Government Oversite

Welcome to the Brookfield Planning Board meeting from 1/7/13. The board convened a public hearing to gather input on a petition warrant article to add a new land use zone in Brookfield. Chuck Robbins, the owner of approximately 200 acres around Kingwood Lake, wants to develop his land to include a "Recreational Resort Campground and Town Beach Access Zone. To do so he collected the required signatures and submitted a petition warrant article that will be on the ballot in March. 70 to 80 townspeople attended the public hearing. A group concerned with the impact of such a change hired BCM Environmental to represent them. The opposition charges that water quality and prime conservation areas will be adversely affected if such development is allowed to go forward. One argument is that this change is spot Zoning, which is illegal in NH. Some questioned the other costs that the town could incur, such as; more use of the shared police, fire, ambulance services and garbage disposal. The proposed campground would include cabins and some are concerned that vistors may bring RV's with them. The "Road is too Narrow to accomodate two vehicles" one resident stated. Some residents sited that the development would "Change the Character of Brookfield" and would "Open a Can of worms" and invite similar development. The purpose of the proposed new zone is to allow, in addition to those uses permitted in the Residential Agricultural Zone, a recreational resort campground use, and to provide access by residents of the Town of Brookfield to Kingswood Lake at a to be designated area within the approved recreational resort campground, in a manner that minimizes any negative impact to the environment or the historic residential/ agricultural character of the community as outlined in the master plan.