Scott Jackson: All right, so first up on the agenda, we have a public hearing. Scott Jackson: for the City of Northampton's, Scott Jackson: abbreviated Notice of Resource Area Delineation, or an ANRAD. Scott Jackson: … Scott Jackson: So, Joe, I wonder if you or somebody as part of your team could just give us a quick Scott Jackson: overview of what you're, what's involved in the ANRAD. joseph.rogers: Absolutely, yeah, I've asked Susanna to, to take the lead on that. Susanna Sousa, GZA: Thanks, Joe. Hi, I'm Susanna Souza, I'm an environmental scientist with GZA. I'm here with Joe Rogers, also, from GZA. We're here on behalf of the City of Northampton.
Susanna Sousa, GZA: Regarding an abbreviated notice of resource area delineation, for the Francis P. Ryan and West Waitley Reservoir dams. Susanna Sousa, GZA: As this is an ANRAD, no work is proposed, under this application, so we're just seeking the confirmation of wetland boundaries. Susanna Sousa, GZA: I'll go ahead and share my screen. Scott Jackson: Let me make sure that you can do that. Susanna Sousa, GZA: Thank you. Scott Jackson: Coming right up. Susanna Sousa, GZA: Okay, Susanna, you're now a co-host, so you can share screen. Oh, thank you.
Susanna Sousa, GZA: Okay, can everyone see See this? Scott Jackson: Nope. Susanna Sousa, GZA: Great, okay. So on, our original wetland delineation, was on September 19th in 2023. Susanna Sousa, GZA: And we, reviewed and reconfirmed our wetland delineation, this past July, July 7th. Susanna Sousa, GZA: And the resource areas that we identified on the site included, bank, bordering Vegetated Wetland, or BVW, Susanna Sousa, GZA: And the meet annual high water line associated with riverfront area.
Susanna Sousa, GZA: And we looked at many of these, areas on Monday during our site walk. Susanna Sousa, GZA: One update that we do have since then, is that we would like to exclude the wetland flags and boundaries, from the three properties down here owned by the Bellamaras and the Congregational Church. Susanna Sousa, GZA: As well as the southern bank of Westbrook, and I'll scroll down for a more zoomed-in. Susanna Sousa, GZA: View. Susanna Sousa, GZA: Here we go. Susanna Sousa, GZA: So in these areas here. And I sent Kelly earlier today a table with the flag numbers and linear lengths to be excluded from the ANRAD.
Susanna Sousa, GZA: So this is… it's still the original plan that was submitted with our application. Susanna Sousa, GZA: just with the flags in these areas removed, and the lines replaced with an estimated line label, since we're no longer including them in the ANRAD. So everything's the same, just we're not seeking confirmation for these areas. Susanna Sousa, GZA: Here. Susanna Sousa, GZA: And then along this southern bank. Susanna Sousa, GZA: And that's just because down here, the riverfront area will project away from our area of interest.
Susanna Sousa, GZA: And over here, these are, off of the City of Northampton's property. Susanna Sousa, GZA: And, yeah, that's… All I have, if anyone has any questions. Scott Jackson: Susanna, you mentioned that you said those areas that you want to exclude from the ANRAD have been designated as estimated. Does that mean that you have another map that, that sort of replaces the one that we received originally for this? Susanna Sousa, GZA: Yes, and I followed up… I did shoot that to Kelly in an email, but it was on the later end of today, maybe a few hours before the meeting, so this one that.
Kelly Kowal: I did see that right as I went to log on today, so I'll forward that to everyone. Scott Jackson: Okay, and if you would also mail a hard copy to us so that we can have that in the files as well. Susanna Sousa, GZA: Will do. Scott Jackson: Questions? Anybody from the Conservation Commission have questions or comments about the… Scott Jackson: I would just mention that we did do the site visit for this on Monday, and so we did walk the site and look at all of the different, Scott Jackson: Bordering vegetated wetland boundaries. Montserrat (she/her): I have no questions.
Andrew: I'm good. George Owens: No questions here. Scott Jackson: Ann, are you okay with this? annbarker: Yep, I'm all set, thank you. Scott Jackson: Kelly, any comments or questions? Kelly Kowal: I think I've seen what I need to see. I'm all good. Scott Jackson: All right, so then the… a slightly different question is, does anybody have any concerns or reservations about the delineations and the boundaries that were shown on the maps and that we saw in the field? Montserrat (she/her): No concerns. George Owens: Nope, no concerns, no other… no reservations. It's very thorough. Andrew: Looks good to me. annbarker: I'm all set, thanks.
Scott Jackson: All right, then, I'll entertain a vote that the Conservation Commission approves the ANRAD. Marianna: Can I. Scott Jackson: Yes. Marianna: As a resident? Marianna: Or is this the right time to make a comment? Scott Jackson: Yes, I should have acknowledged that, too. Can you state your name, please, for the minutes? Marianna: Sure, it's Mariana Massid. Marianna: I live at 141 Conway Road. Marianna: Okay. Okay, so we're on the… we're off the… near the Westbrook. Marianna: No, I think, Susanna said that,
Marianna: some of the area was not being considered, and I saw pictures of the chapel, and … Marianna: the other residents of our neighbors, so where we received… I received, … Marianna: notification that we should be… you know, this should be of interest to us. So, where do we stand now? Marianna: 141 Caraway Road. Scott Jackson: Yeah, so I'll just… I'll start, and then, Susannah, you can, you can add to or correct whatever I say is… Scott Jackson: This is meant to just identify the boundaries of the wetlands and the other areas that are within jurisdiction of the Wetlands Protection Act.
Scott Jackson: And what, they've done is ask that we not make a judgment on certain areas that are close to the chapel and to the Bellamere's house. Scott Jackson: Meaning that nothing is fixed in time, that if any work is proposed in those areas, they would have to come and get the delineations approved from us at some future time. Marianna: Okay. Scott Jackson: Santa, you want to add to that? Susanna Sousa, GZA: I don't think I have anything to add to that. I think you nailed it. Thank you. joseph.rogers: Maybe I'll add one thing. Mariana, the reason the notice, you receive the notice is, it's a requirement as an abutter within 100 feet of any of these areas, that you be notified so you have the opportunity to come and hear about the
joseph.rogers: The meeting tonight. Marianna: Oh, okay. Marianna: But it won't affect my… it won't affect my property, I guess, is what I… I couldn't understand why it would, but… Marianna: I wanted to, hear a little bit more about it. joseph.rogers: Yeah, if a project, is proposed related to this area at all, you'll receive another notice with more information about exactly what's going on, and so that you could… you could find out what… what that project is, going to be. So for… this is the first step, in that process.
