Welcome. Today is the September 23rd, 2025 Greenfield Conservation Commission meeting uh held via hybrid meeting from the Johnz on Community Center and Zoom. Um
this meeting is being recorded by the green by the conservation commission. If any other persons present are doing the same, you must notify the chairperson at this time. Hearing nobody else, I'm assuming this is the only record.
Um, uh, I guess we'll call the meeting to order for today. Um, let's do a quick roll call. We'll start with the virtual attendees. Travis Can you say that again, Travis?
Oh, we can't hear you. Still can't hear you. I feel like I heard you before. I know. Me, too. Try the audio button. There's a little up arrow next to it. Maybe you have to change the settings. I don't know about you, but I have like three different settings.
Technical difficulties on Travis. All right, we'll start with in person. Um, Emily, hi. And Erica, hi. I am also present. And we're coming back to you, Travis. Travis, can you hear us?
Okay. Okay. Still no volume. That's so strange. Did you try the little arrow next to the audio button on your lower left screen and try to toggle between the different microphone and speaker options? Sometimes whenever I unplug my laptop,
like if I'm going to a concom meeting in person or whatever, when I plug it back in, all my settings are mixed up. Feeling that you might want to just log out and log back in. Well, we do have a quorum with three, but still he's present. We should rec recognize that, right?
Yep. We take a signal for him or Yeah. Do we have to have verbal Travis, you're the expert on administrative matter. That was Well, that's because Gotcha. I'm using that.
I think he's using his phone. There you go. I can't hear you. I see your lips moving, but I can't hear you. Are the phone numbers not correct on the It should be correct. I feel like I logged in from the um
the agenda that you circulated showing up two times. You should show up. Yeah. Yeah. You're not showing up on the um Oh. Oh, wait. Yeah. Log out. Yeah, cuz it was working before. Um let me just
I don't think I can do that. I mean, I feel like those numbers should be correct. Well, like I said, the agenda that you circulated via email this afternoon worked for me. Yeah, I was Yeah, the phone numbers. Um because I
updated all the phone numbers when I because we were having like issues with the agenda link back in when I first started and I like updated all of them. I feel like they should work, but if his aren't working, that's troubling. Still can't hear you. We see your lips
moving. Most people when you said hi to him and he didn't answer. No, he he said stuff in the beginning. Yeah, we did a sound check before we started recording. Maybe try a different phone number this time.
I don't know why. Or could you log in through your phone? Maybe through the uh web app. Yeah, as long as on mute it won't echo. And then you'll have video on one and audio on the other.
Yeah, because we know the link works. Um, clearly I'm going to have to double check the phone numbers tomorrow. Oh, you could hear us on the phone. That's bizarre.
We should then we should be able to hear him. And I was unmuted. Are you in some sort of vacuum at home? Yeah. Could we could we say that he joins later in the meeting so we can progress
with business? Okay. Um Okay. So Travis is present but uh we cannot hear his voice so he will join the meeting as he addresses technical difficulties later. Um looking at the agenda the first uh
order of business is approval of meeting minutes from the last meeting which was September 9th 2025. Um, I guess we'll do a roll call to approve or deny that and then we'll take comments after.
Um, anyone want to make a motion to approve the meeting minutes from September 9th? I'll make a motion to approve the meeting minutes from September 9th. I'll second. Great. Um, I will do an in-person vote
first since our online person is quiet. I have I have a couple of um questions or corrections. Yeah. We'll get to that in a second. Um, so all in favor of approving the minutes. Um, Emily, um, I just have a couple of I I think we
need to we need to do the do the comments first because once we vote, we can't make any changes. Oh, okay. I thought it was the other way around. I had a bunch of comments as well. I think Oh, I mean, I think that's the way I think that makes sense to me. Make any changes. Sure. Whatever. Whatever works. Yep.
Cool. Okay. Lots of comments. Um, Emily. All right. Um, Kristen um had not been present at the session before the last one where we talked about the Stone
Lane Y project. That's right. And um it was made note of that, but I I didn't notice that it made note that you had watched the video and done the whole thing. Yeah. So, the Mullins the Mullins Mullins roll. Yep. Thank you for noticing. Elizabeth did the same
thing, right? I think she did for one of the sessions. I don't remember. But for the pre Yeah. For not for that one. Okay. Yeah. So, I just wanted to make sure we had in the record Yes. that people were had done those things. Okay. Especially given that this was the final
vote. So, that um there's no question. Yes. Totally. Um and then Travis, it was noted that he recused himself and left the room and then in the the vote itself, it just left him out. Yeah. And I wasn't sure if that was the way we usually do it or if we say Travis recused there as well. So
that's a good point. Yeah. And then we have to say Travis returned or just because later on just talks about him saying stuff but that's actually a good point because usually Oh, is that you? Hey. Yeah. Now I'm on Zoom on my phone.
