Peterborough Planning Board members voted Monday to continue the cases related to the Walden Eco Village, following the start of Eco Village’s case in front of the Zoning Board of Adjustment last week.
“They have asked for a continuance,” said Board Chair Rich Clark as he explained the situation to residents in the audience.
The vote follows a decision from the Planning Board in February to impose deadlines on the Eco Village applicants, requiring them to submit a variance application to the ZBA for structures in wetland buffer zones as well as a comprehensive plan to the Planning Board for bringing noncompliant uses into compliance on existing structures.
Eco Village applicants met the deadline for the ZBA, but submitted no new paperwork for the Planning Board, according to Town Planner Danica Melone. The February vote also included language stating that the Planning Board would deny the applications at the April meeting if the applicants did not meet the imposed deadlines.
That decision came after months of continuances on Eco Village’s applications before the Planning Board, one for a subdivision on the site and another for a conditional use permit related to the wetland buffers.
The cases have been before the Planning Board since December of 2020, when applicant Akhil Garland submitted a plan for a subdivision on the property and the town found that existing structures were violating town safety and code ordinances.
Planning Board Vice Chair Ivy Vann said that not allowing the continuance or denying the application was not something that the Planning Board had considered.
“There’s hardly any reason to do that – it hardly ever works out well for you,” she said.
The Planning Board also voted to continue the application for a site plan review from the Monadnock Rod and Gun Club, as its case for a special exception is still before the ZBA pending notice to Jaffrey, which abuts the property.
Planning Board members will revisit the Eco Village issue at their next meeting on May 9, before which time the ZBA will have met again to discuss the case for a variance.