##VIDEO ID:IJZAJOJjCa4## be set hi everyone welcome to this meeting of the community preservation act committee ammer on November 21st 2024 I am calling the meeting to order at 6:03 p.m. we're meeting remotely via Zoom according to the decision of town ammer as permitted by the state this meeting is being recorded and will appear on the town of ammer CPA web page uh I'm going to call on committee members now so that we can make sure that uh you can be heard and you can hear us so I'm Sam McLoud uh Tim uh I am present and if no one else has agreed to the minutes I'd be happy to do that tonight sold thank you okay got it all right Bob here pardon here got it Robin present Matt present Jason here Katie here David present have I missed anyone I don't believe so uh Lawrence is not attending he's had to step down from uh being the planning board representative on our committee and I've informed Doug Marshall who will initi apprciate uh the process in planning it'll take a little while though so it's the eight of us for the time being so um we are on our third meeting of presentations from applicants and we are this should be the final uh date of meeting where we have applicants present to us and uh on this meeting we have have three different uh applications from various ports uh Departments of the town of AMR there's the north cemetery fence the recreation and conservation signs and the trails and foot Bridges the first item on our agenda is to approve any outstanding minutes uh I don't believe we have any currently outstanding minutes so that the agenda item is done the next item on our agenda is public comment which we do at every meeting every public meeting in the town it's requirement so I'd like to open up this meeting to any members of the public who wish to make comments and they can be made via telephone or the zoom meeting I'll wait uh a little bit here I'm not seeing anyone but we'll give it a moment again this is the public comment portion of our meeting we typically have it at the commencement of the meeting for anyone watching this who may attend a future meeting okay uh I don't see any uh community members seeking to make comments so I will close the public comment portion of the meeting we are uh ahead of the schedule because we allow time on the chance that there is significant public comment um we could proceed but Holly is there any uh do we have any information uh from you regarding Financial updates or otherwise that perhaps we can do it this time prior to the scheduled uh presentation yes we do so if you hold on one moment I figure out how to share my screen here again um so we have not technically received the funds yet but we have had notification from the state um as to what our um share will be for FY 24 can you enar that please c yeah I'm working on it um from our CPA match um oops it's like right underneath my is that better yeah uh yes it is see if I can make it slightly bigger it is landing literally stuck under my zoom and I can't get it out here okay um so we have received word from the state um the CPA Coalition has sent out what the um fy2 24 matches are going to be to each Community um if folks recall this number here in yellow was an estimate of 275,000 we have um received notification from the um the state that our matching funds for FY 24 will be $367,900 th000 so that will help our bottom line a little bit um so that that's the only change made in the financials currently um which if you look down at the bottom here with the projected debt and the projected um and the number of proposals that we've received if we were to fund everything we'd be looking at now I think it's a $521,000 deficit versus um I think it was about 618 or something um close to that previously so that is good news we've got a little bit um more funds there so I wanted to um just update you guys with that and then the other thing that we can have a quick discussion on This falls under uh your agenda item of things not anticipated 48 hours before the meeting um I just need to inform folks that on the draft um CPA schedule we were scheduled we obviously not meeting next week uh due to the Thanksgiving holiday but the week after that December 5th was supposed to be our public hearing um unfortunately I have missed the deadline to get a 14 day notification out in the local newspapers so we are going to have to move that hearing date to the following week to December 12th I believe um it will be so I just wanted to um talk to folks about that and um my sincere apologies um I completely missed the daily hamr gazette's deadline for posting that public hearing for December 5th 14 days in advance so the earliest we can um schedule that now to meet the public hearing notifications would be the following Thursday December 12th so we were originally scheduled for December 5th with the public hearing um and then the 12th and the 19th um for deliberations we are going to I um you know the option is up to folks we could meet on the 12th but we will not be able to have a public hearing on that night so my recommendation would be to cancel the meeting on December 5th and move the public hearing to the 12th and then continue with our deliberations um immediately following the public hearing so um I just wanted to put that out there and um you know discuss that uh that makes sense h uh that we not meet on the 5th of December and that we meet as regularly scheduled on the 12th of December and that meeting will be the public hearing as well as uh the agenda items that would have existed on the 5th where we commence deliberations um so we'll send an email out uh with the agenda for that date but the insation we won't meet on December 5th and our next meeting after this one will be Thursday December 12th um so thank you I I do have a question for you Holly can you confirm the dollar amount on your budget projection that we should consider as available I believe it's the 1.65 million but I recognize that we're approximately 52 1,000 short short from all the requests but can you provide us the number that we should consider as available as we work with the numbers right so in looking at the projection here the available budget is the 2.29 million but we have to take care of our previously authorized proposals and the debt associated with them for the 638,000 so for new projects it is the 1.6 that is available um you know once again with this last um debt projection here for the second um CPA appropriation to the region track and field um just wanted to point out that that has not been voted by Town Council yet um so this number could change but it is likely that it will be voted by Town Council and it is likely that the region will need that money um or will begin spending that money in the current fiscal year so our first debt payment would be in fly 26 this is still not 100% set in stone at this point so if the project gets delayed if um Town Council does not um approve our um which would be an fy2 special appropriation from CPA if it for some reason that didn't get approved then that 112,000 estimated um debt payment could change but um as of right now that's that's what we're looking at is um 2.29 million available taking our debt off the top first it leaves us with about 1.6 million is that 1.6 1.65 y okay 1.65 million which is so we got an extra 90 some odd thousand from before which is always helpful okay that's correct uh well thank you um anyone have any questions for Holly on what we're seeing here okay well thanks Holly um so our first presentation is scheduled for 620 uh I do see and that is the north cemetery fence I do see that Allan snow is in the attendees list he's here uh perhaps we can see if Allan is ready to uh present to our committee at this time sure he is ready and would be happy to go early and get his day over with us well Allan are you there hi yes I can hear and see see you okay just bear with me one moment because alen has got a presentation that I am going to pull up for okay so okay so when you are ready Alan can folks see my screen now as well yes I cannot for some reason there can now I can uh thank you everybody um I'll keep this brief I'm I apologize when I I did the application um I thought I attached everything but I don't think I saved everything in the right order and some of the attachments didn't get saved in the original application so I don't know if you this PowerPoint presentation before and whether or not you got the Massachusetts historical historical commission uh report on North Cemetery so um did I have that information as well I did forward it to the committee I have it here if you'd like to run through it we can pull that up as well after yeah um no need to I mean there just background information on the cemetery in the report uh it does indicate that you know the cemetery has had offence and that location for quite a long time and there's some aerial imagery from 1953 that actually shows the the fence running along these Pleasant Street uh in North Cemetery um so it just kind of goes towards that point that the cemetery has had a fence for a long time um we just don't know when it was put in so and the materials probably changed over time so this first photo is is the fence in the current condition this summer believe it was um showing the the pillars that on either side of the roads entering the cemetery um and then the wooden um picket fence and rails that uh make up the the fence there's also a granite pillars that support the fence in between the wooden pillars so about every 10 feet um you can go to the next slide thank you um just a condition of the pillars the uh a local volunteer who has a family plot and Cemetery actually we built these about maybe eight years ago um and they've already started to rot again um again they're just made with pine and painted um to resemble the pillars that were existing um you know about 10 years ago um and then yep next slide thank you uh image of the decayed top rail