good evening everyone this is a air Conservation Commission meeting it is Thursday March 14th 2024 Commissioners and attendants are Jeniah as member George bacon member Jess Gino member clerk Mark Phillips Vice chair myself John schmalenberger as chair and Heather hamson as our conservation agent it's been a while since we've been here hasn't it mhm three three weeks three weeks yep do we have confirmation of agenda uh yes there's no changes Mo to approve the agenda as written move second all in favor say I I oppose nay passes unanimously do we have approval of meeting minutes for February 22nd 2024 everyone had an opportunity to check about the minutes any changes you all right there yes need a lozenge cough drop cough drop what flavor cherry or honey either one's good thank you is there a motion to approve the meeting minutes for February 22nd 2024 as written second all in favor say i i i poose n pass unanimously and Heather so I don't have to make any changes awesome the the RICO hates me yeah it's it's a whole thing is it still doing the thing scanning no I have I don't have any issue actually I haven't tried since they moved it so I can't say that they've moved it yes our mail room is now the the copy machine is now in where the mail room is and they made it bigger so we have a whole like copy room and mail room all in one okay uh this is the time in our meeting for public input there's anyone out there who is not on the agenda that like to make a comment ask a question no nobody ever does we'll move on the moment we take it off the agenda though we'll get swamp first item this evening is a public hearing notice of intent D file number to be determined and this is on Third Street construction of a single family residential dwelling so we're going to just open it under the Wetland protection act and under the a wetland bylaws and just continue until our next meeting yes as of 4:30 the D hadn't submitted any uh hasn't given a d number yet and submitted their comments so Brandon duch um from David Ross from again um requested a continuance to the February February March 28th March 28th okay so um and just so you guys know too going forward with this it is going to be before the planning board First Sight plan and storm water permits as well and that'll open at their next meeting on the 2 26th of of March yeah okay all right motion to continue the public hearing notice of intent for Third Street AO development uh until our next meeting which will be March 28th so second all in favor say I I oppos Nay it's March 28th 20124 should be specific have did I give you my agenda when I gave you the M I don't know if you did but I have another one so here have another next item this evening is a request for determination um Bron Park BL Street Nashville River Watershed Association native ceiling planting along Grove Pond is that you sir yes it is please join us hi how you guys doing uh good good good uh my name is Ryan I'm the new uh Landing climate associate with the national River Watershed Association what's your full name uh Henri is h e NN r i k u s and uh so I'm here today to present oh thank you uh or to basically just talk about our project over at the park and to uh see if you guys will uh requires any sort of uh Wetlands regulation with us so uh I've got a prepared presentation if you guys if I could hook up to the TV oh yeah I can turn that on sorry thank and do you guys prefer that I email it to somebody who's already attached or is there a little uh there's USB on oh wonderful I can thank you so much yeah I apologize I was late this evening so oh and I have to look up the passcode every time oh yeah I learned a new word yeah Dibble oh yes I'm quite familiar with the uh Dibble sticks dible sticks all right do you have a yes I've got a little port on the side here if you want to oh yeah no it's got to go through that oh interesting yeah I mean you could email it uh it's a brand new laptop so let me see I don't I'm not as with you email from me but I don't know if I can get an email from well um thank you guys for bearing with me would you mind uh entering your email and then I can send it over to you and see yeah then we'll see if we can get into it yeah I'm coming over George oh to do this as well also I think what get on the Wi-Fi boys and girls did you say you need our Wi-Fi should be it's welcome it's welcome to air this is the the W and the A and then the letter two I mean the number two okay it's right there there I can do this for now so we know what we're talking about yeah I mean I could it's a very short presentation this will is most of the visual a I think everyone will need if you want to zoom out just a tiny bit more that'll be perfect all right so I'll just read off my to not waste everyone's time um okay so uh the project that we're proposing is the uh restoring the repairing buffers of the it's part of a broad project we're doing to restore repairing buffers in the National River Watershed uh there are a number of uh these sorts of projects that are going to be focused on uh getting rid of invasive species within a 200t buffer zone of bodies of water mostly streams and rivers in the area and ponds like uh this Pond here and uh also replanting some uh areas that are a little light on vegetation um so we're going to be for this project focusing on planting native trees and shrubs uh and there's also a small section of um uh fragm mites as well that's sort of off to the bottom left near one of those um uh baseball diamonds that uh we may also uh get cut as well uh this is going to be a volunteer project and it's funded by the US Forest Service so uh no cost to the town at all all right um so as you guys all probably know you repairing buffer zones are important for handling erosion uh you know the trees and plants there are great for uh you know handling pollutants and storm water runoff uh helps deal with blood damage and reduce it creates pater wildlife and uh we think that uh the sort of strip along the southern edge of the park there uh which already has some trees uh is a great place to go out and plant some seedlings um uh so we'll be providing the seedlings ourselves as well as uh all the planting labor free of charge like I said uh most of the trees and shrubs are going to be focusing on our uh I mean they're all Native and they include silky dogwoods silver Maples elderberries and Northern Red Oaks um we like I said also might be uh going after that for ammes as well uh and the process uh which we were talking about earlier I think just alluded to uh involves dible sticks which I wish I had a picture I could show you but basically it's a little pole like this with a tiny area for to stick your um like a little pull off to the side to stick your foot and it is sort of a wedge and you stick it in about a foot to a foot and a half down and then sort of go like this to create about a 2in wide um on either side hole that again goes down about a fo and half um it's minimally disruptive for when it comes to soil as opposed to like a larger Spade or shovel um and then from you know once you plant a Seedling uh in this you know this you just sort of kick it back in and make sure that the grounds compressed enough to not lose anything to erosion um we're going to be uh using all be root uh little seedlings for this about 120 or so uh the area is not that big but mostly if you uh I go up to the front yeah