channel and the town's YouTube page. Uh we will go through the members and ask who's present. Steve Bush. >> Yeah. >> Peter Gama. >> Yeah. >> I'm here. Mr. Deinion here. >> Yeah. Ira Zendes >> here.
>> Jesse St. Jes. >> Paul Sullivan >> here. >> Melissa Canadera >> here. >> And any alternates on teams right now? Kelsey Janick or Jacob Elino? >> No.
>> That would be negative. >> Okay. Very good. Is there a motion to call the meeting to order? >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> Okay. The first order of business that we have is to approve the minutes of
February 12th, 2026. Is there a motion? Motion to approve the minutes as submitted. >> Second that motion's made in the second. All those in favor? >> Yeah. >> Thank you. First order of business on
the discussion item A would be remaining comments on full master plan draft layout. I will be perfectly honest with the committee members. I still are not done with reviewing it and we had some highlights from LZTH that was sent over my request. We talked about it last time
Victoria and I know we got them about there's Lzth right here on the TV screen. >> Um we got him like five six days ago whatever it may be. So, I don't know how the committee feels if they want to hold off and do further review for comments. Why not? >> I I agree with that.
>> I do too. >> Y >> I So, all those in favor on on holding off on item A 2A. >> Yeah. >> Yes. I >> unanimously
I you good with waiting? Mhm. >> Unanimous. Okay. So, did everybody, Victoria, did everybody get because you had sent over like the agenda to me and I can't see everybody that's on it. So, I don't know if you send out everything as individuals and things of the like. So,
did everybody get Lette's comments that she made at the last meeting about? >> Yes. With the specific pages of where the changes go? Yes, that went up to everybody's good with that. You all received it? I received it. Okay. Good. So if everybody's got that, please review it and we can take that topic up
hopefully at the next next meeting and keep this process moving forward. So the second item on the discussion is open space and recreation plan draft layout. I don't know who wants to take that. >> Yes, I'll handle that. Good evening.
>> Good evening. >> Ladies, gentlemen, I'm excited to present to you the highlights from the OSRP. We have made a mini version a very concise summary that I'll show you in our story map and when I get I'm sorry
to say your name. >> Yes. Sara Singh, principal environmental planner at Serpent. So I will go through the story map and I'll try not to talk too much because I don't want to bore you um and be reading
out loud to you the whole time. But if you want me to start reading, I'm happy to do that. >> Thank you. >> And then when I get to the end, I will switch gears and show you the spreadsheet. If you recall, we had a MPC
meeting back in November 13th, and that was when we showed you the goals and strategies came the action plan spreadsheet, and we had incorporated your feedback and comments in real time. Mostly we had covered priority levels
whether it's high, medium or low priority. So that was the day when we updated the spreadsheet. Since then it has not changed but I will show it to you to jog your memory and it'll be uh one final opportunity in in case you see
any more changes or corrections you'd like to make. >> Very good. >> Without further ado, I will start screen sharing. All right. Is there any way we can um maximize
that window showing the story map and minimize this part? Maybe not. I don't think so. Okay. >> Um, right on the side of the X. >> Oh, that's going to minimize.
>> No, one on this. The one on the Oh, you can't see it on the screen. Yeah, right there. See, it didn't move the hour. See, right above chat to Yeah, that one. >> Oh, no. That's on her screen. That's >> Oh, she can't make the video. >> And what if you um hover over me and and you see the dot dot dot? Do you see an
option to hide me and the others? >> Oh, seriously. Yeah, I know you do on Zoom. >> Yep. >> Um I'm not seeing it on >> Can you hit where it says people on the top there? You got three there. >> That just it out.
>> How about in view? >> That was the only thing I was maybe the view settings, but I'm relatively new to Teams, too. >> I think I got it. Why is this not going up on the on the screen? >> So, it's basically two monitors. Like the laptops, the main one, and then I
drag it over and when you drag it over, it goes >> Oh, you did it. >> There it is. >> She figured it out. >> Put the camera on that girl. >> Good job. >> Thank you. All right.
Again, this is a concise summary. So, a lot of details, specific numbers, statistics, those you will find in the the draft OSRP, which is about 120 pages. This is a mini version of that.
You already know the purpose and there are these five main elements. the community setting, environmental assessment, community vision, inventory of lands, and the 10-year action plan. You all have guided this process
beautifully and we began back in November 2024 for public participation and outreach. We did a lot of public workshops, openhouse events, local community events.
