Courtroom at Town Hall
7:00 P.M.
Members Present: Newton Coryell, Harold Watson, David Rutzke, Chris Christensen, Ruth Roulx, Cathy Provencher, Denise O'Dwyer, Susan Siena, Jim Taylor, Connie Kreider, Lynne Wenz, TimTenhave, Debra Huffman, Andy Powell
Call to Order: Debra Huffman called the meeting to order at 7:10 PM.
Announcements and Updates: Tim Tenhave announced that pictures and maps of the trails will soon be posted on the HHNP web site.
Lynne Wenz announced that she has created a list of additional species to add to the wildlife inventory.
Sue Siena updated the committee about the walk attended by Sue, Denise O'Dwyer, and Debra Huffman at the Beaver Brook Association. They learned about trail construction techniques. Sue will distribute notes from the walk at the next meeting.
Clarification of Management Statement: Two sentences in the management statement were discussed. Speaking for Mike Ruggiero, who was not able to attend the meeting, Debra Huffman and Jim Taylor stated that Mike believes the sentences could be misinterpreted. After extensive discussion, it was decided not to modify the wording. Rather, the minutes of this and previous discussions would reflect the intent of the statement.
It was clarified that the committee's intent is that certain activities, such as the construction of athletic fields or the construction of an ATV park, are beyond the usual scope of the Merrimack Conservation Commission. It is not the committee's intent that the MCC be given authority to sanction such major undertakings. Instead, the committee is recommending that the BOS be consulted for direction on activities of this magnitude.
Master Plan Review: The committee continued reviewing the draft Master Plan beginning with Section 9.1. Extended discussions involved the following:
§ Action items in Section 9.1 will be alphabetized.
§ Marking property boundaries will be mentioned.
§ Trail identification will be folded into the Trail Master Plan bullet.
§ A new bullet for signs in sensitive or trouble spots will be added.
§ Wording from 8.2.7 will be added to the Kiosks bullet.
§ Sections 9.2 and 9.3 will be reordered, placing Recommendations to Improve Access before Suggested Action Items.
§ The second bullet of 9.3 will be reworded.
§ The Conclusion will be reworded. The idea of recommending that the land be given more formal protection, such as designating it as a Town Forest, was discussed. It was generally agreed that this discussion would require several meetings to fully understand the ramifications of Town Forest designation so this wording was not added. It was stated that this discussion might be taken up in the future. Several committee members expressed the desire for the conclusion to reflect the fact that the intent of the committee is for future generations to be able to enjoy this property as open space, but specific wording to this effect was not added as it is inherent in the Conservation of Open Space recommendation.
§ An acknowledgement of Jay Minkarah and the CDD staff will be added to the back of the signature page.
§ A new Access Points map will be created.
§ A list of resources in the CDD files will be added to Appendix.K.
This completed the first pass through the draft document dated June 26th. The committee then reviewed the new draft document dated August 4th, which contained the edits made to date. The following additional edits were made:
§ The height of the two hills will be modified in Section 1.2
§ The name of the SnoBuds will be fixed.
§ More definitions will be added.
§ All long quotes will be indented and quotation marks will be removed.
§ The Merrimack School District will be added to the list of advisors in Section 3.3.
§ The Wildlife Survey will be updated.
§ Sections 7.2 and 7.3 will be added when the information is completed.
§ Section 7.4.4 will be alphabetized.
At the next meeting on 8/18/03, Debra Huffman will distribute the pages that are changed by the above listed edits. Committee members will insert these pages into the 8/4/03 draft, giving them a complete and accurate final draft. Any final suggestions will be discussed and potentially a few minor edits will be made. Committee members will then be asked to sign the signature page. Debra Huffman will ensure that clean final copies of the document are available for all committee members by 8/25/03.
It was noted that Jay Minkarah should notify all committee members when review of the Master Plan is placed on the BOS agenda and when dates for public hearings are set.
It is expected that the 8/18/03 meeting will be the last formal meeting of the HHNP Master Plan Committee.
Review of Minutes: The minutes of June 16 2003 and July 7 2003 were reviewed and approved as amended, with three abstentions for each vote.
Comments from the Committee: Andy Powell stated that the committee might want to visit the Francestown Town Forest. In three years, the Town of Francestown created a Master Plan for this 650 acre parcel, created a forestry plan, and created trails. They display a laminated map of the trails at the entrance. The forestry plan was created by Bay State Forestry, which has a contract with Merrimack for forestry work. Visiting this site would be a good learning experience.
Adjournment: The meeting adjourned at approximately 9:15 p.m.