e e e e e e e e e e e recording in progress maybe a few minutes to uh everyone to join the meeting start okay oh do we have somebody doing minutes tonight tonight was my I'm gonna you're gonna do minutes tonight yeah huh you got the short meeting that happened and I'm not done with mine because they end so and so why are we not on video Let's Get figure that out here we go here right okay here we go oh there we are I don't know why it's pointing over there but yeah nobody's there to talk oh there now it's aiming at me okay all right here we go thanks everybody for putting up with that uh uh so I'm going to uh dedicate tonight's script to our uh to our long-term member Andrew driven who is uh this is his last meeting and we've enjoyed uh Andrew's uh comments and time and experience with the commission while he's been here so Andre this is for you hello everyone this is Chuck terone wrings conservation administrator this meeting will be conducted in person and remotely in a remote format consistent with chapter 2 of the acts of 20123 which further extend the certain covid-19 measures regarding remote participation in public meetings until March 31st 2025 please note not all items listed may be in fact discussed and other items not listed may be brought up for discussion to the extent permitted by law this agenda includes those matters which will and can be reasonably anticipated uh to be discussed at tonight's meeting please note that this meeting is being recorded all materials for this meeting are available at the following link which I'll provide in the chat in just a minute um Martha Moore the commission chair will facilitate this meeting please note that there will be public comment at the end of each hearing each vote taken tonight will be taken uh in a roll call format we'll begin with roll call attendance and a review of the agenda Matha could you uh take care of that for us please sure and I'm going to call the meeting to order at 708 that g was for Andrew it's my last chance to hit the gavel because this to dedicate that smack of the gavel to Andrew deran for no but just my last chance to to hit the gavel because just like Andrew is stepping down from the commission I'm stepping down as chair and um our next meeting will be run by Brian B okay so um let's just do the roll call vote to make sure everybody can hear me and be heard Walter Walter talet member present Andrew Andrew driven member present Brian Brian bro Vice chair present and Martha Moore chair present we do have a quorum so we can call the meeting to order I guess I already did that and it's going to be probably a pretty short meeting tonight because we have a request for a three-year extension from mlet SS Morgan project the other two hearings were unable to um finish all the details they need to provide for us so we won't be actually opening those hearings until July 10th and then we just have things like new old business certificate of compliance and um uh report on the porch Fest at the Mata Pavilion and the minutes from the last meeting have not yet been completed so we won't even be voting on minutes so if anybody has a sports game they're trying to get out for this is a uh a a night we might get done early this is your night right so with that I know that uh am ball and Jen RAB are attending tonight they're here they've just turned their videos on so maybe that little bit of introduction and then we could turn it over to them um so uh orley Whitten with uh Amy ball and J RAB have been working with the town over the course of the last couple of years on a mlet SS and Morgan project the project was permitted by the Conservation Commission just about three years ago and that's why they're here tonight because most of the activity has uh you know has a end and finish finish and sight how that finish and sight um but it's not in the next month so they needed to come here and request uh certificate an extension to the existing permit so with that I don't want to give everything away so with that I'll turn it over to either Jen or Amy please introduce yourself for the uh for the record please Amy do you want to go ahead and just talk about the extension and then I can talk about the project status sure sure so um good evening for the record Amy ball senior ecologist with the horley Wht group um I'll let Jen introduce herself when she gets to her turn um uh thank you for um uh entertaining this request for a an extension a three-year extension for the May su's project um the the reasons generally being that we've had a little bit of a delay in the in the construction start then we had a um a a situation with a um a contaminated sediments that were within the constructed Wetland area and um some sort of significant weather events this past winter that have sort of resulted in um some projects construction delays those are all been addressed at this point but now we would like to have some additional time to button up the site which will'll probably finish up early in the fall um and then have um some extended time to monitor for invasive species uh and keep an eye on the uh uh plantings and make sure that they're they're establishing well um Jen has been to the site probably probably this week if not within the past few days and she can give you a an update on where we are with the the construction yep thanks Amy my name is General SE I'm a project manager with horley Whitten group um and just a reminder we uh presented to the commission on April 10th an update on the overall project um and we did conduct an on-site visit um with u members of the commission on Monday to review um conditions um so we are um effectively uh I would say probably about 80% complete at this point um we are uh if you're familiar with the site we consider the sites uh east side and west side so there's a a wetland Crossing in the middle um so the east side of the project which is effectively extends from L Street to the Wetland Crossing is um mostly complete substantial uh substantially complete at this point um with the exception of plantings which actually are occurring um within the Wetland cells which are occurring this week um plus some additional site amenity improvements that need to be made um including some additional um EMB basis and um weeding removal which also happened this week and will continue through the summer um some uh additional tree planting which we anticipate will happen in September um and the final improvements to the pathor um so it's effectively putting in the top um portion of the pathways on the other side or what we refer to as the west side or the side closest to the MBTA railroad we are just finishing up our grading um as of this week we've been removing um materials and equipment that are related to the dewatering of the site um the site is generally stabilized at this point I believe we are um hauling one of our last hauls of sediments offsite this week um and we anticipate that over the next couple weeks we are going to be um getting ready to do our final finishes of the grading including um for those who are familiar there's a buo retention area that is um close to the parking lot that we will be um grading out and that that effectively will be the end of our excavation work um after that um as we go through the summer we're going to be obviously stabilizing those slow with the seed uh mix we have our plantings for the West Side um we have some improvements that still need to be made to the parking lot area the driveway um and some finishing touches on um also on the um sidewalk on Lowel Street uh we anticipate all this work effectively being complete um with all plantings done by September and uh at that point assuming acceptance um for those vegetation on site um we would then go uh start our one-year period of of warranty and maintenance under our current contract with our contractor um we do anticipate as we discussed on site that invasive species management will likely uh because we do have some significant species on site um including Japanese naweed and fragm mites um that we will have to continue to tackle over time um we would like to have as much time as possible to do so that's why we're requesting the extension and the hope is is that in combination with the preconstruction treatment that was done on site plus the treatment that is currently happening and the option period for extending that post construction we will effectively be able to better manage um the pressures of invasive species um on