I think it actually works. I'm on my laptop today. >> Oh, nice. Was that Was that you that just did that? >> Yeah, I think so. >> Oh, I assumed that it was Andrea. All right. >> I did. >> Yeah, I see. It his came in first and I accepted it. So So you're off the hook
tonight, Andrea. >> Okay. >> All right. Well, thank you, though. Um I just assumed that was yours. Okay. So, um I am going to
get going. All right. Uh conservation commission meeting for Wednesday, February 14th, February 18th, 2026. In accordance with the requirements of the open meeting law, please actually hold on, let me start. Oh, it is recording. In
requirements in accordance with the requirements of the open meeting law, please be advised that this meeting is being audio video recorded. The agenda lists all the topics which may be discussed at the meeting and those reasonably anticipated by the chair. Votes may be taken from these discussions. Not all items may be discussed and other items may be raised
to the extent permitted by open meeting law. Please be advised that the town of Lunenburgg utilizes Zoom platform as host for its hybrid and remote meetings. That the Zoom platform utilizes AI technology known as AI companion to create audio transcriptions of meetings to aid in the subsequent preparation of
meeting minutes. and that the AI companion is activated immediately upon launching the Zoom application. You are hereby notified that the AI technology may capture audio prior to the start of the meeting and or following the conclusion of the meeting. >> Okay. Calling the meeting to order at
7:01 p.m. on February 18th, 2026. Going to do a roll call. Teddy Jet >> here. >> Chris Germaine >> here. >> Andrea Bernett >> here. Mike Larouche >> here. >> Richard Bur
>> present >> and I am here and Mary Wilson will be a little bit late. >> Okay. Um we do not have any appointments tonight. Um public comment comments are are to be limited to 3 minutes and on a subject matter under the direct
jurisdiction of the commission. Comments about current agenda items are to be made during the comment period of the specific agenda item. Please address all comments to the chair. Do we have any public comment? >> Oh, Teddy, I see you have your hand raised.
>> Yes. I um just before this meeting, I went to a Sierra Club meeting and they were telling me about this um project that they're working on. Uh the there's a website you can go to. It's called masstownsforlclimate.org/map. um and it's a map of all the
municipalities in Massachusetts and they're it's a work in progress, but they're compiling all the data of various um sustainability efforts that towns can make and like various uh provisions that they can put into their town um to make their towns more
sustainable. Um and it's it's interesting. You can take a look at all the municipalities and see what they're working on and what they might be missing. That is >> Oh, cool. Did you look for see was is there anything for Lunenburgg on there? >> There is. We have like five programs
that we've we're involved in. >> I haven't Yeah, I haven't been able to look too deeply into it. Um >> do you know what complete streets is? >> No. >> Nei neither do I, but we we're involved. Um
>> all right. Yeah, I'll look after the meeting. That's very cool. >> Yeah. >> Thank you for sharing. >> Thank you. Um, do we have any other pro public comment? I don't see anything. Um, minutes of previous meetings.
Uh, we have the minutes for Oh, Mary's here. Let me let her in. All right. Let me pin Mary. There she is. All right. I'm just pinning you, Mary.
And we were just about to go over minutes. Um, so we have minutes of previous meetings. We have minutes for 128, 11:5, and 10:15. Has everyone had a chance to review the
minutes? I I thought we already approved 10:15. I guess not. Does anyone have any? Andrea, I see you have your hand raised. >> Um, yeah. I was not I don't think I was present for 10:15. Um I did go back and review it, but I
don't know how to do the um the Mullen rule thing. So >> I don't know that the Mullins would count for um minutes anyway. >> Oh, okay. >> So I could have sworn we already approved those, but
>> I would refer to Michael. Um do we have any other questions about minutes? Or is it has everyone had a chance to go over them? >> Yes. I'd make a motion to approve. >> Um,
should we do them separately because there were some people who weren't at some of these meetings like I know we had some people who weren't at 128 and Andrea wasn't at 10:15. Sure. Separately, I'd like to make a motion to approve the meeting minutes for 128.
>> Second. >> Awesome. Um, roll call vote. Teddy Det >> I. >> Chris wasn't there. Andrea Bernap, >> I. >> Mike Larouche. >> I. >> Rich was not there. Mary, were you at
You weren't at 128, were you? >> I was at 128. I was not at um 24. Okay. Um, so Mary Wilson >> I >> and I for myself. Okay.
Can I have a motion for or do we have a motion for 115? >> So move. >> Second. >> Okay. Teddy Dette. >> I. >> Chris St. Germaine. >> I. >> Andrea Bernett. >> I.
>> Mike Larouche. I >> Richard Burch >> I >> Mary Wilson >> I >> and I for myself >> one more 10:15 do I have a motion
>> motion to approve the minutes from 10:15 >> second um Teddy Det I sorry I was muted there for >> that's okay I heard you Chris and Germaine hi Andrea, you said you weren't at that one, >> right? >> Mike Larouche.
>> I >> Richard Burish. >> I >> Mary Wilson. >> Hi. >> And I for myself. Okay. Um, up next we have new public hearings. All All hearings are pursuant to MGL chapter
131 section 40 as amended and the town of Lunenberg wetlands protection and municipal bylaws. We have 151 Flynn Road and a Y-25-28. Notice of intent by Tiffany Ashrazki for a septic system repair upgrade.
Oh, Chris, you have your hand up. >> Yes. Um, when are you going to um I I came here to officially step down. Is that going to be done now or at the end of the meeting? Um, >> did you want did you want it to be now or did you want to
hoping to do it first thing if that's okay? >> Okay. Um, yeah. Okay. So, >> so I'm here to officially step down as as an active commissioner, but I'd like to stay on as an associate.
>> Yeah. So, I need to figure out what the process is for you to stay on as an associate. Um, anyone have any? I did ask somebody and I actually forget what they said. Um I see Hareline, you
have your hand up. >> Yeah. Um can you just typically you can make a motion to reorganize the uh commission and then uh Commissioner St. Germaine can uh express what he wants to do and if you
guys as if you as the chair vote on it then it can happen and then we can work on the other side administrative wise to get him as an associate member. >> Okay. So right now I would just need an emotion. A motion to reorganize the commission.
>> So moved. >> Second. >> Okay. Uh roll call vote. Teddy Ducet. >> I. >> Chris St. Germaine. >> Hi. >> Andrea Bernout. >> I. >> Mike Larouche. >> I. >> Richard Burch. >> I.
>> Mary Wilson. >> I for myself. Okay. Okay. So then the next step would be would we have Chris state his interest to be an associate and then we would vote to do that.
>> Yes. >> Okay. Richard, you have your hand up. Uh unfortunately we've done this in the past and sometimes it depends on the um town manager's decision >> as to what we can and can't do with an
associate member. Uh, I know we used to just accept them as associates. Um, and then under the previous town manager, we were told that we couldn't, that only the board of selectmen could turn around and approve any membership to the
commission. So, it may just be worth a quick email to the town manager just to see uh which camp she is in because they don't I mean technically they don't have any authority as a commissioner. So,
>> we never saw it as something that the selectman would be approving because they're not they're not members of the commission. >> Okay, Teddy, you have your hand to interrupt your question. >> All right. Thank you, Richard. Um, that
was a good point. Teddy, you have your hand up. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. I just wanted to ask what are the differences like what what are the responsibilities of an associate? Are they just um someone we ask for another opinion?
>> So for Chris um Chris is really active in helping out with trails and advocating for trails and a lot of trail maintenance and stuff like that. So having him stay on as an associate or like a trail advocate as just somebody who's still involved but um would not be
a voting member and would just kind of be privy who probably would lose his email I'm assuming um but would be you know helping out the the commission as he's able with trails and the things that you know he helps us out with right
now has a less responsibility. Does that sound right Chris? >> Yes. Um, I've also asked Jenny to look into um me staying on the open space committee representing conservation unless somebody else wants
to do that. So, we need to look into it. Other other commissions are looking to do the same. Not sure if it's permissible. Um, but as an associate, I wanted to explore the ability for me to represent conservation at open space. Um
but that would be uh the committee's decision first if they'd want me or somebody else and if they wanted me then we still have to find out if it's possible. >> Okay. Yeah. So I look into that. Um but also worst case there is an open spot on >> Yeah.
>> Open space. Yeah. So and Mary you have your hand up. >> Yes. Thank you Madame Chair. Um, so I I agree with uh Commissioner Burch in in that I think it's a good practice to ask the um town manager about what
they feel is acceptable. There's nothing in the current um regulations or bylaw uh that uh limits or even talks about dissociate um members. I I would recommend, however, that um maybe we uh
consider a vote um to um prove uh Chris as a uh associate member and then uh you could follow up with the town manager about whether that was sufficient or whether there was other action or if another body needed to take action.
>> Yeah, I think that's a good idea. I was thinking maybe have a motion to appoint him as an associate or to add him as an associate and then say pending what the a town manager approval or something. Um Harlin, I see you have your hand up.
>> Sorry, it was just a followup to what Mary said. Yeah. Mass General Law Chapter 40 section 8C allows the commission municipalities to define their structure locally, but we need to um figure out if the Tano
Bloomberg does allow associate members. >> I know they do because I think I know we've had them before is my understanding. >> Well, I've been an associate commissioner before. So, Madam Chair, I've been an associate commissioner as
well. So, >> Okay. All right. Yeah. So, I think that that's a great idea, Mary. And Richard, thank you for bringing that up. Um, do I have a motion to add Chris as an associate pending town
manager approval or do we have any? >> So, moved. >> Second. >> All right. Uh, roll call vote. Teddy said that you're muted or gone. I will come back to you. Uh Chris St.
Germaine, does he vote on this? >> No, he's not a commissioner anymore. >> You're not a commissioner anymore, Chris. >> Andrea Vernapp. >> Hi, >> Mike Larouche. >> I >> Richard Bur. >> I >> Mary Wilson. >> Hi, >> Teddy Dette. I
>> and I for myself. So that is a vote to uh add Chris as an associate and I want to say appoint add Chris as an associate member of the conservation commission Chris St. Germaine. Um pending town manager approval. >> And a quick question Chris did you
already submit your resignation to the town manager and the board of selectman? >> No I wasn't aware that I had to. >> Okay. Well, te technically we're there the appointing body. That's who you would usually resign to. >> Okay. >> And I don't think that as an associate
you can sit on the conservation commission seat at the open space. >> I have a feeling that's going to be >> y >> the answer to that. Um but we can definitely look into it. So but I like I said there is a spot.
So, um, it may be it may best when you're submitting your resignation, maybe also submit your application for open space at the same time. I'm assuming they'd be very happy to have you. So, >> okay. Um, what um I submitted to the
select board, you said? >> Yep. Just either the um the town manager or the just care of the select board. >> Okay. Thank you. Okay. And then I guess Are you gonna hop off the meeting now or are you gonna
stay in? >> Okay. All right. Thanks so much, Chris. Thank you for all of your >> Thank you for everything. It's been a pleasure. >> Thank you, Chris. >> A great group of people. Thank you so much. >> Happy that you'll be staying on and helping out. >> Gonna miss you, Chris.
>> Thank you. >> Bye. >> Okay. Well, that was sad. Um, okay. So, thanks everyone for holding on. Um, back to new public hearings. All hearings are pursuant to MGL chapter 131 section 40
as amended and the town of Lunenberg wetlands protection and municipal bylaws. Um, we have a notice of intent at 151 Flynn Road by Tiffany Ostrazki for a septic system repair and upgrade. Do we have the applicant over there?
Hello. I see. Is that Chris McKenzie from Dillis and Roy? >> Yes, that's correct. Thank you. >> And then you feel free to share your screen or go over anything. >> Yes, I would like to do that. Uh >> you should have the ability. >> Yeah.
