Conservation Commission

MINUTES OF THE MEETING March 16, 2016 LACONIA CONSERVATION COMMISSION CITY Hall Room 200A Approved at the April 13, 2016 meeting I. CALL TO ORDER : Dean Anson called the meeting to order at 6:00 PM PRESENT- Dean Anson, Deb. Williams (arrived at 7 PM), Lisa Morin, Mike Foote and Dick Christopher (A ROLL CALL VOTE WAS PROVIDED) MILFOIL SUBCOMMITTEE Members Present: Jon and Dominic Jude ABSENT - Marnie Schulz OTHERS PRESENT- Shanna Saunders, Planning Director, Brandee Loughlin, Assistant Planning Director, Jeff Thurston, Master Plan Committee member, William Guile, Key Club Teacher Representatives and many of the students members of the Key Club. II. REVIEW OF THE MINUTES: 1. Review of the public minutes for the January 20, 2016 meeting L. Morin made a motion to approve the minutes as written. The motion was seconded by M. Foote. The motion passed 4-0-0. III. New Business: 1. Shanna Saunders, Planning Director, presented the natural resources section and update to the Master Plan. Some of the major new goals of the Master Plan update were: Agricultural soil protection, the creation of an Agricultural Commission, the expansion and linkage of trails, creation of wildlife corridors, and improvements in the drinking water overlay district regulations. Additionally an inventory of potential pollution sources, other than those shown on the State NHDES list should be created. Creating a short list of the places in the City that are not served by public sewer and water would provide a database of potential contamination sources would be worthwhile. The concept of High Intensity Soil Survey (HISS) mapping is now being requested at all TRC meeting but it is not required in our ordinance. When the stormwater ordinance is adopted Hiss Mapping will be required. The use of porous pavement should also be added to the ordinance. Porous pavement has already been approved for use at the Titeflex industrial expansion, 118 Main Street, the Irwin automotive parking lot on Messer Street, and multiple single family home projects to meet pervious coverage requirements. J. Thurston said the protection of aquifers was very important. S. McPhie added the Natural Resources Inventory (NRI) determined that many of the major aquifers in Laconia are located under the built up old City. Additionally there is one other aquifer area in the Weirs located off of Endicott East which is in part located under an approved subdivision. Ideally if Laconia had aquifer areas located in some of the more undeveloped areas of the City an Aquifer Overlay District would be a top priority. Currently the best we can hope for is to identify the aquifer areas of Laconia with signage and continue to filter stormwater with rain gardens and mechanical devices while retrofitting bad drainage systems as they need replacement.  L. Morin suggested the need to inventory all pipes and culverts directly discharging into waterways. Grants should be sought to conduct such an inventory. Work is underway to GIS all discharge pipes in the City but it is not at the top of the priority list due to other more urgent infrastructure repairs and updates. S. McPhie added the stormwater ordinance document will cover many of the issues involved in removing direct stormwater discharge pipes as possible. Unfortunately old discharge pipes cannot always be removed due to past infrastructure limitations. The challenge is to improve and retrofit as many drainage structures within budgetary constraints. A 30-foot waterbody protection buffer is currently being proposed for smaller streams. A similar section of the ordinance was confusing and left out when changes were made to the ordinance in 2012. The Con Com will present the subject at the upcoming April 5, 2016 meeting with hopes to have the ordinance change approved by the summer of 2016. D. Anson suggested adding the proper removal of terrestrial invasive plants to the Master plan update. L. Morin suggested we also add invasive animals as well. Hunting next to nature centers should be discouraged due to the amount of Children taking part in educational activities. L. Morin added the Lakes Region Planning Commission (LRPC) is working on creating a Lake Winnisquam Watershed Association which Laconia will be able to play a roll and should be supported in the Master Plan. L. Morin and D. Christopher felt it was important to look into local food security projects to compliment the USDA program assisting local communities to grow more of their own food. Bill Carpenter of the New Hampshire Department of Resources and Economic Development (DRED) is a possible contact point. D. Anson was concerned about water bottling plant expansion in the area as that may hurt the conditions of our aquifer. 2. Milfoil subcommittee update D. Anson summarized the work taking place at the State level to create the Paugus Bay Milfoil Management plan. John and Domenic Jude explained their recent attendance of a State of Maine Milfoil Conference. They handed out weed watcher decals. The Draft of the Paugus Bay Milfoil Management plan has been completed. S. Perley will forward the draft to all for comment. 3. Update on 30-foot waterbody buffer research and presentation The presentation is scheduled for the Tuesday April 5, 2016 Planning Board meeting. D. Anson and S. McPhie will present with S. Saunders introducing and supporting the concept. IV. Liaison & Sub-Committee Reports: 1. Permit Sub-Committee review and updates All permits have been updated and signed off on. V. Other Business: 1. Subdivision/ Site Plan update  The Langley Cove TRC II meeting will be held next Wednesday March 23, 2016. We will need to wait until all accurate data is provided before inviting them to a Conservation Commission Meeting. 2. Commissioners Comments The Commission welcomed the Key Club members to tonight’s meeting and hoped to have a list of active environmental project to work on soon. All were encouraged by this great partnership. D. Williams summarized her Lake hosts projects for the year and explained how the New Hampshire Lakes provide a stipend of at least $1,500.00. The money goes toward paying the students to help out with various rain gardens and weed watcher tasks. L. Morin made a motion to authorize the Conservation Commission to be the lead group for the Lake Hosts Grant in the amount of at least $1,500.00. The grant funds will be used to pay the students and staff. D. Williams would be the lead person for the project. The difference this year would be the additional $5,000.00 contributed by the Current Use Fund to support the weed watchers project. The City attorney approved the use of the funds. The increase in funding will be a local match which would extend the weed watching activities and other environmental projects to benefit not only the Lake Hosts program but achieve the additional weed watcher time which will be required by the Paugus Bay Milfoil Master plan. The motion was seconded by M. Foote. The motion passed 4-0-1. D. Williams abstained. 3. Staff Comments All comments were made within the general meeting. VI. Old Business: 1. Brook Subcommittee updates -S. McPhie added The Watershed Plan will move ahead as scheduled on time and within the $15,000 original cost. 2. Non-Public Session concerning land acquisition per RSA: 91: A: II (d)–(roll call vote required). -L. Morin made a motion to approve the non-public minutes for February 10, 2016. The motion was seconded by M. Foote. The motion passed 5-0-0. VII. Adjournment: M. Foote made a motion to adjourn the meeting. The motion was seconded by M. Schulz passing 5-0.