e e e e e what all right it being 6: pm and a quarum present I will call the meeting of the Freetown Conservation Commission to order uh for the day of Monday March 11th 2024 and item number one is determination of Apple ability five Simmons Street spot joh and Miller okay all right um so we understand you want to put an addition on your property uh and the um it does come within the 100 foot um buff you is there anything you want to add to the plan that you depends I if you want I have the what I gave you uh the mod format if you need to see that well can we call okay um so the you have the area marked out there um is that I is that 50 or 30 right there the first yellow l I know looks like a yeah it could go either way kind of looks like the five up there yeah can you tell on your puppy the next one 100 the one that setback from the BBW set back 50 set back okay all right within the all right and there's so is this the uh where you got to put this the uh uh erosion control we have we have no idea we have no IDE we had the plans the contractor went to the permit and they said well we need to talk to you guys uhhuh so oh yeah okay so that's the setic plan from 10 years ago okay all right so that just that says just barrier all right just checking to make sure all right just make sure that the contractor does put it out there to protect the uh this swap land the like those little tubes or something yeah you can okay tubes bales of hay uh there's even silk fence that you can purchase at some place like Lowe's or Home Depot but you want to see that there all right the barrier and before you do anything else and just make sure is this going to be a foundation yeah it's a cwl space CW space okay you got to make sure they got to make sure that any s oil that they put up they dig up they don't carry it away it stays uh within this barrier Zone okay all right so basically you either want to put it to to the right as we're looking here now to the right basically the yeast your house or well basically that's the best spot for it right yeah yeah we sort of talked about where the septic field is you know can't go and touch and do anything over the side uh is that a ra septic not really a little bit it's a little higher than it was before okay all right not like some of our neighbors that yeah okay yeah familiar with that I'm trying to remember I have no no desire to have to touch that [Music] whole can't go behind the building right what we do okay okay with that being said um I would enter motion hi sorry dropped it's Victoria um on Zoom um who was speaking I didn't hear them State the name for the record oh okay pardon me um Mr Miller do you want to uh state your name for the right streen okay okay thank you sorry about that no problem thank you she's a stick on that all right um make a recommendation to do give an exemption though it is uh within the uh boundaries of a buffer zone that it will not alter of about the area at all a negative determination on number three I'll make that motion motion's made do I hear a second motion is seconded all in favor say I I okay you're you're good to go H you can drop by and Nicole will have some paperwork for you within a few days you give her a call and usually I email um I'll email you and then we'll mail out the original as well yeah fantastic thank you very much all right item number two request for determination of affability five wor bur Road James White Memorial Library applicant Kevin dearis for of Health thank Mr chairman so would you state your name I I I am Mr chairman I will St my name I am Kevin dearis I'm Health agent here in town Freetown and I'm going to apologize now for a little bit miscommunication I have with the conservation office I explained to them that I going to have a reest determination for them for their next and the inter that as I was the applicant right right so little miscommunication doesn't change the mission uh Mr John ashy is with me tonight he is the representative of the white James White Memorial Building committee um I will tell you I was called out about a month ago now maybe three weeks ago uh there was a block toil uh Building Maintenance went out there they hired somebody they went out there and discovered it wasn't a block toilet in fact it was a system back up right and what we discovered was there's an existing uh maybe thousand gon tank maybe 500,000 gon tank it's represented by that circle on there it's a steel tank I think it was installed in 1946 when Mr Ashley's father built it correct okay so um they had it pumped out in December back and then in January it's full again I say that doesn't work in my world it shouldn't be full given it's abuse we had it pked out I witnessed it uh and we immediately saw ground water going back in the tank is compromised which means it is sitting in the groundwater um if anybody's familiar with the area it's a currently it's a park uh that's full of GRA show outcroppings uh Rocky outcroppings glaci ladics probably some ledge it's very limited there is a a stand of very Tall Pines and some uh trees that apparently a new Resident Beaver really enjoys um so that's so uh in consultation with Dale uh and looking at Title 5 regulations it's in my opinion that the safest thing and the best thing to do easiest remedy for the location is a tight tank ordinarily they are a last resort or utilized in situations like this uh that water body is ATT tributary to a secondary drinking water source we have shallow wells in the area um it's an overall better the tank will be sitting in the in the water table as it is overall better installed with a tight the volume of usage that the library gets is minimal if they're using 20 to 30 gallons a day that would be a very very busy day and