Planning Board, Conservation Commission review draft Wetlands Protection District ordinance

Planning Board Chair opened a joint workshop with the Conservation Commission to continue work on wetlands ordinance changes that began last year and to hear the conservation members’ draft proposal.

The Conservation presenter said the draft blends legal language with natural-resources protections after reviewing five model ordinances, including the New Hampshire DES model and ordinances from nearby towns. “We looked at a number, maybe 10 or 15 communities initially, to see what the ordinances look like,” the Presenter said, explaining the goal was a middle ground between lawyer-drafted text and scientific guidance.

The draft proposes a section of specific definitions for terms such as buffers, prime wetlands, vernal pools, setbacks and the Wetland Protection District itself, and recommends using the town’s 2016 Natural Resources Inventory (NRI) mapping as part of the district delineation. The presenter also recommended a defined process for amending the district based on certified wetland delineations submitted at an appellant’s expense.

Board members asked procedural and enforcement questions, including how buffers interact with property lines and how updates to the NRI would be handled. The Planning Board agreed to keep the item on workshop agendas for further refinement and legal review, aiming to consider timing for a ballot action in March if feasible.