Approved Meeting Minutes
Herring River Restoration Committee (HRRC)
Cape Cod National Seashore Headquarters
Wellfleet, MA
August 15, 2012
9:30 am-5:00 pm
Members Present: Tim Smith, Charleen Greenhalgh, Eric Derleth, Hunt Durey, Steve Spear, Steve Block, Hillary Greenberg-Lemos
Others Present: Margo Fenn, Don Palladino, David McGowan, Bill Burke, Jim Harmon, John Portnoy
Administration/Coordination:
Communication/Coordination with Friends of Herring River (FHR): Don Palladino reported that the FHR’s MET grant application was not approved. MET apparently wants a more specific grant deliverable, and since the grant application focused primarily on project coordination, it was not approved. However, Bill Hinkley of MET encouraged FHR to apply again in the next round of grants.
Don Palladino noted that the FHR video has been well received. The video will be presented at the FHR Annual Meeting on Tuesday, August 21, 2012 and is available on the FHR website. The FHR is also co-sponsoring (with the Wellfleet Historical Commission) walks on Bound Brook Island to explore the history of the area and the river.
Margo Fenn, Tim Smith and Hillary Greenberg agreed to attend the FHR Annual Meeting on August 21, 2012 to answer any questions about the DEIS/EIR schedule and process.
Approval of Minutes: The Committee voted unanimously to approve the minutes of the July 12, 2012 meeting.
Schedule of HRRC Meetings: The Committee agreed to the following meeting schedule:
Thursday, September 13, 2012 (regular meeting)
Thursday, October 11, 2012 (regular meeting)
The Committee noted that the Technical Working Group (TWG) had been tentatively scheduled to meet on October 10, 2012. It is not clear yet whether that meeting will be needed, but if it is, it would be better for the TWG meeting to be scheduled after the HRRC meeting. Therefore, the group suggested moving the TWG meeting to October 17, 2012. Margo Fenn agreed to notify TWG members about the possible meeting date change.
Informational Updates:
Project Coordination Funding/Contracting: Margo Fenn pointed out that the existing funding for project coordination will run out at the end of September, 2012. Since the Friends of Herring River (FHR) did not receive a grant award to provide project coordination services, other sources of funds will be needed to address this. Hunt Durey reported that he had been working with the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) and the NOAA Restoration Partnership to seek funds for this purpose. He proposes to seek $25,000 in RAE-NOAA funds to be matched by $25,000 in Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration (DER) funds for this purpose. The goal would be to provide a grant to the FHR similar to what had been proposed under the MET scope of work. This would help build FHR’s institutional
capacity. The Committee discussed this idea and agreed that it would make sense to structure a project coordination grant this way.
Margo Fenn and Don Palladino agreed to work with Hunt Durey and Steve Block to develop a work plan for project coordination in a format consistent with the RAE-NOAA requirements. Hunt Durey will check with DER legal counsel to ensure that the grant approach is acceptable.
Hunt Durey also reported that the Corporate Wetlands Restoration Partnership had agreed to provide $20,000 to assist in the development of the Adaptive Management Plan for the Herring River Restoration Project. These funds will augment $30,000 provided by the National Park Service for this purpose.
TNC/CYCC/NPS Land Plan and Appraisal: David McGowan of The Nature Conservancy (TNC) reported that the land plan and appraisal for the possible sale of fourteen acres of Chequessett Yacht and Country Club (CYCC) property to the National Park Service (NPS) had been completed. The results of the appraisal report had been provided to CYCC representatives. At this point, the CYCC does not wish to meet to discuss it further. The CYCC is working on a plan to sell one lot along Chequessett Neck Road to a private party. This will entail review by the Cape Cod Commission and the Town of Wellfleet.
The Committee agreed that it would be important to meet with CYCC representatives as part of the outreach process to low-lying property owners. The group agreed that we need to update the CYCC Board and staff regarding the development and review of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement/Report (DEIS/EIR), including a discussion of the proposed preferred alternative and the Mill Creek dike. Margo Fenn offered to contact Barbara Boone to suggest a meeting with CYCC representatives in September.
Cultural Resources: Programmatic Agreement with MHC: Bill Burke, Cape Cod National Seashore Historian and Jim Harmon, NPS Archaeologist joined the meeting to discuss a July 16, 2012 comment letter from the Massachusetts Historical Commission (MHC) regarding the proposed Programmatic Agreement for the Herring River Restoration Project. Jim Harmon noted that there are some technical comments in the letter that should be fairly straight-forward and easy to address. For example, references to the Massachusetts Historical Commission (MHC) should be revised to reference the Massachusetts State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO), and a map should be added to illustrate the project area of potential effect. SHPO also wants new stipulations to be added to address procedures to follow in the event that
any human remains are discovered during construction.