Okay. Can everybody see that? Okay. >> Yes. >> All right. So, this is uh uh 151 Flynn Road. I'm going to pan over here to the topography map. You're all pretty familiar with Lake Shirley here. Uh Flynn Road starts out down Reswell Road and comes all the way out and this
property is right at the very end uh of the uh peninsula over there. Uh so in the plan view over here, you can see uh this line here is the uh edge of Lake Shirley. Uh we got the 30 foot uh uh no build
zone, 50 foot no disturb uh sorry uh 30 foot no disturb, 50 foot no build, and then a 100 foot wetland buffer zone shown over here. Uh there's an existing well located here with a 100 foot radius. Existing well on the property located here with a 50 foot and
100 foot radius. There's a well on this property as well, but the 100 foot radius doesn't quite reach our property. So this is an existing three-bedroom house. Uh we went to board of health uh last week and uh they approved this uh design plan. Um there was a couple of
local uh upgrade approvals and variances that we needed obviously to to do this. Uh there's an existing system located approximately right here that failed. Uh we're proposing a new treatment system uh a a treatment unit uh to a pump
chamber. Uh the treatment unit's a uh uh single air tank um which goes to a pump chamber and then up to a presby leech area located here. Uh we are just outside the 30 foot no disturb zone with
the system but we are within the 50- foot buffer. Uh D uh of course uh in their review uh for the file number um mentioned about um exhausting other areas uh for far
further away from the wetland uh or from the lake. Uh unfortunately there really isn't any area um up here where will be tight to the property line and really would still end up being uh in the 50 foot buffer and in the 100 foot well radius. We did a test hole over in this
location here. Uh we ended up finding I believe about five to six feet of fill um in that area which was probably brought in to build that original system. So that basically made this area unusable for for a system. uh plus with a 100 foot well radius from the neighbor
as well. We don't want to uh work into that area as that would be an additional variance that would be required. Uh so we designed the system here. We had valid testing there and we designed a presby system uh with the required brownwater offset. Um we we show erosion
control barrier starting at the house here and wrapping around the system up to the gradient about 196. Once you get to there it mounds up here. Um, so there really isn't uh any any chance of anything coming down below that. Uh, so we got the erosion control barrier
wrapped around there and uh that'll stay in place during the construction and removed when when things are uh complete. Um, I understand uh Hara went out for a sitewalk probably had a tough time out there. There's a lot of snow. So, I don't know how much he actually
saw, but uh certainly uh there there's uh the the area here was the the best suited uh location for the system. There's some existing trees there. Uh we'll have very limited cut of those trees because of the location that
we put it. Um if we had gone closer to the property line up in this area, uh we would have been cutting down a lot more trees. So, we tried to avoid uh any tree cutting if it was at all possible. Uh that about covers it, I think. Certainly would like to open it up for
any questions. >> Do we Thank you so much. Do we have any questions from members of the commission? >> Uh Richard, you have your hand up. Oh, I think you're muted. >> There we go. Sorry about that. Can we get a letter stating that uh you've
exhausted your uh inspection of all other areas on the property to place the um the leech field? >> Yeah. Yeah, that wouldn't be any problem. We got a test the test result is right here uh showing
>> five feet of fill. Um that really wipes out that area. there is no soil >> acceptable for testing. So uh for for a system therecept >> just something that you know something that states that you you have performed um an exhaustive alternatives analysis
where where honestly I can't remember having ever um approved a septic system inside the 50 foot let alone on the edge of the 30 foot before. Mhm. >> So, if um the board of health has
approved it and D didn't have any overriding complaints just to make sure that we see that you've covered your butt and that you can't put this system anywhere else on the property. Right. >> Just want to make sure that it is
clearly stated >> where given given the level of variance that is needed for this >> because I take it you're you're still going to have um breakout and fill in the 30 foot no touch zone. Correct.
>> Uh >> I mean I don't see how you can't you have the the edge of the pits right on the 30 foot. So >> right. So this right here this is a 198 contour. uh proposed that wraps right around the system.
>> Uh and then the 197. So uh there's grading right here and right along in here. That's in the 30 foot buffer. That's correct. >> Yeah. Yeah. So you need a variance for the 30 foot. You need a variance for the um no build from us. So just like I say, I've never approved
a variance for a septic system in the 30 foot before, but we definitely should have that to cover our decision. That was my only question, Madam Chair. Thank you. >> You referred. That was excellent. Thanks. Do we have any other questions
from members of the commission? It does not seem that we do. Um, so Richard, would you be would >> would you be okay if we were to have a motion of some sort tonight and then get
the um, >> yes, just pending just yeah, pending the release of the signed order conditions. >> We'd have to have the letter. >> Okay. Okay. I mean, he he has verbalized
it, but really should have it in the in the file that in writing and stamped. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. And then, um, Perlin, I see you have your hand up. >> Sure. Um, I would advise the commission to actually ask that that those letters
be recorded with the order. So, that could be part of your motion tonight. >> Okay. Yeah. Awesome. Thank you. So excited to have you. Um, okay. So, do I have a motion to approve uh with a
letter uh stating that they have exhausted all options as far as where the system can go? >> Uh so moved and that the letter be recorded with the order of conditions. >> Thank you, Richard. >> Second. >> Is that you, Mike? >> Yes.
>> Okay. Um roll call vote. Teddy Det. >> I. >> Mary Wilson. >> I. Andrea Bernard. >> Hi. >> Richard Bur. >> Hi. >> And is that everybody? >> No, it's me.
>> Oh, and Mike Larouche. >> I >> and I for myself. I was going to say I knew I was missing somebody. Uh, and I for myself. Okay. So, that is approved. Um, just with the letter to be added to the order of conditions. Um, you can
submit that in open gov. >> All right. Yep. We'll get that submitted right away. Thank you very much. >> Thank you so much. Have a good night. >> Perlin, you still had your hand up. Was it just Was it just still up or >> Yeah, it was just still up. Sorry about that. >> Okay. All right.
Up next, we have a new public hearing uh pursuant to MGL chapter 131 section 40 as amended in the town of Lunenburgg wetlands protection and municipal bylaws. a public hearing for 822 New West Townsen Road um on a
request for determination of applicability for a proposed 30TX4T detached garage as is RDA-25-18. Do we have the applicant or the representative on the call? I see you are
>> Madam Madam Chair Roy >> is here. >> Okay. Um Chris, you're still sharing your screen. I'm gonna turn that off unless you want to turn it off. Okay, awesome. Now, Greg, you can share your screen if you'd like.
>> Okay, excellent. Uh, Greg Roy with Doulson Roy representing the applicants uh this evening. Thank you for your time and um bear with me as I share my screen. Okay. How's that? Can you see the plan? Okay.
>> Yes. All right. So, um the applicant um is the uh Spataphor family. It's the this is the former location of the um Latty Tree Farm property, which is right on the
corner of Howard Street and New West Towns and Road, not to be confused with West Towns and Road or Towns and Road. So, New West Towns and Road runs right along the Pitchburg Lunberg line. um right along the western westernly side
of Lunberg. Um actually you can see um on the plan uh the the Lunberg Fitchburg line is located right right here and the property is uh is entirely within uh Lunberg which is why the filing is uh is
is through your board or your commission excuse me. So, um this is a a request for determination of applicability. Um and uh we we dared do it do that because um we're uh for for a couple reasons.
I'll and I'll go over that. U first of all um the project is to construct a 30x4 foot detached garage structure which is shown here in pink. Um the uh it's a little bit difficult to see, but you can kind of see I'm highlighting
this this outlined area here. This is all existing gravel surface. Um took a look at some older aerials. I think there was some greenhouse structures over here or that's what they look like on the on the ortho. So this part of the site has has historically been used for
um structures in the past. Um there aren't any present. Um, and I looked as of 2015, uh, the images in 2015, there weren't any, uh, present, but I did see some earlier, uh, previous to that. Um, and it's a little bit of a unique site. U, one of the reasons why we were asking
for a request for determination of applicability here instead of a full notice of intent is one, um, we're entirely outside of the 50-foot. Uh, we do clip the 100T buffer zone from an isolated wetland, which is partially on
the property. um right in this location here, but it's really an isolated area. It's a pretty small area. So, it's jurisdictional with your bylaw, but not jurisdictional with the with the state um with the um Butler's Protection Act. It doesn't have the size um that that
would be required. And the proposed structure is actually downgradient of the of the wetland in this case. So, um you you can see the contours here. Um the wetlands roughly at elevation the the outlet of roughly
elevation 517 goes through um a couple of culverts into a storm drain and then into uh into the drain by the street where it crosses and then exits into the pond which is uh quite a bit to the west of New West Towns and Road across the
street. Um and so we're actually the proposed structure in this case is a little bit unique. While it's in the buffer zone, it's downgradient of the uh of the resource area in question. So there's no there's no possibility of impact uh
relative to um storm water flowing that direction or or anything like that. Um and in this case, there's no proposed tree removal. It's in an area of the site that's um that's, you know, primarily gravel surface existing today and has no trees or vegetation
associated with it. So, um it looked to us to be a good spot for the structure um in an area that's previously disturbed. Um Dow gradient again of the of the wetland and about uh 80 ft to the
wetland um at its closest point. Um and again, no tree removal or vegetation removal that's that's required. So that's why we dared file the RDA uh and request request that uh from your commission. Um and I think that's all.
Happy to take any questions. >> Thanks so much, Greg. Um do we have any questions from members of the commission? >> Mary, you have your hand up. >> Uh yes. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, the garage, is it going to have a u uh a
cellar or just like a slab foundation or how is that going to be constructed? >> I'm not exactly certain, but I would imagine if I'm guessing it's a slab. I mean, we're calling a garage, so I would I would expect it has frost walls and no um no basement under it.
>> Okay. So, minimal >> certain >> minimal uh kind of digging and stockpiling happening. Yeah, and I would expect the stock piles would go um I mean you you could you could condition that if you wanted. I don't think we would need to do any stockpiling in the
in the 100 foot. I think we could stockpile, you know, out in this part of the site. >> Okay. Yeah, I I know I go by that um site a lot uh because I walk in the northwest town forest um back behind that area a lot.
>> Um so I'm real familiar with it. I know they have a lot of great uh great earthmoving equipment uh on site uh pretty often. Um anyway, so I would want to condition that uh any storage of
soils or uh material be downgradient from the garage. Um but that I I think it's a great site and um yeah, that would that would be useful for them and easily accessible. So I have no other conditions or concerns.
Thank you so much, Mary. Uh, do we have any other questions for members of the commission? Okay. And then, do you have anything that you'd like to add or update on this? I drove by the site as well and I didn't see I mean the
area looks like it's somewhat already disturbed. There is no growing vegetation or new vegetation. There's no trees in that area. So I didn't really have any comments. Um out of curiosity, I just wanted to know the same thing married asked was what were they going to use for a foundation which I figured
was a concrete slab. >> Okay, awesome. Um and Okay. Uh, I did I looked up some historical imagery and there were some green houses right in that location.
>> Yeah, that's what it look like to me. >> Um, okay. Do we have any motion for a negative determination with the condition that the stock piles
be outside of the 100 foot? >> So moved. Second. >> Okay. Roll call vote. Teddy det. >> I. >> Mary Wilson. >> I. >> Andrea Bernav. >> I. >> Mike Larouche.
>> I. >> Richard Bers. >> I. >> And I for myself. All right. That is a negative determination. >> Okay. Thank you very much. >> Thanks so much. >> Okay.
Up next, we are moving on to continued public hearings. Um, pursuant to MGL chapter 131 section 40 as amended in the town of Lunenberg wetlands protection and municipal bylaws, we have a uh continued public hearing for a notice of
intent by DDB Construction LLC for patio reconstruction at 58 Spring Street Extension, NOI-25-27. Do we have the applicant or the representative on the call? Yes. Um, this is Moren Herald from Norse
Environmental Services. Um, and I'll just bring in the plan. >> Let me So, um, this this is the second meeting that we had. Um
the commission at the first meeting the commission had requested that we comply with the 50ft no build. Um so the original proposal was 49 ft off of the wall the the wall that's along Lake
Shirley. So we pushed back the um proposed porch with the deck above to the 50oot setback. Um, one of the other requests that the commission had asked was that we show a stockpile area on the
plan, which you can see is right here. And the last uh request the commission had was to incorporate some rooftop infiltration. Um, so we're proposing a 2 foot wide, 17t long, um, two foot deep infiltration
trench. And um the build is going to incorporate a track landscape system which is basically a drainage system underneath the deck with gutters and the gutters will outlet into this
infiltration trench. Um we did have an engineer take a look at the infiltration trench um just to make sure that it's sized appropriately and this has been provided to the commission. I do apologize because it
was submitted late. Um, in fact, it was submitted this morning. Um, but there's no increase in the rate of runoff for the 210 or 100year storm. Um, and I and I hope that addresses all the
commission's questions or concerns. Um, I can bring up the detail. The engineer provide a detail of the trench, the type of stone, um, two feet deep, two feet wide in this area. And I can open it up to the
commission with any questions or concerns. >> Great. Thank you so much for taking care of all of that. Um, do we have any questions for members of the commission? >> Madame Chair? >> Yes.
I was not present at this original presentation. So I feel I should recuse myself for this particular >> Great. >> Absolutely. >> Thank you.
>> Do we have any questions for members of the commission? Doesn't seem like we have any questions from members of the public. Sometimes I forget to ask that. Uh, nope. Doesn't seem like it. Do I
have any motions from members of the commission? >> Madam Chair, I would make a motion to accept the uh uh project uh as uh as presented. >> Second. >> Okay.
>> All right. Uh roll call vote. Teddy Dette >> I. >> Mary Wilson >> I. Andrea Bernout. >> Hi, >> Richard Burch. >> Hi. >> And hi for myself with Mike Larouche recusing himself. Okay. Thank you so
much for taking care of all of that, Moren. Um, >> my pleasure. Thank you for your time this evening. I appreciate it. >> All right. Thanks. Have a great night. >> You too. Bye. >> Okay. Um, moving on, we have a
pursuant to MGL chapter 131 section 40 as amended in the town of Lunenburgg Protection and Municipal bylaws, a notice of intent at 30 Summer Street by Safe Store Real Estate for a project that involves flood plane fill and associated compensatory flood plane
compensation. And I see that we have Greg Roy on the call. >> Yes, I'm back. Thank you. Greg Roy Doulson Roy. from representing the applicant. Um, I'm going to make this uh quick, but I I didn't get a chance to issue you a letter asking for a
continuation on this because I got uh late breaking information from my client this afternoon that he he and his design team are looking at perhaps not certainly, but perhaps making some minor tweaks to the plan um having to do with
their uh internal process. I do not think it's going to impact any of the um uh flood plane uh issues that we presented uh at the last meeting. But
I'd like to uh give an opportunity to make sure we have a final plan before you even if it has even if it's minor u in nature. Um, I want to make sure that we um we don't put the cart before the horse and put ourselves in a situation where we'd have to um or we'd have to
amend um or ask you for a minor modification or something like that. So, um I wanted I I will be asking for a continuation on this. Um I like my client asked me to uh he's not certain he'd be able to get information back to me in the next two weeks. So, we did ask
that I push this out uh to your second meeting, I think, in uh in March, if that would be acceptable to you. Um >> and um so, I mean, I I want I did want to say that um give give the
commissioner an update. I I did provide you folks with a summary and a letter um relative to our responses and uh resolutions to outstanding D comments at the last meeting. And I told you that we would be um looking to come back and
close things out um after we got through the peerreview process with the planning board. We're actually through the peerreview process with the planning board. Um it's just that late breaking news here today. My client wanted me to sort of put the brakes on for another uh you know, four weeks or so just to make
sure we can uh capture any um any last minute plan tweaks that we have uh coming down the pipe. So I I will put that in I will put this in writing too, but I I would like to request a continuation to your sec the second meeting in March.
