MINUTES
REGULAR MEETING
Tuesday, May 8, 2012, at 7:30 P.m.
Town Hall, 2nd Floor Conference Room
302 Main Street
Members Present
Robert Fish
Pat Ingellis
Bruce Sherwin
Richard Esty
Members Absent
Jerry Brophy
Kimberley Gallagher
Walter Smith
Land Use Department Staff Present
Sandy Prisloe, Environmental Planner
Kathleen Noyes, Recording Clerk
R. Fish, 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 April 10, 2012; MADE by P. Ingellis; SECONDED by B. Sherwin; VOTED IN FAVOR: R. Fish, P. Ingellis, B. Sherwin, R. Esty; OPPOSED: none; ABSTAINED: none; APPROVED: 4-0-0.
MOTION to approve the minutes from the Conservation Commission’s Special Meeting of the Outreach Committee of April 17, 2012 as presented; MADE by B. Sherwin; SECONDED by R. Fish; VOTED IN FAVOR: B. Sherwin, P. Ingellis, R. Esty, R. Fish; OPPOSED: none; ABSTAINED: none; APPROVED: 4-0-0.
MOTION to approve the minutes from the Conservation Commission’s Special Meeting of the Outreach Committee of May 1, 2012, as presented; MADE by B. Sherwin; SECONDED by R. Fish; VOTED IN FAVOR: B. Sherwin, P. Ingellis, R. Esty, R. Fish; OPPOSED: none; ABSTAINED: none; APPROVED: 4-0-0.
R. Fish informed Commissioners that he would not be able to attend the June 2012 CC meeting.
R. Fish asked P. Ingellis about the status of boundary marking in Great Cedars East. P. Ingellis said there was a problem by the power line. The markers have disappeared.
S. Prisloe said he received literature from CL&P that they would be clearing that area, cutting invasives, etc. He will get more information from CL&P, and he and P. Ingellis will continue to work on the boundary marking.
R. Fish said that today at the MOU committee meeting, the committee asked Vicky Duffy to write a letter to CL&P to ask them what their intentions are there in that area. At a previous MOU committee meeting, S. Prisloe offered to go back there to take pictures.
Except for the boundary markings, R. Fish explained that everything on going is on the current Conservation Commission agenda, and it will remain the same for the June meeting. He asked Commissioners for updates on their current tasks.
R. Esty said he would gather e-mail addresses for all of the restaurants in town in the hope that they could work together with Abby from the “Green Team” at the Saybrook Point Inn to compost their restaurant waste.
S. Prisloe recommended R. Esty meet with Abby to talk with her before he contacts the restaurants so he can explain the program to them in more detail.
P. Ingellis reported on the Natural Heritage Tour. He and R. Siegelman visited the places on the Natural Heritage Tour months back. P. Ingellis sent pictures of the Cornfield Point area to C. Fortuna. The pictures were forwarded to L. Bonin, and the area was then cleared.
Commission Membership
Sustainable Saybrook Website Support
B. Sherwin reported on the status of the web site. He said the “Front Page” format has been changed. R. Fish submitted an article on Open Space that includes a “Did you know?” fact. B. Sherwin reviewed the analytics. There has been a 40% increase in new visits to the web site over the last month, and there have been close to 200 total visits. He added an exercise article on “green exercise” submitted by P. Ingellis under the Health Pillar.
There was discussion about promotional materials such as bookmarks and flyers for the libraries and the Farmer’s Market.
R. Esty suggested biodegradable cardboard/cornstarch pen/highlighters such as the one he received at a recent seminar. Commissioners liked the idea, and said that it might be great for a future promotional item.
B. Sherwin asked Commissioners if they would be interested in staffing future promotional events.
Phragmites Project
S. Prisloe updated Commissioners on the phragmites situation and he reviewed the information he shared at the last CC meeting about the $5,000.00 the US Fish and Wildlife Services had granted the town to mow the phragmites on town properties. The US Fish and Wildlife Service offered 3 years of funding, and the federal fiscal year runs from October 1st to September 30th.The US Fish and Wildlife Services will not support and pay for the use of herbicides. The state said they would use herbicides, and then they would come back to mow the phragmites. The state sprayed and mowed the areas behind the Middle School, behind Coulter Street and the Saybrook Point park area.
S. Prisloe wanted to know if the CC wanted to pursue this because of the timing with the spraying and the mowing. The DEEP sprayed, but the US Fish and Wildlife Service wanted to mow the area too soon so the timing was not optimal for it to be effective to eradicate the phragmites.
S. Prisloe was recently told he would be receiving the paperwork for the funding and that the money could be spent after the fiscal year. He is waiting to get the paperwork so he can clarify this with the regional contact.
S. Prisloe said there’s a big area of phragmites near the dam at Great Cedars that he would like to have treated. He asked Commissioners to let him know if there were additional sites that needed to be treated. R. Esty offered to help S. Prisloe by looking at the previously treated areas to see if phragmites were still present.
Commissioners agreed the town should continue to work with the US Fish and Wildlife Service to pursue this funding.
Regional Trailways Project
J. Brophy has been working on this. Since he is not at tonight’s meeting, R. Fish said Commissioners could table this until the June 12, 2012 CC meeting.
Water Resources Projects
W. Smith discussed water resource projects at the last CC meeting. S. Prisloe is going to meet with W. Smith to characterize watersheds in town. The Department of Public Works has begun monitoring these areas using a GPS system to collect data at the catch basins and outfalls. Once a watershed is completed, S. Prisloe said they are hoping to map and identify the catch basins and see what condition they are in. They’d also like to determine from the data which bodies of water are likely to be most impacted by storm water runoff.
B. Sherwin suggested an article about this topic be submitted to the Sustainable Saybrook web site as part of their public outreach.
Other Updates
R. Fish received the most recent Fishway report. Not much has changed since the last report because the Fishing Brook system has been shut down due to low water levels.
MOTION to adjourn the meeting at 8:40 p.m. until the next regularly scheduled meeting of the Conservation Commission which will be Tuesday, June 12, 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: R. Fish, P. Ingellis, R. Esty, B. Sherwin; OPPOSED: none; ABSTAINED: none.; APPROVED: 4-0-0.
Respectfully Submitted,
Kathleen Noyes, Recording Clerk
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