our site as our native species get established um so at this point I think uh if there are any questions I'm happy to take those Brian you have a question hi um I was one of the ones who was there on Monday and first it it's come a long way in the number of visits that we have seen um so that's great you can see and insight um there there were some things that we noted we did note there were a couple of trees I think they're both Oaks that had some fungus on it I'm sure that was reported to but I just want to make sure I get that on the record correct additionally there was a Corp tree um that got some damage to it um not sure how it just it was damaged uh those the three main things worth mentioning from that planting perspective um we did note um a few piles of material scattered around as we walked around uh in particular um near the path going out to the Hunt Street access um that way it was it was clearly not finished yet uh additionally uh your folks asked permission to remove some of the erosion control uh at least in the area where it's um established and what have you so want to make sure we had that on the record as as well IND anything else that you wanted to bring up uh oh Sor sorry go ahead I was GNA respond to his comments but I'll wait till you add yours no I mean I think I I agree with everything Brian said um and uh no I just would add there was a little bit of litter still remaining that um obviously uh would be great if once opening day happens some of it is easy to be picked up so would be sad if all all this and then people see like an old uh glass bottle or that's been for many years but um yeah that's it and just to add on to that so where we saw the debris I would say is almost entirely in the various little little pools bottles and what have you in there um I guess one last question you mentioned a many of these had to be done um I'm assuming that includes the rock CHS the state labeled what can but you didn't mention explicit so yeah yep so yep so a lot of that Stu so our Rock KS our kiosks our um way finding and interpretive signage and I think our bench installations are all things and actually fencing as well there's some additional fencing that needs to um occur in certain places on the site that also hasn't been done um so there are certain things that weren't done while you uh were on it um that still need to be installed um I did just circling back to your comments so we did notice um that the White Oaks do have some blight on them um we did uh bring that up to the contractor we are awaiting um so like I said they were on site today uh we have our landscape architect on site tomorrow morning so um we'll have and we've brought it to her attention as well so we'll have her address that um as to or asex I should say uh horiculture who's the subcontractor for the GC um deal with that I I'll um take a note of the Court tree damage there were a couple of other trees um also that had damage on them early on in the um construction that we've made note of um for the contractor and and we've taken in most cases some precautions to address that a little bit more challenging now that we've started to remove some of our tree protections just because we need those final bits of grading to be completed um but we'll send a reminder to them um maybe in certain locations such as where the cork tree is to make sure that those areas have adequate clearance for equipment as it moves through the site since we do still have a little bit of excavation to remain um piles of material um yes so we discussed um there's a pile of sediment uh or soil sorry not sediment to be clear uh soil next to the new newly raised sanitary sewer manhole which was excavated recently that material and um some other areas were are going to be finished grade probably I would suspect over the summer um in preparation for final site stabilization um you noted to um the remove removal of erosion control so that there are some areas now on the east side as I mentioned that we're now not doing work so but I think you your your comment was to leave that in for now and in most cases just to make sure that we're not impacting our resource areas and I think that's fine and we can keep talking about that with the commission as we get a little bit further on because we are um not quite done in those areas um and as reference to the glass bottles and also the material adjacent to the uh Property Owners on the back side of Willow Street those are items that we've already um discussed with the contractor they actually have removed material but as we go to sort of do the site finishings we will ask them to remove any of that material prior to close out prior to issuing a substantial completion I think they do want to get to them while the water is shallow like it is now because glass bottle that's likely to same yeah well they're Yep they're planting in those sols um this week so um and well not the I guess not the ones on the west side but they're going to be planting the ones on the East side this week so they're going to be in the water so we'll ask them to to remove them while they're doing that um but we'll do a one again one walk we do two walkthroughs for the punch list one is under substantial completion which we anticipate to be pretty soon and then a final completion which would be in September so we we'll make sure that's on the list so one last question going back to the trees and the Damage so one second utensil um so I know that we placing trees that die and everything plantings that die is part of it um is it also a safe assumption that it's in the contract that they'll deal with the damaged plantings damage trees um the damage to the existing trees I think yeah we would so we have gone a little bit through some of that with um some additional plantings which I I think I gave an update on in April but we we did note that um post walkthrough with the arborus back when we started the project there were some additional trees that you know we asked to be removed either because they weren't healthy or because they were um uh damaged or in some cases they were in places that we needed to move them for infrastructure we've actually added to the tree count um as a result of that uh trees ENT actually um so I think to the extent that we are addressing that already I think there's a good chance that we can kind of have that conversation now the one challenge we have is with the cork tree we're probably not going to plant any cork trees as replacements for that but um you know we are again trying where possible to make sure that they are keeping the safe distances for turning radii but I mean we haven't had any specific conversations about impact to trees unless they are obviously dead Andor you know a safety concern um do you happen to know what kind of a cork tree that is we look quickly today and cor treat to be native but maybe you know differently Amy do you remember I I don't remember what what kind of ctry it is the only ones I'm aware of are the ones that are on the myeg list which means they would be um I guess likely invasive is what it says here but um okay yeah I haven't I haven't looked at the leaves or anything at the beginning of the project we we had spotted two cork trees and I think we were more aware of those at that point was looked into and we thought both of them were invasive I didn't want to cut you off no no that's right though I'm fairly certain that the the any cork tree that we would have here in Mass would be invasive I just looked it up on the the gooty too so I thought that but I wasn't sure if there was some sub species I wasn't aware of okay Mur I'm say Okay um Andrew or Walter did you guys have any more questions for them Andrew yes yeah this is partially for Chuck I'm just curious um I I fully support giving you you all more time I'm just curious for the three years and specifically if it's for invasive management so what is the plan because that's going to be an ongoing thing for many years so when the Project's complete what is the plan for invasive plant management so so Jen knows this and we're relying on Jen to to put this together but we're asking ethics environmental I think that's their ethics horiculture okay for a um bid we're asking to bid on some additional work which would Beyond um the finish of this product project and that would obviously be for the in the invasive removal and to keep up with that typically when you're talking about invasive you want to go at