Conservation Commission

CITY OF LACONIA CONSERVATION COMMISSION Wednesday, August 24, 2016 - 6:00 PM, City Hall - Conference ROOM 200A Call to Order Chair, D. Anson called the meeting to order at 6 PM. D. Anson did the roll call. Present: Dean Anson, Deb Williams, Lisa Morin, Dick Christopher and Brandee Loughlin, staff Review of the minutes of the July 6, 2016 meeting - approve at next meeting New Business: Black Brook paperwork for the NHDES watershed grant. D. Anson said that Scott M reported that the Black Brook grant paperwork was completed before he left. D. Anson will call DES to make sure everything has been submitted and is all set. 1. CUP review - D. Williams read the letter from the applicant to the board (see Planning file for full text). B. Loughlin explained the Planning Board process and said the application will come in for TRC2 in September. The Planning Department requested a footprint and area of impact as part of the TRC2 submittal. L. Morin suggested recommending that the buffer be no closer than 25 feet. Also add other standard stormwater runoff management - rain garden, french drains, define what “groundwater recharging system” is. Discussion regarding clarification of building envelope, condominium lot, common land. D. Anson explained that the process to build in this area requires approval from the Willows and the Long Bay Building Committee. D. Anson explained that he had come in for a CUP in the past for an addition. His COAs included planting blueberry bushes along the edge of the pond. He suggests that other CUP approvals require the same COAs to be consistent with what was asked of other people in other recent applications. B. Loughlin can contact the applicant and invite him to the Sept 7 Con Com meeting if the board wants. Con Com would like to do a site visit. L. Morin will let B. Loughlin know so she can post. 2. Lake Winnisquam Watershed meeting Aug 14 - D. Anson said that the Lake Winnisquam Network (LWN) set up a Facebook page, website to assemble all of the documents available from the participating municipalities in one place. 3. Water sampling - Lakes and Tribs - D. Williams has not heard from Amanda, so D. Anson will call Pat Tarpy. B. Loughlin will get the schedule regarding the number and frequency of sampling that Scott performed in the past. Old Business: 1. Milfoil subcommittee update. - D. Anson got email from Suzanne Perley, City spent $11,070.00 doing milfoil removal in Paugus Bay and they harvested 2,205 gallons of milfoil in the month of July. We are waiting for the state to do their survey of Paugus Bay. There is additional money that was spent on Opechee (earlier than July, before doing Paugus Bay). This covers Christmas Island, Langley Cove, Moulton Cove, and Pickerel Cove. D. Christopher asked how long before you have to do this again and D. Anson and D. Williams replied that you have to do it every year. D. Williams said it seems there has been less in Opechee this year, possibly due to the dry conditions/lack of rain. Even the big lake is down low. Page 1 of 3  CITY OF LACONIA CONSERVATION COMMISSION Wednesday, August 24, 2016 - 6:00 PM, City Hall - Conference ROOM 200A 2. Lake Host project -Deb Williams - SYEP which Con Com supports every year, was very successful. The kids worked on the boat ramps, landscaping, three different Watershed Warrior programs with children of other ages. Did not complete all of the projects at Messer Street because things are still in flux with Eversource. They are in the process of doing official legal paperwork with the City regarding who can do what on the property. Eversource wants to do a project day in the fall and have their own volunteers who will join. Eversource has stone to add to the parking lot and CC is looking to add a kiosk similar to that at the Transfer Station. CC also wants to move the portapotty across the parking lot - it should be farther from the lake. Of $1500 Lake Host grant have roughly $600 left. Scheduled to run through Labor Day. 3. Paugus Bay Milfoil Removal – 9.5 days of DASH by Aqualogic – Suzanne Perley - NO DISCUSSION 4. Update on Eversource’s Opechee Bay/Parade Road substation wetland plantings plan. Due to existing disturbances that are void of vegetation the Con Com requested plantings be added to the disturbed areas to filter runoff and stabilize the ground. - B. Loughlin reported that the recommended conditions were added to the NOA and approved 5. Update on 30-foot waterbody buffer research and presentation to City Council 6. Non-Public Session with City Council concerning land acquisition per RSA: 91: A: II (d)–(roll call vote required) - D. Anson will talk to Scott Myers about getting on the City Council Agenda ASAP Liaison & Sub-Committee Reports: Agriculture: L. Morin reported that the Ag Subcommittee has a number of topics regarding the State School property. Requesting that this be added to the September 7th agenda for discussion by the CC. Also discussed was recruiting other members, just D. Christopher and L. Morin is limited. D. Christopher would like to get some others on board, knowledgeable people. L. Morin is thinking Quinn Brouillard might be a good addition but wants to have the discussion with the CC on the 7th and then move into asking people. Further discussion about the City’s past efforts to purchase the State School property and the current situation. D. Christopher inquired if the CC ever sent a letter to somebody regarding the State School and that they are supporting an agricultural use. D. Anson said it was sent to Matt Lahey. Discussion of the Muskrats and if they do not stay in Laconia then this land would be a prime target for CC to be interested in. Permit Sub-Committee review and updates Other Business: 1. Subdivision/ Site Plan update - NO DISCUSSION 2. Construction site monitoring – divide City geographically so Con Com members can check sites in their locale. Short reports emailed to Brandee, Deb and Dean - B. Loughlin said that this will Page 2 of 3  CITY OF LACONIA CONSERVATION COMMISSION Wednesday, August 24, 2016 - 6:00 PM, City Hall - Conference ROOM 200A fall on the new Tech’s shoulders when they are hired, and not a concern for Con Com to take on right now. 3. Commissioners Comments Day of Caring - September 16th. Ideas for projects - L. Morin suggested a particular property with some invasive species (at the Community Gardens), not sure if DOT is monitoring this area. Suggest they identify invasive species in a corridor yet to be determined. D. Williams said that WOW trail is an option, between Messer St and Main Street. LW agreed that the WOW trail area is a good option. D. Anson suggested that the project include invasive species and garbage. L. Morin has another project in mind. The Waterfowl Sanctuary in the middle of the Winni River - from the parking lot behind the Church and Walgreens you can see that the gravel has built up enough that it’s shallow enough that you can walk across that. There has been a lot of trash there and L. Morin suggests that would be a good project. It’s a wildlife area and it has the Laconia Conservation Commission name on it. Eager Island. L. Morin recommends that there be some sort of reconnaissance before taking volunteers out there to do work - to see if there was a need for waders or other gear. D. Anson will call United Way tomorrow to share the projects with him - Community Gardens, WOW trail, and Eager Island. L. Morin asked if there is anything out at Opechee point that might need doing - maybe Parks and Rec might want help out at Opechee Point. L. Morin requested that B. Loughlin make Amy Lovesick at Parks and Rec aware of the opportunity and see if they have anything they may want to add to the list. 4. Messer Street Boat Ramp – owned by Eversource so Deb will talk with them to do shrub plantings, move porta potty and build and install kiosk (see above) D. Anson got an email from Jeff Hayes at LRPC. D. Anson is on the committee that will evaluate the applicants for the next round of Brownfields money. If the City has any Brownfield sites that they want considered now is the time to get that done. Years ago a walkthrough of the State School property for Phase 1 was done. There was discussion regarding the contamination situation at the State School - responsibility for cleanup, etc. L. Morin asked about Irwin parking lot on Messer Street. B. Loughlin said they got Planning Board approval but haven’t moved forward with the project yet. Next meeting September 7, 2016. Adjournment L. Morin moved to adjourn. D. Williams seconded the motion.All approved. The meeting adjourned at 7:18 pm Brandee Loughlin Page 3 of 3