Wilton Conservation Commission – Minutes of 10 April 2006
Present: Spencer, Alan, Laurence and Lynne. Citizens
Jessie Salisbury,
and Richard Kahn with guest. (Les is
attending another meeting this evening.)
- Review Minutes: Draft minutes from January, February
and both March meetings were handed out. Members will review and be ready to make
any changes for acceptance at the May meeting.
- 2006 Budget: Reviewed budget expenses list from
Peggy
and Carla. Spencer moved to pay the
NH Association of Conservation Commissions dues in the
amount of $200. Seconded by Alan.
Passed unanimously. For those who went to the “Saving
Special Places” conference (Spencer, Les, Lynne and guest Whitney
Carpenter), send your receipt or proof of payment to Peggy
for reimbursement.
- ZBA: Nothing of importance to WCC from March. Upcoming for their April meeting of 11
April is Lot F-30 at 103 Intervale
Road, Tuttle Lot, behind Richard Tuttle’s
house. This may need to be
monitored, but seems similar to other Tuttle lot being subdivided, and
drainage may be a problem.
- Planning Board: No agenda yet for next week’s meeting.
We still need to follow the New Spartan Properties/Quinn
Subdivision off Abbot Hill/Abbot Hill Acres
Road/Proctor Road as it moves through the
planning process. Lynne handed out
copies of the WCC letter to DES (written as agreed at the 20 March
meeting) regarding the release of sediment, etc. from the Pike Quarry, as
a follow-up to the Planning Board’s letter.
- McKay Dredge & Fill Permit: Lynne handed out a copy of the WCC
letter to DES (written as agreed at the 20 March meeting) in response to
their sending us a copy of the permit application. Mr. Richard Kahn, who lives on
Barrett
Hill Road and who walks by this property
nearly every day, was present to express his concern. He had spoken earlier with Spencer and
Lynne by phone. One of our big
concerns is that this property is in the Watershed District, as well as
being within the land which was the subject of
the 1904 Regulations for the Protection of the Purity of the Water of Mill
Brook (see Town Report of 1905).
After a lengthy discussion, it was agreed that Spencer will call DES Water Protection regarding this
matter. Lynne will forward him an
electronic copy of the letter for his reference.
- Town of Tamworth, regarding Motorsports
Holdings, LLC: Lynne handed out
a copy of the WCC letter written as agreed at the 20 March meeting. This letter to the NH Association of
Conservation Commissions (NHACC) supports NHACC in filing a brief in this
matter, which brief supports the Town of Tamworth in their assertion that Motorsports Holdings must file for a Special Use
Permit under the Tamworth Wetlands Ordinance regardless of their having
already obtained dredge and fill permits from DES. This comes down to an issue
of local control, and WCC supports local control in such matters.
- DES Hearing of 15 December
2005 regarding
Granite State Concrete (unpermitted
generator on site): Carol
Roberts reported to Lynne that she had been in touch with Todd Moore at
DES, and there is still no answer from DES at this time. She will stay in touch and let Lynne know
when she hears something.
-
Hoover Easement: Spencer said the new version of this
easement has changed very little from the last draft. It is more like a zoning restriction,
restricting the property to three 20-acre lots. It is not a conservation easement as such, it is a building restriction document. There is no management plan. There is no
public access, except for monitoring purposes. It is not clear about recreational
purposes, or timber or mining rights.
All of this presents a real danger for us if we accept it. Because this land is in the Watershed
District, it really needs to be protected, not
just restricted to three 20-acre building lots. The danger if we accept this “easement”
is that someone else may want an easement this weak. After more discussion, Spencer moved
that we bring this issue to the Selectmen
and Town Counsel and verbalize our concerns. Seconded by Alan. Passed unanimously. Spencer will talk with Whitney Beals of NEFF and see if he can give us a dollar
amount for their work on this matter and we will see if we can pay them
something, as he requested.
-
Alan and Spencer
voiced their on-going concerns about the number of vehicles
Mark
Gabel has on the property
and whether any of them, or how many of them, might be on the Town’s
property. Spencer will talk with
Selectmen about this.
-
There are new owners
at Mrs. Paro’s property. They need to know that the Town owns “their
backyard”. Spencer to
contact them.