>> Thanks so much, Greg. Uh do a motion to continue to our March 18, 2026 meeting. >> So moved. Was that Teddy? >> Teddy. >> Okay. And then second was Mike. >> Yes. >> Okay. U roll call vote. Teddy Det.
>> I. >> Mary Wilson. >> I. >> Andrea Bernab. >> I. >> Mike Larouche. >> I. >> Richard Bers. >> I. >> And I for myself continue to March 18th, 2026. >> Thanks everybody. Thanks for the time.
>> Okay. Um, up next, pursuant to chapter to MGL chapter 131 section 40 as amended in the town of Lunenberg wetlands protection and municipal bylaws, continued public hearing at 27 Fire Road 15A um for a notice of intent by Steve Bean for a project that involves the
demolition of an existing cottage and construction of a replacement house and deck on the property. >> Okay. And I see that we have the representative Greg Roy on the call. >> That's me again. Yes. I'm sorry. I thought you had one in between there. Did that get continued?
>> Okay. Okay. Maybe I'm looking at an old uh an old agenda. Um so I wanted to say >> it's I did miss one. Thank you, Greg. >> Um
>> no problem. I'll I'll yield back. >> All right. Thank you, Greg. >> No problem. >> Okay. Do I have to close that or is that Can I just move on? you can just move on. Okay. >> Um, pursuance chapter
131, MGL chapter 131, section 40 as amended in the town of Lunenberg wetlands protection and municipal bylaws, a notice of intent for the town of Lunenburgg at 763 Northfield Road for the replacement of the deteriorated coververt at the Northfield Road
crossing over Mulpus Brook. Um, do we have the applicant? >> The applicant requested a continuance. >> Okay. All right. >> March 4th. >> March 4th. Okay. Do I have a motion to continue to March 4th, 2026? >> So moved.
>> Second. >> All right. Teddy with the motion and Mike with a second. Uh roll call vote. Teddy Det. >> I. >> Mary Wilson. >> I. >> Andrea Bernett. >> I. >> Mike Larouche. >> I. >> Richard Bers. >> Hi.
>> And I for myself. Okay. Up next, pursuant to MGL chapter 131 section 40 is amended in the town of Lunenberg wetland protection and municipal bylaws. Notice of intent by Steve Bean for a project that involves the demolition of an existing cottage
and construction of a replacement house and deck on the property at 27 Fire Road 15A. And I see we have Greg Roy on the call. It's these little these little letters on this one. Just skipped right over it. Okay, >> that's okay. Yeah, that's no problem.
You guys are you guys are you're flying this evening, so it's good. >> Um I I want to be respectful here. I um I I did work with a client in the last couple weeks, but we only got you a plan today um which was up up which I uploaded on your portal this afternoon. So
um I don't want to step out of turn. I know you folks like to get things uh more in advance of that. So um I I wanted to preface it with that, I guess. I am happy to speak to the changes which weren't significant. Um, well, we did
make at least one uh notable change that we think is notable, but I wanted to I wanted to give a nod to the fact that we had just uploaded the plan and be respectful of your uh the fact that you like to get more notice than that.
Um, so speaking for myself, I'd be happy to take a look at it and ask questions at least. Um, is everybody else okay with that? Okay. Yeah, I love to be able to ask you questions while you're here. So
>> that's fine. Yeah, good. So I will do the screen sharing thing. Hold. Um, sorry, I have trouble here tonight. Okay. Uh, it's been a long day as I'm sure it has for all of you. Okay.
How's that? Can you see that? Okay. >> I can see that. Yes. >> Okay. So, there's a few of you that weren't here last time. I think Rich and Mary. Um we came here two weeks ago with a with a plan change um that moved the
proposed structure. Um we if you if you recall when we opened this meeting um a month or so ago, we had shown um some encroachment into the 30foot uh no disturb zone. Um and we had with the
with the actual uh new building structure and then we had shown a deck that protruded even further uh towards the lake. Um again, let me use my highlighter. We had we had essentially squared this off like this with the house and then we had a
deck that showed like out this out out like that. And we we got pretty clear direction, I think, from you at that opening meeting um that you uh you wanted us to go back and um back to the drawing board and uh and take and take another look at
alternatives. So, we did that. Um the plan that you have here um is essentially what we showed you two weeks ago. Um we we did go back and make um a few changes. Um one one thing that we did um it was pointed out we had shown a
turbidity curtain. It was sort of just a carryover in the lake. We're not proposing any work in the lake or on lake or on the bank or no retaining wall work and that's usually when we're showing that you know you usually use those turbidity
barriers. That was sort of a carryover from it shouldn't have been on the plants. We took we took it off. That was sort of a house cleaning house house cleanup exercise. Um the second thing we did was um expanded the size of the and
sort of reshaped the size of our uh mitigation area u which which we're proposing over here. We also did a a change to the plantings. We had identified last last meeting that we had proposed some low bush blueberries in there which really aren't well suited
for um fringe type of um having their feet wet type of plants uh right on the edge of of a um either a wetland or a or or a pond like this. So we changed that species out to a high bush blueberry
which is much more suited to um to a uh a more of a wet feet type of environment. So roots are in the more closer to like they they like their roots wet. Um a lot of times the wetland flags are hung on the high bush blueberry plants. They're kind of that
border borderline um vegetation if you will. So we did we did make that change and again we did expand that area uh to try and um increase the mitigation uh that we're proposing um uh that we're proposing along with the
project. Um the the other the the last significant thing that we did um we had a so let me let me back up here. We're proposing the the the outline in red is the location of the existing house the existing structure today. Um the
proposed um rebuild is is shown here in black like this. The limit of the 30 is here. The limit of the 50 is here. So this is a pretty small scale plan. It's a pretty tight area.
Um we had shown the deck which which is shown I got to use a different color. The deck currently is shown in this area now like this all along the backside like that. We had initially in the last iteration had that come out like this.
And so this all of this area here um while it's impervious structure um you know it's per excuse me pvious uh deck surface uh it still represented uh a structure that was going to be canlevered over in an area where uh you
didn't have you didn't have a structure today. So, we worked with the client on that to keep the deck completely contained now inside this this gray shaded area, which is the location of the existing concrete uh patio. Um so, and again, we're going to be
converting that to a a permeable surface uh there uh on that uh in that area. So, um nothing has really changed from a metric standpoint. Um we're still a net benefit here. When you look at uh
impervious areas within each of the zones within the 0 to 30, we're reducing impervious by 14 ft. When you look 30 to 50, we're reducing by uh minus 235 uh square ft. Um we're are increasing in the in the outer portion of the of the
100 foot buffer zone out outside of the 50 foot area, uh 201 ft. But when you add all those up, there's a net reduction on site um of um of of - 48 square ft. And I guess to to make sure
that we're providing a net uh ecological benefit on the property, u that's the reason why we're also including um to take back a portion of of lawn area, manicured lawn area that's right up and against the lake um that's currently
being maintained as lawn. um and and turn that back to a naturalized area right along that lake shore within the uh you know actually within within 10 to 15 feet um of the water uh within that 30-foot uh buffer zone. So um those are
the um major changes that we made uh between two weeks ago and today and um I'm happy to take any questions or comments. This is Greg. Um, do we have any questions for members of
the commission? But >> Mary, you have your hand raised. >> Uh, yes. Thanks, Madam Chair. Uh, so I did watch the last meeting and do have assigned uh Mullen's attestation. I'll I'll make certain that um the office has
um >> for that. Yeah, one of the things that I uh had a question about was what was the increase in square footage of the um structure? U and I'm particularly interested in the increased square
footage in the 50oot zone >> of the actual house structure. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Um >> and I think um Commissioner Larouche had asked that last time. >> Yeah. I apologize. I should have come
armed with that. I'm going to open up CAD here and get you an answer. So I Okay, it's going to take me a minute, but I will circle back to circle back to that question. I'll get you an answer on that. >> Excellent. And then um while uh Greg is doing that, the other thing that I
wondered um so it appears that there are already two inhabited dwellings on the property. And then uh I also noticed while we were out there, the garage uh is a two-story structure that even though it's not uh it doesn't have
anybody living in it, it looks like that also would be suitable uh for converting into a living space. So what has the applicant done to uh kind of exhaust those opportunities to uh expand that are outside of the
50oot no build zone? I'd have to get back. I mean, essentially, I I was when I was hired for this project, it was a presentation by the client of asking me to stating that he wanted to, you know, renovate or replace, you know, this structure in place and make it slightly bigger or
make make it bigger. But, >> the the other structures on the site really weren't part of the of the uh of of my um scope, if you will. I mean, I'm not saying your question is invalid. I understand where you're going with it, but the fact of the matter is he's got
four lawful structures on the property today and he's looking to he's looking to do renovations on one of them um to remove and replace one of them. So, that's really the project that I was given. So, I'd have to I'd have to give it's sort of a different question than I was given it from a design uh standpoint
at the >> Yeah, that's understandable. And the reason why I'm asking the question is we do have those uh you know, no build zones, right? uh set up for a reason. And in, you know, in our regulations, it actually says that we're allowed to, you
know, wave if there's a hardship. But with so many other opportunities that appear visible on the property, it doesn't appear to be a hardship that would make this one commissioner want to um provide a variance.
Without some other justification, that's not apparent to me. Understood. Um, do you have anything else to add, Mary? >> No, I just wanted to give um Greg an opportunity to uh let us know what the
increase in square footage is because it is a very tiny building that's there. So, you know, the actual expansion may not really be that much. I mean, in terms of just the square footage, but I'
I'd like to know what it is. Yep. I'm having a heck of a time with my AutoCat. I'm not sure what's going on here. It's totally frozen on me. Sorry. Hold on. >> While Greg is working on that, do we have >> Stop sh I'm going to stop share real
quick. Is that okay? >> Yeah, that's fine. >> Okay. So, while Greg is working on that, do we have any other questions for members of the commission? Richard, do you have your hand up? Um, and you're muted.
>> Sorry about that. >> No worries. >> Um, I had asked at the first meeting about the possibility of moving the new structure out of the 50 foot no build zone, and I know there was questions on the fire
road. Um, and in listening to the last meeting, it didn't sound like Greg said no, we couldn't move the building. We thought we might be able to a few feet. There was no definitive answer to that that uh I heard from listening to the
the meeting two weeks ago. And I know there was a lot of discussion about the overall benefits to the area. Uh, one thing to consider in looking at the site as a whole, this site is definitely
quite um, developed and to add more building structure into the no structure zone. I personally would have a hard time with and like Mary said, I mean, we really haven't seen any hardships um explained
to us. and to add more structure to this plot in a hole outside of the 50-foot no structure zone. I myself would still like to see the concrete that is in the current no build zone removed to allow
for any ex any increase in structure on this lot. But I guess I'd like to see if we could move the structure to another location or further outside of the um 50 foot no build zone uh before we got too far um into more of what I would like to
see myself. So, but that if we could get an answer to that question as far as moving it, if the road is um a private road, if it is a deed road um or if it just happens to be on a plan that it's
not neither private nor deed, it can be uh trampled on if need be. Thank you at this point, Madam Chair. >> Uh thank you, Richard. >> I'm still working on your area. I'm sorry. >> Okay. debate.
