Brookline, NH - Planning Board Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

A. Per RSA 674:1, it is the duty of the Planning Board to prepare and amend a Master Plan for the town to guide the development of the community. This Master Plan lays the groundwork and justification for all of our zoning ordinances and regulations.

B. The Planning Board is also responsible for creating a maintaining a Capital Improvements Plan. The CIP looks at our capital needs for the next 6 years and tries to recommend an implementation schedule to maintain as much of a level tax rate as possible. We now meet yearly with each department and the local and Coop schools to determine what their future capital needs will be. Items such as school expansions, fire station additions, and a new safety complex are some of the projects this committee would look at. The CIP also lays the groundwork and justification for the assessment of Impact Fees to new homes being built in Brookline .

C. As of January 2004, Brookline now assesses Impact Fees on most new homes built in Brookline . Currently, we have two Impact Fees: 1) an impact fee for our new safety complex and 2) an impact fee for the excess core capacity built into the Captain Samuel Douglas Academy . The Capital Improvements Committee and the Planning Board will be looking at possibly adding additional Impact Fees in the future, based on the towns future capital needs.

D. The Planning Board reviews all proposed new subdivisions and non-residential site plans to ensure compliance to our ordinances and regulations, and most importantly, our Master Plan.

The Planning Board is comprised of four voting members, one ex-officio voting member from the Board of Selectmen and five alternate members. Alternate members vote only when a voting member is absent or recuses themselves from a case.

Contact the Planning Office at town hall and ask if there are any current openings on the board. Better yet, come on down to our meetings and ask us in person. We meet on the first and third Thursdays of the month at 7pm in the town hall meeting room. Members serve three year terms, unless someone is appointed to fill a vacancy due to a resignation, in which case the term is for the unexpired portion of the original member’s term.

The Capital Improvements Committee, falling under the jurisdiction of the Planning Board, is the group responsible for creating and maintaining the Capital Improvements Plan. Generally, it’s comprised of two Planning Board members and a representative from several other boards within the town. We also have several “At-Large” member positions for regular citizens to participate. If you want to take a look at how your town plans for future capital expenditures, this is a great committee to get involved with.

The Planning Board is bound by the State of New Hampshire RSA ’s (Revised Statutes Annotated), the Brookline Zoning Ordinances, Subdivision Regulations, Non-Residential Site Plan Regulations and our own Planning Board By-Laws.

This question poses one of the biggest challenges for any Planning Board. In between the seemingly endless stream of new subdivision and non-residential site plan applications, we also need to try and find the time to actually plan for the future. Recent major accomplishments include the creation of a new Non-Residential Lighting Ordinance, creation of a new Elderly Housing Ordinance, some fine tuning to our Home Business Ordinance, the implementation of our Impact Fee Ordinance and Fee Schedule, and continued work on our Capital Improvements Plan. In 2004, the Planning Board expects to do additional work on our Growth Management Ordinance, update several chapters of our Master Plan, work on re-zoning some lots in town that are zoned both residential and commercial, and work on our 2005-2010 Capital Improvements Plan.