We had a joint survey for the OSRP and water resources all together in one and we also the serpent team met with local departments. Um I went and did a little presentation to concom. We had a sitdown
discussion with New Bedford DPI. We also met with Buzzards Bay Coalition and overall in our survey responses uh we saw a consistent desire for preserving the town's rural character,
expanding recreational opportunities, and protecting natural resources. Now, I won't tell you about your town. You already know about it. But we noted that there are these three distinct areas that define the geography. The head of the river,
parting ways, and long plane. >> That was great. Still close to as bad as I was. We do another And those of you in the back, can you see this? Okay. >> Yes. Yes. >> All right.
>> So, Aushna is still a semi-ural community, but also closely connected to regional employment centers, especially in New Bedford and Fall River. Y'all are part of the Buzzards Bay wershed and
that requires regional coordination for effective water resources management because watershed boundaries don't follow municipal boundaries. Historically your community was largely agricultural.
Then uh mar a maritime industry emerged more in New Bedford but it also impacted Aushnet. Manufacturing began to develop along the Aushnet River. And following World War II there was a
boom in suburban development which expanded. So, a Kushnet increasingly became a residential community, a bedroom community. The current population as of the Census
Bureau estimate from 2024, it's 10,700 residents. Compare that to 9,762. That was the number back in 1990. So, that was 34 years ago.
Little bit of growth. >> Not much. 73 years. >> Yeah. Bristol County and Massachusetts overall have grown more quickly than the town in terms of population. Residential development has primarily
taken the form of single family homes on relatively large lots. The town continues to maintain significant open space and forest areas. I'll zoom into this map for a second. Cannot scroll down. All right.
The median age is about 46 years old, higher than the statewide median. 19% are school age, 61% are working age, and about 1/5 of residents are senior
citizens. And in the survey responses, there was a pretty clear demand for more recreational opportunities for all ages, but especially opportunities accessible
to older adults, more walking paths, more nature trails and community spaces. And the details of that are in the OSRP draft if you scroll if you go down in that document to the needs analysis. And
then also in the appendix you can find the details of those survey responses. A question remains a poor a mostly white community. Little bit of demographic diversity increase in recent years especially the Hispanic and Latino
population. And that highlights the need for inclusivity in our signage, our programming. EJ communities are here surrounding a Kushnet town center.
And the green community is um characterized by being lower income, lower than the median for the state. And the yellow orange community is characterized by minority status.
So today, most land in the town is zoned for residential use. Single family homes are still the dominant housing type. There are large agricultural tracks. They have been gradually subdivided for
housing. Balancing residential development with the preservation of open space remains one of the central planning challenges today. All right. Oops.
Okay. Major waterersheds. Most of the town's land area drains into the Aushnet River through Buzzard's Bay. The wershed includes numerous tributaries, ponds, wetlands, and
groundwater recharge areas. Very important for ecological systems and recreation. The New Bedford Reservoir, also known as Lake Street Ponds, located in the northern portion of the town, serves as the headwaters of the
Kushnet River. And here's a map of all the different watersheds. This aqua marine color is Buzzard's Bay. Next to that lavender, Mount Hope Bay.
Next to that is Narrozid Bay. And up here in green is the Taton River watershed. So that is the regional context. And a cushion lies entirely within the Buzzards Bay wershed. The landscape was shaped by glacial
processes which resulted in this unique geology. All of these landforms such as drumlands, the glacial outwash plane, erratic boulders, blue stone ice formation,
all of that was formed by um the glaciers receding and leaving behind deposits of sand, gravel, and glacial t. The soils tend to be poorly drained and that limits development in certain
areas, but it does have some um benefits for water filtration, flood protection and wildlife habitat. The glacial outwash areas also support groundwater recharge.
19% of Aushnet's land area, especially in the southwestern portion of town, has been significantly altered by urban development. Paved surfaces, building footprints, regrading.
The built environment is almost 1/5if of the land area. And as you can see, the predominant soil type here or geology is tilt or bedrock.
