Not listening to any of them by grant. The ones that you said were continued. Most of today's even recording in progress. I guess we're ready. Okay, we're ready. But they're they're coming in. They're at least booting it off or No, they're not. I
don't know what your question is. Did they send in a letter asking for a continuence to the 17th? Not to August 7th. So, it's David's got all the info we need, right? I'm not going to worry about it, though. I was going to make a
I was going to make an announcement to let people know in case there's people waiting for it, but you'll just have to wait then. All right. Uh, welcome everybody to the regularly stated meeting of the Yarmouth Conservation Commission. Today's the
meeting for Thursday, July 3rd, 2025. Uh we are going to get right into things. Uh first item of business is the reorganization of the uh commission. So we have some
issues here. We have we're looking for uh chair and secretary. Uh Paul, are you still looking to maintain vice chair? Yes. Vice chair. Yeah. But does anyone Okay. Unless
there's somebody who really wants that position badly, you know, but I'm fine with it. Okay. So, for uh chairman, uh David has offered his services.
Uh I would make the motion to uh make David Bernstein the uh chairman. Is there a second? I'll second. Any discussion? All those in favor? I opposed.
Carries unanimously. Congratulations. I think we'll find out. I still get to sit next to you. You get to see the better side of me. Okay. Um then for secretary, uh did
somebody want to do the secretary position? Pat. Pat would like to do that. Okay. Would somebody like to make a motion to that effect? I will. So, we'll take it and second from Paul. Uh, all those in favor? I opposed.
Carries unanimously. Congratulations. And with that, I will relinquish. Huh? I heard some interest from somebody else for vice chair. So, are we Bradford, are you interested in vice chair? Oh, did you express interest in vice chair? If Paul, you don't want to continue, but
No, I'll I'll continue. But um if if I have a I'd like to continue. Actually, all kidding aside, that'd be fine. That's fine. We're good. Sorry. I didn't didn't know there was the confusion there. But with that,
we will make our peaceful transfer of power. Congratulations. I realized I don't have Is this your phone? Yes. Thank you. I don't get the phone, do I? No, you don't get the phone. you just get that big stack of piles unless you want to unless you want
to pay the bill too. Okay. Well, first of all, I want to thank Ed uh for all the work he's done over the years as chairman since I've been on the commission. he's been chair and his knowledge is
is important to all of us and uh hopefully he'll still be around for us to to ask him questions. So I'll move ahead with the um and bear with me this is my first time. Um, we'll start with continued notice of intent of
SE832477 Horsesley Whitten Group for town of Yamoth, 220 South Street, now otherwise known as Smuggler's Beach, South Middle Beach, and Judin Way. Proposed beach management including maintenance, raking, sand fencing on Coastal Beach,
and LSCSV. Um, somebody presenting, I guess you are. I am. Good evening. For the record, Amy Ball, senior associate with the Horley Whitten Group, um here to represent the town, um Department of Public Works Parks Division, um in the
presentation of two different um beach management plans. One for Smuggler's Beach or um Bass River Beach and the other for uh South Middle Beach and Juden Way. Given that they're the close proximity, we we combined them. Um we
have submitted uh management plans for each of these areas. They cover a number of um there we go. So for um proximity uh Bass
River is coming in from the north on the eastern side of the page here, the right hand side of the page. And that's where Smuggler's Beach is at 220 South Street. And then a little bit further to the west you have south middle beach and the uh June way rightway.
Um each of these have uh coastal beach, coastal dune land to coastal storm flowage and then of course the proximity to the land under the ocean. Um they're also um all located within uh priority and estimated habitat for um at the very
least uh piping plvers. So, we had filed this a a while back and um got some comments back from Natural Heritage about some additional um things that they'd like to see within each of the plans regarding the the protection
of the plvers and um most recently just submitted updated plans that will ultimately become all black in font. Um but the the changes that we had made were are in red font from a couple days ago and the
the overall um management I'm going to go to the next couple of pages. These are just some some photographs. I'm certain that the commission is probably familiar with both of these. Um overall the management plans have some locations
of um existing beach raking that is that is occurring and just needs to be brought into compliance with an actual plan. That is a um what we're asking the commission to approve. Um it has areas of where the raking is occurring. Um,
Natural Heritage had asked us to also show where the shade structure and the volleyball area are actually at Smuggler's Beach and then um asked us to incorporate some some discussion about uh whether there are any uh beach grass plantings that would occur within the
dunes um in part because they were concerned about making sure that the habitat for the piping plvers is is preserved. um not having it terribly dense with with um beach grass. Let me try the next one.
This is the south middle beach. Just a few um few areas of the entrance there. It's coming in off of the the road there. And it actually has a an entrance through the woods um which makes it in my opinion a little bit unique. And then I think the June way is the next one which
is just directly um south of the road itself. and it is a a fairly narrow strip and there is a private property that is located between Juden Way and then there's a private property to the east and then it's South Middle Beach
and this too has um areas of the Hirovi um this too has areas of of where the beach management is occurring and and how close they can get to the dunes etc. So the the key points of the management plan is that they both have um proactive
measures that the DPW um takes care of in the maintenance of the beaches and also reactive. Reactive meaning um seaweed that may come up and and accumulate on the beaches and how that's being handled. Um how the access
points are maintained. Uh so Smuggler's Beach, which is the most popular beach um as I understand it in town, um has something like nine different entrances and these need to be um kept free. Some of them have the the beach mats over them. Um kept free of
the sand, but also have some snow fencing around the edges of the dunes to protect the dunes from the trampling of the the recreating public. Um they each have a a a plan for the seaweed management and you know the overare of
the the structures and amenities of the plants themselves but also um the types of equipment and the and the management. Um a good deal of this is usually managed right at the very beginning of the spring and I use that term loosely
like March. um because uh come April 1st, that's when the plvers start to come back. And so, um Natural Heritage made sure that we we had maintained like a a time of year restriction for beach management activities
uh short of of emergencies. And the town has um a contract with Mass Ottabon and their shorebird experts who will come in and um monitor for the presence of uh piping plvers or or turns or their
nesting shorebirds and also um nesting behavior. And if they find that, then they they erect the the exclusion fencing primarily at the at the for dune. And then they are there on a a frequent presence to keep an eye out on
on activities um making sure that the the nests are protected and the fledglings are protected, etc. Um and those protect and those protective measures for the the um the shorebirds was the um reason we had
to continue it from last time even though we hadn't presented it yet to um address some of the the concerns that Natural Heritage had about protection the very specific protections about the the plvers. And then finally, um, of course, all of these measures are
intended to protect the the resource areas themselves and to make sure that the activities are meeting the performance standards for having no adverse effect on the beaches and the dunes. I think that's just about it. Um,
we do go into a discussion about the the maintenance activities, the beach raking, how um the DPW is meant to stay back at least a minimum of 15 ft from the base of the dunes um to be protective of of the integrity of the the frontal
dunes there. Um, we talked about the mass about and the time of year restrictions. And the other the final thing that natural heritage had asked for was are there um are there rules you know that govern the beaches and they asked us to incorporate the town has uh
rules for beaches and parks. Correct. And those are um effective as of 2009. So those have been appended to these uh management plans that we submitted. I think that's it. So, I will turn it back to the commission for questions.
Anybody from the board have questions from the commission? I do. Um, you mentioned the there were beach mats that go out on the beach. I don't think I recall seeing that within the beach management plan um or saw them on the
the plans. They may not be um called out specifically. There is one on Judan Way. It gets rolled out in the spring and brought back in at the end of the season. Those are called Moby Mats. Um we do have um another one I believe.
Yeah, it's not going to show up there. No. Yeah, it's not going to show up there. Is it on this side? It's on It's a D. I mean, we we sort of arbitrarily named these, but I thought it was I think it's the far one, is it? I hear you back there. I think it's I
don't know what those letters are. I think it's actually pretty close to where your your cursor is. This one? Yeah, I think so. This doesn't show in any of the pictures because most of those pictures were taken off season. So, yeah. So, I think it'd be helpful to see that on the plan
and understand how far it's Sure. We can absolutely add that. I'm sorry to be late. Um, forgive me. My name is Roby White House. I'm the assistant DPW director. I was actually on the phone with people who were at Smugglers Beach today. That's what held me up. I do apologize. It was very crowded today.
That's a good beach day. Okay. Any other questions, Bradford? I have a couple questions actually. Um, regarding the grass planting, um, I believe Natural Heritage wanted to know the, uh, total area per year, um,
annually. The additions that you made were 100 to 200 per location, but it didn't really indicate how many locations that would be in any given year. If you um, can you Yeah, switch back to that plan. Okay.