least five years uh we talked about that at the beginning of the project so when this project ends we're at three years now another two years there seems to be money left to pay for that I know that Andrew McNichol supports it aliki Ryan peral myself we all support putting some more money into invasive management and for that and because it's already approved through the permit we wouldn't want to go through that process again so to grab those extra two years we originally asked or we're thinking about one-ear extension we really only needed a few months but just to be sure but with the invasives included and with the approvals already granted we wanted to capture all three years of that treatment and and just to be clear I think most critical are are the applications that we're doing right now on the Japanese knotweed which actually are within um the um BBW and and you know near the abona um in critical areas where we do need to really manage it um for as an example um some of those very tough um groupings that we saw that are um if everybody recalls the open lawn area that had the the not weed mowed um by our neighbor there the uh stand that is right next to that on the edge as as it uh the abona turns towards the MBTA cul um that that stand is going to be significantly impactful to the functioning of the Wetland cell particularly as it is the the exit of the system um into the river as it goes Downstream so we definitely want to you know make sure that we're tackling that and trying to to the extent possible eradicate those stands so that's why it's so critical just because of its location um andity and the fact that you know it is within Wetland I think and I guess this is a question for for Amy and the commission I believe that maintenance activities which would occur outside of that I think would not necessarily um be as impactful for the commission to know I don't anticipate us having as much or as extent um of of impact and we are using one other thing I wanted to say is we are using chemicals um cuton drip for for our not weed and fol or spray in certain locations for other species which is also why we wanted to to make sure we extend that so we have that permission right um if you can excuse me I actually just summoned to my other public hearing that I have to go to um so um if there are any quick last questions before I yeah I had one uh so I just want to jump in so I was out there um and I was talking about some damage that I saw specifically on few trees but specifically on the cork tree and I was told that in the contract it says do not touch if you've damaged a tree I was wondering if you could add to the LA's um list of things to do tomorrow is to review that damage on the cork tree it seems to be the Box seems to be separating uh a little bit more than from just the damage and then so my question is are we not treating those anymore is that not kind of established science to put on like lack balsom or something like that on pre bark damage and that's for Amy that I'm not sure of um being less of arborist more just a a straight but so is so just leave it to to heal over itself I'm yeah that's that's what I'm wondering question could be added also I mean there is some damage out there some of it's old some of it's brand new I mean when did the barrier around the cork tree be removed well today there's a damage on the cork tree two weeks yeah we'll add that to the list and I'll get back to you on that um I I guess I don't know Chuck if you think it would be helpful to have um a walkthrough with with your town arborist to look at that or not and or other trees um you know obviously as we go through and get towards substantial completion those kinds of items become harder and harder for us to tackle just because of access to the site with larger equipment so um I'll have her look at it tomorrow but we can we can have a discussion maybe after that about what what happens next well I'm just wondering is there any kind of Band-Aid put on it so it can heal properly we actually have a uh we we don't turn to the town um arborist we use uh one of our own associate members who's a landscape designer it's been on the commission for years so think that's that would be how we would set it up um so Amy by that's all I had for you thank you for coming Amy yeah uh but I just had one more question if you're done Chuck I'm not but you you go ahead um I was just wondering because you talked about um final completion terms that the commission doesn't use you know like partial completion final completion things like that I want to make sure that we get a certificate of compliance and are you requesting is it part of your contract to request the certificate of compliance and go to that through that process with the town or is the town going to do that and is that request come in before what you're calling final completion um we would not we would not submit a request for certificate of compliance before the project is complete because I think we would want to right keep this open until we're done I think with the maintenance um but just your question about substantial and final completion so effectively just in summary the contractor will get to a point in the in the work where they believe that they are nearly complete perhaps minus a couple work items um that needs to be done and that is considered to be substantial completion at that point we do a walkthrough with them and we IDE uh basically create a punch list um sometimes we have them in advance and in fact right now we're working on one uh internally just because we've had um discussions with Alex and others about um making sure certain areas get addressed sooner um than later just because of this equipment access issue but the substantial completion at that point with that punch list then we um provide that list to the contractor the contractor then um has typically 30 days sometimes we give them more to complete that work um and finish the project so that they can get you know basically say it's complete and final and that final completion is the final acceptance of all the work um and then after that in this particular contract after that and we've uh We've agreed with the final completion and accepted all the work then for the landscaping that's when the oneyear um warranty and maintenance period starts um so technically they are not um completely done with the site and the site work until one year after we agree um that their work is acceptable okay uh think the commission understands was a year after final completion but that wouldn't there was certainly be at least one more year on the order of conditions after it's extended tonight my so I was just wondering uh is there a on-site meeting tomorrow with staff there is there is not a formal meeting tomorrow um I Alex and I are not available there are going to be staff on site so I believe Joe um from T and rla and Essex will be meeting tomorrow morning to discuss the layout of the vegetation and some of the issues that we've already discussed tonight in terms of the blight on the White Oak and the um I think watering and and things like that so there there is a meeting tomorrow if you want to walk through with us I was just wondering because following Thursday is the 4th of July so it seems like there would be two meetings that were missed and then we would just pick it up after that right so we're yep so we met for this week at least we're you know we met on Monday we're having a subset of group of folks meeting tomorrow we'll have another probably site visit TBD but probably Tuesday or Wednesday depends on what the contractor is doing and then we'll have or we'll go back to our sort of regular meetings on Thursdays on the 11th um but we are going to probably start to adjust those because we do have um you know a good amount of the work will start to be sort of smaller things that we don't need to be on site regularly for but I'm happy are you are you asking because there are certain issues that you want to bring up to the contractor not at all I just wanted to bring it out I mean the commission I'm there a lot I see the emails I just wanted these things to be out in the open for the Conservation Commission and you're here tonight so you're get you're on the hot that's okay happy to answer questions I'm done done okay the only question I had is um at what point in the substantially complete final complete all the way up to threeyear extension when would the property be able to be