Conservation Commission

Laconia Conservation Commission Draft Meeting Minutes 6:00 PM, 2/27/2019 Armand A. Bolduc Council Chambers City Hall 45 Beacon Street East 2/27/2019 - Minutes 1. Call To Order Members Present: Chairman Dean Anson, Vice Chair Deborah Williams, Marnie Schulz, Lisa Morin, Richard Christopher, and Wesley Bates (arrived late at 6:47 PM). Planning Staff: Evan Rathburn Members Absent: Michael Foote Guest: Kevin Dunleavy, Parks and Recreations Director There is no one in the audience. 2. Review Of The Previous Meeting's Minutes D. Williams makes a motion to accept the minutes as amended. L. Morin seconds. All in favor. The motion passes. 3. New Business 3.I. Perley Pond Improvement Project K. Dunleavy begins his presentation as to where the City of Laconia is in the Perley Pond Improvement Project. He and D. Anson give an overview of how the whole project came to be. The City Council would now like for the LCC to come up with a plan to improve the property. The LCC will apply for a wetland CUP so they are being as transparent as possible and will be looking up ways to preserve the Perley Oak. An arborist will also be looking at the oak to find out how to improve it and a landscape architect will be utilized to improve the other aspects of the property. D. Anson has gotten a recommendation from the UNHCE for a landscape architect. The LCC will keep Parks and Recreations in the loop since they will need to create a line item for this. K. Dunleavy also has had a arborist come in the past to look at the oak and will send the report to E. Rathburn. K. Dunleavy says the arborist has recommended limb removal to help improve the health of other parts of the trees and have a mobile mill to use the limbs for other purposes. M. Schulz also proposes the idea to look for acorns/offspring from the trees surrounding the oak to help preserve its legacy. K. Dunleavy also gives an update of what work has been done on the property. They have also ordered a warning sign to warn about the danger of some of the Perley Oak limbs falling off that will be put on the side of the property that faces the Beane Conference Center. D. Anson would also like to have a clearer picture of where the boundaries of the property is. E. Rathburn will contact the land surveyor for Department of Public Works and see if he can help the commission. 3.II. Weirs Beach Erosion K. Dunleavy begins his update as to where Parks and Recreations is in restoration of the Weirs Beach. He has met with City Council to discuss what is being done/they wish to be done in relation to the  project. The City has selected a engineering group to assess the erosion control issues and the City has also met with NHDES. Erosion alternatives have been proposed. NHDES is favorable to the proposed actions. The proposed alternatives are beach replenishment by using existing locations in the channel and in front of The Naswa. Another proposed option is the extension of the jetty. Once the beach has been replenished, manual back passing would be initiated which would bring the sand that moves down the bay back up to the beach. The sand assessment studies for the erosion are on the City of Laconia website. Because of the action of filling the beach area with sand, which consists of filling a wetland (the lake), the city will need to do mitigation actions under the supervision of NHDES. You can create a new wetland, improve wetlands, or pay into the ARM fund. The City has met with NHDES to go over their options. A concept for a option the City wishes to pursue is creation of a wetland next to the beach. This is the cheapest option for the City. It is also an opportunity to improve stormwater treatment in the beach area and also educate people who live in the city about wetlands. K. Dunleavy presented this idea to the City Council because he wanted public input before starting any processes. They want the City to reach out to NHDES to see if any other mitigation options can be pursued as an alternative to the creation of a wetland. M. Schulz asks if there is enough area in the proposed wetland area to create a wetland. K. Dunleavy answers that there is. R. Christopher asks if the idea to curl the jetty around to catch erosion is an option. K. Dunleavy says that is one action that will probably be done during this project. L. Morin asks whether steep slope buffer improvement around the lake a viable mitigation option would be. K. Dunleavy says that is not something that has been considered but he will have the city take that into account in future discussions. D. Anson also informs K. Dunleavy that The Black Brook Geomorphological Study has some potential areas for improvement in existing wetlands if the man- made wetland is a viable option. K. Dunleavy says that Amy Lovisek of Parks and Recreation and Krista Larsen of DPW are both contact points for this in the future. D. Anson asks K. Dunleavy if it would be appropriate to keep the LCC in the loop in the design process in the future and K. Dunleavy informs them that they will be seeing the plans for the work because they will have to fill out a wetland permit, and this will be going for public review/input. He will also keep E. Rathburn on the copy list and will let the commission know when meetings are so someone can go. 3.III. NHACC Discussion L. Morin begins a discussion about how to disseminate information about NHACC and other subjects if she is not doing it as a BCCD employee. She asks whether she can send it to everyone instead of just E. Rathburn and have him send out. E. Rathburn states that it would probably be a good idea to keep with the current system, so they do not run into any legal speed bumps since she is still a member of the commission. 3.IV. Intern for Water Quality Sampling. D. Anson briefly speaks about putting out a advertisement for an intern to help with Water Quality Sampling in the summer. E. Rathburn says he will work on creating a description of the position and then put it in the newspaper/city website as an advertisement. E. Rathburn will also look and see if AmeriCorps members can be used for the work. The commission will also figure out how much they will pay the intern. The commission will be using the intern for Deep Water Testing also. 4. Old Business 4.I. Lake Hosts D. Williams gives an update on Lake Hosts. The grant for LH is out and the commission can apply for the grant right now. There were over 500 inspections the previous year. The commission can apply for $1,500.00 and an additional $200.00 because they are in the Winnipesaukee River Basin. There is already one potential employee. The volunteer will be working at the Messer St. ramp. E. Rathburn will also check in with Eversource to see where they are in the project that is right next to the Messer St. ramp so the LCC Will know whether they will be working during the LH period. D. Anson asks how much it cost to have someone at the ramp last year and D. Williams said it was $1,500.00. Some members of the LCC said they will try and volunteer this year.  4.II. Stormwater Regulation Brainstorming E. Rathburn gives the commission an update on the storm water regulations. He will be meeting with Laconia Department of Public Works and other Planning Department employees to go over the regulations process they currently are in right now. 5 General . Business D. Williams asks if anyone is going to the watershed conference in Plymouth on the 15th of March. E. Rathburn and D. Anson showed interest in going. E. Rathburn will look at how the registration is handled and how the City can pay for the commission to go. 6 Liaison and Subcommittee Reports . There is a meeting on the 28th for the Lakeshore Redevelopment Committee. the committee has acquired more money for studies of the properties and D. Anson believes they are in the Phase 2 study for environmental contamination. 6.I Milfoil in Paugus Bay and Lake . Winnisquam E. Rathburn gives an update on where the City is in accepting the grant money from NHDES for milfoil removal. The City has a resolution and vote coming up to accept the money. R. Tilton will also be attending meetings in the future to coordinate with the LCC in relation to generation of funds for milfoil removal and outreach. 7 New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services Applications . There were no applications for commission review. 8 Staff Report . There is no staff report. 9 Adjournment . M. Schulz makes a motion to adjourn at 7:45 PM. D. Williams seconds. All in favor. The meeting is adjourned