again these are this was all rough sa Lumber so it was not bought at a hardware store it was saw by a local Sawmill probably Hemlock or Spruce or pine um and painted and so we actually got you know 20 some OD years out of this past um out of this fence which is pretty good for um non-pressure treated wood next picture please and some of the examples of other historic fences in town historic replicas of fences in town that um we are just trying to stay with the same theme at the cemetery and then next slide please and this is an example uh from the catalog um of the of vinyl fence so it's vinyl with a steel support uh cross um cross pieces um rails and it's you know it's similar it is made out of material that will not Decay it will you know over time um probably need parts replaced here and there power washing for maintenance um and any kind of like damage that happens from Fallen branches or lawn mowes and things like that but uh keeps in the same theme of the current fence so that's all I have on the PowerPoint presentation and I could uh just open it up for questions okay um questions from committee members uh Tim hi there um I'm writing the minutes and has the historic commission approve this I was not clear in the in the materials we got that's a great question second question I suppose is do they need to right um very good question um so I mean a far as I know they they have not approved it I wasn't involved in any meeting with them to discuss it I did submit this under the historical um side of the application process um I also made note that I think it's eligible for under Recreation as well for funding um based on the fact that it is it's an open space in town that is used as open space and people use it for Passive recreational walking and and meditative moments quiet place I've seen people with their kids in there learning how to ride a bicycle I've seen lots of dog walkers um and people just having a quiet picnic lunch um in in your Cemetery so I have not heard of any recommendation from the historical commission Robin I see that your hand is raised y um yeah usually um this we we yeah we did not have a presentation before us so we didn't discuss it but I believe this came before us in a prior year I remembering that correctly um and we do have a um hearing coming up on Monday I can bring the application before the historical Commission meeting and have some comment uh at our next meeting um thank you Robin yeah it would be helpful any comments from uh historical Commission on any of the proposals similarly for any of the other leaone committees if there are any comments or thoughts on any of the various proposal categories housing Recreation open space uh thank you uh questions or comments from committee members for Alan was that you David yes uh a question last year didn't we a proposal was submitted am I correct or incorrect that is correct and we decided not to um address the issue last year and move forward with the I guess the cemetery West am I correct or incorrect but bring us up to date on this because this is not new information correct it it it did um get submitted previously and it was sort of deferred to the um historic commission to to make an assessment on its historical um uh whether it met historical requirement for CPA funding um and they essentially determined that there was no not enough information there to to say that this particular fence and this fence design had a historical significance in the area of North cemeter so I brought it back this year um to see if we can get it as a recreation if the historic commission doesn't want to um awarded a historic um significance thank you Alan Holly I've seen your hand raised a couple of times comment you'd like to make yeah I'm going to ask both you and Dave Zac for help but if I remember correctly um in last year's funding we were also very short on money so my recollection is the fence was removed from the prior project simply to help us try to um get things within our budget is that correct Sam is that your recollection that is my recollection there were a few Town proposals where we were wrestling with funding shortages and I believe it was Dave uh maybe Dave via Allan via Dave who indicated that we might consider that proposal at a later time and it was withdrawn uh Robin yeah I just wanted to add that I mean I think that we've had these discussions before not to get into it in too deep detail but the fence itself is insignificant does it protect the ceter therefore preserving the cemetery that was another um issue that I think uh you know the historical commission can discuss But ultimately I think it ends up being on the town to make the final decision on what something is eligible or not so if that that comes again we can discuss it uh thank you Robin it is before us it made it through the initial Town review and uh I did raise that question about the protective nature of the uh fence for the uh cemeteries just because my own experiences uh kids or in the past kids used to hang out at the uh cemeteries in any barrier is a barrier uh which helps uh Jason thank you Alan can you cify in your packet or in your application it says the you're asking for $40,000 and you got two quotes the first is replacing the entire fence including end posts for 27,000 second utilizes the existing end posts and attaching new fence sections for 28,000 so it seems like the quotes that you got for Furnishing the fence and installing it are 20 thou 27,000 28,000 respectively but you're asking for 40,000 yes so um these go back in April the quotes um so roughly we're looking at potentially 30 thou you know $30,000 maybe uh we have disposal costs of existing fence um some other if we do the the um keep the same pillars uh there's going to be more work to make those pillars as you saw on the photo that the one of the pills is already falling over rotten so it's going to require a little more work than um what is quoted for the vinyl replacement part of it and you didn't get any quotes for a wooden fence I did not in this round um the last the last fence just quickly was um built by the Smith Vocational School um they mil their own I believe they mil their own Lumber um and actually designed that fence to replace one that was already there um so it was built by a school using ruon Timber um and um I have not getting a quote to to go with a natural wood fence again with Russ on Timber um all right so in your you state that DPW will provide labor and equipment to remove old fence pay for disposal and prepare area for new fence so is the the cost for DPW to do that work part of that $40,000 uh the the cost is only there for any kind of disposal cost that we have to dispose of the wood all that all the fencing the 400 ft of fencing that's there now and the potentially the pillars um and the cement that's the pillars sit on will all need to be disposed of so I also I just after the past couple years of doing projects we've you know you realize that you get a quote and a year later that quote is off by quite a bit so we want to make sure we have enough there and if we don't use it then it can stay in the in [Music] the all right thank you any other comments or questions from from committee members for Allan I see two hands I'm not sure who went up first but I'll call on Dave Zac sure I just I just want to thank Alan for bringing this back um you know before the committee um you know thinking about our three cemeteries one in South Amer one uh West Cemetery downtown and then the one in North Amer you know I know Alan's proposal was very complete but just wanted to emphasize for for the committee that you know these are important historical uh parts of our community and many prominent citizens uh leaders of our community um are buried in in all of these cemeteries and you know I think we have a a a long-term perennial obligation to maintain these um we certainly can investigate uh a little bit more the you know to give the committee a little bit more reassurance about we staff believes this does qualify for CPA funding if you'd like a little more information on that we can we can we can get that for you but I just want to emphasize that you know this fence has been there for as long as our historical records go back uh we've spent a lot of money on um West Cemetery of course with with Emily Dickinson and and other prominent figures there but through the years we just haven't had that much money to spend on South Hammer Cemetery or North Hammer so we want to come back to you in subsequent years with more work and more more requests to do a headstone restoration if you've been to North Cemetery or South there are a lot of headstones that need repair as well so um I just wanted to thank Alan for bringing this back again and you know it's front and center with he and his staff every month of every every year as they maintain it and um that fence is kind of daunting as we look at it 400 feet long I didn't even realize it was that long but thanks for considering it thank you Dave uh Holly um I just wanted to quickly um you know clarify and explain um especially for Jason being a new member um CPA funds are reimbursable funds so it's not like if we give them $40,000 they just get the $40,000 and get to keep whatever's left over they have to prove that they had that amount of expenditures and anything um you know above and beyond that would be returned back to the CPA fund to be um distributed in an in a you know subsequent fiscal year uh they have to prove their expenses um also you know Allan I'm not 100% sure when you got a quote on this job if it was um explicit that it would be a town job and a prevailing wage job um so you know Allan unfortunately is correct as the town of am um in recent history has gone out to bid for multiple projects um costs are coming in much higher than what we um you know had anticipated or had projected for costs so um you know if there's a 28 $30,000 estimate and by