Town of Newmarket, New Hampshire

Conservation Commission

February 14, 2008 7:00 PM

Town Council Chambers

Chairman Hamel called the meeting to order at 7:04 PM

1. Pledge of Allegiance

2. Roll Call

Chairman Hamel explained that because this was the first televised Conservation meeting, rather than do traditional roll call, he would introduce the members present.

Present: Chairman Wilfred Hamel, Vice-Chairman Bruce Fecteau, George Hilton, Jr., Fred Pearson, Ellen Snyder

 Absent: Don Archambeault, Amy Buxton Jewell

3. Public Comments

None.

4. Review and approval of Minutes: 11/08/2007 & 01/10/2008

            a. November 8, 2007

Ellen Snyder noted that on the last page, the paragraph that began with “Ellen Snyder stated . . .”, third sentence down it should be clarified that although the Chairman had the authority to sign the minimum impact expedited applications, a couple Commission members would go out to each property for a site walk prior to the signing. She also suggested that the outcomes of each site walk be discussed at the next Conservation meeting in order to be included in the minutes.

Motion: To accept the minutes from the November 8, 2007 Conservation Commission meeting.

Motioned: Fred Pearson

Seconded: George Hilton, Jr.

Chairman Hamel appointed Ellen Snyder as a voting member for tonight.

Vote: All in favor – Bruce Fecteau abstained as he had not been at the meeting.

            b. January 10, 2008

Ellen Snyder noted on Page 2, about half way down, Bruce Fecteau had asked about the annual meeting for the Wiggin Farm property, not the Piscassic River Loiselle property.

Motion: To accept the January 10, 2008 Conservation Minutes.

Motioned: Bruce Fecteau

Seconded: Fred Pearson

Vote: All in favor

Fred Pearson noted that the minutes had been done well.

5. NH Soils Consultant, Conceptual Design Rep. Sergio Bonilla

Chairman Hamel noted that NH Soils had cancelled for last month’s meeting. This agenda item had been placed on tonight’s agenda by mistake.

6. Land Stewardship

Ellen Snyder noted that she and George Hilton, Jr. monitored the Norstrom easement in December. The easement had been in place for about one year but no boundary signs were up yet. She had gone to the Conservation Commission filing cabinet to find easement signs; there weren’t many in there. She asked if the Commission needed to purchase more or if there were more somewhere else.

George Hilton, Jr. stated that he had a few but didn’t have enough to cover the whole property.

Fred Pearson stated that he had a supply; he wasn’t sure the exact wording but would check after the meeting.

Bruce Fecteau suggested that in the interest of time, the Commission approve the purchase of another supply just in case the supply Fred Pearson had wouldn’t work. He asked if Silverman/Schneer had been done.

Ellen Snyder answered that it had been.

Motion: To approve the purchase of an additional 250 easement boundary signs in the event the Commission was unable to find any surplus inventory of the needed signs.

Motioned: Bruce Fecteau

Seconded: Fred Pearson

Vote: All in favor

Ellen Snyder noted that at last month’s meeting the Commission had discussed monitoring Wiggin Farm, Piscassic River Loiselle and Silverman/Schneer. Site walk dates had been set up. There had been an Eagle Scout that had attended the meeting that was also supposed to join the Commission members at the Piscassic River Loiselle property to discuss the potential of making trails as his Eagle Scout project. Neither site walk had happened.

Bruce Fecteau and Ellen Snyder discussed possible dates to reschedule the site walks. They decided to meet at the Piscassic River Loiselle property on Saturday, March 8, 2008 at 9:00am and then move onto the Silverman/Schneer property.

George Hilton, Jr. and Ellen Snyder would meet at Wiggin Farm at 9:00am on Saturday, March 15, 2008 to perform that site walk.

Ellen Snyder noted that she would try to contact the Eagle Scout and let him know about the rescheduled site walk. She added that she would bring copies of the maps for the site walk as well.

Ellen Snyder explained that she had looked at the Conservation Easement deed for the Nordstrom property. She had summarized the uses allowed to ensure compliance.

Bruce Fecteau noted that he had the GPS location of the party site on Wiggin Farm and would provide Ellen Snyder with those coordinates.

Ellen Snyder noted Wiggin Farm might need biannual site walks; one during the summer when the ground was not covered with snow and one during the winter when the wetter parts of the land were frozen.

Ellen Snyder noted that at the last meeting Chairman Hamel had asked for a list of other town owned lands. She explained that information was provided in the Open Space plan. The Open Space Plan had been on the website, but when the website had been redone it was never re-added. She suggested that the entire plan would be on the website at some point.

Ellen Snyder explained that she had been contacted by the Great Bay Resource Partnership. They were an organization that had been actively involved in protecting lands around Great Bay. They were working on their website which would include a map of properties that had been protected; private landowners names would not appear on the map. The information provided would also include whether the land was open to the public and what the uses were. She explained that the GBRP had helped to protect the Norstrom Farm, Silverman/Schneer and Wiggin Farm.

