Washington Conservation Commission
Minutes – November 21, 2007
Assembly time: 7:00 PM.
Present: Carol Andrews, Jed Schwartz, Nan Schwartz, Johanna Young, Don Richards, Lindley Rankine,
1.0 Approval of Minutes: October minutes, Jed motioned to accept as written, Johanna seconded, and the vote was unanimous to accept.
2.0 Old Business:
2.1 Dredge and Fill Committee – None
2.2 Energy Committee – The Energy Committee meeting minutes are posted on the WCC website on the Minutes page, click here: http://www.washingtonnh.org/ECMinutes11807.htm Johanna reported they are waiting for the results of the energy audit, which should arrive in any time, the auditors were waiting for sme information about the Public Works building. The auditor will send the report in PDF form so we can post it on the web site and maybe include it in the town report. Jerry Klohs is collecting energy saving tips for a three ring binder to leave at the Town Hall for the public. Johanna reserved a table for the Christmas Fair. They will be selling cards with scenes from Washington. Nan will make sure they have a copy of the Conservation Plan to put on the table. They settled on a monthly meeting day of the 2nd Thursday of the month at the Town Hall. Jerry is going to do a workshop with the school kids and he is looking for age appropriate materials.
2.3 Planning Board update – The PB is working on several ordinances and LUO fixes to bring to Town Meeting.
2.4 Lake Ashuelot Lot Donations - Carol talked to Rich about how the town wants to deal with the lots people want to donate to the Town or Conservation Commission and he brought it to the Selectmen. They decided to form a committee to look at the issue. We have been unable to accept the lots so far because the Ashuelot Lake Estates Association will not waive their yearly fees on these lots. LAE is opposed to the formation of the committee. We think the issue needs some creative thinking to deal with it. Carol suggested maybe a one-time fee payment in lieu of the yearly fees. The Selectmen are looking for interested people to be on the committee.
3.1 EW Watershed Grant - Jed worked on writing the grant application with Ed Thayer and his engineer Erin Darrow. They made it through the first round of cuts and now have an interview next Friday with a group at DES. There is an education and out reach component to the grant and we offered our help and the use of our website for the project. Don mentioned that NRCS also has funds that might be available for these kinds of projects.
3.0 New Business - None
3.2 What's Happening in Nature?
Don had a porcupine that pruned his apple tree for him this fall. Carol knows an orchardist who had lots of trouble this year with rodents doing damage to his trees. We had our first snow yesterday. Last month Don talked about his Chestnut tree and he this month he reported that he has contacted the American Chestnut Foundation to get more information about these magnificent trees. http://www.acf.org They have a page that can help you to identify your chestnut tree, as there are 3 non-chestnut species and 3 separate chestnut types that can be confused. This month we will have more information about the Chestnut in the "What's New In Nature" section of our website: http://www.washingtonnh.org/WCC_Html/NewinNature.html
4.0 Other Business – None
5.0 Correspondence:
Supply Lines newsletter from DES
Invitation to November 17th watershed conference
Voas permit #2007-02440 notice of administrative completeness for minimum impact expedited application
Approval of above permit (project specific conditions apply)
Rinker NE stormwater technology workshop announcements (MA and CT)
Notice of workshop entitled "Energy Conservation Forum Tolls for Municipalities on Nov. 14th
Newsletter from Fox Forest
Northeast Utilities notice that we were not selected for grant funding
6.0 Adjourned at 8:00 PM, our next scheduled meeting is December 19th at 7 PM at the Town Hall.
Respectfully submitted,
Nan Schwartz
Secretary