open to the public and we could welcome residing reading residents in to start walking the trails that is a great question and one that we've been discussing um so we anticipate uh my understanding is that we anticipate the uh park being or the conservation area being open um this fall and I think the timing of that is really dependent on the timing of the final um planting and stabilization we probably will um have some signs up to make sure um folks are not going into our um seed areas as they establish um it'll be critical for us because we do um and acknowledge that the neighborhood has really been asking for we've actually seen people walk onto the site just to take a look to take a peek which is great um we appreciate the interest but obviously we have obviously have still uh equipment and construction going on um but to the extent that we can we're hopeful that this fall it's going to be open and ready I want to say if Alex has his away it's going to be in September but it's probably more ideal to have it the October or November um which will be great anyways was not a month but more like uh a stage of production like at what point do you take the fence down is it after substantial completion after it'll be after final yeah it'll be after a final you mean the the the fence the chain link fence yeah it'll be after a final completion because we want the site to be secure and inaccessible while we're completing a work um so while between substantial and final there could still be equipment on site um tools Etc so we can't have people access during that time so the fence will come down final completion then you can take the fence down and let people in even during the one-year guarantee and threeyear invasive control I think important to say that you know and Jen probably wouldn't say this but I'm going to uh we're gonna make sure the project is ready for the public and we're worried about the planting worried about um you know people wandering into the wrong spot so it's you know when we've first established these planting beds and these ponds and these other things they have to be established or they'll be just destroyed forever so to pen us down to a date might be tough but it's an ongoing discussion we we have both sides we have someone who wants it open as soon as possible and then other people are thinking like it might be okay if we hold off for a while so we get a better product when it is finally open so that battle hasn't been you know one yet okay and we're still kind of talking about it each time that we meet um you know because we're gonna have people bikes dogs all that walking in there and they can all cause a little bit of difference there's a bunch there's hundreds of thousands of dollars of plugs out there in the bank and I I've heard that not only Ducks find m t but so do dogs you know very interesting to dig up okay so basically it won't be all the way through the end of the three-year extension it will be sometime sooner than that once the plugs are established the trees are established then we'll be able to start opening it to the public it won't have to if if we give a three-year extension it's not going to be fenced for those whole three years no no it wouldn't be fenced for the three years years but just think about how we issue a certificate of compliance we want substantial growth on the grass yeah okay so there's no erosion created and I think that this is an ongoing project until all erosion control is maintained and you saw the pawns you're just out there and you know the sides are deep enough to create erosion and things have grown in but still they don't want to have to fix their own problems and problems that were created by visitors yeah okay that makes sense I just was trying to get a feel for when we make our vote tonight are we keeping the visitors out for three years and the answer is no it's once the things are well established site dependent site dependent sure um but but it's not it's not the whole three year that we're asking for okay so not to make this any longer but I have some photos and I was going to run them when the rest of the questions were being asked if Walter or and Andy has any questions just to get them out there because people may watch this who weren't uh you haven't seen the site you know our vast viewing audience sounds good so I'll do that while other questions come up okay Andy or Walter did you guys have any more questions it's more a question for us I'm just trying to understand the rationale of extending for three years um I definitely understand at least one year uh and then I'm worried I guess that uh if once T Ford is gone a year after their uh the completion and then they come in for we come in for a certificate of compliance and there's issues that come up but who's going to do the work if T4 is off the hook um so I'm kind of leaning just towards a one-year extension uh would be my preference um or maybe maybe two since that they're not completed yet but so that it's a little more aligned with uh having the contractor available rather than three years and then everybody is um in a different place but uh especially you're saying so five years is are kind of invasive so that would be that would so I'm leaning I guess more to just a two-year extension seems to be more reasonable than three years um but I'm curious what other folks think Jen do you have an answer for who's in charge for the last couple of years of that three-year extension yep so I I think I guess there's two things um so we I think anticipate requesting um well first of all as part of the the specifications for this project um we do are going to be asking um upon final completion for SX Horticulture to provide us a management a maintenance and management plan um moving forward which will specify effectively their opinion of what maintenance and management will be required um moving forward based on their observations at the time of um effectively as as at the time of final completion so I can't really tell you I mean we obviously again we've talked a little bit about you know timing um not weed in particular is the one that I think is the hardest and the one that will be the most difficult um so so as far as that just the H you know how long and how intensive it's going to be it's hard to say at this point we would kind of defer to them as the um con landscape contractor to provide us opinion um on the question of whether it should be two or three years um we as Chuck mentioned anticipate that upon um completion and the maintenance one-ear maintenance and warranty period um we would ask aex horiculture for um a I think a a proposal for doing the work which would be within that management plan um we in the preconstruction um time period um I believe contracted with parer so there are other options besides Essex if we you know if the uh Town decides to go that route um but that would be them being sort of responsible but who on the who's like a day-to-day cont for that that's a question that we need to ask um right now I think as far as us you know managing and um horley weden is currently managing the construction support services and oversight of the project um in combination with the um the town engineer uh engineering staff um our contract will end in September October whenever the substantial or sorry final completion of this project is um and then you know it's really up to the town I think to decide you know how to move forward after that so to answer who is ultimately responsible I don't know I think that's a maybe a question for the town but the um the um con the landscape contractor whoever that would be would help um obviously um and be responsible for the applications and the dayto day or not day to-day but you know um frequency of those um the management and maintenance thank you um Andy did you have a followup question on that yeah I mean so I'm hearing more about the invasive management but I'm worried so we're have some talk about trees so when we do our order our our um the certificate uh of compliance there's going to be a look from the commission to make sure a lot of the big ticket stuff has been ticked off the box but if we're doing that in three years and no one is around to help kind of address these issues a bit concerning to me whereas if tsam lean just to a one-year extension so that hopefully if there's any big ticket items we could address them while everybody's still on contract or at least while T Ford is um but yeah I'm not