Marianna: No. Marianna: Okay. Marianna: Very good, thank you. joseph.rogers: You're welcome. Marianna: Alright. Scott Jackson: Any other questions or comments from the public? Scott Jackson: All right, well then I will ask the Commission to vote on a Scott Jackson: to approve the resource area delineations as represented in the ANRAD with the changes that were discussed tonight. Scott Jackson: All in favor? Andrew: Right. George Owens: Aye. Scott Jackson: Okay, it's unanimous. Scott Jackson: We will put together the paperwork. Who should we send it to at Joe? Should we send it to you? Should we send it to you, David?
joseph.rogers: We'll take care of the recording, I think. Was that right, Susanna? joseph.rogers: I think it'd probably be best if to send it to… Susanna's been doing all the correspondence with Kelly, so, it can go to her, and then we'll take care of it on our end. Scott Jackson: Okay, very good. We will get that out as soon as we get all the signatures, and we get it to the post office with all our certified materials, et cetera, et cetera. Scott Jackson: Thank you for coming in. Susanna Sousa, GZA: Man. Scott Jackson: Yeah. Scott Jackson: Okay, I think that wraps it up for that. So, to close the hearing, all in favor?
George Owens: Aye. Montserrat (she/her): Aye. Andrew: Aye. Scott Jackson: All right. Thank you very much. Susanna Sousa, GZA: Thank you. Good night. Thank you. Scott Jackson: Our second public hearing, Scott Jackson: is to, to re… to, discuss and review the Notice of Intents filed by, Rye Patton on behalf of Flora and Richard, Chamlin. Scott Jackson: Ry, would you like to take the floor and, and describe what it is that you're proposing to do? Ry Patton: Yes, thank you. My name is Rye Patton, with Bay State Forestry Service.
Ry Patton: And I'm proposing this project on property of Flora and Richard Chamlins, to… Ry Patton: Control, a whole suite of invasive vegetation growing. Ry Patton: along approximately 3,050 feet of, stream. The main stream channel is Westbrook. Ry Patton: Along with, a small, unnamed tributary that runs to the north. Ry Patton: And if I can share my screen, I'll get the map pulled up.
Scott Jackson: Okay, let me… Scott Jackson: Set you up as a co-host. Ry Patton: Okay. Scott Jackson: Okay, I think you're all set. Ry Patton: Alright… Ry Patton: Let's see… Ry Patton: Okay, can you all see this map? Scott Jackson: Yes. Ry Patton: So, the areas in question. Ry Patton: This section highlighted in gray with a purple outline is the areas along Westbrook. Ry Patton: And then this unnamed tributary, … which runs along Haydenville Road.
Ry Patton: to the north. Ry Patton: These… these polygons are showing the 200-foot buffer on, on… the Chamlins… Ry Patton: property around these streams. And this doesn't necessarily indicate that there are invasive species present throughout this whole Ry Patton: all of these polygons. It's a very variable distribution of invasive plants. Ry Patton: And I would… I'm kind of requesting permission to cover
Ry Patton: all of this area, if… if need be. But… Ry Patton: Most of this area presently is not, is not infested. The main, main areas of concern are… Ry Patton: Essentially, right along these different stream corridors. Ry Patton: So the methods we're planning to use, because the distribution of the vegetation is variable, our methods are going to be variable. Ry Patton: In particularly dense areas, we are, … Ry Patton: We're planning to go in first with one pass with…
Ry Patton: Chainsaws to cut large vines and shrubs that are growing, either growing into trees, growing into native vegetation, ideally, greater than 5 feet in height. Ry Patton: We would then… once that passed with the chainsaws is done, we would then go through some of the heavier areas with backpack foliar herbicide, with a foliar herbicide spray applied via battery-powered backpacks.
Ry Patton: On some of the lighter areas, … we've… Ry Patton: we think that using… using herbicide and chainsaws are a little too much, so we're actually going to be working with Savannah Emery, who is in this… who is in this group as well, who is actually going to be working through some of the lighter areas, doing hand-pulling. Ry Patton: Along the stream. Ry Patton: And maybe I can pass it over to Savannah if you just want to talk briefly about your methods and plans for the hand-pulling portion of this project.
savannahemery: Our main goal is to try to regenerate some of the native plants that are growing there. savannahemery: A lot of it is a mix of knotweed, multiflora rose, and… savannahemery: Like Ry was saying, we determined in the largest, most dense passages the… savannahemery: Herbicide treatment is going to be the most effective, and then… savannahemery: To try to minimize that as much as we can, I'm gonna be going in with hand-pulling methods, which basically… savannahemery: The first year, it's just about removing as much of the vegetation as possible to weaken the root systems while, leaving as much of native plants in place and some of the root systems so the banks remain stabilized.
savannahemery: And then, … It's basically a long-term management plan … savannahemery: And so then, the second or third year, depending on savannahemery: the growth of the plants, we would go in and do some native plant stakes to re-stabilize the banks. Ry Patton: Great, thanks, Savannah Ry Patton: So, yeah, like Savannah said, this is… this is gonna be a… Ry Patton: Anything dealing with invasive plants, this is a… this is a multi-year process. Ry Patton: And… We don't want to… Ry Patton: you know, do this big push, and then pat ourselves on the back, and say, you know, good job, and walk away and forget about it. But, you know, I'm hoping to have a long-term relationship with Flora and Richard and the rest of their family to…
Ry Patton: Continue this project and make sure that our work pays off in the future. Scott Jackson: Thank you. Scott Jackson: I'll just point out also that, Scott Jackson: Some of us went out and did a site visit on July 29th to look the area over. It was highly congested, so we didn't actually get very deep into it, but we got a sense of the proximity to the Westbrook. Scott Jackson: … Conservation Commissioners, open it up to you first for any questions or comments. annbarker: We didn't look at the area on Haydenville Road.
annbarker: as bad as the area we looked at on Westbrook? Ry Patton: No, the area that we visited on Westbrook is by far the… Ry Patton: the worst. I'm just gonna share my screen again, pull up that map one more time, just to kind of show you. So, the… Ry Patton: this… this triangle here between the property boundaries and Westbrook to the north is where we were standing at the site visit, and that is by far the worst of it. Ry Patton: The stuff along Hayden… Haydenville Road is going to… it will involve some… some cutting. There are bittersweet vines growing up in the… in… in the trees.
Ry Patton: But it's gonna be significantly less Ry Patton: Intense chainsaw work, and it will primarily be… Folier spraying. annbarker: Thank you. Montserrat (she/her): I have a question for Scott. Our decision… decisions that we make tonight, does that go for, this year, or for any future work, if it happens in future years? Scott Jackson: Yeah, an order of conditions that we issue is good for 3 years. Scott Jackson: And it can be extended for an additional year, I think 2 diff… two times, so potentially it could go for 5 years.
