The Last Leg of our Driveway Journey- I Hope!

One step closer…

I’d like to start by recapping what we’ve done thus far for getting our driveway permit, which some of you may already know but nonetheless, here’s the recap:

1. Tried to get a hold of the Road Agent for the town of Sharon for the better part of a month in April just to find out that he “retired” and that the old Road Agent is back on staff. 
2. Went to a Selectman’s meeting where we were able to introduce ourselves and get some much needed information in accordance to what the State of NH DES requires for this wetlands crossing permit.  They were all very helpful in this process and I appreciate the direction that they’ve given us. 
3. Received abutters addresses and sent them certified letters informing them of our intent due to what DES requires for their permit application.
4. Received Tax Map.  Scanned the Tax Map and made several copies of our section where our land is per the requirements of the DES application.
5. Purchased copies of a 1:24,000 scale USGS Topographical map of the Town of Sharon and adjacent towns.  Blew up our section of the Topographical Map so that we could draw boundary lines of our land per the requirements of the application and made copies of those as well.
6. Had my Mom take a few photographs of the land (where we plan on putting the driveway).  We picked 4 of the ones that came out best.  My camera broke so… she was able to help us out!  Printed off originals of these photos and made 5 high quality color copies of these photos.  Yes, I will be keeping the originals!
7. Received an estimate/description of how the Driveway is going to be built from Mike’s Cousin who will be doing the work. 
8. Drew plans for the driveway, where the wetlands will be impacted, and put all the measurements we took on the maps/plans.  We also had to figure out a North facing arrow on all our plans.  That was a little tougher than I expected seeing that we didn’t have a point of reference per se. 
9. Last night we put all the paperwork together, drew up all the plans, made notes and the like on all the copies of photos, maps, etc, and found that we only need a couple more things.

One of the biggest things that will help us out now is the Conservation Committee signature.  We were hoping to get this last month or a few weeks ago, but weren’t able to since we had missed their monthly meeting.  We didn’t know that we were going to need this and that the only time they’d be able to meet with us is once a month- we had literally missed it by a day!

Since we have all the plans, photos, etc, we hope to have this signed off on tonight, when the committee meets for their once a month meeting.  I had tried getting a hold of them three to four weeks ago to see if we could expedite this then so we could submit the paperwork and be on our way.  We tried both email and phone and left messages but no one returned our call or email.  So I got in touch with my new friend, the Selectman’s Assistant.  He got me in touch with the Conservation Committee and thus they were able to help us.  Of course, this was only last week when we were finally able to get a hold of them.  We’ve also tried getting a hold of the State DES people and they are really, really hard to get a hold of themselves!  We’ve left messages and the like for them and sometimes they are great- but the last message we left (2-3 weeks ago) has still not yet been answered.

We wanted the Conservation Committee come out to look at the land with us and allow us to show them where we are looking to put the driveway, where we think the least amount of impact will happen.  Unfortunately, they want us to see them tonight and then they will decide what they want to see on our property from there. 

All I can say is hopefully we provide them with enough information that they won’t have to go to the land with us and they will just sign off on the document.  That way, tomorrow, I can stop by the town office when the clerk is in and submit all the paperwork as instructed.  The clerk is only there on Tuesdays every week from 5-7, so getting this signature tonight will save us yet ANOTHER week of waiting and relying on other people.

Of course, once this goes in, the “expedited” form will take up to 30 days, which is ridiculous, but it is what it is and we have to abide by the rules.  After that, it’s a matter of getting our driveway permit from the town and then getting the driveway put in. 

This has already been a drawn out process… so hopefully this is the last leg of it and we can start seeing some stuff get done to our land!  Wouldn’t that be nice?!

So here’s all the paperwork/requirements the State DES needs in order for them to allow us to have wetlands crossing permits.  By the way, the wetlands that we are crossing probably isn’t anything near what you are thinking that it looks like.  When I get a chance I will post pictures so you can better understand what we are seeing.

1. The Application- filled out with signatures from the applicants, Conservation Committee, and Town Clerk.
2. FIVE copies of the application and all forms that are to be submitted.  One copy with the original form gets sent to the State.  The rest are given to the Selectmen, the Conservation Committee, and a couple other entities.
3. Photographs of where we are looking to place structures
4. USGS Topographical Map with lines indicating boundaries.
5. Description of work to be done and amount of materials used for the work. (ie the driveway information has the culvert and different soil/dirt used).
6. SQ FT of wetlands to be impacted.  Ours maxed is 1200- their max is 3000. Our 1200 Sq Ft takes into account 20 Feet from the mouth that goes to the road through to the actual wooded area that is no longer considered wetlands.  We won’t actually be putting in 20 feet of fill the whole way, it will likely be more like 12-15 feet, but we just put the max in case.
7. Map of land with wetlands designation and our drawing of the driveway and such with hatchmarks indicating where the wetlands are impacting.  Mike drew this to scale (he’s very good at it!).
8. Tax Map (the map we bought from the Town of Sharon, but I also included the actual “tax map” that the town gave us but it’s just basically showing what is paid in taxes).
9. $200 check- the State has to get their portion too, of course!

I think we might be able to become experts on this application and necessary documents the State needs before we’re finished with this process.  We’ve only read the application and requirements a few dozen times to make sure that we have everything and that we are doing everything that the State needs so that we don’t screw it up and find out later that we have issues with our application so we would have to re-file.  That would just be bad, because that would mean another $200 for the application. 

So please cross your fingers and toes and say a little prayer for us!  I think I’ll go bezerk if this doesn’t go through smoothly now!  Especially since we’ve been chasing our tails trying to get a hold of people to get questions answered! 

Building a Driveway- A New Hope.