##VIDEO ID:1wCUXj19Wt4## Joe uh are you still on with Public Access I I see that uh hi yes I'm still on are you doing a recording also of this yes yes now okay so you're starting it now yeah yes okay excellent thank you I I just wanted to make certain we had all everything done before we actually started into the actual uh meeting so thank you for that you're welcome okay so we'll kick this off uh welcome to the lunberg Conservation Commission meeting of August 7th 2024 in accordance with the requirements of the open meetings law please be advised this this meeting is being audio video recorded the agenda list all of the topics which may be discussed in the meeting and those that are reasonably anticipated by the chair votes may be taken as a result of these discussions not all items listed May in fact be discussed and other items not listed may also be brought up for discussion to the extent permitted by the open meetings law please advise please address all comments to the chair this meeting of the Conservation Commission will be held by Zoom at the link provided in the notice uh and this is the agenda that's posted on the town calendar for August 7th uh the zoom meeting ID is 85342 64212 for anyone that's joining us uh via live broadcast I would encourage you to go to the town calendar download the agenda because uh you can uh just copy and paste the link there okay uh we're going to start start out with a roll call Jenny present Rich F Jeff vivano Mike larouche present Chris St Germaine here okay well with me that gives us a quorum because we do have a vacancy we haven't backfilled uh Bob's uh position yet and I do anticipate uh Jeff vivano will join us later uh and uh hopefully Rich will as well if I could ask one of my Commissioners if you would be willing to uh be a co-host for me and manage the waiting room so that I don't accidentally leave someone out I can do that thank you Jenny just going to there we go okay Jenny you should be the co-host now okay so I'll just get a notification when a participant joins yeah it looks like it recording paused now is that I'm seeing that on my screen okay would you start the recording then yeah okay done and now it says recording yeah great there's absolutely no indication on my screen about that at all I did get a notice when uh Sophia started the recording I got a notice but I didn't get a notice on the primary recording which is interesting okay I'm uh officially called the uh meeting to order uh do we have any announcements by members of the commission okay I'm not seeing any uh do we have uh call on public comment um and for members of the public comments are limited to three minutes and must pertain to a subject matter under the direct jurisdiction jurisdiction of the commission comments about current agenda items are to be made during the comment period of that specific agenda item please address all comments to the chair and for any member of the public uh now or during the hearings uh that wishes to speak up uh please state your name and your address uh and then for those of us um or those that might not be really familiar with uh Zoom there are actually react um icons on the periphery of your screen and if you could use those to raise your hand uh I will call on you that's helpful but if you if you uh have trouble finding that or for some reason it's not available to you uh you can just speak up and uh let me know that you're waiting and I will make my way around to you and I am not seeing any hands raised uh by members of the public for uh public comment so we will move along it looks like we have uh two uh two meeting minutes to to approve uh we have July 10th 2024 I am looking for a motion to approve still move second so I have a motion by Chris and a second by Jenny uh roll call vote uh Jenny I Mike I Chris I and I for myself and then also we have the meeting minutes for July 17th do I have a motion to approve so moved thank you J I definitely heard uh Chris uh and someone else um okay roll call vote Jenny hi Mike I Chris I and I for myself okay we'll move along to the uh appointment hearings uh Bob was planning on being here tonight but uh is actually not able to join us uh but he did want to give an update on the mass Trails Grant he uh did reach out to the mass Trails administrator today we wanted to ask clarification on uh in the contract it it appeared like we might need to get three quotes uh for the services that have been proposed in that uh in that Grant uh but the grant uh administrator uh Elijah um I think his last name is bloody fry I said that that only applies to nonprofits and that uh we we have to we we can work with in the um processes set up by the town and the M municipality that's those overrule the contract um language for the nonprofits so what I am asking for tonight from the commission is that we vote to allow Bob to work as our representative to work with Julie on raising um raising the and and assigning the warrant for horizontal engineering uh in alignment uh with the uh submitted grant that had been approved and for Bob then to work with the uh uh selected engineering firm to uh go ahead and uh kick off that work do I have a uh any questions from members of the commission and I saw that Chris just got kicked out uh Chris do I need to repeat any of that for you it looked Mary did do I need to repeat any of that for you no no I heard it all oh okay cool um so I am looking for a uh motion to uh appoint Bob as our representative working with uh Julie um you know at at the town and then also as our representative working with the um with the uh horizontal engineering firm that has been uh designated to uh uh provide this service uh to the town for this uh Grant this planning Grant so moved Mike thank you Mike second thank you Jenny roll call vote uh Jenny I Mike I Chris I and I for myself okay that closes that topic uh so we also have an appointment hearing tonight for 899 flath Hill Road DP number 208 1309 uh for a discussion of a field change and do we have a representatives from that uh from that project here on the call tonight yes we do Jack Maloney from Dillis and Roy hi Jack welcome thank you uh is it okay to share my screen um it is I think I have to do permissions for that let me just see if I can figure out how to do it on my iPad it might be easier Jenny for you to see if you can do it as a co-host so I'm looking for that and what is the verbiage for that I have asked to start video allowed to record local files allow a multipen remove and report it should be allow to share content you know this is just going to be too hard I think I think I'm gonna have to switch over to uh my um other machine might just share screen Jenny not sure well I only have asked to start video which is like the closest um so I have mute ask to start video pin hide nonv video participants rename and I'm doing this under um his you know usually I right click under share and it's a and it's a allow uh multi share okay can sh simultaneously yes okay so it's not like a one person thing okay then he should be now here we go everybody see that yes yes okay so uh last October we were in front of the commission um this is 899 flath Hill Road at the corner of flath Hill in Spring Street um if you're coming from Reservoir Road you come down to this intersection you take a left and head over the bridge this is that house that's directly in front of you um when we were here last fall um the house was being renovated uh and we had to knock down some of the walls and rebuild it in order to go up a second story basically the bedrooms were going to go from the first floor to the second floor and the