MONSON CONSERVATION COMMISSION
APRIL 13, 2011
MEMBERS PRESENT: Leslie Duthie, Glenn Colburn, Dana Staples and Davis Johnson.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Audra Staples
7:00 Moulton Hill Road. Michael Cuipenski met informally with the Commission to discuss property he owns on Moulton Hill Road. Mr. Cuipenski stated it is his intent to build a single family home on the property and has staked out the approximate location of the proposed home.
Leslie Duthie stated the Commission would make a site visit on April 21, 2011 at 5:00 P.M.
7:15 P.M. NOI ExxonMobile Fenton Road. Seth Lajoie contacted Leslie Duthie stating he did not receive the comments from DEP in time to respond for the meeting tonight and requested the Commission continue the hearing to May 4, 2011.
Leslie Duthie stated that she had copies of the Conservation Restriction and Management plan for the Flynt Quarry land and asked the Commissioners to review the document and get back to her with their comments. She stated it is a fairly straightforward plan, it was written as a forest management plan and contains the usual generic language but it goes on to discuss in more detail what the Commission can do to maintain the property. The Self Help Grant that was used in part to purchase the property forbids the use of motorized vehicles on land purchased with Self Help money. The property was harvested before the Town purchased it so it will be sometime before any cutting is needed.
Glenn Colburn moved to approve the minutes for March 30, 2011 with the following amendments:
- Page 4 add the word electric to read “Mr. Plante stated he would stake in a simple electric fence”.
- Page 4 Change the next to last paragraph to read “Glenn Colburn stated it would be nice for the neighborhood to have a little open space and would eliminate any potential problem with water coming down the hill”.
Davis Johnson seconded the motion.
It was so voted.
MAIL
- Bill Plante supplied the Commission with a copy of his basic lease agreement.
- JMP received ANRAD determination.
- Letter from National Grid detailing their summer and fall herbicide treatments, and noted the annual maintenance plan is on line.
- Copy of MACC.
- NOI from the Town of Monson, Highway Department for a culvert replacement project on T. Peck Road.
- NOI from the Town of Monson, Highway Department for a culvert replacement on Brimfield Road.
Leslie Duthie stated the Commission has a site visit on Thursday April 21, 2011 on Moulton Hill Road, it makes sense to add Brimfield Road and T. Peck Road on the same night.
7:30 RFD Paradise Lake Road, Billy Pope. Peter Levesque Pioneer Environmental represented Mr. Pope stating the filing is to determine if the work associated with the construction of a new home is subject to the Wetland Protection Act.
Mr. Levesque stated he checked the two ponds of water on the property and found no prevalence of wetland vegetation and no hydric soils. The area of the pond was checked to determine if it meet the threshold for Isolated Land Subject to Flooding, after taking the conservative average of three holes that were dug around the perimeter and stuck with a survey rod it was 9,285 cubic feet. In order to be considered as ILSF it must be a minimum of 10,890 cubic feet. Mr. Levesque stated he felt confident saying that this is not a jurisdictional area.
Leslie Duthie stated the Commission made a site visit and she would concur with Mr. Levesque there are no jurisdictional areas within lot.
Glenn Colburn stated he agreed there is no visible connection and it is too small to be isolated land subject to flooding, it could very well be a vernal pool but it would not be jurisdictional.
Mr. Levesque stated Mr. Pope has no plans to disturb the area.
Leslie Duthie questioned if there were any further questions regarding this project?
Stephen Hoy, 19 Paradise Lake Road stated he was concerned because there is a continuous pool of water on the property and he questioned how it was fed?
Leslie Duthie stated it appears that is would dry out in the summer months.
Mr. Hoy stated no that water was always there.
Mr. Levesque stated it could be connected to ground water.
Mr. Hoy questioned if it should be considered wetlands because there is always water there?
Leslie Duthie stated Monson does not have a wetland bylaw and this area is too small to qualify as isolated land subject to flooding. Some communities have wetland bylaws that are in addition to the Wetland Protection Act and regulate areas such as these.
Mr. Hoy questioned if the land is disturbed in the construction of the new home and a river bed is exposed would that be considered a wetland?
Mr. Levesque stated there could be water but just because there is water does not mean it is subject to the Wetland Protection Act. Certain thresholds must be met to be considered wetlands.
Cliff Farquhar stated he is the owner of the property and grew up in the house directly across the street and it does dry up most years in June, July and August.
Leslie Duthie stated if there was some kind of connection there would be wetland vegetation of some kind and the Commission did not see evidence of that, nor did it see anything that would indicate hydric soils.
Mr. Hoy questioned what was feeding the pond because he has been in his home since 1985 and has not observed it dry?