The large sand deposits here in green are just a small portion. And this light colored area is sand. Sand and gravel. This map shows topography,
the terrain, elevations. You all have a mix of prime farmland, farmland of statewide importance and farmland of unique importance. And you can look at this table as a hierarchy with prime farmland obviously
being on top because it is the best uh top tier. So that's defined as land with the best combination of physical and chemical characteristics for economically producing sustained high yields of food,
feed, forage, fiber, and oil seed crops. The difference with this next one, farmland of state importance, is that generally these include lands that are almost prime farmland, meaning almost excellent
quality and farmland of unique importance. These might be used to produce specific high value food and crops. The unique soils tend to be confined to muck, pets, coarse sands.
This this type of farmland tends to be associated with cranberries and um other primary commercial crops. So what you see on this map is there is a great deal of prime farmland which is
all these dark green regions and then followed by the light green farmland of statewide importance. And I see very very little, very little. The palest green being farmland of
unique importance. Little pockets right here. Your town has a strong rural identity. It's known for its picturesque landscapes, the forests, farmland, wetlands, river corridor.
rolling hills, wooded uplands, wetland systems. There are also scenic rural roads and all of this is highly valued by residents, which is what we saw in the survey responses. They want to keep it
that way. Large natural areas such as the Aushnet River corridor and the Aushnet cedar swamp maintain ecological connectivity. and provide wildlife habitat. Water resources.
The New Bedford Reservoir is the largest surface water body created in 1869, originally to supply drinking water for New Bedford. Now it primarily serves ecological functions
and to some extent recreation but to enhance its recreational value as we discuss in the full draft some improvements are needed for the invasive aquatic species and that is something
is currently working with with um Lake Street Pond Committee. We are actively pursuing invasives remediation in the lake street ponds. That's also what something found in the
action plan. The lower aushnet river has experienced significant industrial contamination in the past. So these pink circles are marking the wellhead protection areas.
This aquamarine represents wetlands. The darkest green is high yield aquafers right here. After that we have medium yield aquifers over here approved zone 2 aquifers
and in light blue all the surface water bodies. >> What are the rings? >> The rings are um interim wellhead protection areas. >> What's that mean? That means
you building should not happen too close to them and they might be designated differently in the near future. They're interim for now is how was that just a little history on that? How is that
determined? >> It is likely determined by the state, but which agency I'm I don't want to guess. So, let me write that down and get back to you. Who determines wellhead
protection zones? >> Basically, potential false sites. Well, how those drills went? No, I'm just I'm just looking at some of the locations there. I mean, you have there where we are both of >> strongly know where the millions of
dollars went. >> Yeah. >> We I don't if I'm looking at the map if you can you bring that just bring that down. We can take a look at that. >> This one? >> Yes. >> Mhm. >> Marines. >> Do I
just been houses put inside of that little spot? Right. >> That's the uh trailer park area. >> And then you got on Main Street that's that's going to be Quaker where Quaker walls cuz the walls are still back there. >> Yeah. The ones up way up at the top.
It's qu Wells up there, right? You got 105 opposite road. But you get coming down further by Perry. >> And we believe that's what's No, it's not. What's that crossroad with the big It's good size. >> Can you Can you You can't see.
I can I can send a list out after >> trying to figure out what those rings are where they're located. >> Yeah. Are we able to send a list and I can relate to the committee of where the >> Yes. back in the day
parking country. >> This next map shows FEMA flood hazard areas. I'm going to try to zoom in, but as you can see, I'm a little constrained because I can't scroll down. >> Oops.
>> Yeah. So, there are all these different designations indicating risk level. there's 1% annual chance of flooding, 2%, etc. And in the full OSRP draft, we have
captions to explain what these maps mean. You do not want to live around here. vegetation. So, we made a little little change to the vegetation that was listed in the previous OSRP.
I looked up every plant one by one and realized that some of these, the ones colored red, they were included in the old OSRP, but they are actually invasives. They were included because they are
commonly found in a cushion, but they shouldn't be. We really should be aware that these don't belong here. Everything else is native. >> You trying to say we need to kick them out?
>> Oh, >> the ones you haven't read. Yeah, >> they need to be kicked out. >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, identify where they live and won't take out. Okay. >> Okay. >> Beautiful. Beautiful wildlife. And we have >> Were those pictures actually taken from our town?
>> Yeah. >> Huh? >> They were. >> The owl's pretty cool. >> Yeah. You see turtles like that. Where's the box turtle? Turtle like that. >> I used to have a turtle. You still have turtles.