That seems to work. We can hear you. That's great. Yeah. I was going to say it probably would be good to have like when I came back to the meeting in there explicitly just so people know that I was participating in those other things. Okay.
And do we want to put you down Travis for recused? I wouldn't hurt to put it by the vote. Yeah, that's usually what I've done in the past. Yeah. Okay.
That's it for me. I had like six comments, but they're really minor stuff. Okay, I'm ready. Oh, they're already in the Google doc. I don't think we need Okay, we don't have to like say it. Yeah, I guess we don't have to say it, right?
Because it'll be posted. Yeah, they're just like minor edits. Um, I put one into it that was minor. Okay. Right. Okay. So, um we have noting the Kristen did the Mullen's form and all that that
when Travis comes back into the room after the vote and then um just saying that uh during like when I record the the vote answers that Travis is got and and if it makes sense to note that Elizabeth had also done the molds for
the sessions that she hadn't have attended. Um if it's not if it's already in the prior minutes then probably we don't need to know. Okay. Yeah. So check but just check because we want to make sure that it's clear that we all had done due diligence in terms of getting um up to speed.
Okay. Cool. And actually there is one comment that I should probably just address this this section right here. So about the the the SWIP inspections. I just wanted to be clear what what I was saying is correctly conveyed in the special
conditions. Um so this is my comment. So just to reiterate my suggestion was that third party SWIP inspection reports or inspections and reports would be sent to the commission weekly and or after a rain event exceeding a quarter inch of
rain and that the commission has the has the uh ability to approve that inspector. And the intention is that it would be somebody such as like a certified erosion sediment and storm water inspector. Yeah. That that like or it could be administratively approved, but I just wanted to make sure that was
clear that it's not just like, you know, the contractor foreman or whoever that it's like a real or something. Okay. I did get that in the order of conditions. Um, and I'll be more specific in the minutes, but I do want
to clarify cuz you do want them weekly and after rain events like like if there's a rain event on a Tuesday, you would want to report, but you'd still want it on the Friday, too, right? No. If there's So, if there's a dry
week, they would do a weekly inspection, but if we get a quarter inch of rain or more, that would constitute the weekly inspection. Oh, I see. Okay. So yeah, it's like or or you know, whatever. I mean, honestly, a quarter inch of rain is a pretty small amount of precipitation. That's a pretty low threshold.
Yeah. Um so sometimes they're doing more than one inspection in a week and that's totally fine. We want more eyes on that site. It's really topographic. So yeah, that was what I was thinking.
Okay, great. Great. Thank you. And the rest of my stuff was just like really minor stuff. I don't think it really needs to be discussed. It's like, you know, grammar. Yeah, exactly. And you had some that were grammar also,
Erica, but they're on the form. So, just Yeah, it was just one. We're missing word. Okay, great. I'm all set. No more comments. Travis, did you have any comments beyond recusal? Uh, no. I didn't have anything else.
Okay. All right. So, are we ready to go back to that motion? So, with the with the updates. Yeah. So, we had we had a motion to approve the minutes. Do we have a second? I can't remember. Yes. Yeah.
Okay. So, we have a motion and a second to approve the meeting minutes from September 9th, 2025 with corrections made. Um, let's do a roll call starting with you, Travis. I, uh, I'm also an I cuz I'm remote. Uh, Erica,
I. And Emily, I. Okay, motion passes. Uh, next item on the agenda is new business. We have no hearings on the agenda today, so we just have new
business and old business. We can just jump right into new business. Um, notice of intent to release to request release of funds for the city's fiscal year 2025 community development block grant CDBG projects.
The city of Greenfield Department of Community and Economic Development will submit a request to the Mass Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities for the release of CDBG funds under their title one for the housing and community development act of
1974 uh to undertake projects known as housing rehab rehabilitation program, low and moderate income neighborhood sidewalk replacements and five public social services programs. The commission will review the locations of three
proposed sidewalk reconstruction projects and issue comments if any. Okay. So, um yeah, I received the notice of intent. Um and they just wanted to see if you had
any uh comments that you wanted to submit. I could share my screen, but there's um three different locations. One on Hope Street, one on Chapman Street, and one on Elm Street. And I can bring it up. I also did the Ark map. Um,
yeah. So, why don't I just start with the map they provided and Okay, so this is the Hope Street location. Um
here's Deerfield on the left going kind of straight down and Washington where Washington kind of comes down the hill. Um so this is on the other side I think on the other side of those railroad tracks right and it's just this little strip right here.
