Commission on Conservation & Agriculture

Chairperson Bob Daniels Commission Vice-Chair Members Vacant Michael Thomas Kate Miller on Jane Brawerman Daniel Penney Barbara Schukoske William Gardner Conservation & Evan Peterson Vacant William Harris Agriculture Alternates William Wilson Vacant Vincent Senatore Staff James Sipperly, Environmental Planner REGULAR MEETING Corinne Milardo, Administrative Assistant Minutes DATE: Tuesday, April 15, 2025 TIME: 7:00 p.m. Meeting was held in person in Room 208, Municipal Building and via WebEx. In person attendance: Commissioners: Bob Daniels, Barbara Schukoske, Daniel Penney, William Gardner. Public: None. WebEx Attendance: Commissioners: Kate Miller, Jane Brawerman. Public: None. Absent: Commissioners: Michael Thomas, Evan Peterson, William Harris, William Wilson, Vincent Senatore. Staff in Attendance: James Sipperly, Environmental Planner Corinne Milardo, Administrative Assistant A. Call to Order Chairperson B. Daniels called the meeting to order at 7:06 pm. 1. Election of Officers i. Vice Chair K. Miller nominated E. Peterson for Vice Chair. There were no other nominations from the floor. Motion to nominate E. Peterson as Vice Chair. Moved by B. Schukoske, seconded by W. Gardner. Passed unanimously: 6-0. B. Accept the Agenda Motion to accept the agenda. Moved by B. Schukoske, seconded by W. Gardner. Passed unanimously: 6-0. C. Public Forum If you require special accommodations for any meeting, please call the ADA Coordinator at (860) 638-4540, (voice) or (860) 638-4812 (TDD/TTY), or the Town Clerk’s Office at (860) 638-4910 at least ten (10) days prior to the scheduled meeting. Page 1 of 7 None. D. Approval of Minutes 1. March 18, 2025 Motion to approve the minutes. Moved by B. Schukoske, seconded by W. Gardner. Passed: 6-0. E. Request for Comment J. Sipperly reported that the Wesleyan project is still before the Wetlands Commission. They received a 152-page report from Wesleyan. The public hearing is scheduled for May 7th. The Wetlands Commission may request a field trip to the site after the May 7th meeting because there is a great deal of public interest. There were 60 people at the last meeting however there were technical issues with the recording equipment so they couldn’t have the meeting then, so it was postponed to May 7th. If there is a field trip, it will have to be noticed. The public will be invited and if anyone from this commission wants to attend, they are welcome to. B. Daniels asked if this commission will have to get involved with the Wesleyan project. J. Sipperly responded no, he is just keeping the commission updated on this project. K. Miller suggested that J. Sipperly should talk to Wesleyan about the field trip because there is seriously contaminated soil at the site. The public should be made aware of this. J. Sipperly responded that the contaminated soil is in the pond, under the pond, and in the Dam so this isn’t a concern. K. Miller shared with the commission that Wesleyan is holding a community meeting to talk to neighbors about this project prior to the May 7th public hearing. The meeting will be held on April 23rd. F. Officers and Committee Reports 1. Chair’s Report B. Daniels asked J. Brawerman to update the commission on what’s been going on with VoAg. J. Brawerman stated that she sent out an email updating everyone so they know what’s going on. J. Brawerman hopes to go out there soon to see their progress. The chicken tractor they would like to purchase is more expensive than they realized so they won’t be able to contribute as much as they thought. B Daniels asked if they’re thinking of doing something with larger animals. J. Brawerman responded that they don’t have support for the full use of that property and they’re worried they won’t have enough space. B. Daniels commented that there is a lot of space that they can use but they would have to cut down trees which would be very expensive. Page 2 of 7 J. Brawerman added that there’s wetlands there as well. She suggested scheduling a field trip out there. B Daniels asked when they usually have their annual Ag program open house. J Brawerman responded April 30th. i. Open Space Acquisition Fund Balance B. Daniels asked if the fund balance has changed. J. Sipperly responded that it hasn’t but it will change soon. 2. Agriculture Committee i. Agriculture Support for Farmers B. Daniels asked if Director Kozikowski was able to update the website with the information that E. Peterson, K. Miller, and J. Brawerman contributed. J. Sipperly responded that they’ve assembled a packet that will go on the website. It just hasn’t been done yet. J. Sipperly changed the topic to Forest City Farms. He reported that the office went out to Forest City Farms and found that there’s a lot of stuff that Gabe Russo needs to clean up. There’s metal containers, a mobile home and a lot of stuff not related to a farming operation. The farm is disheveled. Director Kozikowski and J. Sipperly meet with G. Russo at his farm to discuss the condition of the farm. G. Russo got some dumpsters but then realized how big of a job this will be. J. Sipperly offered a solution to help G. Russo. The power plant down the road has a corporate program called The Day of Giving. The company is willing to do a Day of Giving at Forest City Farms in which 15 volunteers will help clean up the property on May 16th. G. Russo will also fix the deer fencing, get new bee hives and get the property turned around. J. Sipperly told the