whole downstairs was going to get uh revamped uh with living space kitchen Bas all that um the original house that was here if you can see where my hand is there was an existing deck here uh and basically this comes down to me looking at the wrong plan but the owner had submitted uh another set of plans with the building permit that showed a deck coming off of here and connecting this whole section and I'm going to flip over to the can everybody see that yes all right so this is what's actually there now so that little deck that was originally there was rebuilt off the back and then it was connected with a bigger deck off of this side so that wasn't part of the original uh plan for the commission part of it but it was actually part of the building process so we're here as an after the fact field change uh for the commission and if I can just flip to another document here this is what it actually looks like now um this this was before all the grass had started coming in as as you can see it's all built this section back in here above the uh uh walkway to get into the basement um this was all redone it was extended to get support off the retaining wall that was put in for the septic system about five years ago and then they added this big deck off of the the kitchen area in the living room and then there was a second floor deck off the the master bedroom upstairs everything underneath has been filled in with Crush Stone and it has a timber frame around it and if you can see underneath all these supports were done with helical piles so there's no concrete or anything like that the Earth wasn't Disturbed to uh to put those supports in it was just driven in with the with the pile FES and then there are slats in between the uh the uh decking the decking boards uh yes um let me get to another photo yep you can see everything everything drips down we'll go into the the recharge area that's underneath and recharge back into the into the [Music] ground so Jack it looked like in your uh in your drawing your site plan that you showed it looked like you had 3050 and 100 um in Orange is that inter putting that I put that it was the 25 that was originally in the the old plan from years ago when we did the septic so it's a 25 the 50 and the 100 out here so there is just a small little section in here and I think I put it into my uh letter to the commission that was about 188 square feet that was added into the 100 foot buffer zone okay are there any other changes nope that's it okay do we have any questions by members of the commission just want a clarification if this plan have is this the first time we seen this deck or was it were both submitted once and then the second one I'm little unsure this this was the one that was submitted back in October to the commission the one that's on the screen now okay the one that was just up there is what has been built okay and and should have been on the original one and like I said it was my fault I was looking at a wrong set of plans uh or the wrong sheet on the set of plans that just showed the little deck off the end if I had flipped a couple more pages I would have seen the whole decking scheme system that they have there now okay thanks for that clarification you're welcome any other questions from members of the commission any questions from members of the public okay I think I'm looking for a motion I so moved Chris second and okay thank you Chris thank you Jenny and that's a motion to approve as presented yes yes okay thank you uh we'll go through rall uh Jenny I Mike hi Chris I and I for myself thank you Jack thank you very much have a great night you as well okay next uh we have an appointment for 11:47 Mass oh wait no it will not be heard due to inadequate butter notifications and legal ad placement okay so we're not hearing that one and uh okay now we'll move along to continued uh public hearing um pursuant to Mass General Law chapter 131 section 40 is amended in the town of lunenberg wetlands protection and Municipal B laws a public hearing on behalf of the trustees of The Village at flat Hills request for determination of applicability for the project proposal parcel number 84-001 uh for detention fond maintenance for the area of zero Courtland Circle this is continued from June 5th I think that was the original dat it was on the agenda I think we talked to them last time as well um do we have anybody from uh The Village at fla Hills here yes I'm Wayne garie I'm a trustee I live at 32 courland Circle Lunenburg Mass okay thank you Wayne um and thank you I forget are you able to share or do we need to get a commissioner to share the project proposal I think you need to get the commissioner okay and uh so can we get someone to find that and did you as I recall we uh we had asked you to update um some commentary on the uh on that last smiddle yes I believe we have everything okay and Sophie uh Sophia have you received that uh those updates I did not receive anything via email or any other uh sources I know um he made an appearance in my office I believe last week and we discussed um getting those materials to me but I I have not seen them okay I believe Brian my shete has them is Brian on the call tonight I don't hear Brian uh he's usually quick to speak up uh Sophia have have you you haven't received anything from um Brian maret's office uh no I can do another quick search I could I think he might be away or something but I can double check to see if I got any emails recently um because we had a we had a meeting and uh some of the paperwork was there I could have begotten no I don't have anything I'm sorry about that we had uh a paperwork that Brian was going to show so that we weren't Crossing into the um the wetlands where we're just taken and we're right at the Street we go 20 feet off the road where there's no wet land at all and we go into the pond that was one of your concerns he had a drawing for that and then also the uh I think it's called yeah no Wetlands to be crossed and uh need an o o andm plan yeah we had all that I'm sorry if I was the one supposed to deliver it last I spoke I thought that you know we would have them for tonight we have the stuff it's just I'm sorry it's not there so um do you have uh do you have like a mobile number or something for uh Brian or a member of his team that you could uh you know call and ask I mean it'd be really nice to close this out for you guys tonight if we could I would really appreciate that I'll try and find a number for Brian I don't okay so why don't you why don't you stay on the line right um you know mute yourself and see if you can chase it down I won't close this hearing now uh we'll have to if we don't get Brian um we'll have to close it and uh continue but uh let's give you a chance to do that and we'll move along to some of the other hearings while you're trying to get a hold of Brian okay thank you very much okay um excuse me I do have the phone number right right here oh okay do you want to text that to uh you want to text it to me I'm weighing yeah uh in the chat yeah that's what I meant in the chat okay um I can try do that sure okay and while that's happening I'll read in the next uh next hearing so we can U keep sorry about that no no issues uh pursuit to Mass General Law chapter 131 section 40 is amended in the town of lunberg wetlands protection and Municipal bylaws a public hearing for a notice of intent by Timothy K Gendron for the the revocable trust the project proposal is for construction of a residence duplex Associated driveway and drainage features location is within the edges of the bordering vegetated Wetland and buffer of an