Newton planning board
PO BOX 344
NEWTON, NH 03858
Tel. (603) 382-3419
FAX (603) 382-0126
Minutes of 9/15/07 site walk MEETING at country pond fish & game club
in attendance:
Planning Board members: Gibbs, LeClaire, Pettit, Vaillant
Planning Board consultant: Frank Kuhn, sound engineer/principal – Air & Noise Compliance
Country Pond Fish & Game Club: John DeYoung, John Cull, Richard Amidon, Herb Nightingale
Ron Pica, Sara Realty/Whispering Pines Campground
Site walk meeting began at 8:45AM. The group visited the shooting shed and the skeet range, and observed the various barrier installations. There was no activity on the ranges at the time.
DeYoung: explained the history, from the club’s acquisition of the adjacent parcel to present and described the mitigation measures put in place, including the planting of additional trees and work on the barriers and enclosures, Club wants to be a good neighbor, enforces range operating hours and has made significant mitigation efforts
Kuhn: inspected installed sound mitigation measures and noted upgrades which addressed comments from his last visit & report (June 2006), including solid doors on rollers @ shooting shed and the closure of openings and gaps in barriers & panels; commented on the reasonable-ness of sound mitigation and the fact that the sound cannot be reduced to zero short of completely enclosing Club property within a concrete building; there is no way to quantify what, if any, effect the trees (which were cleared from the adjacent parcel) had on the transmission of sound from the club); weather/climate affects the transmission of sound; that as a result of the installation of mitigation measures, certain aspects of the sound have been reduced and that the sound
has changed; believes that the club has achieved the intent of the mitigation requirement and recommended ongoing efforts & vigilance by the club
Pica: questioned why the club should not be forced to do better and mitigate more, and says that his sound engineer measured 80 dBs in the middle of the campground; questioned extending berms and barriers out to the street and enclosing the street side of the skeet range.
Board members’ questions/comments included whether it is possible to lessen the sound traveling south toward Packer Meadows, how sound transmission from the club would be affected by various types of development on the adjacent parcel, whether campground owners and abutters were aware of the presence of the Club when they bought their properties
Site walk meeting concluded at 9:30AM. Kuhn will send the Planning Board a letter summary of his inspection and conclusions. Next Board discussion of this matter will be 9/25/07 meeting at Town Hall.
- Kim Pettit, recorder
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