Conservation Commission

City of Laconia Conservation Commission Wednesday, December 11, 2019 - 6:00 PM City Hall in the Armand A. Bolduc City Council Chamber Accepted 1/8/2020 12/11/2019 - Minutes 1. CALL TO ORDER Chair Dean Anson called the meeting to order at 6:00pm. 2. ROLL CALL Members Present: Chair Dean Anson, Deb Williams, Mike Foote, Lisa Morin, and Richard Christopher Members Absent: Wes Bates and Marnie Schulz Staff: Dean Trefethen and Ashley Ruprecht Guests: Luke Powell representing the NHDES permit application for Bartlett Beach. The commission saluted the flag. 3. ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES FROM PREVIOUS MEETINGS 3.I. Acceptance Of Minutes From November 20 D. Williams suggested correcting "and overview," to "an overview" in section 4.11 of the minutes. D. Williams motions to accept the minutes with the suggested corrections. L. Morin seconds. All voted in favor. L. Morin asked for A. Ruprecht to resend the Events 2020 list and to share information about the Pollinator Pathways event with the rest of the commission. A. Ruprecht agreed. There is additional discussion about Mr. Homsi's application, regarding next steps in the process. Chair D. Anson suggests that at TRC Mr. Homsi needs to have a determination on whether the wetland is a vernal pool or not. D. Trefethen said he agrees this needs to be determined prior to approval, in writing, by a Certified Wetlands Scientist. There is discussion about wetlands mapping and the various result depending on the time of year and weather conditions. A. Ruprecht has minutes from the previous meeting and a memo drafted and will send it out to the applicant and commission once it is internally approved. Chair D. Anson recounted the TiteFlex project and how they did not delineate their wetlands in the spring and the conservation commission had said that the delineation needed to be done in the spring. Chair D. Anson said if the same condition was applied to Mr. Homsi's application than it would not be singling him out since this has been done before. There is discussion about the unclaimed lot abutting Mr. Homsi's property. 4. NEW BUSINESS 4.I. Conservation Land Acquisition The applicant was unable to attend and will attend the next Conservation Commission meeting that he is available to be present at. 4. NEW BUSINESS 4.I. Conservation Land Acquisition The applicant was unable to attend and will attend the next Conservation Commission meeting that he is available to be present at. 4.II. Lake Winnipesaukee Association Membership L. Morin motioned to approve payment for renewing the commission's membership with the LWA for $75. D. Williams seconded. All voted in favor. A. Ruprecht mentioned NH Lakes also reached out, regarding a donation request. L. Morin motions that the commission does not support paying an additional donation to NH Lakes on top of their current membership fee. M. Foote seconds. No comments. All voted in favor. 4.III. 2020 Meeting Schedule There is discussion amongst the commission regarding the prospect of moving the meeting time later in the evening, and the difference between having a "regular meeting" and a "work session." Since there has not been a difference between the two meetings each month, D. Christopher suggested that there should just be 2 regular meetings each month. A. Ruprecht will update the schedule for 2020 to show this. Chair D. Anson stated that members should RSVP to the meetings to A. Ruprecht so that the commission is certain there is a quorum. Chair D. Anson said that if the commission has quorum but someone leaves and there is no longer quorum, the public meeting ends and recording stops, but the commission can still have discussion amongst themselves as a work session, with no decisions. D. Williams asked if phone numbers of commission members are listed on the website. A. Ruprecht said she will check but believes that their numbers are not online. Chair D. Anson stated the commission cannot speak to applicants outside of the meetings about applications. 5. NEW HAMPSHIRE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES APPLICATIONS 5.I. Bartlett Beach NHDES Permit Application L. Powell with Powell Asset Mapping working with Louriero provided an overview of the project. The existing parking lot at Bartlett Beach has erosion issues because it is flat and draining into the lake. The project proposes to reverse the grade of the parking area away from the lake and reducing the size of the gravel parking area. By reducing the size of the parking, the wetland buffer can be enhanced by planting trees creating a vegetated berm to hold water during storm events. Rims for catch basins will stick out of the ground some. The grass area adjacent to the parking lot will not be maintained lawn to assist with filtering stormwater and prevent erosion. A NHDES Shoreland Permit by Notification and NHDES Expedited Minimum Impact Permit will be filed for the project. L. Morin commented that public may complain about the grass not being cut and potentially adding signage that explains why. D. Trefethen agreed. L. Powell said they may maintain the lawn right alongside the parking lot but the majority needs to not be mowed. The commission and applicant discuss the turbidity curtain, existing vegetation, compost waddles, and more. M. Foote asked about the knotweed on the property. L. Powell will not be planning to remove it as a part of the project but said the Parks Department may be able to do it separately. R. Christopher recommends that Parks and Rec addresses the knotweed on the property. D. Williams motioned to accept the application with the condition that the knotweed and signage explaining to the public why the grass isn't mowed will be looked into. L. Morin seconds. No additional comments. All voted in favor.  