commission that if they’d like to volunteer on May 16th they are more than welcome to. D. Penney said if they need more tractors or buckets or whatever, he’d be willing to lend them. K. Miller suggested that an annual inspection of leased farmland would be a good idea or putting the inspection into the lease itself so that things don’t get neglected. J. Sipperly responded that he inspects the farms annually. J. Brawerman commented that G. Russo probably got in over his head with having a farm here and a large farm in Massachusetts to manage but she’s happy to hear that he has plans with this farm and that the place will be cleaned up. J. Sipperly added that one of the things G. Russo would like to do is work with new farmers. He has a business plan which is all about education. We have access to equipment through the Connecticut RC&D Council that farmers can request to use or learn how to use. The issue is that in his lease, G. Russo cannot sublease. They went to the administration and they said it’s not a good idea. They want to go back to the Administration with more details of G. Russo’s business plan and if he’s allowed to sublease, it will completely turn around that property. This will meet the need for new farmers and education. B. Daniels suggested getting permission from the town to sublease. Page 3 of 7 J Sipperly responded that the lease does say that they can’t sublease unless the owner agrees to it and right now the city has not agreed to it. J Brawerman totally supports G. Russo’s idea. B. Daniels mentioned that more pallets are being brought in and used at Lovie’s Farm. J. Sipperly stated that a third party soil scientist went out to the location and determined that the pallets are impacting the wetlands. They will be sending out a certified letter to the owner. The owner will be required to get a wetlands permit. K. Miller suggested putting Brock Farm on a future agenda to discuss the cleanup of that property. J Sipperly added that the Connecticut RC&D developed a program for veteran farmers. This program includes a 20 minute informational video in which veterans are interviewed and spoke about what they want to get out of farming. There’s also an interactive map that shows where all the farms are. 3. Outreach Committee i. Conservation Corner Update B. Daniels asked if anyone wants to take over the Conservation Corner that would be great. Anybody can help by submitting information. J. Sipperly commented that the last topic that the commission thought of was to write about the commission, their roles and responsibilities to try to recruit new members. A draft was started but it was never completed. K. Miller commented that she sent out a draft public service announcement that everyone was happy with. K, Miller shared this public service announcement with a couple of individuals involved with the Government Participation Guide which was created by the City of Middletown and Wesleyan University. They read this public service announcement during the launch of this Guide. J. Brawerman asked where they were thinking of publishing the PSA. J. Sipperly responded that this could be published in The Middletown Press, The Chronicle, or the Middletown Eye. 4. Open Space Management Committee i. Wilcox Management invasive species study J. Sipperly needs to upload his Wilcox Management Report, put together the final page of the RFP, and J. Sipperly will send it out to different companies. ii. Open Space Priorities J. Sipperly stated that what they’re focusing on is the Pistol Creek Properties. Pistol Creek Pond is in need of treatment. They applied for a pesticide permit with DEEP and they expect their application to be approved. J. Sipperly then said there are a lot of invasive species that need to be cleared out and the trails on the Middletown side are overgrown with vegetation. Page 4 of 7  iii. Trail Maintenance Needed – CFPA Wilcox Open Space Guida should be another priority. The signage needs to be updated and trail maintenance is needed. Wilcox is another priority iv. Merriam Open Space Property J. Sipperly mention that he didn’t have time to look for the lease agreement for the Merriam property. They’ll have go through some old files to find the agreement. K Miller asked why this was being brought up. J Sipperly responded that there was a question at the last meeting about public access. 5. Open Space Acquisition Committee i. 470 Chamberlain Road J. Sipperly reported that the owner agreed to sell this property. The land still needs to be cleared though. ii. Country Club Road site J. Sipperly reported that the owner of the property agreed to sell it. iii. Stantack Road Director Marek Kozikowski, Department of Land Use, spoke about this property. It’s a 13.69 acre property. The only access to this property is a City owned strip of land that is not a city street and the city has no interest in making it a city street. The property owner has been marketing this property as a building lot. From a zoning standpoint this is not a legal building lot. The steps you would have to take to make this a building lot would involve getting a variance for frontage, a number of easements from the City would be required for a 1,200 foot driveway and utilities and for the ability for emergency services to get out to that site. This piece of property would be best served as open space so the City made an offer. Right now there is a verbal agreement. Director Kozikowski requested an endorsement from the commission to