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Conservation Commission Minutes for October 25, 2011
Note: This meeting was rescheduled and duly posted from the regular meeting date of November 17 when a quorum was not reached to convene.
Chairman Sam Demeritt opened the meeting at 7:03. Other members in attendance were Deb Stevens, Deb Kimball, Celia Abrams and Susan Mooney.
Easement Monitoring:
- Friend Easement: Kimball will contact the family to schedule the inspection.
- Terninko Easement: Abrams and Mooney will contact the owner to schedule an appropriate date for the monitoring.
- Kimball Easement: Demeritt will check with Bear-Paw Regional Greenways (BPRG), fee owner, to schedule a monitoring walk with them.
- Highlands: Will wait to see what Pete Landry has for a schedule so he can participate and indicate the reposting that was done for the town on the deed restricted easements.
Abrams will provide a list of base line information suggested for each easement file.
Minutes: The minutes of September 12, 2011 were accepted as corrected. The motion was made by Mooney and seconded by Abrams. The motion passed with three yeas and two abstentions. Corrections have been made and submitted to the Selectmen’s Office for posting on the Town’s web site.
The minutes of October 4, 2011 were accepted as corrected. The motion was made by Kimball, seconded by Abrams. Four votes were in favor and there was one abstention. Corrections have been made and submitted to the Selectmen’s Office for posting on the Town’s web site.
Maps: Abrams showed 8x11 colored copies of the Wildlife Action Plan maps that would be of use for the Commission. The maps are titled: NH Wildlife Habitat Land Cover, updated 2010 and Highest Ranked Wildlife by Ecological Condition, updated 2010. Mooney will contact Strafford Regional Planning Commission to inquire about securing large format copies of these two maps.
Correspondence:
- Dated October 15, 2011, to Greg Stratis from Mooney on behalf of the Commission and Planning Board, a thank you for permission to inspect the property on Smoke Street along the Little River for invasive species. Two autumn olive trees were found and the smaller one was removed.
- Application Approval for Shoreland Program Permit Application, File # 2011-02307, date 9/27/11, received 9/30/11, to Ted R. Neff from Craig W. Day, DES Wetlands Bureau, approval to impact 2144 sf to demolish a house and to rebuild a smaller one and to modify a porch and deck. The property is identified as Map 1, Lot 52 and is located at 23 North River Lake Road, Nottingham, on North River Lake. The project is subject to seven project specific conditions and seven general conditions.
- Dated 9/19/11 to Nottingham Municipal Clerk from Land Resources Management, DES, a Notice of Acceptance of Permit Application, DES File # 2011-02307, re: Application Approval above.
- Approval date 9/16/11, received 9/20/11, re: File # 2011-02219, to Andrew Martin, 46 Barderry lane from Emily Lucas, DES Wetlands Bureau, to impact 6617 sf to construct an addition to an existing structure, construction a new gravel drive outside the waterfront buffer and restoring vegetation of existing gravel drive, part of which is located within the waterfront buffer. This project is subject to twelve project specific conditions and seven general conditions.
- Approval date 10/3/11, received 10/11/11 to Steven Rheaume, 7 Forest Hill Drive, Nashua NH 03060 for property located at Tax Map 67, Lot 25, 127 Highland Avenue, to impact 12,915 sf to construct a new home, detached garage, septic system and restoration following the removal of existing paved and gravel areas. There were nine project specific conditions and seven general conditions.
- Received 10/7/11, Intent to Cut, on property located on Flutter Street, Tax Map 37, Lot 1, 51 acres owned by Ann and Randy McCall, from April 1, 2011 to March 31, 2012. Harvest will be pulpwood consisting of 150 tons of hemlock, 300 ton whole tree chips and 15 cord of cordwood. The logger is identified as Stephen Twombly.
- Dated 9/29/11 from the NH Association of Conservation Commissions (NHACC) a notice of changes to the bylaws to be voted on at the Annual Meeting held on November 5 by the Board of Directors. Changes proposed will include term limits for members of the Board and to allow non-conservation members to serve on the Board.
- Field Reports from W. C. Cammett Engineering for environmental issues at the USA Springs site. The five Reports include photos and are dated for 8/9, 8/17, 8/29, 9/8, 9/19, including the report of the site following storm Irene. The site was declared to “be completely stable”. The Reports are prepared for the owners Garrison Place REIT and the contractors Frank Delucia and Sons. The town receives copies as well.
Bear Paw Report: Demeritt indicated several upcoming important dates.
- October 8, Trail Construction and maintenance field trip was held at the 463-acre Epsom Town Forest. The Student Conservation Association is a volunteer group that builds and maintains trails for free and only required that building materials be provided. Abrams attended this program because the Commission is interested in the possible construction of river trails for community use.
- There was a celebration for the Evans Mountain conservation project held on October 15. One thousand acres of property along the ridge has been placed into permanent easement protection. Abrams represented the Commission at this event.
- On November 9, a Conservation Options and Estate Planning workshop will be held at the Bear Paw Office in Deerfield.
- On November 15, Bill Nichols of the NH Natural Heritage Bureau will give a presentation on the natural communities of NH to be held at the Candia Town office.
- On December 7, a Conservation Roundtable for Good Forestry in the Granite State and Shoreland Protection Update will be held at the Blaisdell Memorial Library. Mooney and Abrams will assist at this event.
Lamprey River Watershed Association: The Annual Meeting will be held on October 27. Kimball, Abrams and Demeritt plan to attend.
Demeritt reported that as a LRWA member that he participated in two site walk events: at Center Harbor Park and Beach, a Stormwater and Pollutant Load Reduction Project sponsored by DES costing $50,000 from the state and $33,000 non-federal match; on Anthony Drive, off Route 106, the funding of a storm water management improvement project through a State Revolving Fund (SRF) loan of $437,000.
Roadside Cleanup is scheduled for November 3. Abrams, Mooney and Demeritt will pick up along Route 152 and Kimball and Stevens will pick up along Route 156 at their convenience.
Coverts: Abrams and Mooney attended the Coverts four-day workshop that was held in September in Greenfield at the Barbara C. Harris Center. Participants who “graduate” from this program, sponsored by UNH Cooperative Extension, Fish and Game and other groups, become “Volunteers Working for Wildlife”.
Board of Selectmen Meeting: Discussion followed about the meeting with the Board of Selectmen (BOS) held on October 24 re: the fee purchase of two properties along the North River. Abrams, Mooney and Stevens attended along with Dennis Vachon who represents both sellers. At least one BOS member and the Town Administrator expressed concern about invasive species liability. Commission members indicated that once reclamation is done through the Wetlands Reserve Program the property owner is not responsible for any subsequent reoccurrence. To reassure the BOS, Stevens and Abrams will look into the deed language about invasive species liability. Additionally, Stevens will ask if Sue Hoey or Jeremy Lougee of the NRCS if they would be able to attend a BOS meeting to address continuing concerns about these matters.
A motion to adjourn was made by Mooney and seconded by Stevens. All votes were in favor. The meeting was adjourned at 8:40.
Respectfully submitted,
Susan P. Mooney, Acting Secretary
These minutes were accepted as corrected at the meeting held on November 14, 2011. The two typo corrections have been made in these minutes.
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