Montserrat (she/her): Okay, thanks. Scott Jackson: I probably should have asked… Flora, do you… or Richard, do you want to say anything? Flora: I think… Rye pretty much has it covered. Flora: We've done quite a bit of work ourselves, Flora: Mostly hand pulling. So, we've done a lot on the other side of the stream. Flora: And hope to do… do the full length of our frontage. Flora: on our side of the stream, not the road side of the stream. So we'll be working, we have been working.
Flora: And we will continue to do that. Flora: We feel kind of old. Flora: And we're very worried about the embankment between the the stream in Westbrook Road. Flora: And, we have orthopedic problems, and we're very worried about Flora: Potential of slipping and hurting ourselves. Flora: And actually, we feel the same way along Haydenville Road, so, … Flora: We're gonna want help there as well.
Scott Jackson: I also should mention that, Scott Jackson: The Conservation Commission does not have any jurisdiction over pesticides. Scott Jackson: But we do have jurisdiction over the removal of vegetation, so we don't have any say in what kind of pesticides are used, as long as the work is done in compliance with the pesticide regulations issued by the Department of Agricultural Resources. Scott Jackson: So, that's just to sort of clarify our jurisdiction. One of the regulations related to pesticide use is that it has to be applied by somebody who's a licensed pesticide applicator, and that's one way of ensuring, to some degree, that the regulations will be followed.
Scott Jackson: George, I saw you had your hand. George Owens: Yeah, what's your plan for handling cuttings, especially of, knotweed? Ry Patton: The knotweed, we actually aren't planning to cut at all. The knotweed, we find, is primarily best dealt with with a foliar spray. Ry Patton: Cause the… Ry Patton: that's sort of how the knotweed spreads, right? Is it, you know, it falls apart, and then the roots float downstream and are spread. So we find that it's best if you… Ry Patton: Apply a foliar herbicide spray. The plant sort of dies sitting there.
Ry Patton: And loses that ability to propagate once it does decompose and fall apart. George Owens: Thank you. Ry Patton: And, just to go off of Scott's comment, … Ry Patton: Everyone in our company who's going to be working on this, that they are licensed pesticide applicators. Scott Jackson: Other questions or comments from the Commission? Kelly Kowal: Right, I don't remember if you would address this in the NOI, but do you have a time of year in mind for when you're going to be applying the herbicide? Ry Patton: If… We're hoping for September into early October.
Ry Patton: … That is… yeah, we're… ideally, it would be during… September. Ry Patton: We find that you can… Ry Patton: You can treat knotweed effectively kind of going into the fall, as long as it's still green. Ry Patton: It can actually be a little bit more… more effective in the fall, because the plants actively Ry Patton: Sort of going dormant and bringing things down into its root system, so it actually… it can actually translocate the herbicide a little better that way. Ry Patton: But yeah, so we're aiming for a September… treatment, let's see, September… Treatment of cutting and spraying.
Ry Patton: And then, in subsequent years, we would like to do it maybe a little bit earlier in the summer. Ry Patton: We're kind of… we're kind of… we are kind of working up against the… the seasons here, unfortunately. Scott Jackson: Any comments from the public, or anybody else in the meeting? Scott Jackson: or questions. Scott Jackson: Okay. Couple things… to note. One is… Scott Jackson: We did not get a file number from DEP, so we cannot issue an order of conditions until we get the file number.
Scott Jackson: The file number letter will generally contain comments from DEP, and so if there are comments there, or issues that we have not addressed at tonight's meeting, I will get back in touch with you, and … Scott Jackson: You know, if we can get those resolved, then we will issue the order of conditions Scott Jackson: Once all of that is resolved. Scott Jackson: The other thing is, is that there are other regulations that I'm less familiar with, whereby any application of pesticides in a bordering vegetated wetland, or any water body.
Scott Jackson: has to get a separate license from DEP for that application. Scott Jackson: And… Scott Jackson: an order of conditions is one of the requirements for getting the license. So, you may want to contact them and make sure what the procedure is, so that once you get the Scott Jackson: The order from us, you can proceed with acquiring that license in order to do the work. Scott Jackson: … I think that's all I have. Anybody have any other comments or questions before we close the hearing? annbarker: No, I'm all set, thanks.
Scott Jackson: So, just to also clarify that, if DEP comes up with any major concerns that may require us to reopen the hearing. Scott Jackson: In order to consider their concerns and any changes that might need to be made to address their concerns. Scott Jackson: Hopefully that won't happen, and that our order will, will be issued relatively soon. Scott Jackson: So, does anybody on the Commission have any reservations about approving this? Scott Jackson: Notice? George Owens: No, no. Montserrat (she/her): Nope. annbarker: Nope. Scott Jackson: Alright.
Scott Jackson: So, I'd like a vote to close the hearing. All in favor? Andrew: Aye. Montserrat (she/her): And I…. Scott Jackson: And does anybody have any particular conditions that you would like to affix to the order? Scott Jackson: Any special conditions? George Owens: Nope. Andrew: Nope. Montserrat (she/her): All set. Scott Jackson: Okay, well then I will ask for a vote, that the Conservation Commission issue Scott Jackson: An order of conditions that will permit the work without any special conditions. There's a boilerplate of conditions that are already in the form, so all of those will apply, but we will not apply any additional conditions beyond that.
Scott Jackson: All in favor? Andrew: I agree. Scott Jackson: Alright. Scott Jackson: So that… Scott Jackson: wraps it up for tonight. Hopefully, I will write to Mark Stinson and see if he can get me a number tomorrow or Friday so that we can issue the order. And as soon as we do that, we will send that out Scott Jackson: Should I send that to you, Rye? Should I send it to Flora? Who should get the original copy of the… of the order? I can circulate copies of it via email to anybody else who wants it.
Ry Patton: You can send that to me. Scott Jackson: Okay. Scott Jackson: All right, I think we're all set then. Thank you for coming in, and thank you for your presentation. Ry Patton: Alright, thank you, everyone. Montserrat (she/her): Goodnight. Flora: Thank you. Scott Jackson: night. Scott Jackson: Next up, David Powell. We're ready to, to discuss your request for determination of applicability, to improve drainage on your driveway. Scott Jackson: I don't know if you have anything to share in terms of screen sharing, but I'd like to at least give you the floor to describe the situation and talk about what you're proposing to do.
