Washington Conservation Commission
Minutes – August 15, 2007
Assembly time: 6:30 PM.
Present: Carol Andrews, Mark Cummings, Jed Schwartz, Nan Schwartz, Lionel Chute, Johanna Young, Lindley Rankine, Planning Board members: Ken Eastman, Dennis Kelly, Tom Marshall
1.0 Approval of Minutes: motion by Jed, Mark seconded, unanimous vote to approve July minutes.
2.0 Old Business:
2.1 Energy Committee – Johanna thought she wouldnÕt be able to attend this meeting so she had emailed Nan to send a report of all the information she had gathered about doing the energy audit on the town buildings. Luckily she was able to come and discuss her findings. She was contacted by one person interested in joining the Energy Committee but is still looking for more volunteers to join. Anyone interested in joining can contact Johanna at 495-1218 or email her at jsoulnh@aol.com. Jed mentioned the Energy Committee at the Fire Dept. meeting and got a few leads he will follow up on. We will have the Energy Committee have their meetings with the Conservation Commission to start. Carol suggested making Johanna a Conservation Commission alternate member to give her some authority when contacting people about Energy Committee business. She agreed to do this and Carol will send a note to the selectmen about appointing her. Ken agreed to be a contact within the Selectmen's office to help with the energy audit. It was decided that the energy audit should be done on all the town buildings: Town Hall, Town Garage, both Fire Stations, Police Station, Camp Morgan Lodge, and the school. Maybe there is a possibility of getting the school kids involved when doing the school audit.
2.2 Dredge and Fill Committee – None
2.3 What's Happening in Nature? Someone mentioned seeing a pair of bear cubs out by Journey's End. They didn't see Mama bear but chances are that she wasn't too far away. To read more about bear cubs and bears click on this link: http://www.washingtonnh.org/WCC_Html/NewinNature.html
Jed and Nan heard two owls talking to each other one recent evening. They were probably Barred Owls. There has been a meteor shower show going on lately and a few people said they saw some of it. The shuttle and space station were also visible a few nights and always thrilling to see.
3.0 New Business – None
4.0 Other Business – Conservation Plan Public Hearing - At 7 PM we started our working session with the Planning Board. Several PB members came to discuss the up coming public hearing about the NRI/Conservation Plan. The public hearing has been scheduled for August 28th, Tuesday night, at 7PM at the Camp Morgan Lodge. The purpose of the hearing is to present the plan to the public, take comments, and then the Planning Board will discuss and vote on incorporating the Conservation Plan into the Master Plan at their regular monthly meeting. The NRI maps and the draft Conservation Plan will be put on display in the Town Hall starting tonight so that the public can review them before the meeting. Nan will post the document and the CPA map on the website so people can access it there, she will provide the link to the Selectmen so it can go into their minutes on Thursday. The link is: http://www.washingtonnh.org/WCC_Html/NRICP.html She will also make a poster for the meeting and get it up as soon as possible in all the usual places around town.
We then discussed how the meeting would be run. Tom Marshall graciously offered to run the meeting for the Planning Board. The Selectmen, PB, and Con Comm members will all attend. Chris Kane, one of the authors of the plan, will attend and do a power point presentation. Carol suggested that he concentrate on one of the CP areas, maybe the Codman Hill area. Lionel can talk about the process involved in the making of the Plan. Carol will help present and answer questions along with other Conservation Commission members. Ken suggested giving people the main ideas in the plan and have a handout available with conservation options. We will do the main presentation and then do a Q&A session afterward so that the meeting doesn't get side tracked by discussion. Tom suggested that the PB needs to have a meeting before the hearing to vote to accept the plan, that will be arranged with the PB members. Mark agreed to take people aside at the meeting to get their input on the maps or gather any specific thoughts on the plan. Carol agreed to field any calls from people about the plan prior to the meeting. Her number is 495-3195. We all feel it is best if people are well informed and have read the plan before the hearing as it is very comprehensive with many pages of fascinating information. Carol will meet with any interested people to talk specifically about Conservation easements at the end of the meeting.
5.0 Correspondence:
Student Conservation Association Crew and Resource Intern Requests
Local Government Center Municipal Law Lecture Series
6.0 Adjourned at 8:30 PM., our next scheduled meeting is September 19th at 7 PM at the Town Hall
Respectfully submitted,
Nan Schwartz
Secretary