Mine Falls Park Advisory Committee

Mine Falls Park Advisory Committee September 8, 2014 Item Topic Lead Discussion / Conclusions 1. Call to Order Greg Andruskevich Call to Order: 6:57 PM Attendees: Pam Anderson, Kim Crider, Greg Andruskevich, Dick Gillespie, Ed Moran, Peter Testa, Nick Caggiano, Nick Serpa, Brian Edwards Greeting of guests: Michael Soucy – Alderman, Ward 5 Period for public comment: Alderman Soucy attended to observe as Mine Falls Park is within his ward. August minutes accepted with stipulation date on heading is changed. 2. Park/Rec. Nick Caggiano Nashua Art Symposium presentation has been postponed to October meeting. Nick feels this is a good opportunity to start a discussion about where in the park the Art Council is considering placing a sculpture next year. To address Peter Testa’s question Can we be sure the sculpture is appropriate for a nature park? Nick stated this was why we are starting the discussion with the Art Council now as opposed to May next year. Boardwalk update: Holden engineering was onsite 9/8/14 for additional surveying and site review based on the committee recommendations from August meeting. Permitting at the state level has started processing. Conservation commission meeting with Holden engineering has been set. Arborist’s report is still pending. A new design plan will be presented after Holden receives the Arborist’s report. Looking for approvals over the winter to enable early to mid-April ground breaking and a late June completion deadline. Canal Lowering: Will be done as part of the Broad Street Parkway project to reconstruct the canal outlet to the Nashua River. See attached email below for more details. We have no time frame for how long the canal will be lowered. Nick Serpa asked: Why not restrict flow on the gatehouse/Mill Pond side?, Nick C. replied Federal Law prohibits us from touching or changing the inlet. Will the construction affect the proposed kayak launch area? No, construction is outside the park boundary. Spine Rd. flooding: Alleviated. All beavers have been relocated. Beaver dam has been  2014 Meetings: Jan 6, Feb 3, March 3, April 7 , May 5, June 3, No July meeting, Aug 4, Sept. 8, Oct.6, Nov. 3 , Dec 1, Jan. 5, 2015  WEB SITE: http://www.gonashua.com  2014 Trail Days April 19, May 17 , June 14, No July Trail Day, Aug. 16, Sept. 20, Oct.18, optional Committee Day Nov. 15  Page 1 of 6  Mine Falls Park Advisory Committee September 8, 2014 Item Topic Lead Discussion / Conclusions destroyed and has not been rebuilt. Nashua Waste Water department assisted with this work. Dick G. mentioned a seminar on Friday Sept. 12 in Merrimack NH for how to co- exist with beavers if anyone was interested in attending. Bridge Painting: Church of the Nazerene had 25 volunteers and completed 2 bridges, one bridge remains. Intern Report: One has returned to school and had a successful summer. Mark Soucy continues to work as an intern daily completing tasks as needed. Picnic Table w/roof: currently at the Park & Rec. shop. Will be placed near 99B next week some time. Trail Day observations: Good amount of work completed. 32 +/- visitors through the Gatehouse. UPS Parking area: Whipple Rd. UPS contacted Park & Rec requesting the lot be cleaned up. Nick C. forwarded this to the Soccer council President for assistance. This lot is leased by the city from UPS for additional parking for Soifert Fields. Dog Waste Signage: See attached below. Nick C. will discuss with supervisor for possibly placing these in the park. Other: six soccer fields at Soifert Fields have been refurbished. Schools have allowed Sunday travel teams to use their fields to allow the Soifert Fields to properly mature. This removed 100+ soccer games from Soifert. Dick G. asked if there was a possibility of moving the softball field from Soifert area to alleviate the extensive trash typically left either at the field or the UPS lot. Nick C .stated currently, there is no other place in the city to have an additional softball field without disruption to neighbors. Crickett play is gaining popularity and may need a designated field built someplace. Nick S. asked if there was concern that most cricket players come from Massachusetts who are not paying taxes to Nashua to aid in maintaining the fields. Nick C. stated this is a difficult thing to regulate. Currently the city covers all maintenance of the parks.  2014 Meetings: Jan 6, Feb 3, March 3, April 7 , May 5, June 3, No July meeting, Aug 4, Sept. 8, Oct.6, Nov. 3 , Dec 1, Jan. 5, 2015  WEB SITE: http://www.gonashua.com  2014 Trail Days April 19, May 17 , June 14, No July Trail Day, Aug. 16, Sept. 20, Oct.18, optional Committee Day Nov. 15  Page 2 of 6  Mine Falls Park Advisory Committee September 8, 2014 Item Topic Lead Discussion / Conclusions 3. Chairman’s Notes Greg Andruskevich Clean Up: Nashua League of Conservative Voters volunteered to clean up near the ‘Testa’ Bridge. Very good turnout of volunteers with very good results, 6+ bags of trash. Kayak launch: Requested Nick S., Mark S & Kim C. form a sub committee to review possible sites. 4. Old Business All None. 5. New Business Kim Crider Fall Festival: Saturday October 18. Parade from City hall to Holman Stadium. Participants will primarily be local organizations and businesses. Holman Stadium will have live music, Ferris wheel, carousel, games, information table, arts & crafts. Kim proposed MFPAC enter a float and some members possibly dress as wildlife for the parade. Nick C will provide a tractor, flatbed trailer & hay. Motioned to move the October Trail Day from October 18th to October 25th, seconded & accepted by all. Greg will address notifications for date change. Greg A volunteered to dress as a beaver, Nick s. volunteered to dress as a chipmunk for the committee float. 