1`Chichester Conservation Commission
10/04/04 Meeting Minutes
7:00, Chichester Grange Hall
Present: Gwen Adams, Jeff Andrews, Bob Mann, and Deb Soule
General Items
Minutes from last month were unanimously approved.
Noteworthy mail consisted of Ferman wetland permit. Also it was agreed that Bob should purchase one copy of the 2005 NH Planning and Land Use Regulations booklet produced by the Central NH Regional Planning Commission.
Trail Dawgs Snowmobile Club Easement on Town Forest
Kevin Gagne of the Trail Dawgs discussed the snowmobile club’s plans for signage, gating, and trail work this fall on the easement granted last year. They intend to do the following: install two cattle gates, put up several signs (slow down, arrows, speed limit, and no ATV/trail bikes), replace culvert and stabilize washed out area from this spring, and chip all the brush cut down last year along the trail. A motion was made and unanimously approved to recommend to the Selectmen that the club’s snowmobile trail easement across the town forest be granted for another year. Mr. Gagne will go to the Selectmen to formally request the easement for another year.
Land Protection Subcommittee
Copies of the land protection brochure are now available at the town library. Gwen will work with the new librarian to set up an area for CCC materials.
Negotiations with the Plummers continue on the purchase of their back land adjacent to the Sanborn-Cray Conservation Area. A motion was made and unanimously passed to have Jeff continue as principal negotiator.
Source Water Protection Education Efforts
Deb has been unable to work on the CCC’s web site materials since the last meeting. She will contact Jason Weir again to see if our materials can be placed on the town web site as designed.
Goals for CCC
Given the limited number of members at the meeting, it was decided to postpone discussing our goals for next year until the next meeting.
The remaining unfinished goals were reviewed to see what progress has been made. Note: Goal #3 –“Seeking funds for purchasing (or gaining donations of) conservation land and/or easements” is reviewed every month as a regular agenda item and has been removed from the list below.
2) Coordinating with the Planning Board on environmentally related rules.
Four meetings of the wetlands setback subcommittee have occurred. Bob drafted and redrafted a new wetland setback ordinance. Currently the draft is at the Wetlands Bureau for review.
5) Beginning the process of designating prime wetlands.
No progress has been made since the last meeting.
7) Implementing the Sanborn Cray Conservation Area management plan.
Already covered in main meeting minutes.
The other goals for the CCC in 2003-4 were:
1) Baseline water quality monitoring of Marsh Pond. (Completed)
4) Coordinating with the Master Plan Committee on the natural resource section of the Master Plan. (Completed)
6) Developing the CCC’s section of the capital improvement program. (Completed)
Other
The dam on Marsh Pond was damaged during the hard summer rains. The Town will be receiving a letter from the DES Dam Bureau describing what needs to be done since this dam could pose a public safety problem. Without a dam, the Marsh Pond will be considerably smaller if not nonexistent which would lessen the considerable wildlife, recreational, and other similar desirable attributes of the Sanborn Cray Conservation Area.
Jeff discovered that the Hess gas station has a water softener for the car wash that discharges to a holding tank.. This may or may not be contributing to the salt loading to the south inlet area to Marsh Pond. Bob will check on the permit for the water softener to see how backwash is managed.
Meeting was adjourned at 8:45.
Upcoming Meetings
11/08 @ 7:00 PM in Selectmen’s conference room – Regular CCC meeting
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