Open Space, Recreation & Historic Preservation Advisory Committee

OPEN SPACE, RECREATION AND HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMITTEE MINUTES June 13, 2012 NEXT MEETING: July 11, 2012, 7:30 PM in the Committee Room at Borough Hall. Please notify the Chair if unable to attend. PRESENT: A. Baillie, C. Coultas, M. Durham, L. Ellis, C. Kellogg, M. Honohan, R. Poeter. Guests: Harriet Honefeld, Judy Honohan, Tom Honohan, Betsy Uhlman and Jon Wagar, Vice President for Conservation Programs at Conservation Resources and Director of Acquisitions and Stewardship at Schiff Natural Land Trust. (See official minutes for further biographical information) PUBLIC MEETING STATEMENT: The Open Meeting Statement was read. CALL TO ORDER: Meeting was called to order at 7:35 PM and introductions of attendees were made. MINUTES: Motion made and passed to accept the minutes as written. Honohan/Poeter ROSENET.ORG EMAIL UPDATE: The Chair will take care of getting rosenet email addresses for each member for only Open Space, Recreation and Historic Preservation business. LIVESEY PARK UPDATE: A. The Madison Rotary Club has taken on the Park as an ongoing service project. B. The Rotary Club may be able to help with special projects such as fencing and tree pruning. C. Day of Service Project on June 1, 2012 where Madison High School students came and worked on a planting project made a positive impact on the park. Debbie Mantone, a teacher at Kings Road School submitted the project to the Day of Service program. Several shrubs, two trees and flowers were added to the park. PRESENTATION BY JON WAGAR: A. Focus was on the use of small pieces of open space in Chester. 1. Worked on connecting trails in Chester Borough and Township. 2. Hiking promotion 3. Web site development B. Planning techniques 1. How to engage people to participate. 2. Investigated the “Green Infrastructure” - Parks, street trees etc. 3. Divided the meeting attendees into groups for five minutes to think about the possibilities of what could be done with green spaces.  C. Look for grant sources – ANJEC a possibility. Chester received a grant for them to help with the Chester Plan. Pubic input a key to success. D. GIS mapping very useful tool. E. Web site development a key to communication. WordPress.com is helpful for setting up the site. (See ChesterTrails.org) 1. Schedule Planning Workshops 2. Online survey – Googledocx a possibility. Had good responses and has a spot for comments. 3. Paper survey was made available at the Chester Library. 4. County maps invaluable (McPrima) 5. Chester has 50 miles of trails, both owned by the county and state. More trails are not needed but more connectors would be beneficial both local and in the region. 6. Create bike friendly lanes. Madison has many already. 7. Create a long term plan – may be useful in the future if an opportunity comes up that would be identified and action could be taken. Example – Land sale, highway construction that may create an opportunity. 8. Plan signs and information kiosks, theme hikes and bike rides , geology and history of the area could be included. Information could be accessed on a smart phone. 8. Rails to Trails website – DEP site 9. Plan monthly hikes or bike rides thru the Recreation Dept. 10. Mendham has signs – “Hike Mendham.org” 11. Add signs in store windows. 12. Sustainable NJ teams in both Chester groups worked together to get ANJEC grant. 13. Borough to maintain after completion but “Adopt A Trail” and Scouts can help. 14. Work on donations or easements of land. Thanks to Jon Wagar for his presentation. ADJOURNMENT: Respectfully submitted, Cathie Coultas, Secretary