>> Yeah. So I would um you know kind of echo what Mary and Richard have said and well both different things but um as far as the structure goes I know we are going backwards away from the 50 and
we just have that one area that's bumped in right now that we're looking to bump out and I would like to see it built further back maybe go up or just, you know, stay within
stay outside of the say what keep anything new outside of the 50 foot if possible. Um, but that's just me speaking for myself. Um, I do see because we're already going back so it's there is,
you know, space being made in the back too, >> right? I I understand what you're all saying. >> Yeah. >> Um, can you see the screen now again? >> Yep. >> Sorry for that. I I had I'm not sure
what's going on with my AutoCAD tonight. I couldn't I couldn't uh It's frozen. I can't I don't want to do anything to get kicked out of the meeting. So, um the the front box here that we're looking to fill in is about 93 square feet in size. So, it it is a
little deceptive. It is it's pretty small. Um, and then there is a triangle back here just because of the way the geometry is of the 50 foot. There's a triangle back here that we're also looking to fill in which is 35 almost 36 ft. Um, so you're
talking a total of, you know, in the 120 square foot 20 almost 130 square foot range. So um, what's that? a 10 equivalent of a 10, you know, you a little less a little less like 11
by 12t area equivalent. So, not a huge um not a huge um grab. We we are proposing maybe I was doing something at the time when um when Richard was talking, but we are intending to take the entirety of that
concrete patio out and convert it uh to a per a permeable surface. So that is in the metrics um in in that area. It's a traveled way. So it's it's the way you get you know from uh it's the way you
you walk uh there into the existing structure. So we have to we have to maintain it as a sort of an approved area. Uh but we are intending to take it from a per impervious surface to a permeable surface. So that was one of
our we never dare come before you to well I guess we were pushing the limit a little bit on the first uh on the first submitt arguably but um we uh we really do try to present projects where we where if we're putting you in a position to have to to be requesting you to grant
the waiver uh we try to put you in a position that that it's an environmental uh net positive uh to the structure. That's at least been the standard that we've we've held to in the past. So, um I do understand uh Richard's um request for uh a more detailed alternatives
analysis, which I think Mary also sort of uh was the spirit of Mary's um question as well. So, um we can uh I'll work with the with the client on that. >> Right. Um I just noticed the is that
proposed stairs coming off of the deck? >> This one here? Um, no. To the left and up where it says Oh, that's pointing to these stairs right here. And there's there's already stairs going down
>> these here. Yeah, the these I think would go. I don't think we need those anymore. >> Um, we're not I don't think we're proposing connectivity down there. >> Okay. >> Anymore. >> So, >> so the stairs would be integral to the deck, you know. So this deck would be
higher than the existing patio today because the first floor would effectively be be raised here. So those stairs would go up to the deck level uh here. Uh but again that deck would now be completely contained in an area that um that is impervious today and it would
be converted to pvious underneath a permeable deck. So um that whole surface would now be um you know a net improvement uh to certainly groundwater recharge and runoff characteristics and things.
>> Okay. Do we have any other questions for members of the commission? >> I have one other question comment if you would. It almost seems like if you took the structure as proposed and turned it 90 degrees clockwise that you'd move
more of the footprint out of the 50 foot uh >> like the build like this. >> Yeah. Oriented it more like that. I But I was thinking more closer to the existing shed.
>> Oh, okay. Yeah, I see what you're saying. So, uh I I get it. I get what you're saying. >> Yeah. And I and I I don't know why that's undesirable. And you know, you and your client, I'm certain, have some ideas about that, but just looking at the
drawing, it seems like that would, you know, move you move more of the square footage and they want to have, I think, a two-bedroom building, and I understand that desire. Uh, but it just seems like that that would
kind of move us more out of the 50-foot area. Not not everything, but I mean there's already an existing structure there. I concede that. Um, it's just the expansion of additional square footage there that I feel like our bylaws um don't give us much um latitude on
without some type of extenduating circumstances. So, what I'm hearing you say is, well, and forgive me if I'm putting words in your mouth, and that's why I'm repeating it. So, um, if we if we if we come up with a solution that
has a net reduction of structure, actual building structure in the 50 with a reconfiguration, we might be something that's moving in the right direction. Uh, in my mind that would be moving in the right direction. Um, you know, you've got a certain
amount of square footage that's already in the 50, right? So, so in my mind that's grandfathered. >> So, get that. But if we reconfigure that, it might be acceptable as long as it's the same or less. >> Okay, >> that's Yeah, in my opinion, yes,
>> I'm seeing some thumbs ups and some claps of the >> Yeah, >> the emojis. We are becoming Zoom fluent. >> All right. I I I understand. I I think I I think I can I understand what you're what you're saying.
>> Thank you, Madam Chair. >> Thank you, Mary. >> All right. Do we have any other comments? Uh Teddy, I see you have your hand raised. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, Greg, I appreciated what you um were saying
about uh taking up the imperous uh concrete, making pvious pathway, and I also appreciated the um blueberry installations that were um
on the plan. Um, so me as one commissioner would be more willing to go forward with a project like this, but any configuration that we can get uh more property out of the no build
zone even better. Uh, that's all I have. Thank you, Madam Chair. >> Thank you, Teddy. Thanks, Teddy. Appreciate that. Glad to hear >> all the viewpoints for sure. Okay. So, um
it looks like >> Yeah. So, it looks like I I don't want to rush anybody, but I I I have my homework and um you know, I think two weeks is adequate for this if you're so inclined to continue for until the first meeting in March. I think that would be fine for us. >> Okay. Yeah. Do I have a motion to
continue to March 4th, 2026? So moved. Second. >> Okay. Uh, roll call vote. Teddy det. >> I. >> Mary Wilson. >> I. >> Andrea Bernett. >> Hi. >> Richard Bers. >> Hi.
>> Mike Larouche. >> I. >> And I for myself. Thank you so much, Greg. And we will see you March 4th. >> Thanks very much. I appreciate you hearing it. Again, I apologize for the last minute nature of the plan submitt. So, >> we're glad to be able to go through it with you. So, >> well, thank you for that. I appreciate
the accommodation. Have a good one. >> Thanks. Have a good one. I meant to ask you if you had anything to add, Her. I'm sorry. If I forget, please interject. I'm just not used to this yet.
>> Okay. So, that is um all of our hearings for tonight. Um up next, we have administrative determinations. And we have uh our agent here for this. So uh first we have 833 Flatill Road. Um
I know we have your notes, but um do we first of all do we have the applicant on the call for 833 Flat Hill Road? >> Yes. Yes, we're here. Yes. >> Okay. Is that Sue Ropiac? >> Yes, it is. >> Okay. And then um Arllin, I see we have
your nose here. Do you want to update us on >> with your notes or do you want me to read them out? >> Um, completely up to you, but basically the same as I wrote in my notes. Um, for tree removal always, um, leaving the
stump behind because of the location. Um, and yeah, if you want to read my notes, that's perfectly fine. It's completely up to you. >> It's up to you. What do you prefer? >> I can go over it. >> Okay. Yeah, let's I'll let you go over it. Oh, Mary. Right.
>> Um yeah, Madame Chair, I'd like to be excused from the rest of the meeting. As you know, my husband uh uh had a medical procedure today and um taking pain meds, so I think I need to be a little bit closer at hand. >> Okay. Yes. Thank you. Absolutely, Mary. Thank you so much for joining us and
give Durk our her best. >> All right. Thank you. Good night. >> Good night. >> Good night, Mary. >> Sorry about that, Haren. Um, it's okay. Please, please go on. >> All right. So, this was an application that was received in November for the
removal of requests for the removal of 25 ash trees that were being killed by emerald ashbor. Um, the applicant had an arborist come out and tag the trees. I was actually on site on I'm trying to go through.
I apologize. This is also my first time navigating the system. >> Oh, are you going to share your screen? >> Um, >> sorry. >> Do you want me to? >> No, I was I I thought it maybe it sounded like you were going to share your screen. >> No, I'm just going over this um the date
for the sitewalk. I just wanted to include that for the record that I was on site February 10th. Um, I did see um some trees that were visibly tacked. There was um
they were all infested with um the emerald ashbor and I'm trying to go back to see if I can see some of the pictures that I had taken. Um there's a significant amount of trees
and they are almost in between the house and what looks like to be an accessory unit that they have on their property. Um that leads into the waterway. Um it's almost like a triangle shape area where all the trees reside and then that leads
into the resource area. I didn't see anything that gave me pause while I was there. When it comes to not removing the trees, they're very close to the accessory unit and and I think the other half of the trees are very close to that
um accessory unit that they have on their parcel and then the other part of the trees are close to their home. Um so it' be, you know, I think it causes some hazard to have them um there. Um,
and that's basically it. >> Okay. And then, um, so what is your >> recommendation? >> Recommendation. Yes, that's what I'm looking for. >> It's okay. I would advise the commission to, um, agree with the tree removal uh,
under the conditions that um, whoever does the removal is either done by a crane, which I spoke to. Um, I think it was Sue's husband who was on site. Uh, you can have a the lot is um there's a long driveway. You can you can
either have crane access or by hand um leave the stumps behind. And if they can contain and prevent erosion and sedimentation, that would be great. So that's why I suggested the use of a crane or by hand instead of having
machinery go straight up to the trees. Okay, >> awesome. Thank you. >> Um, do we have any questions for members of the commission? >> Richard, you have your hand up.
>> Yeah, Madam Chair. Uh, Harland, has the applicant stated what's going to happen to the infested trees once they're taken down? Are they just going to be chipped and the chips left on site? They did not state that, I believe. Um, Sue, are you still there?
>> Uh, yeah, I am here. And I'm trying to remember. He's definitely going to chip them. And I am 99% sure he's not planning on leaving them on the property. I I wasn't thinking that he was. I don't know if I asked
specifically, but I can make sure that that's the case that he does not leave them. Uh well, it's it's not recommended to be moving the the uh infested wood. So >> Oh, so you you would prefer to have it chipped and left in place
>> generally. Yep. Or burnt or It depends on what he's doing with the the chips. >> Oh, because it's infested. That's what that's >> Yep. >> Okay. I was just thinking you wanted to remove it from Okay. So you want them to be left. Okay. Oh, just to see what he's
going to do with them just so that they're not brought to somebody else's property and spread as mulch. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. >> So, typically the chipping does destroy the larae. So, um I have seen them um be left in place and I think if the
commission agrees to that, I can also add that to the recommendation. >> Yep. I would be in favor of that. Thank you. >> Thank you, Richard. And thank you, Herin. >> You're welcome. >> Do we have any other questions for
members of the commission? It doesn't look like it. And then um as far as replacement um were we recommending any replacement on this or what's the canopy? Um, if you're asking me directly, I
didn't um they're leaving the stumps behind in the area and it's very congested. Um, okay. I think it would be advisable to maybe plant some um other things in the area that um
>> I'm always a fan of >> Yes. Um, and I can work with the applicant with a planting plan. I I actually have a a plan that I had put together for the other municipality that I work for that I can share with the commission and if you guys agree I can
relay that to the applicant. >> Oh yeah, that that's great. That would be amazing. >> How far are they from the wetland? It's just not marked on the plan. >> Um it's close. So they're right on um
Hold on. I think you can actually see it in one of their pictures, but they have Sue, are you still there? >> Yes, I am. I don't have the picture in front of me. >> I would
>> I can share my screen. >> The 50 foot line goes between like some are definitely closer than 50 feet. >> Yes. >> Um definitely. And I I would like to note for the record that there's significant snow
coverage either. So I I couldn't even see like BBW on there. Obviously there's a lake, but you can tell that there's some sort of um tributary that leads into this area, but you can't see anything because of the amount of snow that was on site.
>> Yeah. So that's a little um stream that's not flowing all the time. Um and a lot of the trees are along there. And then another bunch of them are um farther away from the lake than that
um behind that cabin. Yeah. So that's looking away from the that's that's looking perpendicular to the lake. Yeah. So the lake is on the left in that picture. Those are all further back on the property.
>> Okay. >> I'm trying to see if I have a picture where you can actually see the lake. >> Yeah. It's hard to get the the angle with everything in it. >> Yeah. Well, what a change between these pictures and
the last pictures. Can't even tell where the leg starts because it's also covered. >> If you look um under my site visit pictures, it's number three. Um let me see if I can
number three. Yeah. So, so do you see the cabin that So, this the area that you're showing now is some sort of tributary. um that feeds into the waterway, the lake. So, yes,
>> I think this is the the same area, right? >> It is. So, the trees are pretty close. >> Yeah. >> Um >> Yeah. And it looks like I mean, I think it would be definitely a good place for a couple of understory. >> I agree.
>> shrubs for sure. Um, it'd be great if you could work with the applicants on some sort of understory plantings. Okay. Do we have any other questions for members of the
commission? Okay. Um, do I have uh would we like to try to would we want to condition that some It looks like there's not a whole lot of area for um
like the full replacement that we would, you know, ask if there wasn't as much canopy, but would we want to condition that we put some understory plannings in or would we want to just say that Herurlin could work with the applicant? Any ideas,
suggestions, anyone >> fine with Earl and working with them? >> Okay, great. Um, okay. Do I have a motion to approve? >> I would make a motion to ratify uh Hurland's determination.
>> Okay. >> Second. >> All right. Roll call vote. Teddy Det. >> I. >> Andrea Bernal. >> I. Richard Burch. >> Hi, >> Mike Larouche. >> I >> and I for myself.
>> Okay, thank you so much. Um, so Harlin will be Arlin can speak for herself, but she'll be in touch with you about next steps. >> Okay, great. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Have a good night. >> You too.
>> All right. Up next we have um uh is conserv Wait, oh my gosh, why can't I think of what it means? I just said it. Administrative determination. What is is it conser is it conservation administrative determination
um for 72 hemlock drive. Do we have the applicant on the call? It does not appear that we do, but we do have Herllin's notes. Um, Herlland, do you want to go over your notes? >> Sure. So, yeah, this was an application
submitted in uh January, late January at 72 Hemlock Drive for the removal of four hemlock trees that were dead. Um, so I was on site for this on just bear with me.
