MINUTES
REGULAR MEETING
Tuesday, April 10, 2012, at 7:30 P.m.
Town Hall, 2nd Floor Conference Room
302 Main Street
Members Present
Jerry Brophy
Pat Ingellis
Bruce Sherwin
Richard Esty
Walter Smith
Robert Fish, arrived at 8:50 P.M.
Members Absent
Kimberley Gallagher
Land Use Department Staff Present
Sandy Prisloe, Environmental Planner
Christine Nelson, Town Planner
Kathleen Noyes, Recording Clerk
J. Brophy, Vice Chairman, called the meeting to order at 7:30 P.M.
Approval of Minutes
MOTION to approve the minutes from the Conservation Commission’s Regular Meeting of March 13, 2012; MADE by B. Sherwin; SECONDED by P. Ingellis; VOTED IN FAVOR: J. Brophy, P. Ingellis, W. Smith, B. Sherwin, R. Esty; OPPOSED: none; ABSTAINED: none; APPROVED: 5-0-0.
MOTION to approve the minutes from the Conservation Commission’s Special Meeting of the Outreach Committee of March 20, 2012 and April 3, 2012, as presented; MADE by B. Sherwin; SECONDED by P. Ingellis; VOTED IN FAVOR: J. Brophy, B. Sherwin, P. Ingellis, R. Esty, W. Smith; OPPOSED: none; ABSTAINED: none; APPROVED: 5-0-0.
Commission Membership
Commission members welcomed Richard Esty to the Conservation Commission.
Sustainable Saybrook Website Support
B. Sherwin reported on the status of the Sustainable Saybrook meetings. Ann Gamble from the Old Saybrook Land Trust who is a journalist and an organic farmer is becoming a very active member. Mary Roche from the Old Saybrook Garden Club attended the last meeting, and said the OSGC would like to be more involved also. There is now a Sustainable Saybrook Facebook fan page, and members are working to keep the information fresh.
C. Nelson asked Commissioners if they felt their outreach goal has been reached over the past year through the Outreach Committee and the Sustainable Saybrook initiative.
B. Sherwin explained that there is limited participation of Conservation Commission members at the Outreach Committee Sustainable Saybrook meetings. The Old Saybrook Land Trust group is active at the meetings, but at this time, no one from the OSLT wants to take charge of the environment pillar as a director. He said the group might have to revisit the strategy of asking people to take over directorship of a pillar because there is the perception that it will be an overwhelming responsibility.
R. Esty suggested promoting Sustainable Saybrook through the Main Street Merchant’s Association Summer Stroll in June.
S. Prisloe said today he met with S. Keaney and Abby who is head of the “Green Team” at the Saybrook Point Inn. Abby talked about all of the Saybrook Point Inn’s accomplishments. They don’t use any pesticides on any of the landscaping. Instead they have birdhouses all over the property, and the birds control the insects. A photovoltaic system was installed and more recently, a natural gas co-generator system was installed which heats water, provides heat in the winter and cooling in the summer. This system provides 30% of their electricity. All of their lighting has been converted to LED lighting.
Saybrook Point Inn is going to have a ribbon cutting ceremony on April 18, 2012 for their co-generation facility. S. Prisloe said Abby extended an invitation to anyone on the Conservation Commission or on the Sustainable Saybrook group. They will be serving local wines and local foods, and they will be giving a tour.
The Saybrook Point Inn has implemented a trial program with All-Waste to recycle all of their kitchen waste. All Waste provides biodegradable bags that go into a container outside. Saybrook Point Inn would like to find more restaurants in town to participate in this program because this would make it more financially viable.
It’s a mission statement of the Saybrook Point Inn, that all employees must agree to be environmentally aware and to make recommendations to make the Saybrook Point Inn even more environmentally viable.
J. Brophy asked if Abby from the Saybrook Point Inn could come and speak at an upcoming Sustainable Saybrook meeting. S. Prisloe said the Saybrook Point Marina is approaching its busy season, and it may be difficult for her to attend a morning meeting.
R. Esty said he works for the Community Health Center, and the new Community Health Center building currently being built in Middletown, is a “green building.” They are giving tours so the public can see how to build a “green building.”
Commissioners discussed what the town could do internally to be more “green.” C. Fortuna is very interested in forming an Energy Commission.
