hello all right welcome to community preservation committee uh meeting it's July 17 2024 7 35 uh we are in hybrid uh with us tonight we have Joan heric Chris Pratt John Wally Dave Spina here at the table we have Beth Thomas on zoom and we have Rick Herman in the audience with us he will be joining us he's just not sworn in yet so he can't be at the big boy table quite yet next time all right so tonight on our meeting we I'll ask anybody has any comments we already had some at the last meeting so I believe we'll have some pertaining to something coming up in a minute maybe anybody online maybe Nicole wants to introduce herself right now or or she's just watching in he's watching okay okay uh go to new business new members we have Rick Herman who I said is in the audience and we also have Brianna Duncan who is not here with us tonight she had an emergency that came up so she's not here with us but she is also a new member we're still waiting for one more member from the historical Commission all right reorganization of the chair and vice chair you make a recommendation we can go I would like to nominate Dennis Clark as the vice chair I talked to him earlier he said he would be okay with that second okay I thought we're g to table this but let's go here yeah did we recommend you for chair you did nobody yet did that John I don't I just did oh well we'll do one we'll do we'll do one at a time okay we're gonna start with Dennis for vice chair I made second John W Chris PR I and Beth how do you vote y unmute to she muted again can you unmute her I don't hi about Thomas okay Dennis Clark is now our vice chair and John W I did nominate me as the chair I seconded Dave Spa seconded take a vote daa I John W i Chris PR I Thom okay who's second in that Dave okay all right that business is now taken care of Mo I know you guys a too quick that was motion before it was needed go okay want to go home so we this is a preliminary discussion there's no application yet but we did have some comments on at our last meeting about the possible acquisition of 74 College Highway um so Le would you like to come on up or anybody can come on up I would be glad to share a few thoughts 48 South Long Ro that is that 74 College Highway is a fat L-shaped or reverse L-shaped parcel that connects to our property south of historical societies but it also links the to the north with the nass Andy APR parcel and also to the east on the other side of Palmer Brook with the nass and Benny APR property there and if you go to the South there's significant Wetlands uh and the East boundary of the 10.8 Acres that I'm speaking about uh brly borders with Palmer Brook so a great deal of the parcel is wet or within uh a conservation restricted Zone uh there has also been some over the years I think increase uh backing up of fmer Brook so a growing amount of the property uh would probably be classified as Wetlands at this point in time I'm not sure you know even if though Chris Fontaine and or Bill Fontaine and Chris L gave you know a very good presentation and and approval for uh the marijuana growth facility that at this point in time that uh a similar entity would be approved on that particular parcel of land uh it's simply wetter than it used to be that's the bottom line uh I mean I've seen Ducks swimming in in the uh in the field to give you an idea of just how much water has backed up MH and uh still it is industrial restricted and there is the possibility since uh they did perk tests on it and I believe that they got one or two U acceptable perks that there could be construction on at least part of the parcel which uh May visually impact us but certainly it does chew away at what's really a connecting piece of land from the south to the north in the Palmer Brook area and all of that feeds into Goose Pond and the feed Feeder Canal that joins um with variety of wetlands at the state line so we see that either the acquisition of this parcel whether it's by the Historical Society a land trust or some other entity would be a big Plus in trying to conserve this property from future development all right thank you very much is the property for sale yes it is for sale now it was listed last year for $900,000 and I think that was under the thought that the uh planning board and zba approvals would be grandfathered in however the clock has has lapsed on those and the asking price now is $275,000 for the 10.8 AC so the price has dropped a little bit to say the yeah sounds quite affordable all right it lost its value oh hopefully we'll see an application do you have any suggestions ideas recomendations it seems like it it fits the criteria not just through historical but uh kind you know open space um so it would I'm sure be worthy of an application thank you thank you is anyone else want to say something on this before I do no what are you gonna say I'm gonna say I completely support an application coming through for this um and it so I've try I've been trying to do some research on the historical side of town um trying to write up the historical section of the CBC plan and with that I read the Southwick and I can't pronounce this word Recon reconnaissance report of June 2009 yes thank you for saving me with that um and I have I did give you like a mini packet of this you have a um map and then uh behind the map you have page 16 of the reconnaissance report and in that it does State opportunities is the second Point down it says Land formly part of the more Farmstead has been retained as Open Fields north east and south of the house there in chapter 61 a protection granted this is 2009 