Present: Washington Planning Board and Conservation Commission
Working Session on Town Owned Lots
Minutes - Friday, November 4, 2011
Assembly time: 10:00 AM.
Planning Board: Tom Marshall (Selectmen's representative on the Board), Nan Schwartz (also, Conservation Commission), Lynn Cook (Chair and Assessor), Lionel Chute, Jim Crandall, Steve Terani, and Jean Kluk
Conservation Commission: Jed Schwartz (Chair), and Sandy Robinson
Public: None
1.0 Purpose of meeting. Jed Schwartz stated that the purpose of the meeting was to review the data available and the notes from the field visits for each of the TOLs in LAE and to come to a consensus recommendation for the Selectmen regarding how the Selectmen might best proceed in the disposition of the lots by the town.
2.0 Review of lots. The process was as follows. Nan Schwartz described each property and the notes from the field visits. Lynn Cook added information about suitability to build and assessment values. Pictures taken on site visits were available and reviewed by committee members. Discussion followed. Motions were made and seconded for the recommended action for each lot. In each case a Condition of sale was recommended, a deed restriction is also an option.
The following recommendations were voted unanimously.
Lot by number:
1. TM 12-180 – 3.4 acres
Maps showed this lot to be in the flood plain as mapped by FEMA, we need to check how much of it is within the flood zone. Old stonewall along the front roadside. Entering the lot from the right front we found very large pines and other mixed hardwoods. There is a dug well covered with a tarp about 100 feet in. Cinder blocks and trash littered the lot near the front. The front right corner is higher and drier. Near rear of property is an old rusting car. The rear borders on large bog/wetland area and the lot is low and wet in the rear. Spring weeps found in middle of lot and there is a drainage cut off Rt. 31 to the left side sending water from the road onto the property making the left side wetter.
Recommended Action: Town keep lot and attach to Town Forest.
2. TM 16-75 - .51 acres, corner lot
Abuts following lot 16-83 (across East Washington Road), small corner lot with frontage on both Rt. 31 and East Washington Road. On E. Washington Rd. side it was spongy, with wet areas and seeps amid very large boulders. Very steep lot, with the highest point near front on the Rt.31 side. Lot covered with high knolls and low wet spots, birches and smaller pines. This is a good buffer zone and provides screening for the mess on the abutting property. Not suitable for building or driveway access (too close to major intersection).
Recommended Action: Town keep property and merge with TM 16 – 83.
3. TM 16-83 – 1.18 acres, corner lot
Abuts previous lot 16-75, 1 invasive species - Japanese Knotweed and a lot of Sumac growing heavily on intersection corner, behind it is a very large boulder with wet area next to it. Steep slope from road on left corner of Rt. 31 then lot gets very high. Very bouldery, land drops from ridge on left side and right side is all low land with wetlands. Birches, large pines and beech going in at high spot, ridge dramatically drops to wet area then the ground rises again up to East Washington Road side, large wet area in middle toward rear.
Recommended Action: Town keep property and merge with TM 16 – 75.
4. TM 16-98 – 3.3 acres
Land rises from road, there is a road drainage cut into property. Bouldery, land drops off after small rise then rises again in rear. The left corner is higher, right corner lower. It is a long skinny lot and drops off steeply from the abutting lot on left side to lower, wetter area. Large boulders with some caves, mixed hardwood, maple, beech and pines, ferns and wet areas in middle with a stream toward the rear.
Recommend Action: Offer to abutters with Condition of Sale to merge.
5. TM 16-101 – 3.5 acres
Abuts following lot TM 16-102. Lot is on a hilly corner of the road. High in left corner land falls away and is wet in the center. Large pines, mixed hardwood, birch, beech, stripped maple. Moose poop near standing water area. Some steep land toward rear. Lots of fallen dead trees scattered on lot.
Recommended Action: Offer to abutters with Condition of Sale to merge.
6. TM 16-102 – 3.6 acres
Abuts previous lot TM 16-101. High spot near road, year round brook runs through property, land rises from brook, bouldery, falls again on right side. Pines, hemlock, mixed hardwoods, stripped maples, birch. Driveway cut in from road at right side low spot, trail then leads up hill to shed in small clearing. Large pines, land rises in rear to high point, very wet near road on left side.