a day that they would have had a program with with 10 to 15 people um so the tight tanks longevity the volume and amount of maintenance on it otherwise more than likely if they try to do a traditional system you're talking about blasting Stone getting cutting down trees just to get a machine in big enough just so they can remove the stone it's a par currently there's memorial benches there there's little Trails it's a nice place um we don't need to ruin it currently uh the the Board of Health is in favor of utilizing a tight tank will will be caveat or conditioned with should it change for a library use they would then need to reapply to the Board of Health for consideration relative to uh expansion or future usage um the little triangles there that represents the facilitation control we going to utilize uh silt sock or we're going to utilize hay bales the site is not conducive even to putting in Silt vence there's too many rocks and just uh there's a reason why we only have it on one side if you know the site when you're looking at the West yes Corner uh it's uphill that way so everything is downgraded from the West Corner down towards the area of the solitation control and that is the area that we're going to be utilizing to gain access to and from uh we will not be going around the other side at all um so with that and I would absolutely consider this an emergency situation currently in the city we've asked them not to use it that's why if you drive by there's a Portage on there um but that's not a good look for the town library and and I I was fortunate enough to meet with the library committee uh they are anxiously uh awaiting approval so we can they can get this REM so you're going to be able to get a tank in there without a problem what do you consider a problem Mart no BL no so no blasting all right to your point uh that represents an approximate location I don't mean that we're going to be moving at 6070 feet no no there may be a stone there that's bured we may have to tweak it a little bit we have to move 10 feet but to answer your question uh uh uh no the intent is to do no blasting and uh to do no uh Jack hammering again it's a 1946 uh structure there are shallow Wells that's the last thing we want to do now should we find an instance that we actually have to I we are not going to blast it would have to be with some sort of Jack camber or or we readdress but but no um I don't I don't anticipate and I would actually I'm not going to Li but it's in the front yard right in the back it's the back the road is up top back oh oh oh oh I was so see I was thinking the library was it that's that's the library yes yeah you show do you have the other one too the the the satellite Victoria does so she can probably switch it one second she's on there doing this sh scen wake up Victoria no no oh there we go okay so so you see the road the library you see where it is so you see it's it's fully it's fully treated right um I went a little haywire and I made sure I put on one zone and everything else to just to just to show you that we are outside of all that work uh all the work is outside the flood zone um and again we're taking a very bad situation and going to make it very good yep yep okay any questions or John will answer anybody John Take a Walk Way Down the tip there the path M I've lived here 79 years I've never seen anything that a beaver has done in Freetown it's down there it's down there tried to cut down a hornbean tree that John I went down there and I don't know if it's new or I just noticed it I was down there again today um and and there are other trees there was one little one the little one but there's a bunch of big ones the same kind of tree that started taking off bark areas like this right that one H beam you know oh oh went to pictures of it he must have R his teeth I said well he have to chew because teeth of all the trees are pck the toughest tree rather than AAP no he went straight for that one yeah unfortunately I I I heard tell that there was one found dead in the roadway that got hit I don't know if it's that one or not but I will tell you uh Lakeville had a problem with with beavers uh last year and they thought they only had a couple and they went out back and they ended up trapping 14 of them I think so uh they're back in the area the less cranberry Growers we have the less uh uh uh control we have so to speak and they they are making their way so it wouldn't shock me if in the next five years that we have a healthy vaa population uh when you do when you amze them over time 10 years they exponentially so standby for standby folks anyway any other do you have any questions no no we're all right so this I feel like the floods of 2010 are coming back soon um this should be okay and withstand fwk flooding okay yeah yeah it is it is significantly higher and by significantly I mean you mean the flood zone is represented on there uh it's probably another 5 to six feet above that um area that will be wor installing okay all right if that's all I'll accept a uh motion to recommend a negative determination under uh stipulations three and five I will make that Mo motion is made motion is seconded all in favor say I I all right there you go cheers guys thank you very much no problem take care good to see you good to see you Kevin can I give you a call later on can I sure okay did I do something wrong no I say I was going to turn my phone off if I did oh no all right I can just tell you now I not make Wednesdays meeting you got a minute I'll give you a good joke you can take home with you all right old man went out the place golf he put his ball down and he give it an awful whack right the woods he over looking for his ball he hear a voice voice says your balls