Approved Meeting Minutes
Herring River Restoration Committee (HRRC)
Cape Cod National Seashore Headquarters
Wellfleet, MA
November 1, 2012
9:30 am-5:00 pm
Members Present: Tim Smith, Eric Derleth, Hunt Durey, Steve Spear, Steve Block, Hillary Greenberg-Lemos, Charleen Greenhalgh
Others Present: Margo Fenn, Don Palladino, John Portnoy
Administration/Coordination:
Communications/Coordination with Friends of Herring River (FHR): Don Palladino reported that there was a lot of interest in the FHR booth during the Wellfleet Oyster Fest. John Portnoy, Don and Tim Smith will be on Ira Wood’s radio show on WOMR on Tuesday, November 6, 2012 to discuss the Restoration Project.
The Committee discussed whether to have a briefing session for local media prior to the public hearing on the DEIS/EIR. The group agreed that it would appropriate for the FHR to do some outreach prior to the hearing, and to provide access to its video about the river and the Restoration Project to local media.
Grant Opportunities: Don Palladino reported that he had not yet heard anything about the Massachusetts Environmental Trust (MET) and Massachusetts Bay Program (MBP) grants that the FHR submitted in October. Steve Block reported that Restore America’s Estuaries (RAE) had approved funding to the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) to provide Project Coordination services to the HRRC. CLF will contract with the Friends of Herring River to provide these services. Funds should be available starting sometime in November.
Margo Fenn, Don Palladino, Hunt Durey and Steve Block agreed to work with Peter Shelley of CLF to set up an administrative process for the Project Coordination grant.
Approval of Minutes: The Committee voted to approve the minutes of the October 11, 2012 meeting with the following corrections:
1. Under Informational Updates, correct the references to the MET and MBP grant applications as follows:
Other Grant Opportunities: The FHR also submitted a grant application to the Massachusetts Environmental Trust (MET) for $50,000. These funds would be used to prepare the 20% design plans for a new Chequessett Neck Road dike. The FHR also submitted a grant application to the Massachusetts Bays Program (MBP) for $20,000 to fund additional hydrodynamic modeling.
2. Under the Workshop with Fuss and O’Neill, add a sentence as follows:
Fuss and O’Neill will check lateral loading calculations for the two different bridge options.
Margo Fenn agreed to make the corrections to the minutes and provide the approved minutes to Hillary Greenberg and Charleen Greenhalgh for posting on the town web sites. Margo Fenn will also provide the minutes to Fuss and O’Neill for review.
Schedule Next HRRC Meetings: The Committee discussed the upcoming schedule of meetings and agreed upon the following dates:
-Nov. 8, 2012 (special meeting 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm)
-Nov. 8, 2012 (public hearing on DEIS/EIR 6:30 pm)
-Nov. 28, 2012 (regular meeting 9:30 am to 5:00 pm)
-Nov. 29, 2012 (workshop with Fuss and O’Neill on CNR dike design 9:30 am to 5:00 pm)
-Dec. 12, 2012 (regular meeting 9:30 am to 5:00 pm, including workshop with Fuss and O’Neill and town officials on CNR dike design from 2:00 -5:00 pm)
-Dec. 13, 2012 (regular meeting 9:30 am to 5:00 pm)
The Committee briefly discussed how to structure the workshop with town officials on December 12, 2012. The Committee is seeking town input on the key dike and tide gate design options so that Fuss and O’Neill can move forward with conceptual dike design.
Informational Updates:
Cultural Resources: At the August HRRC meeting National Park Service (NPS) Archaeologist Jim Harmon suggested that the HRRC contact the Public Archaeology Lab (PAL) to request assistance with refining the proposed Programmatic Agreement with the Massachusetts Historical Commission (MHC). There is some remaining funding at the Coastal America Foundation (CAF) that could be used for this purpose.