>> Probably a turtle. >> It's over there though. I'll have to ask it next time. >> Yeah. Why don't you do that? See if it's got my address on it. I'll write it on the channel. >> And if you all have any wildlife or scenic photos that you want included in
the OSRP, send them my way and I'm happy to credit you for your photos. Plenty of pictures of a lot of pictures of >> the pictures got cross
over anyway. >> Send a picture of Turkey. >> I got recipes. >> All right. So, all the wildlife in their different habitats are laid out in this
table. hardwood forest, agricultural lands, and wetlands. >> Don't see any fishery cat, do we? >> Um, fisher cat. >> Yeah, >> we do a keyword search. >> Yeah,
>> I didn't know we had wings in our town. >> Yeah. >> Yeah, we did. >> That's two of them. There's Susie and S. >> You are right. I don't see a fisher cat in here. >> That thing that sees a shadow every year
because there's two of them. >> Oh, they're they're around. >> They're around. They're pretty elusive. Like it's been a while since a couple years since I seen them, but >> before that never used to past. >> I see them in Louisiana. >> Fisher cats. Fisher cats. Yeah.
>> Really? >> You know? >> No. But at that time eating any of the wild no looking at it. I wasn't >> Well, that's good news. I'm happy to hear it and I'll put it in the table.
Break down by break down by killing me. >> You all have some lovely local traditions and community events, including that Apple Peach Festival. >> You also have some environmental
challenges. The loss of open space due to residential development. Fragmentation of habitat. Water quality concerns in a Kushnet River wetlands. The spread of invasive plant species in
the lake street ponds and the increase in storm water runoff coming off imperous surfaces. So addressing these will require coordinated planning probably with your neighboring communities as well, conservation
strategy and community engagement. We also discussed climate change impacts in the draft. You can expect more intense precipitation and flooding over the coming decades.
rising temperatures and heat impacts, meaning hotter summers, higher peak temperatures, more hot days every summer. Changes in seasonal precipitation patterns
that could look like um a false spring or, you know, having having winter weather when you you're not expecting it. Increased drought risk as well.
But I also want you to know that of all the places to live in the country, being in Massachusetts, we are relatively well insulated from the worst of climate change. This is a good place to be. New England, Massachusetts, and especially um if you're not too
close to the coast, you don't need to worry. The rule of thumb is 100 ft above sea level, right? >> My name's exactly 100 ft above sea level. >> I just got the map. My name is existing.
>> So I know it's 100 ft above sea level. >> This map shows hot spots. >> So mostly in the town center, >> you see these these red hot spots. These are um heat stress areas and that's a
typical pattern. We tend to see that where wherever there is the most built environment, wherever there is a lot of pavement, concrete, buildings, that is where heat tends to get trapped. Hence these hot
spots. >> Is that mostly due to pavement you have to say? Right. >> Right. It's the effects of the materials, the building materials themselves. >> If you go back to that the previous map real quick. >> Mhm. >> And you can see the red spots. I mean,
that's highly dense areas of housing, but you can see other areas of the town that are highly dense housing, but we don't have that same reflection of red. >> Mhm. >> Right. >> What's that big spot in the middle >> up top? >> Wait there. >> No, right one right there in the middle.
>> That one? >> Yeah. >> Do we know where is that? The school. >> Yep. >> So, that's the school pavements. >> Interesting. Yeah, because that big white spot's going to be DW, right?
>> So, >> when when a community reduces impervious cover or at least tries to stop the spread of imperous cover, that has two benefits. One is storm water and the
other is um you're not going to see this heat stress hot spot effect in the summertime if you if you reduce impervious surfaces and replace them with permeable pavement or just grass.
It can also um be done on buildings on rooftops themselves. There's your buddy. He's eating the fish. >> This is also taken by a local photographer. >> And now I'm going to go through
the inventory, but you should know that this was Joe's work, my colleague Joe Monae. This was his specialty. So, if you have questions for Joe, I may or may not be able to answer them, but I will note them down and get back to you.
Joe would have loved to be here, but unfortunately, he is pretty sick. >> Slacker game. >> This is the open space protection map. Everything that's dark green is protected forever in perpetuity.