intermittent stream at Crossroad lot two parcel uh 99-111 and do we have uh Timothy Gendron or uh one of his Representatives here tonight you have Chris Anon handing and Engineering uh very good you want to just give us a quick recap and uh bring us uh back up to speed with where we're at on this sure um is it okay if I share my screen so I can pull up the plan yes please doy can everybody see my screen now yes okay great so uh we were before the commission it was a few meetings ago now um just to recap the project um sorry having technical difficulties here um it's the intent to construct a duplex structure on the property um with access off a crossroad uh we did receive DP comment we did redress those um there was additional comment relative to a few other projects that are um being also proposed by the applicant uh so we pressed a continuance um but what we've done since the previous meeting um has been uh we've done soil testing on the site to confirm the soil conditions on the property uh we did provide the soil logs for those test U pits that we did perform um for the storm water features um in addition to that we also stake the building box and the um 50 and 30 foot buffer zones within the uh proposed project area for the uh commission to review um but at this point um I think we've um addressed or reviewed several of the DP comments a couple times over um and at this point uh we look to see if there's any further comment from the commission uh relative to this project yeah let me just look back uh those were the ones that I remember off hand I just want to go back to my notes I and while I am looking I will open the floor to other members of the commission that want to ask questions okay I'm not seeing any hands raised okay and I didn't uh I didn't actually see anything else on my notes and I will uh for the record uh acknowledge that Jeff vivano has joined us as well thank you Jeff sorry Em yep I'm here I I appreciate your heroic efforts to be here with us tonight so thank you yeah no problem yeah do we have do we have any questions from members of the uh members of the any members of the public okay I think I'm looking for a motion so moved thank you Chris second Mike thank you Mike okay um we're going to do a roll call vote uh Jenny I I and Jeff you weren't here when this one started so I'm not going to um ask you to vote this time okay uh Mike larouche hi Chris St Germain hi and I for myself so proven the uh noi with standard order conditions great thank you very much thank you Pursuit toass General Law chapter 131 section 40 is amended the town of lunberg wetlands protection and Municipal bylaws a public hearing on a notice of intent by Timothy Gendron for the proposal of construction of a single a new single family home and Associated amenities within 100 foot Wetland buffer zone and within the 50 Foot no build Zone at 60 Cross Road lot 12a and do we have uh do we have have uh Timothy jenden or his representative here again with handing and Engineering thank you uh you want to uh just kind of repeat uh the process here and bring us up back up to speed with this project all right uh so uh this project is located on lot 12a which is um U north of what the duplex structure is the attempt to the applicant to construct a new single family home on the property uh we were before the commission a few meetings ago as well um at at that meeting it was requested that we uh follow through with doing soil testing which we did to confirm that the excuse me the uh storm water system would comply uh with setbacks and offsets from groundwater ledge um and we also did uh perform the soils or the um the staking of the house box as well as the buffer zones within those within the disturb area um but I think at this point uh we did review the D comments at the last meeting um much of that information was provided in the notice intent relative to operation of Maintenance and other storm water features um so at this point um I would open it up to the commission for any further comment or concern so you did you you said D had asked for uh maintenance um plans on storm water feed yep so that was included within the notic inent package um so um there's an operation maintenance uh review of compliance calculations um as the commission might remember um this project is one of what would can be considered um four dwelling units proposed at this time um it's kind of a a weird circumstance where the applicant also owns an adjacent parcel that's not uh intended to be developed for the foreseeable future but it is the potential that he could develop it uh with this additional residential unit which would kick him over into the five unit uh spectrum of the storm water management which requires maximum St practicable um so just to get ahead of it so we're full transparency with the commission um we provided the uh storm water review um in compliance with the storm water regulations for that so um the notes of 10 has all that stor water information as well okay um now one of the other uh notes that I had had from the previous hearing was that you were going to submit a uh map of the overall subdivision yep the commission as well um go over briefly if you like um and this has been provided to our office yeah okay so as you can see just let me ask uh Sophia um a quick uh question Sophia is this in the um folder for this um project and the other projects uh yes I I did put that all the new um submissions into that folder okay um go ahead Chris y so um the effectively the Bold outline is the property it's the limit of the property that's owned by the applicant uh you have uh the existing house at 60 AC Cross Road which will be designated lot 12b in this location here um we have the 12a which is the current uh single family home location right here um we have the duplex structure which was just approved located right here uh we have a property line that separates it uh the 12a from the uh duplex structure here and the other outstanding lot is more located off of Pine Grove Road uh the property line for that is located right through here with the buildable area being in this location uh so just to put everything into perspective and the hatched grass looking area if you will is the limit of the wetlands that were delineated okay very good thank you any any questions by members of the commission any questions uh by members of the public and I am not seeing any um so I think I'm look for a motion so moved second thank you Jenny thank you Chris roll call vote Jenny I Jeff I Mike I Chris I and I for myself thank you very much thank you okay pursuant to Mass General Law chapter 131 section 40 is amended to the town of lunenberg wetlands protection and Municipal bylaws a public hearing on a notice in intent by Timothy Jen jenden for the proposal of construction of a new addition and driveway onto the existing single family home within 100 foot Wetland buffer zone and within the 50 Foot no build Zone at 60 Crossroad lot 12b okay do we have uh Timothy's representative here yesan engineering again thank you uh and do you want to um bring us back up to speed with this project yep absolutely so can everybody see my screen again yes great uh so uh again this project was before the commission few Mees ago um at that meeting uh we reviewed DP comment and um additional comment by the commission uh we St out the limit of the proposed addition on this project uh just to recap the project it's an existing single family home the intent to add an addition onto that uh structure that will have a garage built underneath it uh so the work would be limited to the construction of the addition and the installation