Dave Powell: Sure, thank you. I have a somewhat crudely drawn Dave Powell: site plan that I could share that might help. Scott Jackson: Okay. Scott Jackson: Alright, you are now a co-host. Dave Powell: Okay, thank you. Dave Powell: Okay, can you see that okay? Scott Jackson: Yes. Dave Powell: Alright. Flora: Oops. Dave Powell: … I'm sorry? Scott Jackson: Go ahead, I think just extraneous noise. Dave Powell: So, yeah, my name is David Powell, I reside at 125 Haydenville Road in West Wheatley. Dave Powell: And been here for about 5 years, and unfortunately, we learned pretty quickly that the steepness of our driveway, which is not finished.
Dave Powell: As well as the hill that, abuts the driveway has led to a lot of water that runs over the driveway when it rains, coming down the hill. Dave Powell: That has led to… The driveway getting washed out, fairly regularly, so… What? Dave Powell: We were proposing is to install Dave Powell: 3 pipes running across the width of the driveway. Dave Powell: Can you see my mouse cursor? Dave Powell: Okay, so where these dotted lines are… Crossing the driveway.
Dave Powell: That's the rough location, Dave Powell: That we're trying to pull the water away from the driveway and send it downhill on the other side. Dave Powell: You can see that we're having, riprap installed at the outlets, and we already have some aggregate here lining this side, and I believe the plan is to dig up this side just a little bit more, put some more… Dave Powell: Aggregate in there, but… That's pretty much the extent that the plan is, …
Dave Powell: Installing these 3 pipes to, move the water away from Dave Powell: Avoiding it from running over the driveway, instead running underground. Scott Jackson: Alright, thank you. Scott Jackson: Kelly, you had sent us some photographs. I wonder if you would be willing to share the photographs and sort of walk us through them. Perhaps you and Dave together can narrate the… what we're seeing on the photos. Kelly Kowal: Absolutely. Give me one second here. Kelly Kowal: All right. Kelly Kowal: I'm gonna share my screen… Kelly Kowal: Okay. Kelly Kowal: So these may be a tad out of order, but this is a view kind of going up David's driveway.
Kelly Kowal: You can see the… the substrate making it up is sort of this gravel. Kelly Kowal: And then if you can see my cursor, there's, sort of a swale on the uphill side made out of the aggregate stone, and then to this side, downhill is where the brook is. Kelly Kowal: And I don't know if you can sort of see here, was one of the stakes that marked where I think David wanted to put one of the pipes.
Dave Powell: …. Kelly Kowal: And then down here, you can see it's… the water has eroded it pretty severely. Kelly Kowal: And then I can… oop. Kelly Kowal: Trying to figure out how to switch to the next photo. Scott Jackson: Moving to the right-hand side, there's. Kelly Kowal: Yeah, yeah. I got it. The Zoom was covering it up. Okay. And then this is a downhill view of the driveway. You can see sort of the same, the same kind of thing, how steep the driveway is. Kelly Kowal: And you can see a little bit of this drop off toward the brook.
Kelly Kowal: That's a view of some of the stones that were on the brook side of the driveway. Kelly Kowal: Another view towards the brook. Kelly Kowal: Another view of the erosion and the swale. Kelly Kowal: That's the brook itself. Kelly Kowal: And then there's more of that stone. This is toward the base of the driveway, I think. Kelly Kowal: And just a little bit closer up of a different view of the erosion. Kelly Kowal: More erosion. Kelly Kowal: And view towards the brook with some of that aggregate stone. Scott Jackson: Right, anything you'd like to add, David? Dave Powell: No, I think that about covers it.
Scott Jackson: So, I was not present at the site visit, so I would welcome any, other members of the Commission or… and or Kelly to sort of just Scott Jackson: Sort of give us your opinion about what you think Scott Jackson: You know, what you think of this proposal, what concerns you about it, or whether you have any concerns at all. annbarker: So you are planning to pave this, right, with asphalt? Dave Powell: Yes, sorry, I wasn't trying to withhold that information, I just wasn't sure if it was really pertinent or not. But yes, part of the plan is to also pave this.
annbarker: And do we know the… Kelly, do we know the distance from the driveway to the brook? Kelly Kowal: I didn't measure it. I think it varies. It's closer at the base, obviously, where that, … Kelly Kowal: I think there's a culvert down there. But…. annbarker: It seemed pretty close to the, … Or the runoff. Kelly Kowal: It did seem pretty close. Kelly Kowal: Yeah, because I took this from the base of the driveway. Andrew: We weren't certain, like I said, we're thinking, Scott, if he does capture the runoff in a pipe, is the riprap enough on an outflow to capture any…
Andrew: you know, debris, and just make clean water flow into the stream. We weren't certain on that part, or my… I was uncertain. Scott Jackson: I think that… Scott Jackson: With situations like this, sometimes, like, especially if it were a subdivision road or a shared driveway. Scott Jackson: we might look for something called a level lip spreader, where the water comes out, and instead of just going into a V-shaped channel, it… there's actually sort of a constructed Scott Jackson: Rock surface so that the water gets spread out as it leaves, rather than concentrated in a way that could erode a channel down to the brook.
Scott Jackson: I have not seen the site, so I don't know whether that's an appropriate or even a possible solution there, but that's one way of Scott Jackson: Trying to, you know, eliminate some of the velocity you might get on a real gully washer. Andrew: Well, a point I had brought up is, did we want to have, as a special condition, have a silt fence put on that, Andrew: Bank cyber, they're working just to prevent erosion from going into the stream. Montserrat (she/her): I would agree with that. Andrew: Yeah. Scott Jackson: I guess one question that I would ask, for those of you that have been on the site is.
Scott Jackson: Do you feel like this is something that could be permitted by the Commission without a more detailed plan? Scott Jackson: You know, is this something that… Scott Jackson: You think can be done with common sense? Scott Jackson: And, and… Scott Jackson: Or is… you know, I mean, I know there's a lot of steep slopes here, so that's what I'm just checking to see what… whether you're comfortable with that. annbarker: I would be more comfortable if there was a plan just on how the water's gonna get from one side of the driveway to the other, and then down the hill.
annbarker: How it's not going to flow real hard. annbarker: Down the hill, if there's some way to stop it. Or slow it down, sorry. Andrew: Am I what Maurice. annbarker: My only big concern was that annbarker: That that… we probably would want some detail on how that was going to be handled. Andrew: I would like to say one more, if this was a now impervious surface, how much of the, velocity and flow, if it's supposed to be captured by these pipes, if it skips the pipes, how is that going to be handled, you know? Andrew: If it, you know, doesn't get all captured and it does cause more erosion somewhere, how would that be handled?
Scott Jackson: David, you're welcome to respond to any of these concerns. Dave Powell: Sure, I mean, going back one step, I guess, in order of the silt fence, was that something for during the construction, or is this a permanent request? Montserrat (she/her): Just during the construction, I believe. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Dave Powell: … Dave Powell: As far as reducing the velocity of the water, I believe that's the intent of the riprap, is the suggestion that that might not be enough. Dave Powell: To slow the velocity of the water? Andrew: Yeah, I'm just worried, like I said, now, instead of having the, the loose stone, which, you know, you're gonna have a paved surface, I'm just worried about if it does, you know, jump the aggregate, or if it's just the aggregate's full of debris, what happens, you know? You know, what if, you know?