Everything light green like right here. I'm going to zoom in right here. Here that is limited protection. >> Define it. Could you Oh, permanently permanent says it says a whole lot. What
is limited protection? limited duration mean it could be for 10 years, for 20 years. It really depends on the terms of that conservation easement or restriction. Um
term limited or unknown is yellow. No protection is this light red color and the burgundy is chapter 61A.
So that relates to private property forest lands and those private property owners are benefiting in terms of their taxes. >> So what's all the white land?
white land. >> Well, I mean, I would have thought that would be none, but there's different colors that are for none. So, I'm just curious what else. >> Yeah, these are spec, if I may, these are specifically open space parcels. >> Okay. >> Yeah. So, the rest is probably used for
residential, >> commercial, that sort of thing. >> Yeah. So, there could be other there could be this is all open space where there's no like dwellings on the property. just open space because looking at that map now I can tell you there's a lot more land that's in chapter
>> but they have residencies on them and the residencies always taken out of chapter they can't be part of chapter there's a certain section of the land that can you have to have 50 more acres but there's a lot more down middle road that properties that were in chapter that are identified there but that's
because they have dwellings on them >> so they're excluded from the open space category >> fair to say that. >> Mhm. >> I think so. Yeah. >> Okay. >> Is there a spreadsheet of this data?
I just know from the last OSRP I did, um the state was very specific in how they wanted that laid out. >> So, we can we can touch base offline after too, but I want to make sure we have that. >> Yeah. In the plan as well. >> Have to talk to Joe. >> Yeah.
>> I recall that seeing a inventory table that Joe made. >> Okay, perfect. So, not a spreadsheet, but it is in a table form. >> Yeah. Okay, that's perfect. Thank you. >> This map shows priority areas. Everything dark green priority protection.
Everything purple is priority for development. Meaning something about this land, the soil type, the surroundings is already built. There are there were multiple reasons for these these purple areas to
be well suited for further development. >> And this yellow is combined. >> That one on the left side up that way that's that's that's now a solo field. >> This purple >> ah okay
>> that's known as farm dairy. It's a solar field now >> or becoming one as we speak. >> Yeah. It's not built yet. Okay, good to know. We can update this map then. The highest priority land that should be
protected include areas in Halfway Swamp, the surrounding areas of town forest and the parcels around a Kushnet River and the reservoir. turn right it would be good to have because your
point with point scary we still have all the properties up there that they look like they're open space but they they they got they're they're full of solar panels right now >> it should be a good thing to identify that it's far as development development
development aspect >> it's it's there it's temporarily protected for the next 20 20 years basically with field sitting on it. You're not going to have a host there, >> right? Like the Girl Scout camp, right? >> Yep. >> Okay. >> Well, you guys know Plot like five or
six large solar fields in the in the works right now, right? Plus down by Met Street the >> Yep. We still got one. >> Yeah. We still got some of our seven. >> Yeah. So, that's unfortunate. That's That's wiping out.
Really? Right. Yeah. Now this map shows open space by level of protection similar to what you saw earlier but then then there's further breakdown different types of wetlands priority natural communities core
different types of habitats forest rare species vernal Cool. It's a nice diverse patchwork. A little bit of everything. >> Look at that. Doesn't look like we have much left to go, huh? >> No.
>> All right. Okay. >> So, here we were. >> What we got? >> A Kushnet owns 40.4% 24% of its open spaces and Buzzards Bay Coalition owns
over 20%. Fair Haven Aquishnet Preservation Land Trust owns over 16%. And the rest is owned by private owners and land trusts. The remaining almost 23%.
What stood out in the survey responses was this desire for more recreation programming and expanded facilities. Enhanced accessibility for seniors and those with disabilities.
Better signage and information about the conservation areas. uh enhanced farmland protection and improvements to the trail connectivity. What people loved most about open space was the hiking and walking trails
followed by conservation areas. And the most popular approaches to open space preservation were promoting the use of existing open space land, encouraging donations of land,
and protecting land through zoning. They said that Riverview Park is in serious need of maintenance, especially the playground. They want updates to the basketball courts, tennis courts, and soccer field. They want the town to modernize and expand walking areas.
They want cleaner trails, wider trails. They said the golf course should have a clubhouse. And they called for more bathrooms and playground. All right. Now, we're at the end. >> It's It's crucial.
