Lakes and Waterways Commission

RECEIVED By Ellie at 11:06 am, 6/17/21 City of Amesbury Lakes and Waterways Commission Meeting Minutes for 4-15-2021 7:00 PM Location: Virtual Zoom Meeting Attendees: Tom Murphy, Meghan O’Neill, Thomas Volper, Bernadette Lucas, Kate Mallory, Art O’Dea, Michael Jewell, Rob Desmarais- Director of DPW and Peter Manor- City Engineer. Completing Minutes: Meghan O’Neill, Secretary I. Administrative Business A. Call to Order Tom murphy, acting chair read the following to the committee in regard to meetings held in person: “Pursuant to Governor Baker’s March 12, 2020 Order Suspending Certain Provisions of the Open Meeting Law, G.L. c. 30A, §18, and the Governor’s March 15, 2020 Order imposing strict limitations on the number of people that may gather in one place, this meeting of the Lakes & Waterways Committee on 4/15/21 is being conducted via remote participation. No in-person attendance of members of the public will be permitted, but every effort is being made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings as provided for in the Order.” B. Review of Past Minutes (March) Minutes approved by committee members. Question about previous minutes not being posted on the L&W website. Meghan to follow-up and understand where these should be sent after approval. II. Engineer’s update A. Engineer’s Report Everything looks ok, need water into Attitash and Meadowbrook at this point. Hoping for some rain to get to a higher level. B. Stormwater Management Plan Guidance  L&W is the sounding board for public input for the Stormwater management plan. Before June 30th Rob will have to do a public presentation and would like to have it be to this group. This has been done every few years in past with no public outside of L&W joining. We can ask questions, make suggestions, and can weigh in on the plan.  Tom asked how committee members can best prepare for this presentation. Everyone will need to review plan prior to Rob’s presentation. Goal is to get a broad contingency.  Will have presentation at the May meeting. All members need to read the plan and be prepared to discuss. Rob will share presentation 1 week prior to highlight key points. C. Lake Gardner Beach Access Proposed Alternatives  Michael inquired about meeting with Open Space. Rob shared that conversations with mayor are still ongoing. Looking at an alternative option at this point.  Decided to not install a parking kiosk this year. 1   Will be blocking off 2/3 of the parking lot in the next few weeks. Will also be Installing handicap port-o-potties. Would like to see how limited parking works. Once lot is full at limited capacity then the beach is full.  Will not have lifeguards or an attendant this year due to funding. Discussion about snack shack and beach director who is present on busy days but still finalizing plan based on current COVID restrictions.  Condition of park area, and overall facilities discussed as well. May come back with proposals in future- will have to go through Con Comm. D. Lake Gardner Beach Plan: Sand Replenishment  Discussion about what to do about Lake Gardner beach. The current management plan is from 2017, which directed the nourishment project.  Current concerns about sand erosion and sand channels where stormwater flows; this pushes sand right back into the lake. DPW did Implemented erosion control via swale behind the walkway on the beach, built a retaining wall and receptor drain which has prevented continuous erosion this past year.  The current as proposed to Con Comm is to add more sand.  Concerns from committee and community about grass/dirt/sand mixture as ideal for ground hornets, which have stung committee members, young children, and many beachgoers.  Rob stated that the DPW would like guidance from L&W on policy to present to mayor for next steps on this project. Con Comm and Lake Gardner Improvement Association have worked on this project thus far and need additional input at this time.  Bernadette notified the committee that Lake Gardner Association would like the whole beach sanded. She would like L&W to support this position.  She mentioned the mussel study outcomes from years prior which found that a sandy environment was ideal for endangered mussels  The group discussed Lake Gardner being a point of pride for the community. This should be a unique spot that we take care of that community members want to visit with their family.  Questions about approach from Con Comm. Michael shared that they try to rely on science for rationale of decisions made. There continues to be concerns about erosion and a lot of sand needed for replenished every year. This Is costly and can have an adverse impact on the lake.  Conversation about supporting sand replenishment this year and assessing any signs of erosion throughout year to ensure the swale and other remediation steps were successful. If not, reassess and reapproach at the end of the lake season.  Questions to Rob about long term impact on lake. The lake is a regulated resource, as sand washes into lake it changes the bottom and can impact the ecosystem. Certain fish and other lake creatures do not like the sand. The overall goal is to limit human activities impact on natural resources. Introducing invasive material into lake over time can be problematic. This can be 30-60 yards of material annually. You can see evidence of sand usage in Attitash.  