MINUTES
REGULAR MEETING
Thursday, January 8, 2015 at 3:30 P.m.
Town Hall, First Floor Conference Room
302 Main Street, Old Saybrook
I. CALL TO ORDER
Robert Yust called the meeting to order at 3:30 p.m.
II. ROLL CALL
Members Present
Robert Yust
Doug McCracken
Janice Holland
Michael Momparler
Tom Gezo
John Donnelly (arrived at 4:00 p.m.)
Absent Members
Larry Ritzhaupt
Bill Webster
Steve Tagliatela
Jerry Brophy
Land Use Department Staff Present
Christine Nelson, Town Planner
Sandy Prisloe, Environmental Planner
Christina Costa, Zoning Enforcement Officer
Kathleen Noyes, Recording Clerk
One member of the public was present.
III. REGULAR BUSINESS
A. Minutes
Approval of the CC SLRCAC meeting minutes is going to be tabled until the next CC SLRCAC meeting.
C. Correspondence & Announcements
R. Yust asked Committee members to note that the next CC SLRCAC meeting will be on Wednesday, 1/21/15 not 1/22/15. This will be a joint meeting of the SLRCAC and the Planning Commission at 7:00 p.m. at the Town Hall, 302 Main Street, 1st Floor Conference Room.
D. Timelines
R. Yust announced that Ralph Lewis, a geologist from UConn, will talk about coastal processes at the 2/12/15 CC SLRCAC meeting.
L. Ritzhaupt and M. Momparler will be presenting their topics at the 2/26/15 CC SLRCAC meeting.
IV. DISCUSSION
Where Are We? Where Are We Going? How Do We Get There?
ENVIRONMENT – Transportation & Other Public Infrastructure (Doug McCracken)
D. McCracken identified the roads and parts of town which are in the hazard area such as Route 1, Route 154 and Route 166. Other main routes such as Route 9 and I-95 are outside of the hazard area.
Public infrastructure includes gas, electric and water utilities, communication utilities including cell towers, generators for town identified critical facilities, sidewalks, seawalls, bridges and culverts and impervious surfaces.
The Town has written many plans that address flood hazards especially the NHMP (Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan) that deals with mitigating flooding events. The goals of this plan are to reduce or eliminate injury or loss of life and damage to property and natural environments and to reduce associated economic impacts from natural hazards.
D. McCracken briefly talked about existing town plans and studies such as the Municipal Coastal Program from 1983 which addresses coastal hazards and velocity hazard areas. He also highlighted the focus areas of the Sidewalk Plan from 2006, the Scenic Roads Plan from 2014 and the Harbor Management Plan which was written in 2003. He talked about what areas of transportation and other public infrastructure have already been addressed by other town plans, and which areas still need to be addressed by the work of this committee.
D. McCracken discussed preferred approaches and objectives to future challenges and opportunities which involve the current town plans. Specific recommendations include developing a design basis which may need to be established for routinely flooded roads, developing a public outreach initiative which includes gaining public support, verifying the CIP (Capital Improvement Program) project prioritization, and updating plans and studies such as the SLRCC Plan.
Committee members discussed the importance of not focusing on preparing for a specific catastrophic storm episode but to focus on the “new normal” created by years of sea level rise and climate change.
COMMUNITY – Recreation (Robert Yust)
Because time was running out, R. Yust said on 2/22/15, he will give his presentation. J. Donnelly offered to present on 2/22/15 as well.
V. MEETING SUMMARY
VI. ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 5:00 p.m. until the next meeting of the Conservation Commission’s Sea Level Rise Climate Adaptation Committee on Wednesday, January 21, 2015 at 7:00 p.m., Town Hall, 302 Main Street, 1st Floor Conference Room.
Respectfully Submitted,
Kathleen Noyes, Recording Clerk
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