Approved Meeting Minutes
Herring River Restoration Committee (HRRC)
Cape Cod National Seashore Headquarters
Wellfleet, MA
July 12, 2012
9:30 am-5:00 pm
Members Present: Tim Smith, Charleen Greenhalgh, Eric Derleth, Hunt Durey, Steve Spear, Hillary Greenberg-Lemos
Others Present: Margo Fenn, Don Palladino, John Portnoy, Shelley Hall
Administration/Coordination:
Communication/Coordination with Friends of Herring River (FHR): Don Palladino reported that there was still no news about the Massachusetts Environmental Trust grant. The FHR Annual Meeting will be August 21, 2012. The video describing the river and the restoration effort will be shown. Palladino requested that HRRC provide an update on the NEPA/MEPA process. He stressed that FHR and HRRC need to develop a coordinated outreach strategy for the release and review of the DEIS/EIR. Hunt Durey concurred, noting that the strategy should include outreach to the media.
The Shellfish Advisory Board presented a letter to the Wellfleet Board of Selectmen at its last meeting expressing its interest in improved recreational access to the Herring River. The Selectmen endorsed that recommendation. The Friends of Herring River will partner with the Wellfleet Historical Commission to provide some guided tours of Bound Brook Island.
Margo Fenn and Don Palladino agreed to set up a Communications Committee meeting in August to plan the outreach for the DEIS/EIR.
Approval of Draft Minutes: Charleen Greenhalgh noted that she did not attend the June 7, 2012 HRRC meeting. With that correction, the Committee voted unanimously to approve the minutes of the June 6 and 7, 2012 meetings.
Schedule of HRRC Meetings: The Committee agreed to the following meeting schedule:
Wednesday, August 15, 2012 (regular meeting)
Thursday, September 13, 2012 (regular meeting)
Schedule Briefing for Wellfleet Selectmen: The June briefing for the Wellfleet Selectmen had to be postponed. Hillary Greenberg agreed to check with Assistant Town Manager Tim King about scheduling a new date, possibly at the end of July.
Informational Updates:
TNC/CYCC/NPS Land Plan and Appraisal: David McGowan of The Nature Conservancy (TNC) informed Margo Fenn that the appraisal report had been completed and that he would be meeting with the appraiser to review it. He will arrange a meeting in August with representatives of the Chequessett Yacht and Country Club (CYCC) to discuss it.
Cultural Resources: Margo Fenn reported that the National Park Service (NPS) had submitted the proposed Programmatic Agreement to the Massachusetts Historical Commission (MHC) for review. NPS has not received any comments from MHC yet.
RAE-NOAA Grant: Tim Smith reported that the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) had received four responses to its engineering Request for Proposals (RFP). A subcommittee of the HRRC reviewed the proposals and interviewed three of the firms. He noted that all of the firms were capable of performing the work but the best proposal came from the firm of Fuss and O’Neill, with the Woods Hole Group as a subcontractor. CLF is currently working out a contract with Fuss and O’Neill that will address the four mandatory tasks in the RFP’s scope of work. There should be some funds available to address some of the optional tasks as well. The first task is to survey the existing dike area. After that is completed, the consultants will update the design options for the dike/tide gates. This may involve a design workshop with the HRRC sometime in the fall.
Review of Woods Hole Group (WHG) Final Modeling Report: The HRRC modeling subcommittee is reviewing the final WHG report. There is a July 20, 2102 deadline for comments. Once the report is finalized, Kirk Bosma will prepare an Executive Summary of it to be included as Appendix C of the DEIS/EIR.
Discussion:
Adaptive Management: The Adaptive Management process has been on hold because of the need to review and finalize comments on the DEIS/EIR.
Tim Smith agreed to prepare a report, summarizing the June 6, 2012 meeting and review it with Mitch Eaton of the Cornell University USGS Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit. This will include some draft influence diagrams for different project objectives. Smith will send out the report for HRRC review.
Project Management: Margo Fenn reported on a meeting with some outside advisors to discuss options for long-term operation, maintenance and management of project infrastructure. Tim Smith, Don Palladino and Fenn met with Rich Delaney (Executive Director of the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies), Ed DeWitt (Executive Director of the Association to Preserve Cape Cod), and Bruce Bierhans, (Attorney and an officer of several outer-Cape not-for-profit organizations) to discuss models for how the Herring River Restoration might be managed.
There are several possible options for consideration: The Town of Wellfleet and the National Park Service (NPS) are possible project proponents, given that the Town owns the Chequessett Neck Road dike and Cape Cod National Seashore owns the majority of land within the estuary. However, Wellfleet Town officials have been clear that, while continued town-ownership of the dike is desired, they do not have either the financial resources or the institutional expertise to fund or manage the Restoration Project. The National Park Service also has very limited resources to construct and manage new infrastructure.
The advisors’ group discussed the possibility of a cooperative arrangement wherein the Town would continue to own the dike (and related infrastructure) but management responsibilities would be assumed by either the Seashore or a third-party entity. One issue that was raised was ownership of the dike. Ed DeWitt questioned whether the Town owns the dike and road in easement or in fee. He noted that if the Commonwealth owns the land beneath the dike, state government might have a stronger role to play in the project. Bruce Bierhans offered to contact town officials to find out more about the ownership question.