So now I will bring up the ark map. So the resource areas are on the screen. Um uh so here's Deerfield on the left. You can see the Green River and the
riverfront area. There's a wetland on, you know, the western side of those railroad tracks. Um and then yeah, so it's over here and there's no mapped resource areas. So that's one one spot. Uh the next spot
was Chapman. Um this is the map they provided and um I will bring up the map I did. Okay, here actually I need to go back to
get a better sorry orient myself. So it's this red strip. You can see kind of the block street pattern uh to the east. Okay. So it's like that whole stretch of the road and so arc map. So it's this whole
stretch of the road right here. See the neighborhoods to the east and there's some mapped wetlands over here. It's very residential right there. So that's the Chapman location. And then the final proposed location is on Elm
Street. And it's this little strip here where Grove Street comes in. Um, and you can see, I believe that's the Green River to the west way in the
distance. And if you bring up the arc map, Green River to the west, there's, you know, all sorts of resource areas and priority and estimated habitat that come up to the edge of the parcels. And
then this strip where my cursor is is the sidewalk they're proposing or um the sidewalk renovation they're proposing. So, this is um is it all sidewalk renovation? Yeah, all all three locations are proposed sidewalk rehab.
Okay. So, they're not changing the how big they are or anything. Um let me bring up the the letter footprint. Yeah, my understanding is they're just re they're making them
better than what they are. Um, so see it doesn't look like anything is in jurisdiction, but nothing is in jurisdiction. I mean, we didn't confirm there there aren't any culverts or anything like that, but I think the
I think that as long as they're not expanding or widening the existing footprint of the existing sidewalk, it's technically exempt. Kind of what I was thinking. Yeah, it says sidewalk replacements.
As long as it's not widening or expanding on the footprint, I think that's exempted. I'm going to just try to find the citation really quick. Okay, Kristen, I I was looking for that in the Wetlands Protection Act and um it that's
definitely how it is for roads, but I like the word sidewalk is not in the Wetlands Protection Act at all doing a fine. And I'm not sure what else it would be under. I guess footpath maybe. Yeah, I I'm pretty sure that it's it's
the case for any lawfully developed, you know, pedestrian or vehicular roadway. But is isn't this what came up when we were doing the um chief side when they wanted to put in sidewalks and
what that's what we were talking about how doesn't change the footprint. Was was that what was I the agent then? I I don't really recall that. I don't know. I wonder when the permissions were done for the sidewalks that were um in my
neighborhood because I don't remember. I was talking about I was going to say that didn't come by us. That one didn't come by us. Maybe there weren't jurisdictional areas over there. Yeah, but there aren't pretty dry. Yeah, intermittent streams um should be coming
up on the layers. I have there was there was like a loop on that very first map. Well, not no Elm Street. Um, but there the one they sent. The one they sent the one they sent. Yeah. It had like a little blue stream like thing.
Oh, that's um here. I'll share my screen. Hold on. Did that work? This up here? Yeah. Yeah. So that is that's the only thing I didn't know if it would be, you know, 200 feet.
It is for sure because that's like got the the whole par. Well, first off, those those are are a bit north of where the project ends, but the parcel length is definitely. Um but let me yeah so that
would be like in this zone but yeah they're not they're not showing up aside from any jurisdictional you know which doesn't look like there is any um issues uh one of the things that just in discussing the sidewalk project that was
done on on um Lincoln the they did receding after and it's pretty weedy native I don't know that there is a native grass that would be the right thing but um and I'm not sure that we
have any say in what they do but that that is the one thing that came up in that that that project that just it you know all of us who live there are left with this you know stuff that you have to deal with now that is definitely changing the composition of the the turf that we had.
Okay. Um so I don't know if you have any recommendations or Kristen you have any thoughts or it's not our jurisdiction. We can't force them to do anything. Yes, that's my understanding. We can make recommendations, but they don't have to take it. Yeah, just recommendations.
Yeah, I think was when they came up with the school being sold and we just gave some, right? Please use native. Yeah, they requested like if if you had any comments you wanted to. So, I think as a comment like could you please try and use something native?