just don't touch it oh yeah I won we're going to be focusing on these areas here especially right here along the walking path by the that baseball diamond there and then up through here about about uh you know within that 200t bound of the uh uh the water and then as I was saying ear ragm is somewhere right around here yeah there is a you can't see it now but there's not weed that comes up in somewhere along I think this area here or over in here a lot of our stuff in devons is going to be focused on uh not weed remediation as well so if there's not weed there um part of the volunteer day that we're not it's not a lot I was like when this project I I was thinking of doing something similar to this so when they they you guys reached out to me I was like oh I was going to do that cuz the area of not weed is literally just a small maybe 10ft section I go myself I could get take care of that and it wouldn't be a big deal then I can say I did something and then I got approached by them I was like oh well this is a whole thing they can do a lot more than I can that sounds perfect I mean so we're hoping to Rally some volunteers as well a couple of our staff to go out there for some Saturday in April we we have yet to land on an exact day but sometime in April to go and uh I guess cut that knot we cut some of the fragas and do some of the uh the planting uh let's see what else I've got a map here so is the are the plantings expected to be between the The Walking path and the water edge yep and I've got a couple images I can maybe pass around as well for folks to see uh yeah to better visualize what that space between the walking path looks like in your application uh the the plant the plantings are yeah the map is but unfortun not these images uh um the pictures I think I I got those way back then make this a little bigger for you uh so that's the fragm might there this area here would be subject to a little bit of planting obviously not by the uh too close to the bench this area here and then sort of just along the water as you can see it's uh there's already some mature trees there and a lot of the training for the day on top of teaching people how to use the Dibble stick and how to cut some of the noten fragm would be about avoiding uh any existing roots or anything so it's not to damage the mature trees that are already in the area okay yep and then you can see it's a fairly thin strip but uh you know with these tiny little seedlings they rarely over a foot to a foot and a half in length but over time over time they will grow the survivorship rate for these is relatively for you know trees of this age you know I've done planting projects like this it's pretty low so the the strongest will make it somewhere we're hoping you know survivorship of 15 or so% if we can if we can get that okay cuz I know I mentioned the amount when I saw that the the number the director of the parks department was I out said we'll make sure we keep some of the with the Ben where the Ben I think there more is there only one bench here might be another one to keep some of the Vista View From the perimeter that's the point of it but and then also make sure we are doing the planting as but yeah just we could just sort of do a conical area that uh we mark off and say nobody planted over here and I think a lot of our staff are going to be the ones actually making the uh the small diil stick hols and so that will we'll you know be sure to coordinate among ourselves and and be like all right nobody plans yeah I told them like oh we'll make sure we we're keeping you know an area or two that keeps the view from the park that's the point of having that not have anything right now but while we're still meeting the idea of the project to have that here to help catch some of the rain water cuz everything does slope straight to the pond from the park by the bush can lower plantings be placed in there yes absolutely yes so there are a couple different species as I I think I I just we just want to make sure we're yeah the smaller shrubs we can focus on Bush blueberri something like that right yeah we can look at we have a bunch of nurseries that we're in contact with in the area and we can reach out and look for nursers as well I think that that would be within the scope of the uh the grand project that we're doing this through so yeah I'll I'll talk to our project officer about that um yeah the rest of this presentation uh was just a couple pictures I could pass those around it's it's merely just the view of the lake from from that walk there so if anyone wants to take a look at that I can pass the laptop over to you but if not let me know if you have any questions um um think any of us need to see the The View probably all seen it a thousand times before um how'd you come to how'd you come to air how' you well I uh so it's it's funny I I grew up in peil originally off of um the corner of shley Street 119 and then uh I sort of moved away for a while for school and work and then uh I saw that there was a an opening for the national R Water Association I'd been in there as a kid a long time ago and uh you know my my area of work has all had to do with um invasive remediation and habitat restoration and stuff like that and I thought it was it was a perfect fit yeah yeah anyone have any questions just one curious one so um riparian tends to refer to Rivers yes this being a pond yes so ripar oh sorry go just just because this used to be a stream yes so I imagine that the uh like like most ponds around here this probably isn't a kettle Pond I believe it's it's connected to some of the streams in the area and so riparian uh is basically a term for any ecotone sort of the transition between two um uh ecosystems or biological communities that uh abuts uh you know a stream River or Pond that has moving water going through it which we know cuz that comes from all the way over here oh yeah do you know the name of this one here is that Willow or W this one yeah don't that's all right yeah back Brook is it it could be one that pums behind the ma um math um yeah maxon's property I think it's Bowers yeah I think I think you're right yeah did you have any uh any thoughts on on plantings other than what no I don't I saw the list and I was like oh that sounds good the only thing the only condition when I brought this to the Parks Commission for their approval to bless it because obviously it's their land um they had the condition which I shared with national VAR Association that the timing of it to not affect any of their activities at the park yeah I think we're still early enough in the season that they're not starting baseball or softball or anything yet um but we had to just make sure we coordinate with them um to ensure we're not affecting any of their activities at the park we've spoken about that as well within the organization about uh you know we we if we got a lot of volunteers out there we don't want them you know getting hit with foul balls or anything so uh so we're um uh you know we're going to like look at your guys' schedule if there is a a schedule for the park or for local Little League or anything and try to coordinate around those for whatever weekend end on okay but I think I I do know the just just for you guys know this part of we're talking about the park the park the playground equipment has been delivered to the park already so they'll be working and