of of the driveway itself um so we um have staked out the limit of work um again has requested by the commission and provided the other supplemental document showing the overall project and all the plans and stuff like that um so at this point um I will open it up to the commission um relative to any comment or concern regarding it okay so you've um you've Stak like the corners of the where the building is supposed to be and so yep we staked out the corners of the proposed building addition um also we staked out the um they call it the Wetland side of the driveway as well just so that's de demarcated in the field in addition to the 30 and 50 foot buffer zones uh within that Disturbed area or proposed to be disturbed area if you will sorry okay oh what on your drawing what is the um kind of uh on slightly left of center there's like a dark hatched line that uh kind of goes straight and then curves towards the back of the property yeah what is that uh so that's going to be a filter strip that we're going to install on the downhill side of the driveway uh just to help provide some velocity mitigation um of the runoff coming across the driveway uh it's going to be crushed stone um about two feet wide it's just there to help slow down the water as that leaves the site oh okay I see your note now I was able to zoom in okay that answers my question all right I didn't see any uh hands raised from members of the commission do we have uh questions or comments from members of the public okay and if not I think I'm looking for a motion so moved Chris okay we'll give Jeff a turn check I'll write down Jeff as a second uh roll call vote Jenny hi Jeff hi Mike hi Chris hi and I for myself great thank you very much thank you okay uh moving along uh hi could I interrupt this is Wayne gy from Circle hi yeah I spoke I spoke with Brian and he's on vacation and I apologize I should have had the paperwork brought there okay um so we have the paperwork Brian has one part I should have had the other part for the OM andm and and and have dropped it off okay uh so what uh we'll need to do is we'll need to uh continue to the next hearing which is August 21st okay thank you sorry about that uh yeah um it happens uh so we will go back to zero Portland Circle and uh that note yeah we'll go back to zero uh courland Circle and we will close that hearing um we have a proposal by the applicant to continue to the next hearing which is August 21st do I have a motion by members of the commission so moved Mike second thank you Mike thank you Jenny roll call vote Jenny hi uh and Jeff you weren't here for that one when I read it in so we won't call on you uh Mike hi Chris I and I for myself continue uh zero Portland Circle to August 27th okay very good thank you Wayne to the 27 27 uh yeah I'm sorry let meble check 21 yep thank you so much I wrote it down wrong that's why okay all right thank you all very much thank you pursuit to Mass General Law chapter 131 section 40 as amended in the town of lunenberg wetlands protection and Municipal bws of public hearing for a request for determination for a PJ keing company the project proposals for replacement and maintenance work connected to the existing Pump House the location is within 100 ft of bordering vegetated wetland and priority habitat uh 1738 related to 495 Mr Shirley Road so do we have uh do we have the applicant or their representative here tonight yes Madam chair Ryan Proctor with Dillis Roy hi Ryan uh do we have do we have a meaningful update on this one tonight I have one update uh so obviously Greg uh Roy presented uh the first couple meetings for this one he's on vacation this week I believe at the last meeting there was a question there was an email sent from the folks at natural heritage relative to the construction of the proposed building and its exemption status uh in pursuant to Misa review I did forward that uh to Sophie earlier today I was not aware if Greg had already done so I know the commission was looking for that for their records um so I did forward that and we had submitted a formal Misa checklist for the construction of the replacement well um just to clarify the casing for the well was previously installed so the work within that casing is strictly for the well components and uh the building as Greg had noted at the last meeting is uh in our opinion the more extensive and impactful um portion of the project to the review um so I believe the commission should have all the information um up to this point we are still in the review period window for the well replacement uh we expect that we received an email from Melanie Cheeseman saying that the 30 dat period was at the end of this month and that came in earlier this afternoon uh so that is the update uh at this point okay um the commission thanks for that update uh Ryan the uh the commission uh when we last met uh wanted to uh hold off making a decision until nhp came back with with uh comments Andor conditions on the non-exempt um work of the whe head uh within that building okay understood um and we expect that we think by the end of the month so uh should we continue you to August 21st and keep our fingers crossed that uh that we get that uh a response from them uh beforehand I like to be optimistic um and and she said if if there's a chance that it could be expedited so I I think that would be appreciated okay that's what uh that's what we'll do uh do I have a motion by members of the commission to continue this hearing to 8:21 don't move second okay I got uh Mike and thought I heard Jeff but Jenny was loud and clear so we'll give her the second um and uh roll call vote Jenny hi Jeff hi Mike I Chris I and I for myself thank you thanks so much okay moving along uh pursuant to Mass General Law chapter 131 section 40 as amended and the town of lunenberg wetlands protection and Municipal bylaws and public hearing on an abbreviated notice of resource area delineation by Kevin O'Brien at 390 Howard Street do we have uh any updates uh on that uh project and and Sophia were we expecting um uh people to attend uh tonight on that project um they requested a continuance um from to uh 94 to 94 okay yes okay do I have a motion by members of the commission to continue to 94 motion second okay thank you Mike and thank you Chris roll call vote Jenny can I vote to continue this if I wasn't here for the beginning of it no I guess technically you can't and thank you for uh reminding me uh Jeff hi Mike I Chris I and I for myself okay so we've approve continuing that to 94 okay pursuant to Mass General Law chapter 131 section 40 is amended in the town of lunenberg wetlands protection and Municipal bylaws a public hearing on a notice of intent by Steve Powell for the construction of a single family home and Associated site work at 171 Arbor Street you have uh Steve his uh representative here on the call tonight and Sophia were you expecting someone from this project Madam chair uh yes it looks like in the notes uh it's continued from June 5th to August 2 first oh it sure does thank you Mike yes it should be continued to the next meeting meeting okay well since I've read it in we've got to close it out so do I have a motion by members of the commission so moved second thank you Mike thank you Chris roll call vote Jenny can't vote on this one too oh right you can't Jeff hi Mike hi Chris hi and I for myself continue to 8:21 as noted okay that gets us through the uh regularly scheduled uh hearings uh so now we'll move along to administrative determinations 54 Pine Acres Sophia uh do you want to talk us through that sure um this is a pretty um straightforward um request there are a