Glenn Colburn stated it may have enough surface area to keep water in it, or it is being fed by ground water but it is not subject to protection under the Act. It does appear as though no work is proposed in the general vicinity of the pond. Mr. Colburn stated there are a lot of oak trees and that is an indication of well drained soils and the Commission did not observe any channel leading out of the pond.
Mr. Hoy stated he suffered tremendous damage to his property from work across the street and did not want to repeat the experience.
Glenn Colburn moved to give a negative determination for the area and work that is not subject to protection under the Act.
Davis Johnson seconded the motion.
Voting aye: Glenn Colburn, Leslie Duthie and Davis Johnson.
Dana Staples abstained.
8:10 Mr. & Mrs. Pafumi, Reimers Road met informally with the Commission to discuss property that abuts them on Reimers Road. Mr. Pafumi stated he was looking for areas to graze his horses and had observed people walking the property abutting his owned by Dr. Jean Porwoll and thought maybe it was going to be sold.
Leslie Duthie stated Dr. Porwoll left a will entrusting a large portion of her property to the Monson Conservation Commission but there are certain obligations that go with that. Firstly the Commission does not own the land at this time and is reluctant to have any conversation about it until after the May Town Meeting. In order for the Commission to accept the land it must be voted on by the residents of the Town. Beyond that the Commission will take its time to decide what it wants to do, but one thing is absolutely certain there will be no construction or development. The land will be used for agriculture, silviculture and preservation and protection of endangered species that are known to inhabit the property.
Glenn Colburn stated the property would be permanently protected as open space. The Commission would want to keep the field from becoming overgrown and had a preliminary conversation with someone interested in using it to graze cattle.
Mr. Pafumi stated there is a lot of wood growth there but would like to use it to graze his horses and, as he owns a brush hog with a tractor would be more than willing to maintain the two fields.
Leslie Duthie stated the Commission has concerns because the land is wet and it does not want to just put agriculture on land and lose the fields.
Mr. Pafumi stated he only has a couple of horses and would like to use one of the fields. There would be no construction on the property because unlike cattle his horses are not left out overnight.
Leslie Duthie observed that horses would not eat the woody growth.
Mr. Pafumi stated he would brush hog the field and maintain it as a field. The fields were not hayed last year and the pine trees and woody growth are taking over.
Leslie Duthie stated the Commission would not make any decisions until after it acquires the land.
8:20 Carpenter Road McCray Realty property. Jerry Gates met with the Commission and informed them that over time things have changed with the McCray’s and instead of dealing with one person there are now three people and so things take longer to accomplish. Mr. Gates submitted a plan showing the location of the markers for the various parts of the property. Sherman & Frydryk staked in steel rods with orange round tops on which numbers were etched marking the perimeter of the Conservation area, beside the orange top markers there are red stakes marking the main Conservation nesting area, and beside the orange top markers there are yellow stakes for the property owners marking the limit of work on their properties. Mr. Gates stated the numbering starts at #1 near Ms. Duthie’s
house going up to 35 and that covers the entire portion of the property that is owned by the Conservation Commission.
Each house lot is numbered with yellow stakes and marked for example Lot 3 -1, 3-2 etc. Lot 2-1, Lot 2-2 and so on, all of those markers are in place.
Mr. Gates stated he would give the Commission the wood burning kit, as well as extra stakes and orange cape in case markers have to be replaced. He stated the McCray’s have agreed to reimburse the Commission $1,100.00 that was the cost of the maintenance of the nesting area, additionally the endowment agreement would be changed to reflect the new date by which the final payment must be made to the Commission.
Leslie Duthie stated there should be discussion about the bridge that is to be installed.
Jerry Gates stated there are two stones in the middle of the brook now and there is a new type of material from which a raised small walk way could be constructed that does not touch the ground.
Leslie Duthie stated she could not envisage how that would work but the Commission has to do its annual monitoring of the property and would look at the bridge area at that time.
Jerry Gates questioned if he could trim some of the grey birch trees?
Leslie Duthie stated it would be fine to trim the trees by hand.
8:45 Leslie Duthie gave copies of a standard lease agreement she received from Bill Plante to the Commissioners asking them to check it over and get back to here with their comments. She questioned how they felt about leasing the Conservation property that was formerly owned by the Kolowrat family on Margaret Street to Mr. Plante?
Glenn Colburn stated he wanted to see a definite buffer between the cattle and stream but Mr. Plante could brush hog the multiflora rose out near the trail.
Leslie Duthie stated she wanted to keep down the number of times Mr. Plante would be crossing the stream, as she did not want to see him make a big path.
Leslie Duthie stated the Commission has three site visits for Thursday April 21, 2011 starting on Moulton Hill Road and then Brimfield Road and T. Peck Road.
9:10 Glenn Colburn moved to adjourn.
Davis Johnson seconded the motion.
It was so voted.
Respectfully submitted,
Linda A. Hull
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