They're basically at the entrances of the in and around the entrances if they occur. I I don't understand that they may or may not actually occur. That's more of a reactive um measure is if the um DPW or in conjunction with natural
resources and conservation determined that there there's been some erosion or there's some need to you know enhance the dunes then those get planted. So they asked us to just incorporate it and depending on where the plantings occur. Um there it's
usually like a couple of combs per hole, but it's denser if you're going to put it further back from the front of the dunes. And because of the the type of habitat that the piping plvers prefer to nest in, which is more of an open sand area, um they asked us to put them
further apart. So, um, behind the dunes it would be more like 18 in 12 18 in apart. And in the four dunes, they would ask them to do about 36 inches on center. Okay. Um, and then also with the natural heritage
letter, um, they had called out, um, identifying who the enforcement is for it. Um, and also with the beach rules, it mentions like no dogs, um, and stuff like that, but it doesn't, the beach management plan doesn't outline who
should be called to enforce those issues such as like the dog walker or the police or Right. So, Rob, you can probably speak to this, but as I understand it, it's a it's a joint effort between DPW, natural resources, and conservation. Okay. Staff enforcement. You're right. So it's
regarding the dogs natural resources under natural resources is animal control. So typically if they're on duty we would call animal control or natural resources to assist with that. So hopefully that helps. Okay. It just it wasn't very clear within the management
plan itself. Oh okay. The enforcement piece. The enforcement piece. So we can we can clarify that. Um, and then more just generally, I was a little confused on what defines an reactive verse proactive management activity. Um, there
seemed to be some inconsistencies on what was considered proactive versus reactive. Um, the the proactive activities are the types of things that they have to be done on a regular basis. Um, the
maintaining of the open um beach entrances, that sort of thing. um cleaning the beaches before the season begins. Reactive would be something um if if there was a big storm or something blew up on the beach and they needed to get out there and clean
out um you know a deposit of of a lot of uh seaweed or you know things like that needs to be cleared off the beach before it becomes a a health hazard. Okay. I could give you an example of the reactive. We had a storm just within the
past two years that brought a great deal of sand up onto the beach and onto a walkway, a cement walkway that people couldn't walk on without potentially hurting themselves and we shoveled it off, but you can't shovel it into the dunes. So, we had to remove it and move
it down the beach. That was reactive. That That's And so, if you're looking for us to clarify that with examples, we can certainly do that. is I guess I was a little confused like you mentioned the beach planting would be reactive but
that would be done before April 1st whereas a putting up the sun structure is proactive but that would be done around May 15th. Um so it it just seemed a little confusing to me. So part of the reason that um I mean the beach grass
would be a reactive thing but it's a maintenance um activity. Uh when you plant beach grasses in dunes um as I understand it that usually has to happen between or most successfully happens between like December and April 1st. And since natural heritage wants us out of
there and and not being you know maintaining the beaches um that would have to happen sometime in March usually. So that would be a it's it's reactive in that they're they're um reacting to
potential like erosion issues within the dune, but it's also part of the maintenance of making sure that the beach is um ready for we're ready for, you know, the season, but also is protective of the of the resource area, which is making sure that the integrity
of the dune is still there. Understood. Thank you. Those are all my questions. Um, yes. I just want to be clear and and I know it's I know it's in the report, but sort of I just want to be clear on sort of to piggyback on your concerns about the Moby Mats. Um,
there's no intent to add any more access uh paths, right? And so the existing ones remain, right? And those will be will they all get moy mats or I mean with the objective that you don't want trampling
over you know we're not looking to add additional moi mats. Is that what you're asking? I'm sorry. Is every access path going to have a moi mat? No. That you mean? We currently have two. So you identify
where we will identify where they are and we're not adding any additional ones. Okay. Okay. Thank you. U Mass Ottabon works with you on checking how close nesting or whatever is close to the
movie mats. They report to us weekly in a a written report and their focus is where the nests are. They don't necessarily um isolate the moi mats, but they're very conscious of where anyone
or anything is going near the nests and they do report on that. So, who's responsible? They'll probably report it to you, but who would be responsible being sure if the mats need to be moved out or our team? The parks division is is focusing
on those moi mats and conscious of Absolutely. Yep. Yep. That's what that's the benefit of that written report from the Audabon because they may see something that our team might miss and we're getting those weekly reports from them and if something gets jumps out at
us in that report we will be reactive to it. Okay. Anything else? I have uh just two questions. One has to do with raking. How often do you expect to be raking? I believe we asked for twice a week. We
are actually at this point I think only raking once a week. um are um we're working directly with Audabon and it's when they're available but we obviously um depending on where the birds are our
wonderful piping clovers we we have to be very cautious of that and we are you know very strict about whether or not we have any staffing from Ottabon there for in order for us to rake and right now we're waking raking once a week. Okay. And my other question is about um taking
care of people who who bring their dogs onto the beach. I walk Seagull Beach probably five times a week and if I'm there at 600, 6:30, 7, there are multiple people with dogs. If I'm there at 8, that's it. Nobody's
there. So, I just want to let you know that there are people who take advantage of the fact nobody's on duty, I guess. So we hear and we see that in the reports from Audabon. Yeah. Our team is not there. So um but are we aware of it?
It is definitely called out in those reports from the the team that's out there checking on it. Okay. It's posted. Anybody else on the board? It is posted. Um anybody out in the audience any comments?
Anybody on Z? Oh, go ahead. Step up there. Hi. Uh Dave Condan, director of natural resources. I'd love to chime in on the dog thing. Um yeah, our staff generally works daytime, but the more complaints we get, the more of a better idea we get when people are actually
there with dogs. I mean, we don't have the staff to be here 247, but if if you're there at 6:00 in the morning, I would encourage you to call every time because then we'll be there at 6:00 in the morning. Okay. Um and that would be anybody at the beach because yeah, we don't want those dogs in there either. So yeah, any any complaints would be
well received at our office. Great. Thank you. Anybody else? Anybody online? I don't think I see anybody. Any hands raised? No. Now it's up to you. Okay. I thought you might forget about me for a second there. No, I would never forget.
Um my only comments would be um I'm proposing to the commission to include three um special conditions. One of them you see annually. previously on your man maintenance request that the height at South Middle Beach needs to be maintained and not plowed through to maintain that path there. So, the dune
elevation has to remain. Um, and preseason meetings would be required for any maintenance that's not specifically addressed in this plan. And any of the reactive measures that aren't clearly defined would need to be submitted in writing prior to implementation.
And if any changes are needed, written edits will be submitted and approved by staff if minor and a hearing will be held if necessary. Um, and the last item, the question I had was I wasn't sure if you had a disposal strategy outlined for the raking debris.
I do not have a written plan. I know we have a plan for um how we're handling seaweed, but in emergency situations, we would have to work with yourself and our health department to determine what we're going to do with the seaweed if we
have to remove it from site. I'm not referring to seaweed. I'm talking about your twice a week raking debris. Oh. Oh. So, I I would request that you guys submit um a written strategy for disposal of the raking debris. Okay. I thought we had a plan. We did. I didn't
see it in there. Did anyone pick up? I I I was thinking seaweed, but I guess I wasn't thinking any other debris. Yeah, the shells and shells. Trash. Do you take it to the dump? I don't think so. Okay, we we can I'll follow up on that.
What on our list? Did we get all the um NH NHCP comments? Still pending. They're still pending. Um, so it's my understanding that Amy spoke with them on the phone and you addressed most of, if not all of their comments with the supplemental
information that we received this week. Um, so the board can either decide to issue pending all the plan revisions we spoke about tonight um, and receipt of NHSP requirements or you can decide to continue for revised plans and receipt
of the comment. What's the wish of the board? I would prefer to see a revised plan, but that's just me. I think you should I you should wait for Natural Heritage to chime in officially and then and then
close it. Okay. So, can I hear a um motion to continue to Can we have that done by 17th? 17th. That's a NHS. They reset their clock at 30 days
every time they get new things. So, um, we can aim for the 17th and if we have not heard back from them, we could continue it. Is it August 7th? 7th. Okay, we hear a motion. Second. Second. All in favor? I.
Anybody opposed? Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much. So, I just put this aside. Yeah. Okay. Um, our next
is SE832479 Crawford Land Management for Will Rubenstein El Elisha's Pond proposed treatment of invasive hydrillaa through chemical and physical means in a great pond. They're asking for a continuence till August 7th. August 7th. Also
waiting for NHSP. So move to continue to August 7th. Okay. Second. Anybody? Second. Second. Okay. All in favor? I. Anybody opposed? Okay. Moving right along. Got work to do.