just worried about the invasive I'm worried about you know the commission approving What was decided three years ago yeah I mean I think to that extent um just so it's clear we um if there are issues with um so like we talked about today there's blight on the white oak or if there are trees that are are clearly suffering whether from disease or lack of water or you know shrubs Etc that have that same pattern we wouldn't accept those in the final completion we wouldn't accept them upon one year of completion and we did and have had conversations with Chuck about this they would need to as soon as we identify these issues they need to replant or um uh address that and we would have to start over that period period again so one issue with not extending it a little bit further even if your concerns are valid I think is that it's possible that even under that condition they need more time than the one year to actually get to a point where we would agree and accept every condition um we can I think and I we haven't had this conversation but we have had discussions um generally about the concerns that you're citing which are what happens with the management land the management of the landscape generally with the native species um I don't part does that too you know and so does Essex so these would be things that we would if the town has the budget um and ability to um support that contract we would probably incorporate both management of the Native species and management of the invasive species into that contract which I would recommend our recommendations for native species establishment particularly some of our seed mixes which are Meadow mixes those take at least two years to really um start to grow in a way that we would like to see them you know establish and germinate long term so we would at least at a minimum do one year of an extension so for example for um Essex we would say okay thank you you're done you're you're finally approved your maintenance warranty is all up up and we would ask them for another year probably of Maintenance at a minimum I think the question becomes you know is there a risk of not having that extended for that threee just in case you know the town wants them to have to work on it for another year and have another year of establishment I mean for as many years as we can get them um I think that's better but I don't I I don't want to that's a separate discussion from your discussion which is the certificate of compliance and closing out and making sure someone's responsible does that make sense to you Andy yeah I mean on top of my mind is there's turnover on the commission and I want people that are familiar with this product to be around when it comes up so pushing it out too far I'm a little worried that there's going to be a totally different group that's not familiar with the project can I ask another this is a technical question but I I if we only get a year of an extension um I can we come back can we extend it even further or would we have to refile again if if we wanted to addition you can there's no there's no limit it doesn't make sense after a while but there's no limit so you we've done it here at this commission uh for a couple of months and asked for paperwork and then brought it up again so so you can I I mean I don't recommend now Andy you understand that the town is the applicant so ultimately it's like the contractor T Ford is like the guy framing the house who didn't the sign who didn't get the order of conditions we would hold the homeowner responsible for the for the uh conditions inside the order and that would be the town of reading so um and the other thing that I wanted to mention just so everyone knows is this is not so we're doing metal mix this this is not going to be a mow area once the once the lawn is established once the grasses are established be tall grasses throughout this place and so Mowing and that kind of Maintenance isn't going to be needed it's just servicing the trees take caring and invasives things that we don't expect there could be erosion there could be damage to the boardwalks things things like that that we don't expect I would expect that the conservation commission conservation land conservation project this would be conservation through the town you know management plan so it's just about having a budget to deal with this and right now as I said in the beginning the you know everyone who's in charge of the Town staff level they agree with with some of the money that's left over they are going to set up some uh some vendors to do you know additional management out there with the invasives and other things that are needed okay Walter has his hand up yes thanks Jen um my concern is more internal um as a citizen I would vote in favor of the extension however as a commissioner I feel a little bit irresponsible because I've never been to the site should I abstain or shall I vote in favor I asked that of the other Commissioners or CH you abstain it doesn't work because there's only four of us tonight so we need all four votes to be a yes so ethically um it's okay if I say I'm in favor even even though I've never been there yeah so I could is you if you go on to your next question I'm gonna I'll put something up that's out of our Roger rule what is it Rogers Rules of Order sure but it came up on uh Roberts Robert's Rules of Order it came up this week because someone was asking about if you weren't at you weren't if you didn't attend that meeting whether or not you could approve the minutes it's purely an administrative act and just go on to your next question I'll see if I can find it and I'll put that up also all right any other questions Walter no that was it really yeah you should come to the site though it's very it's great for we were we I know I I apologize I was out of the country but no no I it's okay I I heard no we've had some really we which we didn't touch on but we've had some really great Wildlife onsite um some that we've been dealing with offsite as well but um it's been great it's one of the things that I think we are really appreciative of we get a lot of questions when we do these types of projects about the impact wildlife and it has been um great to see so much Wildlife come through the site um we we saw a Turtles while we were out there on Monday we've saw deer tracks um we know that we've got a family of bunnies running around we had frogs we have frogs we had tadpoles it's just it's it's just great to see this like kind of thriving even while still under construction so I'm even more excited to see how it's going to look a couple years from now so Walter I know you weren't able to go to the MonDay site visit neither was I um but um I bet if you would like to go you could ask Chuck to get give you a chance to tag along the next time he does one of his inspections um so you can talk to Chuck about that offline um and I think um really your decision about whether to give them the the extension is based on whether you approve of them being able to do the invasives control and the plantings and stuff like that um which we need more time for um so I I hope you would approve of that regardless of whether you've been there to see the um extent of the work that has been completed to this point yeah that's the reason I'm in favor I just we asked the question am I responsible as a commissioner to vote even if I haven't been there okay there is no requ sounds like the answer is yes I am there is no requirement for Commissioners to visit every site so you listen in the meeting you listen to people talking about it you don't have to have been there in order to be qualified to vote true that's been true on many other occasions not everybody makes every site visit but we listen to the reports back from the people who did fair enough thank you okay all right um anything on that on Robert's ruled of order that you found yet Chuck not yet not yet okay still looking it's but it is Administrative I'll put it up when I find it okay and um so um are there any other questions or can we have a motion to approve a three-year extension or if Andy would rather make a motion for a two-year extension he can make that that motion I'll make a motion for a two-year extension for the melet SS project is there a second and I I'm worried about turnover commission members three years I'm just I want to make sure there's people that are familiar with the project still on the board all right Andy before before you speak I just want