Conservation Commission

City of Laconia Conservation Commission Wednesday, September 2, 2020 - 6:00 PM City Hall in the Armand A. Bolduc City Council Chamber Accepted 9/16/2020 9/2/2020 - Minutes 1. CALL TO ORDER Chair Dean Anson called the meeting to order at 6:06PM. 2. ROLL CALL Members Present: Chair Dean Anson, Lisa Morin, Deb Williams, Mike Foote, Marnie Schulz, Stacy Soucy (Planning Board Liaison) Members Absent: Wes Bates Staff: Dean Trefethen, Planning & Community Development Director, Ashley Ruprecht, Conservation/Planner Technician Guests: Nick Sceggell (63 Blaisdell & 59 Bisson) and Bruce Wright (63 Blaisdell) 3. ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES FROM PREVIOUS MEETINGS 3.I. Acceptance Of Minutes From August 5 D. Williams suggested a correction to section 8 of the minutes, and motioned to approve the minutes with the suggested changes. L. Morin seconded. All voted in favor. 4. NEW BUSINESS 4.I. #06-01SP Amd 1- 59 Bisson Ave N. Sceggell provided an overview of the project which propose an addition to an existing building where paved parking currently is located on the site. The work will be within the wetland buffer, but the area is already disturbed so there will be no additional impact or impervious area. The roof of the building will be flat and an existing roof drain will be utilized to direct stormwater to the wetland. There will be no change in the amount of runoff by converting the paved area to a building. Chair D. Anson asked if there will be a portable toilet on the site during construction. N. Sceggell is not sure. M. Foote motioned to support the application. D. Williams seconded. Chair D. Anson added a condition that the portable toilet, if used, must be located at least 33 feet from the wetland. All voted in favor. 4.II. PL2020-0080CUP- 63 Blaisdell Wetland CUP The Chair moved this item to the top of the agenda. Nick Sceggell provided an overview of the application. Bruce Wright with Irwin Marine was also in attendance in the audience. N. Sceggell explained that the project is on the Laconia/Gilford town line, with most of the impact being in Gilford, and wetland restoration occurring on the Laconia portion of the property. This project was previously approved by the City and extended, but since the last extension ran out they are reapplying for a CUP, with the same plans that were previously approved. Stream restoration will occur as a part of this project, and was recommended within the Black Brook Study. There will be a gravel wetland created to treat and store stormwater on the property. All drainage was reviewed and approved through the NHDES Alteration of Terrain permit.  with most of the impact being in Gilford, and wetland restoration occurring on the Laconia portion of the property. This project was previously approved by the City and extended, but since the last extension ran out they are reapplying for a CUP, with the same plans that were previously approved. Stream restoration will occur as a part of this project, and was recommended within the Black Brook Study. There will be a gravel wetland created to treat and store stormwater on the property. All drainage was reviewed and approved through the NHDES Alteration of Terrain permit. M. Foote asked about how invasive species will be managed on the site. N. Sceggell said a specialist will be on site during construction to identify invasive species and use BMPs to address them appropriately. There was some discussion about whether invasives should be burnt at the Laconia burn dump. N. Sceggell stated that some of the tree cutting work may start as early as this winter, with the main site work occurring during the construction season next year. M. Foote motioned to support the application. M. Schulz seconded. There were no additional comments. All voted in favor. 5. NEW HAMPSHIRE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES APPLICATIONS There were no applications at this time. 6. OLD BUSINESS 6.I. Laconia Municipal Airport Tree Cutting L. Morin and Chair D. Anson provided an overview of the Gilford Conservation Commission meeting from 9/1 that they attended regarding the application. The application was revised to not include any cutting on Laconia Municipal Airport (LMA) property, only on easements on private property. There was discussion about temporary vs. permanent impacts proposed. There are 450 sq ft of permanent impact and 15,150 sq ft of temporary impact proposed in Laconia. There are no proposed impacts on the perennial stream in Laconia. Shrubs will be planted afterwards and the applicant is working with property owners on landscaping. There will be brush cutting activity on LMA property but this is not to be confused with the proposed project as it is cyclical maintenance. Gilford Conservation Commission motioned to support the project on 9/1. D. Williams motioned to support the August 2020 NHDES Wetlands Permit application that was proposed. M. Foote seconded. All voted in favor. 6.II. State School Property Update D. Trefethen attended a meeting about a week or so ago. A $1million grant was received and needs to be matched just to begin site work for roads and infrastructure. At the meeting wetland and survey work and removal of contaminated soils were discussed. This month a survey will be done to assess the buildings and whether any are structurally sound and salvageable. 6.III. Application Checklist A. Ruprecht thanked L. Morin for her feedback that was incorporated into the latest draft of the checklist. There is discussion about how the checklist will be provided to applicants for their consideration. The most likely option is to add a note on the existing questions provided in the CUP application that the checklist should be reviewed and materials provided to Conservation Commission, to avoid every application being submitted to other departments with the additional accompanying information. The checklist could also be provided on the City's website. A. Ruprecht will send out the latest checklist for members to provide any additional feedback before the next meeting. 6.IV. Rules Of Procedure This will be reviewed at the next meeting. D. Trefethen did add that in Section V.3. the requirement for needing to post notice in the newspaper has been changed by the State and that notice only needs to be in 2 public places. Conservation Commission would still like to post notice in the newspaper for special meetings such as public hearings. A. Ruprecht will update this on the latest draft. 6.V. Tributary & Paugus Bay Water Quality Sampling Chair D. Anson and A. Ruprecht took tributary samples of Paugus Bay today and will be dropping them off at NHDES in the morning. Sampling locations on Paugus Park Road were too dry to sample, even though it was raining during the time of sampling. A. Ruprecht mentions that tributaries to Opechee may be added to the sampling list, depending on if they are requested by Winnisquam Watershed Network (WWN).  6.V. Tributary & Paugus Bay Water Quality Sampling Chair D. Anson and A. Ruprecht took tributary samples of Paugus Bay today and will be dropping them off at NHDES in the morning. Sampling locations on Paugus Park Road were too dry to sample, even though it was raining during the time of sampling. A. Ruprecht mentions that tributaries to Opechee may be added to the sampling list, depending on if they are requested by Winnisquam Watershed Network (WWN). 6.VI. Winnisquam Watershed Management Plan D. Anson mentions that WWN is working on a Watershed Management Plan and there will be more to come on this effort. 7. OTHER BUSINESS There is discussion about the old Getty gas station in Gilford regarding potential contaminated soils and a culvert that needs to be replaced. The Gilford Conservation Commission asked that Chair D. Anson reviews information on the issue to weigh in on what can possibly be done. There is discussion about Black Brook and whether the Commission could work with Gilford Conservation Commission to implement a sampling plan to assess its condition. There is some interest in also doing this for Jewett Brook. 8. LIAISON AND SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS S. Soucy recapped the Planning Board's discussion of the 54 Woodvale CUP application, which was approved at their meeting on 9/1. There were no additional applications to note related to Conservation Commission concerns at this time. 9. STAFF REPORT A. Ruprecht said she created a posting on World Water Monitoring Day on 9/18 that will be included in the Laconia Links for the next 2 weeks. The posting includes information about VRAP and Lay Lakes Monitoring that the City participates in and says that anyone interested in taking part in sampling can reach out to the Planning Department. 10. ADJOURNMENT D. Williams motioned to adjourn the meeting. M. Foote seconded. All voted in favor. The meeting adjourned at 8:04PM