couple of unhealthy um or dead trees uh one of which is on the bank of uh Hickory Hills uh Lake and it's leaning uh quite a bit like a bow clearly pecked Away by woodpeckers and whatnot and there is um it's in the location of a already approved uh removable dock uh which they plan on putting there um so they they think it's a hazard so um I would be in favor for removing that but keeping the root system intact just for um to make sure there's no erosion um you don't when I take the root system out um and then one of the other trees I would suggest leaving it for wildlife habitat as it's not posing any risk to any structures or people and there should be um I've taken photos and there are also in the drive in the uh SharePoint there are some materials I am not sure the commission was able to review those I've not actually been able to review those um just because I've been having um horrible computer problems uh do you have uh so how many trees in total do they want to remove two two and one of them is on the bank that you recommend uh removal the other one you don't recommend allowing them to remove no okay uh do we have any questions from members of the commission do we have any yes I appla I applaud our administrator for saving a tree for uh for Habitat when something's not in danger um and could be productive and beneficial to Habitat it's great that someone is seeing that and I applaud her for her efforts and just wanted to be a commissioner who is willing to say that thank you Mike I appreciate that and Jeff did you have your hand up I did I was just wondering if we could take a look at that one tree that she's suggesting to keep is she if she has a picture of that sure um let me screen share uh so really quickly this is the this is a diagram this is the the tree closest on the bank and this tree right here with the ax label number one is roughly 12 feet um it's they have this little Rak out path oh okay this is at their Beach area so it's not actually a housing lot uh well there is a there is a house right here maybe probably over here oh okay okay all right stone wall here and there's just a couple little like hand rake trails around here um the applicant was uh stressing how it bothered them aesthetically um so I didn't feel like that was uh he strong enough point to remove something that can contribute to the ecosystem um and I can show you the image of and you said it was about 12 feet away from the lake yes okay believe this is the one it's this one right here and this is their path and the Lake's right over here about 12 feet is that tree alive it's it's not so we're denying people cutting down dead trees that's the recommendation by the administrator um because uh she was citing it's still useful as life uh wildlife habitat Jeff you probably Jeff you and Mike probably have more um history uh than others of us on the commission what what has been the historical position of the commission if tree's dead it's dead cut it down period Jeff uh if I may Madam chair sure yes uh Mike you know unless there's a danger of this tree falling on you know a house um it's it still has a usefulness to Habitat uh whether whether it's um food sources for um for nature um places where animals can um store their own food for winter I mean there it's a useful um even though there are no leaves on it it's still a useful um part of nature and that's why I'm I'm thinking there's really no need to cut this tree down at this time thank you Mike thank you Jeff uh and Jeff you have a uh you have a response yeah I just think you know it's just food for thought I mean the tree's dead now what is it going to look like in three or four years I think it's going to be a danger so I just can't see not allowing these people to cut down a tree maybe we can say to replant one but it looks like it's pretty vegetated in there maybe closer to the water on the other side of that path might be a good spot for something to be replanted but normally with dead trees we don't required replanting um we just kind of let nature take its place but um I I just can't see denying somebody cutting down a dead tree when in a few years it's probably going to be a danger thank you Jeff uh Chris you have your hand up yeah I I I Echo um Jeff's opinion I I I think I feel like this is a little outside our our jurisdiction it's a dead tree it doesn't have doesn't really to me to impact Wetlands it's a dead tree it's not taking up water um I I I don't think we should be denying them to cutting down a dead tree uh so the uh wildlife habitat is an interest of the U of the uh both the state and the municipal bylaws so just uh putting that out there for consideration uh Jenny you had your hand up so I was trying to pull up my computer is not cooperating with me I was trying to pull bylaw because I remember in there um something about tree replacement and I'm not sure if this would qualify for that but what is the caliper on this tree it looks like it's fairly big would it qualify for some sort of replacement situation yes I think it does I think that's stipulated a live tree that was taken not a dead tree is it is it a live tree um I thought it just had tree removal but I I haven't actually looked at it probably in several months so I don't think it says either way but I mean it it's a dead tree I mean it's it's reached its lifespan and it's either overcrowded or you know some other reason it died so type of tree was it Sophie almost looked like a Hemlock I I believe it was at one point and it wasn't very very large um I would say A medium siiz Hemlock probably maybe a foot in diameter okay madam share uh yes Mike can I just read something uh just to educate some of our other Commissioners about dead trees such as this one uh they also uh you know it's a habitat for uh many organisms including birds mammals reptiles amphibians fungi mosses and lyans um it's the food sources will attract insects moss lyans and fungi uh their hiding places for squirrels and other animals to store food and uh you know I think we need to look at our environment with uh you know like a wider Scope when there's no danger involved in having this tree uh even though there aren't any leaves on it it's still providing uh a certain a great amount of of of benefit to Nature and I think that's why our our administrator is trying to um save it and I concur with her um her assessment okay thank you Mike thank you for reading that okay so um we don't have to have a consensus but we do have to have a vote uh so I just add one more just one more food for thought here yeah Jeff so so in the past like let's say lightning hits tree and it's on somebody's property it's it's nature and we allow that applicant to take that tree it's it's just nature and the reason why we allow them to take it is because it's been hit by lightning and it's been split or it's been you know torn apart you know in that situation it's almost the same as this I mean if we start telling people that they can't cut down dead trees that's a huge liability in my honest opinion like let's say in three or four years a child's walking down that path and a branch balls on their head they're going to come back to this meeting Mike I I just don't understand why we're the tree's dead that's not that's I I just don't get it so okay thank you I hear you Jeff so uh some of the things that we've done in the past is we have um allowed residents to take to topet Tre and leave uh leave the uh bottom portion of the trunk so it still serves as a uh Habitat to some degree right for food Reservoir and whatnot that's something that we have done uh so anyway I'm willing to accept motions now