I'm going to It looks like February 12th where I did um see some trees that had visible dieback and the topography of the trees actually um make them feel like they're leaning or seem as they're leaning um which is a hazard. Um they're
pretty massive trees in size and girth and there was only four trees that I noticed which is what they um apply for. One of the trees looks like it was leaning towards what is a deck in their
um home and then the other were to the opposite side. So the trees are on like almost opposite sides of the actual decking and area home and it looks like they're all leaning towards um that deck if they fall. Again,
um I would advise the commission the same recommendation. The removal of trees um with minimal impact to prevent erosion and limit limit the disturbance. Uh no stump removal or grinding and uh
to use some crane or hands only or trees for this um for the four uh dying hemlocks. >> Okay. So, I'm pulling up the pictures and everybody can see my screen, right? >> Yep. >> Now, these don't look like super
crowded. Um, so these I would you would be looking for I think a replacement ratio. >> Mhm. >> Um, does anyone else have any comments or thoughts on that? Hold on. Let me bring
my screen back because I have to hide the zoom so that I can actually see my screen. Okay, I can see again. Um, does anyone have any? >> Yeah, I would agree that the tree should be replaced as um according to the
regulation. >> Thank you, Rich. >> And roughly in the same spots. >> I agree. As do I. Okay. Um All right. Well, the applicant isn't
here. Um so we would be All right. So, but we can still approve with the condition that the trees are replaced according to the tree replacement schedule.
If anyone wanted to make a motion. Uh, Madam Chair, I would like to see a plan back to where these trees are going, where they're single trees in the area. I want to make sure that the trees replacements are
back in the same general vicinity. >> Okay. >> And they are I mean, we have evergreens there. We probably should be trying to put um either spruce or white pine back in those spots to provide the uh year round
shading. Okay. >> And then do we did we have the caliper on these Harland? >> No. Um I couldn't access the actual So I don't know if you looked at where I
took the pictures from. There's a lot of snow. >> Yeah. >> And I couldn't but um I couldn't get that. >> Okay. All right. Um, yeah. So, can we
uh can you work with the applicant just to figure out what a good replacement plan would be? >> Yeah. Okay. >> Uh, I I have one question in regards to planting and this is just a side note, a digression from the actual project in
front of us. Um, is the commission ever open to uh I know that we have a uh a regulation for replacement of trees. Is the commission ever open to having another area
um of plantings? I'm only asking because it seems like this is like a growing trend. These trees are on the banks. they seem to be um eroding more and more and then they start tipping and people
call us and want these trees removed. Um is it wise for us to have the people replace the applicants replace trees in the same location? Um or should we be looking at something else as um a remediation for the replacement
of the trees? And this is just a general question. >> Oh, that's a good question. Um, I would say for my for me, I think that it would make sense to put them somewhere where they will I would hopefully, you know, be as close to the area as possible, but
also where it's not going to be a problem in the future and especially where we're we're leaving the stumps in place so we're not going to lose any of that um stability on the bank. But, you know, kind of having it still not s like I guess it would really depend on the
site maybe like a case by case basis. But that's just me. Does anyone else have any other comments on that? >> Richard? >> Yeah, my myself I'd like to see the trees put back in as close a vicinity as
possible, especially these trees here where they're so close to the bank. uh they do provide shade and a cover in those areas and to take and put the trees, you know, on the other side of the property. They're not going to do
the job that these trees were doing in that area, you know, and especially where there's only four of them there. I'd hate to see us lose, you know, a few hundred feet of uh shade and protection along a banking of a a wetland or a pond like this.
>> Yep. Good point. Thank you, Richard. Um, Andrea, you have your hand up. >> Um, thank you. Um, yeah, I would agree that it would need to be on a case-byase basis. Um, as far as um, you know, replacing trees and um, I'm not any
expert, but I'm just wondering if it would help um, when planting trees to have some some other things around them to help stabilize. I mean, I understand that, you know, actually planting three trees together is going to they're going
to help each other. Um, but I don't I don't think we can ask people to do that to replace, you know, one tree with three, but maybe some understory things would help stabilize. >> It depends on the size of the tree that's being taken out. So, there is
actually a 1:3 ratio in some cases. Um, but yes, no, I do >> I do think that that is also a good point where when you have other vegetation around that does help stabilize too. Richard, were you going
to say something or was that was that you? >> It was me. It was me. Yeah. And >> um yeah. Yeah. For the record, trees and uh the banks like this provide uh significant stabilization to the area which is very important. It was just a
question that arose because when like what I've noticed and like I said, I don't know if you guys might know the municipality I worked for was very different. We had no lakes. When I see the properties that are in like so close, so their space for plantings are
so limited. Um the shading is very important. Should we be looking at um other options for people who don't have the option to replace trees? that it was just, you know, a question that I had, but thank you for the input. I really do appreciate it.
>> Thank you, Arland. Oh, I I'm so happy to have your input here. Um, okay. So, for this one, it looks like we'd be looking to uh continue and with Herlin um working with the applicant to come up
with a replacement plan that will replace and keep some of that canopy around the lake and work within our, you know, parameters for our planting schedule, our replanting
schedule. So, >> okay. Do we do we need a vote to continue this? >> I don't know for CDs. I don't think they require votes to continue. >> No, >> I I should know that off the top of my
head, but I forget right now. Um, okay. So, we will uh move on. All right. uh violations. Do we have any updates on violations that you'd like to share?
>> Uh nothing from the um we uh 168 mass appear. I did reach out to my circuit writer which is Emily Petrol from Mass E because um after speaking with um our chair I think it's in the best
interest of the commission to forward this to mass DP the uh property owner is not responding to any of the notices that we send out >> and um uh I think >> not great that they're not responding great that you reached out to C.
>> Oh yeah. Yeah. And I think that um I would like to send out a final notice to the other uh properties who haven't responded. I know it's been a while. I was interim. It was really hard for me to kind of keep up with certain things as I was kind of like putting out fires. But now that I'm here, I would like to
send out a final notice, give people 15 days to come back in front of us or we will start issuing um violations. And by violations, I I mean we can kind of backtrack what happened and see if legal
would advise us to issue a one-time violation of $300 or a daily violation, which is allowable under the Wetlands Protection Act. >> Okay. Awesome. All right. Um Okay. Thank you so much, Arland. All right. So up next
we have uh new business. So under topics unknown, we have um 215 Sunset Lane, we have an update. Uh they're asking to confirm that a new utility pole can be installed between the 30ft and the 50ft
buffer. It was not in the plan submitted by the engineer. So, they're asking if the commission will require a change of plans. Um, I can pull this up on my screen. Oh, I'm still sharing. Look at that. All right.
So, 15 is the sunset. If you go under attachments for the notice of intent and go to the site plan that was submitted by Ryan Proctor, I can show you exactly where they would want the poll to go. It's in a um it's
in a corner in between the 30 and 50. So, if you zoom in to that exact corner to the left, >> this corner right here. >> Yes. >> Um so, that is the corner that they're planning to put the poll in on. Um, coincidentally, there's a pole on the
outside of the property on the actual street. So, that's why National Grid would like to have this post put in that corner. Um, the applicant was given the link for tonight's meeting and I did ask him to attend. I'm not sure. David
Pajari is on. >> Oh, I see. >> Um, yep. >> And the conversation I had with Miss Pajari was, is it just a pole? are they just digging a pole? National Grid is in the business of digging poles so they know what they're doing. He said there
um there's actually a second part to this which is actually some trenching and I believe it goes to the house and that's where uh some trouble arose and I said I don't feel comfortable allowing you know saying yes to national grid when there's some you know trenching
happening and um the commission is not going to be aware of. So if Mr. Pari would like to explain further what he is wanting to do. He said the trenching was going to happen. He's going to do it himself. Um and I said that the commission would then decide whether this requires a modification to the
submitted plan or if he can move forward as >> Hello. >> Yep. Okay. Thank you, Haren. Um >> you're welcome. >> Hello. Uh hold on. Let me make it so that I can see everybody again. All right. So, hi. Uh, Mr. Pari.
>> So, is this the trench is going to be is it going to be under underground electrical cables? >> Okay. It's going to be in a conduit. >> Yeah. To come from the new utility
up the >> Oh, you're breaking up. >> So, basically up the slope. >> Much better. Okay. >> Sorry. >> Say that one more time because you broke up. At least for me. I don't know if it was breaking up for everybody. Yes. So, >> it would come from the uh proposed
utility pole up the slope along the edge of the driveway to a pedestal where it would then go to the main house and then you >> like this way
>> um on a site. Well, >> correct. Yep. Directly up the slope. >> Okay. And then just cut across right here. >> Yes, it would come up a little bit higher to where the um the storage area
is for >> that orange line. The orange line >> right here. >> Yes. >> And then cut over straight over. >> Correct. >> Okay. So originally it shows this plan shows
it disturbed right down to the street with all the trees being removed and the uh the access to the site. I'm hoping not to disturb that area other than the
proposed trench up the slope. So um that would be you know all the impacted area at this point. just the trenching and I wouldn't take down any trees or go
in between the trees that are there now. >> Okay. Um, is there anything else you'd like to add? >> Um, no, I don't think so. >> Um, do we have any questions from
members of the commission? Richard, you have your hand up. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. So, just to clarify, the trench is going to be dug in areas that have already been approved for disturbance. So, coming up the property line, up the edge of the
driveway. It sounds like the trench is going to come up past the 100 ft buffer zone and then turn into the house. Is that correct, David? >> Yes. So, come to a pedestal point where there'll be a
>> roughly what um uh what elevation is the pedestal at? Say is it at 322 coming up the driveway? >> Um it probably be higher. >> Okay. So, it even be higher. Okay. So, so we're only dealing with the trench
coming up. >> Okay. So we're only dealing with the trench coming up to the 100 foot. Once it's past the 100 foot, that's out of our jurisdiction. >> So I would have no problem, Madam Chair, myself seeing this as a field change >> with the pole and the trench where it's
already um approved disturbed area. It's not changing anything in any construction or any engineering within the project. And then it's any work that's done above the 100 foot um buffer zone line is outside of our jurisdiction.
>> Great. Um thank you, Richard. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. >> All right. Do we have any other questions from members of the commission? So, Richard, um, where this would be a field change,
would we approve this or would we just have them update the plan? Oh, we would have to approve it as a field change and then we would um technically we're supposed to get the
request for field change in writing prior to approval >> if this is an emergency situation and we have a letter from National Grid or Unatil or whoever is doing the um the electrical work that they need the approval forth with. I would think that
that would suffice um dealing with it. >> Okay. um within the two days of the agenda being posted. >> Okay. Um Mr. Parajari, is this do you know when they're planning on doing this work? >> Uh they don't. They're they're waiting
for approval from you, a letter of approval from you and a copy of the the order of conditions. >> Okay. Um so do you not have your order of conditions yet? >> I do. I do. And I want the updated order
conditions >> that to them as well. >> I just waiting for the approval for the pole placement so I can send that to them. >> Okay. So, um, so Richard, we want him we'd want them to
write a letter for us to approve the field change >> the National Grid. I'm sorry. >> Is that so? Because it's not an emergency, right? National Grid's waiting for us. >> So, okay. So, would that be something we
would do at the We would do at the next meeting. We get a Oh, Harlin, you have your hand raised. >> Oh, you're we have the email from them. That's why the applicant is here because I wasn't sure if the commission wanted him to apply for a field change or if
you guys would just accept it as is. Okay. >> So, we have an email request from National Grid to see if the commission would approve the pole where it's going. My concern was the digging of the trenching in the buffer. Um, we didn't
speak of the size of the trenching or how it was going to happen. He said he was going to do it himself, but I wasn't sure if he was going to have additional machinery on site. I just I didn't want to give him the go-ahad without the commission being aware of what was happening. I appreciate that. Um,
okay. So, I'm just trying to figure out what the best way to proceed here is because I mean, usually a field change I people come in with a plan for the field change and then we approve the plan. So, we don't have a plan right now. Um, but
we do have a letter from National Grid. So, Richard, I'm looking for your advice on how to proceed. I I have a plan on my desk and it's just adopt where the poll is going to go. >> Okay. Um
Richard, I saw you come you come off mute. >> Yeah. No. Uh I would believe we could go forward with the the dot on the plan for the poll and then submit a little more detail for the trench. >> Okay. >> Just wrap that all into a field change
request. >> Okay. But not approved tonight. Approve at the next meeting. Uh, not if it's not an emergency. No, it would put it on the agenda and approve it at the next. >> Awesome. Thank you. Okay. So, on that
note, um, unless we have any other comments, I'd be looking for a motion to continue to March 4th, 2026. >> Second. >> Was that you, Richard? >> Uh, no. That must have been Teddy. I was I was gonna say I don't think we need to
continue it. It was just a discussion at this point. Oh, okay. That's that's true. Okay. So, not continued, but putting it on the agenda for next meeting, which is March 4th. >> Correct.
>> All right. Thank you, Richard. Okay. Um, so it sounds like we know what we're doing moving forward. We will have a plan at the next meeting to look at. >> Okay. I can provide that. All right. Thank you so much. >> All right. Thank you so much.
