Meeting Procedures

Purpose

The primary purpose and intent of a Planning Board public hearing is to gather information that will be used to make a decision on the matter before us. We allow a limited time for each public hearing and we often have a very full agenda, so we ask that you be prepared, be brief and non-repetitive.

Four-Part Procedure

  1. We will first hear from the applicant or their designated attorney, engineer or architect who will present the project during which time the Planning Board may ask questions.
  2. We then hear from the Planning Staff or other town officials who will present their perspective of the project and report on the IDR (Interdepartmental Review) is a non public review meeting conducted prior to the hearing and is attended by staff from various town departments such as Public Works, Public Safety, Conservation, Health etc. each of which will provide input on the project particular to their department. The Planning Board will likely ask questions during this presentation. The secretary of the board will at this time begin to compile a list of issues still left unresolved.
  3. By this time many of your questions may have been answered, but if you still have further issues we now ask that abutters, member of the public and other concerned citizens briefly state that their issue to put on the agenda for full discussion at a future meeting. This is not a discussion of each individual issue, but rather an opportunity to identify an unresolved issue that the secretary of the board may assign a particular meeting date and time for full discussion. We urge you to submit your concerns in writing prior to the assigned hearing date in order that the Board and planning staff might be better informed.
    • Your questions or comments are to be directed to the Board with the following requirements:
      • You may speak only when recognized by the chair.
      • You must identify yourself with your name and address for the record.
      • Your presentation should be brief and non repetitive. In the interest of time, please do not repeat the same information if others have made your point in a prior statement.
  4. The final step is to determine the unresolved issues and assign a particular date and time for each topic to be fully discussed at an upcoming meeting.
We hope that this process will allow the Planning Board to maximize the amount of information that is given to each hearing and help us make a better, more informed decision. We appreciate your input and thank you for your cooperation.