HORSE HILL NATURE PRESERVE
AD HOC COMMITTEE
Minutes of Monday, August 2, 2004
Courtroom at Town Hall
7:30 p.m.
Members Present: Denise O’Dwyer, Shannon Barnes, Connie
Kreider, Helynne Wenz, Debra Huffman, Janet Cormier, Ruth Roulx, Chris Christensen,
Newton Coryell, Harold Watson, Nelson Disco, Tim Tenhave
Call to Order: Tim Tenhave called the meeting to order at 7:37 p.m.
Announcements and Updates: Tim Tenhave announced that Maureen Atwood is now responsible for booking meeting rooms. She can be contacted at 423-8501.
Tim also announced that David Rutzke has resigned from the committee due to a work conflict. Tim will call a meeting of the Historical subcommittee to elect Dave’s replacement as subcommittee chairman.
Tim announced that the Watanic Bowmen are having a shoot on August 8th.
They will put up and remove caution signs as in previous shoots.
Tim requested that committee members who are available should attend the Heritage Committee’s meeting on August 4 at 3:00. They will discuss the Old Kings Highway project.
Tim announced that he will be on vacation for two weeks and will not check his messages regularly during that time.
The September meeting will be held on September 13 due to the Labor Day holiday the previous week.
Andy Powell was unable to attend the meeting but sent Tim a report on the status of Dan Cyr’s forester’s report. Dan has marked most of the boundary lines, with a few exceptions where the lines are unclear. He is currently evaluating the status of the timber. Ann Poole is becoming acquainted with the site. They expect to finish gathering data by the end of August and produce the report by the end of September.
Acceptance of Minutes: On a motion by Newton Coryell and a second by Shannon Barnes, the minutes of June 7, 2004 were accepted as amended.
Signage Update: At a BOS meeting several months ago, the BOS approved purchase and installation of 12 signs showing the permitted uses of HHNP. Staff designed the signs and is having them made at the state prison. The signs should be completed within a few weeks. Some signs will require posts, some will be placed on trees. Walter Warren has requested that the HHNP committee identify the best locations for the signs and the DPW will look into erecting them, but they will need assistance for those in the least accessible areas.
Tim distributed a map identifying 12 sign locations. Connie Kreider requested that one of the signs be placed at the end of Palmeri Dr. and it was determined that a sign was not required near Riverside Dr. On a motion by Janet Cormier with a second by Ruth Roulx, the committee voted unanimously to approve the sign locations as amended.
It was suggested that a few carry in/carry out signs would be useful at the most frequently used entrances.
Chris Christensen asked if the signs would be temporary or permanent. Since they will be permanent we should ensure that their location will not block something useful in the future.
Ruth Roulx mentioned that the Heritage Commission’s plans for Old Kings Highway might not match the uses shown on the HHNP signs. Tim asked Ruth to keep the committee informed as the Heritage Commission finalizes their plans.
Tim distributed a picture of the final sign design and the committee noticed that hunting was not listed as an approved use. Several suggestions for fixing this error were made, such as creating a separate sign to address hunting or creating stickers to add to the existing sign. It was noted that advising users that hunting is permitted is important not only to hunters but to other users as well, since they might not realize that hunters could be on the property. Tim will discuss this with Walter Warren.
Subcommittee Reports:
Trails Subcommittee – Debra Huffman stated that the mountain biking group attended the subcommittee’s meeting in June. They are working closely with the subcommittee to include mountain biking trails in the Trail Master Plan.
Parking Subcommittee – Newton Coryell reported that he, Helynne Wenz, and Debra Huffman walked the Amherst Rd parking area and roughly flagged the dimensions of the lot. They decided to move it 24’ east of the location outlined in the map provided by Ed Chase to avoid a wetland. Other than that, the dimensions look reasonable. The lot is three feet below road grad. It consists of very small trees, four to six inches in diameter.
Newton discussed the lot with Andy Powell and will work to get Conservation Commission approval. He hopes that he will have all necessary approvals by September. They can then start clearing the trees in October/November, get it level, and let it set over the winter.
There was discussion about whether the staff and committee had BOS approval to go ahead with actual construction or if the approval was only to plan the lot. This will have to be clarified before construction begins.
Funding Subcommittee – Shannon Barnes reported that the subcommittee has met twice. She deferred the remainder of the discussion until a later agenda item.
Historical Subcommittee – The subcommittee has a meeting scheduled for August 24th. Ruth will book a room.
Athletic Fields Subcommittee – Janet Cormier reported that they have not held any meetings because they are waiting for the definitive plan before they can proceed.
Clean Up Subcommittee – Tim reported that the subcommittee has not met but will meet at the end of August to start planning for large item removal. Tim will have a map of item locations and Newton has some ideas for removal that he will share.
Update from Staff: Tim spoke with Dave Parenti and Mark Doyle to ask what would help them with rescue calls. They said they’d appreciate having maps and they’d like mile markers on the trails to help locate someone in an emergency. The committee will contact them again when the definitive plan is being finalized.
Town staff has not had the resources to move forward with the definitive plan, so Walter has requested the committee’s help. He will write up a description of how the committee can take a more active role in compiling the definitive plan. In the meantime, the committee should think about the process to create the plan and what should be in it.
Funding Issues: The following possibilities are being discussed:
Tim distributed statements about the donation fund and the line item. It was not clear if the line item would belong under the DPW. Bob Levan’s opinion is that it should cover day to day activities, not large projects, which should be under bond or the Capital Improvement Plan. Line item money will not be available until July 1, 2005.
Nelson Disco suggested the committee should work with Ed Chase to support the figure requested. He suggested wording such as “Creation and maintenance of access points and parking areas” to provide flexibility in use of the funds, and suggested that each year the committee should have a few specific items to discuss. Janet suggested the wording ‘improvement of access points.’
After general discussion, it was determined that the wording was good enough for now since it will be reworked during the budget justification process. On a motion by Shannon Barnes and a second from Denise O’Dwyer, it was unanimously decided that the Funding subcommittee should work with Town staff on a line item in the budget that meets the spirit of the wording distributed in this meeting.
The donation account was then discussed. Tim reported that Bob Levan suggested the wording and it was shown to Walter. The Funding subcommittee voted to accept Bob’s wording. The $225,000 maximum cannot be justified, except that it is a large enough number to prevent the committee from having to repeatedly ask permission to accept donations.
Harold Watson wondered if the wording could reflect that this account would have no tax impact and emphasize that it would be donated funds. Ruth suggested that perhaps the phrase ‘Voluntary Public Donations’ would be better. It was decided that the wording should remain unchanged because Bob Levan had worded it so it would reflect pertinent RSAs.
Nelson Disco suggested that this fund could be used as a matching fund for grants and the committee should ensure that it is set up appropriately to do that. There was general agreement.
The specific wording was read. The fact that the BOS was not specifically mentioned was discussed.
On a motion by Chris Christensen with a second by Nelson Disco, the committee voted unanimously to authorize the Funding subcommittee to work with Town staff for the establishment of a donation account in accordance with the wording provided by Bob Levan.
Comments from the Committee: Nelson Disco wondered what thought had been given to the Definitive Plan and whether staff had created an outline of the plan. Tim responded that it is not clear if any activity has gone on in the background. Walter will give the committee some guidance on the type of help he is looking for.
Adjournment: On a motion by Newton Coryell and a second from Ruth Roulx, the meeting was adjourned at 9:24.