the time These funds would be available it wouldn't be till after next July there is a very good likelihood that the costs will go up between now and then um and if it wasn't bit as a prevailing wage job then that would also affect the cost um but again they will only um be reimbursed for what they actually spend thank you um Al Allan when when do you anticipate that this work might commence assuming that uh the funding is approved uh we would probably begin in the summer of 26 25 sorry right 25 uh separate question not specific to this proposal uh have you ever considered adding offense of sorts for protective purposes on the east side of the South ammer Cemetery the the the side the South am cemetery on Southeast Street uh I have not um I just quickly I'm actually not a fan of of fences um uh I believe they're needed in some places and others they're not they're not um um and cell cemeter we're actually looking to remove the two existing Patchwork of fencing that's on the the South and North ends okay thank you uh Holly is your hand up again yes yeah I did have an additional question and um I I know I'm not a necessarily a voting member here but my um one of the things that kind of struck me is um Alan could you help explain like you know if we were to replace it with a wooden fence obviously would Ross it doesn't last nearly as long would you have any estimates on how long um of this vinyl I'm assuming type fence would last versus what a wooden fence would last um I don't have uh you know a representative that has told me you know how long a vinyl fence lasts um I would imagine actually that based on past experience with fence in general even metal and vinyl fences they get damaged um weather events car damage equipment damage um and over the years they get worn out and they need parts replaced so I would say you know at the at the end of 30 years you'd probably be looking at you know replacing the fence um in part or in whole nothing lasts forever um the the amount of Maintenance that takes place in between um would be less um and yeah thank you uh Dave Zac sure I know you want to move on I I I guess I would look to Robin and the um and the historical commission to discuss this next week and you know I think we're all aware that you know this there has been a fence there on on um East Pleasant for um many many decades and I you know I'd hope to get some guidance from the historical commission um historic replications whether it be um you know uh things on the side of buildings um um um vinyl based uh shingles as opposed to slate shingles and many fences that are meant to replicate historic uh uh structures have been you know uh put on sites for for decades and again I think the historical commission are the experts on that I did just want to say that um we did talk at some length um some years ago when Jonathan Tucker was the planning director about a fence at on the Southeast Street um east side of the South cemetery and we got we the town got very negative responses on that and I don't remember all the details and I'm not sure there was a fence there Others May know Allan may know the fences at Allen we're talking about I think one of them is still uh off fence to keep out cows or horses or sheep on one side it's a barbed wire I think and then there's kind of as he said like a hodg podge of old fencepost but um anyway we got some very robust um um negative responses on putting a fence along the east side of the South Amber Cemetery so we backed away from the proposal for a little history there thank you for that uh Jason yeah so I was just gonna ask what Allan mentioned that he's not not a fan of fences and that they're looking to potentially take it down in southeast Cemetery why then are you looking to replace this fence just because a fence has been there for a while you know for decades what is you know and if there's no real historical significance to this fence itself what is the impetus behind replacing this one good question so I I did say that I also followed that up with you know in the right places I believe fences are good the um you know that the fen is on the edge of the cemetery um in North Cemetery right now is an old chain Le fence that's been hit multiple times by Falling trees and cars and things and and there's really no need for a fence there anymore it's just more of a maintenance issue than serving a purpose so the the front fence along East Pleasant Street actually does serve as a a almost a welcoming you know it's a fence that welcomes you to North Cemetery it invites you to look and see what's there if you didn't have the fence you might just drive by not really even pay attention to it and it does also direct people to the roads there such a wide open flat space um it really defines the roads that enter into the cemetery and it does provide the visual and physical barrier so that um people just won't walk into it or drive into it um of of the road thank you uh Robin um yeah I just wanted to clarify that um I think uh just some of the debate has to do with whether it should be funded under historic preservation not so much whether or not we should fund census um and uh we'll bring it up in the historical commission and I can give a more detailed answer but um I think the issue with this particular fence not being historic it's in historic place but we don't have any record of a previous of of the previous fence that was there that can be an argument for a recreation of a fence when you have photo documentation um in preservation projects um but this particular fence doesn't unfortunately doesn't have that documentation if anybody has it in Sam if you have a a picture of the fence going back over 75 years we can make a much stronger argument for it but I'll give you the whole Spiel next week after the commission ask I'll ask Betsy we do have the Aero photogrametry from 1953 showing the fence along East Pleasant Street um and again if you read through the um Massachusetts cultural resource yeah not the not the existence of it but um like in you know in in tax credit preservation projects you're allowed to recreate something if you have photo documentation of you know of not of the existence of the fence but the actual fence itself that's that was my clarification okay thank you Robin um any other comments or questions for alen uh Allan is there anything you'd like to uh share with us uh as you conclude um I just want to say thank you for taking the time out of your day your evening to to do the process it's a valuable thing for our community and um you know if there's any other information you need or somebody wanted to visit the S be happy to make myself available to um to discuss things so uh thank you Alan thank you for submitting this proposal to us uh and also thank you for taking the time on an always busy schedule to come before our committee and answer our questions uh if we have any questions we'll certainly send them your dire uh We've scheduled rescheduled a public hearing for um December 12th instead of the 5th where public will be asked to Ena to provide public comment uh on the projects and I anticipate we'll begin as a committee uh considering the proposals later in that meeting so thank you so much Alan have a nice evening you too well let's move along the next uh proposal uh slated for our meeting tonight is the recreation and conservation signs I see that go ahead Holly we can't hear you Holly you're on mute so we have Sam gfin here is going to be presenting tonight I have let her in the room and she can proceed wonderful uh thank you Sam for taking the time to come before us uh with this uh proposal uh we're here to listen and we may have some questions Tim your hand is raised yeah sorry uh for the minutes what is your position Sam yeah so I'm Sam I'm the communications manager with the town the which Communications manager oh okay thank you nice to see you Sam nice to see you all thank you for having us and congratulations on your position much needed thank you yeah it'll be six months next month in December so we're busy in time Flor um let me see here you like me to pull it up Sam or do you have the presentation um I think I I think if you could bring it up actually yeah um bear with me one sec here almost there I've got bunch of presentations on my screen I gotta make sure I Pi the right one you're able to yeah okay zoom in a bit perfect okay this one is eron's mine similar mine's like the third tab in there you go thank you enough okay there we go awesome um so yeah I'll be kind of presenting on our request for funding for signage for recreation and conservation areas in town this slide just shows some of the areas that we have the spray park the dog park Mount polock um definitely knowing that Recreation and conservation is a key uh aspect of the town of am you can go to the next slide H and so just to give an overview we're requesting $100,000 uh for the purpose of supporting fabrication of the signs and kiosks at all of the amoris recreation and conservation areas as well as maybe some of the cemeteries I know that was the discussion the previous presentation um and really we're hoping that this updated signage will mirror the consistency in branding of the downtown way finding that I think a lot of residents and visitors have become used to um the signs coming into downtown as well as the signs on light posts and poles around downtown pointing into certain hight traffic areas um for this project the signage we're hoping to get will include streetway finding arrival signs Trail markers trail maps as well as kiosk signs um and really just to kind of ground the conversation again con a areas in ammer we have approximately 2400 Acres uh with 140 M of trails for recreation areas we have a lot of different ones that I'm sure folks here are very familiar with that really cover things from dog parks spray pads swimming playgrounds golfing um and a variety of different fields and courts that