6. Other All Trail Day Projects: Plant Mums at Whipple St. entrance. – Greg Install erosion bars in trail leading to Anders bridge – Dick Add timbers to raise height of wall after Lincoln Park bridge. – Nick S. Y6/Y7 cleanup for possible picnic table or grass planting. – Greg. Gabion needs to be covered by stone again, break water stone piles need to be rebuilt, install log (telephone pole) to extend retaining wall along trail edge. – Repair water erosion damage on Spine Rd near Gatehouse. – Kim Gatehouse docent. – Pam Joshua Segal resignation: Dick G. expressed a heartfelt thank you to Joshua for his level of commitment and passion he showed for the park. Joshua has performed numerous tasks cleaning, repairing and improving the park on his own time, which is outside the scope and expectation of committee membership duties. Per Joshua’s requests, the committee agreed to give one of the old Mine Falls Park signs as a gift & symbol of  2014 Meetings: Jan 6, Feb 3, March 3, April 7 , May 5, June 3, No July meeting, Aug 4, Sept. 8, Oct.6, Nov. 3 , Dec 1, Jan. 5, 2015  WEB SITE: http://www.gonashua.com  2014 Trail Days April 19, May 17 , June 14, No July Trail Day, Aug. 16, Sept. 20, Oct.18, optional Committee Day Nov. 15  Page 3 of 6  Mine Falls Park Advisory Committee September 8, 2014 Item Topic Lead Discussion / Conclusions thanks for his years of committed service to the Park. Adjournment 8:20 PM From: Caggiano, Nick Subject: Information regarding the canal lowering. Greg/Dick At the last meeting you asked about when the canal will be worked on regarding the Parkway. To clarify what is going to occur I sent a note into Steve Dookran and received information back from Hayner / Swanson see below. It appears that none of the work will occur in Mine Falls Park and the lowering of the canal by 1 foot is a safety measure in case a very large storm occurs during the construction of the improvements. NHDES has issued a permit for this work It appears that this work requires a public notification which is going to occur at the Sept 16th Con Com meeting - Nick ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nick, I am writing to provide backup information regarding the anticipated effort to lower the elevation of the canal during construction of a new outlet control structure. The Parkway South Contract includes work throughout the Millyard area including construction of a new outlet structure to replace the existing structure located where the canal goes underground at Pine Street Extension. This new structure is necessary because the Parkway project will widen the roadway at this location. This widening will interfere with the existing structure. The existing structure is owned by the Nashua Millyard Association. The replacement structure will tie into a new piping system which will convey both Parkway drainage flow and canal overflow to a new outfall at the Nashua River. This outfall will be located adjacent to the road from the Millyard to Mine Falls Park. The outfall will be at the bottom of the hill near NIMCO. When complete this replacement system will be owned and maintained by the City. During the Final Design phase, Fay, Spofford and Thorndike, the project design engineering consultant, learned that the existing privately owned outlet structure is classified by NHDES as a low hazard dam. On behalf of the City, FST prepared and submitted a permit application to NHDES because construction of this structure is a modification to the existing low hazard dam. NHDES has issued this permit. As the design was finalized, the City’s project team became concerned with implications for storm management for the period when the replacement structure will be under construction. It is desirable to provide as much protection as reasonable to the proposed work as well as the canal itself should extreme storm events occur. It was considered that if the Contractor is allowed to lower the canal elevation by one-foot, significant storage capacity  2014 Meetings: Jan 6, Feb 3, March 3, April 7 , May 5, June 3, No July meeting, Aug 4, Sept. 8, Oct.6, Nov. 3 , Dec 1, Jan. 5, 2015  WEB SITE: http://www.gonashua.com  2014 Trail Days April 19, May 17 , June 14, No July Trail Day, Aug. 16, Sept. 20, Oct.18, optional Committee Day Nov. 15  Page 4 of 6  Mine Falls Park Advisory Committee September 8, 2014 Item Topic Lead Discussion / Conclusions could be provided for storm management during the period when the outlet structure construction is underway. This will provide additional protection against overtopping of the canal should an extreme storm event occur. A condition of the permit is that a public notification be made prior to lowering the canal. This notification will be made concurrent with a project update to be provided to the Conservation Commission at their September 16, 2014 meeting. It is intended that the Contractor be allowed to pump directly from the canal to an adjacent manhole structure located on the cove side of the canal. This manhole is on a 54-inch drain line which runs from the Tree Street area, under the canal, to a Nashua River outfall. By pumping to this system, flow pumped directly from the canal can be directed to the River. The Contractor will be required to use care to avoid disturbing sediment in the canal. I hope this update is helpful. Please let me know if you have additional questions. John C. Vancor, PE Vice President/Principal Engineer Hayner/Swanson, Inc. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------- Dog waste signage:  2014 Meetings: Jan 6, Feb 3, March 3, April 7 , May 5, June 3, No July meeting, Aug 4, Sept. 8, Oct.6, Nov. 3 , Dec 1, Jan. 5, 2015  WEB SITE: http://www.gonashua.com  2014 Trail Days April 19, May 17 , June 14, No July Trail Day, Aug. 16, Sept. 20, Oct.18, optional Committee Day Nov. 15  Page 5 of 6  Mine Falls Park Advisory Committee September 8, 2014 Item Topic Lead Discussion / Conclusions  2014 Meetings: Jan 6, Feb 3, March 3, April 7 , May 5, June 3, No July meeting, Aug 4, Sept. 8, Oct.6, Nov. 3 , Dec 1, Jan. 5, 2015  WEB SITE: http://www.gonashua.com  2014 Trail Days April 19, May 17 , June 14, No July Trail Day, Aug. 16, Sept. 20, Oct.18, optional Committee Day Nov. 15  Page 6 of 6