Yeah. So the um native the when we request uh like seeding of exposed soil, we usually say a conservation seed mix, but is that like what is that? But don't really appropriate for grass,
right? Right. Right. So I'm not really Yeah. And the conservation seed mix, I will just say if you're talking about like a conservation seed mix from like New England Wild Plants, it's about $200 for a 20 20 pound bag. I don't think that that's practical for DPW. No. Um
Well, you think they at least just use regular grass seed instead. Yeah. Like not digitaria. Yeah. Yeah. Um Yeah. Like a like a native poa or something. Probably probably is. Yeah.
Well, if we have any I I don't sadly have any recommendations about what grass species would be better, but if any of us have experience and would like to include that as our comments that that that's the only thing that I think would be helpful. Yeah, I think it's a great comment, but I I I
would want to be a little more specific so that they know what we're talking about. What was the species they used, Kristen? You Oh, I was saying digitaria bad, poa good. Um, beyond that, I'm sure they're just going
to use like a mass DOT road and shoulder. I'm sure they will. Seat mix, but at least we could comment that much. We have a comment here. Oh, there's a Stephanie wants to know which side of the sidewalk it's proposed.
Um, is it both sides? What is she said? Something about the the side of the road. Let me see. Southside would need widening to be 88 AD 88 compliant. Oh, that's a good point. For homes across from the fish
from the fish. I'm not sure what the rest of her comment is. Street. Uh, which street are you referencing, Stephanie? Deerfield Street. I didn't know if that was on the side.
Oh, no. Um, it's not on Deerfield. it. The three streets are Hope Street, Chapman Street, and Elm Street. Okay. And then so where on Chapman? So Chapman, let me bring it up. Um, so they didn't specify which side. They
just they just have a They did both sides on Lincoln. When they did Lincoln, they did both sides. I I'm just wondering about this. There's actually there's a reason why there's a narrowing of our sidewalk on Chapman
because of um it it's an enormous tree that has overtaken the whole area. So, there might be some considerations, you know, about that area. I don't know where specifically, but there are some concerns with trees that are actually um
encroaching across the walkways. Thank you. Okay. Thanks. Just to return to the comment before where I was going to look for the citation. So there is no citation on if you know there's infrastructure improvement. It's outside of our
jurisdiction because it's outside of our jurisdiction. But under 10.02 O2 under activities within buffer zone. This would be considered like a if it was in jurisdiction, which it sounds like it's not. It would be considered um minor um
so minor activities within buffer zone that are, you know, not substantially increasing um existing impervious surface area would be exempt or approved under minor buffer zone
activity. So, just if it were in jurisdiction, which it sounds like it's not. Okay, that's good to know. Um, okay. So, as far as comments, we don't really have any comments because
we're not going to do the grass. Yeah. Yeah, that would be the only thing would be to It's significant. It made a big difference for me and for everybody on our street if if all we can do is comment and say we pre you know this species might be more preferable than that.
But what species is I guess because I thought we didn't Kristen had two species of grass. I would say not digitaria and preferably hoa and then just reiterate the importance of not can you type it in the chat?
Yeah. Okay. I know one part, but you can add it as the minute. Yeah, because I I don't know totally what you're saying. Digit digitaria. I got that part. Digitaria, but the other one I don't think
not digitaria. Yes to I'm sorry I can't spell. Um and then just Yeah. So like no digitaria. That's crabrass, right? Nobody likes crab grass. It It's the worst. It's the pits. It doesn't
you said it's easy to weed. I've been Yeah. But it grows for one year and then dies and it's, you know, it's it's not long-term persistent. Um Okay. But also just like reiterate the need for or the the condition that like, you
know, as long as there's no expansion of the existing footprint. Okay. Got it. And and to what I was going to say and to Stephanie's comment, I mean, if it's going to involve any tree removal, then we probably need to revisit it maybe, right? I mean, well, it's still
outside the tree um gu what is it? Tree warden in town. So, that could be a comment like if if it involves tree removal, please re Yeah, consult the tree warden. Especially because I think I know the tree and it is a really big nice tree.
So involving the tree warden is the is the appropriate way to deal with that and um and there um if there's a need for a replacement tree um the tree connect um could provide that for
yeah it's nice to have the city replace trees on the green belt it's um reduces thermal loading and it creates curb appeal for real estate value it's it's Bueno. Okay, got it. I will do that. I'll
submit those comments. Just comments. I think those are great comments. Okay. Um, shall I move on to invasive species on the next new business agenda item?
