NEWBURY CONSERVATION COMMISSION
Meeting Minutes June 13, 2006
Present: William Weiler, Deane Geddes, Frank Perrotta, Suzanne Levine, William Annable, commission members; Katheryn Holmes, Gerard G. Gold. Meeting convened, 7:25 p.m.
May minutes: Moved Geddes, seconded Perrotta, approved as completed and read.
Intents to Cut:
1. Mark Hilton, 130 Bowles Road, Map 45-Lot 382-409. Scott Hill will cut 10 of 100 acres, producing 10,000 mbf of white pine and 300 tons of chips.
Wetlands:
1. James Clark, 5 Edgemont Road, Map 7, Lot 151-122. DES approved on May 25 a plan to repair and replace an existing 10- x 43-dock and two 6- x 10-foot cribs.
2. Winn Family Trust. Joseph Winn, of Lexington, Mass., an abutter to the Bly Hill Landing Homeowners Assn., has re-appealed DES rejection in April of his appeal of a plan to enlarge a dock and mooring area adjacent to his property. In a request for reconsideration, an attorney representing Winn said in a letter May 1 that a DES waiver of Rule 204.04 was improperly granted to the BHLHA.
3. Thomas and Lisa Knott, 103 Grace Hill Road. DES asked that a design for a permanent dock that exceeded the 30-foot rule under Rule 402.02 be modified ton conform.
4. Town of Newbury, Old Post Road. DES approved a minimum impact expedited application to repair two culverts that lie under the road at the Folsom property, near the recycling center. They are original stone culverts and need to be widened using improved construction methods.
Communications: None
Old Business:
1. Conservation Plan. Chairman Weiler opened the public hearing at 7:30 p.m. to discuss the expenditure of $13,000 of the Conservation Fund for a town wide conservation plan. He noted there were no members of the public in attendance. The hearing was suspended until the public appears. At 8 p.m., no Newbury resident having appeared to comment on the matter, the hearing was closed. Perrotta moved and Levine seconded, that $13,000 from the Conservation Fund be expended for the preparation of a town wide conservation plan. Approved unanimously. Weiler said he would contact E. Anne Poole, ecologist and environmental planner of Hillsborough, N.H., to
discuss signing a contract based on her proposal to produce a conservation plan. A copy of the proposal is attached.
2. Newsletter. Perrotta said he would try to prepare an outline of a possible Conservation Commission newsletter by the July meeting.
3. Trail maps. Levine said she had provided the Best Western motel 24 trail maps, leaving about 150 left from the printing of a couple of years ago. Weiler directed her to audit the number of maps left and report at the next meeting.
4. Old Home Day. Geddes was unable to attend the planning sessions and had no report. Perrotta said he had discussed with Gerard Gold having the commission co-sponsor with the SRK Greenway Coalition a walk of the Newbury Cut. Gold said the town administrator was checking with landowners along the old railroad right of way. Discussion was held about displaying co-sponsoring with the SRK a table featuring materials about both groups. The commission would like to display conservation books, manuals and the trail map, and prepare a poster. Levine and Perrotta will talk to the library director about a possible conservation display inside the library.
5. Town Forest. Perrotta inquired about the status of the proposal to create a town forest, to be supervised by the commission. Weiler said the town administrator had written a draft warrant article for the March 2007 town meeting establishing the forest. He said the article did not include commission supervision, among other deficiencies, and he had let the administrator know the article was unsatisfactory.
6. Vacant alternate position. Perrotta noted that the alternate seat on the commission vacated by Kenneth Ames was still unfilled. Holmes said she was interested in becoming an alternate. Weiler said he would contact the selectmen about the matter.
New Business:
1. The Fells/ John Hay National Wildlife Refuge. Holmes said the commission should monitor a plan to pass control of half the 164-acre property between Rte. 103A and Lake Sunapee from the US Fish and Wildlife Service to the Friends of John Hay Refuge. The complicated plan would mean a temporary transfer of the Fells to the N. H. Audubon Society, which would then do a land swap deal with F&W, possibly involving a tract in the White Mountains, before deeding the Fells to the Friends group. A recent Concord Monitor news report indicated wide local approval for the plan. Holmes said she had no confidence in Fish and Wildlife to manage its remaining portion
of the land. Weiler said the Fells, being a federal property, falls outside the jurisdiction of the Conservation Commission.
2. A Previous Conservation Commission. Weiler said a Conservation Commission letter dated Oct. 1, 1974 had been discovered by Town Clerk Linda Champy and turned over to him. The letter of resignation was from five earlier commissioners who had decided that for various reasons there no longer was a need for a commission. The resigning commissioners were: Barbara Roche, Christopher Plunkett, Luther Sweet, William Schroeder and Whitney Gaubert. Among reasons cited for the mass resignation were the lack of a person who could be chairman and no need to preserve open space because the selectmen and other town officials were astute in that regard. The current
commission was reconstituted with new members in 1986.
Adjourned: Moved Levine, seconded Annable, approved at 9:06 p.m.
Next Meeting: July 11 at 7:15 p.m., Municipal Meeting Room
Prepared by: Frank Perrotta
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