That's this one, right? This is 11. Yeah. 1129. Yeah. But where's uh the one I just voted on? We don't need anything for that. All right. So, we're at um
SC832481, Scullfield Brothers of Cape Cod for Henry and Nicholas Casden, 1129 Great Island Road. Proposed new dwelling and guest house in a buffer zone to a coastal bank in BVW with stairs to a
coastal beach with velocity flood zone and coastal bank and and um Yes. Hey, introduce yourself and we'll go from there. Yes. Good afternoon. For the record, I'm Laura Scoffield from Scoffield Brothers and I'm here representing the Casden family. Um I
initially presented this project to the commission at the June 5th public hearing. Um but we couldn't close because we hadn't heard from natural heritage. Um, so I I had gone over the project in depth at that uh meeting, but
it's been a while um because of the Junth holiday. So I was just going to um quickly give the commission a recap because I know you've got a long agenda tonight and it's also been a while since you initially heard the project. Um, so this is a single family dwelling and
guest house that are proposed on a vacant wooded lot along with a proposed elevated wooden stairway to access the beach. Uh, the property fronts on Nantucket Sound and has um several coastal and inland wetland resource
areas. Um, as we discussed at our initial hearing, they're either on the property or their buffer zones overlap the property and impact the the project. Um Britney had also requested some additional information on the elevated
stairway um that's been provided. Um it's a a routine elevated wooden stairway. Uh it lands on the beach well above high mean water and the chose chosen location um is protected by an
existing jetty and there's an existing clearing at the top of the bank um already. So that kind of lends itself to a nice spot to tuck in the stairway. And there's also um limited um I think we only have to prune one branch on the
bank to fit the stairway in there. Um so that that information has been provided. Um and also Natural Heritage has responded to our application since our last hearing. um they've weighed in to
determine that the project will not adversely impact any um endangered species. And then just to quickly um sum up the project again, um most all of the
project is out except for the stairway of course. Um the project is mostly entirely outside of the 100 ft buffer to the coastal bank. There's 36 square ft of patio area to serve the main house um
that's uh dipping its toe into the buffer zone. Um the rest of the disturbance um will be for some minor grading during construction, but after that most of the buffer zones going to revert to a naturally vegetated state.
Um and the main house is mostly outside of the 100 ft buffer zone to uh the inland re uh coastal inland wetland resource areas as well. Um the screen porch is uh minimally 71 ft from the
edge of the BVW and the pond. Um the guest house is 60 ft from the edge of the BVW and the pond. And collectively um in terms of permanent alteration in the buffer zone, there's about um 2500
square ft including the building itself and the decks and the porches that will be within the buffer zone. Um that's about 6% of the total buffer zone on the property. And obviously there'll be more
alteration within the buffer zone for um installation of the dry wells and and things like that. But once the house is constructed, those areas will be reveated um with native uh vegetation as well.
Um so Mary LeBlanc is the landscape architect on the project and she has um taken into account your local mitigation requirements for the buffer zone and
those requirements have been satisfied. Um most of the trees that will be removed for the project are oak trees and so Mary has called for um mostly oak trees to replace um the trees that will
come out in terms of the project. Um and then there's some other native shrubs and um grasses that will be proposed as well. No work is proposed within the 50-foot buffer zones. Um
neither of the dwellings will be within any flood plane and we have called for erosion control. Um that will also act as a work limit and the driveway and the
um septic system are entirely outside of the buffer zones. And um there will also be a great deal of upland area that's preserved with the project as well. And I that's it. And I'm happy to answer
any questions that the commission has. Anybody on the commission have questions? We'll start with Oh, okay. Um I'm referring to to your documents in front and and there's just a statement here um
that it it would be preferred to be more absolute um on sheet three of three under the construction notes. Um it says inspection for future erosive conditions in post vicinity is recommended.
So you're speaking of the post for the stairwell and you know you're recommending but is we need to be more definitive. Are you going to have um are you going to do it or not do it?
I think in a case like that when you have a coastal stairway if you start to have an issue that it gets addressed because number one it's probably a safety issue and that usually requires coming back to the commission. So if there was a storm event that um required
maintenance or um repair that would definitely come back to um the commission. Ellie, I was um going to recommend that so occasionally for this type of project, we would require monitoring ports reports as a typical special
condition and that could be included as a requirement in the monitoring reports if you wish. Okay. And then I have just one last question on um um sheet two of three under general
notes. Um just where is the stockpile location for um all strip top soil and subs soil to be stockpiled and reused at owner's option and then you're going to respspread it. Where where would you
where the stockpile located? Um, you're referring to the septic system probably within um the driveway area because we wouldn't want to have to clear other areas of the upland um
that we're trying to preserve. So any actually a lot of times they'll just put it in a truck and take it somewhere and then bring it back. So we we don't want to be disturbing parts of the um of the upland that we're trying to protect. So that that's a note that
refers to the leeching area and that's um in the upland that's outside of the buffer zone, right? Would you be immuneable to a condition requiring stockpiling in the driveway or outside buffer zones? Sure. Yep. That's no
problem. Ed uh construction activity is all coming from the from the top side down. Is that right? The stairs. No equipment on the beach. Oh, right. Nope. Okay. Uh then I would I would uh just again ask
monitoring reports. Uh you're looking three three years would be good. Yep. That's all I got. Anybody else? No. Just have a question about if a storm
does come and and ruins the uh stairs. Um, we talked about uh maybe labeling the boards with some kind of address so people know where it came from and especially on that south side on that
side. You do that in Barnstable, right? Or no, for steps not not for steps for docks. We do docks. Okay. Anybody in the audience? Anybody online? I don't see anybody.
Okay. I just have a quorum clarification. Ed and Ellie, you weren't present at the 65 hearing. Did you watch the video for these? And we'll just have to have you sign the Mullins form if you want to vote. Oh, I can't vote then. Thank you for reminding because didn't sound
familiar to me, but yeah. What about you, Ellie? Yeah. Did you watch the video from 65 or read the minutes? wasn't here. I didn't watch the entire meeting. But did you watch the minute? Read the minutes? Yes. Okay. So, we'll have you sign a form so that you can
vote. Yeah. I will do that now. Okay. And you have anything, Miss Britney? No, that's all. Thank you. Okay. Um, so can I hear whether um with all these conditions whether we
would accept the uh permit? Um, grant the permit. Any I have a motion. Jack second. Second. Second. Pat. Okay. All in favor of granting motion with the conditions that uh we spelled out earlier.
I opposed. Okay. It passes. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Um, moving ahead, SE 832482 Ryder and Wilcox for James McCarnney and 27 Grismill after the fact filing for
unpermitted patio retaining walls and fill within the flood zone and buffer zone to a salt marsh. They are asking for a continuence. Just to let everybody on the commission know this would be their second com second um continuence.
So I hear a u motion to grant the continuence. So move second. Okay. Ed and Okay. All in favor of granting the continuence? I opposed. All right.
Moving on. Okay. SE 832480 Down Cape Engineering for Yama Shores Condo Association 29 Lewis Bay Boulevard proposed reconstruction of revetment and ramps and coastal bank and land under the ocean
and LSCF and they just asked for a continuence. Am I right? Yes. They submitted a late continuance request to August 7th. August 7th. Is that their is that their first? I'm
sorry. Sorry. This is the applicant's first continuence request. Yeah, we required the first continuence. So, yep. So, move. Second. I'll second. Bradford. All in favor? I. Anybody opposed? Okay, that passes. Moving right
along. Woods Hole Group for Town of Yamath Packet Landing 377 Bridge Street proposed elevation and reconstruction of Timberwolf cheat pile bulkhead paved parking lot with drainage improvements for coastal resilience in the waterfront area
coastal bank LS CSF land under the ocean and buffer zone to a coastal bank and um Mr. Chairman, I'm going to recuse myself for this one. Okay.