uh and we will vote and see where we end up and uh if you are making a motion make a motion for what you um what you're recommending here to uh take both trees or uh go with um accepting uh Sophie's recommendation I'll make a motion to take both trees that's Jeff second okay uh Jeff and uh Chris have made a motion to take both trees we'll take a roll call vote Chris hi Mike no Jeff hi Jenny I okay that's the majority uh I for myself um and uh you approve take both trees thank you and uh great dialogue folks I appreciate everybody contributing to that conversation so thank you for that moving along uh strange print out uh certificate of compliance Sophia 38 oakd Road yep let me just get my notes together all stabilized um so this site was completely stabilized um there was a retaining wall built uh plus two additional stairways that wasn't part of the plan um however it was included in the as as buil plan uh showing the additions provided um it would be considered an improvement to retaining the erosion into the lake um since they've corrected that um so um I would approve this okay um you're recommending to approve do we have any questions from members of the commission uh any questions from members of public public I'm looking for a motion so mov second thank by je thank you Chris thank you jff roll call vote Jenny hi Jeff hi Mike hi Chris hi and I for myself uh notice a project change 899 flath Hill Road we've already heard uh Sophie any updates on uh violations or enforcements so for skipping down to 45 Road 12 uh we had reached out and um told them that they needed to uh complete the process of they've already removed the pavement however it's supposed to be Loom seated and they're supposed to be Boulder barricades and um those steps weren't complete so they were called um by my assistant last week um made sure that they were on the same page about that however one of the applicants was difficult to contact uh a message was left though so they've they've been at this point told multiple times uh what they need to do to complete this uh I was thinking that one um resident also still had personal property um on within the buffer zone that's correct okay okay and do they do when they had a uh noi that was open is that still open or is that um now expired I believe it the time has lapsed by now I believe that was expired in mid July Okay so then um at this point uh I think they would um they would have to re resubmit right and to uh loan and seed and put uh barricades in place uh would they be able to do that under an RDA or would they have to reopen a new noi that's a good question question um since it would be filling in the buffer zone I would consider an noi and then adding the barricades oh because they have to actually add the loan okay yeah uh Jeff you have your hand rais no I was just gonna state that if they're going to remove fill or put fill in it it's that's an ani yeah okay um so so then it sounds like uh you've reached out to them uh your assistant has reached out to them I I think the next step is to uh reach out to Adam Casa and uh and confirm that their noi has expired they need to refile and uh they need to get this closed within I would think they need to get this closed within 30 days it's it's a violation and we've allowed it to persist for 3 years um just through uh lack of visibility do we have any questions or comments um about that any further questions or comments about that would anybody advocate for a different uh time um for closure did do we know how this came about I mean it I guess that's kind of where I'm confused is did we make them file an noi three years ago or or was it yeah okay that's what I understand from the history of course I wasn't a commissioner then uh but we've been through it at maybe some other meetings that you didn't have the benefit of being at Jeff um yeah yeah they uh they had to they they had to file the noi uh and I guess they did it uh with Matt when in during Matt Morrow's uh Administration and uh they had uh you know paved it so it's also an encroachment on Town property and it recently came up again because the um select board had done site walks out at that location and then another location where they were reviewing an opportunity to allow public access to the weake and so the the encroachment was brought back up to our attention yes yes okay yeah okay Sophie so that's uh that's what we need to do get back in touch with h Adam CA and uh ask him to send a letter and then ask Adam what we need to do uh if anything before we start finding them so um ask Adam to send send a letter yeah I think I I think we want Adam send another letter uh because we definitely want to make certain as we go through this and because we have a a shared interest with the town as it's a town encroachment as well uh we want to make certain that we're uh Dot andiz and cross and's okay interested yeah so we want him to send a letter and then we want to just verify this stage of the game what do we need to do uh in order uh you know before we start issuing uh day-to-day finds okay and we would prefer not to issue fines I mean we would really just prefer that they um complete the work so should Adam put a little description on what work needs to be done in that letter would that be helpful I I think it would be I think it would be uh most helpful to say they've allowed the noi to expire so they need to uh raise a new noi um and and the three things that uh well actually four three that Sophie said LOM seed Boulder placement uh Boulder barricade placement and then remove the remaining um personal property that's within the buffer zones so none of that bank has to be taken out so they didn't put fill in it looked like it was filled in none of that was documented I can't say what was or what what they did or didn't actually do but that was not actually documented that they had filled it in okay it was documented that they had um put in a gravel base and uh and uh put asphalt over it okay so then maybe that is just an RDA just to loom seed and place some Boulders in if they're not technically going to have to remove fill or put Phill back it would just be a lot easier if it was an RDA but yeah it would well I mean LOM is uh soil right so that's it's not much still is yeah adding soil okay y okay shall we uh move along any other updates for uh violations or enforcement actions uh Sophie um so I did put 390 Howard Street on there because um there's been obvious uh runoff going on and erosion and expansion of wetlands on that property and um the Wetland scientists that did that s sidewalk and myself noted that um and I spoke well I I've been in correspondence with Matt um and Matt Maro and he said that they would be correcting um and putting up erosion control barriers in those problem areas this week okay and that they would provide a uh report and some photos uh sometime at uh the end of next week however I've offered to or encouraged uh to go out and look at it myself prior to that um however I haven't received any correspondence back from um Mr O'Brien as of yet okay and uh in terms of uh the dialogue with with Matt was it just verbal or do you have an email paper trail on it no I definitely try to get a paper trail and I do have that okay very good that's a best practice so thank you very much any questions or comments uh from members of the commission Madam chair yes Mike just curious to see the results of the meeting meeting at 205 Sunset Lane from last week wasn't there a site visit visit planned oh yeah uh that week it was the wasn't it the May it may have been two weeks ago uh it did happen uh but uh basically uh I