The more problematic recommendations of the comment letter relate to the 10th, 11th and 12th “Whereas” clauses in the draft Programmatic Agreement. SHPO wants to delete these clauses and the first two “Stipulation” paragraphs, and substitute new language that would require an intensive archaeological survey to be conducted within archaeologically sensitive portions of the project area. Committee members pointed out that the project area is over 1,000 acres in size, and that soil disturbance will only occur in very limited locations. The purpose of the project is to restore tidal flow to areas that were historically subject to tidal flow. Thus, mere inundation should not adversely affect archaeological resources in these areas.
Jim Harmon suggested that the Committee compile evidence from other projects to support the assertion that tidal inundation would not cause adverse impacts. Tim Smith noted that similar issues had been raised in the Thompson’s Island case, but they ultimately found that there was no physical harm caused by tidal inundation. Eric Derleth asked whether MHC had ever asked for an archaeological inventory within the floodplain for other salt marsh restoration projects.
Jim Harmon suggested hiring an archaeological consultant to prepare a basic research design for a Phase 1B study and to advise the Committee on next steps, and then to set up a meeting with the SHPO. Hunt Durey noted that many of the archaeologically sensitive areas are located on private lands. Just getting landowners’ permission to conduct site investigations could be a huge undertaking. Steve Spear suggested that the Committee overlay the key tidal benchmarks for Alternative D on the maps of archaeologically sensitive areas in order to better define what areas might actually be affected by tidal flow.
Tim Smith noted that there are some funds remaining in the Coastal America Foundation (CAF) account that could be used to hire the Public Archaeology Lab (PAL) to work on this issue. He agreed to contact CAF and PAL to follow up on this. Hunt Durey offered to research the Thompson’s Island case and provide that information to the Committee and the consultants.
RAE-NOAA Grant for Project Engineering: Steve Block reported that the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) had signed a contract with the firm of Fuss and O’Neill to begin work on engineering design for the Chequessett Neck Road dike and tide gates. The first step is to survey existing conditions on the site. Fuss and O’Neill would like to have a meeting with the HRRC in September to discuss and refine the options for the dike and tide gate configurations. The Committee agreed to set aside about two hours during its September 13, 2012 meeting for this discussion. Members requested that background materials for that discussion be provided in advance of the meeting, if possible.
Review of Woods Hole Group (WHG) Final Modeling Report: Tim Smith reported that he had received comments from an NPS oceanographer on the draft report. The modeling subcommittee needs to review the report and related comments and get its suggestions for changes and clarifications back to WHG as soon as possible. Once the main text of the report is completed, the WHG will prepare an Executive Summary for inclusion in the Appendix of the Draft EIS/EIR.
The modeling subcommittee agreed to review the draft Final WHG Modeling Report and get comments to Tim Smith by August 22, 2012.
Discussion:
DEIS/EIR Schedule and Next Steps: Tim Smith reported that the HRRC and NPS combined comments had been submitted to the Louis Berger Group. Both the Department of Interior (DOI) Solicitors Office and the NPS Regional Office submitted detailed comments that had to be reconciled with all the other comments received. Mark Husbands is working with NPS officials to ensure that their comments are satisfactorily addressed in Version 3 of the DEIS/EIR. The Committee discussed a number of specific issues raised by DOI legal counsel, including the status of the existing Chequessett Neck Road dike and maintenance of a proper fishway. Hunt Durey agreed to review some DOI suggested language with state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) legal counsel to ensure that it is consistent with the legislation that
authorized construction of the dike.
The Committee discussed the likely regulatory permitting process for the Restoration Project and agreed that it is likely that NPS will need to seek permits for some aspects of the project, while the Towns of Wellfleet and/or Truro would need to apply for others. Chapter 5 of the DEIS/EIR discusses this.
DOI legal counsel also recommended that the DEIS/EIR include a description of the options for long-term ownership and management of the project infrastructure. Don Palladino had drafted an outline of some of the management options for the Committee to consider. The Committee discussed how to combine these ideas into text for the DEIS/EIR and agreed that a section should be added in Chapter 2 to address this.