>> Here are >> your goals and 10ear action plan. Environmental protection, recreation, transportation, and maintenance. Oh, and environmental improvement. At
this point, I'm going to move into the spreadsheet. Uh just to jog your memory, this is what the spreadsheet looked like. Um before November, before our November
meeting, you may recall that there was Serpent's writing in green and this priority column was blank. And then thanks to your help, we got it in this complete condition.
So now every single cell has been looked at, edited and you all had decided these priority rankings as well as the timeline
and also you had given us feedback about who should be included or excluded from the responsible parties. So I want to give you all a few minutes to take this in. I'll and if there's any further changes, I'll
do them in real time. >> I have a question for you from this certified standpoint. I'm looking at how much open space that the town actually owns. How do we turn that into, you know, is there programs out there
that develop that in a way that's going to create revenue? It's basically this. Yeah. Good point, Mr. Bush. Glad you led me into that segment. There you go. So, I was going to have a quick
conversation while we went over this report because I've been in conversations with multiple people most recently with the DPW director and he's doing the storm water basins and back of the schools. And I'm not saying that it's going to be done at the back of the schools. So, I'm not saying it's going to be done at all, but
>> we've been shooting the breeze about campgrounds and the revenue that can come in >> that some campgrounds. So, if you look up Bowen Scenic Campground, >> their rates are pretty exorbitant >> and we have, you know, all this open space. And I'm like, well, you know, on
the master plan committee, we're sitting there talking about trail walking and things of the like, but it ends on a good point where maybe we could explore in the future of a campground, one of our sites for a campground, and
you could make some pretty decent revenue. um more than what you will make on a reoccurring basis with the campground than you would with housing. >> Yes. >> Or any other revenue source because it's once it's a onetime deal. Once you get it all in there, it's gone. So, right
away. So, it's something that I think, you know, it might be worth mentioning if the rest of the individuals on the master plan committee think that's something, but Mr. just hit on that and said, "Hey, you know, if we have open space >> and we have, you know, 100 acres
somewhere or even 50 acres somewhere, maybe it's worth putting it in the master plan for, you know, whether it's all of us talking about it in the next 5 years or a future generation looking back on it and going, that's a pretty
good idea right there. But, you know, why don't we look into that somewhere down the road or we we start talking about it now and pursuing it in a 5 or 10 year projection plan, whatever it may be. But, it might be something that the town could have an appetite for. And,
you know, I'm not saying you're going to have this monstrous campground, but there's if you have enough sites, you can make some pretty decent revenue. >> Mhm. >> Um, they have different packages offseason, on season, and some of them, some of these sites go $5 $6,000 a site. I like the idea.
>> So, I mean, I'm it's it's recreational, right? It fits right in the category instead of land just sitting there being land that nobody can ever utilize and the public can't utilize. Maybe that's an option where you go in and you clear out little sites in a
certain particular area and you generate I don't know how many sites you do. I I've been talking to some people that actually camp. Mr. Manard's one of them. He he goes camping and he goes, "The sight's not aren't really that big. They're relatively small and they get and I said, "And they get that kind of money for that." And he's like,
"Uh-huh." >> So I said, "I'll have to look a little bit more into that and explore and have a conversation with the the master plan committee, but it might be something the town may be interested in looking at and exploring and seeing what kind of sites that we have available for it and what
we could fit in. >> Mhm. you know, you don't it doesn't take a whole lot of staff. So, you know, your overhead is from the business perspective of it, your overhead's not that great. >> You know, you have security cameras and watching everything in and out and all
around the site. So, pretty much somebody is there. >> You're just setting up your pads for the campers and you're electric >> pretty much, right? So, should I put in here into this action plan? Um, I can
find the row relating to recreation. >> I'd be okay with another. >> I mean, if I just threw it out, Mr. Bush just brought up a point. >> That's the point I was getting. That's the point I was getting at cuz we have so much stuff. Basically, we're not get not collecting incredible. >> We We own the property.
>> You're still keeping an open space and like my point forestry type stuff. It's it's a place of gathering. And I'm not just saying people from the community going to go there. People from outside might want to do it. Depending on where it is the campsite is, they might put it in the plan.
>> There's a motion. That is a you take it easy. >> I'm not wrong though. >> Are we talking like RV? >> Well, we had to be discussion >> like big RVs, things like that. >> Well, that's that's for the future.