to tell you that I just was approved by the select board for another three years so assuming all is well I will stay on for another three years so I would be here throughout that threeyear extension if that makes you feel any better well no because then been two years and they need an extension you'll still be around to yeah make that decision okay so I will second the motion to extend it two years okay um Walter do you want to start voting Walter toits in favor Andrew drien in favor rainbow in favor all right I guess I will vote in favor also and we'll just make it a two-year extension and you may have to come back again can can we move to have a three-year extension now instead well if you didn't want to do a two-year extension you'd have to not second and not vote for it and then you could find out what Andy would do when you asked for a three-year extension I considered not voting for it but I thought that would be um obstructionist given there's only four of us here tonight my thought is two years is good through an extension we can get the full time that we need it's not like we we precluded that so I'll take the two years okay all right Andy one of these occasions where you have stood your ground we all actually went with you yay well I hope it's for the best no I think this this meeting was good it's good to get out there when we don't have these meetings um the commission gets a little disconnected I know there's a ton going on but I think it's good to keep the commission involved with things so hopefully in two years hopefully it'll be be able to close up but if not I'm hope you guys will keep it going in the right direction thank you all right Jen are you all set I am all set okay all right so thank you very much for coming tonight thank you see you guys on site sometime soon all right um so we're not able to open the meeting on 167 Belmont Street not all the legal requirements had been met so um we will have to open that meeting and put it on our next agenda which is July 10th we are also not able to open the hearing on the North Cedar Swamp likewise not all the legal requirements have been met so we have to put that one off to July 10th so um we are done with our hearings for the night and we're on to old new business and it's only 8:00 um I do we have any movement on any of the violation notice follow-ups on the list okay Brian says no wait well we could consider uh 1110 Main Street we could be went out there to see if there was a violation talk about it so okay Chuck has talked to the homeowner who came in so why don't you update us on that and that's a new one we've just added to that list yeah 11110 Main Street so the commission was driving by members of the commission and they saw that a pool was being installed created very close to the Wetland uh Brian and Martha went out there and it looks like the pool the sand from the pool and um whatever the barrier the wall walls the enclosure yeah the enclosure was about 15 to 20 feet away and that might be uh very conservative estimate um so they talked to the homeowner that day and then they asked him come back and back and talk to me and he came into the office and he said that he wasn't there to have any problems he just wanted to know where you can put the pool so we found a spot where the pool would work and he intends to move it uh then he's going to put that on a plan and when I see the plan will figure out whether it needs permit or not most likely it does it might be the ability to allow him to proceed with pool uh saying that's more than 40 feet away from the Wetland and uh do a permit do a permit um you know quickly for him so that he can they can process that so I felt very good about it but still waiting for some paperwork from this gentleman to show me the location the I have noticed that no more activity has gone on out there at 111 Main Street I buy today agree okay good to know yeah I didn't think to look as I drove by okay well thank you for that report I'm glad that he has found a place he'll be able to put the pool so that we are not the um people who tell kids they can't have their above ground swimming pool it's not like he's digging a below ground pool it's just an above ground pool the round walls sitting on the sand but it just was way too close to the Wetland so that's good news Okay um discussion items number five says certificate of compliance for 52 Lanas Drive I believe that there asked that they asked to continue that till July 10th is that correct yes they'd like a site visit uh on the 8th again to go over some of the changes and uh site visit and then discuss changes or the proposed changes at the next meeting in July 10 okay all right um You can't do Tuesday Morning site visits right at least not first thing no yeah okay um all right I'm just thinking that's the Monday after the 4th of July weekend but um I will make a way to get back in time for that um are like Andy you won't be on the commission Walter will Monday after Fourth of July be all right for you for a morning site visit yeah I just looked right now it's okay okay and you're okay to go all right so there's at least going to be three of us who can do that that Monday morning so okay let's do July 8th um at 9:00 a.m. yeah okay that works for me and then um all right um and that wait a minute don't we usually have our DPW meetings on Tuesdays yeah so it says here July 8th for the DPW meeting should that really be July 9th it probably should be let me just check that out so it's not going to be on the 2nd so it would be July 9th okay um Chris Cole hasn't sent the invitation yet so maybe everyone's going to have the same problem after the holiday weekend so let's let's also think maybe it's might be the 16th no okay um all right but um if but won't be the eth for sure because the eth is a Monday and we don't do them on Mondays so okay so I can make either the ninth or the 16th work what about you Brian checking yeah I could do one of those okay um bills approved do we have any bills no um I can let you know we will have one next the next meeting so Mac dues came in and um we we'll have to approve the payment of that okay yeah it's important that we pay our Mac dues that um not a question that's a that's an important thing um okay administrators administrators report so there's no no report but I'm GNA use this time to tell Walter that um know iPads have always been very poor at searching your emails but when I get out of this meeting I'll go back to my desk and I'll send you that uh that little blurb about whether you can um vote on something that you weren't you didn't attend I'll send it to the whole commission just so you know uh and I'll add to that that our Next Step volunteers are are in town and they're working right now they're at um Sturges park and they'll be at Mata cabin and they'll be at Lanetta Lane again just to uh dress that up and if they have time there's other projects that they can do but we're going to concentrate on those ones first I did sent out a uh reminder email at the DPW Mike kesman and Mike Haniford uh about dropping off dropping off some wood chips at Lanetta Lane so hopefully that can happen but I asked them to do it not next week but the following the night what are they working on at stures Park so Sturgis Park is uh the park that we uh approved a bridge over Sturgis Brook and in preparation of that they're creating a five foot wide path of wood chips from South Street South Street right there South Street um along Sturges Brook on the on the side that's away from the park and away from the ball fields all the way up and past the uh the area where they Dam up the water to fill up the ponds and then beyond that also it's it's approximately 700 feet long uh that's all we wanted to do this year but there is a possibility in the future that it's not Conservation Commission that's going going to do this but there's a possibility in the future that you could connect it to some of the streets up there because when we had our neighborhood meeting before we got the approval from the recreation committee our neighbors showed up and they said said oh we remember them you could walk from this street all the way down through and they wanted that connectivity to happen again but but I had to say we already got our approval and this is this is what it was for so that that may be a future project but it'll allow visitors to the park to not only walk along around the edges of the park which is in the Sun but to cross