Dave Powell: Oh, sorry, I was addressing the previous concern about the water ejecting on the far side. Andrew: Oh, I'm sorry, two things, yeah. Dave Powell: Is the riprap not, … is that believed to not be sufficient to slow the velocity of the water? Scott Jackson: Take the rip-rapping. Montserrat (she/her): But it's such a steep site. Montserrat (she/her): I don't know, I would be worried that the riprap wouldn't stay where it was put. Dave Powell: Are there suggestions? Because I… I also… I mean, I'm not an engineer, and it is a steep site, so I'm not sure what…
Dave Powell: What we could really do, what we could put on that side to slow things down, …. Scott Jackson: Yeah, I haven't seen the site. I'm imagining it now from the pictures, but… Scott Jackson: You know, if there was a way to excavate down and create a level surface where the riprap was on a level. Scott Jackson: And then the water was then released over this level area so that it could slow down and then also spread out before it flows down over the bank towards the stream. It's possible that there's not enough room for that, so that's why I say it sort of tentatively.
Scott Jackson: But that's also one of the reasons why I asked the question, is whether this is something that Scott Jackson: Could be… Scott Jackson: Done as a determinate… request for a determination, or whether this is something that should be a notice of intent. Scott Jackson: Where you get the assistance of an engineer to talk about what the inlet is going to be like, to try to address Andrew's question of how do you prevent a really strong rainstorm from just going right past the one inlet and then down to the next one. Scott Jackson: I guess in some ways, it's no worse than what's happening now, which is essentially an unimpeded flow down that… that far side.
Scott Jackson: But also then, you know, have some kind of a well-constructed outlet so that the water can be dispersed and the velocity treated before it gets to the steep part of the bank towards the stream. Andrew: I agree with these guys. Andrew: I think it needs just a hair more, just more engineered plants, because the stream is… Andrew: Just so close to the… Andrew: where we're going to be ejecting the water, I think we just do need some… Andrew: maybe… I don't know if you need, like, detailed plans, but maybe just some advice, you know, to give you some help there, maybe you can get some advice.
Dave Powell: So the request is more detailed plans for, specifically, slowing down the water as it ejects. Dave Powell: And… How to handle the water overflowing some of the inlets? Andrew: Yeah. Scott Jackson: Basically, inlet design and outlet design to make sure that the water goes where it's supposed to go, and that when it comes out the far end of the pipe, that there's a way to ensure that the velocity Scott Jackson: Isn't… and the water's not concentrated in such a way that's gonna create an erosion gully as it goes down the hill.
Scott Jackson: And what we could do is maybe something intermediate. Rather than require a notice of intent, we could just recommend that you come back to us at our next meeting with a more detailed plan, and give you some time to consult with some other folks about… and get some advice over how you would do those design inlets and outlets. Dave Powell: Okay. George Owens: Anyway…. Scott Jackson: That's a suggestion. It's one option. Go ahead, George. George Owens: I have… I share the same concerns. I did go out and see the site with David. George Owens: On, on another evening. George Owens: It's… and I've seen it over the years as it's washed out.
George Owens: Many times, Even before… long before David's been there. George Owens: out into Haydenville Road, which is typically where the flow goes now. George Owens: The driveway itself is pitched, George Owens: Back towards the hill, uphill side a little bit. George Owens: So it's not a perfectly flat… George Owens: driveway going down, so right now, the… I think the bulk of the flow is coming down the driveway and out into Haydenville Road. George Owens: The pipes… That's correct. George Owens: You know, the pipes are going to, … Divert. George Owens: A lot of that flow.
George Owens: If they're successful. Across the driveway and down a very steep hill to the brook. George Owens: I don't… I don't see there being room on that steep side to, to establish any flat areas. I think it'd be very difficult to do. George Owens: But I'd also like to see just… just more detail on… on the uphill side, how that, George Owens: Depression below the swale is going to be modified to feed the pipes. George Owens: And what the pipes are going to be, exactly. I don't have a… George Owens: Sense of what you envision, whether these are 6-inch pipes, or 18-inch culverts, or anything in between?
George Owens: So if we could get that kind of information, too, so we know what's… what's potentially coming through these things. George Owens: And, … How we can kind of protect our armor, the downhill side, for the outflow. George Owens: So that we're not, creating gullies and washing that slope down into the brook there. George Owens: Which feeds that, … that brook feeds into Westbrook through the very large culvert that we just got through a lot of hearings on. George Owens: with the Haydenville Road Reconstruction Project. George Owens: So we don't want to be…
George Owens: Washing that hill down and into that, George Owens: That new culvert that we just, … George Owens: Approved them, then putting in down there as part of that project. George Owens: So, short answer is, yeah, I agree we need more detail on it. It doesn't necessarily have to go to a full NOI, I don't think. George Owens: I think there is probably an intermediate step where you can get some more advice from George Owens: The excavator or an engineer and get a little more detail to us. George Owens: … Just to protect, … Protected… protected all, and so you're not, … …
George Owens: Stuck with installing something that's not going to, … George Owens: Do what you need to do, and it's going to create another problem where you're resolving one. Scott Jackson: Yeah, one other thought, Scott Jackson: Given that it looks like there may not be a lot of room to do some kind of a armored outlet or a level-lip spreader. Scott Jackson: The other strategy is one that's often recommended for forestry roads, which is get the water off the road as often as you can. So, rather than 3 pipes, maybe you could do, you know, a pipe every 50 feet along the road so that there's not an accumulation of a large amount of water.
Scott Jackson: That has to cross at any one place. Scott Jackson: That's going to reduce the erosion on the other side, or the potential for erosion, if you can, you know, just reduce the amount of water that each pipe has to handle. Dave Powell: Okay. Scott Jackson: So, I would say… Scott Jackson: just want to say that the Conservation Commission is sympathetic to what you're doing and supportive. You know, it's not a good thing for you, and it's not a good thing for the water resources to have it flowing down your driveway and washing out.
Dave Powell: Your driveway on a regular basis. Scott Jackson: So, we're very happy that you're going to address this. We just want to make sure that it doesn't create a problem that more directly affects the stream down, you know, down gradient of your driveway. Scott Jackson: And if you could, you know, get a little bit of advice from whoever you can find to talk to, and come back to us with a little bit more detailed description of what you want to do. Scott Jackson: You're taking into account the various input that you've gotten from us tonight. None of us are experts, but we're just sort of throwing out some ideas and expressing our concerns.
