NRAB MINUTES - Approved 6/3/03 (Vote 3 - 0)
5/13/03 TOWN HALL 4 PM
PRESENT: Paul Conor, Doug Franklin, Lezli Rowell.
ABSENT: Glenn Shields, John Riehl.
The meeting was called to order at 4:08, after an agenda was agreed upon and Paul Conor was chosen to act as the chair in G. Shield's absence. Paul handed out copies of an "ACEC Stewardship" publication which had been forwarded to him by Selectman Dale Donovan; Lezli Rowell distributed copies of her 4/22/03 Memo re: ACEC Resource Management Plan process and publications forwarded to her by Liz Sorenson, ACEC Program Coastal Coordinator for the Department of Environmental Management (DEM) under the Executive Office of Environmental
Affairs (EOEA). These materials are the 1992 "Final Guidance Document for the Development of Resource Management Plans for Coastal Areas of Critical Environmental Concern" published while ACEC planning was under the Coastal Zone Management jurisdiction (page 5 CZM references are crossed through due to jurisdiction reverting to DEM post-publication) and the 1996 "Policy Guidelines for the Review and Approval of ACEC Resource Management Plans" published after
ACEC planning returned to DEM. Lezli explained the information received of L Sorenson by conversation and the publications sent, which also includes an "ACEC Stewardship" brochure, noting the difference between producing just an "ACEC Inventory" of the designation's physical boundaries, features and resources or producing an "ACEC RMP" which may alleviate the Chapter 91 Waterways permitting moratorium.
Doug Franklin noted that moratoria are not meant to last forever but to allow time for management plans to be produced. Lezli agreed in theory but not in the practice of this particular "ACEC Designation" filing, which was an NRAB initiative (led by D. Echeverria) intended AS MANAGEMENT to protect the harbor tidelands and pond shores from the proliferation of dock, pier and marina constructions to the detriment of the designation-named resources. Lezli noted the difference from building moratoriums which prevent the construction of principle-use structures until management is implemented, as was the case in Tahoe, and moratorium as management to prevent the construction of accessory-use structures. There is no manifest injustice or undue property taking in the prevention of Waterways permitting, and
she noted that the Wellfleet ACEC Designation has not prevented the construction or use of any single-family dwellings. Doug distributed materials re: ACEC, which he obtained on-line, tided "ACEC Program Regulatory Summary" and "Guide to State Regulations and Programs regarding ACECs" which Lezli agreed to submit into the NRAB file.
Paul and Lezli noted the NRAB file, which contained submissions dating back nearly a year. It was noted that standard operating procedure for boards and committees is that the Chair reviews file contents periodically, especially prior to a meeting, and makes copies of any materials to be discussed in meeting for distribution to members, or makes note of file contents for those interested to review. It was noted that the Chair had not taken these actions to keep the NRAB informed, nor had the Chair called any NRAB meetings, or taken action to post this meeting. The meeting was posted by P. Conor, D. Franklin and L. Rowell at 3:57 PM on Friday, May 9, 2003, when opportunity for the Chair to post for the meeting timely was nearly exhausted. Doug initiated a Resolution, stating in writing: Lezli Rowell is
hereby authorized to post a meeting of the Natural Resources Advisory Board on June 3, 2003 at 7:15 PM in the Town Hall Hearing Room, or wherever available. (This was made as a motion by Doug, seconded by Paul). Adopted: 3 yeas, 0 nays at meeting of NRAB May 13, 2003. (Unanimous vote to accept resolution). The document was signed by members present.