Yeah. So, the next uh item on the agenda is invasive species. the mile a minute bine cited on Highland Avenue uh agent to show pictures and inform the commission about removal efforts. Yeah. So, I received an email from
someone who works at Furcog that um was just on a walk casually and spotted it. And I guess um there's a website that um here I'll bring up the I'll bring up
well here I'm going to bring up the um flyer first cuz this is what was provided to me. I've actually never seen it in person. Well that's um so that was interesting. So this is
how you identify it. Um it's very very triangle leaves. They're little uh curved barbs along the stem. Um it has these blue cluster berry fruit
deals and then um these disc circular leaves along the nodes of the stem. And it can grow up to six inches in a day which is crazy. That's not from the south that what' you say? Oh, it's not from the
south. It's from Asia. Maybe it's working its way up from the south. I don't know. But um the um if it has all three of the traits, the triangle leaves, the barbs, and that circular disc saucer shaped
leaves, um then the um Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources want you to report it. And you can go to this link at the bottom and you can see they have mapped occurrences across the state. They're trying really hard to
eradicate it. And in Greenfield, there wasn't any since 2020. But when I reported it, I found out there actually is one occurrence, well, only one other occurrence in Greenfield. So, um, that's being monitored by Carol
Frost. Um, she works for Natural Heritage. Yes, exactly. Uh anyway, so she came out and met me and um we what' you say? Put that flyer in our folder.
It's in the folder. It is in the folder that's linked for this meeting. So um this was it so you can see it. Oh yeah. Very And Carol confirmed that is the species the target species.
Yes. She came out and met me and we pulled it. That's very together. Okay, cool. And um yeah, so you see the Yeah, the triangle leaves. It had the barbs. You can even see the circular. You see those?
Um and this So this whole patch right here, you can kind of tell cuz it's like yellowish green. So you can sort of see how it climbs up the Yeah. Yeah. That was only one stem, like one one root. Um, so we went through and we
So you can Yeah, you can see it like up here. Um, there was some fruits, but they hadn't turned blue yet, which is great. So you can see the fruits here. I don't know if you can see my cursor online, but there's so they were still green. And um, she
collected the fruits and burns them to be sure. And then um, yeah, so that was before. And then um that's after. So, yay.
Yay. Yep. So, anyway, I also I just this or can you this? When was this? Oh, it was on Highland. Oh, okay. Yeah. And the person who reported it walks there regularly and said, you know, they keep an eye on it. And then
Carol also um was going to continue to monitor. And then als I I I fly the homes in the area with with these the flyers that I just showed you guys um so that you know people could stay vigilant. And
the person that was walking with Carol or walking with um the person at Furcog that reported it um walked by while we were doing that and they're like, "Yay!" Yeah. So it was it was really encouraging to see like an instant before and after.
Yeah. like tangible and nice that some of the citizens are paying attention. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. So, anyway, that was that was a win for the week. Cool.
Um All right. Shall I move on? Old business. Resilient Deerfield River Watershed Coalition update. Emily and the agent that I got to attend.
You've been um attending right along have. Yes. So, I've been doing it since the inception of the coalition. Um and their goal is to create a watershed uh a Deerfield watershedwide model flood
model. And um they're really kind of aiming to do what the Charles River Watershed uh co coalition or yeah association I'm probably getting that wrong but um it is the Charles River and they're um
uh part of it was um oh mapping like flood predictive flood patterns based on you know various um things like obviously like elevation topography, but also um compromised
infrastructure like coverts and um uh bridges that need repair um various various things. And then there's like Oh gosh. Um thanks. Um,
yeah. So, I I'd come before the commission like a couple months ago asking for places around Greenfield that, you know, might qualify. And so, I I'd submitted it to uh Furcog for this model. And then this last meeting um was
partners that um they wanted to to you know incor and incorporate I guess into this whole um model construction. And so Emily was there uh with Franklin Land Trust and a
lot of other people. There was it was a big meeting and it was really cool because everyone kind of said what they do in regards to working with the watershed and it was very inspiring I thought to hear about all the different work within the water wershed within various aspects you know like native
plants and dam removal and all this different stuff. So anyway and there was staff from Vermont so it was crossing state boundaries too you know based on the watershed. So yeah I was very happy to be part of it. um sort of fits with
some of my work particularly at Franklin Land Trust with waterways and um and I'll be working with Furkog on some of the the efforts about community engagement for this kind of mapping. Um so it was
very informative. Um I had two interns with me and they took a lot of notes and there was many many many partners there, state agents and um private organizations, nonprofits and um and it was really great to get to meet the the um municipal agents and the other
partners who've been working on this. So um I'm very concerned about the flood risk in Greenfield. Um, I know the public is I we've had comments in the past from from um from Stephanie and and others um about
the risks that we're dealing with. Um and uh so I'm really glad that there's this broad effort to uh address it and to come up with some plans and and um you know the the mapping that we have presently is pretty minimal. you know,
there's FEMA flood maps and there's little updating um for our region um and little attention often because we're so lightly populated. Um, so having a model that can give us more information based
on more current storms and flooding, um, I think is really, really positive for our little community that doesn't have a lot. Um, you know, all of our small communities can work together to get a better sense of how we can be more flood resilient.
