Chichester Conservation Commission Monthly Meeting
Minutes of Meeting January 11, 2018
Grange Hall, Selectmen’s Office
Present: Jim Eggers, Bob Mann, Marianne DiTaranto, Frank Harrison, Zack Boyajian, Gordon Jones
Guests: Gail Britton-Kojigian and Charles Kojigian.
Call to Order at 7:02 pm.
Minutes of the meeting of 12/14/17 were approved unanimously
Mailbag
• Forest Service USDA notice of Northern Pass approval to bury transmission lines along Rt 16 and 112 in the White Mountain National Forest.
• Satisfactory legal content is still in progress by respective lawyers of the Five Rivers Conservation Trust and Town of Chichester for the Spaulding Lot Easement.
• Shirley Waters Estate lawyers sent their fourth accounting update.
• NHDES Aquatic Resources Mitigation Workshops available (in conjunction with NHDOT):
NH Association of Conservation Commissions is also hosting a special roundtable discussion led by a presentation from Lori Sommer on Feb. 5, 2018 at 54 Portsmouth St. in Concord.
Agenda
Public Outreach: Annual Report has been approved and filed with town office for the town meeting in March.
Land Conservation: See the attached DRAFT PROJECT DESCRIPTION for Shaw Pasture Access Road and Parking. Funds for project will come from Forest Maintenance Capital Reserve Fund (no tax impact).
Spaulding Town Forest: no new business
Carpenter Park: The grant process is complete. Zack Boyajian is finalizing details with the State of NH.
Madeline Sanborn Conservation Area: Bob Mann is applying for a NH Fish and Game grant to support the maintenance of the Shaw Pasture. It could bring in $300 for seasonal mowing.
Easement Stewardship: no new business
Other business: The team will investigate possible use and potential management of town owned property at 39 Hillyard Road (Map 8, Lot 47 – 31.5 Ac). Town owned conservation property on Lynxfield Pond is also under team investigation for suitable management (Map 6, Lot 11). It may support black spruce, yet to be confirmed.
Meeting adjourned at 9:14 pm.
Next Monthly Meeting: Thursday, February 8, 2018 at 7 pm, public invited!
Minutes by Frank Harrison
Approved:
Draft Project Description
Shaw Pasture Access Road and Parking
Main Street, Chichester
Chichester Conservation Commission
January 11, 2108
The Town of Chichester recently bought the Shaw Pasture, Map 4, Lot 2 on Chichester tax maps. This parcel has existing gateways which open onto busy Main Street for access by farm equipment and snowmobiles. (Corridor 15 of the statewide snowmobile network runs through the parcel.) None of the existing access points are adequate for safe long-term access by passenger cars or maintenance vehicles without significant improvement. Future access to the parcel is expected to include passenger cars and possibly larger forestry equipment, including 18-wheeler box trailers. The Town wishes to construct safe access and parking for a maximum of 4 passenger vehicles. Public use of the property is expected to include foot access to nearby Marsh Pond across abutting town-owned parcels.
The first phase of work is to determine the best point of access to Main Street, considering sight distance and wetlands, and to develop bid documents for permitting and construction of a roadway and parking.
A sketch of the Shaw Pasture is attached. The parcel is about 7.1 acres of mixed forest and shrub land, and abuts larger wooded parcels owned by the Town as conservation land. The Shaw Pasture includes a small pond and wetlands. Planning is expected to require delineation of wetlands and coordination with the NH DOT and the Wetlands Bureau of NH DES.
It is hoped that planning and design of this project can be accomplished mostly through volunteer effort. Any necessary funding for planning and design is contingent on voter support of articles at Town Meeting in March 2018. Those articles would designate the Shaw Pasture as a Town Forest and would authorize use of funds from the Forest Maintenance capital reserve fund, with no impact on property taxes. The following products are expected from the planning and design phase:
- Brief letter report recommending access road and parking, with construction cost estimate.
- Plan to appropriate scale, with road section and drainage details, adequate for permitting and construction.
- Any necessary permits from DOT and DES.
- Brief construction contract document, including plan and materials specifications, adequate for public bidding of the construction phase.
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