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Meeting Minutes
Thursday, September 10, 2009
6:00 pm
In Attendance: Cindy Keegan (Chair), Rob DeRosier (V. Chair), Nick Lewis, John Hayes, Paul Marquis, Rick Nye, Jeff Barz-Snell
Members not in attendance: Jenna Ide, Adam Segal
Public: Phil Wyman, Paul Allen
City Staff: Tom Watkins, Michael Adler (Intern)
Introduction
All those in attendance introduced themselves. The group was introduced to Paul Allen and Phil Wyman. Paul Allen, Development Director for the Centre for Alternative Technology in Wales was in Salem to speak at the Gathering on the topic of a zero-carbon Britain. He will be speaking later tonight at 7 pm.
Anemometer Tower Installation
The group discussed the site visit to Winter Island earlier in the week with the Park & Recreation Commission. The pros and cons of each site were discussed and were as follows:
Site 1 (Picnic Area) – very open and limited need for vegetation clearing (one tree would need to be cut down). The major con in this site is the proximity to the picnic area and playground leaving the met tower open for potential vandalism and possibly posing a safety risk, especially if the tower were to remain at this location for more than 6 months. Rob had suggested erecting a plaque at the chosen location to help educate the public about the met tower.
Site 2 (Harbormasters Office) – not as open and clear as Site 1 and much more vegetation would need to be cleared and trees cut down. This site was deemed more secluded than Site 1 and there would be less of a public safety risk. However, according to the maps provided by Meridian Associates, guy wires would be crossing over the entrance road to the Harbormaster’s Office. Tom will need to clarify the clearing of these wires with Jonathan Marquis of Meridian. Also, approval from the Conservation Commission would most likely be needed since the anchor points for the guy wires would be within the buffer zone to the coastal shore line.
Site 3 (Parking Lot) – this site was deemed by the RETF as not a good location at all given the amount of parking spaces that would be lost. This site was taken off the table for consideration.
The group was joined briefly by Jonathan Marquis of Meridian Associates via conference call, however, many questions remained for Jonathan and Tom will follow up with him on those. Cindy would also like to follow up with SESD to see where they are in their wind study process. Tom will also seek harbormaster Peter Gifford’s thoughts on the potential to install a met tower at Site 2. Members John Hayes and Paul Marquis agreed to return to Winter Island to do a secondary site visit of both Site 1 and Site 2.
It was voted to present the pros and cons of both Sites 1 and 2 to the Park & Recreation Commission at the public hearing scheduled for next Tuesday and gather their feedback on the RETF’s recommendations.
Meeting Minutes recorded by Tom Watkins
Meeting adjourned at 7:00 pm
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