over that new bridge and then walk down or walk up the uh wood chip path and be in the shade and kind of see a little quieter side of sturis Park so the wood chip path will connect to the new bridge not only will it connect to it it runs past it for quite a while okay so past the skating R if anyone's looking at it you know if you go there tomorrow it the end of the path is approximately where they're storing the goalie nets so it's not really that far but it's that's generally where the very end of the path is cool that's that's great to have a nice welcoming path to lead to that bridge that they're going to build and is the bridge built yet or still under way no it's it's uh I don't even think that that project is out of cpdc and so it may it may be a while before we get the bridge but at least we've got the path yeah okay that works any other parts on your administrator's report no okay then we have a report on the porch Fest Brian and Chuck thank you both so much for being the representatives of Conservation Commission hosting porchfest I'd love to hear more about it okay um overall first summation it was a tremendous success um from my perspective um they we had three band scheduled by the time I got there even an hour hited the first one there were already two two bands there bringing their equipment up to the Pavilion um the attendance kind of rose and fell with the band the band seemed to attract their own followers in the weather there's a lot of rain later in the day a lot of rain um but the first band um seemed to have by far the largest contingent of followers that's the point at which we maxed out the parking we got 35 cars uh in there and that was in the parking area and a few going down to the second driveway below the cabin um I was really worried we're going to have to tell the next one how to get over to Pearl Street but fortunately somebody was leaving kind of in time for somebody else to come in the park um and we saw plates from Rhode Island New Hampshire New York and of course Massachusetts so it came from far and wide um we used the restroom in the cabin that was open to people um that seems to have treated they treated it well it was relatively clean afterwards so that was good uh we ran power up to the Pavilion um a little bit nervous in the morning when I asked them how many outlets they needed one band said nine another one said 11 oh I was picturing you know 18 towards running up the hill but it turned out that one cord going that whole way and then going into various um sech protector connectors what have you worked fine um and uh the Pavilion worked great from the weather perspective they had the equipment they were underneath it nothing got wet nobody got electrocuted uh they love the acoustic many people talked about the venue what a nice venue it was and this is even before the grass at the top has fully grown in um so I I would say there are some lessons learned uh we need to talk to the bands ahead of time if we do this again on the way to put their cars and maybe a uh a plan for dropping off equipment um one band did ask if they could drive up the road there said No at least for now there too many things that might go wrong but in the future we might consider a way to do that um see tell us about the canopies what were the canopies for well um some of the Bands brought their own tent okay uh the one you see behind the Pavilion there well a second ago was actually a band that wasn't on yet and that's where they brought the equipment up while they were waiting their turn um out behind the gentleman in the uh purplish pinkish shirt there was another tent from one of the Bands later in the day like I said it was pouring and there were people grouped under that I mentioned where the cars came from we maxed out somewhere around 50 people um it was good at one time at one time that was a Max one I don't total was him trying to keep a running total um so i' say it was great we got a visit from the uh Town manager um he got to see the Pavilion for the first time he also went and checked out the cabin um the police came by Chuck was very talkative with them so we had a great conversation they just came by and they had heard I a lot of people up there and they wanted to be sure there weren't any issues with Park in and people getting parked in and the W there were some fine traffic wardens on duty duration of the day so nobody got stucked um it was it was good there was a lot of good there it was definitely good I was concerned at one point that we were going to run out of space real quick but it worked out I will say the one negative in all seriousness was uh Chuck was miserable at what name in the songs you should not go on Name That Tune um but other than that was a very positive one and I'm thinking that that's more than 50 people who had a chance to discover that Mata cabin is available for use and that the Pavilion is now available for use so I do have one additional thought just occurred to me um near the end of the day the three person committee for the porchfest came by in their purple shirts to check out they also had heard that there were a lot of people um and just in chatting with them we got some stats porchfest in Reading was 85 bands across 45 sites that's pretty impressive well I guess one last thing we did hear that there was a site a venue at cane oil and they were giving out beverages and food so we have to think about something along those lines if we do it again maybe even just water especially if it's going to be a hot day but like I said it was definitely positive is that it hopefully that's all I can think yeah there there were two things that I thought of when you were talking to me this afternoon one being that we might want to put a temporary keep right sign at the entrance to the parking lot so that people who are leaving the parking lot go out on the correct side that's a good point that came because I mentioned to Martha that several did go out the inway fortunately there wasn't uh even a near Miss but we do have to make that clear um and we now have learned where to steer people when they're trying to leave to go out into the parking lot itself to turn around rather than a tight turn around the threee that's near the uh the split of the two roads sorry okay and then I'm also thinking maybe um good signage to let people know where the restrooms are um that that they are available in the cabin um people I'm sure asked you and were able to get there but it's always nice to have a sign to make people more comfortable so those would be the only two other suggestions that I got from our conversation okay um do we have anything else we don't have our minutes yet so we cannot do minutes for approval somebody was remiss that's all right A lot of people have been on vacation so we can't blame you for not completing your task while we were all on vacation um all right and you go that's a sample okay and um it looks like mostly the audience was standing did anybody bring lawn chairs or picnic blankets or anything uh some people brought chairs and their own little shelters I saw one of those and a few chairs but not really a lot of people just stood there the so a uh the ax and call them ax they were about um was one was like an hour and a half one was two hours and the other one was again probably two hours so they got into it and they always wanted more time but seems like they knew each other and they were very helpful it it really was a good time so let me speak to that out the band members the vast majority of them were all WPI students they met there two of the Bands actually shared some of the members um so when they asked for a venue they also put in the request that they could play together so they could share equipment and share the band members so they had to be in the same venue so they weren't running all over town it would have made it easier in this all right cool okay we have anything else we need to discuss tonight if not we do need to thank Andrew for his time on the commission and wish him good luck in his future endeavors thank you Andrew we hope we see you at some point Andy uh maybe on the finance committee huh that's kind of where all the old Commissioners go well we'll certainly see you at the opening of that some because we live right there so as long as we get that trail up on Street open up then I'll then I'll be there all right thank you thank you very much yeah Andy thank you so much happy to help and uh yeah can't