both residents and visitors use consistently throughout the year you go to the next slide Holly and so just to kind of show some of our current signage to help portray why we're looking to get more um a lot of it is old or crumbling or non-existent um there's also yeah a big lack of consistency many of these uh don't even mention town of ammer so it's a mystery to Residents whose land it is and therefore who to contact if there's an issue or anything that they see um and also you can see the kiosks too kind of don't really have a great design or content to them um and overall they don't really meet any ADA requirements for accessibility for a lot of the kiosks you going go to the next slide Holly and so for new signage we're hoping that like I mentioned it's a consistent style and branding similar to downtown it'll have a streetway finding arrival signs and Trail markers I'm really helping to identify Town land resources and even parking um I guess we're really hoping that to expand Beyond The Branding that exists downtown to increase connectivity across town because there's a lot more to the town of ammer than just the Features downtown um also we know that the town has and continues to invest in a lot of the areas Recreation and conservation areas um like recently mil River or puffer Pond or gra Park and so we think it's kind of time for new signs that match this uh recent investment in these areas similar to Kendrick park being a new playground having a new sign that matches it um and really standing out in that way you go the next slide Holly um and so along with this is um the kiosks that we're looking to um have as well and so this will include a narrative about the property and acknowledgments um including some of the history of property a lot of our property specifically conservation areas are named after someone um it'll have trail maps rules and regulations and contact information again just to ensure residents know all of the features of the area that they're visiting rules to follow to continue to protect our open space as well as contact information in case they identify anything um that needs to be addressed or have ideas even for the area and then just to note that all the maps and information that we'll be developing for these signs will also live digitally online which will just increase uh visitors ability to prepare for visits to these areas and so this is actually um we met with our designer earlier today who is designing the actual content for the sign so this is kind of just a sneak preview of some of the designs that we're working with both like Street Way finding um signs for conservation areas um for recreation areas and different Trail markers that we're working with them on um so definitely a yeah indepth process to figure out identifying parking or if there's watersheds Associated again thinking about all aspects that folks love about our Recreation and conservation areas so really just in conclusion our goal with this funding is to support the creation of the signs and Kiosk for all Recreation and conservation areas and while we're thinking about this really thinking about bringing awareness and accessibility to a lot of these areas thinking about The Branding and consistency across town um we definitely want to include a piece about like the history or a narrative about each of the properties and I think the big thing is identification I'm newer to the area and I remember Dave driving me around town just introducing me to town he's like oh that's Conservation Area that's Conservation area but there's no signage so it' be really nice for visitors residents to know that this is Town land that the town invested in to conserve um for all of the beneficial reasons of conserving land or having recreation activities available and the timeline that we're looking at is we're continuing to work with our designer hoping to have designs completed by the end of 2024 and then hope to create the signs during the spring or summer of 25 and then have them installed by the fall of 25 yeah and then the slides just a thank you and my contact info so we can get get into questions I see some folks have hands raised thank you Sam uh I like the presentation slides and visuals they're quite helpful and alleviated some questions um like to open up to committee members for any questions uh I do see that Bob you have your hand raised yeah um Sam thanks very much that was uh very interesting in this seems like a great initiative I guess two questions one um is there any need to coordinate the signage with um institutions like testeral or maybe the APR folks and um get some kind of maybe font consistency or in inconsistency that's my first question and my second is um I I somehow can't believe that aund K gets you all the way there and so I'm wondering if you can estimate um you know what percentage of the signs can be rehabbed and rebranded with that money yeah I can definitely address some and then Dave is here as kind of backup but um regarding different Partnerships and consistency so we've actually uh worked with kro Land Trust on a lot of areas and have some signage up on our kind of shared areas that we collaborate on we own they help maintain and actually our designer is the same person who designed a lot of the maps for kestral um so we're hoping to already kind of have a similar style to some of the resources that already exist for these areas that kestal help develop um and so I think along the way as we're looking into different areas we will connect with the relevant parties as well as obviously Town departments like Recreation DPW to develop different um rules and regulations um and then to your second piece and then Dave can add anything else too um I think right now yeah we're just in the design phase so we don't have the full budget drawn out um and I think we'll have a better idea of the budget after we finish the designs and figure out exactly how many signs we're looking at for each area we're spending time looking at each area figuring out where we'd want signs and therefore how many so we're still in kind of the initial stages um that we predict this will definitely help get us started and help uh at least get signage for a lot of the major areas that residents and visitors go to thank you could I jump in Sam Sam chair or or Sam presenter um no thank you Sam for presenting that I I really I love the images I was not able to make that meeting today with you and other staff so that was kind of the first time I've seen those so really gives you a sense for the committee of that family of signs and the consistency and branding that we're we're looking for and to Bob's question you know absolutely we don't want to um oversign conservation areas in particular nobody wants to Ike through the woods and have it be like you know route n or something um so we're very cognizant of that um to the point yes absolutely about Castrol um Castrol we have been working with Castrol for over a year they are moving forward and we have really given them permission to create a new set of signs for the Robert Frost Trail so to some degree we are not going to have to do the Robert Frost Trail those signs will be done by Castro we're part of that project and they will integrate as Sam said with our signs um to the point about the budget we we put that number out there we agree with you Bob uh we don't think it's going to get us all the way there as as always we're being creative we can reuse some of the existing uh kiosks that we have but the rest of the signage really has to go there's no rehabbing these signs from 1965 or 75 or 85 they all need to come down and go up you know with the new ones with a consistent brand the kiosks are the most expensive uh um right behind the kiosk are like the uh Sam showed a sign of Kendrick Park that sign alone is5 to $6,000 so luckily we're not going to be putting those up at Recreation areas we're going to be putting excuse me on conservation areas we're only going to put those up as arrival signs at Recreation areas so we realize this may only get us part of the way and we might be back to you next year to to finish but we should by the end of the calendar year or January at the latest have a pretty good cost estimate i s yeah so I'll stop there we could come back to you in January if we know a a finer finer Point number on that thank you Dave uh Jason yeah thank you um Dave did kind of answer some of my questions there I just have a real kind of basic question the town uh kind of Crest if you will has a nice dark green color all of the signs are this maroon color is a reason why you whomever chose the maroon as opposed to the dark green to match the branding with the town's Crest she's smiling and I'm smiling go ahead it's definitely been a conversation of going back and forth between the green and red if we have different for conservation areas verus Recreation I know my personal opinion is the maroon color um is a different color than most other street signs so there are a lot of green that's like typical Street signage that you see there's even like blues for different signs whereas the maroon or red is different and will stand out as this is town of ammer signs so that's kind of my take with it um but we have gone back and forth with different colors but have been leaning towards the maroon the amrest Hurricane's colors as well we to to Jason's question we would also be bringing this back um before the Recreation Commission uh and the Conservation Commission for feedback once we are have a firmer uh images from our designer and we know the number and the budget um again I could see doing that in January February early March of 25 um so we're not locked on the maroon although the maroon is the color on the town flag that hang hangs in the state house so that's where we got it from we didn't you know pluck it from thin air and as Sam said we've gone back a little bit um between green and and that maroon