hopefully having that I think installed in the next couple I don't know month or two so that'll be completed hopefully um for the summer so along with this project too it'll be like a like a whole new park yeah it's exciting ni Ernie girton published pictures of the trucks with the playground equipment arriving um what sort of protection will these saplings have uh so we are I believe going to be on the hook for a little while for taking care of the early um uh post installation maintenance for them so we we're going to on top of the the you know planting themselves come out water them make sure that they're not uh you know being chewed if that's the case maybe we can come out back again and put a little um cage on a couple of them for them yeah I guess how do we know the par depart just are cut up down oh no no no yeah that's that's yeah people walking just yeah we'll make sure we if we'll see if that's I wonder have we flagging these at all or I was going to say I want to see if in the budget we could uh for on our end maybe put up a little um uh just chicken wire like little or something the side and then I'm sure I mean I can talk with uh Jeff Thomas the parks director about if there's any sort of signage that they might have or anything that they could put up or just notify you know as obviously as it's going forward of all the activities on the park um to as a you know be new plantings type of thing for the path I'm sure we can figure out some sort of signage we could make to put out there I mean but you put 120 they're going be sprinkled around they but I mean it is the more or less the when you look at the park it's the perimeter path and then that goes up between the playground and the other field and everything else is more wooden so if the plantings are going further back unless you have kids really playing out in the Outfield and hopping the fence I don't think that end of the field this end of The Field's going to be of an issue cuz this is all fenced in here so any plantings along here I don't think are going to be concern I think your only concern would be in these areas here the park I mean the path goes up here they don't they don't do that here they they don't they don't they stop at the path they might do some weed whacking here but again if the parks department knows this is going in they would just tell their people not to do that would like you know police tape or you know crime scene type tape I we could we could yeah we could probably put some sort of yeah so I'll talk to Jeff about what we can do to kind of like just fence it off for okay yeah I mean just like what you're talking about where the bench was I assume they whacked there to kind of keep it at Bay yeah I don't know but I'll talk I'll talk to Jeff about it some Sage would be would be fantastic I think if figure if he has some sort of road like I don't know like the steak just cheap slides we could just hand write or whatever and put there and or maybe just tape it off um and we I'll I'll I'll go down and meet with him and and brainstorm some ideas of what we can do to just protect him from if you think of the Wetland flagging right that supposed to biodegrade can we can those be attached to the saplings maybe yes absolutely there's a lot so if we have um uh some of the the flagging tape you can even write on them as well um the only issue that I see is that these these saplings are the very very small it's to put them on there they'd be low to the ground one and two you wouldn't want to cover too too much to the park for uh basically gas exchange purposes but I think yeah I think we can get the word out maybe let the park Department know maybe so we can get a couple signs out there just as a you know project in place or something I'm sure we could figure out something to put out yeah periodic post or something and then just along just along that path and then as long as the parks people working know um and DP I don't know if DPW goes out there at all and let as long as they know I don't think it'll be an issue don't put one in front of our side yeah yeah grow Pond yeah oh and then also we'll make sure I let um Lori yearing know for their Chestnut pul if they do that again this summer um along that driveway there that they know those saplings and stuff are there too so make sure you put something on that side is there a boat launch right there yeah well it's it's it's it's not a great boat launch that's another goal of mine is to update and get that oh nice an actual like lach and big problem with water chest in it the yes they do they've actually been working two years on um uh hand pulling and it's made a large difference huge difference did that in college actually for a while coner on this side Jo it's all on this side probably about 20 yeah I I would that sounds fantastic yeah they're all all the CHS are more or less focused on this end so they have to like canoe across yeah for the most part but um and it was all in here and they basically mediated this one in one year yeah those little where it's uh shallow and not very fast moving they they just go wild for so um yeah so they've been doing that work but I'll make sure we let I'll make sure that you know the word gets out whether Facebook posts and stuff too that this works going on so we can reach out to as many people as possible do they know that this work is happening and everything if I have to make note to the select Bo yeah and a you know it looks like it's already forested but you know for succession purposes you know people aren Tramps and all over them are you going to have something out there promoting your you guys yes sign this well uh maybe that's a good question I thought you meant promoting the event to to potential volunteers definitely that with ourselves I mean we don't have any truck with signage or anything maybe we put out like a little something that just explains to people what's going on um but yeah I we didn't have a plan for that in place yet okay to my knowledge how do you how do you plan on removing the invasives so when it comes to frag mes which is something I've worked up before without um uh you know our our organization the nrwa doesn't like to use herbicide so we're not going to when it comes to FR mes uh and even not wa a little bit is very difficult uh to not use that sort of thing so we could do with the volunteers teach people what the invasives look like help them help us cut it down and try to pull them up for the roots but they uh they're very tenacious so I that aspect of the projects even though we can do a little bit with the volunteers I wouldn't be surprised if they're back again later in the growing season yeah it's it's consistent pulling with knotweed but after a few years it does start making a difference and it it's smaller and smaller easier and easier to pull up and it's just event eventually stops yes I did read an article though about honey and and not weed honey is delicious and not weed is it's so beautiful the fall when it's it's above than it's invasive so it's so nice to look at it it's so it makes great honey yeah is that honey through the bees right yeah yeah it's interesting different honey will from different flowers like yeah like tasan yeah a famous honey that's from like eucalyptus trees that people love yeah so you're going to do the plantings when again I'm sorry uh so that will be uh Som date in April we've got a