The group discussed several models for partnership between a government entity and a private not-for-profit entity, including Preservation Hall in Wellfleet, Highfield Hall in Falmouth, and the Highland Center in Truro. Hatches Harbor also provides a precedent for joint management between the National Seashore and town government. The group also discussed the idea of the Friends of Herring River taking on the management role. This would require restructuring the FHR board, building staff capacity and securing a reliable funding stream.
Hillary Greenberg noted that in the past, Wellfleet has had town meeting articles releasing the state from liability for the dike operations. She offered to research the reason and purpose for these articles. The Committee discussed using remaining funds in the CLF legal contract to prepare a title search for the dike property. The Committee agreed on the need to take a systematic look at the available options for long-term management and have a formal process for reviewing and evaluating the options.
Margo Fenn offered to check with Bruce Bierhans to see what he might have found in Wellfleet town records regarding dike ownership. Hunt Durey agreed to check with CLF about using remaining legal research funds for title research. Hillary Greenberg agreed to research the dike-related town meeting articles. Don Palladino offered to write up an outline of available management options for the HRRC to review.
DEIS/EIR Review Process: Tim Smith, Margo Fenn, Eric Derleth and Mark Husbands have been compiling and reviewing comments from HRRC members, TWG members, and other NPS staff. There have been over 700 comments submitted to date, so it is a complicated process to organize and cull through them. Smith, Fenn and Husbands sorted the comments into three categories: Category #1 includes simple, self-explanatory comments that can be sent to the Louis Berger Group (LBG) as is. Category #2 comments need to be reviewed and clarified before sending them to LBG. Category #3 comments are substantive issues that the full HRRC needs to discuss.
Hunt Durey raised a Category #3 issue, noting that the DEIS/EIR needs to do a better job of distinguishing between the impacts of Alternative B versus Alternatives C and D. In particular, the DEIS/EIR should stress the differences among the Alternatives regarding salinity penetration, residence time and sediment transport. The Committee discussed how and where these issues should be emphasized in the DEIS/EIR and agreed that some additional language could be provided in Chapter 2, Sections 2.11 and 2.12 as well as in the Executive Summary.
Another key issue is that the list of topics in Chapter 1, Section 1.79 Socioeconomics is different from the corresponding topics in Chapters 3 and 4. The text in this Chapter needs to be reorganized to make the entire document internally consistent. For example, Nuisance Mosquitoes are not included in the list of Socio-economic topics in Chapter 1, and the other topics need to be grouped in the same order as Chapters 3 and 4, e.g. Nuisance Mosquitoes, Shellfishing, Finfishing, Low Lying Properties, and so forth.
The Committee also discussed Tables 2-1, 2-2, and 2-3 (Acres of Restored Habitat) and agreed to modify the tables to delete the information on Non-Tidal areas and add in a new column providing totals for restored acreage. These numbers should be consistent with the Annual High Water totals shown in Table 4-2 in Chapter 4.
Tim Smith, Margo Fenn, Eric Derleth and Mark Husbands will continue to work together to prepare a consolidated set of DEIS/EIR comments for LBG to use in drafting the final Draft EIS/EIR.
Development of Outreach Strategy for Low-Lying Property Owners: The Committee discussed the process for contacting low-lying property owners. The group reviewed the draft letter to property owners and suggested a number of edits. The Committee also reviewed the draft Regulatory Fact Sheet prepared by Hillary Greenberg and discussed what types of questions property owners may have for the Committee.
The group agreed on the following next steps:
-Finalize Letter to Property Owners:
Margo Fenn agreed to revise the letter to property owners and circulate it to the Committee, with the goal of sending it out in mid-July. Hillary Greenberg and Charleen Greenhalgh agreed to sign the letter as the town representatives on the HRRC.
Finalize the Regulatory Fact Sheet:
Hillary Greenberg agreed to edit the draft Regulatory Fact sheet and provide a revised version to Margo Fenn for distribution to the rest of the HRRC members.
Plan Meetings with Property Owners:
The Committee agreed that there should be small teams of HRRC members to meet with property owners, with a person designated to take notes on issues and concerns, as well as needed follow up. Tim Smith will participate in all meetings with property owners within the boundaries of Cape Cod National Seashore. Margo Fenn offered to provide a template for taking meeting notes.
Material to be Covered in the Meetings: The HRRC agreed on the following general outline of information to present to property owners:
-A brief overview of the restoration project
-Description the EIS/EIR review process
-Review of the LLP database information and maps to explain specific impacts that might affect the owner’s property, including:
-Physical effects
-Regulatory changes
Tim Smith agreed to prepare a basic power-point presentation to outline the key points to cover in each meeting. Each team will provide property owners with the Regulatory Fact Sheet handout and try to respond to whatever questions the landowner may have.
The Committee discussed how to respond to some of the likely questions that property owners may have. Hunt Durey and Margo Fenn offered to draft a summary of responses to frequently asked questions and share that with the rest of the HRRC members.
The meeting was adjourned at 5:00 pm.
Documents Referred to in the Meeting:
-Minutes of the June 6 and 7, 2012 HRRC meetings
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