things have changed a little bit an application uh to place the land in the agricultural preservation restrictions program is in progress or Pro is in well I think that's supposed to say progress which would provide permanent protection from development so that some of that has gone through um the land to the north and to the east like Lee had said are under APR so that's already protected open space so this um possible acquisition would just add to that open space and this is the historical more Farmstead under that it does state issues and that's the last bullet point on page 16 it says unless the surrounding open land is protected through the agricultural preservation restrictions program there is a possibility that its owners would take it out of chapter 61a sell or otherwise develop it a South That Couldn't buy it the Heritage land ape associated with the more house could be lost so this is Heritage landscape um it is up for sale it's a nicer price than it was earlier this year I have been eyeing this Lee and I we had some meetings and he said that this is probably priority number one as far as historical right now um so was there anything else I wanted oh yeah and it it surrounds the morous I mean it right if if that if that um marijuana facility I don't really know exactly what it was actually went through that would have a grow house that would have been in my opinion um kind of an eyesore so I think it would be really great to have this um there's already a parking lot for people to park I think maybe there could be Trails here there's definitely some Wetlands that would be you know I think protected and maybe it can continue to be ha um so good bird habitat Maybe I support it great questions I think it's a fantastic opportunity I think so too great Frontage too it's like right I'll please to sit back here um I think those are the solar panels back there oh that makes sense okay yep yes I know where that is now all right that makes sense okay um next we do have an overview of our finances so I could probably Dove tail to that and add that what we have what we have in historical right now maso Manos um because I actually didn't account for what we got since the warrant articles went through I totally forgot about that we still have plenty in the general and Reserve yeah so so as of 520 of this year in uh historical we have um 297,000 in open space we have 122,000 um and then in unreserved we have 1,600,000 masom Manos um so I think we have enough money for sure is this money put back in the historical Fone that you that will be yes we haven't voted it hasn't gone on we didn't vote we have to vote onight that's so I just wanted to dovetail on that and just make point that we do have we do have thoughts for this and I think it's applicable for both historical and open space correct I would agree okay okay uh we're going to go down to vote to return some funds that have been unencumbered oh did you want to more finances sorry I just quickly went through that I don't think we need to okay it's all on the website can look uh where's uh [Music] okay I have a letter here from Jean tho on the tree removal project to whom it may concern the cemetery commissioner i' would like to thank you for allowing us to take out rotten trees in the old Cemetery this will be less of a hazard for the preservation of the old Stones our project is completed and we will not need the remaining amount of $33,500 that was initially awarded for this project again thank you for assisting us to preserve the old Cemetery regards the Lisa a Anderson Cemetery seon all right so I would like to make a motion to take those funds back into our account I believe that was taken out of historic so it should be put back into historic I need a second me second all in favor I have the say name Chris Thomas I John I da I she know she was in the middle she's amazing she just knows okay uh archive and repair Old Cemetery return 26882 30 to the historical fund the next page inet is that from the document conservation project it was started by Michelle many years ago this is to repair the old Cemetery yeah something different there's there's a few different things um there is the second page right there oh the next page oh my goodness I messed yours up okay no wonder wasn't okay sorry all right to whom make may concern the cemetery commission submitted an application for the following items on March 18th 2020 and here is the status on the items the input of information to pontum software completed free removal from old Cemetery phase two of three-year project completed put in retaining wall for the old Cemetery Hillside completed repair the vault at the old Cemetery completed we will not need the remaining amount of $268 30 that was initially awarded for this project again thank you for is assisting us to reserve the old Cemetery regards Lisa a Anderson Cemetery seon okay I'll make a motion to re encumber those funds all in favor Chris PR I John W ey I Beth Thomas she's muted she is muted she's muted she she I don't know if she's waiting for me I'm gonna ask her sorry it's awful um about Thomas I that's all you need to say okay and we'll go down to land restoration Improvement for Goose Pond $5 5,661 return the open space fund so that's the minutes from June 3rd 2024 P revolving count commission Den cler made a motion return the $ 5,661 14 to the open space as there has not been nor are there any plans to ever use the funds at Goose Pond commissioner re seconded the motion the roll call vote was as follows Norm cheber yes Dennis Clark yes Andy Reen yes Jerry Patria yes and