was there Chris was there uh Sophie was there uh the um DP asked questions uh and that that was kind of all that I noticed that they did they they asked questions about placement uh they asked Place asked questions about what the footings were on uh they asked uh questions about how the dock um you know landed on the lake floor they ask anything else uh Chris or uh Sophie it did say that they reviewed all the meetings as well I was oh that's right you were there Jeff as well sorry I didn't mean to overlook you oh that's fine yeah but they um they yeah they didn't say anything definitive they basically said they'd come back with a uh decision I think by the end of this by the end of August is that right I believe believe that's what was said yeah I think it was more of a um information gathering um meeting by the D yeah yes thank you for the update I appreciate it okay uh let's move along emergency certifications uh Sophie 37 Fire Road 19 yes so there was a a situation a little while ago I think last the beginning of last week um somebody came to me with um some concerns of some trees that were very unhealthy and looked as if they were leaning and ready to snap on uh main power lines and unfortunately the um I think it might have been Unitil or I believe Unitil um they weren't responsive and taking care of that um so I was about to issue an emergency certification however the um person that came to me with a concern has taken it into their own hands um before I was able to issue any documentation so I believe um The Next Step would be having them file um an administrative determination online like an after the fact I'm not too sure I've never had that you know happen before where I go to issue and emergency sir and the work is already done uh yeah doing an administrative retroactive administrative determination sounds appropriate unless one of the Commissioners has an alternate um alternate suggestion they'd like to advocate for and seeing none I think uh Sophie that's uh what I would recommend to you um have them file a retroactive uh request for administrative determination okay okay uh we will move along uh we have a couple of uh members of the public on if there's somebody uh that is waiting for uh something in particular uh now's your time to raise your hand and Advocate uh so I can prioritize otherwise we're just going to go through the business as it is outlined in the agenda I'm not seeing anything so um under new business topics um Bob uh sent in so Bob has even though he's resigned from the commission he is still very active as a uh lead volunteer in our Conservation Commission um uh stewardship role I and so he has been trying to get some um and close out some budgetary uh items that were still pending for conservation land uh one of which is uh getting the uh Mackie POS paid and the uh uh beer management um invoices paid uh and one of the things that has come up as a problem in talking to uh Ezekiel who's in the accounting department is Ezekiel has said that we need to have a budget and it needs to be voted on and approved by the Conservation Commission uh in order for a e to in order for the office to actually submit a budget to Ezekiel and um allocate the funding uh for this fiscal year so the timber rights fund balance as of 85 uh was 17,5 48 and 32 Bob's recommending that we budget 14,000 for Professional Services and uh 3,548 32 for supplies Professional Services um he's recommending that for Professional Services because our grant uh um what do you call it matching funds would require that we allocate that uh and Professional Services is what the uh engineering um fees would the category that uh that payout would be in the Haws uh well so for we'll just stop there so for does anybody have any questions or concerns about the proposed amount for uh Timber rights uh again uh allocating 14,000 for Professional Services uh 3548 and 32 for supplies do I have a motion uh to accept that uh proposal motion to accept second thank you Jenny second by was that Jeff Jeff y okay uh roll call vote Jenny I Jeff hi Mike hi Chris I and I for myself and then for the Halls fund the balance as of 85 uh 24 uh 85 2024 by Ezekiel was so this is the balance 36484 uh Bob recommended uh budgeting 30,000 for Professional Services and uh 6,484 for supplies uh again uh most most of the work we've been doing um under Mike's careful stewardship around uh the Haws um residents has been uh under Contracting uh which is a professional Service uh and most of the time the supplies are paid for under that Professional Services uh envelope uh but we do have uh we do have occasion for supplies and right now one of the supplies I think we've um allocated or budgeted for was the not to exceed 2500 for the tractor also so that 2500 uh is already 2500 of that 6484 is already allocated or committed um so anybody want me to run through those numbers again or do I have a uh uh motion to accept as proposed Madam chair not the the mower actually costs $2,300 uh in total we had uh approved a number at the last meeting and another number at the meeting before right uh which I believe total the $3,000 which is what we spent on the lawnmower so have I'm just going by memory Mike so your memory is probably better than mine in that regard okay only I just wanted to remind people that part of that 6,484 was kind of already spent so if if anybody was thinking oh wow that's a lot it's not really that much because um you know like you said about half of it's already spent right and there are perhaps two other projects um that we know about that has not been um had a final uh tally yet one is the kitchen upgrade and remember we talked a while back that we still haven't uh I think we may have patched the roof but we haven't address the roof in its entirety you know to make sure that there are no leaks going through the winter so those numbers have not been determined yet and will that come out of the 30,000 Professional Services yes okay thank you madam chair thank you Mike so do I have a motion to accept the proposal uh or accept as proposed or do we have um anybody that wants to advocate for something different so moved on what's been advocated Madam chair thank you Mike do I have a second second thank you Jenny roll call vote uh Jenny I Jeff hi Mike I Chris hi and I for myself okay thank you all uh Conservation Commission meeting dates this is uh something that we tabled last time because uh I had not had a chance to look at it Jenny and I had looked at the um proposal uh that uh Sophia had sent around um the only thing and as I recall uh there were uh the dates uh one of the things that um I noticed was that Thanksgiving um the day before Thanksgiving is uh where a uh meeting Falls uh which I think we're going to be poorly attended for so that's one that I would recommend uh cancelling uh Sophia had uh noted that uh the two in January uh fell uh on inconvenient dates as well so she was advocating that in January we do the second and fourth instead of the first and third am I recalling correctly uh Sophia going by memory it's dangerous I'm I'm gonna pull it up right now um that would be great that's helpful it's a lot of states yep so the 20th I think is the uh is that right maybe the 20th isn't the day before Thanksgiving oh was trying to get to I had marked up an image was trying to get back to that oh no I don't think the 20th is so the uh the eth and the 22nd are the ones that you had uh highlight it as being a change from standard practice in January which makes sense to me any anybody in the commission have a concern about that okay I'm not hearing any uh and then uh I would recommend