number of these on the horizon so it just depends on what volunteers can make what days if we hear back from a group and they're like this one works best for us do it then but obviously you know we'll let you guys know as soon as we have a date set up and we'll coordinate about uh any events in the park y okay any other questions a motion to issue a negative determination the Peroni Park nashar River water set Association native seed planting along Grove Pond second all in favor say I I oppose nay pass this unanimously thank you so much all righty thanks do you guys have any other questions for me before I uh hit the road I'm I'm good all right I got a long drive back to W thank you very much thank you than it was great than you all take care it was nice to meet you take care that's pretty exciting isn't it yeah I said I I had that thought to myself I think I mentioned it to one person like I just put the thought into the universe and the universe brought me this lovely people that wanted to do the project for me yeah so it's it's yeah my whole and I just would love to bring more attention to the park and just the whole view of it I think besides just going there for baseball I don't know how much it gets used well they don't like to use maybe when we hit the first second week of August we can attack that not weed I'm I'm hoping I'm hoping too with the with the with all this planting too it'll help with the fertilizers or that they use that on the the fields and stuff not getting all the way to the pond all right our next item this evening is the request for determination of applicability Old West Main Street and West Main Street right of way Boston gas company abandonment of existing gas regulator Station construction of new gas station thank you thank you um hi everyone I'm Andrea Kendall with LEC nice to meet youal Consultants likewise um so I'm here uh tonight on behalf of Bing gas company which is affectionately known as National Hood as well um and they are proposing a gas utility maintenance project on West Main Street and then extending I guess it's it's also it West Main Street Extension or Old West Main Street I've seen it yeah I'm I'm looking at the look at the this is the assessor map here we have all three yeah basically in the same area so I was confused and the so the plans that are in the package call it out as old uh West Main Street but then when I saw it on screen I I just did the extension but I think regardless um so the package um included some very detailed plans that even for me it it it's a little yeah there's a lot of there's a lot of gas M um details on there um but um but so I'm just providing this General Ortho as we dive into it um so National Grid um is proposing uh this gas utility maintenance project which includes uh abandoning a an existing um underground uh gas regulator station um they'll need which is located within kind of uh just north of I think is it 98 uh West Main Street or something like that just on the east side I'm going to butcher the name of this Brook thank you and I'll just pause every time I need to say it and ask you all to say it um it's on the east side of the brook and Wetland system there and then the project extends about 12200 ft to the West um where they want to put in a new gas regulator station and with that um they're going to uh install uh additional uh a 8 in and then a 12 in and 8 in configuration of um these additional gas Mains um some of this work is within the riverfront area of the brook and 100t buffer zone and um but it's all located within the existing footprint of the road um and some of that overlaps with the proposed uh Bridge replacement project over the Brook as well so uh National great has been C has coordinated um with the those Consultants uh working on that project to make sure that um that Crossing uh incorporates all of their uh future work activities as well do you know do you know if they're planning on doing that anytime soon they've reached out to me in regards to the old one so they can get going on the new filing we permitted it like years and years ago to refile like 5 years ago before the pandemic yeah yeah they have to refile so they they've contacted me in regards to closing the old one out so they can file the new one okay um so I so with that package I I included uh I guess an excerpt from those plans um to just show how the gas line is going to be accommodated um in in there um I don't know when National Grid is going to do the work but they will they will time it of course with with those activities with the bridge um and I don't know if they're going to start other aspects of it um but they can't I guess abandon the existing regulator station until the proposed one is is placed in on the on that western side um which is outside the um uh Riverfront area and buffers so ordinarily this is would be considered an exempt activity under the ACT but with the bylaw in your in your um is it 50 foot um we're we're submitting this application um and just as an up close view that second sheet just I put on the Contours um just to kind of show uh and the and the Wetland Mass GIS Wetland line which which lines up pretty well with the Contours the gas regulator station is in the roadway on the east side um and within the buffer zone uh of the road kind of on the northeast side of the road and I believe in terms of the flood plane it's all that's all can pretty much contained within the the Wetland and stream system so I it doesn't and I don't know if it extends just within the existing cul or yeah with the roadway probably I would assume so yeah that's below yeah and so National Grid would they would be putting in um you know they they would be Excavating usually that's um uh usually have that off about 3 ft deep 18 in wide excavations they'll be managing incrementally moving along each day they backfill at the end of the day or plate things um and then they uh you know truck and given the urban setting here you know they'll be trucking putting the excavation probably in a truck or something so nothing stays overnight and um if there are catch basins here which I presume they'll be putting catch Basin inserts in um and otherwise uh putting in erosion controls I imagine um within within the riverfront or or um or buffer zone in particular with the gas the gas regulator Station activities so with the catch basins they're putting Filter Fabric or yeah there's um something called C uh these catch Basin inserts yellow yeah looking things I might have included that I okay kind of those uh details at the end of the package I may not have printed that out I just needed to know the general oh yeah yeah do you know how the regular the the existing station's going to be decommission say it's underground are they just filling it or are they just taking it offline and then leaving it yeah so they'll they'll dig out um and there are the details in there but they kind of like close off they'll uh cap off and then they'll leave the infrastructure in the ground okay yeah of all the regulator equipment or just the piping exiting from the regulator equipment are you work for naal grid I happened to see here we can look at the details I don't know um I know that they're leaving a a number of uh thought it said something like uh remove Subterranean elements and then um and then back to yeah on page 204 abandonment of the existing state will involve the