Okay. You need to put that in. Is that correct? Thank you. You guys are all set. Y uh good evening. I'm Dave Condan. I'm the director of natural resources for the town of Yarmouth. Um just briefly
introduce the project. This is um a project that we're really excited about it. Britney, you'll give you some of the history here of how we got here, but um as we all know, Packet Landing is a highly utilized asset to the town for both um recreational boers, commercial
fishermen, and uh public safety boats. We have two of our boats there. The fire boat is there. Um we use that for emergency medical, evac. we use. It's It's our number one facility on the water in the town as far as we're concerned. Um and anytime we have a
storm event, the whole parking lot, well, half the parking lot ends up under the water. The gang way ends up so we can't use it safely. Um we can't access our boats. We can't get down there. And this project that we're proposing today is uh got the support and funding of uh
Office of Coastal Zone Management behind it. Um uh it's a project that they feel is um going to continue to be funded hopefully. I mean this is we're in uh just entering year two of the first grant cycle here with a two-year project for the the design and permitting. Um
but they've already kind of given us the the wink and the nod that we think we're going to continue to get that funding as we move forward. Um and the the proposal as you see is to raise the parking lot by approximately three three feet. uh reconstruct the bulkhead there and the timber pier. Um and I'll turn it over to
these guys. This is uh Cole Baitman from Dian Bond and Britney Hoffnagle from Woodsole Group. Uh they're the consultant and engineer on the project and I'll turn it over to them. Thanks. Thanks Dave. Um good good evening everyone. Good to be here. Um
just want to reiterate a few things that David said. um Pekco and Marina located along the Bass River south of Route 28 um and um primarily serving a few functions uh whether it's commercial fishering,
offloading and recreational um boating and also serves as a as a launch point for a marine based um emergency response. Next slide. Um and so as as David mentioned is that does face its own challenges uh during extreme gets
flooded from periodic storm and extreme water level events. Um keep going. Um, you know, this leads to potential restriction in access. Uh, under being underwater can lead to wear and tear on the infrastructure and equipment and could potentially have a a negative
impact on the the economic um the economy here on bringing in shellfish and and fish and um recreational boats. And just wanted to highlight that this is not limited to just Packet Landing. you know, this shoreline with the butters just south of Packet Landing
also experiences experiences challenges from the flooding from extreme water levels. So, just wanted to point out um that water level beyond the the seaw walls of of the butters as well. Um and not only is this, you know, a current day problem, but we also
assessed this project in the in the light of how sea level rise might occur in the future. Um and so um you know if we're seeing events like this twice or three times a year um with rising in sea levels we could start to see this
flooding along Packet Landing um even during a mean high water event or every day during the meanhigh water flooding. Um so this this is just a graphic kind of showing where um flooding might occur when you consider mean high water um in
future conditions. So uh just to wrap up that we in 2024 we did complete an alternatives assessment where we developed concepts that were along the protect elevate and accommodate themes. So can we build a wall around it to protect the site from
flooding? Elevating is actually can we lift the site out of um the zone of flooding or can we accommodate does it make sense to retreat a little bit to accommodate some of that storm water um and storm surge um and mean high water
flooding. Um through through the project through the town uh through some community u meetings uh we the town decided to go through um the elevate um alternative. So that was the preferred alternative which focused on the four main points of elevating the parking
lot, removing and the timber bulkhead and new installation of the continuous sheet pile, reconstruction of the wararf, add an elevated boardwalk and install new gang wags for additional access and repoint the stone rebetment and reconfigure storm water system. So,
um, from this point, next slide. Um, I'm going to pass it over to our partner Cole and he's going to walk you through the individual elements of the construction. Um, and, um, hopefully that'll give you an idea of of the components that are being proposed. Thanks, Britney. Hi, I'm Cole Bman. I'm
a professional engineer project manager with Titanbond and I'm representing obviously the town of Yarmouth with with whole group here tonight. And I'll be talking about the engineering aspect of the project. So, currently there's a it's a low-lying parking lot. Um, it's it it floods under um not only extreme
weather events, but just high tides uh to make it unusable. So, part of this project is to elevate that parking lot. This first uh image on the left is the existing parking lot, which um is elevation 3.5 NAVD 88 at the low end uh
relatively low compared to mean high water. Um there's also 19 existing parking spaces which um at some points does get uh congested in the lot and enforces uh off uh parking um parking
lot parking. So we look to aim aim to um uh increase the parking with this project to prevent that as well as um enhance the storm water features. So on the right we're showing the proposed parking layout with the new sheep power bulkhead which I'll talk to you in a
sec. Uh we're reconfiguring portions of the parking lot to uh retain some of the sight soil that's at the south end where that uh the squiggly line comes in uh returns into the project site. And because of that u we're losing a couple spots in the circulation u relative to
that bulkhead. So we're looking to expand the parking lot uh coverage uh and also increase the t the count by two spots in the left um with the red hatch at the north end of the project site. North's up is an expanded um uh brick
access way to uh a new gang way and the existing uh handicap parking spot which will be um restriped in the new parking lot layout. Next slide please. The next item I'll talk about is the existing bulkhead. So, at the south end of the project site, there's a timber
bulkhead that wraps around um to the neighboring abuted property to the south and then also continues underneath the uh east end of the wararf uh the landward end of the wararf. Uh during our investigation at the beginning of the project, we found that that bulkhead
was largely in disrepair. There was holes in it. It was leaking some material um and needs to generally be be replaced consistent with also raising the parking lot. Um, so with this proposed strategy, we look to uh replace
that uh lower uh bulkhead, uh, we're actually retreating it back onto the property. Um, I'm sorry, further into the property to, uh, not take up more of the coastal um, beach resource area. And then we're also expanding it uh,
lengthwise to dive into elevation 7, which is the target parking lot elevation. So the length of it goes to about 360 ft. I don't have the exact number of the the existing length, but it's it's it's quite a bit more and and that is to retain the uh the new parking lot elevation to provide more resilience
for the u parking lot. Um I also like to point out at the south end of the site um we do have the opportunity shown for potential uh alignment of uh butter uh bulkheads should that become a thing.
The next slide, please. Thanks. Uh, kind of tied with the bulkhead is an existing timber wararf. This is used for offloading, loading, I think it's fishing, you know, generally a lot a lot of use for this wararf. It's its function is tied to being close to the
water. So, this uh elevation of this barf was kind of separated from the rest of the parking lot to kind of keep more water access only increase 1.2 ft compared to the parking lot elevation of of three. um and to enhance it for those those sunny day floods and those those
other flood events but still uh provide protection for uh for some use. So it'll be uh reconstructed in the same footprint just elevated. There will be a a kind of an elevated pier portion of the wararf which would be set just a
little bit higher to access the uh floats um which currently uh becomes totally unusable and some tide events in the in the gateway actually kind of goes backwards uh in in reverse of what it should. Next slide please. Thanks Britney. Uh and this portion of the
existing site has an uh a stone revetment. Um during our investigation, we found that there was some uh minor erosion at the north and south ends as well as some seem to be just holes in the revetment from maybe settling stones and things like that. So we look to
patch the holes with with some uh smaller small course rock. Uh, one of the design criteria that we went into the project with was to enhance the access to the floats for emergency uh, uh, use and and potentially even for some of the slip
holders as well. So, at the north end of the project site where that expanded uh, brick walkway is uh, in the in the uh, parking lot, we're proposing to add a new gang way down to the north end of the fingers finger docks uh, to enhance the the access like I mentioned.
And then a big portion of this project is also enhancing the storm water features on site. Currently there are multiple storm water elements, storm water um uh u systems. There's one for the pavilion itself which I think was recently installed in perhaps like 2016
2017 and then there's uh one for the parking lot. Um there's two outfall pipes uh existing uh and we're looking to consolidate all of the existing storm water at least at this border uh bottom portion of the of site into one system. So what we're proposing is a you know a
structured system with um chambers and that will be um served by a pre-treatment which is required for the use of this project site as marina which is an enhancement to what's uh currently there. Uh and then we'll also have a trench drain at the beginning of the uh
the war uh the ramp down to the the wararf um to treat that storm water uh and then some some new catch basins. but at the uh at the west end there that we're showing on the right image a tiein to the existing roof runoff of the pavilion to have a um combined system.
Thank you Britney. Please thank you. Thanks Cole. Um so with all of these um new additions that Cole just described, we do acknowledge that there is increased coverage um square footage coverage um that totals 15 approximately
1,600 square f feet. Um if you don't and those coverage do impact um you know the resource areas that are located on the site. So land under the ocean, coastal bank, coastal beach, land subject to coastal storm flowage and riverfront area. Um
um next slide. Um so we um are planning to do some mitigation plantings to make up some of that coverage. Um really at the southern portion we're offering um a screening um of um eastern red cedar um that are
roughly going to be a screen between the butters property um to the landward ocean or the landward side of the parking lot. we are offering um or recommending to do a mix of beach plum and bay berry bushes um on the landward
side of the parking lot. And then right along the the new sheet pile wall along the riverfront, we're um have a short a small strip um for a mix seed of salt tolerant plants. And with those mitigation planting areas, we're um
accumulating about 1,300 square ft. Next slide. Um you'll notice that we don't even meet a 1:1 ratio um or even 3:1 ratio. Um so we are requesting as part of this application a variance um from
the town of Yarmouth wetland protection regulations um to allow for reduced mitigation planting um mainly due to you know the existing features and the site constraints um and the current intended uses um we the the 2:1 3:1 ratio just
can't be met um as I said the 1300 square ft of mitigation planting um is only at a 0.92 to to one ratio. So for those reasons, we are asking or requesting a variance for reduced mitigation planting. Um once um that's
basically all we have once the NOI is issued, we plan to submit for chapter 91 minor mod um administrative review and also um a PCN um permit for Army Corps. Um, and those will happen in the next
few weeks once the permit's issued for NOI. Um, and that's all I have or all what we have. Thank you. Oh, and the we did include the planting was just the document that we submitted to you because it wasn't a part of the original um plan set.