over here he looked all around he doesn't see anybody the boy said your ball's over here he looked again it was a frog we walked over picked up his ball the frog says if you kiss me I'll turn into a beautiful princess and you can have your way with me the old man walked over and he picked up the Frog and put him in his pocket frog said hey didn't you hear what I said if you kiss me I'll turn into a beautiful princess and you can have your way with me the old man said I heard you but he said at my age I just shouldn't have a talking frog TR on that note where I where I spend February in Hilton Head there is a golf course and on on the unit it's kind of a strange unit living area is upstairs the bedrooms are down there's a screen porch and one day I hear a ball bounce off and it goes and a guy comes looking for it and I go your ball's over here and he was like reaching out like where's his voice coming from he didn't see you no he didn't see you so I can be very but I've never been a talking frog have a good night thanks again have a good night good night than you yeah so so you can't be at Wednesday's meeting I can't be at Wednesday's meeting so that's I don't to call you item number three request for certification of com uh completion for 46 early Road uh BCS really three trusts the app this is um oh Bradford steel building it's been up for at least a year or so that I know of um and they just to get the certificate of completion do I hear a motion I'll make that motion motion is made in seconded all in favor say I I I all right item number four request for extension of order of conditions 13 Estelle Avenue applicant Thomas uh Louise um didn't have any further commiss communication with you um there is someone on Zoom that might be him oh Tom yeah okay you there Tom Tom you're on mute can you hear me now yeah yes okay um so you last year you came and you requested an extension and now you're requesting another extension um a little bit I I think the commission uh I went out there to the to the site today uh marar has been out there previously and we're a little um we have a little problem as to the amount of work that has been done a lack thereof in the last year or two and um so I wish that you to address that if you would what part of it that you need to be addressed well the the issue is that you've had it for you've had your uh oh application your you've had your uh permission for four years and the project the project to my eye has not been moving forward uh in any P great Pace at all okay all right and so the the issue is is uh is the going to be done or is it just something that uh you know you have a plan on and sometime in the near in sometime in the future you're G to do something but you're still carrying on the application as if you as you first did do you understand what I'm saying well uh we had a little problem called covid which I couldn't get materials uhuh okay couldn't get anybody to do the the excavation work I finally got somebody this year and then we had the lake Rock It Up unbelievable high for this time of year so now we're on hold again because of the lake height okay um all right uh another thing that uh came to my attention is there's no erosion control on the there was there was Jolly it uh got wiped out in the last storm okay but when the water initially came up it it tore everything to Smither Rines okay but the the issue is that you have to keep you know if that's the case then you have to replenish your erosion control no it will be replaced we're just trying to see what the Lake's going to do so we don't put it in the lake again because it was 10 feet from the water now the water is 10 Fe into the yacht uhhuh um well I guess my suggestion would be is that you bring your station for the time being at least you bring the station control up you I don't know the distances actually from the house to the uh water line but at least like 2third of the way from the house um to the waterline something like that you put siltation control up again all right at least keep that in uh in good working order yeah we'll be we'll be putting I believe they the excavator guy said something about a sock with straw in it silk yeah they call it silk sock straw sock it's it's going to be a uh a roll could be hundreds of feet long actually actually uh yeah with us he thought that was better than what we had because if the lake starts coming up we can move it exactly that that sounds like a good idea all right um I would uh request I don't want to put it in order that it be done uh two weeks but I request it to be done in two weeks all right what the uh the sock yes yeah where it it was supposed to be he was supposed to be getting it probably this week he told me and I was going to install it myself and the initial area was all around the ramp where the yacht is most susceptible uh um all right um so well I'll open up to the board how long they want to make this continu but the other thing is Tom I we'd really like to see um at least the ret you're G to put a retaining wall you got the retaining wall blocks in the front yard correct right and that's that's that's what took so long to get but now that everything's starting to open up we can get all the materials they initially didn't have any out to be sold to the public they holding back on them because they were giving for uh okay yeah I like to see in the next year that retain wall project being completed if you're going to have uh you know any more extension well we're we're hoping the retaining wall and everything will get finished soon as the water level drops uh and now we're going into spring so that's probably going to put us by the summer before we can start because right now it's it's right up over the patio coming