HomeMy WebLinkAboutJuly 1, 2026 -Town of Enfield Planning Board Meeting MinutesTown of Enfield Planning Board Meeting
Wednesday July 1, 2026
In-person at the Town of Enfield Courthouse and Via the Zoom Meeting Platform
Present: Planning Board Chair Dan Walker; Planning Board Members, Mike Carpenter, Henry Hansteen, Mike
Carpenter; Code Officer Alan Teeter; Town Clerk Mary Cornell; Town Councilperson Robert Lynch
Excused: Ann Chaffee
Absent: Planning Board Member Rich Teeter; Planning Board Alternate Rosie Carpenter.
Call to order: Chairman Walker called the meeting to order at 7:10 PM
Review of Minutes: June 3, 2026 meeting minutes. M. Carpenter moved and H. Hansteen seconded.
VOTE: All Aye, Carried.
Site Plan Review: 217 Van Dorn Rd N. Proposed Cell Tower
Chairman Walker shared information on the packets that were in front of the Planning Board Members. One
element is a small service entrance, which is on the opposite of the equipment pads. M. Carpenter, the 170’
tower should not impact the neighbor's shed if it fails. Walker, the main concern is that the tower is only 50’
from the property line, and the property to the east is within 170’ but has no structures on it; nothing can be
built on the property as it is landlocked. The properties along Hayts Rd all have structures on them. H. Hansteen
after seeing the way they are designed to fall, he is not as concerned with it falling on a structure. Chairman
Walker the only other issue with the distance, is that in an ice storm, ice could be thrown off and fall onto
neighbors’ properties. M. Carpenter, it is the assumption that the property owner wants this to happen. Can or
should we require the builder to carry insurance? Tony Phillips stated that all of the companies involved will carry
insurance. Harmoni Towers will own the tower and will be the landlord and will rent to Verizon or other carriers
that are interested. They would offer space on the tower to the town at no cost. Harmoni Tower would be leasing
the space from the landowners. As the lessee of the tower, would they continue to carry insurance ? Phillips
responded that they would. M. Carpenter suggested that there is a letter provided for the public hearing to state
this. Walker, in section 9 of the environmental review part 2, the impact on resources, this is one of the questions
that we will wait on answering until after the public hearing next month. As the tower will be 170’ it will be
higher than trees in the area. H. Hansteen commented that the public may have concern on EMF signals, but he
does not think that is something that we can legally address or restrict. Tony Phillips commented that it not
something that can be taken into consideration when making a decision. H. Hansteen asked what we are going
to do when we have a dozen people stating that they do not want it, Chairman Walker responded that he would
have to hear why and not just because it is an eyesore. Chairman Walker with the revisions to the site plan, then
we as a board have less concerns. We will have a public hearing at our next meeting. Clerk Cornell will send the
public hearing notice to Tony Philips for the required mailing. Chairman Walker explained that the Planning Board
requires notices with return receipt be sent to all properties within 2,500’. Tony Philips questioned the
requirement of 2,500’ as that is 5 times more than what jurisdictions usually require. Chairman Walker confirmed
that is the requirement that was approved by our Town Board. Walker moved, and Carpenter seconded to set a
public hearing for August 5, 2026 at 7:10 PM.
VOTE: All Aye; Carried.
Walker asked Code Officer Teeter if anything else was going on that he needed to know about. Alan has just
approved 2, 2-lot subdivisions. There is a new modular home on Tucker Rd. Walker asked for an update on the
other Lots on Tucker Rd. A brief discussion followed.
M. Carpenter asked if the Site Plan Review Law as Revised was approved. Dan confirmed the board did approve
it a couple of months ago. M. Carpenter asked if ADU’s are now allowed and what would happen if the property
has less than two homes, would the second home be considered an ADU. If you then build a third ho me, could
the third house be larger than the second home? This is something that he wants to do on his own 18 acres. At
that point he would like to subdivide the house with 2 acres. He would then want to build a third house on his
property, is this something that he can do? Discussion continued.
M. Carpenter asked Chairman Walker what he sees the planning board covering for the remainder of the year.
Walker responded that he is working on drafting a sign law. The town board has sent out some surveys on
municipal water, so that may be something that we may have to address, but not for many years. The Town
Board has also been looking into a moratorium on data centers and the possibility of banning them in the town.
M. Carpenter asked what the downsides were to having a data center? Chairman Walker replied that there could
be issues with water and energy usage. Councilperson Lynch shared that the Town of Newfield will be having a
public hearing in early July for a moratorium on Data Centers for one year to give their planning board time to
draft regulations. Discussion continued.
Adjournment: M. Carpenter moved and H. Hansteen seconded to adjourn, adjourned at 8:14 PM
Respectfully submitted,
Mary Cornell
Town Clerk/Planning Board Clerk