R. Esty suggested if there’s one topic, such as using All Waste for recycling kitchen waste as the Saybrook Point Inn is doing, the Sustainable Saybrook group could get e-mail addresses for town business from the Chamber of Commerce and e-mail them to invite them to the meeting. B. Sherwin asked R. Esty if he would be willing to contact the Chamber of Commerce to get these e-mail addresses, and he said he would.
Phragmites Project
S. Prisloe explained that last year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service offered $5,000.00 of federal funding to mow phragmites on Old Saybrook town property only, not state property. This is a three -year program. They will not pay for any herbicide applications, only mowing. The mowing was done behind Fort Saybrook Park, the end of Coulter Street at Founders Memorial Park, portions of North Cove and behind the Old Saybrook Middle School. The money had to be spent within the federal fiscal year, which is the end of September. The DEEP offered to spray before the mowing; however, they said the end of September was too early for the mowing after they had done the spraying.
S. Prisloe asked Commissioners if they wanted to pursue this funding again this year. There was a lot of corresponding with federal agencies for this funding. B. Sherwin asked S. Prisloe how many hours he spent working on this project, and if it’s worth the work to get the funding.
R. Esty had concerns about mowing phragmites without first spraying them with herbicide because if only mowed, the phragmites would flourish.
S. Prisloe said he would call the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to see if there is funding available for this year, and if they would be willing to roll this funding over into next year. He suggested continuing this item to next month’s Conservation Commission agenda.
Regional Trailways Project
J. Brophy said progress has been made on the regional trailways system. He brought in a large map showing the Menunketesuck – Cockaponset Regional Greenway. He passed out information about the history of the Quinimay Trail.
Westbrook is in the process of acquiring land to bring the trail into Westbrook Center from Haddam. Westbrook is proposing a greenway that will go into Essex and connect into Old Saybrook. There was also discussion about equestrian trails and bike trails.
J. Brophy suggested scheduling a meeting with Westbrook to collaborate, and Commissioners agreed this would be a good idea.
C. Nelson offered to e-mail Margot Burns from CRERPA and Meg Parulis, Town Planner for the Town of Westbrook, to let them know that the Old Saybrook Conservation Commission is interested in participating in this trailways project.
Water Resources Projects
W. Smith met with S. Prisloe and C. Nelson to discuss the Water Resources Projects and how they dovetail with the town’s Plan of Conservation and Development. He distributed a list he made of different goals and who is responsible for meeting those goals under Coastal Management, Water Supply, Wastewater Management, Surface and Stormwater Management and Flood Management.
One issue that came up as a priority is the issue of stormwater permits. There has been no progress in the area of storm water permits in the last 2 or 3 years. The DEEP is concerned with that lack of progress.
S. Prisloe is going to talk with Public Works Director, Larry Bonin, to find out whether the staff can inventory the outfalls and the catch basins to see where the connections are. They have staff that knows where the facilities are in the field, but they need to know how to use the technology to record this information. Storm water management and watershed impacts are priorities that the town can focus on after the inventory is done.
S. Prisloe said the town would soon be acquiring new, high quality aerial imaging. It was finished last week, and it will be a few months before the new maps are available. Building footprints can be overlayed on top of the aerial photos as well as impervious surfaces and how that relates to water quality.
B. Sherwin asked how long the inventory is expected to take. S. Prisloe said there are about 750 catch basins in town, and a lot of data has to be collected at each catch basin.
J. Brophy suggested that a summer engineering intern, supervised by Larry Bonin, could facilitate the process of getting this done more quickly.
Other Updates
R. Fish reported on the status of the fish report. There are now 5 alewives and 3,600 eels came through last week.
MOTION to adjourn the meeting at 9:00 p.m. until the next regularly scheduled meeting of the Conservation Commission which will be Tuesday, May 8, 2012, 7:30 P.M., Town Hall, 2nd Floor Conference Room, 302 Main Street; MADE by P. Ingellis; SECONDED by B. Sherwin; VOTED IN FAVOR: P. Ingellis, J. Brophy, R. Esty, B. Sherwin, W. Smith, R. Fish; OPPOSED: none; ABSTAINED: none.; APPROVED:
6-0-0.
Respectfully Submitted,
Kathleen Noyes, Recording Clerk
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