right into the yard um okay but you know you do have a year and I okay I like to say you know Le at least the retaining world there's other things that are extraneous actually from uh dealing with the water or the lake uh those you know we don't have concern about but the project moving the project along so at least uh that work along the uh Pond no I understand we we're we're the retaining wall is where our goal is to at least get that done and then and then start finishing the yard and putting the new septic in uh all right and bringing it up to today's standards anyone else have any questions or comments no I I would like to see just for one year and see what happens in a year and revisit um i' be inclin to view that out to Tom I I think we're going to give you a one-year extension uh see what goes on and see that you know what you say you feel you can do uh as bet you know I we realize that condition there are conditions that we have to deal with uh but I think be you should be able to get that wall in in the next 12 months well yeah that that's the goal is to get the retaining wall all complete uh that's the goal right now and then we'll move forward from wherever it goes after that but the go if the leg drops it doesn't look like it's dropping anytime soon it looks like it's actually coming up higher and higher like it did in 2010 so all right so um do I hear would I I get a a motion for a one-year extension with the stipulation that the retaining will be completed uh in the next 12 months I will make that motion okay motion is made and seconded um all in favor hi hi all right Tom we're gonna give you another year like we said uh you know we really want to see within the next 12 months that the retaining wall uh be placed uh where it's supposed to be and at least that work being done and also you okay also that you have uh uh erosion control uh back in place within the next two weeks oh absolutely yep absolutely all righty all right thank you very much you're welcome thank you um all right uh number five discussion and vote on South Main Street Bridge replacement options study um I can speak to that Charlie if you'd like sure start up sure so nothing has changed from the last time we spoke about this I did reach out to GP for a little bit more information so I'm sort of uh well the planning board is waiting to make a determination until they hear from them um but of course the commission wants to make a recommendation tonight that you can of course uh do that um so there were three options in the study um I think we might be leaning towards at least the planning board might be leaning towards option three which is the the like Rehabilitation not a full um you know new construction Bridge um because of cost and right of way impacts um the environmental impacts of course is what conom is looking at and that will also be greatly reduced with option three compared to the other options all right thank you Victoria uh anyone else have anything do if we don't have any new information I think we're in the same spot yeah I I my thing is if you if we're going to have more information we potentially have more information what we put out and so we get that extra information and we can go from there okay all right on hold okay so Victoria be on hold and you know I know you'll forward us the information once you get it from the uh engineer of course all right discussion and take action relative to conservation agent consultant job description um as you know we've we have it in the budget we have in this year's budget we didn't use it uh we spoken of a uh $40 an hour rate for basically what would be 10 hours a week or the amounts that cover $25,000 um anyone have any I Victoria um I know that there are a couple of uh positions for conservation commission conservation agents on the uh Mass Municipal job site and if you haven't already done such a thing um I think maybe we just not reinvent the wheel but we go with look at those uh job descriptions and so forth and make make our own so to speak from one of those I think there's like three positions on the site that sound yeah so we did um Nicole actually did the bulk of the work for this one the draft was yeah she did and the draft was in the packet but if you haven't had a chance to review it we can uh certainly push it to the next meeting okay all right I mean it looks good to me but I don't know maybe maybe take a little bit more time to look it over all right want to do that yeah well the only thing I i' like to have it set for like July one ideally um so we do have three months the other thing that uh maybe might be prudent to do is to look to other communities in the uh area and see what their ages I'm kind of think thinking that I I think one of the jobs I saw was a kushit and I also have seen some uh another position where a town had someone who was working we'll say 30 hours and maybe reach out to those people who are conservation agents and other communities in the area who do not work full time and maybe do a a proactive type thing and send them a uh you know a a recruiting letter so to speak because that probably is the way we're going to get somebody all right all right so I'll well we don't need we don't need a motion do we Victoria to uh say we're gonna look this over uh deeper no of course not come back all right so we'll move along okay all right uh but we'll get that done hope hopefully we can do it in the next meeting and then like I said we'll have like three months to get try to get somebody um okay discuss and take uh action relative to land fund warrant article for the annual Town meetings and I think what what was the S Victoria I I saw it somewhere along the way yeah so the sum was $30,000 and that was just an