MINUTES
REGULAR MEETING
Thursday, March 26, 2015 at 3:30 P.m.
1st Floor Conference Room, Town Hall
302 Main Street, Old Saybrook
I. CALL TO ORDER
Chairman Larry Ritzhaupt called the meeting to order at 3:30 p.m.
II. ROLL CALL
Members Present
Larry Ritzhaupt
Doug McCracken
Janice Holland
Michael Momparler
John Donnelly
Robert Yust (arrived at 4:00 p.m.)
Absent Members
Steve Tagliatela
Tom Gezo
Jerry Brophy
Bill Webster
Land Use Department Staff Present
Sandy Prisloe, Environmental Planner
Chris Costa, Zoning Enforcement Officer
Jim Monopoli, Director, CT River Area Health District
Kathleen Noyes, Recording Clerk
One member of the public was present.
III. REGULAR BUSINESS
A. Minutes
Minutes MOTION to approve the regular meeting minutes of 3/12/2015 with the following correction; on page 2, paragraph 5, Ralph Wilson should be changed to Ralph Lewis. MADE: by L. Ritzhaupt; SECONDED by J. Holland.; VOTED IN FAVOR: L. Ritzhaupt, D. McCracken, J. Donnelly, J. Holland, M. Momparler; OPPOSED: none; ABSTAINED: none; APPROVED: 5-0-0.
B. Correspondence & Announcements
C. Timelines
L. Ritzhaupt talked with Committee Members about the timelines for the different topics. Most are all set. Commerce and marine commerce will be combined.
L. Ritzhaupt asked Committee members to send their rough draft reports and recommendations to S. Prisloe in a Word format. He will then forward them to Christine Nelson, Town Planner, so she can plug them into the format she chooses, and the fonts and formats will all be consistent.
IV. DISCUSSION
Where Are We? Where Are We Going? How Do We Get There?
COMMUNITY – Public Health (John Donnelly)
J. Donnelly chose the Chalker Beach area as his focus because it's a low lying area, it's included in the WPCA septic upgrade plan, it experiences frequent flooding and it has a high water table.
He talked about the bacteria in the effluent discharge from septic waste. If this gets into the water in recreational areas, it can cause illness. This makes water quality testing very important, and he suggested beach communities perform water quality tests on the beach water especially in the summer months.
J. Donnelly recommended composting toilets as a possible sustainable septic system alternative. Composting toilets are currently being used in state parks and in parts of Rhode Island. Also, composting toilets vastly reduce the amount of water waste.
He spoke about the public's use of pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers for their lawns and gardens, and concerns about these chemicals running into the ground water. If people allowed their lawns to grow into more of a natural state, this would reduce the amounts of these chemicals.
Because these suggestions require education, behavioral and lifestyle changes, these types of changes would be gradual.
C. Costa noted that by court order, the State of CT has mandated that Old Saybrook install new septic systems.
The WPCA (Water Pollution Control Agency) has asked to talk with the CC SLRCAC about the (WWMD) waste water management district and septic upgrades.
On 4/6/15, there is going to be a special meeting of the WPCA to discuss septic systems. An engineer will be present as will staff from the DEEP (Department of Energy and Environmental Protection). Robbie Marshall from the WPCA invited CC SLRCAC to attend this meeting.
J. Monopoli said the WPCA cannot mandate water quality testing of private beaches, but the WPCA offers water quality testing for the beaches in town for a fee. The private beaches may be doing their own water quality testing. He noted that when there is a heavy rainfall, there is a spike in bacteria levels of beach water. The bacteria levels do drop after a few tides, usually in a day or two.
L. Ritzhaupt emphasized that these are all draft recommendations, and members of the Committee will have the opportunity to make suggestions.
J. Monopoli said composting toilets are currently not being used on a regular basis for regular home use. In order for that to occur, systems would have to comply with strict State Regulations. He spoke about new and emerging pathogens. New bacteria are being introduced into shellfish beds in CT due to the increase in water temperature due to climate change and sea level rise. The increase of a few degrees in water temperature can increase these new bacteria. When the water levels rise, mosquito breeding grounds can grow, and mosquitos carry pathogens, and some of these could be new pathogens.
Committee members agreed that they would like to recommend factoring sea level rise into creating sustainable septic systems.
They would also like to recommend water quality testing for the area beaches. They would like to gather data to be able to make data based recommendations about high bacterial counts after storms and possible beach closings.
Tony Basciewicz from the Chalker Beach area talked about septic system upgrades. He said he would support J. Donnelly's recommendation for composting toilets. He also talked about water quality testing in Chalker Beach and the amount of time it takes between when the water is collected for testing, and when the results of the water quality are announced.
J. Monopoli said at this point in time, it is 24 hours between when the water is collected and when the results of the water quality are announced. Therefore, pre-emptive beach closings are often done especially when a heavy rainfall event is predicted, and bacterial counts of beach water will rise.
Committee members would like to recommend treatment of graywater, and reduction of herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers.
M. Momparler and S. Prisloe discussed a webinar they watched. One point S. Prisloe stressed was local, observable impacts and engaging stakeholders with visuals of local, observable impacts such as photos of flooded streets and large waves crashing into homes because these visuals help to educate the public about what is going today. Calling "meetings" innovation sessions or problem solving sessions is more likely to engage the public because by reframing it, the public will feel like they have something to offer.
V. GENERAL DISCUSSION
How Do We Get There?
Report Recommendations (discussion to be led by topic leaders)
Report Text
Outreach Plans
VI. ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 5:00 p.m. until the next regularly scheduled meeting of the Conservation Commission’s Sea Level Rise Climate Adaptation Committee on Thursday, April 9, 2015 at 3:30 p.m., Town Hall, 302 Main Street, and 1st Floor Conference Room.
Respectfully Submitted,
Kathleen Noyes, Recording Clerk
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