Whoever's going to be exploring these kind of things can discuss. Do you allow certain all the way up to a certain foot? >> Rustic rustic campgrounds won't generate income. RV campgrounds will generate >> income. Just making use of land
>> without destroying without destroying it. >> Even for the youth too and all that. I think it's a good thing. >> Yep. And you can put old colony to use to build some of the out buildings that are going to be used around there for their projects as well. >> That's a good idea. See that the wheels
collection to build our own new school. The wheels are turning now in there too. >> I mean, you could, right? >> So, did anyone brainstorm any other ideas of maybe potential strategies to add in
>> cuz that that just come off the cuff cuz I was just happened to look, but I saw how much actually we owe. It's like all I saw was no tax dollars basically. that potentially there's always there's always a use for something. >> You'll thank me later. >> So that's all I'm going to say. So then
answer your question. >> I I don't I I like the open spaces. I'm not against it, but there's going to be a way to >> capitalize on our re That's one of our resources. >> How do we capitalize on it was the the question that he just came up with the idea, but that still didn't answer. How
do we go about capitalizing on town owned? Is there a process that we have to go through? >> Yeah. >> Well, yeah, it certainly depends on the parcel. It depends on what types of protections it was afforded. So there's certain types of like permanent protection. Um so so it really depends.
That's definitely like a like a per parcel basis. Like if it was one the town had in mind specifically to look into, you kind of want to start with that. It's not like a general. And even if it if it had like, you know, a restriction and and Victoria, correct me
if I'm wrong, but I think if if it has a certain kind of restriction on it, I think when you go to the state and you're not technically going to remove the whole restriction, there'll be some kind of a restriction to it. But they might be a little bit more forgiving knowing that this is the purpose of it.
You're not turning into this kind of development, right? Like housing and you know, warehouses everywhere. They're going to go, "Yeah, no, that's not happening." a campground is like and again even the income from that could be fueling could be basically paying for other recreational areas like
like the park and all those other things that are on our tax dollars that we could take money from that and put it towards other things. It's just there are definitely now >> I just want to make sure I'm understanding this concept correctly. So
would the campgrounds be open to an outsider or only to >> res? So and then it could be >> So I could rent I could rent a campsite or I could buy one for that's only mine forever.
>> No you can't buy it. >> No, you can't buy it. Our stuff's not for you. It's not for sale. We're not going to sell our land to a bunch of people just to sit there and live there permanently. We'll rent it to you on a weekly or monthly basal basis. No
problem. >> At the end of the season, once you're all done, your payment's all done, you're all done, too. You need to leave. And then next year next year we're going to rent out a lease out to somebody different or we'll do it to you again for IR just said driving around in that golf
I think that's just like >> Yeah, it's just we don't need any specifics. >> No, no specific just >> the idea is out there just just a randomized for the master plan sake. I think just to put it out there and as a notation of a thought for ultimate space
if it's possible campground facility something like that. Don't make like, oh, we're going to start renting it to Sarah for $1,000 this year and next year she's paying us 2,000. Leave all the details out. >> Okay. >> Yeah.
>> Any other additions or did anybody have any additional comments on the existing strategies and goals? >> No, I think we think we vetted those pretty good. >> We did.
>> Okay. Sorry. Do you have anything else? >> Um, >> if if >> you like I can send you all the latest OSRP draft, especially if you have not yet had a chance to review.
>> They do have the latest version, >> at least the one I received. >> Right. Well, we have continued working on it since then, like things like the endotes and cleaning it up. So, I can provide that. >> Oh, thank you. Yeah. And it's good to note note the the changes or things like
that so you you don't have to read through the whole thing. >> Yes. Like for the master plan had no like specific pages that had changes. >> Um like for example this strategy that you're adding. Um it would be good to know they can't change the
wellsin but those areas you know where that determination came from. Quest I saw Quigo also at the top. >> Okay. Um I would love for the committee to see the newest newest version especially some of them haven't yet had a chance to read the
>> Yeah. Go drill some comments too. Swiss cheese and nobody made any water come out of it. the uh place the draft the draft OSP had >> thing that I noticed was that
>> everybody on this committee >> like their title or whatever was all switched up. >> Yes. >> And you had Mr. Benoy on like the school committee. They had >> Yeah. Someone was on planning board that was Yeah. So we'll get those things. I noticed that as well and I thought I'll let you I'll let that over. That's part
of my comments. >> So then what I'll do instead is I'll wait until you send me your comments and then >> if you want it I can send it send I can address your comments and send it right back to you. That would be great. Yeah. That way you can incorporate my
>> Yeah, that would be perfect. Thank you. >> Pickles. Mr. What's going on? >> We're having a conversation right now. >> Yes. Sarah said she's also >> the plan committee. >> What about it? >> I think she's saying we're done. >> We're done.
