the Board Chairman but only in situations involving considerable hardship.
Procedures for Processing Subdivision Applications
1. Completed applications will be heard in the order that they are received.
2. a. Applications will first be reviewed for completeness. Completeness will be determined by
the guidelines set forth in Section IV of the Greenfield Subdivision Regulations in effect
at the time the application is received. This review will be conducted by the
Corresponding Secretary or designee. If the application is not complete, the Corresponding
Secretary/designee will notify the applicant of the deficiencies.
b. Once the application is deemed complete, the Board will schedule a Public Hearing in accordance with RSA 676:4 ;(c)(1). At the Public Hearing, the Board will vote to accept or reject the application. If the application is rejected, the applicant will receive written notification as to the deficiencies that cause the rejection. If accepted, the Board will gather any necessary information (oral or written) concerning the application from the applicant and the public. Once this information has been gathered, the Public portion of the Hearing will be closed.
c. The Board will then move into its Deliberative session, open to the Public, to discuss the merits of the application.
d. Finally, the Board will vote to approve or not approve the application per the guidelines set forth in RSA 676:4 III. This must be done within the time limits set forth in RSA 676:4 ;(c)(1).
3. The Board reserves the right to limit the number of public hearings to be held at any one meeting. Long meetings that might discourage attendance by the public must be avoided.
4. While processing an application and for any contacts required after a decision is reached on the application, the Board will only recognize the applicant as a spokesperson for the application unless notified otherwise, in writing, by the applicant. There is, however, one exception to this rule. On a subdivision application, if the owner who is also the applicant signs the plat, the Board will accept as the spokesperson, the engineer and/or land surveyor who is licensed by the State of New Hampshire and whose name and seal appears on the plat.
Procedures for Public Hearings
A. Subdivision and Site Plan Review
1. The Chairman will call the meeting to order and direct the secretary to record the members present. Determine if any member should be disqualified. If necessary, alternate members will be designated in accordance with RSA 673:11.
2. The Chairman will announce the purpose of the hearing. The Chairman will also review following Rules of Order for the hearing with the Public and members off the Board:
a. This is a non-smoking building. Any smoking will be done outside of this building
b. All individuals present are asked to be respectful of other opinions and comments.
c. All individuals are asked to wait until the Chairman recognizes their request to speak.
3. The Corresponding Secretary will report on notification procedure. The Corresponding Secretary will ask applicant(s) and members of the public to sign their names to an attendance list, noting if they are an abutter. This list is to be placed in the application folder.
4. The applicant will present the application and briefly describe its purpose.
5. The Board will review the application and discuss technical details and determine if the application is complete.
6. The Board will vote to accept or deny the application.
7. If the application is accepted, the applicant will describe the details of the proposal.
8. The Board will question the applicant on issues relevant to the proposal.
9. The Board will accept questions and comments from abutters and other concerned or interested individuals. Written correspondence received by the Board relative to the proposal will be read.
10. When the Chairman determines that the Board has sufficient information relating to the application, the public portion of the hearing will be closed. Board members are free to begin deliberations. If a decision on the application will not be made at this meeting, the Chairman will publicly announce that the Board will deliberate on the application at each of the following regularly scheduled meetings until a decision is made.
11. The Chairman will read the following at the beginning of each deliberation session:
“The Board at this time is entering into a deliberative session. The Board will not
entertain or take any additional information from the applicant, his representatives or
the public during this session. The Board reserves the right to request additional
information at its discretion.”
B. Hearings other than Subdivision and/or Site Plan Review
1. The Chairman will call the meeting to order and direct the secretary to record the members
present. Determine if any member should be disqualified. If necessary, alternate members
will be designated in accordance with RSA 673:11.
2. The Chairman will announce the purpose of the hearing. The Chairman will also review
the following Rules of Order for the hearing with the Public and members of the Board.
a. This is a non-smoking building. Any smoking will be done outside of this building
b. All individuals present are asked to be respectful of other opinions and comments.
c. All individuals are asked to wait until the Chairman recognizes their request to speak.
d. The Chairman will attempt to recognize all who wish to speak on an issue first before others have a second opportunity.
3. The Corresponding Secretary will report on the notification procedure. The Corresponding
Secretary will ask applicant(s) and members of the public to sign their names to an
attendance list, noting if they are an abutter. This list is to be placed in the application folder.
4. The Chairman will explain to the public the issue being discussed and will seek public input.
5. The Chairman will determine when the public has had the input they wish. At this point, the
public hearing portion of the meeting will be closed. The Board will then continue with its
regular meeting during which the public is welcome to attend, as in any meeting of the Board.
Inter-office Procedures
1. When any new lot is created, before a map and lot number is assigned, the surveyor should check with the Assessing Department to be provided with a correct map and lot number.
2. When the Planning Board makes any decision, they will provide the Assessing Department written notice of the decision; referencing map and lot for property files.
3. Copies of all minutes must be provided to Selectmen’s Office (Electronically is preferred) per RSA 91A:2 – this must be done within 144 hours after the close of the meeting.
4. A list of Planning Board cases should be maintained and copied to the Board of Selectmen’s Office. The listing should reference Date, Case number, Name, reason for the application and the decision. Planning Board files should be numbered according to Case number.
5. Proposed Zoning Amendments must be provided to the Town Clerk, as it is to be written on the ballot, in a timely fashion to allow for Town Report accuracy.
6. The Board will update ordinances and regulations as needed after Town Meeting and/or public hearing vote. These updated copies will be provided to Town Office staff.
7. A duly authorized employee of the Town must deliver approved documents to the Registry of Deeds.
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