Washington Conservation Commission

Minutes – June 17, 2009

 

Assembly time: 7:00 PM.

 

Present: Carol Andrews, Rich Cook, Nan Schwartz, Johanna Young, Sandy Robinson, and Arin Mills

Guests: None

 

1.0    Approval of Minutes: Minutes from April and May, Sandy made a motion to approve both, Rich seconded, all voted in favor.

 

2.0        Old Business:

2.1   Dredge and Fill Permits – Journey's End/WLA cove dredging project was denied by DES. We have heard that WLA will appeal (they have 30 days to do so). They may also talk about a new permit at their annual meeting.      

        Carol presented the old Dredge and Fill committee process rules from 2004, we are looking at them to see if we need to update them. As of now two people go out to inspect and if they agree then the chair of the committee or the chair of the Commission can sign the permit application, if the two inspectors donŐt agree it has to come before the whole board for a vote. We will discuss if we need to amend the process. Carol proposed voting for a new chair for the committee and suggested Sandy. Sandy suggested we have a co-chair arrangement (Rich agreed to co-chair) and two other people on the committee. Nan said that she and Jed would be willing to be on the committee. Sandy made a motion to create the committee with the previously mentioned people as co-chairs and members, Johanna seconded, all voted in favor. It was suggested by Nan to call it the Permit Review Committee, all agreed. The committee will meet as needed.

2.2   Land Protection Criteria – Sandy wrote up a document that sets out criteria that we can use when evaluating a property for land protection by a conservation easement. We all reviewed the document. We discussed how we could use the criteria to help decide which projects to support. Sandy spoke about not doing anything quantitative and scoring by points but using the criteria in a more subjective way to help decisions. Carol thought we should get rid of the overall rating section, everyone agreed. Nan will look at updating our website using some of the things Sandy wrote in her document. We need to all think about check off items. People should send any suggestions to Nan and she will compile them and edit the document to add check off lines. Carol said that LCHIP has a good environmental site assessment check list to use for assessing a site. She has a copy and will send it out to all members for comments. Carol asked for a vote to accept Sandy's document with future changes and call it "Guidelines for Land Conservation Projects". Nan made a motion, Sandy seconded, all voted in favor. Carol will send out the LCHIP checklist to everyone and Nan will edit Sandy's document to reflect the new name and discussed changes and send it out to all.

2.3   Energy Committee – Three Energy Committee members are attending the first annual Local Energy Committees Conference on June 20th put on by the Carbon Coalition. More information here: http://www.carboncoalition.org/Conference/. They are hoping to come back with some great new ideas. The EC is bringing back their movie night! They will be having one on July 17th at 7PM and are showing "Six Degrees Could Change the World". They are hoping to use the church space for the movie and will get the word out as soon as they have their location decided on.

Johanna asked Rich about the new energy efficient bulbs that PSNH is putting in for the town. He said they are putting them in next week.

Carol mentioned that legislation for establishing Energy Commissions has passed in the state legislature but she didn't think it had been signed by the governor, yet. Johanna asked what this would mean to the Energy Committee and Carol explained that if they wanted to become a commission it would go before the voters at Town Meeting. Johanna thought they might talk about it at the conference they were going to on Saturday.

Carol mentioned that the dedication for the Lempster Wind Farm is happening on Friday and she is going to attend.

2.4   Planning Board update – Nan discussed the site walk scheduled for Friday morning with Planning Board and Conservation Commission members. The LAE board is proposing to do a subdivision on a piece of land adjacent to LAE to use it for a new Road Maintenance Garage. The site is 5 acres but it has only 2.09 acres of upland. The Garage will be 70X40 and needs a 10' variance on one side from the wetlands setback specified in the LUO. There is a hearing with the ZBA and Planning Board about the plan on June 24th at 7PM. CC members will attend the hearing and comment on their observations from the site walk. Carol mentioned that DES has a sheet about the importance of wetlands, Nan will try to track it down.

 

3.0   Other Business:

3.1   Arin mentioned that Don Damm had called her to discuss the erosion on the lighthouse point in LAE. He was looking for suggestions for stopping the erosion, which is several feet a year. They keep moving the lighthouse back but are looking for suggestions on how to stop the erosion. Arin advised him that they need either a wetland or shoreland permit to do anything. Carol said they will need an engineer to evaluate what is going on and assess the situation.

 

4.0   What's Happening in Nature?

Johanna saw a young bear in her yard 2 days in a row, eating acorns. Arin's husband almost hit a bear with his car near that location so it could be the same one. Johanna also had turkey's near her house and saw a Rose breasted Grosbeak.

Rich said he thought he had a porcupine in his pear tree eating the leaves and doing damage.

Johanna saw a moose on Faxon Hill and Carol saw one on the far end of Halfmoon Pond.

Arin went to a Dragonfly workshop at the Audubon Center. She enjoyed it immensely and learned all kinds of things about Dragonflies and how to observe them. The people from the workshop are interested in coming out here to look for dragonflies because this area hasn't been mapped previously. Arin will let us know if they are coming so we can join them. To learn more about Dragonflies go here: http://www.washingtonnh.org/WCC_Html/NewinNature.html

        Arin found an Eastern Hog-nosed Snake in Pembroke (at work), it is considered "state-endangered" so they were lucky to see it. They also found a Smooth Green Snake, which is considered "a species of concern" in New Hampshire. Johanna mentioned she had seen one near her house before.

        Nan mentioned how rainy it has been and cold, the gardens are growing really slowly. Peas, spinach and lettuce like this weather but everything else it waiting for sun and warmth.

        Arin mentioned she has joined a CSA (community supported agriculture) in Stoddard and will be getting her first batch of vegetables this week. For those looking for great local produce without having to have a garden at home this is a great way to go. More information on CSA's can be found here: http://www.washingtonnh.org/WCC_Html/permits.html

        You can also visit the Washington Farmer's Market on the town common every Saturday morning! We discussed how we are all trying to get our food more locally by growing our own or finding local sources. There are some mentioned on our website so let us know if you find others and we will add them to our list.

5.0   New Business:

5.1   Rich mentioned that the Twin Bridge Road property beyond the Town Forest is on the market again and we should revisit the issue. He said the Selectmen will look into who the realtor is and how much it is listed for.

 

6.0   Correspondence:

DES Request for More Information File #2009-00460 Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Standard Dredge and Fill application: abutter notification was not done correctly, requested dock length is excessive for this site, DES is asking for the alternative with the least impact to wetlands and surface waters such as a location for the second dock that does not cross wetlands, gazebo and shed construction is problematic within the 50 ft setback (they should file a separate shoreland permit, locate one structure behind the 50 ft. line and eliminate one building or remove the structures from the plan). Response required by July 31st.

DES Request for More Information File #2009-00418 Kimball Standard Dredge and Fill application missing appropriate filing fee. 

Kimball cc. of letter sent with additional filing fees and copy of DES letter

DES Complete Forestry Notification File #2009-00954, Vibert, Map 15 Lot 52

DES Complete Forestry Notification File #2009-00942, NH DRED, Map 4 Lot 6

DES Notice of Invalid Permit by Notification File #2009-00575, PSNH, the applicant did not submit additional information within the requested 20 day timeframe. 

NH Local Government Center postcard announcing the 2009 edition of Knowing the Territory: A Survey of Municipal Law for New Hampshire Local Officials. CD is $6 for LGC members (each member municipality has received a complimentary copy).

        

7.0   Adjourned at 9:00 PM, our next scheduled meeting is July 15th at 7 PM in the Town Hall.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Nan Schwartz

Secretary