Maz GL yes so that's coming back from conservation I make a motion to re encumber those funds into the open space accounts a second all in favor Chris I Thomas Thomas is still on she's she's having a hard time though just about Thomas i y all right all done with those okay update on CPC signs we have had some signs that we put out for different Pro s to show the community what where their money is being spent actually Lee this is a great opportunity for you to tell us how those signs worked out yeah they were large enough that at 75 miles an hour you could have read the signs I think okay the negative was that they were so big they just acted as great big sales for every single Breeze constantly blew down and and they were so big that if I move them closer to the house you had to walk around them or if I move them closer to the road they totally blocked your visit you know light of sight to get out of the property so so either placement or size I think adjustment size and making some type of A-frame that's weighted okay is probably the best solution I think we did talk about having anchors for those I'm not sure what they wer waited yeah you didn't have you didn't call that might be that might be a need well we appreciate the feedback on that Brian Walker has volunteered to help us make the weights for that and I don't know you know those big sacks of rice in like the burlap yes I have two of those I've been saving that we can we can put noice now right H be wet rice the wet rice dud don't put rice in it I just have the sex you would put sand in it and that would be like weight to it that rice is still edible rice sack r on oh those are big ones those are huge yeah wow eat the rice that might work yeah yeah we we've been eating rice for years just to have those two stacks like they last like a year and a half Just One of Us so got that so we may have to redesign some signs or create new signs to put in other locations maybe that are it's a process it is a process but we appreciate the feedback on that yeah I I love the idea of having signs in front of a CBC project yeah we all agree with that so Marcus F's gonna chime any yes Marcus Phelps when we did the master plan uh we had a 3 foot by 5 foot substantial plastic M signed with devil things that went down in the ground okay post yeah those you know okay they it worked good uh if I mean the wind issue is going to be the challenge unless you cut out places where the wind could go through but those 3x5 it was fairly portable I mean we used it in a couple places we moved it around the center it down uh it just announced when we were going to have a big heat of some kind so right that's another thought yeah I think it was Southwoods that did I think that's what they're made on ones that we have are made on that plastic okay they're colored and engraved I know I can't move it by myself I do have the truck but well that creates a problem I can't I have to ask people to help me okay I struggle move that sign by myself yeah okay well that's also a good feedback smaller all right uh review and sign Grant agreement in the library yard revitalization project yeah so you guys have a copy of it um it's already been signed by the select board and the director of the public library just have a quick look it's basically the same one that we used last year you have the coffee that needs to be signed by you so if we can get that for Lynn so she can start her project that would be great oh that's for you it just says facilities Grant agreement at the top one paper yeah I'll give that to you so it doesn't get lost all right we have some old business we have uh review the new application form um has anybody G online tried looking at that we should try that before our next meeting we'll go online try to fill things out I did um go on just to look at it and then plug it in see if things were able to be filled um seems like it's working okay if you got well the one that's online is the old version we just made it do you want just do you want to just use that or because we worked on an act well I like the I like the new one that we designed didn't we already vote on that being the new one uh I honestly don't remember do you guys remember I don't think we actually officially voted voted no okay because I think you I think you may have said the same thing test it but it's not on our website the old you want me to put it on the website don't put it on the website just put it on a link to us yeah so we can test it so that we can test it I will try my best the again maybe I have maybe I'll have Jim make uh like I don't know ghost website that you can go you can just website and it's just active for you specifically for the marijuana thank you okay and you are sorry Dan I had to thank you we appreciate that feedback just let us know when you're yeah yeah yeah email yeah with with like the link to it ready to go on the old one was not ailable so I think that'll also work on the new I like the new one way better because it has all of the information Lo people through the application process yeah and way more information needed from the applicant than the hold all right so we will review that online so that we can vote on that at our next meeting would you let we also try it out Lee can try it out sure well Lee can do the he can use the old one that's shorter you guys have I have to do it tonight that would be great I think we could accept both at the same time for a little while long as they're both H as long as they're both okay uh green preservation plan updates so I am working on the historical um I have park or