acquire this property as open space. Motion to endorse the acquisition of Stantack Road. Moved by B. Schukoske, seconded by W. Gardner Passed: 6-0. iv. 159 Boston Road Director Kozikowski explained that this 20 acre property has a long history. The house that is on that property is blighted. Bob Cyranowicz was living in the house with a caved-in roof. The property racked up fines and then it was liened. B. Cyranowicz’s cousin found out about his living situation. She reached out to the City to find out how to fix the situation. This property is adjacent to the B-2 zone. There were developers that expressed interest in the property. B. Cyranowicz hates the idea of a development and asked the City if they would be interested in purchasing it as open space. Using the commission’s scoring criteria as well as the GIS, this property ranked high. B. Cyranowicz wants to keep the house and garage which works out to be half an acre of land. This would be a 19.5 acre open space acquisition that includes farmland that has been hayed for a long time by B. Cyranowicz. There’s wetlands on the Page 5 of 7 property, a watercourse, some wooded and cleared areas. Carve out a parcel for the house and garage. Director Kozikowski ordered an appraisal of the property. J. Sipperly added that the house will be demoed and rebuilt. Director Kozikowski then added that lot line modification will be required so that B. Cyranowicz can keep the house and garage. B. Cyranowicz will use the money he gets from selling the property to the City to rebuild the house and garage. K. Miller commented that she is excited about this acquisition. K. Miller would like to advocate for this open space to be utilized by the public. Director Kozikowski spoke to B. Cyranowicz about the town’s farm land initiative. If he wants to continue to hay the land he should be able to. J. Brawerman commented to Director Kozikowski that if there is an opportunity to engage the commission, even if it’s to visit the site with a commission member to rank the property would be appreciated. Director Kozikowski responded that they have permission to access the property so if any of the commission members would like to go, we can certainly do that. K. Miller would like to walk the property. Motion to endorse the acquisition of 159 Boston Road. Moved by K. Miller, seconded by B. Schukoske. Passed unanimously: 6-0. G. Old Business i. Trail Guide updating and reprinting and contract – working with Gary Middleton J Brawerman updated the commission that Pat Rasch, who produced the previous trail guide, agreed to produce the new guide. J. Sipperly reported that Gary Middleton is working with our GIS Tech. We’ll put together a package to give to P. Rasch to get that going. One thing J. Sipperly doesn’t want to see in the guide are the graphics from the previous guide. It takes up space we don’t need. ii. Right to Farm Signs - Installation J. Sipperly reported that there are 12 signs displayed in the city. He’s already received some phone calls asking about the signs. B. Daniels asked about the open space signs. J. Sipperly responded that 5 signs have been replaced and there’s a list of signs that need to be replaced. The priority should be Guida, Katchen Coley, B. Daniels’ signs, and the Daniels property. iii. Red Maple Swamp Update Page 6 of 7 J. Sipperly reported that they started the survey. There was a meeting with Land Use Staff and people from the State regarding the trail that is coming from Portland and connecting to Meriden. This trail is going to go through the school property. They walked the property because there’s vernal pools and wetlands that they’d like to avoid. The trail will hug the proposed Kaplan Drive development. They need to figure out where this trail is going to go that won’t impact safety at the school. When the survey is complete, they will look at where the best place for a right-of-way for a trail will be. iv. CCA 2024 Annual Report B. Daniels stated that if anyone had anything they’d like to add or make changes to the report they can do so. K. Miller commented that the annual report should be written for someone who doesn’t know the commission. Context needs to be added to the report and maybe create categories to organize the information. B. Daniels suggested that this report could be included in one of the Conservation Corner Updates. J. Brawerman agrees with K Miller and suggested adding photographs of the work the commission has been doing to the report. v. Resources for New Farmers vi. New State Park Proposed Near CVH Reservoirs, Representative Brandon Chaffee J. Sipperly reported that he hasn’t been hearing much about this. It was receiving some local support, but federal funding has been cut. We don’t know where it stands at this time. J. Sipperly stated that current State Parks are underfunded and under maintained. It doesn’t make sense to create a new State Park when they can’t take care of the existing State Parks. H. New Business None. I. Member Forum J Sipperly informed the commission that he received a list from UCONN Extension regarding the native tree shrub and perennial availability list. J. Sipperly could either email it out to the commission or he can pass it out at the next meeting. It’s a great resource that the commission should have. K Miller requested that J. Sipperly email her a copy. J. Adjournment Motion to adjourn the meeting at 8:24 pm. Moved by B. Schukoske, seconded by W. Gardner. Passed unanimously: 6-0. Page 7 of 7