Conservation Commission
April 6, 2009
Present: Tom Beaudry, Marcia Galloway, Peter Graves, Mary Lou Montgomery (alt.), Duncan Watson
Present as guests: Peter Palmiotto, Melvin Schupack, Ben Daviss, liason from the Planning Commission.
Not present: Bradley Fletcher, Lew Shelley
Ms. Galloway, acting as chair, called the meeting to order at 7:30 PM.
1. Commission Members
Ms. Galloway will not continue as chair, so we need someone to do that.
The selectmen have not appointed members or alternates yet. They will supposedly do it this Thursday night. Mr. Schupack’s term is expiring, and he submitted a request to be an alternate. At this meeting he is officially not a commissioner; neither is Mr. Palmiotto, who is due for re-appointment as an alternate.
2. Minutes of March 2, 2009
Clarifying that he also invited the Selectmen, Mr. Schupack requested changes to Item 7, Paragraph 2 of the minutes of March 2, 2009. He also recommended changes to the minutes of the executive session.
Mr. Beaudry moved to approve the minutes of March 2, 2009 as corrected. Ms. Montgomery seconded, motion passed with all in favor.
3. Article 7
Thanks to all who worked on article 7 for the town meeting. Four- to-one rejection sent a strong message.
4. Hodgkins Property
Ms. Galloway reports that Mr. Shelley is going to give members a summary of what he presented to the selectmen. He’ll also call Peter Rhoades and Eloise Clark to include them in the process of working on this property.
(At this point in the
meeting Mr. Watson arrived.)
Ms. Galloway showed a copy of a letter the trustees of the Mason Trust Fund wrote to the selectmen to oppose the purchase because they think the price is too high.
Now that the purchase has been approved, Ms. Galloway wants to know if July 1, 2009 will be a timely date for Mr. Hodgkins to have all his things removed from the property?
Mr. Graves moved to approve
July 1, 2009 as the deadline for Mr. Hodgkins to remove his belongings,
Seconded by Mr. Beadry, motion passed with all in favor.
5.
Mr.
Palmiotto suggests having
Ms. Galloway notes that the Trustees will be the ones to determine if the property should be in conservation easement.
Ms. Galloway reports that Mr. Shelley suggested this is the time to bring abutter Mr. Anderson into the picture, regarding an easement for access. And perhaps a conservation easement if he’s interested.
Ms. Galloway says we should meet in May and walk the Hodgkins Property.
6. Rest Areas
Mr. Graves reports that if we don’t clean them, they will not be mowed by DOT and might be closed. Ms. Galloway reports that Mr. Shelley suggested removing the steps and doing some pruning.
Mr. Watson moved to
compensate Robie Speed for cleaning the rest area and that she be paid promptly
from Mason Funds. Ms. Montgomery
seconded, motion passed with all in favor.
7. Warming Hut
The Hooper Property is not in conservation easement. In response to a request formthe snowmobile club, Ms. Galloway asked the selectmen if they mind a warming hut near the snowmobile trail that goes through there. They selectmen say it is fine.
Mr. Beadry wonders if this is setting a bad precedent? What if lots of other people want other shelters on town land? Ms. Galloway points out that getting a property into conservation easement would prevent it. Town forests are for the use of townspeople. Mr. Schupack points out you can set conditions. Ms. Montgomery asks if there is a premise that Town Forests remain wild in any way; the consensus of the commissioners is “no”. Mr. Palmiotto emphasized the many uses that are appropriate for town forests, including recreation.
The hut might be about 22 x 30 with a stove. Mr. Graves suggests having it near the road so that elderly people and others can attend meetings and events without snowmobiles. Ms. Galloway will bring this idea back to the snowmobile club.
Ms. Galloway moved to
table the warming hut decision, Mr. Beaudry seconded, motion passed with all in
favor.
8. Monitoring easements
In April, we should go out and monitor the Hudson Property, Mill Pond, and J. Lazzaro Property.
9.
Ms.
Galloway will talk about conservation at this event. This is at the
10. Sugarhouse Event
This was well attended, even without press releases. Some sugarhouses would like to do it again next year. We did not get the map flyer made, but did get posters up. Next year we could do more.
11. Next event
Let’s think about our next event for the next meeting. When we lead walks, they go about 2 hours. Maybe a wetland walk.
12: Logging on Hooper Property:
It was logged last in maybe early 70’s, says Mr. Graves. Ms. Galloway says Eloise mentioned the red pines look mature at the shelter. And maybe down below the golf course. The consensus was that there is no rush because demand and price are very low now.
13. FEMA Funds
Mr.
Schupack got an e-mail notifying us of FEMA reimbursement funds for the
December 2008 ice storm. SCA is organizing teams to do cleanup. The contact information
is in the e-mail that he forwarded to the commissioners. We did not sustain a
lot of damage in
14. Map file
Mr. Watson will work on getting something to organize our maps.
15. Solar Tax Breaks
Ms.
Hall-Fuller reports that a resident had complained that
16. Doug Smith Property
Mr. Graves says Doug Smith has property he wants to give to the town. It is adjacent to the pinnacle, and would provide access to the pinnacle. We will look into this further.
16. Membership Dues
Membership fee is due for NH Association of Conservation Commissions.
Mr. Watson moved to
renew membership, Mr. Beaudry seconded, motion passed with all in favor.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:49 PM.
Respectfully Submitted,
Janis Hall-Fuller, Recording Secretary
(Note: These are unapproved
minutes. Any corrections will be found in the minutes of the next meeting.)