Planning staff asks select board to schedule hearings on Mid State cross‑access easement; Loon Lake culvert replacement nearing completion

Planning Director Joseph told the Planning Board that the applicant for the Mid State downtown redevelopment has provided a cross‑access easement plan and text that meet the town attorney’s specifications. That easement was a planning condition tied to a prior site‑plan approval and, if accepted by the Select Board after two public hearings required under RSA 41:14, will close an outstanding condition that the planning board had placed on the 2022 approval.

Joseph said the Conservation Commission reviewed the easement and recommended in favor; the next procedural step is Select Board review and public hearings. He said the Select Board will have discretion after the hearings to accept or deny the easement on behalf of the town.

Separately, Joseph updated the board on the Loon Lake Road culvert replacement: the project is replacing an undersized corrugated metal pipe with a much larger open‑bottom box culvert designed to replicate the natural streambed and allow fish passage. He said all engineering and construction funding for the culvert came from a New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services grant that required no local match, and the contractor expected to complete the remaining work in a few weeks.

Ending: Planning staff said they will bring the easement packet to the Select Board and notify the Planning Board of the scheduled hearings so the town can close an item remaining since the 2006 record and the 2022 site‑plan approval.