The matter of meeting notification to members, posting and attendance was discussed. It was noted that the minutes of 4/1/03 were produced timely and sent to NRAB membership serving to inform the Chair, absent of that meeting, of the motion that the "next NRAB meeting be scheduled May 13, 2003 after the Annual Town Meeting for the purpose of board re-organization ... and to
discuss the next year's priorities and develop procedure." In addition to that date certain motion, Doug reported informing John Riehl of this meeting date by e-mail on the Wellfleet WebPage on 5/8, and both John and Glenn Shields on 5/11 to their e-mail addresses as provided to the Harbor Planning Group. Paul reported speaking with Glenn by phone on 5/8, requesting of him the posting of this meeting. It was agreed that sufficient notice had been provided to all NRAB members of the date and intended purpose of this meeting, but it was the feeling of the Board that the matter of reorganization should be tabled. While the Board could proceed with quorum, it was preferred to take reorganization action with full complement. Doug made statements of dissatisfaction with the absences holding up
process, and moved that "Board reorganization is continued to date certain of June 3, 2003" which Lezli has been authorized to post; Lezli seconded.
Discussion included preference for evening meetings whenever possible to allow the possibility of attendance by the BOS liaison Jerry Houk. Paul asked if anyone had informed him of this meeting, which Lezli answered in the affirmative. The motion voted 3 - 0.
The minutes of 4/1/03 were reviewed; Doug moved acceptance with one amendment. Paul seconded. Discussion included the question of what happens to minutes once approved? Lezli explained that minutes she has produced have been filed with the Town Clerk's office as soon as available as "Draft" and again when "Approved" so the public has access to the record of meeting. The vote to accept the amended minutes was unanimous (3 - 0).
Announcements: Doug noted that in the Audubon newsletter, an evening conference with Carol Ridley is coming up some time in July, and that he has respect for her work as the coordinator for the Pleasant Bay ACEC Resource Management Plan which included working with three towns.
He also wished to discuss projects for the NRAB to be involved with, such as Harbor Water Quality sampling conducted by the CCNS and Town of Wellfleet for bathing beach standards.
Doug suggested that in the future, the NRAB might host a conference re: "The State of the Harbor" to review the ongoing water quality monitoring programs, soliciting speakers from agencies and organizations such as Audubon, CCNS, DMF etc. to interpret data. The board favored the suggestion.
Paul recalled the Harbor Sediment studies originated by the NRAB (Don Lewis, now resigned, steering) and noted that in the "staff led" process it seems that the (now resigned) Shellfish Constable Bill Walton is the only contact that received Draft results. The board agreed it would like follow up from the project and to receive final summary, when it becomes available. Lezli noted that she will go through the NRAB file containing submissions dating back nearly a year and categorize which should be copied for board distribution, left in the file as submission for anyone to review or copy, and which may be outdated for the board to consider deleting. She hoped they may find copied to the NRAB the Harbor Sediments draft study provided to the Constable.
Paul recalled that the project took shape from the NRAB's desire to update the "Natural Resources" chapter of the 1995 Harbor Management Plan (which currently is an alphabetical listing) by working with the CCNS and Audubon to produce a "species and Habitats" map, useful for making management recommendations. He recalled the assistance of Mark Adams from the CCNS and the request of assistance from Audubon, the resulting "first cut7" map shown in a Public Hearing to discuss compatibility of resources and uses, and the Audubon reaction to the map not being marked "Draft" because it did not contain their input. Following the Hearing, it was the work of D. Lewis to find a method of natural resource inventory which was satisfactory to the Town and the interested agencies, hence the
Harbor Sediment study which has now fallen through the political cracks and out of the NRAB's hands.
Doug hoped that the Harbor Sediment study results, as well as AmeriCorps volunteer projects and any student research projects might be useful speakers for an NRAB cosponsored informational conference. Paul agreed that information "funneled" through the NRAB should be "brought to the table" for the citizens of Wellfleet, and that the reference section of the Library is also a useful
location to make information accessible to those interested, in addition to Town Hall. Doug concluded by noting that the benefit of such a conference would be to "shake our" what other research is going on applicable to the interests of all the Town Boards and Committees, and Paul made analogy to the NRAB's past performances in that role with the Mass. MiniBays Project and working with DMF to create a Herring Warden position.