average amount over the past few years um I know typically um for for our newer members who may not know we the the Conservation Commission typically C tries to request um roll back taxes uh be appropriated into the land fund every year but this year we did not get any roll back taxes um so I figured maybe we could if the commission would like get into the habit of appropriating money into our land fund um so we can have more um you know more funds to do land protection and Land Management um so 30,000 was the average over the last five or so years it ranged from like 15,000 all the way to 70,000 I believe um year to year okay do you know how much money is in the fund now um I want to it's over just over $100,000 I can get the exact amount for you guys tomorrow um but that's really not a lot in comp comparison to like if a if a house on the pond and that would be a good parcel for concom to acquire um you know for flooding purposes or anything like that like it's just it's nowhere near going to cover um the amount you would need to to Really purchase any large lots and just in uh 2023 2024 there has been no uh request to take uh property out of 61 61a is that what yeah correct okay all right um so can I put on my other hat right now sure sure so you're saying that you want to request or or you're saying we should request 30,000 out of like free cash so typically um yeah I'm typically the fincom and I think BOS determines like the funding source right um I've never had to determine that okay so it's always been conservation money that's that's voted on to turn over to conservation um in the the the town bud in this year I'm not sure how far that will go I guess it doesn't hurt to ask but I'm not sure how far that will go yeah u i I don't know what you may or may not know about but there's a section uh a chapter in section of law it's referred to a 61 and 61a oh right right but there isn't any that's what we've always got that makes sense to request that money because it was it was agricultural or whatever wasn't sure if you if you no no no no I knew that but what I'm saying is is there isn't any of that money so you're asking for money exactly that that exactly um all right so and we're we're and you're recommending $30,000 correct Doria yeah that's I mean of course that number can change but I figured if the number gets reduced on town meeting floor I think 30 is a good number to start with uh um all right anyone have any U recommendation or comment on Margaret you uh wonders if we can afford $30,000 I don't know it I know that sounds stupid but you know we've we've got the bridge coming up we we have a lot of we're we're fighting for every penny let's let's just say that I I'm all for ask for whatever you want but be aware that that there is a possibility it might not go through that's all yeah well that's always a possibility yep yep but personally I I'd say $30,000 on in a budget that's probably going to be 30 million uh and the uh what's our total budget uh of Victoria for conservation this year do you remember what it was not off the top of my head but probably 40,000 maybe less uh um and I I wonder what many times in this area even proportionate size you know the $40,000 budget is so I don't see an issue the other the other thing we remember is this is basically putting money into escrow uh you know where um do you know off the top of your head Victoria if they were to deposit money in this account if money could be removed if there was an a dire emergency and re reallocated um yeah I see where you're going with that Charlie um I imagine it would require concom approval because this land fund is is separate I believe it's solely under the concom authority and there's a very specific there's a very specific purpose of when we can use those funds like like there's reasons um that we have to follow like like it has to be for wetland protection or Land Management so I'm not sure if the details of that I can certainly find that out we don't have to vote on this tonight um if you guys aren't comfortable we can certainly push it to the next meeting I'm okay if like I said if if you want to put it through that's that's fine I'm not going to say don't do it but I'm you have a v you I know I have a vote you have a vote and I mean I just don't I'm actually I think I'm GNA abstain from this v um no and and the other thing is it goes before is it gonna you know it's GNA go before the the town meeting I don't want to vote on it um okay can you put it off and can we get Chris ma here for the next meeting all right I feel like I have to use myself okay all right why don't we we'll put that on and see if we can get Chris and get his input because it'd be nice to have as much input uh as possible all right uh n item number eight the minutes from uh February 12 2024 anyone have any edits look good to me okay all right do I hear a motion to accept the minutes um of uh February 12th I'll make that motion motion is made motion is seconded all in favor say I I uh number nine any other business properly to come before the Conservation Commission um I'm going to do it in an open meeting and because I feel it's right to be on the record but I want to com commend both Victoria and Nicole for the job they're doing and how well they do it um the information is is there you know they they do a very good job and I just want to uh amend them on that okay thank you thank you thank you thank you guys we really appreciate that all right all right with that I'll accept a motion to adjourn I make that motion motion is made motion is second all in favor say I I I all right good night guys take care yeah you too um I need to recuse myself on that thing from something but I think I've recuse myself on the finan