Scott Jackson: I think maybe it feels like the Commission would feel more comfortable if we were to see a little bit more detail, and then Scott Jackson: And then vote on the determination, and avoid you having to file a full notice of intent along the way. Dave Powell: Sure, I'd be happy to try to get as much information. This is… Dave Powell: you know, these are good questions that, I appreciate you bringing to me, and along with suggestions. I mean, my only concern is that, unfortunately, I'm not a… Dave Powell: a contractor with deep pockets, so some of the… my concern is, like, I don't know how many pipes I can run down the driveway and still be able to afford this home, but that's not your concern, I guess it's just… there's some practicality involved in, like, how much…
Dave Powell: But anyway…. Andrew: Also, we don't want you to spend all this money trying to fix it, and it doesn't work for you, you know? So…. Dave Powell: Yeah. I mean, we've already redone the thing twice since we moved in, and we're running out of budget, so… anyway. Dave Powell: I will gladly bring this back to… Dave Powell: Carl's, who has, you know, been working on this project, and discussed with them the concerns, and… Dave Powell: I can come back with more details. Scott Jackson: Yeah, that sounds good. I mean, we're also trying to avoid you having the expense of going through the notice of intent process, so we recognize that you have financial constraints. So see what you can do, and you know, we meet on the third Wednesday of each month.
Scott Jackson: … Scott Jackson: So our next meeting would be September 17th. So, we can get you on the agenda for that meeting, and we can revisit this at that time. Dave Powell: That sounds great. Dave Powell: Thank you. Scott Jackson: All right, David, thank you. Scott Jackson: Tom, let me just introduce that Tom wrote to me earlier today with a question. Scott Jackson: And I said, well… well, I didn't actually say it. I thought, good timing, we have a meeting tonight, why don't you bring the question to the full Conservation Commission, and that way you can get a more definitive answer from us, or at least guidance from us about what to do. So, Tom, you have the floor to describe what you're… what you're thinking about.
tlitwin’s iPadTom: As Scott said, I'm Tom Litwin. My wife, Maureen, and I live at 141 Chestnut Plain Road. tlitwin’s iPadTom: We've been here for about 35 years. The main access into our property we're on the… tlitwin’s iPadTom: … tlitwin’s iPadTom: east side of, Chestnut Plain Road. The main access is off of Chestnut Plain Road into our property by way of a tlitwin’s iPadTom: Asphalt driveway. tlitwin’s iPadTom: And the, there's a culvert that runs under a section of the driveway, an 18-inch culvert that runs under a section of the driveway.
tlitwin’s iPadTom: It's about 30 years old now, and that's time to be 40 years old now, and it's about time to be thinking about replacing it, tlitwin’s iPadTom: For health and safety reasons, and just to make sure we've got a good, solid way into the property that holds up under conditions. tlitwin’s iPadTom: So I'm here to find out what's involved. What we would do, it's 26… the pipe… the pipe itself is 26 feet long, 18 inch diameter. tlitwin’s iPadTom: We would take that out, and plug another piece, same dimensions, back in.
tlitwin’s iPadTom: But brand new, and … Reinforced in its placement. tlitwin’s iPadTom: So that's… that's the proposal that we're working on. We wouldn't do any work … tlitwin’s iPadTom: Until next year, maybe. Next dry season. tlitwin’s iPadTom: So it's probably 8 months off. Scott Jackson: Yeah, so, I think most of you may know where Tom's Scott Jackson: property is, but it's just up gradient from the… the Waitley Center Woods property that Kestrel has. Scott Jackson: And we had previously permitted the driveway Crossing for that property.
Scott Jackson: And… Scott Jackson: The stream that runs through your… between the road and your yard there is a very small stream. Scott Jackson: Can't be more than a foot wide, is it? tlitwin’s iPadTom: Yeah, I'm not sure… I'm not sure I would call… I don't know what to call it. tlitwin’s iPadTom: It's part of… it's part of the Chestnut Plain Road drainage system. tlitwin’s iPadTom: Built your drainage system. tlitwin’s iPadTom: So, for… Oh, 10 days, and in a wet spring, it runs water through there.
tlitwin’s iPadTom: And sometimes in the fall. tlitwin’s iPadTom: But it's… I think it's giving you too much credit to call it a stream. tlitwin’s iPadTom: But it's still nonetheless… the culvert gets a lot of, you know, wear and tear from trucks coming and going, your delivery trucks, fuel oil trucks, you name it, you know, whatever you use to maintain your house with. And … tlitwin’s iPadTom: It, … I want to… for peace of mind, I want to make sure that it's in good shape. Scott Jackson: Yeah. No, I get what you're saying. The definition of a stream in the regulations is a defined channel in the ground
Scott Jackson: Where water flows in response to a hydraulic gradient. Scott Jackson: And includes intermittent streams, except for those portions that are up gradient of all wetlands or other water bodies. So, the little bit of wetland vegetation in that swale Scott Jackson: probably makes that technically a stream under the Wetlands Protection Act. Scott Jackson: And generally, there are, you know, expectations about the kind of crossings that you can put on a stream. Scott Jackson: But… Scott Jackson: the way we handled the Kestrel crossing is that, you know, we deemed that there was no aquatic… no potential for aquatic organisms to want to get up gradient.
Scott Jackson: And therefore, the need to create a crossing that could meet the stream crossing standards didn't really apply in that situation. I would… Scott Jackson: maintain that your situation is comparable to that, if not even more so. So, I think it could be something as straightforward as just filing a notice of intent, and just letting us know what size pipe you're gonna put in, you know, and, you know. Scott Jackson: confirm that you're going to do it during the dry season. It'll probably be a relatively simple thing for us to permit without anything onerous that would require you to put in a really large structure or do anything particularly unusual in terms of replacing it.
Scott Jackson: Anyway, that was my feeling about it, but I thought it would be better to bring it before the entire commission to see whether there are other thoughts and opinions from the other board members. tlitwin’s iPadTom: Sure. Andrew: Did we do an RDA, Scott, instead of doing a full NOI, or I think the NOI would just cover more, like, the… if we had to write conditions and stuff? Scott Jackson: That's a possibility, yep. tlitwin’s iPadTom: What was the question? Andrew: I'd set out time to go through the whole NOI process, we could do a determination of a pack of… Andrew: Yeah, applicability? How do I say it? Andrew: How do you say it, Scott?