>> Thank you. Thank you, Herland, too. >> You're welcome. >> All right. Um, we have the Lake Shirley update and I am going to skip over the other things and we can do that after the Lake Shirley update just because I don't want to make them wait any longer. Uh, because I see we have a a bunch of
people on the call for Lake Shirley. So, uh, let's just skip to E and then we can go back to BC and D. All right. So, who is going to be the presenter and is there what can I do to help you or just
want to get going? >> Hi, good evening, Madam Chair. This is Wendy Gendron and I'm with Aquatic Restoration Consultant. I believe Joanna may be on the line here, but I represent the Lake Shirley improvement corps in ter in terms of a independent consultant
looking at the lake management activities. And so annually I provide my own um report and I just for awareness that I am not invested in any one technique. So I am considered really a a third party reviewer of the management
of of Lake Shirley. So I'm going to present the report that was submitted to you folks um back in December. With me I have um Dominic from Solitude. I'll give him a chance to speak a little bit later and if Joanna's on um um I'll open it up
to her as well. Joanna, are you on? Do you want to say anything? >> I don't see her on. Am I missing her? >> I think she's under J. >> No, she she's not available. >> Okay. Okay. Well, hopefully everything
is okay and um I will proceed as planned. So hopefully you can see my screen here. Um can I can't see your faces anymore. So if you could just uh verbally let me know you can see it. Okay, >> I can see it. >> Great. Thank you. Okay. So I'll start
off with um the draw down. Lake Shirley does a they target a six-foot draw down every winter and the purpose of the draw down is to control aquatic rooted plants specifically non-invasive I mean sorry invasive non-native species. However, a
draw down will impact natives as well. Uh the draw down is the conditions for the draw down are listed in the order of conditions and the draw down of this past year complied with those
conditions. They achieved a 5.8 foot draw down which is pretty good in terms of uh the target. The draw down was about two to three inches per day which is within the um the conditions the max depth was
achieved by November 1st. So the draw down was essentially complete by December 1st as planned. The average depth through the through the winter period was 5.2 feet. So we didn't have any rain events that significantly reduced the draw down. So this overall
this past winter, not this winter but the past one uh was very favorable in terms of the technique for draw down and and plant control. There were no fish kills reported during the draw down period and water was flowing over this the spillway on March 25th before the
April 1 deadline for refill. So that's all I really have to report on the draw down. We still have that downstream gauge that's not working. That the purpose of the downstream river gauge is to monitor the water flow outside um
coming out of the dam during refill. That has been inoperable for a couple of years and I looked into it a little bit more this year and determined that the state, the Massachusetts Department or Division of Ecological Restoration used
to keep records of that gauge. So that gauge will need to be replaced and it's not an easy task cuz you it's not just about putting up a staff gauge but you have to recalibrate that staff gauge to a variety of different flows. So we're going to be working on that for the next
um year or so. Before I move on, does anyone have any questions about the draw down? >> I do not. Doesn't look like anyone else does. >> Thank you. So uh we also monitor there's a volunteer that monitors the sec or the
water clarity and what you see here is the sec disc transparency for every essentially every two year two weeks over the summer period and there we measure it in three different locations in the north basin south basin and the
upper north basin. Historically, the south basin has had the highest clarity and it's um likely linked to the distance from the tributary. The main tributary coming in is up in the north basin. So you tend to have the most influence from stor storm water coming
into that basin. The second disransparency went below five the 5-ft threshold which is used to trigger algaal sampling. And the reason why that is is once the clarity declines, it can be due to phytolankton growth. And our
concern here is with cyanobacteria and they want to catch a cyanobacteria bloom before it becomes too prevalent at which point you can no longer do an an algide. So the clarity had dropped below that 5-ft threshold and you'll see later in
the presentation that they did some al algo sampling. This is just another way to show you the SEI disk transparency over the last five years. These are box plots and they show the range of data that's collected in
each year. And this line here that connects all these X's is really just shows you the trend for SEI disk over the different years. Why I showed it in this presentation this year is because you can see that 2025 had the lowest
clarity on average in the last five years. And that is likely due to the herbicide treatment that was conducted this year, sediment resuspension, and potentially some um algo counts. And you'll see that when we when we get up to it. The al algae was more prevalent
in August this year. um it was not at numbers that were significant in terms of consisting of a bloom that warranted advisories. And so here's a little bit of the phytolanton data and these are um we had
Northeast Labs as well as Dr. Wagner from water resource uh services analyzed the phytolanton and this is a graph of the density and as a as you look at this yaxis keep in mind that it's a 70,000
cells per milliliter that is the threshold of where the mass department of health believes uh that's the point of where we warrant some adi lake use advisories and you can see here in August that the cell density was much greater
in August than um prior times during the summer. But what is interesting here is we had two different um labs analyze the samples and on this one particular day we had two very different results. I don't have an
explanation for this um but it maybe it's a timing of the time of the day or the actual location of sampling but I just wanted to show point it out because it is a substantial variability in the data. So timing and who analyzes a
sample can als influence your results. But the good news here well below the advisory threshold. But this could have resulted in some of the lack of clarity we observed this year in terms of temperature and dissolved oxygen. The
values were above the 5 mg per liter threshold. That's uh for supporting aquatic life. And here are the three different um locations. the South Basin, North Basin, Middle Basin, and South Basin. What I would say is interesting
about this is we did see a drop in in oxygen at the lower depths, and that's that's not surprising given that it's at the sediment near the sediment water interface. However, prior years, we haven't really seen it drop that low at
those depths. And two things I think are going on here. One, water levels were lower this past year. And two, we had that herbicide treatment that knocked down a lot of the aquatic vegetation. And that vegetation decays, and when that vegetation decays, it consumes
oxygen. So, we're probably seeing a kind of a multi-pronged um reason for this drop in oxygen. Also, if you look at the South Basin, you can see that the numbers are really close to this 5 milligrams per liter and a little bit lower than we normally would see in this
basin uh on another year. So I do think some of this oxygen is related to the lack of depth, the extremely warm and dry weather we had coupled with decay of vegetation. In terms of nutrients, if you look this,
we measure both nitrogen and phosphorus. We measure it at the surface and the bottom. And as a threshold, we look at u 02 mic milligrams per liter or 20 micrograms per liter because that is a threshold where algae is generally
supported by the phosphorus concentration and values lower than that you can kind of control or have less um frequency or or severity of blooms. in yellow. These are all the numbers that
exceed the 20 uh micrograms per liter threshold. And this is more than we've had in past years. Occasionally, we'll have one or two pop above the 02 micrograms per liter, but this is um quite a bit more than we've seen in the
past. Again, this could be due to the decomposition of the biomass of plants, which you'll see shortly, how much uh was impacted by the treatment and nitrogen levels. While we did again have some anomaly reported by the lab, these
numbers are within the the range that we've seen historically. So, we haven't seen much change in nitrogen, but we definitely saw a little um uptick in in phosphorus this summer. So, I'll pause there with any questions about any prior
SL slides or this one. >> I do not have any questions. Does anyone else have questions? >> Guess not. >> Okay, hearing none. Uh, so now let's get to the plant survey. This is where we saw the biggest change in the lake this year.
This graph is a little dense. Uh it what it has on it is the blue bars are richness meaning the number of species that we observe during the plant survey. And for your information, we look at 66 predefined plant locations and we go and
we look at uh cover which is the um the two-dimensional surface in which plants are covering and we look at bio volume which is the three-dimensional surface in which the plants um are within the water column. So richness is the species
that we identify at that observation location and then density and and bio volume. So density is really the cover and the bio volume is that three-dimensional scale. And what I wanted to point out on this, this is in
every report, but I wanted to show you this from 2024 to 2025, you can see there was a drastic reduction in species richness, a drastic reduction in plant density as well as bio volume. Some of
this was intended, but we did see more reduction of plants in this treatment than we would have hoped. The fluoridone treatment is a whole lake treatment and technically it is considered a uh selective to some extent herbicide and
I'll let Dom speak to it a little bit more but we would have liked to have seen a little bit more retention of native species but boy I'll tell you we got some excellent uh removal of fan wart so of the 66 observation locations
that contain fan of of the 66 observation location location only two locations had fan wart and one of them was in the deepest spot of the lake so that was extremely interesting uh there was also the reduction as I mentioned of some native species we did
see an increase in algae which is typical of of following any disturbance and so I'll explain this graph here uh or this table so here are the species in the column these ones in this bigger block here are all ones that we have
tried tried to control the growth of even the native wild celery or tape grass. And here is the number of points where this species each of these species were observed at the different um sampling times. And what I wanted to
really point out here is this fan wart which is a really nasty invasive and it can really just kill the biodiversity in a lake and it out competes just about everything including other non-native species. And you can see that you know
September of 2020 there there was about half of the lake was covered with fan wart but we saw a huge increase by September 23 and by September 24% of the observation locations contain fan
wart and that's kind of what drove the the measure to do a whole lake treatment and in 2025 we saw it at two locations and you can see where there's No number means we did not come across that plant during our September survey at all. Now
down here on the bottom, this just shows you a little bit of the macroalga. So the algo algae that you can see with the naked eye and you see that stone war and musk grass musk grass came in in September 2025. It could be that it came
in or it could be that these plants are low growing and they could have been obscured by a prior surveys, but it this plant these two plants, if I call them a plants, but they're really algae. Uh they do come back in in disturbed areas
and they're beneficial. These are not the uh scary kind of algae that would provide or or harm people or pets. These provide structure because they're macroalga and they also are good food source for water fowl and some other
aquatic species. Uh we did see an uptick in filament to screen algae and that also is not surprising given the the phosphorus numbers and the recent disturbance. Bladder wart um did was significantly reduced some of these. I
think there's both a non-native and a native species of bladder in um Lake Shirley and it was significantly reduced. This is a free floating plant. So whether you see it at one particular location is no guarantee you're going to see it again and again.
Uh we also try when we do more targeted treatments, we avoid areas that contain robins pondweed, which is a beneficial native plant that we saw um a loss of over time. And there's no we can't really tell
whether that loss over time was due to uh an increase in invasives and kind of crowding out by those invasive species or had something to do with prior treatments and draw down. Looking at these numbers of how much of these invasive species have come in, I would
not be surprised or or I don't I wouldn't feel bad about concluding or I'd feel confident, let's put it that way, of concluding that a lot of this is due to um the insurgence of the non-native species. We did see robins
pondweed at two locations, which is one more than we have seen in the past four years. This situation that we have may give Robin's pondweed a leg up and it may actually increase uh because a lot of that habitat that was taken up by fan
wart is now open for robins pondweed spread. We did not see coonail this year but again we have only observed that three times in the past four years. And coonail isn't a known heavy heavily rooted plant. So that plant too also
kind of floats around, but that's also another native beneficial plant that we try to avoid if uh we're doing an herbicide treatment. So now what I just wanted to conclude is, you know, fan wart was successfully
suppressed in the lake. I'll let Dom explain a little bit of the hydraulic conditions and why the treatment uh maintained some of higher concentrations for a longer period of time. But what I wanted to stress is that this outcome uh
was driven more by exposure duration influenced by the hydrarology. It was not a misuse of the herbicide. And I just want to make that very clear in terms of compliance. So Dom, if you don't mind, I'll let you explain uh the
florone concentration and the treatment. >> Absolutely. Yeah. So our goal here at Lake Shirley was to maintain greater than five parts per billion uh for for about 90 days or so and we were hoping
to reach a peak of around 10 to 12. So you can see that we we've done that and we did that through three treatments. We started the treatments in late April. Uh we did a first follow-up treatment in late May and then we did a final
treatment towards the end of June. Um so what did happen is in May we had actually I believe it was um over 7 ines of rain um in May. So, uh, we were seeing very early on, as you can see in
throughout May there, we had very low levels and even into June, we were still under our target concentration of five parts per billion. So, we did kind of accelerate our our second treatment and we increased the dose of our second
treatment trying to uh get those numbers up because of the rain. Uh, and then mother nature decided to shut the faucet off right after that and we literally got like hardly any rain at all throughout June, July, and
August. Uh, so what ended up happening here is uh again we I think what really happened was the concentrations the higher concentrations were hoping to keep a peak uh and then come start to come down. those higher concentrations
lasted longer because of the way the weather played out this year. Um, so you know, we had the greater than 10 parts per billion in the lake for, you know, well over a month. Uh, and I think that's really what caused the kind of
higher than anticipated effects on the native species. But, you know, as Wendy said, the silver lining here is we we really knocked out the fan wart. um most of the native species are known to be um
quickly returning after fluoridon treatment like this whereas we're hoping to get three plus years of excellent control in the fan wart. So I think this really is an opportunity for the native species like uh robins
pawnweed and coonail to come back with really no competition from invasive species. I I really think this is a good opportunity for the lake to kind of reset itself and for some of these beneficial native species that we've seen kind of minimal amounts uh over the
years kind of flourish in the future here. So, you know, we definitely again saw some greater than um hoped effects on the native species, but you know, I think we again already already saw one greater
spot of of robins pawned this summer than we've had seen in the past. So, I think we're uh I think we're in a good position to um have the lake really kind of be in a in a better better state here moving forward. So,
uh, yeah, that's that's about it. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. And I, you know, I'm just I'll just close here like like Dom said, recovery. We expect some some significant recovery. It may take some
time. There is a lot of seedbed left in the lake that those those seedbearing plants may uh come up first and then the robins pond weed will likely just expand from its existing location. We may see some short-term changes in fish habitat.
It was interesting. I was out there um and they were having a fishing tournament the day that we were doing the sampling and I asked how the fishing was and they said it was fantastic. Well, we know why it was fantastic is because the fish didn't have a lot of
structure to hide in. So, they were easy to find and likely have fed off of a lot of the young of the year that didn't have a refuge to hide in the plants. So, the fish were probably going to be big uh and plentyful for the this this, you
know, this past season and probably this season, but then you might actually see a a slight uh drop off in the fisheries as that uh cycle comes back in the young of the year that that might have got overly grazed this particular year um um
will will eventually cycle back. So just in case you hear complaints about the fisheries, it would be expected that you'd have some trickle down effect or or or or trickle up effect I guess in terms of the aquatic biota. And in terms
of the 2526 management program, as you know, we're still doing the draw down this year. We're hoping to ma monitor fan wart a little bit more frequently than than just Dom's initial survey and trying to get some volunteers out there
to to look for fan wart. Maybe mark those locations uh for a spot treatment if needed or if it's in a shallow area uh get some hand pullers out there to pull up the plants by the root. there may be a need for algicides this year
with that increase of phosphorus last year if that doesn't didn't get quite flushed out with the um the draw down or as these plants continue to decay we may continue to see a little bit of a spike in phosphorus which may fuel algae so we'll be on the lookout for that um and
with that that concludes the presentation and I can open it up to any questions thank you >> thank you so much um do we have any questions from members of the commission.
