Lebanon
Neighbors say the board isn’t listening to their concerns about the project, which is planned for a lot off of Buckingham Place, Slayton Hill Road and Poverty Lane. There’s also uncertainty on how the proposal could impact their homes, so they’re asking the City Council for help.
A petition being circulated by the group asks the council to “analyze the total impact on city services, facilities and roads of every large project currently under planning consideration, and of every large project that has been approved, but is yet unbuilt or unfinished.”
But city officials say it’s too early to take sides on the development, and some question whether the council is the right place to air such grievances.
“I certainly am listening. I would say that it seems to be that the other members are listening,” board member Joan Monroe said on Monday.
Many of those supporting the petition are opposed to the Carter Country Club development, which has been under preliminary review for more than a year. At the heart of their argument is that the development doesn’t fit into the city’s master plan, and board members don’t seem to care.
“… There appears to be no explicit interface between the apparent charge of the Planning Board and the publicly drafted and approved master plan,” Sheila Moran, a Farnum Hill Road resident, wrote on the Lebanon Listserv on Monday.
Developer Doug Homan, who is proposing the Carter Country Club project, declined to comment on the petition on Monday.
The master plan was drafted by the Planning Board in 2012, and is meant to guide future development throughout the city. Its chief guiding principle is to put “residents first” and it calls for city government to direct actions that “benefit the current residents of Lebanon.”
To Dean Sorenson, that means approving projects that are profitable and sustainable and contribute to the livability of existing neighborhoods.
“The petition rises above the Carter golf course plan in the sense that it’s an expression of a great concern that we’re not developing in a way that’s reasonable for the people that live here in Lebanon,” said Sorenson, a Wellington Drive resident who formerly served on the Planning Board and City Council.
He said he signed the petition because the city doesn’t listen when developers come around.
Matthew Locker, who also lives on Wellington Circle, said he’ll sign the petition, too.
He understands the Planning Board is trying to reach a deal that will benefit everybody, but said he feels members aren’t properly weighing issues such as drainage and traffic.
“People are upset that it seems like the Planning Board is giving away options to the owner of Carter Country Club,” he said. “I do think a lot of them go into (meetings) thinking the Planning Board is ignoring them.”
Monroe, the Planning Board member, said she understands the frustration. Board members aren’t allowed to give their opinions on projects until deliberating on a decision, she said, which sometimes leads to confusion.
“It’s kind of the tradition of the Planning Board to not necessarily respond because the board is like a jury in a trial,” Monroe said. “We’re supposed to keep an open mind until we’ve heard basically all of the information.”
“I think it must be terribly frustrating for (residents), terribly,” she said.
There also appears to be some misunderstanding of what the master plan does, said Councilor Suzanne Prentiss, who also sits on the Planning Board.
The planning document is meant to guide zoning and other regulations, she said, not dictate on individual projects.
“The fullness of the master plan hasn’t been adopted,” Prentiss said. And with those regulations incomplete, she said, the board is working through a gap.
Prentiss also questioned whether the petition is appropriate for the City Council. Under state law, when someone feels aggrieved by a Planning Board decision, a superior court is charged with hearing the case, not the city. Aside from appointing members and selecting a member to serve on the Planning Board, the City Council doesn’t interfere with the board.
“This is a Planning Board matter, not a City Council matter,” Prentiss said.
Residents organizing the petition said on Monday that they’re not sure how many signatures have been collected, and it’s unclear when they’ll present them to the City Council.
The Planning Board is expected to continue its preliminary review of the Carter Country Club project at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday in Lebanon City Hall.
Tim Camerato can be reached at tcamerato@vnews.com.