Scott Jackson: Yeah, there's two filings that people typically file with us. One is a full application for a permit, which is called a notice of intent. And generally, any work that's going to physically alter a resource area goes through that process. Scott Jackson: Then there's a more abbreviated process where you're basically saying, if this is what I want to do, do I really need a permit for this? Scott Jackson: And so it's a way for the Commission to make a formal decision as to whether you do need to go through the full notice of intent process, or whether you can, you know, just…
Scott Jackson: Describe what you want to do in enough detail that we feel secure that it's not going to create problems, and then we waive… we could have the potential to waive the requirement for you to file for a permit. So, Andrew is just suggesting that maybe this is minor enough that we could do that more expedited approach. Scott Jackson: The big difference is there's a fee for a notice of intent, there's no fee for a request for determination. Scott Jackson: The Notice of Intent is a much longer form to fill out, and there's general expectation of more detail, in the plans. The RDA can be done in a much more expedited way.
Andrew: seems like it's just a simple, like you said, it's got a simple… just replace one-on-one replacement of, you know, he's put the same culvert, same spot, minimal disturbance, so that seems more ideal to me, I don't know. tlitwin’s iPadTom: I should add, too, that, just to the upside of the creek, or whatever you want to call it. tlitwin’s iPadTom: … tlitwin’s iPadTom: There's a telephone pole which feeds the power lines and the communication lines to the house, which go underneath the culvert and the
tlitwin’s iPadTom: The streamlining. tlitwin’s iPadTom: So, there's a little industrial flavor to the spot also. Scott Jackson: Yes. Scott Jackson: So, … And George, Monty, you have any thoughts? Kelly? annbarker: I'm okay with what Andrew suggested. Montserrat (she/her): With the… with the RGA. annbarker: Yeah, if it's just a replacement. Montserrat (she/her): of the same thing that's there, same size and everything, I'm okay with that. George Owens: Yep. George Owens: Yep. Scott Jackson: Okay. Scott Jackson: I can live with that. Kelly, any thoughts? Kelly Kowal: I feel like I always would err on the safer side for things that have work in water, but obviously I would defer to what the rest of the Commission would like to see, so if
Kelly Kowal: everyone thinks an RDA is okay, and that's fine with me. Scott Jackson: I think we'll find that DEP feels the same way, and we'll have to convince Mark Stinson that this is okay. But we were able to do it with the Kestrel crossing by just bringing Mark out and saying, take a look at this, Mark. Where are the fish gonna go? Scott Jackson: There's no place for them to go once they get across the road. Montserrat (she/her): Isn't it… isn't this spot pretty much right next to that? Andrew: It is, yeah. Scott Jackson: Yep. tlitwin’s iPadTom: And in… in between…
tlitwin’s iPadTom: our culvert and Kestrel's culvert, there's another culvert, a larger culvert, that crosses under Chestnut Plain Road and dumps into tlitwin’s iPadTom: The gorge, if you will, that's between the two properties. tlitwin’s iPadTom: Right. tlitwin’s iPadTom: It'd be a rough neighborhood for a fish to live in. Scott Jackson: Yeah. The Kestrel Culvert is actually… needs… is bigger than what Tom's Culvert is, because it only… it deals with both of those tributaries, whereas Tom only deals with one, and.
tlitwin’s iPadTom: Okay. Scott Jackson: the smaller of the two, I think. Because that stream goes… Scott Jackson: Doesn't even go as far as the one on the other side of the road in terms of how far up gradient it goes before it peters out. Scott Jackson: Well, last time we went through this. Scott Jackson: you know, and Mark Stinson works for DEP, and they always send us the file letters with comments about what they like or dislike about the project. Scott Jackson: And so, when I talked to him, and he was trying to say, well, they have to meet the stream crossing standards, they have to do this and that, I said, can we get you up here to take a look at it, Mark? And I think once he looked at it, he realized that it… that would have been overkill. And so, if we need to, we'll get him up here again. But it sounds like
Scott Jackson: the Commission is pretty comfortable with you. Scott Jackson: submitting that RDA, and if you have questions about, you know, I can send you the form. It's relatively simple to fill out. You can do hand-drawn sketch maps, or you can use a Google map or something like that to try to represent what Scott Jackson: What the area is and what you intend to do. Scott Jackson: And it doesn't require an engineering stamp or anything like that, an engineer's stamp. tlitwin’s iPadTom: And I should add, anybody would like to pull in the driveway and look, it's right there. It's right back ahead of the driveway.
tlitwin’s iPadTom: And the safe markings are on the ground. I had them come… I needed them to find out about the cables come… cutting through the area and where they were, so I had them come in first to understand what we were dealing with in terms of power lines, buried power lines. tlitwin’s iPadTom: And that's… that's already marked out by DigSafe. George Owens: Okay. Scott Jackson: I mean, once you file the RDA, we'll come out for a site visit, you know, we'll schedule that with you, just to take a formal look at it. Scott Jackson: And, you know, there's… there's all kinds of timeline things, you know, there's gonna need to be… you have to put an ad in the newspaper, we'll write the ad for you, but then you submit it to the Greenfield Recorder. Generally, the last I knew, they were running at a little over $100 for a legal ad.
Scott Jackson: And then, you know, then we'll do a site visit, and then we'll make a decision at the next public meeting after that. tlitwin’s iPadTom: Appreciate your help. Scott Jackson: All right, Tom. Well, I'll send you the forms, probably tomorrow morning, and that way you'll have them for whenever you feel like Scott Jackson: putting it together. And you can always come back to either me or Kelly if you have questions. Scott Jackson: By the way, Tom, this is, Kelly Cole. She's our, our, conservation Scott Jackson: agent now. So, we now share an agent with 4 other towns, just so that we can get a little bit of expertise and a little bit of help with our work.
tlitwin’s iPadTom: Kelly's… Kelly's gonna be busy. Kelly Kowal: Oh, yes, you believe I am. tlitwin’s iPadTom: Okay, alright. Scott Jackson: Thank you, Tom. tlitwin’s iPadTom: Thanks very much. Scott Jackson: Alright. Scott Jackson: Have a good night. tlitwin’s iPadTom: Good night. Scott Jackson: Alright, so one other piece of other business is this, … Scott Jackson: right of first refusal. So, there's… there's a proper… I think I sent that out earlier this last week, … Scott Jackson: the… there's a big piece of property, and just a very small piece of it is they want to transfer to the neighbor. There's apparently no intention to build on that other piece, but…
Scott Jackson: It's a relatively small piece, it doesn't have any particular natural resource value in terms of what's in the maps. Scott Jackson: And the question is, do we want Scott Jackson: Do we want to ask the town to exercise its right of first refusal to try to acquire it as conservation land, or are we comfortable with the Select Board signing off on that right? Scott Jackson: Go ahead, George. George Owens: I'm comfortable. We had actually done a sidewalk at the, acquiring property, when he was, … George Owens: I bet, you know, beginning to plan putting an extension on the, on the… Rear of the house.
annbarker: Yeah. George Owens: Didn't have enough room. George Owens: So he was buying a, … George Owens: making a deal with the Sandersons to acquire a little strip of land so he had enough George Owens: And back of the place for a legal setback. Scott Jackson: The extension and deck he's putting on. Scott Jackson: Yeah. George Owens: So, we've seen the property, and I've got no objection to that. It sounds like a…. Montserrat (she/her): I agree. annbarker: I agree. George Owens: along with. Andrew: There's no way, there's no reason to try to acquire it, it's just such a simple land transfer fee. Scott Jackson: Yeah, thanks for the extra detail, George, and yeah, that was my thinking as well. It seems like a pretty minor thing.