excavation and removal of subterranean components um but I don't think they remove everything okay yeah they'll probably just cut and cap the the piping but in the regulator station Vault or whatever you want to call it I got to believe they're picking that out there are some above ground features also um if you go by the road they'll have they have yeah stand pipe or whatever exactly they'll probably remove things like that there's a note on the plans that said remove all Regulators Telemetry and piping from the old Vault so yeah that's right yeah make it open it up again how far away from the old station is the new one the new one so if you um if you look on this it's about 1,200 ft yeah it's all the other end the other end y it's the other end kind of where the oh okay it's going where where West right there here where all you know West Main Street Extension goes it's going to go on that end so it's it would if I I think where the new ones going to go if any work need to be done on it it's more or less away from everyday traffic and all the work is in the existing paved roadway yeah except for the new one it's in the within the right of way but it looks like there's like a little grass area but that's that's again out jurisdiction yeah the reason so it's just in our days because all the all the work is yes is in the existing already paved Disturbed area right right right right which is exempt under the a any other questions you got to have a question mark unfortunately I didn't get to read this so what is the DP do we own this or is this state is this 2A so is is this do own um it I know the Bridge Crossing um it's Town cuz the brid crashing is being done by the town and it wouldn't be state road going into so I believe it's all town I did mention it well that's two-way though right no that's 2a's Park Street yeah 2a's Park Street yeah so this is okay something else yeah but it's got to be something cuz they give us a bunch of when we were trying to put up those signs it was a yeah but that was over on the Fitchburg road side where we cross the river there after you pass tinies and Shop and Save I don't know we put the sign up oh for at the brook we moded it to the guard rail yeah that's not well did St that went through the town though didn't it yeah yeah was that just the town I think so that's what I was wondering yeah no this is all it's all it's all Town know and I did mention it to Dan this afternoon about them coming for this project and I guess they have been in contact with DPW on it to make sure that they're they know what's going on they have to do anyway for the opening permits anyway so is the town repaving that anytime soon or we just we're going to Grid's going to come in and do 18in cut and just patch or they going are they going to repave curb to curb my understanding is that they under normal circumstances they just patch where the cut is I don't know what they would just patch um I said I know DPW is aware of the project they'd have have to get a Road opening permit um the town wouldn't do any sort of repaving of this road until after that road that bridge is done anyway that's what I was wondering right so I would assume if it is on a list I don't they I don't think Dan has came come 100% come out with his list for the paving for 2024 yet okay so obviously if this was on there they would wait till this project is complete you know where they did the West Main Street improvements with the granite yeah that was yeah that's the other side of the railroad bridge right yeah okay and and I would assume at some point with the sewage work that was done outside the fire station repaving on this road would probably be in the in the list sometime in the next couple years anyway so somewhat near term yeah okay okay that would that I I don't know how DPW works just in my head I would assume given those Patchwork that's already been done that I'm sure they'd put it on the list at some point yep okay anything else anyone have a desire to go out there and take a look seems straight forward sh heads I don't blame anything else before we vote motion to issue a negative determination Old West Main and what Old West Main and West Main Street RightWay Boston gas company replacing gas regulator stations anything else uh I guess we all appropriate erosion control controls yeah soed second all in favor say hi hi hi oppose name passage unanimously thank you for your time appreciate it nice to me oh sure thank you I always love growing my files you never know what someone's going to ask for duplicate just in case hey you know I always hold on to at least two copies of everything until it's closed because someone might come in and go oh do you have the here take the whole packet might have extra it [Music] happens it happens Mya I what we're doing I know what we're doing we don't that's yours mhm I think this anymore yeah yep you want that no I'll I'll take I'll put the file to have two in case somebody comes along asking to have it yeah never know next item is to review 2024 bids for invasive plant controls on ponds um similars to last year we only received the one so that makes it really easy from water and wetlands I have three copies of the full bid if anyone wants to have it and read it you have I'm assuming I have it's pretty much so according to what the recommendation from the Department report last year that's basically what the recommendation in bid is for um with the final cost how much cheaper is it coming out to yeah how much cheaper is it um 27 380 yeah and that's not including the add-ons That's not including the add-ons those those are separate item um where we at yeah Pine metal is 39 Flanigan is higher at 16 880 Sandy Pond is much lower at 2250 um and then the surveying of all the pawns was 4,300 so I think it came like 27 something 2250 for Sandy pum yep 16,000 for Flanigan yes almost 177,000 for Flanigan because we're focusing on Flanigan this time and it's a whole Pond treatment and then a bump treatment would be spot treatment for yes okay yep and it's treated with both diquat and sonar one yes yeah the flanigans a bump treatment yeah what you said the Lily po Lily Lily treatment and the sonar and then Sandy Pond just gets that the treatment and fragi is and water lily treatment that include looking at that little strip in Pine Meadow fragm yeah they have that on there yeah we should Char those people on planic and pond more taxes they really ought to on um on the you might mention on the on the pine metal Pond I think they just mentioned water lily treatment yeah and they didn't mention the frag Mighty no they didn't I will make sure I mention it to them yeah yeah yeah there's I mean I reviewed the the budget for prior to say on the waren Articles and everything for town meeting there's enough money in the existing budget for the pawn treatment for the last warant articles to cover the first payment of this in the majority of this whole to cover this whole contract y but going to the next year right to to to make that first payment that first payments due before the next fiscal year so we that's the only reason why we had to have an article again yep yeah is because that first payment's due before the new fiscal year starts so we we're we're we're doing a year and a half at a time you know we're doing we're doing a full year in two different budgets well we can't sign a contract and commit yeah and