but we're trying to Brand it and trying to keep it consistent with the downtown sign um system that was developed by the planning department and Consultants a year or two ago so Tim uh yes just a quick comment on the color for what it's worth for someone who's somewhat colorblind the maroon to me would stand out much better than Green that's helpful uh any additional questions or comments for uh Sam uh Dave Williams yes um first of all I want to thank you for the presentation that you presented to us uh tonight but several years ago we had a discussion about um recognizing the fact that projects in amers that are funded by CPA funds should there should be some type of recognition in all of the signage uh if it's large enough that um the citizens should know that the signage is here because if partially by your tax dollars or something but recognizing the fact that the CPA is providing funding to support uh this particular project yeah and I think that has come up in some conversations and definitely on the kiosks we hope to have acknowledgement section uh both for the actual physical open space but also for other support that's helped develop Trails or signage so I think on our kiosks we would plan to contribute acknowledgements to the CPA committee um yeah and a lot of the other signage will kind of be more so street sign so folks won't necessarily be able to know if we add stuff to it but definitely on the kiosk we hope to and that can continue over to like the maps that live online as well and if I might add David in the interum you're absolutely right I was very a part of those conversations a couple years ago so what we've tried to do in the interim and and I kind of knew we were gonna My Hope was we were going to wh scale just blow up all these These Old signs they're a mess and I'm I'm embarrassed by them frankly um but what we did in the interum for instance at the dog park gr Park and um the north common is we put up a big banner that says partially funded by your CPA dollars so I I wanted to be true and and consistent with with what we promised the CPA committee but I also didn't want to invest shortterm in a sign that might only last for a year or two and here we are we use some other funding to hire this designer and I will tell you it's a very modest um contract and we can say uh how much is it Sam it's not that much relatively speaking I'm not sure the number I think it's $14,000 or $166,000 and this designer has done this all over the Commonwealth um so once we had that money secured and we started with our designer I just didn't want to start putting up these signs that would cost us money knowing hoping we would full well replace all the kiosks all over town and put up a permanent acknowledgement to CPA so that's where my thinking has been uh thank thank you Dave and thank you Dave Williams for asking that question that was a topic that I know you and I had talked about years ago as well as with Dave directly so uh my thought would be uh if you could keep us updated on plan for references not just the designs but for references to funding sources through CPA as to where those delineations might go I I do think it's uh beneficial for uh the town to be aware of the sources of funding which can lend support in the future for the CPA program uh if uh budgetary situations arise not everyone as we know uh has the time or Focus to pay attention to where the money comes from but when they can see it when they see something like Kendrick Park a portion from CPA it's nice uh nice to to have that reinforcement uh because there's so many good projects uh that I've seen arriving from private but mostly from the town um and I think getting that word out is uh I think it's a good thing so anyway thank you Dave Williams for raising that question uh any other questions or comments from committee members well thank you uh Sam uh and are there any for taking your time and we appreciate it if we have any additional questions we'll send your away are there any final comments or thoughts you'd like to share with the committee no just thank you for your time and considering this project and yeah letting us kind of share our hopes with it thank you so much thank you thanks so uh the next project on the agenda is the trails and foot Bridges um and that would be the last project on the agenda for this cycle and for this evening I do see that Aaron shck is in in the house put on the Elvis music Elvis is in the building so uh we have a session at uh trails and foot Bridges Erin we're here to listen uh whenever you're ready great um Holly should I share my presentation or will you be sharing it either way Aon it's up to you I can find it I just had it a moment ago so hopefully okay yeah if if it's convenient for you to pull it up that'd be wonderful if it doesn't work I've got it queued up to share if needed pulled yours up instead of Sam's a minute ago so this should be it great um could we go to the next slide hold on excuse me um so thank you everyone for um for hearing from us tonight um so you know I'm sure folks who have carried over from previous years know that we do try to utilize CPA to do um ongoing improvements um to um uh Conservation Area Recreation um Trails um whenever we can uh it's a great source of consistent funding for us and um it really helps us to get some traction with getting projects accomplished um these improvements to conservation land are really important for a passive recreational use um for our stewardship of the land um to make sure that that beaches and trails are safe and accessible um to correct historic issues which might be um undersized culverts or um you know poorly designed situations historically that we can correct and make right and um to uh to add structures where necessary so where there might be foot traffic or bike traffic going through a wetland and causing um degradation um as you all may know the process of implementing projects on conservation land we have to go through the same process that that any other applicant would have to go through so we have to number one um find funding and whenever possible we do try to um leverage the funds that were granted and and um Foster Partnerships with other organizations find matching sources of funding to try to um get make projects better and um get more work accomplished we do have to do um site survey Wetland delineation design and permitting and then a building uh building and construction process associated with the construction work and we do um match whenever possible with Town staff time if we can do wetland delineations or construction labor work in house we try to do that and uh CPA funding provides a lot of the B uh brick and mortar and also match dollars that we might um if we get a grant we can use CPA towards match dollars on a lot of these projects um so I'll give you a a series of examples of um projects where we need funding and we typically prioritize these projects um to get them accomplished and then I'll give you a series of examples of projects where CPA dollars have been leveraged to get projects accomplished in the past could we go to the next please um so this is an example of the uh Larch Hill um Boardwalk um these photos may not look that bad um from from the photo but would definitely encourage everyone to go out and take a look at these sites if you're able to um these this boardwalk in particular does have some structure problems with the supports underneath the boardwalk as well as the decking um is rotting and so you're walking on it and you can feel it shifting and moving and also you can feel it kind of um sagging underneath when you when you step on the boards um also you can see on the right hand side the the bog bridging um a lot of it has is is just sort of decomposing um so um refreshing that and getting new boards in place could we go to the next um I'm not sure if anybody here is familiar with Hickory Ridge um but these are an exam this is an example of Three Bridges at a Hickory Ridge and um all three of these Bridges need some Rehabilitation work sort of different um uh phase is I guess you could say of restoration work different levels of need um from you know just sort of some basic rehab to maybe some new decking and then just completely redecking and fabricating new railings um in order to make this these structures safe for users of the trail system could we go to the next please think we missed a slide okay um here's an example from the Wentworth Conservation Area um on the left is a vehicle maintenance bridge and then on the right is um the bridge uh just down from K's field which goes over the Fort River sometimes referred to as jump Bridge off Stanley Street um so starting with the bridge on the left um you can see that there's some plywood the plywood is there to cover decking which is rotted and there was holes in it um and so the decking was the plywood was put over the decking um to prevent injuries um so that structure needs to be redecked which is a pretty significant um cost and then the bridge on the right again you know it's it's not in in terrible condition but there's been quite a bit of vandalism to it um some kind of offensive um uh graffiti on it and also um like area cut out of the railing for people to jump off and you know just over time these Bridges require maintenance so this is a good example you know uh there might be some damage to the bridge and we need to go out and do some repairs could we go to the next please okay um so this is um the uh HK Conservation Area and um you can see sort of in the the top right photo uh this is an example of one of the properties that AB buts um krol lust land which is the um food bank Farm property in Hadley and there's a loop trail which goes through ammer and and um comes back around but it connects to their trail system as well it's a really heavily used trail and this is one segment of the property um it's an old um uh Farm Road basically that was