Approved Minutes of ZBA Site Walk – May 20, 2020
Variance Application for relief from setback requirements in Article III, Section D 1, 3, 4, and 5 of the Bradford Zoning Ordinance,
Property of David and Julie Carignan, Map 18 Lot 13, located at 244 Breezy Hill Road.
Present:
ZBA: Nathanial Bruss, Beth Downs, Ken Parys, Brooks McCandlish
Property Owners: David and Julie Carignan
Owners’ Agents: Elizabeth J. Nolin Esq. and Dan Higginson
Neighbor: Marcia Keller
Conservation Commission: J. Ann Eldridge
Fire Department: Interim Chief, Christopher Olsen
The site walk commenced at 3:00 pm. The weather was sunny, mild, and the ground was dry.
Elizabeth J. Nolin, Esq., agent for the owners, the applicant, briefly described the proposed project. The property is a .7-acre lakeside lot, with a cottage and frontage of Breezy Hill Road. The property drops 30-40 feet in elevation from the road to the lake shore, moderately till about fifty feet from the road on the lake side of the cottage, then dropping steeply east of the cottage before leveling out near the shore, with a wetland are in the southeast corner.
The owners propose to raise the existing cottage and build a new, larger house with attached garage and porches. The new structure would be 50 feet from the lake, no closer than the existing house; it would be 6.7 feet from the shoulder of Breezy Hill Road and less than 30 feet from the abutting property to the north. The proposed house would be 1½ stories plus basement, and the peak of the roof would be about 40 feet above grade on the lake side and about 30 feet on the street side. The project falls within the NH Shoreland Protection zone, and a copy of a Shoreland Permit by Notification accepted by NH DES was brought to the site walk.
Dan Higginson identified out stakes indicating the corners of the proposed structure and evidence structural defects in the existing cottage. He stated that the existing semicircular macadam driveway with two entranced off Breezy Hill Road would be removed and replaced by a shorter pervious surfaced driveway with a single entrance from Breezy Hill Rd. He stated that this would offset the increase in impervious surface represented by the larger house footprint.
Interim Fire Chief Olsen suggested that the proposed height of 40 feet to the roof peak from grade on the lake side would not be a fire safety issue because in any case a building fire would be attacked from the street side, avoiding the steep slopes on the lake side. He also felt that the proposed new house could be safer the existing, structurally defective cottage.
The site walk was completed at 3:35. The public hearing for the application is scheduled for Wednesday, June 3, 2020 at 7:00, to be held remotely using the Zoom platform.
Submitted by Brooks McCandlish, 5/27/2020