From: Brian Meyette
Sent: Friday, July 15, 2005 12:20 PM
To: cityplanner@claremontnh.com
Cc: Firechief@Claremontnh. Com
Subject: hangar planning/policy suggestions

I have some suggestions for your consideration as you work toward formulating a hangar development policy for the airport.

One thing I think Dick Love was not very happy about was the fact that Ascutney Aviation did not have to do abutter notices for their building permit, while Dick had to spend nearly $500 on abutter notices for his building permit.  When a developer does a subdivision, it’s my understanding that they have to get approval and public/abutter input before approval and proceeding, but I don’t think each individual homeowner in a subdivision has to go through the trouble and expense of abutter notices.  I urge you to set the policy up so that abutter notices are given for the entire plan, once you finalize it, rather than requiring separate abutter notices for each and every individual piece of construction under that plan. 

I heard a rumor that the people planning this may be considering a policy which requires individual hangar builders to use a particular hangar vendor, or pick from a list of approved vendors.  I would question the legality of such a provision, but, even if it is legal and enforceable, I think it’s very wrong.  For one thing, if you have an approved vendor list, then you’d have to have a means of adding to and subtracting from that list.  This would be an unnecessary administration headache for the City.  Whatever hangar supplier an individual chooses to use will require engineering approval on the plans and scrutiny from City Planning.  If a building meets structural soundness requirements, then it should be approved, regardless of which company manufactured or produced it.  Dick’s hangar is a wood frame.  The City’s planned hangars are a steel frame.  Any frame construction which has an engineer’s stamp should be allowed.  Foundations and floors of any type that meets code should be allowed.

On the other hand, I can certainly understand, and support, architectural requirements in your plan.  Color would be the first on the list.  It would be a good idea to require hangar builders (including the City) to all use a similar color scheme.  Since Dick Love’s hangar is already there, it would make sense to require future builders to match his choice of colors (although perhaps not all the way down to including wainscoating).  Requiring a metal roof is a good idea, for several reasons.  Requiring metal siding may be a good idea, although not as important as the roofing.  The building height is already controlled by FAA height and elevation angle requirements.

I request that public meetings, hearings, and input be included in the policy formulation process, preferably beginning early in that process.

Because of the previously mentioned FAA requirements for maximum building height, I recommend that you consider planning for T-hangars and other all-steel multiple hangars (including the City’s planned hangars) to be on the south side of the discontinued runway, and individual hangars to be on the north side.  This is because T-hangars and other multiple-occupant hangars have a lower roofline than the typical individual hangars, particularly those constructed with wood trusses.  The south side of the discontinued runway is closer to the active runway, and thus the FAA will have lower maximum height requirements for the closer buildings.  The buildings which will tend to be taller, such as Dick Love’s and my proposed hangar, both based on wood trusses for the roof, should go on the north side, where the FAA maximum height allowed is greater.

My plans were all put together for a July 12 TRC, based on the requirements I was originally given as I started this project.  As you know, my planned hangar is on hold until you formulate these plans and policies.  I beg you to please make every effort to get this policy in place as soon as possible.  Trying to do construction in the middle of the winter is problematic.  I would very much like to at least get the concrete in place before the ground freezes.

Brian Meyette

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