that's which is fine so so everything's fine I said we only got the one I did send it to Solitude I even spoke to somebody over there and they're like okay and they never sent it so I was like well you know I I try they've given up on us yeah hope so much more expensive they're always so much more expensive too they weren't actually but they don't do as I mean they were comparable last year not for as much I thought yeah and they just I mean I think they just and they they missed out on details like posting and stuff I I I think because when we looked at Alternatives when we was looking at Alternatives the only one that does the hydro raking and the dredging is them the Solitude so I think maybe they're focusing more on the things that they're the only ones doing yeah and and not so much where there's competition on there knowing if we've already gone with another company that the Arts of us switching might not be there I hope they don't eventually I hope they don't eventually swallow up water in Wetlands I don't think so the at the conference they were there water and wetlands was there on last Saturday so cuz they Solitude did swallow up aquatic control Technologies oh that was that yeah lucus environmental oh yeah I remember all those ones both were the two we used to have then so did we have the h metal frag M's in the it it was listed in there I'll I'll just make sure that we have that looked at whether I mean again if it goes up a little bit you think they probably yeah just because it has in there they just forgot he might have just forgot I'll I'll just email him email Joe and just make sure that we because you you can't you have to go to the trail to see it okay but also make like last year we didn't have in there anything on water chestnut and they saw that beginning strand on Flanigan Pond and they just picked it up plucked it yeah so I I'll make sure I mention it to him cuz if it's something that I don't obviously going to look at see how we can treat it right so if it's if it's the fragm are on the shoreline you can only get two from Pine met but not from the actual water without cutting down natives it may be one of these things they trying to figure out logistics of it too yeah does it say anything about frag might on any of the other ponds already in there Sandy Pond yes Sandy pond okay but you know if they're frag mighties usually there plants around them that are which is funny cuz the frag mighties and water lily for Sandy Pond is at 750 and the water lily for Pine Meadows at 950 there's more yeah yeah obviously but wouldn't the water lies be the native plants that's most likely to be around the frag mitees to we don't know aquatic plants well enough to tell you that can I see that hether yes you may look at that so I have the item on there but again we only had the one um obviously we've we've used them the last few years they've done a great job um of maintaining the pond so far um we'll make sure I'll make sure we we I mentioned to them about the the fragm at Pine Meadow um they always sign everything well which I think they us to do the first treatment sometime in early May or June may be maybe it'll be earlier this year I yeah it it I think everything's going to be earlier this year um yeah I guess when you POS the question to them just say I mean I'll I'll I'll go meet him out on Pine meow and show them where it is cuz I know where it is I know I've seen it been like I think that's that was not so much that I just I don't want them to come back and say oh well it'll cost another thousand bucks to do that on top and just like say I'm assuming you just mistype this because the fragm and water water LLY treatment on Pine Meadow yeah should be the same thing right be the same thing yeah it correctly so that they don't come back here's some more money yeah and yeah the ponds are the same you know so yeah it should be fine I don't think it'll be a big deal all right do we got to approve that okie dokie uh so is there a motion to issue contract to water and wetlands or invasive plant control on Sandy Flanigan and Pine metal ponds for how much exactly 27k didn't you say 27 380 27 380 so move second all in favor say I I I oppose nay passes unanimously that's a lot cheaper than the 100,000 plus that we found for alternatives for for something that doesn't work for smaller areas yeah for just say planning it yeah the other two 100,000 plus conservation office updates um let's see so the I attended the MCC conference on the second um see what I do while I was there I did three workshops I had to leave early so I did three workshops one on grants one on oh Lord no I can't even remember oh flood plane in really early flood plane in in environmental justice communities which we are was a lot was that was done by FEMA and see I cannot for life may remember what this other that was flood plane and environmental it was flood it was flood planes in environmental justice communities because we are more perspective to flooding because usually uh EJ communities are old mil towns yeah I didn't realize we were ejc oh yeah yeah yeah we are an environmental justice community opens opens us up for a whole bunch of Grants if anyone doesn't realize that it's a whole check box it gives you extra points on your Grant application that's cool uh I can't the third one was for it I apologize I wish I could it was a full crowd too that one but I FL making what it was for oh come to me um while I was there I did try to meet around with some other vendors and stuff that were there in regards to maybe finding something we get seedlings or whatever from that doesn't exist um but I got the idea from one company was handing out just wild flowers and little like vanilla folders envelopes oh seeds yeah so we just do something like that when we have a a conference um did they tell you that they weren't invasive because I've always asked people when they they're handing those out at conferences like how do you know they're not invasive to the I I figured I if if I do them I'll just put them in a flower pot and see how it looks and then I was just curious or just throw them up my window and I'm driving by somewhere be like that look be just it's always nice to be there like you said they can actually tell you oh yes they they are not they are not yeah I remember when we went to Gren Fest the the folks over there they're like oh yeah these are these are actually from my backyard and they're this is specifically what they were you know yeah that's awesome yeah about the company I was handing them out I think it was it was a consultant firm that was handing them out so I would hope that they wouldn't be doing invasives just depends where they got yeah um here some uous so that so that was that was on that was then um what have we been doing we've been working on stormo items with the um DPW and the town planner um along with some of the other projects um did you did you get my email I did and that's what I I reply to just Robert on that to follow up on it I haven't heard from him yet on that the the the water the dock licenses which while I was at the conference I ran into um some of the members of the again we were talking about that This Acronym is just it's too long mmcp Municipal municipal Massachusetts Society of Municipal conservation professionals it's too long no did you get my email on the storm water thing though storm water thing yeah