Scott Jackson: So, without objection, I'll report back to this town administrator that we have no interest in the town acquiring the property, that… or no objection to them waiving the right of first refusal, and then it'll kick it back into the select board's lap. Scott Jackson: All right, no objections, so we'll consider that settled. Any other business or any other news? George, you said you had an update from the battery storage Scott Jackson: By-law task force there. George Owens: Yeah, the, …
George Owens: General By-law went to the Select Board for approval. It did not have to go through the, Planning Board. They're holding it until the planning board George Owens: Works through what they need to do with the zoning by-law. George Owens: … That, … George Owens: had been kind of stalled for 3 months, I think. Judy and I attended the last planning board meeting. George Owens: And, pushed a bit of that. George Owens: Subsequently, Pete, … Did send the, both bylaws to Town Council for review.
George Owens: … So, I think that may move along more quickly now, … There is, … George Owens: A feeling of more urgency on the part of some of the other planning board members, beyond the chair. George Owens: To get something in place through town meeting, and probably a special town meeting. George Owens: That will, … Provide the town with some protection that we don't have right now. George Owens: These, … Battery storage systems are… are… are coming, and… George Owens: Need to be there, but they… we also need to be…
George Owens: Certain that the town's safe, that the aquifer's safe. George Owens: Adley is facing a situation right now where a developer wants to put in a George Owens: Big solar field in back of, Home Depot. George Owens: field back there by Elaine Manor, George Owens: I forget the name of that road. George Owens: comes down through there. At any rate, they, … George Owens: Have nothing in their solar bylaw that, George Owens: Covers the battery storage system that the developer wants to put in associated with that. George Owens: But the area is right on top of their aquifer.
George Owens: So there's a lot of concern now, and they're having to go back and, … George Owens: Scramble a bit to, figure out how they're gonna handle that. George Owens: And protect the aquifer. George Owens: That's one of the things we're trying to address in the, George Owens: And the work we had done with that committee, and … So that's, … George Owens: being pushed along now, and there's another planning board meeting, I think Thursday. George Owens: that, … That, Judy Marklin and I will both probably come into via Zoom.
George Owens: So…. Scott Jackson: Yeah, great. Thanks, George. Thanks for, your participation on that committee. Sounds like really important work. George Owens: Yeah, it's been a good committee, and we've done a lot of research and looked at a lot of… a lot of… George Owens: background and pulled in a lot of resources. George Owens: the, DOER now has a new division of, George Owens: Of, clean energy siting and permitting. George Owens: … Which has an executive director and 4 regional directors. George Owens: The regional director out here is Allison Gage.
George Owens: who, … was with FRCOG. George Owens: And who we pulled in to a couple of our meetings to review what we were doing and give us her perspective and feedback. George Owens: So we're tied into that, at the state level now, too. George Owens: And, and have, have someone who's, who knows what we've been doing and looked at that, and, George Owens: They're supposed to be coming up with draft regulations in September. George Owens: So, we're hoping that our work with Allison George Owens: In her previous job, informs, as far as we can, what they do at the state level in regulation.
George Owens: So…. Scott Jackson: Good. George Owens: Okay. Scott Jackson: Any other business? Any other news? annbarker: Nope. Scott Jackson: Alright, well… Scott Jackson: This is a longer meeting than we're used to having, but it was a good meeting, good… good participation. Scott Jackson: … I will take… Scott Jackson: Two out of these three things and prepare the paperwork and drop them at the town offices tonight so that they're there tomorrow for signatures. Scott Jackson: Kelly, can you pick up the paperwork and then send it out, to the, to the applicants for me, and…
Scott Jackson: And just, … Dude. Scott Jackson: Yeah, I guess that's all. I mean, it's… Scott Jackson: I'm still trying to get used to having somebody to help with all of this work, but it was really particularly helpful while I was away. I want to thank you, Kelly, for Scott Jackson: For really taking charge of some of this stuff, and really putting… Scott Jackson: putting a little more efficiency into the way we operate. And so, thanks. Kelly Kowal: Yeah, of course, happy to help. If the last person who signs wouldn't mind just letting me know when… when you've got your signature in, and then I'll go grab it.
Scott Jackson: Oh, and just one other thing is I noticed there's still one set of open space … Scott Jackson: packets, one open space packet, and this… so it's… I assume one of you hasn't picked it up yet. So when you go to sign the paper…. Scott Jackson: Yeah, open meeting, packet. Not open space, right? Open meeting. So, if you haven't picked yours up, please pick it up and sign the slip and put it in, in Amy LaBalley's, mailbox. That would be appreciated.
Scott Jackson: All right, if there's nothing else, we can adjourn the meeting. Montserrat (she/her): Two things. Scott Jackson: Oh, okay. Montserrat (she/her): When do we need to approve the minutes? Scott Jackson: Oh, yes, you're right. Scott Jackson: Alright. What's the second thing? Montserrat (she/her): The second thing is, Kelly, do you mind, if… would you mind sharing your phone number so we can text you if we have signed, if I'm the last person to sign, or if you would rather not do that, I'll use email, it's fine. Kelly Kowal: Oh yeah, of course. If you look at the bottom of my email signature, the number that's there is my work cell phone, so if you text that… Okay, thank you.
Montserrat (she/her): Okay. Scott Jackson: I think it's on the website, too, for the Conservation Commission. Pete told me he was going to put Kelly's contact information there, so… and she's been getting a lot of calls. Kelly Kowal: I think it must be there. Scott Jackson: More so than I am now these… nowadays, yeah. Scott Jackson: All right, so, minutes. Anybody see anything that needs to be changed or corrected from the minutes, the draft minutes? annbarker: Nope. Montserrat (she/her): Nope, they're fine. George Owens: Looked good. Hmm. Scott Jackson: Alright, all in favor of approving the minutes? Andrew: Aye. annbarker: Right.
Scott Jackson: Got it. Scott Jackson: Thank you. Scott Jackson: Alright, I think we're finished. Scott Jackson: Good night, everybody, and thank you so much. George Owens: Yay, goodnight.