Skip to main content

Recording a decision and filing the notice of decision

This page is for the board secretary and planning and zoning staff. Once the board has voted, you record what it decided, produce the written Notice of Decision, file it with the minutes by the filing deadline, and get the decision letter to the applicant. The first steps need the permission to record board business. Filing also needs the permission to publish documents, which land use staff have.

The steps run in this order, and the decision page shows the next one in its Next step box:

  1. Record the decision on the hearing page.
  2. Create the Notice of Decision.
  3. File the decision with the minutes.
  4. Mail the decision letter, and for a regional impact, send the regional transmittal.
  5. Watch for appeals.

Record the decision​

A decision belongs to a hearing, so it is recorded from the hearing page once the hearing is held. See hearings and notice. A Record the decision section opens at the foot of the page.

  • Date of the vote. It cannot be before the hearing was held or later than today.
  • Outcome, which is Approved, Approved with conditions or Denied.
  • Motion, the motion as made.
  • How each member voted, one member per line, with a colon and the vote: Avery Stone: for. Use for, against, abstain or recused. The form lists the members seated on the board, and Chiban adds up the totals from your lines.
  • Findings of fact. Every decision needs them.
  • Conditions, one per line. Needed when the outcome is Approved with conditions.
  • Reasons for disapproval. Needed when the outcome is Denied.

Select Record decision and confirm. The outcome, votes and findings become the decision of record. If something is missing, Chiban says what is still needed.

Chiban checks every name against the board's roster. Only members whose term includes the date of the vote can vote. If a name is not seated on that date, Chiban lists it and asks you to check the names against the board members page. Fix a spelling, a term date or a missing member there. See board members.

Recording the decision closes the board's decision deadline and moves the application out of review. A denial closes the application as denied. An approval marks it decided. It also starts the clocks that follow a vote, which are the filing deadline for the minutes and written decision and the periods for appeals.

Conditions​

Each line under Conditions becomes a condition on the application. Start a line with Before issuance: when it has to be met first, for example "Before issuance: File the stamped drainage report." Chiban takes the prefix off the condition text and marks the condition as blocking issuance.

On the application, the Conditions section lists each condition with its status, Unmet, Met or Waived. A condition that blocks issuance says so. When the applicant has done what it asks, staff who may issue permits select Mark met. The condition then shows Met.

Create the Notice of Decision​

On the decision page, the Next step box starts with Create the Notice of Decision. Select it. Chiban makes two documents from the decision and the application type's templates:

  • the Notice of Decision, which becomes the public written decision;
  • the decision letter for the applicant.

Both stay private to the people on the project until the decision is filed. If the application type has no template for them, Chiban says so, and an administrator has to add the template under Settings.

File the decision​

The filing deadline for the minutes and written decision shows on the decision page, with a chip when it is overdue. See New Hampshire deadlines and holidays for how it is counted.

  1. Under Filing, upload the minutes of the meeting where the board voted. Choose the file, give it a name and select Upload. Upload them here even if you also filed the meeting's minutes on the meeting page.
  2. Enter the Date filed. It starts as today and cannot be before the vote or in the future.
  3. Choose the file you uploaded under Minutes.
  4. Select File the decision.

Chiban will not file a decision before the Notice of Decision exists, and will not accept the application, a generated notice or a proof of notice as the minutes.

When the decision is filed:

  • the Notice of Decision and the minutes become public, and the Decisions list on the public meetings page shows them;
  • the applicant and the agent are emailed that the decision was filed;
  • the decision letter is added to the application for mailing;
  • the clocks that run from a filed decision start. A decision filed after its deadline is recorded as filed late.

Mail the decision letter​

Every applicant and agent on the project gets the decision letter by mail, as well as the email. On the application, Decision letters to mail lists each one. Select the Print link to open the letter, mail it, then enter the Date mailed and select Record mailed. Until you do, the application warns that the letter still needs mailing.

Send the regional transmittal​

When the board found regional impact, the decision page has a Regional transmittal section. The minutes and plans have to go by certified mail to the regional planning commission and each affected municipality within five business days of the vote.

  1. Select Start the transmittal checklist. Chiban lists a row for the regional planning commission and each affected municipality, with their addresses and the due date. It needs those contacts to be on file under Settings, and tells you if they are not.
  2. Mail the material. Under Upload a certified mail receipt, add the receipt.
  3. Tick the recipients the receipt covers, enter the Tracking number and the Date mailed, choose the receipt under Certificate or receipt, and select Record proof.

The transmittal deadline is met when every recipient has proof on or before its due date.

If the board misses its deadline​

When the board decides late, the application shows the decision deadline as overdue. Staff who may extend a clock can record the applicant's consent under Adjust this clock, where the rule allows it. On a Planning Board application whose decision deadline has passed, the Decision follow-up section on the application records the request to the selectmen: the Date requested, an Outcome of Requested, waiting, Certified by the selectmen or The selectmen refused, and the Date decided if they certified. The consequence of a missed deadline is stated on the clock itself.

The decision page also lists the appeal periods that now run. See appeals and rehearings.