Oh, okay. Hi. Um, congratulations. I'm sure you've worked on this forever and it's probably a really exciting project for you. Um I just have a couple of questions. Um just looking at it in the perspective of storm storm water. Um
what was the choice in keeping the parking lot asphalt and did you look at permeable impermeable um pavers or what have you because seems like you're doing a lot to offset that. That's a great question and it was something that we were looking at in in
the project initially. However, because we're required to do pre-treatment on this project site because it's a marina use, we had to consolidate it at all into a pre-treatment chamber and then filter it back out. So, a great question, but um unfortunately we're not able to do permeable pavement because of
that. Okay. um is an extensive um demolition uh uh scope, quite extensive. And do you feel like that the erosion control um plan
that you lay out is proportionate to that? I mean, I I don't know if your erosion control measures will be enough to take care of the impact of the demolition. I know that
it's there for construction, but have you looked at that and made sure impact of the demolition on on the site and whether or not the erosion control plan covers it? Um, yeah, that's that's also a great question. Our erosion
control plan does have kind of different stages to it. There's the parking lot demolition, which is a pretty intense uh portion. We're essentially ripping up all the existing asphalt, exposing it to the subgrade, and then um you know, at some point we're installing the sheet pile probably before the parking lot's
ripped up uh so that we can um uh you know, not not have unretained grade uh when we bring it in. Uh it's it's also means methods of construction at that point. But I I I suspect the condition of this project would be consistent monitoring of the erosion controls. Um
but it's it's certainly something we have we have not only the salt c um salt barriers, but we also have turbidity curtains in the water when we're doing in water work too. Uh we're also anticipating a time of year restriction for inwater work um from DMF. Uh so with
all of that combined, we're uh we understand that close monitoring of construction is going to be required and typically it's a scope that us engineers will be involved in. Yeah. I I mean I don't want to get into logistics. It's more of my concern that you're you know you're within the buffer and and and so
you there will be maintenance of erosion control. So that's good. Um, as far as the construction, um, it's quite substantial and in a situation like this, you're going to have to you will probably bring in a a
sizable crane. Correct. Uh, the Okay. So, I could have gone a little bit more into the um specific impacts the you know, just as it impacts the the the area. I'm not looking at logist
construction logistics. I'm just concerned. Yeah, there will there will be utility of this area and involving a substantial sized crane. Luckily, we we do propose doing all the work from the parking lot. We will not need any um barge access. So, it will be done within
within the parking lot for mobilization. Okay. Um could we request more detail on the erosion control meth um construction or
a written sort of outline the erosion control measures. I mean you do have one sheet um shows the delineation of it but um do you have
a sequencing do you have a sequencing plan of the erosion control that you can provide us? Uh we could possibly break this down into a little bit more of a sequence plan. We do have stages on the bottom left of the plan described, but that
that's the most we go into it in the plan set. I I think the NOI narrative probably has a good section on the construction methodology as well. Understand? Certainly do. Yep. Yeah. And it's and it's part of our uh obligation
as being part of the project too to kind of um work with the the commission to maintain the order of conditions and the requirements for erosion control. So thank you and congratulations. It's an exciting project. Hopefully everybody does it right.
You all set? I'm all set. Thank you. check. I'm interested in the impact of bulkhead, new bulkhead on the neighbors. And you talked about um alignment. Can you explain what you're going process you're going through when you
talk about alignment and stages of that? Yeah, sure. Um, so the the proposed bulkhead on the south end of the site, um, um, Britney, maybe it's worth pulling up C101, please.
Is that this one? Um, it should be 101 sheet I'll go with it. But at the south end of the project site, we are um retreating the bulkhead back onto the property. So we're essentially creating a gap between the abuing property and our our
property. So with with part of the project is to fill that gap with the same bulk of material that we're uh using the FRP, but it also serves as like a terminal end for potential connection and um is that this little
Yes, exactly. Thank you. Yeah, in in that in working on other projects that's helped to the connection to the budding properties is always one of interest because of um how close can you get right to the property line. Uh how do you connect it without um you know
damaging the existing wall? These sheets are are do not require impact hammer. They they do um get installed with a vibratory hammer. So the uh frequency of the vibration can be a little bit more maintained. Um but that that's also
something that will be monitored during construction is how uh we install it close to the budding property. Thank you. But what about diversion of water during storms onto the neighbors? Is that going to change? So right now the neighboring properties
are subject to you know coastal storm flowage as well. It's an Azone so it's generally still water. Um, so by adding our our bulkhead, we'll be protecting packet landings up to a certain uh level, right? We're only raising it to elevation seven. And I I think the
design flood elevation is 12 or 13ish. Um, so we're not protecting to the 100redyear storm. It's impossible to do it on this project site. We're doing, you know, the best we can to maintain the use. Um, so how that affects the neighboring site is, you know, we're we're protecting our property. We're not
we're not rerouting velocity flow because we're not anticipating velocity in this area. It's still water. Um so with that, we're we're we're anticipating um no adverse impacts on the embedding properties. We may find out
anybody else. Yeah, just a couple questions about the use of the of the landing. I know it's important. And I know uh Department of Natural Resources finds it of course critical in terms of having a place. How many boats do you have there? Users.
Yeah. Yeah. We have two um natural resources boats there uh that are one if not two are in all year. Yeah. And the fire boat is there as well. So a total of three public safety boats. Two all year and one How many commercial fishing boats? Uh, I think there's I'd have to
count the number of slips, but there's I think there's like 10 on or 10 on that side and then about 20 recreational. It's about 30 overall. 30 commercial boats overall. Sorry. 10 10 commercial, 20 recreational. 20 recreational. How do people get uh access to slips in those
in that facility? Uh, we have a a weight list. That's weight list. Okay. So, they put their name in and when somebody like passes away, maybe it opens up that kind of thing. Okay. Yes. you sit on the list for for 15 years probably because there's going to be a major um and
appropriate um uh enhancement to that area obviously and um I guess just for the sake of the public I'd like folks to know how that um facility is uh managed and I'm I'm I'm assuming it's managed entirely by the Department of Natural
Resources. Correct. And that there is some kind of a fair and equitable access to that area in terms of boat owners and so on so forth. Correct. And and there's no ramp there. So people put their boats in someplace else and then come over. Correct. Correct. There's no ramp. So the boat is launched elsewhere. Um and
yes, so the wait list, anybody can get on that weight listing on, you know, depending on how old you are, right? Exactly. You can put your kids on the wait list and uh Yeah. So anybody can get a slip there, but also the the timber bulkhead can be used by
any Yarmouth resident free charge for offloading, you know, gear, passengers, fish. Um, so it's not the facility is not exclusive to the slip holders. Okay. Um, any Town County of Yarmouth resident can use or moing holder can use that bulkhead. Um, and then even beyond Town
of Yarmouth um residents, people can buy a permit to use that bulkhead. So, it's not by no means is this facility exclusive to the slipolders. Um, it's it's truly is open to everybody. And we also have a dingy dock there um for people who have moorings, so they can leave their boat on the dinghy dock to
get out to a mooring. Um, so it's it's a multi-use. It's not just there's a parking space available. Town people could come down, park their car, leave it there, and get on another boat and go for it. I might have some angry slip holders if I answer that question with a yes. But theoretically, yes. Um, and there so
there's there's parking is always an issue there. I mean, yeah, it's no secret that there are more slips than there are parking spaces in the lower lot, but it's first come, first serve. It's first come, first serve. We have the lower lot, then there's the upper lot by the pavilion, and then the town also owns a parking lot at the corner of Mill Lane and 28 right up the street.