George Hilton, Jr. stated that Wiggin Farm was getting a lot of public use. He felt the Town was doing a good job plowing the parking lot. He drove by often and saw people walking their dogs, and families sledding. He stated that it was too bad all conserved properties did not get that much use.

Bruce Fecteau asked if the four wheelers were still accessing the property.

George Hilton, Jr. answered that it didn’t appear so since the snow had gotten deep.

7. Committee Reports

            a. Treasury

Chairman Hamel noted that he would try to take care of the treasury. The last time he had spoken to Finance Director Don Parnell he had suggested that he create a document so that anyone who picked it up would understand the information. He stated that he would continue to work with Don Parnell and hopefully present something on a monthly basis.

            b. Lamprey River Watershed Association

Chairman Hamel noted that Amy Buxton Jewell was going to try to tackle this, but he had not heard from her.

            c. Lamprey River Advisory Committee – 7:25pm

Fred Pearson discussed an invasive plant committee

Ellen Snyder stated that she was involved with the LRAC through work. Each year LRAC received a federal appropriation; they were asking for another one this year as well. The New Hampshire Congregational Delegation had asked all land protection groups to get together and review their big projects collectively to decide what the most important priorities were. The New Hampshire Congregational Delegation was going to promote the projects funding in Congress. LRAC had been ranked highly in the state. They had requested $1 million federal appropriation for land protection this year. LRAC would be writing a letter to the state and were asking Town’s to write letters of support as well. She felt this was an important step to protecting the possible drinking water resource of Newmarket. This would go before the Town Council soon for their support.

            d. Town Council

Chairman Hamel noted that they had received a letter from the NCDC regarding the redevelopment of the mills which seemed to be a moot point now since the Zoning Board of Adjustment had denied their request for an area variance. The Commission was an abutter because of Heron Point.

8. Chairman’s Report

Chairman Hamel asked Bruce Fecteau to report on the scholarship.

Bruce Fecteau explained that a letter had been presented to the Commission from the Dean of Unity College addressed to James Benvenuti, the first recipient of the scholarship the Conservation Commission funded. He read the letter which stated that James Benvenuti had been placed on the Fall 2007 Dean’s List. He added that it was nice for the Commission to receive feedback from the students that had received the scholarship funds.

Chairman Hamel noted he had mentioned this at the Town Council level but wanted to mention it here as well. He stated that Richard Shelton who had been running the fishing derby for the past eighteen years was looking to have someone take over. He would be willing to train and guide that person, but needed to start backing off. He asked that anyone interested contact him or Richard Shelton.

Chairman Hamel stated that he had sent a memo to the Town Administrator regarding the snow pile on Water Street. DPW had been notified, but had been busy ever since trying to keep up with the snow, rain and ice.

Chairman Hamel asked if the Boy Scout that had been present at the last meeting had been interested in just doing trails.

Ellen Snyder stated that he had agreed to work on the trails at Piscassic River Loiselle.

Bruce Fecteau stated that he had hoped to do the site walk with him and Ellen Snyder, but they both had forgotten.

Chairman Hart asked if during the winter months they could work on the location of the trails to get moving on the project because there had been many seniors who had expressed interest in walking, but there were not a lot of trails in town conducive to them.

Ellen Snyder hoped that the trails would begin being laid out mid summer. Wetlands permits may be needed due to the possible wetlands crossing. She added that properties like Wiggin Farm were too wet to provide trails. Newmarket didn’t have a lot of uplands in general. The Nature Conservancy had a nice trail on Bay Road that was open to the public. She suggested that some shorter loops could be created at Piscassic River Loiselle.

Bruce Fecteau suggested that mowing could provide for shorter loops on the field area. He also suggested the possibility of a trail skirting around the pond.

Chairman Hamel noted that he had received word from Diane Hardy asking to pick up some representatives from the Conservation Commission to attend meetings on developing a Water Resource Chapter for the Master Plan. He didn’t know the frequency of the meetings. He encouraged interested Commission members to contact Diane Hardy.

Ellen Snyder stated that she had spoken with Diane Hardy and had expressed her interest.

Fred Pearson was pleased stating that he felt Ellen Snyder would provide great input.

Bruce Fecteau suggested having two Conservation Commission members commit in the event Ellen Snyder was unable to make a meeting.

Ellen Snyder stated that this committee would help redevelop a chapter in the Master Plan and would be a short term committee. This would not be a standing committee.

Bruce Fecteau stated he would be willing to help as well.

Chairman Hamel noted that in the past there had been problems with water fowl at Schanda Park. He had been handed information on a product called Armorex which would repel the water fowl while leaving a pleasant scent for humans. He asked the Commission if they were willing to support him getting additional information on the product. Due to the proximity of water, the proper authorities would need to be contacted to ensure spraying would be safe.