not park and W well yeah I guess I have the open space version and I was waiting for um Park and wreck to review it and say yes or no add something or whatnot because it's mostly um conservation I took it from the open space recreational plan and it's a lot of conservation open space rather than Recreation so I can send that over to you and if you guys can review it to see if it's good um so we can put it on our plan great P way is there a timeline on that Chris is there a timeline on that well we're supposed to update it every year so we would like to have it as soon as possible I mean the reason I say that is because you'll send it over and week and a meeting that's we have one for July right so we come up at our August meeting that should be fine I mean we're we're trying to update it every year yeah that's our get on the agenda yeah that we'll have Sabrina send an email perfect to the committee perfect let you guys know that we're looking for that information it's basically just your input on what you want to add it's not like a so if it doesn't come then it won't get on this year it'll get on next year okay um and for the housing um I tried to write something up but I don't know Joanne do you want to take that over and just write like a blur about housing and what you guys want opportunities challenges like goals plans goals and sometimes they might not change from year to year either I mean a lot of times your your plan your goal stay pretty much the same your mission is something comes up then we right yeah go from there but you know for housing there's a lot of money in housing um so like you can start thinking maybe bigger than I understand what you're saying but we have a manager that usually does all the stuff for that and he is leaving like in six mon is that the guy from Westfield that yeah so we have to get a whole new person they go over everything and stuck with us too so okay it's really we really don't want to dive into it right now but sorry all right Marcus do you have something else you'd like to say Marcus Phelps 28 Depot Street the master plan has chapters on historical there's one on housing and there's also a housing plan that was separate in addition to the master plan so there's probably some good text language in there or whatever you want saying that could yeah okay like I said I did start it so I can send you what I have so far because I took most of it I think from the master plan and John Gard is of course Keeper of the last document that was actually officially adopted by the planning board on April fourth I think of so hard copy is yet to appear say cost about $50 okay anyway appreciate that Marcus all right um yeah uh mail no mail no mail excellent love to hear that no bills nothing just like a home and we do have some minutes to review some of us were here some of us were not here I don't believe Joan or John were here for either there's three of them in total and so Dave and I are the only two who are present who can sign sign and vote I think right do you have anything there's a couple of small spelling issues on January line okay let me have it let's see uh let's see under discuss the use of CPC funds on the first page yeaha is c u p o l a c u p o l a that's one of those words that I just can never Municipal ends with P L what P oh and there are two P's in I make a motion to approve as amended there seconded by me Chris Pratt all in favor J Chris pad ey I'll send it around be was also on that but she can't Thomas I I can't sign well I can we can we can work on that okay you can come in and sign if you'd like there's an empty one to sign there's a what an empty one one that doesn't have draft written all over it the last page the Signet a nice this one doesn't have it on it either the next oh I see what you're saying the next one thank you ma'am you I knows okay can pass that down to Dave hey Dave we'll look at the February February yeah um page three old business the same ones supplant and municip um page three where is it Al the plant is in that at the end of that same sentence okay s u p p l a n t g other than that I'd make a motion to approve those Ms Chris Pratt second V on those Dave Dave I Chris Pratt I joh about Thomas I chis and then you have the signing version of that y coming around then we have our minutes for March 20th I was not was not here I was not present but I did notice on the top of page two under review new application forms instruction and members as thank you otherwi make a motion to accept I will second that motion I'll in favor Chris about Thomas I all right coming around and can you sign up Jack yes you can yeah all right anybody else have anything they'd like to talk about um do we want to schedule a next meeting I think what we'll do is we will wait for application to come in I think there's one pen and we will decide when it comes where's the February I gave all right so why don't we do that we'll play it by year um it is tough to meet in the summer people do have vacations they go away whatnot so we will wait and we will perhaps have a impr 2 emergency meeting to start start the process put something through although we have to wait for town meeting anyway you never know when there's going to be a special could be a special we're prepared for that motion toour thank you John I'll second that motion all in favor I I unanimous hi Thomas I and thank you for putting up with my nonsense this evening that's okay Beth we appreciate you being here if you weren't here we wouldn't be either so thank you Beth thank you again all right guys meeting for all thank you for coming