So, there is plenty of parking. You just have to walk a little bit further. And it's it's not permitted parking. It's open to everybody. Okay. And how long is this project going to take once it begins? Well, that's a good question for Cole. I think there's weekends. Yeah. Um well, I think there's a uh something
should be said about the segmentation of this project between inwater work and out of water work. So that um because of time of year restrictions, it's going to be tough to come up with a straightforward construction schedule based on when when you know project goes. So there might need to be temporary fencing and temporary access
measures to get to the docks. Uh perhaps you know signage for uh recommended parking, you know, in the upper lot. So a project like this might take six months or so if there was a straightforward um way to concl. Yeah. Okay. Thank you for all that
information. Anybody else? Jack, I just have just for my own information, I know the this plans to to redo the Bass River Bridge. How does that affect you? They're not
going to disturb this area that you're working on or do you have any idea? If I had the answers to those questions, I'd be the most popular guy in town. Okay. Um, so my understanding uh about the bridge project, I mean the the state's chosen a contractor, uh, to my
knowledge, they've only had one the pre-construction meeting which they invited the uh, counterparts, my counterpart in in in Dennis and DPW and all everybody was on that call. Um, and nobody asked any questions except for me. I must have raised my hand three or four times about the marina and the
impacts. The way I understand the project, and you know, I could be wrong, but the way I understood it at that presentation was that they will be doing all of their staging um up the street and even completely offsite like uh Madak East or somewhere. They were going to do a bunch of material staging. They
would do some at I think Mil Lane and some um down Mil Lane, that town owns a parcel there as well. Uh to my knowledge, they were not going to be staging or working from Packet. Um if that does change then the two things
could be happening at you know they could interfere with each other and that's something we'd have to figure out down the road when we talk about construction. Um whether this project would be done first or uh in conjunction with the bridge or after the bridge um I think it's too
early to say. I think I think if things go right we could get this project done before they do the bridge. I know the other thing with the bridge, they have a lot of pre-work to do before they can do anything drastic. I mean, they they have work to do at the intersection um that four corners
intersection. They have lots of work to do there. They have utilities to move. They have stuff to do to the current bridge to prepare for demolition. So, there's all sorts of steps that are pretty significant before they get to the part that would impact us. Um,
thank you, Chuck. Yeah. Um, what is your plan uh to as it relates to the upwelling tanks? So, we have uh well, one one's on a dock, so that's a non not associated
with this part of the project. And then the other one is temporary. Um, that's one that we've got a partnership with the Mass Oyster Project where it's a public upweller for public viewing. And again, it's temporary. it just sits on that brick walkway. So, that would likely remain or potentially be re relocated a little bit. Um, that's
something that we can just literally move by hand. Um, and if there's a season where it has to be um decommissioned or whatever based on construction, that's no big deal. We could we could work with Mass Oyster Project and put it another spot in town if we had to for for the season.
So, you have two spots, correct? And the other Where is the other one located? Oh, I'm sorry. Two at at Packet. You mean two spots or you mean in town? No, I thought you said you had two, right? So, there's one on the floating dock itself. Oh, I didn't see. And then and then there's the one in the parking lot.
Okay. Parking lot one is new. Um last year, I think was the first year with that one. Anybody else? Britney. Um we just we have DMF comment and they did give you a time of year restriction January 15th to May 31st. However, they will allow work to occur in this period
if the turbidity curtain is installed outside of the period, which I haven't seen them do before. Um, so that's nice. And I just had one question about the storm water management pre-treatment system with infiltration with that new system. Will the outfall pipes continue to be used or they're they just will be
there and not used anymore? Yes, we are man well we're decommissioning the two existing outfalls and then having one for like an over top. Okay, great. Thank you. That's all I have. Great job. Anybody else in the commission? Anybody in the
audience? Anybody at home? See anybody? Okay. Do I have a um a motion to accept issuance of an OC and special conditions
including DMF? I will. Second. Okay. Baylor. All opposed. So passed. Did I forget to have the 1129 Great Island? Yeah, it needs to be signed. So, I'm
going to send two. What? Everyone sign this first one except Ed. Okay. And we'll need Bradford to sign it. Can sign the 1129. Thank you guys. You're all set. Thank you. Thank you. the permit in your mailbox,
which is the one we just talked about and approved. We didn't prove anything else. No, that's it. So, I'm not too screwed up. Seven G. What happened to that? We didn't bring it. We didn't bring it. It was too much paper. So you just put
it on the side. All right, moving ahead. Wow. Zero setter street 832487 proposed mechanical and chemical invasive species management
and abandoned cranberry bog with salt marsh BVW coastal and inland banks their buffer zones land subject to coastal flowage and the riverfront area. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. Hello. Thank you. Yeah, I can put them at the window. Somebody on. Yes, we have. We are. Mr. Chairman, um I believe we're going to be bringing up Naomi Valentine. She is
joining me today. Is she there? We've got her up as a presenter. Um, I just wanted to uh just to say a few words because um if you're following the Bay View Bogs Restoration Project, um when you look at this notice, there's
no indication of a connection to it. So, I just wanted to just say a few words about this particular uh application and and notice of intent. Um this is a key component of uh the restoration project. We were here at your last meeting to
give you sort of a big picture overview in terms of what we're trying to do with Baby Bogs. Uh a couple weeks ago, we had an open house uh at the site that was incredibly well attended. Uh we've received uh a lot of positive response
and um for those of you who might know, just a little bit of background, the conservation district is a creation of the Massachusetts legislature. We were created in 1947 and our job is to assist land owners big
and small uh with uh methods and funding and technical assistance to conserve natural resources on the land. Um, we partner very closely with the US Department of Agriculture and uh the district's job is to help prioritize
federal funding uh for our district area which includes Yarmouth and all of Barnstable County. So for the past ever since its inception, we've been helping bring federal funding to do conservation here on Cape Cod. And in the recent I'd
say the past 40 years, we've been heavily involved. The bulk of the funding that we've been securing has been for ecological restoration, habitat restoration, shellfish bed restoration. We've been very involved in those projects. Um, in Yarmouth, uh, we've had a number of projects in the town of
Yarmouth. Uh, the district steered federal funding for the the creation of a of a of a new fish ladder out of the Grismill. Uh, we've been heavily involved with the Friends of Bass River. Uh, we see federal funding coming in. Well, we believe we have a very good
chance of success in getting funding for the for the for the Bass River restoration work that's being led by the Friends of Bass River. Um, we provided funding for the uh the new bridge um on Parker's River to in order to enhance
the flushing and uh improve the water quality conditions in that area. So, we've had a history in Yarmouth. We've got projects in virtually every Cape Cod town. Um, every year we will make we generally make a request for anywhere from between$10 to $30 million
and those are those dollars are used to implement uh projects that are in our overall plan and um Yarmouth has a lot of projects and this is now the latest the other one that we're working on the Bay View Bogs. Um, the district is
partnered with Cape Cod Healthcare and the Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration. And uh, when when I came before you at our last meeting, uh, we had our, uh, consultants uh, Fuss and O'Neal sort of lay out the broad outlines of a
restoration plan and, uh, we are in the early stages of the permitting process on that. So, we came in essentially for just an opportunity to brief you on the big picture in terms of where that's going. Uh, that brochure was hot off the press. We uh were able to get it in time
for our open house uh out at the site and I wanted to make sure that you had a copy of it. We we have a website. We keep updating it. There's a lot of information on the overall project, but we see this as a huge asset to the community. And so tonight, Naomi is here
to sort of present to you um with this this this request an important component of the uh the project. So we very much appreciate you taking this up tonight. And without any further ado, I'll turn it over to Naomi. Thank you, Mark, for that really great
introduction. Uh just for the record, I'm Naomi Valentine from S SWCA Environmental Consultants and I'm going to be presenting on this notice of intent which is phase one of the overall restoration project that Mark was just referencing. I know that you all have heard a lot about this project in the
past. So, I'll sort of blaze over the overall restoration and site information since I believe you're already familiar um and try to focus in on the actual scope of work here, which as Mark mentioned is invasive plant management. Um we are requesting a 5-year order of
conditions for this ecological restoration limited project and the sole um scope is invasive plant management. Um you can go to the next slide.