I wasn't talking about the chapter 91 I was at the transfer station yester yes I did get that and I saw Dan's response to that oh he did yeah he did respond to you on that they are aware of it and they're working on it it was at the transport for station and a woman came up to me and said you're on the Conservation Commission you talk about storm water our drain is full yeah overflow on East Main Street in lyen court yes what happened I guess when they when they redid that project that one was accidentally decommissioned uhuh disconnected so they have to now reconnect it so that's the project they they know of it they're aware of it they're they're working on a solution for it but Dan did email you back okay I have and told you to wear a disguise you could find one at the Swap probably the swap shed yeah but um so we're we're still working on storm water items we're going to re looking at redoing the storm water regulations um with the planning board to make sure we're meeting all the requirements that we can sipping them up a little bit and and needing making them a little bit neater um uh tomorrow I will be going over to um 26 Calvin Street I believe I the double check my emails to look at some trees that need to come down um Monday I'm going to your neighbor at 4 Calvin street because he needs to put a deck on and then wants about put a fence around his property so I I told him like just figured everything you want to do when I come out to see you on Monday we'll review it all um his when I go meet with him on his deck I so I have to go look at it I'm not 100% sure he says it's extending it he says there's a patio below so if there is indeed a patio below where he's extending it it may come a question if we would allow just administrative approval since there's going to be no no additional impervious area cuz there's already a patio below it he's just putting a deck above that so I just have to verify that with him and then I'll come back to you guys for how we're going to do any sort of approval for that project um what else have we been going on we had a lot of meetings this week and um I just other little side projects going on along on the side not too much um that I'm ready to bring to you guys yet but working on some stuff on that but Pine Meadow Pine Meadow yes I got distracted today by Marian's daughter um which is not a bad thing um to get uh to email that everybody to have them come hopefully to the next meeting since we will should only have the Third Street on the agenda to have them come to the next meeting so we can do check about when we can go out and do trailblazing and I'm going to order um and hopefully have them in um the new some new markers for um beginning of April um we get I think and I looked at the trails the map that we have is blue yellow and white so I I don't think the white Trails is long cuts coming in from oakd but the blue and yellow ones and then figure out how we're going to Mark those um going forward but I'll get I know 50 of each of those and just start with that do you know if the when you're going down Snake Hill and uh or you turn right onto right Road MH and it go straight into the gun club mhm there's a trail that starts on that road mhm that's very well used is that conservation land in there that's Gun Club property for okay before you get to the parking lot for the gun club yep on the left mhm yeah yep I mean it's it's maintained people is yeah logs have been cut and yeah no I'm sure that's down we don't have anything over okay so we don't Mark that one no no everything we just look at right now is just right on Pine Meadow itself cuz yeah it does I think as you're walking on Pine Meadow and you get towards that end there's actually signs that will tell you it's private property so whether the trail keeps going or there I was there today I was on that today I swor I've seen signs that say that over there not that I saw well maybe I'm thinking of somewhere else then there is on towards Autumn Ridge yeah maybe that's what I'm thinking of then but anyway so we're I'm going to get those in and I'll see if we can get everyone to come together to the next for the next meeting so we can pick a day we can go hopefully get those blazes out and start doing that the um Easter eggs are out on the trails I don't know if anyone's seen those I have been trying to spread the word to anyone that comes in and tell them that they're there just know that we know the commission approved it it's done by a private citizen but um she said she did bungee cord them and she'll take them down the weekend the weekend after Easter yeah I was going to comment I like the way that they they attached them oh good how' they do that just like a they have this little plastic thing it says you found such and such an egg color with two holes in it and they got a bungee cord with a hook on either end and just went around the tree and so doesn't hurt the tree at all it's fun I found a bunch oh good there's 10 there's 10 all find I've been trying to get out there to go and see him but I have meetings and kept getting meetings and phone calls is today so I didn't make it out there today any other updates um I'm sure there is but I can't think of them right now okay um frogs were croaking away like crazy today inal ponds haven't heard them yet yep not even The Ides of March yet what is the Ides of March is tomor 15th yeah that's what I thought thought it was a 15th it is beware it's what pie day it's pie day today's pie day yeah we have the pie 3.14 oh anybody can bring pie any other updates from Commissioners no they got to see a bald eagle today oh that's oh I was down in Worcester you know as you come like up 190 kind of getting out of the city proper and yeah then there's it's not conmen but whatever that bottle of water in there it was little over here but I was like Wow check that out you know going 70 M hour I see I see him in Peppo quite a bit yeah he and I went to the storm water thing oh yes that's right the storm water thank you the storm water presentation um should be up on the website for the storm water under the town Town's page uh the storm water utility groups section of the to Town's page that went very well um I wish more people went but um I think with all the rain we're having people are more aware of storm water now and and hopes that they understand that we need to figure out a way to hopefully better control it and maintain it yeah the present the presenter was really interesting and kept it like upbeat and and interesting like it could have been really boring and exhausting but I thought she was great yeah it was very interest I mean like I enjoyed it I saw something on Facebook which I'll send to you I can copy it and paste it but there's somebody writing about how um like box turtles they keep to within a mile radius of where they're mhm hatched and people pick them up and take them home and then release them anywhere else you know they spend the rest of their sad life trying to find back yeah yeah that be like something good maybe to post like don't touch enjoy things yeah don't touch I mean I did for the Spring Town newsletter I did do that little blip about cutting trees cuz it seems to be the only phone calls or issues I get about I want to cut trees down so I did that little blip in there for that um I got something else I was like oh I should probably put something on Facebook