Tim Smith, Mark Husbands and Bill Burke had a conference call with the Regional NPS Office about the DEIS/EIR Cultural Resources analysis. They agreed that the NEPA process should be separate from the Section 106 process under the National Historic Preservation Act. However, the Section 106 process still needs to be completed before the Record of Decision (ROD) can be filed. A Programmatic Agreement between NPS and MHC could fulfill this requirement.
The HRRC agreed to contact Holly Herbster of PAL and request that she meet with the Committee at an upcoming meeting.
Woods Hole Group (WHG) Final Modeling Report: WHG is completing the final modeling report. The Committee discussed how to make the report available to interested members of the public. It will be a lengthy document so it might be best to make it available on a website. The group discussed what other reference materials are part of the public record. Tim Smith will check with NPS staff about some of the unpublished data.
Discussion:
Outreach to Low-Lying Property Owners: The Committee discussed the outreach efforts to LLP owners. Letters describing the restoration project and possible impacts to private properties were sent to 293 owners (representing 376 parcels) on October 12, 2012. Thus far, fifteen owners had responded, requesting additional information. The Committee set up a system to track these contacts and individual members have been assigned to speak with specific property owners over the coming weeks. Members reviewed the contacts made to date and discussed various issues raised in the process. A small number of letters were returned as undeliverable.
Hillary Greenberg agreed to resend letters to those persons with updated addresses, and provide information for the tracking database to Margo Fenn about any remaining undeliverable letters.
Some owners have questions about impacts to private wells. The Cape Cod Commission staff report also asked for additional information regarding groundwater impacts and private wells. The Committee agreed to review the protocol that was used in Larry Martin’s study of private wells in order to make sure that all potentially affected wells have been identified.
Tim Smith agreed to contact Larry Martin to request further information about his study methods. Hillary Greenberg offered to check town Board of Health records to ascertain well depths and screening depths for specific private wells.
Some property owners have requested on-site meetings with the Committee. The group agreed that it will try to accommodate those requests over time but it is important to respond to all the LLP owner informational requests first. Members will keep a record of their interactions with LLP owners using the Zoho tracking system. If another HRRC member is needed to provide additional information, that member should be copied on email communications with the LLP owners.
HRRC members agreed to follow up with their assigned LLP contacts and track their contacts using the agreed-upon system. Margo Fenn will continue to assign LLP contacts as they come in.
The Committee discussed creating an additional outreach effort for those properties that may have structural impacts. The group agreed to defer this matter until after the DEIS/EIR public hearing. At that time, if these LLP owners have not yet contacted the Committee, it might make sense to send them another letter.
Public Hearing Presentation: The Committee discussed the structure of the November 8, 2012 DEIS/EIR public hearing. Mark Husbands joined the meeting by phone. Margo Fenn explained the structure of the hearing and walked through a draft agenda that she has prepared in consultation with Cape Cod Commission staff. The Committee also reviewed a proposed presentation outline for the public hearing.
The Committee discussed who should make the presentation and agreed that it should be a joint effort by several different members representing the federal, state and local government partners.
Other Business:
Adaptive Management: Work on the Adaptive Management Plan has been on hold because of other time commitments. Tim Smith noted that there are some NPS funding proposals pending that could provide long-term funding for the adaptive management process.
Project Loose Ends: The Committee briefly reviewed the latest (October 31, 2012) list of project loose ends. The group agreed to discuss this further at its November 8, 2012 meeting. Key upcoming issues include future funding needs, developing a long-term outreach and education plan for the project, determining ownership and operations responsibilities for project infrastructure through development of MOU III, and the upcoming federal, state, regional and local permitting processes.
The Committee briefly discussed the idea of acquiring flood easements for key lands within the flood plain. This could be done through conservation purchases or donations. Purchase or conservation restriction of key floodplain areas could benefit the restoration project and could also provide tax benefits for private property owners. This issue needs further discussion.
Documents Referred to in the Meeting:
-Minutes of the October 11, 2012 HRRC Meeting
Respectfully submitted,
Hillary Greenberg-Lemos
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