Washington Conservation Commission

 

Minutes- December 21, 2005

 

 

Assembly time: 7:00 PM.

Present: Carol Andrews, Mike Andrews, Nan Schwartz, Don Damm.

 

1.0   Approval of Minutes: approved as printed motion by Mike, seconded by Carol.

 

2.0   Old Business:

2.1 Dredge and Fill Committee - No activity.

2.2 Planning Board update – Carol attended the Planning Board meeting on the 22^nd of November. With the RFP in his hand Jack Sheehy stated that this NRI is going to be the “guts of the Master Plan.” They also approved a minor subdivision of Ayers Pond Road, a class VI road.

2.3 Don Damm came to speak with us about the Ashuelot Pond Dam Ad Hoc Committee. They are holding their first meeting on January 10^th at 6:30pm at the Town Hall. He invited us to send a delegate. The committee is comprised of three members each of the Ashuelot Pond Association, the Lake Ashuelot Estates Association board, and the Millen Pond Association. They are also seeking a member from the Planning Board. The committee is interested in the effects of the yearly draw down of the pond. We also discussed with Don the issue of a property owner in LAE, who was interested in donating his unbuildable lake front property to the Conservation Commission. Don told us that he did an informal poll of the LAE board members and they were not in favor of waiving the yearly association fees to us if we hold this land in conservation. He said that LAE has done a lot to encourage property owners to acquire adjacent open lots and merge them with their own. In doing this they have decreased the number of lots in LAE from 420 to 377. LAE has no desire to hold lots themselves or be in the real estate business. He stated that he will bring the matter of the lot donation and the fee waiver before their annual meeting this summer for a decision. Don told us about an extensive storm runoff study they did 2 years ago with Jody Connor, a biologist and water expert from DES. They found that conductivity was not higher during storms as feared. They tested 24 spots around the lake for septic leaks and other contaminants. This gave them a good baseline for further testing. Amy Smagula, an environmentalist from DES did extensive testing on the fish, insect, and other populations in Ashuelot with a report coming out in February or March of 2006. Also, NH Fish and Game has done a fish count 3 times. Pat Liotta is tracking demographics for Ashuelot. Don stated he will share with us all of this data so we can incorporate it into the NRI.

2.4 What’s happening in nature? Today is the winter solstice, the beginning of winter in the Northern Hemisphere and summer in the Southern Hemisphere. The winter solstice marks the shortest day and the longest night of the year. The sun appears at its lowest point in the sky, and its noontime elevation appears to be the same for several days before and after the solstice. Hence the origin of the word solstice, which comes from Latin solstitium, from sol, "sun" and -stitium, "a stoppage." Following the winter solstice, the days begin to grow longer and the nights shorter.

 

3.0   Natural Resource Inventory: The Planning Board has committed $6,000.00 for the NRI cost and will budget $4,000.00 more for 2006. We have chosen the Kane/Ingraham proposal submitted during the bid process. Mike made a motion for Con Com to commit $2,000.00 from our funds to help pay for the NRI, seconded by Nan. Proxies were voted for Sandy, Peter, and Jed making the vote unanimous in favor of the motion. Chris Kane expects to have a draft proposal for us in mid January and Pete Ingraham is starting the maps immediately in early January 2006.

4.0   New Business: No new business.

 

5.0   Correspondence:

Responses to RPF: UVLSRPC, SPNHF/Rick Van DePoll, Chris Kane/ Peter Ingraham.

Request for town reports

 

6.0   Other Business – None

7.0   Adjournment: 7:40 PM.                   

8.0 Next Meeting Date: January 18th at 7:00 PM at the Town Hall.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Nan Schwartz

Secretary