MINUTES
REGULAR MEETING
Thursday, October 23, 2014 at 3:30 P.m.
Town Hall, 1st Floor Conference Room
302 Main Street, Old Saybrook
I. CALL TO ORDER
Vice Chairman Robert Yust called the meeting to order at 3:35 p.m.
II. ROLL CALL
Members Present
Bill Webster
Robert Yust
Tom Gezo
Doug McCracken
Michael Momparler
John Donnelly
Janice Holland
Absent Members
Larry Ritzhaupt
Jerry Brophy
Steve Tagliatela
Land Use Department Staff Present
Christine Nelson, Town Planner
Kathleen Noyes, Recording Clerk
III. REGULAR BUSINESS
A. Minutes
MOTION to approve the minutes from the Conservation Commission’s Sea Level Rise Climate Adaptation Committee’s Regular Meeting of October 9, 2014; MADE: by M. Momparler: SECONDED by D. McCracken; VOTED IN FAVOR: R. Yust, M. Momparler, J. Donnelly, J. Holland, D. McCracken, B. Webster, T. Gezo; OPPOSED: none; ABSTAINED: none; APPROVED: 7-0-0.
- Correspondence & Announcements
R. Yust shared the CLEARSCAPES Newsletter from UConn.
Saybrook Events Magazine is published quarterly. C. Nelson provided Commissioners with the schedule of submission deadlines, and she suggested Committee members plan which topics they would like to write about for outreach.
T. Gezo attended a seminar at the Climate Academy. He has claims data through 1978 from the National Flood Insurance Program. He said that according to those statistics, the flood claims for Old Saybrook for Superstorm Sandy and the Nor’easter after Superstorm Sandy were millions of dollars.
Roman Sajak from UNH (the University of New Haven) will be speaking at the CC SLRCAC meeting on November 13, 2014 about aquatic and terrestrial animal populations. This meeting will be held at the Pasbeshauke Pavilion. Committee members asked C. Nelson to advertise this event giving members of the Conservation Commission, the Land Trust, the Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Commission, etc. the opportunity to attend.
Rebecca French, who is the Director of Community Engagement from CIRCA, came to Old Saybrook last week. S. Prisloe and L. Ritzhaupt took her on a coastal tour of town.
R. Yust would like to take the data he presented to Committee members and present it to the Water Pollution Control Authority because it may be helpful to them as they are in the process of installing many new septic systems in town. Sea level rise affects the groundwater level, and this will impact septic designs and the required distance between the leaching pipe and the ground water level.
S. Prisloe distributed an article from The Union of Concerned Scientists called, “Encroaching Tides – How Sea Level Rise and Tidal Flooding Threaten U.S. East and Gulf Coast Communities over the Next 30 Years.”
T. Gezo mentioned a webinar CLEAR is presenting that will be next Tuesday, October 28, 2014 at 2:00 p.m.
The EPA(the Environmental Protection Agency) is having a webinar next Thursday, October 30, 2014 from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. S. Prisloe will e-mail Committee members a link for more information.
IV. STUDY & REPORT
- Categories & Topics (break – out session)
C. Nelson said the topics have all been assigned. She gave Committee members an update on the organization of the topics and categories. She also distributed a list of documents that members can access online that are pertinent to Committee member topics.
C. Nelson offered to create another table for Committee members enabling them to cross-reference where their topic may overlap with another Committee member’s topic.
S. Prisloe said Ralph Lewis would make a presentation to Committee members on geology and the coastline and sea level rise on the tentative date of February 12, 2015.
R. Yust encouraged Committee members to begin working on their topics and putting draft documents up on the web site.
R. Yust suggested Committee members begin thinking about policies particularly legal aspects. He wants to be sure suggested policies are in keeping with the current laws.
- Inventory – Where Are We?
- Analysis – Where Are We Going?
- Plan – How Do We Get There?
V. OUTREACH & EDUCATION
- Building a Level of Familiarity in Old Saybrook
- Measuring Community Values in Old Saybrook
VI. MEETING SUMMARY
VII. ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 4:45 p.m. until the next regularly scheduled meeting of the Conservation Commission Sea Level Rise Climate Adaptation Committee on Thursday, November 13, 2014 at 3:30 p.m., Town Hall, 302 Main Street, 1st Floor Conference Room.
Respectfully Submitted,
Kathleen Noyes, Recording Clerk
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