Um so like I said I'll glaze over some of this but just to comment on the fact that this bug has been sitting for many years 25 to 30 years and during that time many many invasive plants have come on to the site and the purpose behind
initiating this phase one of restoration is to manage as many invasive plants as feasible. uh particularly high priority species that can spread uh very aggressively through construction activities prior to breaking ground on
the actual restoration construction. So that's the context of the project itself and why you're seeing this uh ahead of the full restoration project. It was very deliberate to try to make sure to get the invasives under control before they can start spreading offsite to
other places on site to try to make the restoration as successful as possible. Okay. Uh next slide please. Actually you can go forward too. Um the previous slide just had written out all the resource areas that were on
there and I know this was mentioned at the top of our um spot on the hearing but there is coastal bank salt marsh land subject to tidal action land subject to coastal storm flu bordering vegetative wetlands and all associated buffer zones um boarding land subject to
flooding and 200 foot riverfront area. So quite a few u resource areas on site due to the fact that it's a very large site very close to the water there. Um all of the impacts are proposed are only
to invasive plants management and as such none of the impacts are permanent. The idea is to allow some native vegetation to fill in where the invasives are currently. Okay, next slide please. This is just a
list of the invasives that have been uh noted on site thus far. The initial pre-management survey uh was done unfortunately at not the best time of year just based off of project timing. Um but the project team was able to
identify all of these invasives and we feel very confident in the species that are present. What is less uh certain right now is the exact density and distribution of all of them only because some weren't very easily identifi
identifiable at the time of the survey. The invasive plants that I mentioned earlier that are of the highest concern are Japanese notweed um and fragmitees or common reed sometimes people refer to it. The reason
that those are such a high concern is that they can spread by a number of avenues. One of which is by fragmentation of the risominous root system. And that is what we we want to make sure is
eliminated prior to construction because as I'm sure all of you know those invasives are everywhere and they're very very hard to manage once they get out of control. Um the majority of the invasives on site are woody species which are fairly easy
to manage relative to those more aggressive too. And there is a decent amount of purple loose drive on site um which currently just based off of its density and how widespread it is and the fact that there is already probably a very aggressive seedbank on site likely
will be um managed initially through the construction activities. However, because it can put out so much seed in any given year, any populations within the site that are easily manageable
will be um managed ahead of construction. Next slide, please. So, the types of management proposed include manual or mechanical management as well as chemical management. Um
everything that will be done on the mechanical side will be including hand tools only. There are a lot of access restraints on site. Really no larger equipment or anything
that doesn't include individual people going on foot is going to be possible until the restoration stage. Um so that along with the fact that we are trying to eliminate as many populations as possible prior to uh restoration
construction is why herbicide application is the primary proposed method for most of the invasive plants on site. Um being that for those plants that it is recommended, it's the most effective method.
Um the populations that of woody invasives that'll be prioritized at this stage are on the shorter side and sparsely to moderately dense. Meaning not just a very very dense sea of vegetation that
would take a lot of time and effort to get through but would be pretty well effectively and easily managed with something like an excavator at the time of construction. um that will not be prioritized over
these shorter, more sparse to moderately dense populations. Um garlic mustard will also be prioritized and that's one plant that can be pretty easily managed just through hand pulling. The only caveat to that is again if there is a really
really expansive dense stand of garlic mustard. Um it's more effective to treat with herbicide. Um it has two stages of growth that plant. So we would be treating one specific stage the first year stage
before it can go to seed with that herbicide. Um, and again, not to repeat myself a million times, but the large woody invasives will be prioritized during the construction phase or anything that's very difficult to access with high density. We're trying to do
the absolute best we can to manage the very numerous and um expansive invasives on site before construction. And so we just want to make sure we put as much time and effort and budget into that um as opposed to some things that'll be
able to be taken care of during construction and won't be as high of a risk for spreading throughout the site. Okay. So next slide please is on our schedule. The hope is to uh start the invasive
plant management as soon as we're issued an order of conditions if we're issued an order of conditions and that that will proceed through uh the next phase of work. So you might be thinking, okay, what's going to happen to this order of conditions when the next phase kicks
off? Prior to submitting the next notice of intent for the next phase of work, um this order will be requested to be closed out. so that invasive control during construction can be included in the next phase. We're assuming that
we'll be able to get three years of management in at least and we're hoping for um five if needed, but that's all depending on the planning and how the rest of the project um pans out because the
different invasive plants on site have different treatment windows. Um, one complete treatment is one treatment of all of our target invasives in a given year. So, there will be three treatments at distinct time periods throughout a
year. Um, that will happen annually, if that makes sense. So, when I say one full treatment, I mean each invasive that we're targeting that year has been managed to some degree. Um and there will be three different distinct times throughout the year when
that management will occur to make sure that we're hitting those invasives at the appropriate time. Um monitoring will happen uh following invasive control in every year of u management and associated reporting will follow so that
we can track the progress on site. One thing that's very important in the way of monitoring is to recognize that site conditions might change. Adaptive management is very very important in the world of invasive
plants. So, one method that appears to that it'll work very well this year, if the conditions or the population dramatically changes at that part of the site, you might need to change your approach to make sure that you're not um
using herbicide unnecessarily or continuing a management method that might not be the best um choice for that specific situation. And so the monitoring is sort of dual purpose to see how the invasive management is
going, report that to the commission and all relevant parties and then also propose what will be happening in the following year based off of the results that we see. So the next slide I put up just so that you could see it existed. But I'm not going to read this out or
expect anybody to read it off the screen, but there is a matrix here of proposed management approaches by species and species category. So we break things down into if it's woody or non-wy and then what's its main avenue of spread being fruit or seed
fragmentation, ryominous um fragmentation um things of that nature because those are usually the groupings of how you would want to manage. There's a star next to the most effective and initial
initially proposed management method between mechanical and mechanical manual and herbicide application. But both methods are listed here regardless in case site conditions change and we want to choose another. And so that you're
presented with all of the potential options that would happen on site. And that is all I have. Happy to take any questions. Thank you. Anybody on the board? Go ahead. Um
hi. Um thank you for such um a great presentation and also this um this um study that you gave us. It's unbelievably comprehensive and uh but I'm a little confused. Um are uh it might be a question for Britney. Are we
looking at phase one of the invas phase what are we looking at? There's two studies here. There's a phase one invasive plant management and then I agree Naomi the application materials are are very contradictory. Um it's un
it's unclear to me what you're requesting whether because a part of your narrative mentions that no soil disturbance will occur but then the invasive species plant management um document includes excavation activities including
grubbing. Um so it's unclear if you're going for all phase one only if phase two is in the next permit application phase and you added that for context. Is that correct? Correct. And I'm sorry about that. There should have been language in the
narrative that specifically called out, I think it was section 3.1 in the invasive plant management plan. We wanted the management plan to be holistic. Um, and so that's why it was presented for all phases of work, but this notice of intent is only for phase
one. And there really should have been language in the narrative to say, um, yes, there's an invasive plant management plan attached. This is what we're going to be using, but please disregard mentions to future phases after phase one. This is just
preconstruction in this NOI right now. Okay. Okay. The the other thing um Oh, go ahead. Um, what was conflicting to me was in in the in the document. I I don't know if
she knows what I'm looking at. The the notice of intent um debut box restoration phase one. Uh there's there's a there's I'll just read it. It says um in addition to management, the applicant would like to
conduct post-management monitoring events annually if additional funding becomes available. And it's it's excellent language because it's you know it says that this is all based on evidence-based design. If we you know if we manage we do this post management
we'll know if it works and um etc. But so are you going to do that or not or is that even applicable in this proposal? Are we address uh there sorry I didn't
mean to interrupt you. Um there will be postmanagement monitoring and reporting. Right now there is already funding in place for this initial phase for um monitoring and reporting associated with the
management. the year yearly yearly as it correct. Okay. All right. they um and and I' I'd like to call attention to my my colleagues is this in this document on page seven there's this
excellent paragraph about how important post you know the monitoring is especially because we are looking at other projects of of you know invasive species and there's the first question people ask is it is this does it work does it work you know so I'm I'm really
happy that you know how important it is that you have this um postmanagement monitory. So again, thank you for such a thorough report. I'm just a little confused on the scope. Okay. Do we want clarification on that
or Okay. Anybody else? Jack, um, just to make a guess and I would imagine that your adaptive management process confuses the ability to be able to answer this
question and that uh, what's important, I would imagine, if it's for you to be uh, talking to everybody involved, ourselves as well as other town uh,
departments and as you have to change all of your processes along you go and one change in one plant's pro treatment method can cause changes in other plants that be mixed in or bordering. So I
think that is that a fair statement um or is that confusing? I'm not I'm Could you try rewarding? I'm not quite sure. To me adapt Go ahead. I'm sorry. Adaptive management is knowing when you're going along and you've run into
trouble, changes, whatever. Could be from a money source, could be from research results, could be monitoring, and you have to really go back and change the budget, which the budget people don't like. So, this has been happening for about 30 40 years. And uh
I think that it it really does take a a high level of management. I think that Mark can attest to this with the district that uh farmers are totally uh flumxed often because the grants
change, the time of year of production changes, weather all and so you're really in trouble. And that that's why people say, "Oh, let's change this and it'll make things simpler." Not really true. It makes it more complex and
everybody has to be involved more often. Okay, I think I see what you're getting at. So, we luckily do have a lot of options here, especially if you look at the full time scale. So I do I don't think the budget will be an issue when
we have to change gears in terms of invasive management. Um there it could be small changes things that would affect what herbicides being used but not necessarily how much time it's going to take or um we thought we could
effectively manage this population of invasive shrubs but it's not going to plan so we might want to pivot and have those be targeted during the construction phase. um changes like that. So, we always try to think of the project as a whole um to try to reach
the end goals, but we wouldn't we should still be able to stay the general course. It's just that maybe not all of the um gray willow on site will be treated exactly the same way as we thought from the beginning. So I feel confident that
with our different tools in the toolbox, we should be able to stay on course and but that is why we included multiple different options for management in that matrix. Okay. Yeah. I just have a couple questions. Thank you. um that you're looking for a
five-year um uh opportunity to to um to accomplish the the um eradication I guess it is of the invasive species. Is that correct? Correct. Yes. By your request. And how long this is just for some background information. So the the the bog has sat
there un um cultivated and so on and so forth for 40 something years. Is that correct? The sections we're looking at, I was told um 30 years, but there there are some portions that were longer. Yes. I don't remember exactly. All right.