>> You're done? >> Yes. >> All right. >> ALL RIGHT. >> Can I >> ptorial anything? Anything? >> Yes, please. Um, so for next steps, so I just wanted to send give kind of a reminder, we should be scheduling our
open house in May. Um, but not to put you on the spot so we can ask, but do we have a date for town meeting? Cuz we just didn't want to plan it too close to We just we just kind of whipped that around in Tuesday's meeting and with and I told I had a conversation with the board and I'm like so let's not do what
we've done the last two years because our deficit's that much greater this year um than what it has been the last two years and we have to postpone two years in a row two weeks out. I was the first one to do it two years ago and said we're never making this postpone
town meeting and forget about it last year. >> No, it'll be in June. >> It will be in June. Oh, okay. So, that should be fine. Then we have our open house in May. So, I'll start working on getting some dates and kind of proposing that to the committee. And >> I think for the next if we're going to do another meeting, Victoria, that we
all get our heads around the actual master plan draft, the changes that LZTH gave us to to identify, look at those changes. Any questions, comments, concerns about that? or perhaps the whole master plan. If you're reading through it, you find something that
>> was either discussed or not discussed, highlight it, bring it to the committee's attention so we can get through it. We just want to try to make sure as a committee, as a whole, that we all agree on the draft before we let Victoria and Serp kind of run off and finalize
>> what we've done all these meetings. >> And I can resend it out um you know, so it's at the top of your inbox if that's helpful. Yeah. >> Um, yes. >> And if you want to give like Sarah said something about an updated OSRP, so if
she wants to send you a newer one and we can extract that out of the other one and pop it in and um, no more updates, no more confusion. Let's just focus on what we start adding too much more than changing things. and at the last minute we're trying to ask
everybody with the busy lives most people live it's in the last four or five days and they'll go look at page 200 or 100 and it just gets a little bit convoluted so let's tackle what we need to the main structure of the draft and the changes that Liz F identified how that dialogue at another meeting and if
anything comes up from the off side um Victoria Sured side working collaboratively been with Sured on this master plan so thank you for that and if there's anything else that comes up we could take it up at that meeting after we're done discussing a draft and maybe it's only a few bullet points that are
indifferent from what we've already been looking at. Right. >> Okay. All right. That sounds good. >> I think it's the best way to accomplish that goal. >> Mhm. >> Mr. Sullivan. >> Yes. How about any deadlines for getting this done? Is that >> in terms of like
>> uh having the plan finished or >> um I mean we're aiming for June I believe because we have the the final workshop that we're hosting in May that's for all three of our plans that we're doing the master plan OSRP and the water resource. So hopefully if there
are any last remaining public comments we can finalize those in June. Um the master plan specifically is a little bit different because this committee will make a recommendation to the planning board and the planning board is the body that adopts that plan. Um so that one's
a little different from the other two. >> I was just a little concerned about the grant money. >> Oh, the problem with >> um No, so not at all. So we actually finished the grant funding last June. No, the end of the year I believe and
we've been using another source of funding. Um so we had not only mass um the community planning grant, we also had CPC funds allocated for certain sections of the plan such as the housing and the OSRP. And then for the water
resource management plan, we had a $75,000 earmark um that's being done through Mass D. So we're kind of we used up the grant money. We have no issues with deadlines. So this if this does for some reason need to get pushed along, we do have some flexibility. Um but we just
want to stay on project schedule. That makes sense. >> Good. >> Okay. Got anything else from the committee members? >> Mrs. St. Chile, I mean you missed the first 10 15 minutes. So what do you got? You got anything that you missed? You want to bring anything up? >> I think we're good.
>> You're good. >> Okay. >> Very good. >> I did my homework before I came in. Is >> that what you did? Okay. Nothing at all. >> Victoria, anything else added? Sarah, anything else added? >> All set. >> All set. Is there a motion to adjurnn? >> Second.
>> All those in favor? >> We are now ajourned. Thank you.