Conservation Commission

City of Laconia Conservation Commission Wednesday, August 16, 2023 - 6:00 PM City Hall in the Armand A. Bolduc City Council Chamber Draft Minutes 8/16/2023 - Minutes 1. CALL TO ORDER T Chair Dean Anson called the meeting to order at 6:00 PM 2. ROLL CALL F Members present: Dean Anson, Lisa Morin, Mike Foote, Deb Williams Absent: Stacy Soucy 3. SALUTE TO THE FLAG A 4. RECORDING SECRETARY Deb Williams R 5. STAFF IN ATTENDANCE 6. ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES FROM PREVIOUS MEETINGS 6.I. Acceptance Of June 28, July 5, 19 Minutes D Minutes from July 19, 2023 meeting were reviewed. Mike F. made a motion to accept them. Lisa M. seconded. Voted and accepted. 7. OLD BUSINESS 8. NEW BUSINESS 8.I. PL2019-0092SP Amd1, PL2023-0106CUP(Wtlnd); Endicott St East MBL 187-72-7; Proposal To Amend 2019 Approval To Modify New Access Road, Amount Of Solar Arrays And Relocate Interconnect Location In The Wetland Buffer Presentation of Solar Project Endicott St. East MBL 187-72-7. Proposal to amend 2019 approval to modify new access road, amount of solar arrays, and relocate connection location in the wetland buffer. Adam Sandahl was here to present. This solar array was originally approved in 2019 and will sit on top of the Laconia landfill. The design has been changed to a smaller array. It is on the corner of Endicott East and Sterling Dr. Eversource wants to change the connection to come in off of Endicott East through the wetland buffer. Eversource also wants to cut trees and add 4 power poles. Impact will be 100 sq.ft. on buffer. They also want to put a new access road off of Sterling Dr. to use during construction so neighbors won’t be disturbed, but will be in wetland buffer. Otherwise the trucks would have a tough turn. Lisa M. asks why they would destroy wetland rather than disturb neighbors for a couple of months. The installer is I-Sun. The city will receive a portion of the kickback from electric generated. Original plan had no buffer encroachment. Deb W. asked about mowing around and under panels. It will be maintained to protect the landfill cap. There is a 15% slope on the panels to create a water sheet flow so channels are not created. They will need a temporary stream crossing for the trucks to install the 4 poles. Discussion on types of poles to be used. This project will come before Planning Bd. 9/5. They hope to start the project in Sept. Discussion on snow removal; snow will slide off into piles and piles will be snow-blowed if they get too big. Lisa M. said grass may not do well under the panels. They will monitor that.  generated. Original plan had no buffer encroachment. Deb W. asked about mowing around and under panels. It will be maintained to protect the landfill cap. There is a 15% slope on the panels to create a water sheet flow so channels are not created. They will need a temporary stream crossing for the trucks to install the 4 poles. Discussion on types of poles to be used. This project will come before Planning Bd. 9/5. They hope to start the project in Sept. Discussion on snow removal; snow will slide off into piles and piles will be snow-blowed if they get too big. Lisa M. said grass may not do well under the panels. They will monitor that. They will walk the site twice yearly to inspect. Ground water will be tested twice yearly to make sure there is no leaching. The site will be gated. The Commission agrees this is a good use of land over the landfill. Conservation Comm. recommendations: T 1. That poles used be non- leaching 2. We recommend Eversource use the previous plan where the poles are not in the wetland buffers F 3. We recommend that the road doesn’t disturb the wetland buffer. 4. Dean Anson asks that the Comm. be included in receiving semi-annual reports on the site inspections. A 8.II. PL2023-0102SP, 0103SU, 0104CUP (Stp Slp); 711 Weirs Blvd; Conceptual Proposal To Create 12 Residential Lots, A Glamping Campground With 37 Domes, Wedding Venue And Observatory 9. NEW HAMPSHIRE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES APPLICATIONS R 10. OTHER BUSINESS There was a discussion on voting procedures on presentations. Brett Beliveau has written a report to the city on the Lafayette St. pond and the reasons he believes it is a vernal pool. Dean suggests we ask the city to give it to the Comm. Lisa suggests we put it under D protection. Discussion on why the Con. Comm. is being left out of several development projects and lack of inspection of these projects. We will work on a letter to the City Council to convey our thoughts on future growth of the city. 11. LIAISON AND SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS 12. STAFF REPORT 13. ADJOURNMENT Mike F. made a motion to adjourn meeting. Deb W. seconded. Meeting adjourned at 7:35pm. Minutes respectively summited by Deb Williams