Open Space, Natural Resources, and Trails Committee

RECEIVED By Ellie at 7:46 am, 2/26/21 OPEN SPACE, NATURAL RESOURCES, AND TRAILS COMMITTEE Wednesday, January 27, 2021; 7:00 p.m., Virtual Meeting Present: Jonathan Sherwood, Chair, Pascal Rettig (Planning Board), Vanessa Johnson-Hall, Stephen Thiel (Conservation Commission), Councilor Nick Wheeler, Councilor Adrienne Lennon, Rick Hucksam, John Lopez, Conservation Agent Others present: Bob Brisebois 1. Approval of Nov. 18, 2020 Meeting Minutes. Motion to Approve – N. Wheeler, 2nd – P. Rettig. Unanimously approved via roll call. 2. Old Business: OSRP Action Plan • Chapter 61 ROFR Procedure: Vanessa drafted a procedure. A. Cleveland submitted it to Kopelman & Page for review; K&P recommended against it, but we don’t understand why. N. Wheeler to inquire whether there is a way to adopt the procedure without adopting it legislatively. • Outreach to Municipal Boards & Committees re OSRP: J. Sherwood and V. Johnson-Hall presented to City Council. Plans to also present to LGIA, AIA, LAA, AT. • Community Open Space Forum: Discussion re. format. One idea is to model it on Mayor’s listening sessions with facilitator, using goals of OSRP as a way to organize breakout discussions. J. Sherwood to explore. • Town Forest and Woodsom Farm Protections: Councilor Stanganelli is pursuing designating all Town Forest parcels as permanently protected for passive recreation under Article 97. N. Wheeler said City does not have funding to hire consultant to create Woodsom Farm Management Plan due to pandemic. • Trails Master Plan: J. Sherwood and R. Hucksam have not had time to progress on Trail Management Plan, but will discuss steps before next meeting. J. Sherwood tried to take advantage of Essex Heritage grant program to create all-access trail, but grant would have been too small to pay for the project, which was more complicated than it appeared. Good lessons for next time. J. Sherwood explored other grants to match funding, include DCR Trails Program, and it would not have been sufficient. Mass Trails also does not fund planning, which is what’s needed for Trails Management Plan. J. Sherwood/R. Hucksam to work with Adrienne to explore whether there’s a way to include a broad approval to improve trails in wetland resources areas so a permit does not have to be obtained for each project. • Inventory of Cons Comm Parcels and 10-15-20 City Possessions List for Conservation Commission: S. Thiel summarized work by Cons Comm, including site visits to all parcels, as well as input from J. Sherwood and V. Johnson-Hall to incorporate other conservation values and public benefits of preserving land. The list is ready to be submitted to the Mayor for review. 3. New Business • Carriagetown Connector: $15,000 grant made to City from Coastal Trails Coalition to assemble basic information need to get process moving. City is applying for Mass Trails grant for design & engineering work. Mayor has committed to funding 20% match. City also received grant from  Health Care trust. Motion to approve support letter drafted by J. Sherwood for grant made by N. Wheeler, 2nd S. Thiel. Unanimous approval via roll call. • Essex National Heritage Area Grant: J. Sherwood made strides to pursue grant opportunity to fund accessible trail on Po Hill. Unfortunately, complexity of project exceeded funding available and the effort to seek this grant was abandoned. However, a clean-up and improvements at Deer Island may well be within the budget of the ENHA Grant and Mayor would support. J. Sherwood and S. Thiel to reach out to Conservation Commission about this grant opportunity. • Policy Memo for Cluster Subdivision open Space: Nipun Jain requested recommendation from OSNRT on how to determine and protect open space required as part of the Cluster Subdivision Permit. V. Johnson-Hall will circulate draft to Committee for review at next meeting. • J. Sherwood re-organized shared OSNRT Google Drive: OSNRT members should make sure everyone has access. Motion to adjourn 8:29pm N. Wheeler, 2nd S. Thiel. All approved via roll call. Submitted by, Vanessa Johnson-Hall