Did we Did we lose Richard? I think we might have. >> So, >> okay. Good. Okay. Um I don't have any questions. I am very hopeful that those native plants come
back instead of and hopefully not, you know, some of the non-native stuff coming back. Uh a quiet commission >> as do I, Madam Chair. I concur with your uh observations.
>> Yeah, >> I guess I have a question just kind of out of left field. Do do you have any concern for um any like pifas being added into um the water with any of these um treatments?
>> Yeah, the the herbicides themselves don't contain any P fosses. Um you know the EPA and you know D are all reviewing these. I mean the for a lot of at least for herbicide treatments, not only aquatic herbicide treatments, but
across the industry, I think the containers or tend to be the culprits, but I I know that all of the herbicides themselves aren't don't contain PAS. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you, Teddy.
Um when so when you did the whole lake treatment does how long do you shut the lake down for that? >> Oh yeah. Uh really just I mean there uh we we typically just close the lake down for recreation on the days that we did the three different days that we did the
treatments. And that was really extra precautionary, not required by the label, but we just had folks um no swimming on the days of treatment, just again as an extra precaution, but that was it. Yeah, the irrigation restriction was probably the most um
comprehensive restriction. Folks around the lake weren't able to use the lake water for irrigation for most of the summer because obviously herbicide um and is is will affect, you know, people's lawns and stuff. So, >> but
>> okay. Do we have any other questions for members of the commission? >> All right. I guess we are. It was a good presentation. >> Thank you. Great. >> Thank you for bumping us up. >> Thank you for coming. Um and we'll see
you next year. >> Take care. >> Thank you. Have a good evening. >> Have a good evening. All right. Um, so going back to B by law discussion, um, I don't think we have anything we don't have any updates
on that. Well, Herlin, I know did have an idea that she's working on about moving fees into proper places, right? Was that what it was, Haron? I can't remember now.
>> Yes. So currently the fee schedule sits in um the town charter and it's governed by the town instead of conservation. So typically >> huh
>> I said that's what it was. >> Yes. So typically what um other municipalities do is they change the verbiage in the town or city code ch town charter that reflects something like uh fees. Please refer to
conservation bylaw for fee schedule. Um and then the conservation commission has jurisdiction over the changes to that. It doesn't have to go to town meeting or in other municipalities. when a city council, the commission as a whole can
make those decisions and changes. Um, and we were looking at that because the fees for the current fees are pretty outdated. Yes, that's um, one thing I definitely would love to get on pretty quickly now
that we have someone in the office full-time is working through that. Okay. Yeah. So, um I just I think that's a great idea. And so, as far as that goes, is that
what would be our next steps on moving those fees? Would that have to go to town meeting to get that verbiage changed? >> Yes, it would have to. So, I have to meet with legal and see what they would suggest. Typically, I'm not really sure
how it works for towns. Um, in municipalities that are bigger, you file a petition in front of city council to change the city code and then it goes to different types of subcommittees. But
here, I believe it would go to uh the select board and then it would go to town meeting and then their decision would be made if I'm not mistaken and then it would come back to us. >> Okay. All right. Yeah. So, we'll
uh hope to get that going. Um upcoming Mac convention. I sent out an email. I sent out a list. I saw Teddy um got back with the classes that he wants to take. It's February 22nd, I
believe. So, it's this Saturday. Um >> 28th. >> 28th. Thank God. Um okay. So, it is February 28th. Um, Andrea, did you see that email? >> Um, I did. I haven't taken a look at the classes yet. >> Okay. Do you think you're interested?
>> Um, probably. Yes. >> Okay. Um, which reminds me that uh we should that we don't have any budget established for these classes. I thought we did. I thought we established the budget for both of the conventions at the beginning of the year, but we did
not. Um, so when we get to budget, we should probably I think was it 165 per person this year? Um, I'm going to take quick look. Or you can look. >> I thought it was 150, but I might be
wrong. >> I think that they might have um upped it a bit. >> Oh, yeah. It's 180 for MCC members. >> Oh, okay. Yeah. When I when I went to do it myself, it was like 200 something. I was like, "Okay, I'm gonna wait."
>> Yep. So, what we'll do is we um they used to have a little form that the office could fill out and send to them. I didn't I couldn't find that this year. >> Um but I just created a spreadsheet that um Michael can send over
>> to them that has our names, our emails, and the classes that we want to take. >> Oh, they do have a form. It says fill up this form. I'm going to share the link in the chat. >> Okay. >> But unless anybody doesn't want it, but yes, the form is there. Fill up this
form, but it's individual. >> Yeah, it used to be there was one for like the office, right? >> I'm not sure. I've always seen this form. >> Okay. >> Um but >> that's right. I actually, now that I
think about it, I did fill out forms last last time. Okay. So, yeah. So, Andrea, um I will hold off having the registration sent in just to have you give you a chance to look at it. I uh
>> Okay, thank you. >> expect that Mike will not be there because he has palm trees behind him. >> Yes. And um uh I'm Chris obviously won't be there. Um I have a feeling it'll probably I don't know if Mary's planning on going
or not this year is for this one. Um but I doubt it. And Richard's in the Caribbean somewhere so he won't be there. Um Herlin, do you normally go to these? >> I do only if they offer things that I am really interested in, but these are
repeats. There's nothing new on this one. Um so when they start like sometimes they'll update the courses and I want to know something but um yeah it's been like six years of MACC conferences. I
think >> I um the last one they had some really good stuff I thought about uh like storm water. Um I put it up on the screen in case anybody's interested. What is the theme
this year? for this one. It doesn't even >> No. >> Is this the right one? This is fall. I was gonna say that's all the same people as last time. Um >> Oh, that's fall. Yeah. >> Yeah. Now, this is 2026 now. Yep. >> And then when I went to
the I clicked the link on this page and I ended up over there. Huh. >> Oh, >> weird. So, if you go to their I don't know how I got here. >> Education
calendar events 2026 exhibitor general attendee view sessions. There we go. >> I'm going to share also in the chat the
link I have that has the actual classes in the form that we like to view them. Okay. >> So, if you click the this link and you scroll down, it has like session a morning, the fundamentals, and then at the bottom,
it has um the nominees for service awards and stuff like that. But um yeah, if you guys can fill those out, you can register I think up to the Friday before and even in person if you don't have Then
>> if you don't have your mind made up and you want to go, you can show up with that slip the with the link for the form. You can print that out and email it to me and then bring it when you're there and then I can coordinate with MACC and just get the payment out to them.
>> Awesome. >> But if you do want to set a budget further down, it would be great, too. Yes, I definitely um I think we'll I think we'll just budget for three. Um I don't anticipate
anyone else going. And wait, is this the one? This is the one that's a Holy Cross. Yes. >> Um the Holy Cross campus is really nice and they have good food. Um okay, so I will check in with you on that, Andrea.
Um or you can just let me know. Yeah, I'll get back to you. >> Okay, awesome. Um, okay. Earth days. Um, pollinator habitat had a meeting on Tuesday. I don't think Andrea, did you make it to that?
>> I did. Yes. >> Okay. >> It was a good meeting. Um I did not remember to get my notes but um the I guess the main um um consensus was that April is too
early. >> Yeah. um the weather just doesn't quite work out especially they were um thinking with all the snow we have so far and you know not knowing we know what what more we might have but um they are um kind of aiming at an event on
Mother's Day in May. I think it's the second Sunday. >> Okay. So there was a lot of enthusiasm for that and um they're going to you know have another meeting I think next month.
>> Okay, great. Um I know I'm thinking that Earth Day in April like the way that we have snow um Earth Day is what it's usually around April 22nd. It's uh we might want to be
looking into closer to May anyway cuz also because it's like spring break and stuff, not spring break, April break. Um Teddy, you have your hand up. >> Yes, thank you. Um yeah, I wasn't able to make that meeting unfortunately, but uh during my Sierra Club meeting um just
before this meeting. Oh, did I lose you? He's not muted. His hand is still up. H. We seem to have lost Teddy, but not lost him. Oh, no. Now we fully lost him.
Figures. Okay. Yeah. So, as far as man and it felt like when we started talking about this that Earth Day was so far away and now it's it just keeps getting closer and closer. Um yeah, I would like if we could just come
up with like one or two things. Uh I'm happy to try try to manage one of them. I know Teddy had some ideas about um raised garden beds that I wanted to hear more about, but we seem to have lost him. Does anyone else have Oh, he
lost He just texted me. Um he said, "I was Hey, Sierra Club said they'd be happy to boost whatever Earth Day volunteering we come up with." Okay. Um Harlin, oh yeah, Harlin, you had said that you might have ideas, too.
>> Yeah. So, I initiated the Fitchburg celebrates Earth Day for the city of Fitchburg, and we did that for five years. Um, at one point it became so big that we couldn't contain it, so I needed help. Um, it's very short notice, but I don't know
if the commission would be open to hosting something. I know that you said it's vacation week, but sometimes that attracts a lot of people who stay around town. Um I was thinking um for the first annual Earth Day that I
hosted, we had small vendors, like a small group of vendors who showed up um that were environmentally environmentally friendly and conscious. And then we had local organizations. We had North County Land Trust. We had the
National River Wershed Association. We had the local trail stewards. And then we had the recck department. Um they just set up booths outside of city hall and we had tons of people stop by. I'm not sure if the town of Wenberg has a
location that we can use whether indoor outdoor, but I can try to pull resources together. We had um Grow Native come once.
>> Oh, nice. Um, they were great. And I think if I'm not mistaken, the regional person for Grow Native lives in Lumenber. Um >> Oh, really? >> Yeah. Um, and we had a few
>> plants in my yard are from them. >> Yeah, they we had a we had a a group of people that were great. We had I think Mass Ottabbon showed up. Mass Wildlife provided some stuff. They do like um planting plans for people that are free
if you need help with your and we had um I don't think the town of Lun the town of Lunenberg is part of that. Uh it's there was a program through DCR where they would plant trees in your yard.
>> Oh, I know. As far as I know, we're not part of that, but it might it might be on the Sierra Club website that we are. So yeah, all of that I can it can be as small as we want it to be and as big as
we would like it to be. I just I would need to kind of figure out quickly an indoor and outdoor place or if anybody's really interested. I know that it's on a Wednesday. I typically like to have it on Earth Day um just
because it is what it is. But I think it's on a Wednesday this year, but um or Monday, I can't remember. >> We had it on the the actual day and a lot of people showed up. >> Yes. >> It's April 22nd, Madam.
>> So that's Wednesday. Yep. >> Okay. If >> um sorry, >> if if the weather is favorable, I wonder if we could have it at like Marshall Park or just outside um or even on like the green that the gazebo
>> is on in the town. >> That's what I was thinking, that green gazebo. And then I thought about parking. Where would people park? Then I thought of um somebody said TCP. Am I correct? Uh, TC Pacio is
>> Yes. >> Okay. I've actually never been there. >> And I don't know where that is. So, >> is that the school that's near the library? >> Yes. >> Okay. Where town meeting was. I was supposed to go to town meeting, but I
got sick. I'll be >> the these are all the options. if the commission would like for me to move forward, I can look some stuff up and then have things ready for our next meeting to kind of get the ball rolling because it's very short notice and people typically for the events that I
used to host, I would start prepping in November. >> Yeah. Um, I mean, yeah, if you if you think that we could pull something together, um, I think that would be very cool. But also, if you think it's too short of
notice, we could definitely do something like that next year and just try to maybe do a couple smaller things this year, like do like a trail maintenance day or something like that. >> Yeah, that's a great idea. >> Teddy has um also some ideas. I know that maybe he I don't know if he wanted to share or
>> Yeah, sure. Um well, first off, um at my sorry, disconnected. Um at my Sierra Club >> meeting, um I was bringing this up and they mentioned that they'd be happy to boost whatever Earth Day uh event or volunteering opportunities that we have.
Um and my ideas were generally just like cleaning up trash at the parks or cleaning up the Marshall Park in and of itself. Um, my other like out of the box idea was perhaps like raffle off
um a small simple garden bed because it would I looked up what it would cost to build. It would be about like $65 per 4T x 4T by 1 ft garden bed. Um, and we could get like the scouts or something to volunteer or I I could even build
them if we couldn't get any volunteers. >> Yeah. So, the only thing we have to figure out is if we can actually hold a raffle. I don't know if we can. >> Yeah, >> if it's free, you can host I think if it's free. If it's a free raffle, you
can host it. >> Okay. But wouldn't is it are raffles free? >> You can. >> Okay. >> It can it can be like um show up and enter your name to this free.