uh Sophie that you actually add uh July 2nd July uh 17th of next year and August 6 and August 20th of next year I mean double check the dates those should be the normal Cadence just so that we don't get into you know uh end of year kind of scramble in in July and uh May and then we show up in July and don't have planned dates can you repeat that uh I have July 17th do you um written down okay um what else yeah I I would just recommend doing the normal Cadence of dates for uh July and August because it didn't look like those were falling on any um or near adjacent to any holidays and that way you've got two months of coming into the next fiscal year that you already have a plan and and it gives you a little bit of runway for coming up with the rest of the FY 26 plan and then the the date you mentioned um cancelling one of the dates around Thanksgiving which one was that well let me just go back to it uh going the wrong direction November I think I had it wrong so it's November 20th so that's not adjacent to Thanksgiving so I think we're okay I was just misremembering that so I think keeping 1120 is fine okay and then I think it's a good suggestion on uh Shifting the dates for because um July or January 1 is uh the first Wednesday of January and and that's a holiday so we can't hold it on July uh or on sorry on January uh 1 so doing January 8th and then uh 8th and 22nd uh which would be two weeks away I think makes sense for reschedules for January yes and also the goal was to not have backtack avoid the whole backtack meeting uh situation as well yep I think that's a good uh A good rule of thumb so uh do we have a motion to accept uh this as proposed so moved Mike second by Jeff thank you Mike thank you Jeff call vote Jenny hi Jeff hi Mike hi Chris hi and I for myself okay moving along I have no update on uh oh you know what I don't have an update on title searches uh I need to do a toi uh with u with Bob on that short hand for transfer of information and i' I've not gotten around to doing that which reminds me that I uh meant to bring up another topic uh in the new business and um it uh going through everything else trying to remember all the other things I forgot uh I I've carefully considered uh in terms of uh the chairmanship uh my time allocation and the ability to support being the chair and I'm willing to put my name back in the Hat if uh um the team would be willing to uh consider me as chair again I'll second or so so moved yes is the answer guys are good for a girls ego I can tell you that all right um and thank you uh there have been a number of you that have been lobbying me uh in behind the curtain too and I do appreciate that as well um uh with uh you know folks have been really understanding about uh my concerns about my um day job uh and balance and uh the workload and whatnot so I I also very appreciative uh for the support that I get from this team and I do think of us as a team so uh with with that um nomination and uh motion and we'll do a roll call votee uh Chris hi Mike hi Jeff thank you and I thank you Jeff and Jenny hi very emphatically all right well thank you so we now we now are no longer headless so um so yes so I do need to uh do a couple of items of uh transfer of information with Bob and and he has also privately committed to me that he is there to you know uh give me coaching and support uh and whatnot which I'm I'm grateful to have as well okay uh moving along um I I think uh do we have any updates Sophie from uh on encroachment issues no not not on my end okay um that's another place where I need to do some toi with Bob um open space and land use uh we've already we've already discussed any updates there um Timber rights budget we've already discussed uh Mike uh any updates on uh the hollish road uh residents other than what you've already discussed uh just that we did get Don Gagney the assistant facilities director to purchase that lawnmower that writing lawn mower for the habitat as well as the resident at 123 Hollis Road and the lawn has been cut in both areas and uh the property looks really nice nice so everyone is very that's that's nice I I know that was also a little bit of work for you trying to keep everything together and get uh volunteers out there to do the maintenance while we're waiting for more so thank you for that Mike I appreciate it you're welcome and I want to do a shout out to uh Nick pero who helps from time to time he sort of uh did our our self-propel mower kind of apparently it was it may have been left out side in the rain but after getting all the water out of the uh gas tank the carburetor seems to be working just fine so we have two working lawnmowers at the habitat and the Hollis Road residence and everyone is very happy about that awesome well yeah we really appreciate nick uh helping out in that regard too thanks for noting that Mike I appreciate it okay okay go ahead yes since we're talking about did we ever talk about increasing rent over there was that that was a topic probably six eight months ago I mean did anybody ever follow through on that or uh we uh Bob had the action uh to go talk to Heather um my eyes closed because I have I'm having to go back through my memory Bob had the action to talk to Heather uh and uh the the sticking point point about uh going to market rate on the rent was being able to leverage those funds for the benefit of conservation land maintenance and um there had been some concern expressed by Heather that that might not be consistent with the terms of the um of the uh original um trust and uh Bob did not have an opportunity to get back around to that and I and I think since Heather has resigned I will have to wait until we get a uh a replacement um Town manager uh but I I also had in the back of my mind that maybe I would reach out to uh Adam and I get his um advice on that as well uh my you know my uh own opinion on that uh is that I think it would make a lot more sense to go to more uh alignment with a market uh rate there and and then uh move to because you know the current agreement is uh below market rate with the tenant um uh doing a certain amount of volunteer work and I think in terms of a volunteer organization managing a uh landlord type of relationship it would make more sense to charge a market rate and then and then discount after the fact after we had a log of the volunteer work and had validated it for the um whatever the agreed terms were it's just my opinion uh I think it would be a lot more manageable but it is uh it is unresolved Jeff okay okay uh don't have any updates from open space uh Jenny any um updates from storm water no updates because we didn't end up me last month okay very good um and do we have any um any comments from uh members of the public and uh members of the commission and I I do want to say one thing I I want to acknowledge tonight I know I know very often it's a struggle for folks to get here uh you know on time and there's a lot of Juggle but Jenny's here tonight and you know if you guys hadn't noticed in her voice she's under the weather uh but she stuck it out to be with us here tonight and and help out and Jeff also had a scramble um from work to get here uh and be able to uh support the majority of the hearings and I just want to say thank you guys I really really appreciate those efforts thank you do do I have a motion to adjourn looks like it's uh 8 uh 8:40 moves second okay Jeff and Jenny Jeff uh for the motion and Jenny for the second roll call vote uh Jenny Jeff hi Mike hi Chris hi and I for myself thank you everyone thank you good night good night everybody good night hope you feel better Jim thank you