for that and I can't remember what it is but with it with it with the turtle Crossing and everything coming up we can it may be something that we need to start doing maybe a more often presence on Facebook just to let people know things not that anyone ever looks at them or shares them but you know we it doesn't hurt but a lot of I see it go hey I did that so but yeah we can do something as we're getting to the Vernal pool season and the salamander Crossing and turtles is coming up yeah whatever way they're rocking that's where you bring them to and that is it if their heads pointing one that's where you carrying them to yeah do not bring them home I know it's confusing though when like they see you coming and they turn you can't tell which way they're going they're just with the roadway do they really turn enjoy them from afar and then come up on sneak up sneak up yeah going you get the I sent you an email and newsletter couple yeah they'll be sending out for for final comments before it goes to like print so when I get that I'll I'll I'll brief I'll brief read it through it again I'll breef read it brief read it again so you had some um grammatical yeah is this just a word document or no yeah okay yeah you should be able to do a a spell check thing and it'll just kind of yeah I'll do that and um yeah it'll get it'll before before it gets put out we'll review it cuz we had the I had Jonathan from the planning board who's also in the storm water utility working group I had suggested that we put something out on that too so that'll be in there as well to hopefully reach out to more people on that um and anyone has anybody ever has any questions to about storm water or anything they can more like more likely you know more than welcome to come to my office talk to me about it I'm happy to share information with them so really the DPW accidentally decommission that yeah and listen the DPW DPW do the work right it was whoever sub contract yeah oopsie make sure I have that it's like you know like my sister where the school she teaches at the HVAC isn't connected through all the classrooms because you know loest bid doesn't get inspected how you find these problems after I don't you want an all room air condition you wanted it connected you want a storm water catch Bas and connected to the rest of the storm water system cuz I did get a call about somebody on pingry Hill saying that the on a corner lot rainwater's collecting and killing some of the trees I'm like well kind like the tree Warden maybe it's within the town's buffer and they can take it down want to talk about the trees that were killed oh your house yeah so this is this is because of it's on Hickory in the whole section of their backyard trying to explain the people that where the the post that say you know you cannot trust they keep saying what's conservation land it's like no that's your property you just can't touch it they don't comprehend that they keep thinking it's conservation it's like no that's yours we it's just protected I don't get that but it's okay I he's going to call the tree Ward we protect it for you yes so Stratton Hill starts up ail maybe in April we'll see um planning board still uh Town planner still hasn't seen any new plans yet on that um that Basin right on right Road it's I'm sure it's is over full yeah I mean it's coming over the um that little RightWay path a little it's oh right is is it not is it crossing right Road at all no it never does that but okay good there's the Basin and then there's what's supposed to be the town right of way yeah between that the Basin and the driveway okay I um I'll mention something to Danny tomorrow if he ever talks to Bob Collins to see if he can be like just has an attention with all the rain we've had maybe we can look at well I puming it or something the last time they pumped it yeah they've got some calls cuz they were pumping it up over the ridge directly down into the wetlands yeah on um whatever that pond is Long Pond yeah Long Pond yeah so they could do that again I suppose because I don't complain about but you're allowed to pump brain water into directly just remember when when they start uh going before the planning board one of the things to stress is they're going to really need to fix that Basin hold oh yeah no that'll be comments um from us just like it's a com I had comments to the planning board in regards to Third Street for their storm water um because of the flood plane there's just some zoning um questions that have come up in regards to that project that I did make um the engineer aware of today so he's going to look into into that for me so yeah so the question that we all had about the not having the flood storage I don't know if that's going to be POS possible or not well you said if the feem of map draft the F draft it's it's really hard to read I don't know if any of you guys tried to do it it's hard to you have to take all the data layers off and then slowly put them back in because I hate this the FEMA Maps used to just be a plain t too map and then for some strange reason I think in like 2010 or whatever they're like oh let's put the Google Earth image and then put the flood plane over so you once the trees are you can't see an individual house like it just it makes it super annoying because there's no lot lines it's just so in that area cuz it's so tree heavy it makes it really hard to read so it looks like it got larger and according to our over our flood plane overlay District zoning any grading or filling is a prohibited use in the flood plane which that property is in the flood plane unless you have this certain certification and I don't know if and that could be reason to why we're we're haven't heard back from D yet is the question of that flood storage area and I think that's I know as much as we don't want to put it in there but I think we're going to have to just because of zoning and everything everything else zoning requirements and and the flood storage with the new maps if they get past is going to increase in that area from what I could tell from them but again I said they're just horrible to try to read but it did look like it got a little bit bigger and I one of the trainings I went to was regards to like have grants and stuff and one town buying back houses that were in the flood plane so I was like oh shoot I should look and see if we have anything like that and we we actually don't we don't have any residential houses in the 100-year flood plane at the moment some of the Yards may be but no actual structures this one is now going to be built up out of it but it' be pretty much one of the only ones in town that would be that close um everything else is just Park Street which is all commercial and municial own buildings MH that end up being in the 100-year flood plane but um so that we're lucky on that aspect that we have the zoning in place that we're not actually doing any of that construction so that gives us a leg up as far as climate change and additional floodings going any other conservation updates is uh Robert going to join us at some point in time I hope so I will reach out to him again maybe can Corner him in the hall if he doesn't at the next meeting which is oh 28th 28th I would guess we might not see him until after after town meeting yeah realistically sure okay anything else motion to adjourn second favor say I I oppose n passes unanimously