Lezli recalled that the NRAB file in the upstairs copy room at Town Hall had contained many submissions and NRAB documents in the past, and had been emptied sometime around late Spring or early summer of 2001. She said she is preparing for the Board a binder of what materials she personally had copied and retained from that loss to make available for the board (and to include some more recent materials), and will have it ready by the June 3, 2003 meeting. It is regretted
that some NRAB submissions and works were lost.
Moving on to the agenda item of discussing procedure and priorities for the NRAB, Doug distributed his recommendation of three resolutions for the board to adopt, and moved acceptance of:
1. The NRAB withdraws its participation in the Wellfleet HPG established on Sept. 8, 2002;
2. That plans for the harbor, shellfish, marina and ACEC being important to the concerns of the citizens and to the future of the Town of Wellfleet, the NRAB will immediately proceed towards accomplishing those objectives pursuant to its charge by Town Meeting in 1987 and will work cooperatively with other town committees sharing jurisdiction over these important resources; and
3. That the BOS be notified of this action forthwith.
This was seconded by Lezli. Discussion included using this set of resolutions as the opening of a packet to be produced by the NRAB and delivered to the BOS timely for their consideration of the Harbor Planning Group's request for agenda time on May 27, 2003. Paul noted that the proposed motions prepared by Lezli gave further explanation as to why the NRAB would choose to withdraw from the HPG process - specifically in that the scope of process was defined by staff without the NRAB or public input, so he preferred using both sets of motions to prepare a packet for the Selectmen's consideration of process. The motion was accepted unanimously (3-0).
Lezli presented her proposed five motions, reading numbers I - 5 into the record, including the description of "Process of Updating Harbor Management Plan" attached, which no. 5 refers to.
Lezli moved no. 1, Paul seconded.
Lezli moved no. 2, Doug seconded.
Lezli moved no. 3, Doug seconded.
Lezli moved no. 4, Doug seconded.
Lezli moved no. 5, Paul seconded.
(Attached to minutes)
Discussion followed: it was agreed that motions no. 1 and 2 described why the NRAB wished to withdraw from the HPG process and offer the alternative of reverting to the Town Meeting process. From the audience, Selectwoman Helen Miranda Wilson questioned the use of the word "stakeholder" in that it implies to her "financial stakes". Lezli responded that it was used more generally to mean the interested boards and committees in Town, citizen groups, technical
agencies, etc. and is used that way throughout the State-certified HMP regulations, but agreed it should be stricken as it is confusing. Helen further encouraged that any packet prepared for the BOS to consider should include the Town Meeting charge referenced, to make the information available to the reader. This was agreed to by the board.
Doug expressed concern that the motion requesting staff delegates to support the NRAB as per TM charge seemed too "directing" for the present need; Lezli thought it might more properly be in the discussion of chapter tasking that requests of specific staff support comes up. She noted that this was only included as the NRAB had in the past been denied access to staff prior to the origin of the
"staff led" process. She understood that the staff could not be available to every volunteer board and committee member in town on demand and still handle ordinary workload, that BOS must vote to authorize the TA to delegate staff support - but perhaps that should be requested once some decision regarding process is reached by the BOS. Lezli withdrew motion no. 3, which was
acceptable to the seconder. The attached "Process for Updating Harbor Management Plan" was discussed with some amendments made, specifically it was decided that describing redrafting in detail was not necessary. ("NRAB gives redraft, editing, material submissions and management recommendations etc. to a general administrator to prepare draft chapter for NRAB's consideration" was deleted). Helen asked who the NRAB meant for the "general administrator" to convert existing hard copy to software and provide the "secretarial chunk" - noting that it was too much for a volunteer board, and that Rex Peterson, Ass't. TA had served in that capacity for the "Affordable Housing Task Force" very effectively. Paul recalled the amount of time the NRAB put into
considering a Natural Resource Officer or combined Conservation / Natural Resource position
which eventually yielded to the Planning Board request for a Town Planner position - and that was in turn combined as a Planner/Ass't. TA with the explanation that the agent would be available to support various planning and administrative needs, such as the Harbor Management Plan.