-
Need to talk with the
Farmer (Trombly) about doing a management walk. Spencer will do this. Les, Alan and Laurence are interested in
doing this walk as well.
-
Spencer said he is
walking the Frog Pond land and Carnival Hill with the State Entomologist; she
is looking at field bugs and insects.
-
Pond and Dam: Spencer talked to Meridian; they haven’t gotten back to
him. The dam and watershed need to be surveyed, Les is supposed to do this. Additionally, the watershed needs to be
surveyed so as to determine the size of the spillway
and to locate the spillway.
-
Need to install a
culvert on the Maple
Street right-of-way
(behind Stephanie Rockwell’s house).
Alan feels that if a culvert is installed, then
that right-of-way could provide a good access point for maintenance and for any
emergency vehicles that might need to get up on the hill.
-
Need to investigate
the north end of the property for a universal access trail.
-
Need to investigate
any potential of parking at Maple Street gated entrance.
-
Need to get the sign
up at the Maple
Street gate; this
will necessitate filing a sign application and appearing before Planning
Board. Spencer to
manage this.
- Four Corners Farm: Spencer still needs to check to see
whether the asbestos has been removed.
-
Spencer checked with
the Selectmen and they have okayed putting up a
barrier by the stones at the parking for the WJAA ballfield. Spencer has spoken with John Jowders and he may be able to procure and install a used
telephone poll to create that barrier.
-
Need to do a
management walk with the Farmer (Fitch) for this season. Les, Alan and Laurence will probably want to
go as well.
-
The Farmer will need a
key if there is a gated entrance on to the property at the ballfield.
-
Spencer and Lynne
attended the March meeting of the Heritage Commission and gave them a copy of
the Historic/Cultural/Recreation map for them to put on it what they feel is
important.
-
The Milford Cabinet
did an article on natural resource inventories and published a list of Heritage
Commission items supplied to them by Stanley Young. The list seems incomplete to us. Spencer to contact
Stanley to discuss.
-
Discussion of
Bennington Battle Trail, whether it is truly
historic, and how it got its name. Jessie Salisbury had some interesting input on this.
-
Need to ensure that
the stone arch bridge on the road to the Roedels’
home is included on the list.
Additionally, there are trees growing on the bridge, and like the Frog
Pond dam, they need to be removed. Spencer to talk with
Steve Elliott
about the condition of the bridge.
-
More
work needs to be done on the roads and hydrology NRI map.
-
Spencer reported that
Dawn
Tuomala is working with him
and Les on the road mapping.
-
Question: Do we need to include all 37 dams in town on
the map?
-
Flood control dams
must be included and should have a separate symbol so as not to be confused
with other dams.
-
Local
Open Space: No activity.
-
Regional Open Space
Team: (1) Meeting at 5:00 PM on 14 April to do GPS mapping for the Frog Pond trail,
followed by pizza at the Town Hall Courtroom; WCC
invited to attend. (2) The Curtiss Dogwood Reservation is all in Lyndeborough, even
though a road starts at Carnival Hill and goes across to the reservation, and
it would be nice to have a trail there.
-
Souhegan
River Local Advisory Commitee: The Instream Flow
Study will be presented at the
Milford
Town Hall in mid-May. The
Souhegan River Management Plan is completed (by NRPC).
-
Souhegan
Valley Land Trust: Spencer is doing a series of “Last Wednesday”
seminars here at the Wilton Town Hall. First one was “Birds in your Backyard” in March; next up in
April is “Tree Identification”. SVLT is
also sponsoring two walks per month, on Sundays at 12:30 PM; during April the first walk is
at Purgatory Falls. SVLT is also working on strategic
planning and hoping to move forward with land criteria.
-
Spencer reported that
partially as a result of the terrible flooding in
Alstead and Cheshire County last October, DES is planning an inventory of all culverts
in the State to see if they are properly sized.
-
“Saving
Special Places” Conference. Spencer, Les and Lynne attended, with WCC
guest, Whitney Carpenter. Les is not
present this evening, but Spencer and Lynne reported on the seminars they
attended at the conference.
Meeting adjourned at 9:50 PM.
Minutes Submitted by
Lynne Draper
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