Question about end of season dredging to that specific area? DEP doesn’t allow for this without testing and permits that are resource heavy. Europe follows this process and it works well for them but very challenging in US. 2   Conversation about the origins of the lake and overall bottom topography- sandy and some muck and leaf buildup. Sand hornets are eliminated when it is all sand.  Vote across committee of supporting sand replenishment. Michael abstained due to Con Comm member, Peter voted no, Katie not voting due to not being sworn in, the remaining committee members in attendance voted yes. Majority voted yes. III. Current Business A. Membership Status  Conflict acknowledge statement: Tom is looking for everyone to send theirs to him.  Tom spoke to Joe Spencer, who is a former L &W committee member. He is the environmental lead on the School Committee. As he concludes his work on that committee, he is very interested in joining L&W and taking on the chair role. Ideally, In 3-4 months Joe will assume that role.  Art and Kate have been approved by City Council to become full members. Kate needs to go to City Hall to be sworn in as a next step. B. Lake Gardner Access Meeting with Open Space Committee  The mayor and DPW will come back to us with a formulated plan. Will have to revisit next year post COVID C. Fertilizers and Herbicides Near Water Bodies i. Battis Farm  Bernadette’s drafted a letter specific to fertilizer usage on Battis Farm, which adjoins Lake Gardner. This letter was shared with the other committee members. Would like to prevent fertilizer on Battis Farm, at least 100 feet from waterfront.  Bernadette is unsure if letter should come from her or L&W. group thinks from the committee will be most impactful.  Questions about low phosphorus fertilizer being an option? Is this a good compromise since it abuts the lake that people swim in.  Unfortunately, the weed situation is getting worse, concerns about it becoming completely impacted like MB and Tuxbury. ii. Woodsom Farm  Cindy passed along to Bernadette that she saw Woodsom Farm being fertilized, right next to the wetlands when driving by recently.  Rob is the lead on farmer oversight and input from city committees. We contract every 3 years and are providing autonomy with the land. Meeting with farmers soon to discuss. Agricultural land has different regulations. Concerns about little stream and wetlands. Nothing in contract and communication about fertilizer currently. iii. Next Steps  Need direction from mayor and Con Comm to make changes to field management and farmer regulations. Need to draft letters to Con Comm for Battis, and mayor for Woodsom and can CC Rob.  Committee approving authorizing Bernie and Tom to put a letter together requesting a policy around fertilization.  Kate asked about adding soil testing to the letter to see if fertilizing is even needed. If not, this will help with the effort. 3   Kate spoke about NRCS completing a nutrient management plan at no cost. This is a service that we could benefit from on multiple farms and areas in Amesbury where fertilizing isn’t ideal.  Questions about soil testing and concerns about alum being dumped on Battis and high PH causing phosphorus to leak out. May be able to work with a vendor to manage sludge but we lose local control. Rob has been following this process for 30+ years.  Tom asked group about calling John Lopez (Con Comm) to open discussion about fertilizing Battis fields close to water and to stress soil testing? All in favor, Michael abstained from voting due to conflict. D. Chapter 91 Permit for Marina at Amesbury Point  New marina ownership wants to put new docks that go out further into Merrimack River. They want a 30-year lease verse new least annually. This is a property rights issue. The river is narrow in this area as is and adding the dock will impact use of the river.  Federal permit managed by the state, where the annual permit is given by harbormaster. Need Craig to weigh in on this issue.  We can offer public comment to this permit, which Amesbury has done. Concerns that this permit will be granted. IV. Conservation Commission Activity Update  Con Comm- new update, nothing that pertains to L&W at this point. V. Additional Topics A. By laws  Have not heard from mayor about revisions to our bylaws. B. Discuss revisions of Waterways Assessment  Revisions of waterways assessments is last item on agenda. Beginning this conversation at 8:15 is not ideal because it will take up a lot of time. We will postpone going over assessments until we have more time.  Pete did just provide revisions so please review and be ready to discuss at next meeting. C. Lake Attitash Association and lake status  Nicol Farm- NH DES has approved moving forward with inspection. This testing will occur. D. Clarks Pond  Inspection of Clarks Pond? After July 1st, hoping water level will be higher. VI. Meeting Adjourned:  Motion to adjourn- Michael, seconded at 8:22. VII. Next meeting: May 20, 2021 4