Doug commented that if funding were available for the NRAB, a consultant such as Carol Ridley who has worked on ACEC, Plans might be an alternative; Lezli recalled the last round of NRAB consultancy had been limited by the Town's lack of software access to information. The scope of service had been reduced down to just the Water Quality tasks as the consultant could not access physical records, and she recalled inquiring of the Computer Advisory Committee whether the existing hard copy HMP could be scanned into computer record - but was informed there would be so many corrections necessary that the whole text needs to be typed in. She felt that until the 1995 Plan is adapted to software for updating and editing purposes, the use of a consultant is limited.
Helen offered the advice that the parenthetical statement with the proposed process (Any appearances of conflict of interest will be avoided by filing with the Town Clerk and avoided by appropriate handling of content areas) was distracting and unnecessary as the Open Meeting and Conflict of Interest Laws are expected to be followed. It was agreed to drop this statement. Lezli stated that the proposal is a participation plan, similar to the State-certified HMP process without being its own CMR, and is meant not just to identify a problem but to also offer a solution: a locally-approved Plan. She called for the vote on the proposal to use the amended motions as the packet to be forwarded to the BOS for their consideration on May 27, 2003, unanimously accepted by vote of 3-0. (**The accepted motions as compiled
with the resolutions and 1987 ATM charge are attached to these minutes and will be submitted timely to the Board of Selectmen as noted).
Returning to discussion of "the ACEC designation as permitting moratorium, it was noted that the Ass't. Health and Conservation Agent, Erik Mitchell, had sent memo to the Eastham, Truro and Wellfleet Conservation Commissions for an "ACEC Stewardship" workshop with Katie Lund of CZM to take place May 14,2003 at Town Hall. In discussing the differences between ACEC Inventory and RMP, and whether or not to change the status of the moratorium which has protected the Town from coastal structure development since 1989 - it was the NRAB's consensus that it would take Public Hearing process, perhaps with the Shoreline and Intertidal HMP chapters, to determine if it is the Town's interest to make new or expanded Chapter 91 permits possible.
Lezli cautioned that it is inappropriate to assume that new development opportunities should be supported without any public input. Doug and Paul expressed interest in attending the K. Lund workshop, and Lezli expressed her regret that she did not have notice of it timely to arrange attending.
The NRAB discussed intention to hold at least monthly meeting through the summer, and perhaps a Public hearing to receive comments and input re: marina use issues, while more users are in town.
Helen suggested contacting May Ruth Seidel, chair of the Non-Residents Taxpayers Assoc., who is very helpful and interested.
Abby Franklin of Audubon asked from the audience to be put on the June 3rd agenda, as she is gathering interested parties for an update of the species and habitat mapping project and interpretation of the harbor sediment study through the classification of soil sediment types and obligated invertebrates. Lezli moved to put Abby on that agenda as requested, Doug seconded, voted unanimously (3-0).
Lezli moved to adjourn at 5:45 PM; seconded by Paul. Voted unanimously (3-0).
Respectfully submitted,
Lezli Rowell
ADDENDUM
In reviewing the NRAB file folder from Town Hall (returned 5/15/03) I sorted materials by category:
-Outdated submissions, to be reviewed by board before discarding (B. Walton's "Monthly Reports" 3/13/02 - 3/12/03; Three requests for Annual Town Report submission w/o a draft submission in the file; Adjustments to Budgeted Expenditures 8 / 16 / 02 - 4 / 24 / 03).
-Outdated materials to discard (2001 Mass. Environmental Trust annual report, old memos, etc).
-Materials to copy and distribute to board (ACEC info, Memo from Open Space/Land Bank re: disposition of Town-owned land).
I note that letters I have written through the past ten months, cc: to the NRAB, are not in the file, nor is a "Draft Harbor Sediments Study" report forwarded from the Shellfish Constable.
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