Tim Smith agreed to draft a section to be added to Chapter 2 to briefly describe the options for long-term ownership, operation and management of the tide control infrastructure.
The Committee discussed the timeframe for completion of the DEIS/EIR. Incorporating all the internal comments will take more time, so that it is not feasible to issue the DEIS/EIR at the end of August as planned. The Committee agreed to propose the following general schedule:
-September 14, 2012: LBG to complete the revisions and deliver v. 3 of the DEIS/EIR
-September 28, 2012: HRRC completes its review of v.3 and delivers revisions to LBG
-October 12, 2012: LBG delivers camera ready DEIS/EIR
-Mid-October, 2012: DEIS/EIR is released for public review (starts 60-day review period)
-Mid-November, 2012: Public hearing(s) on DEIS/EIR
-Mid-December, 2012: Public comment period closes
Margo Fenn and Tim Smith agreed to review the proposed project schedule with Mark Husbands and LBG. They will also inquire about the status of the Federal Register notice.
Ownership, Operation and Maintenance of Project Infrastructure: Don Palladino provided a brief overview of the management options outline that he prepared. The outline covers the management tasks that need to be accomplished and suggests some evaluation criteria to use in reviewing available options. It proposes four broad options for long-term management and suggests pros and cons for each one. Palladino noted that it will be critical to identify and meet with the leaders of organizations and agencies that may be able to play a role in managing the Restoration Project. The Committee briefly discussed the outline and agreed to review it prior to the September HRRC meeting. At that meeting, the group will prepare a more detailed comparison of the available options. The goal is to
develop a HRRC recommendation that can be presented to interested town, state and federal officials.
HRRC members agreed to review the management options outline and evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of different approaches in preparation for the September HRRC meeting.
Outreach Strategy for Low-Lying Property (LLP) Owners: At its July meeting, the HRRC had agreed to send out a letter to all low-lying property owners and set up individual meetings with interested landowners. This process had to be postponed because of the extensive editing needed on the DEIS/EIR, and because there were still corrections needed to the LLP database and mailing list. Tim Smith explained some of the issues with the database and mailing list and Charleen Greenhalgh offered to help with needed additions and corrections.
The Committee discussed how to reach out to LLP owners, given that many of them are seasonal residents and will not likely be on-Cape in the fall. The group agreed to send a letter to all property owners, but to try to focus the meetings on the properties where there may be structural impacts. The letter should include an email address to contact the HRRC with any questions and comments. The Project Coordinator can assign HRRC members to respond to specific inquiries by phone and/or email. David McGowan suggested that the HRRC prepare a power-point presentation that could be posted on a website (perhaps the FHR website) to better explain specific issues, such as changes in the riverfront jurisdiction under the Wetlands Protection Act.
The Committee 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 the fall. Hillary Greenberg and Charleen Greenhalgh agreed to sign the letter as the town representatives on the HRRC.
Finalize the Regulatory Fact Sheet:
Hillary Greenberg distributed a revised draft Regulatory Fact sheet, which was approved by the Committee.
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. The Committee will review this at the September 13, 2012 meeting. Don Palladino offered to invite several LLP owners who are familiar with the Restoration Project to attend the September HRRC and provide feedback on the power-point presentation and outreach approach. Margo Fenn will provide these owners with a copy of the draft outreach letter prior to the meeting.
Plan Meetings with Property Owners:
The Committee discussed directly contacting those LLP owners who could experience structural impacts. The Committee tentatively discussed setting up a block of times to meet with these owners in October. Possible times for meetings include:
-Thursday, October 11, 2012: 6:00-9:00 pm (after the regular HRRC meeting)
-Friday, October 12, 2012: 9:00 am-5:00 pm
-Saturday, October 13, 2012: 9:00 am-Noon
The Committee will decide at the September meeting whether or not to schedule these times for meetings with property owners.
The meeting was adjourned at 5:00 pm.
Documents Referred to in the Meeting:
-Minutes of the July 12, 2012 Meeting
-Draft Programmatic Agreement between the Massachusetts Historical Commission and Cape Cod National Seashore regarding the identification and resolution of effects upon Archaeological Resources resulting from the Herring River Restoration Project (undated)
-July 16, 2012 letter from Brona Simon, State Historic Preservation Officer to George Price, Superintendent of Cape Cod National Seashore
-Draft Herring River Restoration Management Options, August 8, 2012
Respectfully submitted,
Hillary Greenberg-Lemos
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