forget about the work you put into the Simons way on that sweat committee and that was that was something else yeah yeah and we'll we'll see what happens to that property it's no kidding still to be determined all right well thank you it's been fun all right so once we sign out and we'll shut the video off as your last act why don't you make a motion to uh adjourn the meeting I will make a motion to adjourn the meeting okay we have a second Brian second okay all in favor yay we're adjourned at 8:22 and as they say stop the video so so I don't know what else you do here so that's um oh hold on no it's to memorialize Andy's departure okay my last whack with the hammer okay you want me to whack again for Andy I was whacking because this is the last time I get to to wait hammer and close the meeting the meeting is now adjourned you'll never be able to do that again yes until I rotate back into the chairmanship which I do not um I I I think there is a high probability I might end up chair again who knows well thank you for being chair I know that could mean a lot we did we did get two new members oh good well you didn't tell us that in the meeting oh uh they haven't been sworn in yet okay so so it's it's a it's a rumor the video is supposed to be stopped um but yeah I did ask oh we can oh no we can't turn off the sound asking you guys um reach out to them because I'm I'm not going to be here next week and I don't have time to reach out to the new members so I'll be gone for uh my typical Fourth of July vacation yeah and I Echo what Mar said about the applications is the one that aims more of a question mark or was it yeah yeah um do you want to explain more about that uh well we're off right well I I don't have control over it they're not SW in so let's not get okay just in case all right yeah but I think that would be fine if Brian and I each pick one person to call and talk to and welcome them to the commission is that okay I was just thinking of an email but you can do whatever you want you could send him an email is that contact info on the application I sent it all I should be offet just to reach out they're going to have the typical questions how many meetings a month what do you do to prepare how can I be better commission member who's Chuck you know is he really he a crazy okay all right you know yeah yep okay so Brian do you care which person you reach out to you make the call is your last act this chair why don't one's named Craig and one's name shirro and um why don't I do shirro and you do Craig fair enough all right I can't really remember which was which at this point but as long as we don't both reach out to the same person that's the important thing right I think the one you picked is the one with the question okay all right all right and um I had one other thing I was thinking of but I don't remember what it is anymore well oh well just that Brian I'm not saying that I don't expect you to be on the commission for a long time I expect you to continue on the commission but as the um members of the select board pointed out you have to rotate your chairs and you have to have a chance to rotate chairs every year so that's all an old expression at some point you have to stop digging yeah yeah okay that's what Andy knows that are you two are you two going to televise your debate so we can just decide I mean yeah yeah hey and just so Andy knows he's not GNA get rid of us so easily uh we found out tonight um at least I found out tonight from uh rctv that we can sign up as members as the compation commission member I hope for one small $30 uh fee and they'll allow us to borrow some equipment so so we we me and the Wii was me and Brian we're thinking we would you know put some stuff out there that that interest us that people might be interested in you know environmental matters maybe might be the title and um and do some do some stuff four to seven eight minutes they'll allow us to use their computers and teach us how to cut film so something like uh forfest might have been something we we did uh the the build at the Pavilion you know the discussion with um Bill Ginger when we took the walk through bare Meadow you know there's going to be a there's going to be a b um workshop and a book reading that could be something that's that's part of it put com and uh then I'm going to tap one of the Commissioners to do something in the meadow once we get that uh we have the tree layout down and and and so all these things and many more can be part of uh what we're thinking about and I guess we'll probably get to one but uh but never run out of ideas no I think it'd be good all that stuff makes us more visible and understood by the residents and it's not just a negative side of the commission approving and not approving a permit it's all the other positive things that come out of it that's good fair enough um and um we've been collecting email addresses at the friends and family day and stuff like that and have not yet come up with a newsletter and I would love to make a newsletter at least when Mallette SS Morgan is opened um we might want to do a summer newsletter talking about the new um rules for use of conservation areas um and send it to those we actually have a number of topics right now because we've had fewer hearings so we got to do other things yeah if nothing else we have proved the name um Jamie M M for um but does that have to go beyond us somebody else has to approve that too yeah so so it did go to the recreation uh committee first and it went to the select board and they approved it so it's all set and then the final step is I stopped in this week to uh the recation committee again talked to Jenna formerly fante now Jenna wood and um and uh just let them know that uh designing picking out and you know installing the memorial plaque you know it's their property it's it's Recreation land I said you know I just see that in your court and so she was happy to take that on so I think Jim Sullivan will be uh working through that I was just saying that's something we could talk about even though we're not the ones the final installation just it's something done from a for for a former commission member oh I see what you're saying that will be on the environmental matters Andor in the newsletter um so yeah the question is how do we get the names on paper into a email list so that we can then make a newsletter and send that out to that email list and I think Brian you are in possession of that paper right now okay so just get it to me get it to me have any we'll do we'll try to do whatever well actually I'm not not gonna be around for so if you can do it next week great if you don't then send it the and I guess my question is what email program would we be using for that you know if you have a big email list you do like MailChimp or something like that but if it's just a 20 names do we just put it in a Google contact list and then call it a group that's all I was thinking of but we could check out whatever I don't know how many names are there not that many yeah it's it's like 20 or 30 um I was thinking we also could grously send some to like people around town hall so they see the kind of things we're doing I would say DPW for sure you know PR Cole would be interested for sure yeah so um is there a email system that you use as a town employee that has a email group function yeah okay I would think that's the place to put the names okay question for the size we have not break so if if you felt like since you have the list making like a um spreadsheet and just type the names into the spreadsheet with their email addresses and then chuck would have them already typed and he can just copy and paste them into his email and if not you can just send in the paper but yeah it makes sense we've asked people for their emails for three or four events now and one person said I signed up before and I haven't gotten any emails yet and we're like yeah we haven't written any yet I said I haven't got mine either all right I think Andy Andy's remembering why he's he's not reupping right now well it's 8:31 that's not bad no we did good tonight well make sure my email is on that list I don't signed it so okay cool thank you Andy and Andy's email yeah okay now we have to many now you need a I'm already kicked off now we need MailChimp yeah okay okay right well that was that all right thanks Fourth of July and I'll see you on H the 8 all right sounds good bye everybody all right have a good forth Andy e e e e