Bruce Fecteau noted that it was important to keep the geese off the property because they were eating all the grass.

Ellen Snyder felt that she would need to know more about the repellent before she was able to support spraying it. There was no harm in gathering information.

9. Old Business

Ellen Snyder noted that at the last meeting Chairman Hamel had discussed a conversation that he had had with the New Hampshire Municipal Association about how money from the Conservation Fund should be spent. She had called the Director of the Association of Conservation Commissions, Carol Andrews and had discussed the issue further. There seemed to be a difference of opinion on the interpretation of the State Statute regarding the issue. The Municipal Association takes a conservative stand on how the money could be spent; only within the Town and on Town land. The Association of Conservation Commissions offered a broader view of how Conservation funds could be used; scholarships and planting of trees would be okay according to them. The RSA spoke to the resources, but didn’t speak to the specificity or restrictiveness. In response to several inquiries, the Association of Conservation Commissions was writing a guidebook on how Conservation Commission funds could be used. She felt that everything the Conservation Commission had funded so far was in line with what was allowed. She hoped the guidebook would be available within the next six months; the Association of Conservation Commissions wanted the Municipal Association to support the effort. She felt that the educational spending was a gray area but felt that educating people and getting citizens involved in conservation was part of what the Commission was about. There had been questions in the past about whether Towns could spend money on land conservation in other town’s or whether the Town would need to hold the land or an easement to the land. She felt it would be helpful to get the framework and guidance to what was acceptable and what was considered not to be acceptable.

George Hilton, Jr. asked whether the DPW had agreed to remove the pile of snow or whether they just would not continue to pile it there.

Chairman Hamel noted that it was his understanding that they would be removing the pile; although he had not spoken to them in a week. He added that it was illegal to dump snow into the river; he felt piling the snow there and letting it melt into the river was close enough. He noted that he would contact them again about it.

10. New Business

Chairman Hamel stated that he had spoken with someone from town that belonged to a snowmobile club who had asked if it would be possible for their club to exit the river at the Piscassic Street boat launch because there was a sign posted that did not allow ATVs or snowmobiles. He had asked the person to come to the Commission meeting to discuss further. He noted that snowmobiles had been prohibited because the lower part of the launch was made of cement blocks; the tracks from the snowmobiles would tear the edges. He asked the Commission if they would be amenable to allowing the snowmobile club if pallets were put down to prevent destruction to the boat launch.

George Hilton, Jr. asked if their intent was to gain access to the river by parking their trailers at the boat launch lot.

Chairman Hamel stated that it had specifically been stated that they would be exiting at that location.

George Hilton, Jr. asked where they would go if they were allowed to exit there.

Ellen Snyder stated that they couldn’t travel on the road.

Bruce Fecteau stated that it sounded like they wanted to launch their snowmobiles onto the river. He asked if putting down a ramp would take care of the abuse to the concrete logs.

Chairman Hamel noted that if their intent was to launch from that site, they would need to park there much like people launching boats in the summer.

Fred Pearson felt that the inviting the person to come before the Commission was a good idea. He felt the issue was too complicated without having all the facts and suggested contacting the person again and asking them to come before the Board.

Bruce Fecteau noted that snowmobile clubs in the past had been good neighbors and had helped to monitor properties.

Fred Pearson asked what liability there would be if they allowed the snowmobile club to launch at that site.

Bruce Fecteau noted there would be the same liability as allowing boats to launch there.

George Hilton, Jr. agreed with Fred Pearson and suggested that Chairman Hamel encourage the person to come to the next meeting to layout what they had in mind.

Bruce Fecteau asked about a rumor he had heard regarding the Open Space Committee wanting to put a referendum to a Warrant Article that would change the amount of land use tax funds the Conservation Commission got from 50% to 100%.

Chairman Hamel noted that he had read the Open Space minutes and had contacted the Chairman who had indicated that would not be moving forward.

Bruce Fecteau didn’t understand why another committee would want to change what the Commission does without coming here first.

Ellen Snyder noted there would need to be a lot of legwork in order to set that up and agreed that the Commission would need to support the idea. There were a lot of budgetary needs for the Town right now and this may not be a good idea at this time.

George Hilton, Jr. asked if there was a full compliment of members to this Commission yet.

Chairman Hamel noted that they still needed two full members. The positions had been posted.

Bruce Fecteau agreed stating that the positions had been posted on Channel 13 for a couple of months. He asked Ellen Snyder if she would be putting in for one of the positions.

Ellen Snyder noted she had not had time to apply but would consider the full voting member position.

11. Adjournment

Motion: To adjourn at 8:02pm.

Motioned: Ellen Snyder

Seconded: Fred Pearson

Vote: All in favor

Respectfully Submitted,

Erica Spechuilli