recommends that Parks and Rec addresses the knotweed on the property. D. Williams motioned to accept the application with the condition that the knotweed and signage explaining to the public why the grass isn't mowed will be looked into. L. Morin seconds. No additional comments. All voted in favor. L. Morin will share the project plans with the Winnisquam Watershed Network. 6. OLD BUSINESS 6.I. Perley Pond Update D. Trefethen stated that a NHDES application has been filed to dredge the pond, and the tree has been trimmed. 6.II. Tributary & Paugus Bay Water Quality Sampling Chair D. Anson stated this will begin in the spring. 6.III. State School Property Update D. Trefethen attended the last meeting. They are requesting the legislature to change them from a Commission to an Authority. The advantage is that they would control sale and lease of the property rather than it going through the state sale process. This will go before the legislature in January. There are 2 areas where there is contamination, one of which will need abatement if the ground is disturbed. L. Morin added that Genuine Local still feels their proposal is being strongly supported. The commission briefly discusses the old steam tunnels underneath the property. 6.IV. Pickerel Pond Property Update A. Ruprecht states RPF Environmental will be doing testing tomorrow, collecting samples from the 3 outbuildings that the commission would like to demo. It will take about 2-3 days to test the samples and 7-14 days for a report to be compiled. 6.V. Cyanobacteria There are no updates at this time. 7. LIAISON AND SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS 7.I. Milfoil Management A. Ruprecht is working with Rich Tilton and Amy from NHDES to wrap up 2019 funding and look at 2020 funding. 8. OTHER BUSINESS The commission discusses the gas station at 1467 Lake Shore Rd. in Gilford, regarding replacement of a culvert at a contaminated site. The commission discusses what level of involvement they would like to have since the stream flows into Black Brook. The commission decided that they would like to be kept in the loop regarding the progress of the project and requested A. Ruprecht reaches out to Carol Hill of the Gilford Conservation Commission to be kept informed, and to add the project on the upcoming agendas to be discussed. L. Morin provided an overview of Pollinator Pathways and requested A. Ruprecht sends out the information that was provided to her to the rest of the commission. Chair D. Anson mentioned that he would like to see the Natural Resource Inventory (NRI) updated and to get a cost estimate. Chair D. Anson suggested seeing what it cost last time and contacting Rick Van de Poll, an environmental scientist, for an estimate. L. Morin mentioned that there may be different levels of NRIs and suggested looking at what other towns have done around Laconia. A. Ruprecht will look at what other towns have done. D. Trefethen said we would most likely be looking at fiscal year for 2022 since the budget for 2021 is in the process of being established now.  get a cost estimate. Chair D. Anson suggested seeing what it cost last time and contacting Rick Van de Poll, an environmental scientist, for an estimate. L. Morin mentioned that there may be different levels of NRIs and suggested looking at what other towns have done around Laconia. A. Ruprecht will look at what other towns have done. D. Trefethen said we would most likely be looking at fiscal year for 2022 since the budget for 2021 is in the process of being established now. 8.I. 2020 Event Opportunities A. Ruprecht said only 1 person responded to the events list for 2020. A. Ruprecht will resend to the commission for them to make their selections. D. Williams provided her preferences of events for 2020. 8.II. Robert's Rules Of Order The commission discusses appropriate meeting behavior and reflects upon the last meeting on November 20, specifically regarding Mr. Homsi's application. 9. STAFF REPORT A. Ruprecht briefly mentioned that she attended a workshop regarding single-use plastics regulation in the state of New Hampshire. A. Ruprecht will send out materials provided to her at the workshop for commission members to review. Chair D. Anson would like to review the 2020-2021 budget at the next meeting. A. Ruprecht will add this to the agenda for January 8th and will send it out ahead of time to commission members. 10. ADJOURNMENT D. Williams motions to adjourn the meeting. M. Foote seconds. There are no additional comments. All voted in favor. The meeting adjourned at 7:59PM