Yeah. And um I did take a couple notes when various partners were giving their um the the information about what they were doing in the watershed. And there was uh one person from the Connecticut River Consery that
is part of um a tree replanting um effort. Uh, I think some utility companies wanted to replant trees um as a means of offsetting I I think utility corridor areas. And so
they were looking for um potential areas to replant trees. And so I thought that might be a cool thing for the commission to maybe throw in their two cents if they knew of an area that could use uh trees in Greenfield.
Yeah, Miller's Meadow. Yeah, Miller's Meadow. There you go. Yeah, I'll just add that Vermont um ANR has done a lot of they've really kind of led the forefront for New England um
flood erosion mapping, I think I'll call it, um beyond FEMA stuff. And we do have green field mapping already done. That was done right after Hurricane Irene or tropical storm Irene. Um but as you
alluded to, Emily, um the model needs newer data. So having, you know, current climate modeling parameters is really important. So, sounds like this is an awesome collaboration and we could really benefit from having updated
models so we can be prepared for climate change. Absolutely. I think that was it for my update. Oh, there's one one last thing. They are going to do a tour. Oh, yeah. Like a bus tour at some point. Um
I think even this fall. So yeah, in October, I think. Yeah. So that's something I would definitely encourage you to share with the rest of the commission members because it's Yeah, that's super soon. It's great to be able to see the sites and to visit and to also have networking with other community members and and um
professionals. Yeah, they haven't they're going to I think they said maybe like three different stops and take up you know the first half of the day with the tour. Um, and I did send in the just proposed locations that they could consider when
they were planning where to go. Uh, one being Miller's Meadow um to see all the work and progress that's happened there. And then um the other was uh the two dam sites on the Green River for the WY
Russell and the um by Bergkshire Gas. Yeah. Yeah. Um because yeah, the Connecticut River Conservancy like just got $180,000 to start plans on that, which is really
cool. Um, I just read an article saying, you know, it wouldn't be completed until I think at least 2029, but it definitely got like the first um chunk of cash to help like move this
forward and additional funding would have to be secured to really see it through, but um, baby steps. So, great. Oh, like maybe they have the funding for designing but not for construction or
Yeah, like I I think 180,000 doesn't cover everything that would need to happen, but it does cover kind of the first planning stages. Gotcha. Um, so it it just seems like anytime like funding needs to be acquired like it
like for like covert replacement stuff, it's always like a multi-stage thing. It's like, okay, we have the funding for the design now, you know, we can do that, but we'll still have to secure the funding for, you know, construction or hiring hiring. It's just
it's sort of uh feels um disheartening that you could like do all these different stages and get so far and then hit a hit a roadblock right at the end. Um but, you know, so far so
good. Cool. All right. Is that it on the Deerfield River Watershed Coalition update? That's all I had. Okay. Well, then all we really have left are enforcement updates. Do we have any
enforcement updates? No. Um, but I do have project monitoring updates. Okay, cool. Hear what you got. So 208 Mohawk, which is the Aldi site, um
the grounds are looking really good. Uh like around the the actual building. Um grass has grown in really well. There's a spot behind the building that I told them needs some more seating. Um but
generally it's great. Um the so they were considering applying for a partial certificate of compliance, but they're not ready yet because they're because of the back of the building. Um and the mitigation site is like a three-year monitoring thing. So that it's obviously
wouldn't be part of the partial certificate of compliance. Um, but I went and checked on it, the bigger site, and the person who lives there mowed part of it. So, they had to send like a cease and
desist letter and the um the contractor that's in charge of the plantings went out there. over the weekend. And so the um what was mowed? Was it trees or um Yeah, some of this this the sapling
seedling. I know. And they didn't mow like the whole thing. They just mowed like trails like they wanted like a path to walk through. I know. So yeah, it's bad. All they didn't They did. It's marked. It is. Yeah, it was definitely
it there was a clear line between lawn and and so it's totally the the bad on the um whoever's living there, but they did send them like a legal cease and desist letter and then they're having the contract or who's in
charge of the plannings, which is VHB, go out to like assess hope, I'm assuming, do an inventory. Um, and then they're going to contact me with what what BHB says and come up with a plan to make it better.
