OPEN SPACE COMMITTEE
MINUTES: Wednesday, September 29, 2004
Present – Judy Brainerd, Glen Collins, Laura Freeman, Sue Horton, Sue Haley, Keith Johnson and Toni Stoker
Approval of Past Meeting Minutes. Motion: Glen moved, Sue Haley seconded to approve minutes from meeting dated August 25th, 2004. Minutes approved.
Correction of a comment made at the June meeting: If the CPA is adopted, the CPA Committee is to have 5 – 9 members including one from each the Open Space, Affordable Housing and Historic Commission.
Land Acquisition:
-The White property has been purchased. It is expected that the Mumford property will close by the end of the year.
-Wiley/Nickerson Bridge: Discussion ensued with respect to the design and construction of the bridge. Finding a grant and or someone to donate the design and materials would be ideal. Building the best bridge now was discussed i.e. handicap accessible, able to kayak under the bridge. Americorps could be used to build the bridge.
-Open Space Wish List – we need to reevaluate our open space lands for purchase in the coming year. The APCC has a list of properties they consider significant for open space purchase. The APCC list differs slightly form ours. We need to re-evaluate and update our list. The original list developed by the Land Acquisition Committee gave weightings to each property based on their significance as open space – discussion ensued with respect to reevaluating the list and giving each property a rating of significance.
Open Space Management Plan:
Open Space and Recreation Plan- The plan is making the required rounds before the other town boards for review and approval.
The Open Space Brochure- Status quo
Meservey Fence- There was no more information in this front.
New Business
Community Preservation Act (CPA) – Judy did not get a positive response from the Board of Selectmen with respect to our suggestion to keep the Land Bank and adopt the Community Preservation Act. The additional 1 – 2% tax is a hard sell. Discussion ensued with respect to inviting someone to come to a meeting to discuss the CPA so we will be better informed. Discussion ensued with respect to how other towns have divided the 70% of leftover funds and the how the Land Bank money is converted to CPA funds. There are two information sessions in October in Harwich on October 8th and Wellfleet on October 4th.
Brackett Road/Roach – The Brackett Road development is proposing a decent wastewater treatment system. The development on the Roach property will have individual Title V systems. Discussion ensued with respect to the overall opinion that it would have been nice to have a community septic system offering better treatment at the Roach development as well.
Town Website – We can now put all of our meeting minutes and open space maps up on the town website. Laura will forward our meeting minutes to Jack Slavin who will post information to the website for us.
1651 Forest
An elm tree has been planted in George Abbott’s memory. It is 10 feet tall and has many leaves.
Conservation Commission
Glen reports there is nothing new.
Open Space Committee Member Replacement
Nothing new on this front. Toni has put in her papers expressing interest, but has not heard from anyone.
Glen Motioned for the meeting to adjourn, Sue Horton seconded. Meeting was adjourned at 8:52.
Next Meeting is set for October 27, 2004.
Respectfully by Laura Freeman
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