probably installed a couple hundred years ago originally um and there this this Culvert which is on the Le hand side you can just sort of see the corrugated metal there this stream this little Culvert is conveying all the water that you see in front of it so it's really dramatically undersized and what happens as a result is that when we get storms um the water just overtops that um Trail and flows right over it that this Culvert is not functioning at this point it's completely undermined and failed so water can barely even move through it um this is the swamp Brook and this has been one that we've really wanted to give some attention for a while now this is one that will require us to put in a vehicle maintenance Bridge similar to the one that we saw on the previous slide for um Wentworth Farm but we'd really like to pull this cover out pull the material out put in a um a vehicle access bridge for for mowers pickup truck to get back there and do Trail maintenance and then um you can see the purple circle there that's that's a rut that's formed down the side of the trail and there's sink holes that have formed in it as well so doing some trail maintenance to repair that and make it safer and more accessible for trail users could we go to the next please I think we missed one slide here we go um so the um the left side is an example of an existing Bridge um on the kushman brook property uh which is uh I was afraid to even step on it to take these pictures um and then the picture on the right is a um is at swed Alice and we we did have um an overall plan to complete um uh multiple um improvements at swed Alas and out of the four we completed three of them but this is the one we we ran out of funding to complete and it's Bas it basically is um the trail goes through a wetland which you can see the muddy muddy tracks um and then there's a foot bridge that goes over the um the plum Brook and so uh this would be installing a um a boardwalk and a foot bridge to make this again safe more safe and um uh accessible and also to do some restoration of the Wetland impacts in the process okay so those were my sort of highlight of problem areas in town um and these I um wanted to just share with you some some successes of um recent projects that that have been completed so you could see how we leverage these dollars um so in the last year there's been a ton of work at Hickory Ridge this has been one place where we've really been working hard and the trails aren't currently open but we're hoping that in the spring um we'll be ready to do that but um so the the top left you can see this was a wetland restoration area um with a wetland Boardwalk that was installed top right is a um a wetland Crossing um it's hard to tell from the photo but there is a culvert there that's blocked that Culvert was removed and a um a wetland Crossing Boardwalk was installed um bottom left is a another one of those Wetland Crossings and that's a a vehicle access Bridge um my son is standing in front of there a little vehicle access Bridge similar to the one at Wentworth that was installed so we can get in there and do some mowing um and and maintenance work and then photo bottom right is a sort of just a a general shot of what these Trails now look like there's a nice gravel walkway um they're safe they're they're um accessible they're multi-use um and we've also leveraged a partnership with us fish and wildlife in addition to these Pro these projects on hicker Ridge that you're looking at in the in just in the last well since the fall we've removed five undersiz failed C um from this site and restored the Stream flow which is going to have tremendous impact on reduction of um flooding and um restoration of the waterways and um uh we have two additional large culverts that we hope will be coming out in the spring um dependent on funding but uh the park Grant was a the source of funding for these bridges that you're looking at but CPA dollars were um extremely important to match uh the CPA grant that that helped these projects to move forward and then if we could go to the next slide please and these might be some ones that you've seen before but these are examples of past Year's projects and where we've utilized CPA dollars to match um funds in order to complete projects and get new um Bridge infrastructure and recreational trail infrastructure in installed for um the benefit of the public and safety of the public and accessibility of the public of of our town Trail systems and if we could go to the next slide please um just wanted to give you guys a quick snapshot um in in um early 20124 well through through 2023 we did a visioning process for puffer Pond and um and we wrapped that up in early 2024 and um we know puffer's Pond is in rough shape um where we actually just got an award from uh the dam and seaw wall program to um repair the the dam and Dyke that are associated with with puffer Pond and as part of that we'd be evaluating potentially doing additional work um in and around the pond to basically improve the water quality and uh the recreational use of the pond and um in doing so it would require um some improvements to the beaches to the trails and specifically um it's kind of hard to see on the screen but if in the bottom right corner you can kind of see um this viewing platform and one of the things we were hoping to do as part of this overall project was to create um a handicap accessible Trail which would come along the north side of the pond um sort of um from the same direction of the I think it's the Robert Francis Trail um and and bring people out around puffer's pond so they can so folks with um uh um mobility issues could could come out and and get to the pond and and enjoy the pond um this this might be a little over exaggerated example of what that might look like but um it's one of the things that you know we'd like to bring enjoyment for people to put in a kayak or go fishing or just sit and enjoy the Beautiful the beautiful Pond um so that's it and I closed with a a photo of my sons at Hickory Ridge and I can't tell you how much they enjoyed running around and climbing on the bridges and um they are the future Trail users so uh they really appreciated the the funds that went towards these projects thank you Erin for uh that wonderful presentation and all the great photos uh that is a a lot of uh a lot of work there uh Bob yeah um great presentation good could to see all that right in front of us and as a consumer of that Boardwalk over near the old Hitchcock Center I will tell you the sooner the better um I'm I'm just it's a general question curious if the state is H has earmarked any funds for towns for what you would call climate resiliency because especially that Culver I mean these are things that are being degraded by these weather events and these huge downpours and and I would think that I can understand why this is a CPAC issue it's you know right in The Sweet Spot of CPAC funding mandate but I would also think that there should be or would be um some recognition that you know we're just getting hammered and the degradation and can't fall solely on the town so maybe just comment on that to edify me yeah absolutely so um you're 100% correct we can't do this alone um us fish and wildlife really stepped up at hick Ridge this year and and Hickory Ridge has been I'll say like lwh hanging fruit because it's recently acquired property and um it it's it's given us this wonderful opportunity to forge these Partnerships with other organizations so in total um us fish and wildlife service has committed to removing seven of these undersized CTS on the property and this has saved the town close to $100,000 if not more um in these you know massive infrastructure projects to rent the equipment to you know pay labor to remove the the materials um so we we are 100% leveraging those and and now that we have those relationships formed we are 100% Going to um uh continue to leverage those relationships the other thing is the state does have a um recreational Trails Grant which recently we just got $130,000 um from the recreational Trails Grant to do a trail connection so previously we had constructed the loop trail with Park Grant funds and the north north north to south length trail with cdbg dollars but this um uh recreational Trails grant funding basically connects the two Trails together but in all of these instances in all of these grants we need Grant matches and so um we might get um us fish and wildlife to come in and pull the culs out but then we still have to build a bridge to get across it so that's where I feel like the CPA dollars could come in and also as U match dollars for if we're able to leverage funds from Partners thank you uh eron for answering that Jason thank you um I just W to also mirror what Bob said as we were at large Hill uh this past weekend and that Boardwalk is really in rough shape and especially little tiny feet can uh go through some of those holes in the in the planks so yeah the sooner the better um Aaron is there as far as the funding of um these Bridges and trails is there any other funding mechanism other than CPA dollars in these grants or is the maintenance for these strictly based on like funding through CPA um well so just to give you an example when we saw the photo of the bridges at Hickory Ridge you could see that one to the left that had already been stripped um so so in part the funding toward that bridge will be coming from the recreational Trails Grant however we still have to match 203 30% of the overall cost of the grant so yes we we you know got the bulk of the funding from that Grant but we still need the match dollars to do it um and to complete it we we have a small segment that we haven't even completed yet to to finish that segment and so um and as as you know you know the cost of everything has gone up so it makes it extra challenging when you submit a grant because the when you submit the Grant and you estimate