Okay. So, so we're expecting a corrective plan of action. Yeah, exactly. And so that's like hot off the press um update. Um, so the other update is um 290 Shelburn.
Then this is my final update. Um they did the bank uh reconstruction this past week and Jehovah's Witness. Jehovah's Witness. Yes. Thank you. Yeah. Um they did. Okay. They did it. Yeah. And it's hydro seated
and like secured. So it they it actually the timing of it with the rains coming. I think they got really lucky. Um so that was interesting for me because I've never like been a part of something like that. So, I I was there
like every day last week kind of keeping an eye on it. Um, their kind of erosion control thing in the creek was like nice and secure. Um, no water was getting past it um to the um to the
bank. Did they reclaim the bank area? Yeah, they reclaimed the bank area. They put down the hard cloth thing and um you know anchored it to the ground um and and then hydro seedated. And they're
planning to plant the plantings in the bank side um 3 weeks after germination. So um that's on the on the horizon. And then and the the mitigation site on the
up um upper lot back lot is they haven't started that yet. So it was really just kind of locking in the bank and um this is probably a good thing since it's been so dry. It's a dry it's been so dry which you know
was good for for Yeah. doing that instream work. Yeah. And so, you know, we I talked to him about the water ban and because you're supposed to water like morning and and the water ban, you can only water before a certain hour. Like I don't know what it is actually
officially, but and then not until after a certain hour, but I guess if you water hydro seed after a certain hour, it can like get a mold or some sort of something. So, he's just planning to like kind of give it a good water in the
morning to Yeah. Um, so yeah, that's that's the update. Um, not to backtrack, but under your project monitoring list, the very first thing on that list has an order of
conditions that expired last year. I know that which is hard to do considering the double COVID talling extensions. So, I'm just wondering um I can tell you about that. Okay. So Mitch
had hit like a major roadblock even contacting the project um not the project the the um landowner sorry the property is the big why is the big the big why oh
that's what it is and um the manager the big why was the applicant and he wasn't responding to anything uh Mitch reached out to him. Mark Stinson reached out to him and I reached out to him and it was like nothing. I reached out to the
engineering company to see if I could get stamp plans and they the guy retired. There's no stamp plans on file and so that was a dead end there and and that company doesn't have any certified engineers in Massachusetts anymore. So
they're like you'd have to get a certified M. I'm like okay. And then Mark found the name of like a big Y realer and he's like, "Why don't you write this person?" And so I wrote her being like, "This is the situation.
We're trying to close out the file." And she put me in contact with the Springfield um manager and that I think does what Dwight does, but and so he wrote me and was like, "I'm your contact now on." So
that was like major progress. I'm like, "Cool. here's the forms you got to fill them out. We're going to try to close this and it's been crickets. I've like followed up. I mean, he replied being like, "Cool, I'll do it." Like, I you know, but then it's been nothing.
Did they complete the project or Yeah. Yep. I believe they did. I can't remember which one. They've had a few, so I'm not sure which one. It was a um there was like an invasive species removal component and I believe it was
like a a bank stabilization. Yeah. Was it the one where they were cutting trees because they were Yeah. I think it was like a vista issue like it was blocking their sign. So, we would need some sort of like maybe not an asbuilt necessarily, but like a
planting plan and then some kind of a followup success certification of success criteria. So, like if they let this go for, you know, 5 10 20 years or whatever and we come back and ask them for all that success criteria and it's obviously not
successful at that point, then there's no one to hold to that. So just staying with them is I think the best path forward so that we can get them to adhere to the criteria assigned.