>> Okay. So, yeah. So, as long as we weren't like charging for raffle tickets. >> Correct. >> Okay. So, could we say like um everybody who like helps clean up Marshall Park or whatever for an hour or is that considered charging? Does it
have to just not be any sort of anything? Could it be labor or >> It could be like suggested, right? like hey like if you want to you like anyone can enter their name in but it's also like recommended that or we're asking
people they can volunteer at >> I don't think you can do it in lie of labor I I don't think you can phrase it as volunteer and be entered to a raffle >> okay but we could say
you don't no volunt nothing required but if you wanted to volunteer you But you can vote but you can just write your name in anyways even if you don't volunteer. >> Yeah. Um >> I don't know. We also can do like
anything else. I just this I'm just going >> I know it's just I I like the idea like the getting people excited about garden beds and stuff like that, but that one we have to think through a little bit more and just make sure we um also don't cross any lines legally,
>> right? So, um I think we could probably get some sort of like a spring trail maintenance day up or so going or something and then um I don't know, Harland, do you think it's kind of out
of the realm of planning like a a real event for this April, but we could Would you prefer to just maybe try to look for something for next April? >> No, I can definitely plan it for this April. Oh, okay. All right. I don't want
to I don't want to overwhelm you in your first month here. >> No, it like I'm It's not going to be big, but it'll be something. I think we should start off even if it's small, because that's what happens. We start off small and then it just grows.
>> Okay. Yeah. Um and then Yeah, I was I'm wondering if there's any way we can incorporate some sort of volunteer time into stuff just because for those grants
that Mary and I wrote. Um, part of the the matching is the inind volunteer hour donations. So, it would be good if we could get maybe find something to get some inind volunteer hours like a trail maintenance day or um I know the Boy Scouts were interested in helping build
a kiosk for one of the that wouldn't have to be Earth Day though. Um, so if we come up with one at least one thing that maybe has some just cleaning out the trails for the spring or something. Um,
my brain is starting to turn off. Okay, so yeah. Okay. Um, yeah, if you could do that, her that would be great. And then I'm going to >> try to think of something like I'm work with maybe Mary or if anybody else has any ideas about
probably the lane property would be the best place to maybe do like a trail maintenance. So do like an Earth Day thing, a trail maintenance thing. Um look into how we could do about go about a container
>> container. Oh, the container garden. >> Oh, okay. >> Yeah. Um, okay. >> I wonder, excuse me. I wonder if there'd be any um business in town that would be interested in donating one or something like that. >> Like Mackie,
>> any of any of the garden centers >> or uh Lake View? >> Uhhuh. >> I don't know. Do you know that Richard owns Lake View? >> Yes. >> Okay. Did you know that Richard owns Lake View, Teddy?
>> Um, I think I had an inkling that he was related to it somehow. I didn't know that he owned it. >> Yeah. So, I don't think he could he would have any wood to donate. Um, but maybe some vegetables or something. I don't know. Does Lake View have vegetables in the
>> They have seed packets and they have edibles during the um beginning of the growing season. >> You can order stuff too through them. Yeah, I say I've never se I don't think I've ever seen like tomato plants or anything there. >> Um but that could be just because I'm
not looking for them. >> I haven't any tomatoes since I moved here. But I used to work I worked for Weston Nurseries for 9 years. Um >> so I uh we had lots and lots of vegetables. So I haven't noticed that at
Lake View. But I in the spring I'm usually just looking for regular plants. Maybe this year I'll do tomatoes though. Um, okay. Yeah. So, let's uh I will maybe I think as far as wood goes, we'd be
looking if we're going to try to get something donated. It probably have to be like a Mackie or a Home Depot. Um, and then but we could try to maybe because we're thinking food, right, Teddy? >> Yes.
>> Yes. So, can we talk to Richard? there. >> Yes, >> you may want to consider dicks. >> Oh, yeah. But they >> they would have vegetables. I'm not sure in April. in April. Tomatoes are
probably >> uh May >> tough, but um just because I'm sure they'd have some in their greenhouse, they would >> perhaps donate, but then giving it to people in April, you really can't
sustain a tomato plant unless they have space. But >> yeah, >> I'm sure they have other root vegetables that are probably more sustainable at that time of year. So that' be a resource.
>> Okay. Yeah. All right. Cool. That is a very good point, Mike. All right. Um Okay, so I think that's all of the new business. um old business
conservation budget uh Mac invention. So I think I'd be looking for it. It's 180. Is it 180 per person? Is that what it was? >> Yes. Yes. >> 40 I think. >> All right. 18 36
54. So that's 540. >> Um okay. So, I'd be looking for a motion. All right. Would this come out? This would come out of timber rights, I would think. >> Where did we >> You said 180 180 * 4.
>> 180* 3. >> Three. >> 180* 3. Oh, okay. >> Yeah. Um >> 540. >> Is my math wrong? The way I do math in my head? >> No, I think Yeah, I got it right. Um,
let me >> I just want to take a quick look at where we approved the funds from last time. I'm pretty I don't think it was timber rights. Oh, I just noticed that Joe
Tol from um PAC offered to live broadcast our meeting. Okay. Um but I missed it. All right. So, Michael Okay.
PL for 510. Uh, it doesn't say, it says what GL it is, but it doesn't say what the name of the GL was. Um, has 30,000. Mike, do you remember what budget we would have
approved Mac out of by any chance? >> Let me look at my notes here. Yeah, I don't have that madam chair. >> Okay.
Psy liquidated. authorization would come out. Oh, so the budget is totally different than it used to be. We used to have a schooling line item, which I don't think exists anymore.
Um because now our budgets are all combined. >> Well, I know that the uh Hollis Road budget comes out of the Haw account and you're saying it's not out of the Timber account.
>> Remember it coming out of timber rights? Um and it can't come out of WPA. I know that. right? Um for >> forc conferences.
>> Yeah. >> Yeah. I I don't know. You know, I you're like the second or third person that tell me that, but under WPA funds can be used for education. >> Oh, okay.
So I uh I it's what I've always used for conferences are my WPA funds. >> Um >> so we can >> know what the budget for our I don't know what the balance of our WPA budget.
>> Uh last time I checked it was like $4,000. >> That's it? >> Yes. >> Wow. Um I don't know. That seems like I don't want to touch it. Is that that seems low. Does that feel >> seems very low? But we we als I think so
the um the account that's funding that the monies that are funding that are not um high right it's just >> fees >> are not I think the town doesn't have I think we already spoke about this and
how >> that there's proper fees are not being implemented. So, yes, I think for a one-time run of $540 and then not use anything else. But if you want to appropriate funds from the
previous account and then let Michael figure that out, that's another way to put it too. >> Okay. Yeah, let's I think that that let's do that because I we used to do like a bigger budget for
schooling and that covered the WPA, not the WPA, the MAC um book for everybody and then also the two conferences like for four people and then also some classes. We like kind of, you know, said
maybe like 10 classes per year. Um, and that would kind of cover everybody, but the things are different now cuz we're sharing a budget with the entire land use department in some places. Um, so we don't do that line item anymore. So, I'd say, yeah, maybe like a motion to
approve $540 from the budget from the fund that we previously used and if that fund can't cover it, then use the WPA fund. Did that sound good to everybody?
>> Yeah. >> Okay. I have a motion. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Okay. Roll call vote. Andrea Bernett >> I. >> Mike Larouche. >> I. >> Teddy Ducet. >> I. >> And I for myself.
Okay. Um the other thing that we need to actually do a um budget for is we got an invoice for the beaver
deceivers maintenance for $783. Um we used it says looks like we've used them against conservation funds since 2024 as an annot. We should add this to the annual budget. So all the paperwork is before identified with opening a PO but
I need to know where the funding will come from before I can do that. Um which would ideally be where it came from last uh which he did not put in. So I would say um
approve. Why is my computer being stupid? approve uh I would say a motion to approve uh to pay the invoice for $783 to come out of the fund that it previously came out of over the last two
years. Um which I'm guessing is timber rights cuz that is the beaver deceiver. Oh, let me see if I can find All right. All right. Um
authorized a deceiver installation by Beaver Associates for $3,300 to keep Beaver's uh did not which was already authorized and we did not say what the
fund was I would say timber rights fund um for this one uh if I remember correctly we used the timber rights fund for this previously so I'd be looking for a motion to
approve invoice for $783 for the beaver solution s from the timber rights fund. >> So move >> second. >> All right. Uh roll call vote. Andrea Bernup >> I. >> Mike Larouche >> I.
>> Edd >> I >> and I for myself. Um we do not have any encroachment issues. Hollis road residents. My computer just beeped at me. Um Hollis Road residents. I know Mike, you
messaged me earlier about if I had any updates on the Hollis Road residence, which I do not. I did find out how to get the Marcel. Um, I have not gone through with it yet though. I need to fill out a form with
the information for the purchase. Um, and then that gets sent to like a procurement office of some sort and then they buy it. So, I have the form. I just have to send it in.
>> Who's Who's buying it? >> The It goes to Oh, I can tell you in one second. So, there's a procurement card. Um, I have to fill out a request for the procurement card. It goes to the town
manager for approval and then it goes to accounting and they purchase the item. >> Okay. >> Um so I will I will get that form filled out tomorrow and then I will I also will stop by the
property and check on it. Um it's definitely using heat though because we're getting bills every every month. >> Okay. And I uh made a call to Chris Ruth just to get any activity from the um former
custodian and he has not gotten any word. Um so as far as I know there's been no activity on that part of Hollis Road.
>> No. And I did text her because she had said that she wanted to get some stuff. >> Okay. >> But I have not heard back. That was like two weeks ago too, I want to say. >> Okay. >> Um, so I mean anything that is there
is still there. We have not we have not disposed of anything. So if there's anything that she needs, she's still for now able to get it. We're not removing stuff when there's, you know, a foot of snow right now, but and he hasn't heard from her either.
So, okay. Um, what else do we have? Uh, committee reports. Do you have anything for master plan steering? >> No new updates. I will have an update for you next meeting.
>> Okay. Um, stormwater is incredibly updated. We went to I think this is the last meeting here. We went to FinCom. We went to the select board. We've had two meetings. Um, we have a meeting tomorrow and we
are going to have a public information sess session on March 5th. Um, and we've been getting a lot of questions and seeing what people are asking. We've we've got support. we've got not support. Um, but it's good to see what
people are saying and hopefully have answers for them. And then so public information session on March 5th at 7:15 at the library. I'm not sure why it's at 7:15, but it is. Uh so if anyone's interested
and wants to know more about a storm water utility and why we are trying to implement one um there will be an information session. Also we meet tomorrow night if anyone wants to watch on Zoom um or if anyone wants to ask me
any questions now. We are kind of in the the home stretch right now before town meeting where we're hoping to get a bylaw initiated um without like a fee schedule yet. that a lot of most of the towns around us at this point have a
storm water utility which is basically creating a separate fund for um storm water maintenance because we have a the MS4 permit that we have to comply with that our budget town budget just doesn't help with at all. Teddy, you have a
question? >> Yeah. Does that does that um I I watched like a little piece of the last meeting I think. Does the storm water utility apply to everybody or is it just in the like everybody in the town of Lunenburgg or is it just those in the center of
town near main like waterways? >> It applies to everybody because >> every like storm water affects everybody. um you know they called when they refer to the urbanized area like
that's the part that um is under the MS4 permit but the storm water utility is for like there's there's actually there's increased um regulations for the urbanized area like they have to do street cleaning more often we still have
to do street cleaning in the other areas we still have to do catch basin cleaning in the other areas and for reference like we have somewhere like 1100 catch basins in town that needs to be cleaned periodically. Um, you know, all the streets need to be cleaned, but in the urbanized areas, they need to be cleaned
more often. Um, so it's all of the the town is affected by the MS4 permit compliance, but and but it's just that the urbanized area is it's a little bit more strict and there's probably there's
a new MS4 permit that's being reviewed that's probably going to be more strict. Um, so but yeah, the the resident the residential fee is going to be pretty low. We're going to keep it it's going to be in line with what other
towns are somewhere in like the 60 probably to 75 per per year for any single family home. We're not going to try to um you know it's just it gets too complicated if you try to differentiate
with residential properties but commercial properties will be based on how much impermeable area they have. So those fees will start higher than the residential and then they'll we actually had somebody go out and do um a GIS map
of how much imper impermeable areas the non-residential parcels in town have so that we can figure out how to equitably um charge the the utility to them.
So that's where we're at. Um, it's a lot. I'm very tired from all the storm water stuff. It's like it's taking up a lot of time. I feel like every night I'm doing town stuff right now. Um, okay. I don't think we have any public
comment cuz it's just us. And then our next meeting is on Wednesday 218 at 7 o'clock. And on Does anyone have anything they'd like to add before the end of the meeting? Today is 2:18. >> Oh boy.
>> On the agenda. Yeah. 34. >> Yeah. Our next meeting is Wednesday 34. Like I had Thank you, Teddy. You can tell I'm tired. I had oral surgery today and like um I think I'm starting to fade like big time. Um,
so yeah, I think that on that note, I would be looking for a motion to adjurnn unless anyone has anything that they'd like to stay here for the rest of the night. >> I'd like to make a motion to adjurnn. >> Okay. >> Second. >> All right. Roll call vote. Andrea
Bernapp. >> I. Mike Larouche. >> I. Uh, >> Teddy Det. >> And I for myself. All right. I will see everybody again in March. >> Okay, good night everyone.
>> It's great to have you here. Thanks for coming. >> Oh, thank you. >> I am so happy to have you Erlin. Yes. Thank you so much for >> Thank you all. Have a good night. >> Thank you. You too. >> Good night everyone. >> Good night.