the cost by the time the Grants awarded the there's not enough money to finish the project so we're you know we we leverage the funds however we can but we try to holistically um use the funds to accomplish projects as best we can but that main source of funding for matching grants is CPA dollars I wouldn't say it's the main source and Dave um please jump in if you want to share more but I mean we we have other sources of funding that we you know allocate but um CPA is a really really important funding source for us to make sure the trails are safe and accessible do you have a list of I mean some of those photos that you showed were were really bad and some of them I like appear to POS pose safety issues and if somebody gets hurt on one of those bridges I can imagine a lawsuit in the town having to pay you know several times more more than what it would cost to actually fix the bridge do you have a a a good list of like your prioritized Bridges so the ones that I shared with you um in the presentation are pretty much like the the priority ones I would say there are more than that there's a lot more than that those are just sort of I would say the uh the major ones all right thank you Dave Zac sure great questions everybody thank you and thank you Aaron for putting that PowerPoint together um you know our goal I think you know with all things is is to try to have the best trail system in Massachusetts that that's what I would love to have is the best trail system um of any community in Mass I think we have the foundation to do that um it it so turns out that you know our expectations are higher than than they were back in 1960 1970 uh a lot of times you jumped over a stream or you walked through a wetland or a ctail marsh or whatever but as we've learned more about protecting those natural resources we've wanted to get people up and bicycles mountain bikes I mean 1960 1970 even 1980s mountain bikes really weren't out on the trails now they are so all of those things have caused us to you know want to get people up and out and protect them um give them an elevated view of things but also protect the natural resources that we are uh that taxpayers have invested in and and people come far and wide to use our Trails as Ain said 140 miles there aren't too many other communities in mass that can say that but it comes with that responsibility and Jason yeah I mean we're we're pretty we're pretty creative and I'm proud of our staff and and uh through the years and and the commission through the years for trying to leverage as much money as possible and it's not to say we need to pay contractors to do everything our two uh staff out in the field Brad border week and Anthony uh Brad and Anthony do a lot of the work themselves we also use um quite a few volunteers out in the field so we've got people who adopt Trails uh every year we have a number of U neighborhoods that uh say we'd love to do a project it it might be a it tends to be a a more straightforward project and say one of those bridges at Hickory where it's an entire rehab decking um railings that's something we're probably going to contract out in terms of the request I know there were a couple of questions related to so how much do you have in the bank uh Dave and conservation how you know why this amount now um you know as Aaron said we we have an inventory of trails or trails and bridges that need work it's far greater than what we have you know to spend right now at this moment in addition to the 150 that we've asked for you know one Bridge can range from pick a number $20,000 um there's a very there was a very popular bridge at amethyst Brook that was washed away by an ice storm uh sheared off its foundation some years ago and when we started to look at that bridge it was 55 foot span over the amethyst Brook and it needed to be four to five feet high so it wouldn't get sheared off again and that wasn't even a guarantee and at the end of the day we were up about $100,000 for that bridge to actually put it back in place and I kind of Hit the pause button on that because I just didn't know if we could justify it but the short answer is if you take this bridge that bridge the Larch Hill Boardwalk which I was a part of building and I won't even tell you the year that that happened um but I was the director of the Hitchcock Center at the time and I will tell you that was partially built by the town but most of the work was done by the engineering Honor Society at the University they designed it and they built it and that was a wonderful volunteer project um to to redo that entire Boardwalk now you know that might that's probably over $100,000 to redo that whole thing and do it right and do it for the next 40 years um so great great slides that I think you all saw I did just want to say that um the preview Hickory Ridge is we're we're doing a lot of great work out there we're not quite ready to unveil everything but as Aaron said in the spring we will certainly people are using some of the trails that are completed we're not inviting the public to just come there and MK right now because we we've got a lot of work to do and then that one slide that Aaron showed you on puffers bond this money that we're asking for right now is not really for that Vision but Aaron and I wanted to give you a sense that we are looking down the road buffers spawn needs a lot of work a lot of TLC and we'd like to set the groundwork for five years down the road 10 years down the road how we how we think buffer spawn could be even more of an asset for the town and the region so uh I don't want anybody to think we're you know those those were some pretty beautiful conceptual images but that's not what we're asking for right now we're asking for the basics to replace what we have put put new bridges in place where they've been washed away or rotted away so I'll stop there uh Katie thanks Sam and and thanks Aon really appreciate your presentation um I ju I'm asking for a friend but I'm just wondering since I know that the city of Northampton has an open space fund where private citizens can contribute to help Provide support for open space land conservation I just wondered if the town had ever entertained that do we have anything like that um for projects like this or other projects I'm just thinking future for puffers Pond Etc where people can either make contributions while they're living or at the time of their death yeah we we do have a trail gift account um and people do you know I won't say frequently not sure the the frequency but we do periodically get um some some decent um donations for different projects um and there's also a friends of puffers Pond group they do like an annual breakfast for fundraising but but again I mean I think we're everybody knows that puffers is um is kind of in trouble you know we're gonna have to make a big investment in the future to help puffers and what Dave said is 100% correct I mean every year we come and we have like projects in the queue and when we have an opportunity to tackle one of those projects we use every tool in our Arsenal to try to to try to do that it might be mitigation dollars from the the Wetland fund where okay we can restore this Wetland let's contribute some funds from this it might be oh we have a trail donation we have some CPA dollars we have um you know I don't know maybe some money from Kestrel we have grant money and you put all those pieces together and it makes a project possible um so we tried to again you know put things together and you know we might get a couple projects done in the course of a year we um certainly can't do it all in a year but um but what Dave said is right we're trying to keep you guys sort of ab breast of of all the projects that need attention so that we can kind of keep a rolling um accounting for what we're doing and what we have sort of um in the queue for the future I really appreciate that part of your um presentation especially the past and in the future Sam can I if I could I'll just share with you um if any of you have been to the plum Brook pond at the Sweet Alice uh Conservation Area off of Bay Road you know that we partnered with gestro there and I was smiling as Aaron was was uh responding to Katie's question so we did a stream restoration project there there was a crushed Culvert that had probably been crushed for 20 or 30 years and um it was funny but at the time it wasn't so funny to us doing the planning so we we uh put forth uh we went through the Conservation Commission got a new bridge permitted there we had a wonderful contractor and you know in about a day he uh his firm pulled out the Culvert we did all the restoration and we put in a new foot bridge and I don't know about two weeks later uh the Beavers kind of took notice of the work that we had done and it was some thousands of dollars and they all of a sudden said well thank you so much for drawing our attention to that now moving stream where the Culver was blocked up and uh they decided to put a dam there and before you know it our investment of that bridge was now flooded or really getting would become part of the Beavers uh Pond which you know nature being nature we're going to try to work around that anyway long story short we teamed up with Castro and and Aaron was was spot on uh Castro lives there now on uh in their the the the home that is there and that's their headquarters and we teamed up with Kestrel and they came together with over $20,000 in funding and they are the ones who designed and prbly built the beautiful Boardwalk you see through over if you will the the Beaver Pond and as beavers do uh at some time in the last year they pretty much moved out we don't know where they went we didn't do anything to them Castro didn't do anything but they moved on so now we have a beautiful boardwalk and it's pretty dry over there but again the be will be back but it just shows the complexity we go through permiting we do the best we can and we