Recommend Action: Offer to abutters with Condition of Sale to merge.
7. TM 13-35 – 5.5 acres
Stonewall along road and sides, very steep from road, we entered on left corner. Large pines and mixed hardwood, beech, birch, ferns and boulders. Steep lot, rises all the way to the rear of lot.
This lot abuts the Eccardt Farm/SPNHF easement. The consensus was that this parcel should be protected.
Recommended Action: Offer to abutters with Condition of Sale to merge and protect.
8. TM 23-31 – .05 acre
Very small lot with large patch of horsetail or scouring rush present, wet sandy soils, old stone foundation of pump house. Some hardwood, land falls away steeply after foundation straight down to Beard's Brook and is in shoreland protection zone. Some burning bush/euonymus (invasive plant) present.
Recommended Action: Offer to abutters with Condition of Sale to merge.
9. TM 12-187 – .5 acre, back lot
Wooded lot bounded by stonewall in front, mix of pines, soft and hardwoods, ash, yellow birch, beech, sugar maple, obvious watershed and steep down to Halfmoon Pond Brook. Back lot with no other access, we need to check for deeded right of way. No right-of-way found.
Recommended Action: Offer to abutters with Condition of Sale to merge.
10. TM 7-45 – 5.1 acres
Land rises from road, steep terrain, maple beech, mostly hardwoods, stonewall along road, logged for cordwood in 2002. High knoll then land falls away in back. Lot is wider in the front and narrower in the back. South and north facing slopes. Campsite up on top of knoll about 600 feet in has been active in the not too distant past, maybe over the summer or last year.
Recommended Action: Offer to abutters with Condition of Sale to merge.
11. TM 11-26 – 4 acres, corner lot
Steep corner lot, ledge along road with water running out if it, steep on left side, potential view to west. Stonewall along road, not as steep on the right side around corner. Drive/path entering lot at about 600' (right side) and going in quite a way, good access. Mixed hardwood and soft wood, stripped maple, red maple, large pines, many small balsams growing in understory. Lot high and dry up in and land flattens out up top. Found signs along path warning about tree cutting signed by Tweedy (abutter on right side) couldn't tell if this was on or off the lot, so there is a possibility that the path is on abutting lot but the road frontage measurement indicates that it is on this lot.
Recommended Action: Offer to abutters with Condition of Sale to merge.
12. TM 11-87 - .043 acre
Very small wet lot bounded on right by brook with brushy growth, culvert on the left side (new after recent storms) dumping water onto property and abutting property.
Recommended Action: Offer to abutters with Condition of Sale to merge.
13. TM 24-28 - .22 acre
Driveway in on right side, old Coleman camper parked on lot was last registered in 2004. Lot fairly clear in front wooded in the rear with hardwood. Some excavation has been done in the past, piles of sandy dirt halfway in on lot. Rear backs up to Wild Pond Easement property.
Recommended Action: Offer to abutters with Condition of Sale to merge.
14. TM 25-88 - .07 acre
Completely wetlands, peat bog, marshy low land with some brushy growth. Brook runs between this property and abutting property, also town owned, TM 25-89. Brook exits Wild Pond Easement wetlands and flows under road and directly into Highland Lake (waterfront) along the side of this wet lot. There are some trees along the side of the road where the land was filled to raise the road above the wetland.
Recommended Action: Town keep property and merge with TM 25 – 89.
15. TM 25-89 - .34 acre
Abuts previous town owned lot TM 25-88, completely wetlands, peat bog, marshland, some brushy growth. Highland Lake (waterfront) lot is a wetland fed by the stream exiting Wild Pond Easement. Low land and very wet. This and previous lot should be kept for conservation purposes.
Recommended Action: Town keep property and merge with TM 25 – 88.
16. TM 19-30 - .57 acre
We did not do a site walk on this lot today because it had been previously walked by the CC when it was considered for a cell tower site. In our notes from that site walk we found that it is a small lot, wider than it is deep. Wooded with hard and soft wood, there was some junk from a previous camp on the property close to the front of the lot. There was a wetter area in the back of the property, but mostly flat and dry. It is almost to the Stoddard line, no utilities for a long way in on King Street.
Recommended Action: Offer to abutters with Condition of Sale to merge.