Well, I've certainly been like trying to to like get some sort and and it seemed like so promising for a second and now that guy's in the wind. But I at tomorrow morning I'll reach out again. I did email him kind of fairly recently,
but I'll do it again and just be like Mark was super helpful, too. I mean, that sounds like a very promising avenue. So, yeah, the random realtor surprised Dwight because we've had several projects with them. I know. I don't even know if Dwight's
around anymore. I'm like, he's just gone. Yeah, he might just be gone. I mean, yeah, because like I said, yeah, we've had several projects and he was always Yeah. Well, we can't have two open permits on the same parcel. So, if they come back with another permit request in the
future, we'll have to be like, "Got to close that one out." And then that will be our opportunity to be like, "Let's evaluate those success criteria." Right. But like I said before, you know, if if a long time passes and they're just not going to want to they're going to say, "Well, there's not weed everywhere. It's not our fault. It's not our problem."
And yeah, that was what they were supposed to be doing, you know? Right. Yeah. there was definitely an invasive species component to that permit.
So, I mean, it's their like that onus is on them. They that was they should have closed it out. Um, you know, so if they want to have another permit, then maybe they'll just have to re,
you know, re get rid of the invasives. But um anyway, I'll email the guy from Springfield. Uh so that's it. That's my updates. That looks like the end of our agenda. What? What
quick update we can give about the Canada uh Hill? Yeah. Site visit if people are interested and I keep it quick. We met with Schlomia Lightfoot who had spoken with us briefly at one of the meetings where there was a longer hearing. Um Jessica and I went to
Canada Hill, which is off of W Drive. That's where the uh ac um access is. Um we got to meet some of the neighbors. What is this for? Um, this is a a person who runs a nonprofit that does research
on land stewardship that is looking to uh get information and sort of do studies on the kind of land stewardship that was done before colonization in our region. So, um, that's that's the the purpose of
her nonprofit is to do that. So, um, I had been in contact with her before. I referred her to us because I knew that one of the properties that we had was the sort of the cover type that she's interested in um oak hickory with um
chestnuts um that are sprouting resp sprouting and just act like coincidentally we had gone out to look a few months ago because there was garbage on our property there and I after I talked with another time I realized oh
this property is actually very relevant to what you're looking for. So, um, we walked around, we got a sense of the property. It is indeed the style of property, uh, of land cover that she's interested in, and it's one that indicates likelihood that there was, um, active
indigenous stewardship at some time, you know, in the last so many hundred years. So, um, we didn't like make any decisions or anything, but we had a nice conversation with her. Um, said that we would continue to having conversations. Some of the things that her organization
does is, you know, do inventories, do studies, and then also community engagement to help people understand, you know, what might have been the history and what could be the context of the land. And then, um, you know, potentially make management plans or participate in that process. and if so,
you know, do educational um outreach to people nearby to help them understand why decisions might be made to do something that would have been what would have been done on the land before. So, just sort of an opening. Yeah. Kristen um we she attended our
meeting um at one of the ones where you were I watched the video. I forgot. I didn't hear what you said first and then I remembered. Oh, that's the name I remember. Yeah. in land. Yeah. So that was that visit was just like a followup to that that meeting
that we had. I think it was in August. That would be I mean because Canada Hill doesn't have many any stewardship. I mean really I mean it has us but I mean doesn't have any kind of plans anything be there's neighbors who uh apparently are doing very active like keeping the trails open and have been live there for
30 years. We met them and have a lot of you know investment in in their own you know watching out for it. So there there's it seems like it's well used by the the neighbors there. Cool. So we encouraged her to to come and talk
with us again. Um I'm not sure what the next steps really are, but um from my perspective, it just seems like a great educational opportunity for the community. Cool. Thank you. Are there any other topics not reasonably anticipated that anybody
wants to bring up? I thought I would just mention really quick that um the CPC is going to be reviewing pre-applications on Thursday this week um to determine whether or not the projects are eligible for CPA
funding and whether or not they can move forward with applications. So, the two that we sent will be reviewed and it's probably going to be a pretty rapidfire meeting. Um, but if anybody wants to come, you can. Um, but yeah, just wanted
to give you a heads up that that would be happening this week. Thank you for that update. That's cool. Well, I don't have anything else. Um, anybody else have anything that's not reasonably predicted before to get on the agenda?
Nope. All right. Well, I'll take a motion to adjourn. This is normally my call, so I'll give you guys the floor. So moved. Second. All right. Uh, we have a motion and a
second. Let's do roll call. Travis, I. Erica, I. Emily, I I'm also an I. Meeting is adjourned at 7:32. Our next hearing or meeting date is Tuesday, October 14th at 6:30 p.m.
Uh, thanks everyone. Thanks for attending, Stephanie. [Music]