try to work with our partners and again uh we helped with the labor on that project but Kestrel did all the design and they funded it with all their dollars so we try to be creative I think to Katie's point about funds honestly Katie I think we could do a better job at advertising those opportunities it's always a little bit of a fine line the town asking for private donations so I but I think we could do more to just alert people that if they'd like to donate to Trails or ridges or or whatnot or you know we have all those funds set up you can donate money to a plant a public shade tree you can you know there many different funds gift funds that um people can donate to uh thanks for that uh story there Dave uh yeah bavers or something else uh Matt you've been waiting patiently yeah I was just reading between the lines on Jason's question um yeah having been on the committee for a couple of years uh the funding as far as I understand it the town annual budget funds staff it funds the people you see here and the people the workers that that have been mentioned but I think I remember it was like $5,000 for materials in the annual budget so um any kind of materials or any kind oft contractors uh have to come from another source than the annual budget now theoretically I guess you the conservation department could go in front of the capital committee but there's so many demands for that I don't know if they ever get any money for out of the capital committee so it's pretty much CPA funds and external grants as far as I understand for the actual any any materials or any external contractors for these larger projects you you're generally right um Matt in the the past we have um we have gotten Capital Money um through the capital planning process for Bridges uh We've also got um we got some of the American Rescue act funding that came through the Biden Administration to the town um and through the capital plan for instance uh Aon mentioned we just got the $250,000 Grant to design improvements uh required improvements to the dam and Dyke at buffers bond which will hopefully lead lead the way as we look at issues up there and dredging um the town has put significant money into matching um those funds so in order to get the 250 the town is putting in about 140,000 150,000 of capital money so it's not to say that the town hasn't you know has turned its back on Trails it's just as you said we we need to balance those out and we try to work with the recreation department because we also know that Alan snow and Amy RI and that that staff need money for playground equipment and benches and and you know they're before you all with with their their proposal so it's a it's a it's yeah it's a multipronged approach and uh but there's a backlog there's a there's a backlog need thank you questions or comments for Aon and or Dave well I'd like to uh say that uh I'm impressed by the slideshow uh and it does underscore or bring to the attention of those watching including us here just the scope and magnitude and volume of the amount of work that you have to do I can't imagine that the requested funds uh are going to meet anywhere near the uh need when I see all these Bridges uh which are really quite involved uh it's a phenomenal trail system in ammer and I think you can be very proud of them and uh I know that it's I appreciate them and I think uh everyone in town does it's a fantastic resource and I commend you for all the work and efforts that you do in this area and others because uh it just provides Great Value uh to our town I walk on them I walked with on them with my kids I even liked going off of the uh the walk trail in South amers and cutting over to the old Brickyard I mean there's just so many different areas so thank you so much I wish that uh there was a bottomless pit to uh funding to meet the needs but of course there's not I appreciate hades's comment about seeking alternative Avenues very strategic thank you and uh um anything in that regard uh certainly a community that has uh interests in supporting these types of activities and and Endeavors uh I do have a comment regard when you mentioned planting trees uh I have a feeling that the town uh population and Community would always support any activities relating to the planting of trees in town wherever they might be uh particularly uh where they're lacking planting trees and I've had so many people talk to me about um the benefits and the desire for having as many trees planted as they could particularly in relation of Bob's comments relating to climate you who knows if that can be leveraged those funds from the state uh but the other thing that pops up which may not be relevant to this is uh water fountains uh water in various wreck areas it's probably not a conservation need but again thank you so much Erin you're here each year with the presentation uh it's great to see the uh images of the completed uh tasks uh I can't I can't imagine the volume of work I mean between the buildings that go up and all the projects in addition to your regular jobs you're essentially construction managers but it's public and not private which is a much more arduous uh task and process requiring patient and lots of hours so uh I appreciate what you do and I think our community does and thank you so much we are going to be um meeting on the 12th of December for the public hearing after which we will commence with discussions uh if we have additional questions as a committee we'll be certain to send them your direction and certainly send us any future thoughts um I'm not seeing hands from committee members so I'd like to ask if there's any uh final thoughts or comments uh that Aon or Dave would like to share with our committee I think that is no that you're good um and uh thank you for coming here this late evening uh and for your presentation we always appreciate all the applications that come before us I know that there's so much work that goes into them uh and also it was nice to see the kids walking around on the parts so thank you so much and my pleasure thank you for having me so I guess we're set with the uh application proposal presentations um I have on the next agenda item for committee a brief discussion on the straw PL rating process I just want to show a slide uh primarily for the benefit of Jason who was not here on previous Cycles uh do we have the ability to share my screen Holly is that a I believe we do I think I have the capacity here yes you should be you should be able to see if I can find something in my busy desktop here so what what we do as a a committee with all these proposals uh Jay is we have a shortage of typically a shortage of funds and we have to as a committee decide where we're going to allocate the funds and the what we do we ask that the committee members review the proposals and the questions um and uh aside from the question process to try to come up with a general thought of their level of support from to five for a given project um and that level of support can be the merits of the project but it can also be the level of funding it's the individual's own scale taken into account the CPA plan listing of the uh eligibility requirements but also your own Avenues and what we do at our uh we'll be doing this at our subsequent meeting after the public hearing is going through each project this is a chart from a couple of years ago and each Committee Member will provide a general rating from one to five in terms of their level of uh support on a scale their own scale for the projects and that allows us to come up with an average rating of each proposal this is not final this is just a means of providing an Avenue of discussion internal of seeing where things and this allows us to look at the general uh projects are more favored than others and we have a a challenge always of trying to identify how we will or will not make up the funding gaps and the town has worked with us in the past but there's a significant Gap this year as well so I just wanted to bring to your attention that at the subsequent meeting We'll be asking all of our committee members to look at the proposals that we've received and to come to just have a rating between one and five for each of those projects and that's how we kind of start our deliberations we Holly uh reiterates and informs us of the budget availability uh whatever the gaps are on a chart similar to what I'm displaying here apprpriate just in general and we offer our ratings and that's the onset of discussions so I just want to bring that to the attention of uh and we can also look at previous year's meetings I know that I sent uh over the years new members access to Prior years deliberations the the recordings exist so you can kind of see what we do but we should all be thinking about these projects prior to the next meeting come in with a general rating thoughts and then we proceed from there if there are questions between now and then uh for the applicants certainly send them to myself and Holly and we them in front of the applicants uh but there we are um any questions or comments from committee members in terms of uh the rescheduling to the 12th of the public hearing meeting our next meeting will not be December 5th will be December 12th same time same place and again my sincere apologies for messing up the schedule flat tires happened but we we'll move on and uh uh proceed from there fortunately there's not a there are fewer proposals than prior years there's still certainly going to be discussion but uh it that is what it is so um I guess if I'm not seeing any questions or comments I want to thank everybody for their participation in this meeting uh and I'll be communicating via email uh agenda for the next uh meeting um and I will adjourn this meeting at at I gotta find the clock here it is 7:48 p.m. thank you all and I'll see you soon have a have a great Thanksgiving break thanks Sam thanks Sam take care thanks Sam thank you all good night