Great. So, so there's there's really little argument that this work has to be done. I mean, it's been neglected for 40 some odd years. It take another five years to correct the uh existence of the invasive species. And it it it's alarming that um this has transpired,
but now is the time to act upon it. And so I'm thankful that that's happening. It also though unfortunately gives me um a sense of concern about other bugs in the area that need the same kind of attention. And I'm hoping that um and I
guess this is more directed at at Mr. force that some some um uh awareness exists regarding for example the bog on White Rock Road and maybe there's others around that I'm not aware of because it just seems to get worse and worse and
worse if we let things get out of hand. It's very important and wonderful that this is being um approached and dealt with at the Bayiew bog and I hope that this is just the beginning of attention to other places as well. And I just
wanted to kind of say that. So, so thank you for a very um uh complete and and understandable presentation regarding the work that is in uh intended. I appreciate that. Thank you.
I'm happy to respond to that. The Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration, one of our partners, has within it a very active abandoned cranberry bog restoration program with a
team and with staff. And so that's that's the group that we interact with on a regular basis. And I think what one of the things I find heartening is that we've now in we're institutionalizing this. So as they get involved in a
multitude of projects, we can all benefit from the lessons learned in all of these. Um it's a relatively new program. Uh I remember when we started doing ecological restoration work and the division of ecological restoration didn't exist. Um so it's great to have
the commonwealth making investments in this program. Um the governor just released an environmental bond bill um the other day. Uh there's a lot of money in it for ecological restoration resiliency. In fact, there's probably
some resources related to the packet landing project in that bond bill, assuming it passes the legislature, of course. So, I'm I'm very encouraged about just institutionalizing and and and working with all of the
varied groups that are now emerging and taking an interest in this. Like I said, for a while we were kind of alone, but what you're seeing now is the Friends of Bass River taking an active interest in this. The the the Haritch Conservation Trust, the Brewster Conservation Trust.
So what's happening is the network of conservation organizations that are involved in this kind of work including the APCC of course um there's just an expanded number of organizations interacting, communicating, working together. Uh there's no one project
where there's just one partner. Each project has a multitude of projects or partners. So we're partnered with DER on this project. There are other projects we're partnered with DER and the Fish and Wildlife Service. So there's a tremendous amount of work going on in this area now and there's a lot of a lot
of lessons to be learned. I think the great thing about doing this work here and partnering with you know working in Yarmouth is as we progress by monitoring and sharing our the results of our monitoring with you this is information
that you learn you you acquire you become more knowledgeable because as you said we're going to be doing more of this kind of work um in Yarmmouth and in other communities as well. So, I think it's all to the good that we're taking this approach because I think this
approach benefits everybody, all our partners, including the town of Arma. Thank you. Anybody else in the commission? Any questions? Anybody in the audience? Yes. Would you go up to the
and introduce yourself? Yes. My name is Cindy Van Dornne. I'm sort of in a butter to the bog. Uh my main concern is the herbicides and things that are being used. Um there's a lot of water flow. There's a lot of
water in that bog and it flows to Lewis Bay on several one near my home and then further down just a little bit in Hyannis Park. And also uh you know would these herbicides the chemicals kind of
be a problem for Lewis Bay? And also there is an abundance of wildlife that's in the bog. Um not only the coyotes everyone knows about but deer, rabbits, lots of water foul that spend time in
that water area there. Will these herbicides and things affect them? I know eventually they have to all be gone somehow, but uh the chemicals, does that affect those? The box turtles and everything else that's out there,
rabbits, who knows what, but I know there's deer out there as well. And I just am concerned about the chemicals affecting the wildlife and also coming from the runoff from the bog into Lewis Bay.
So those are my main concerns. I can address that question if that's appropriate in your chair. Thank you. Um thank you for your question. uh the way that the herbicides will be applied on site will be selective to specific
vegetation. So this is something that my team particularly specializes in. We don't do broadcast spraying or wholesale um herbicide application across an area. The goal really is restoration. So even
before the construction can start with the active restoration, the goal is that some native vegetation will grow back in in the wake of us treating the invasive vegetation. And it would be completely against that goal to overspray
surrounding natives. Um so just to comment on that, it should it is going to be very selective. the most selective and most um effective method will be chosen for each plant and that's what's presented in that table. Uh as such
there won't be any application that's going directly to any standing water. Um and the way that we calculate the percentage of herbicide within each spray is to only use the amount necessary to transllocate into the root
system. Um and at that point they're very stable in the plant itself. Um and also bond very tightly to soil. So with that careful management approach in mind, there should not be any effect
to water bodies or downstream. In regard to active um wildlife activity on site, we already have plans to have um turtle monitors looking out for turtles during invasive plant
management. And um we would never spray into an area that we haven't traversed. So we won't be spraying at any veget any wildlife directly. And the time that it takes the herbicide to dry on the foliage or the
cut stem, for example, is very quick. It's certainly quicker than any wildlife would want to come back into an area after we've walked through it, for example. I hope that answers the question or some of the concerns. Um, now now how about the rain? um kind
of when it rains or something, will that dilute that into the waterways even though you're keeping it away from the waterways? No. And only because there is that really tight bonding of the the molecule
itself of the herbicide at its end fate and there are strict restrictions on the labels for how close to a rain event you're able to treat. So, we would never apply an herbicide if it was just going to be washed away by a storm event, for
example. Okay. Thank you. Welcome. Anybody else? You guys see? I have one question. Yeah. Go ahead, Pat. Do you have a plan for what you're going to get rid of the um disposal of these invasive
uh species you're taking out of there? Uh so the invasive species that are going to be cut will be left in place as if they were dying in place mostly because once the restoration starts up there's going to be a lot of movement of
existing vegetation and soil and so it's not really it's not going to det be a detriment to the site to leave them there. It's going to keep any berries or seed that's on the plant in the location where it already exists as opposed to potentially spreading it elsewhere. Um,
and it would so it would sort of be unnecessary to remove and a cost that we don't really need to incur on the project since there's going to be a lot of um movement of soil and vegetation once restoration starts.
Okay. Thanks, Britney. Oh, I'm sorry. Just a question. Uh, so are you the the group that's going to actually be doing the uh management or are you sub subcontracting that out?
Well, my team will be doing the active restoration. Okay. And or invasive control, sorry. And do you are are you SER certified individual or company? Um, almost all of the members of my team, which is the ecological restoration team at our uh, firm, are
SERs or serpents. I'm a SER. Um, we have a few members of the team that aren't yet SERPS and a few that are serpents. Um, but yes, most. Yeah, I would only ask that they they be SER certified individuals or working directly under
the supervision of a SER certified individual. That's all I have. Anybody else before I turn to Britney? Britney. Um Naomi, I sent you a list of um email questions. Did you receive them? I did.
Yes, I responded Wednesday. Okay. I did not get that email. So, if you could resend that. Um and if you could don't mind stating your responses. So, um, variable mil foil is photographed, but I understand that you're not proposing to manage any
aquatic invasive species under this application, correct? And I will I'll forward my responses right now, too. Okay. I'm not sure what happened. Sorry about that. Um, that's okay. Uh, let's see. So, the reason that we're not going after any aquatics, um, is that there's
going to be a lot of disruption of the existing canals or channels rather within the site. Um the end plan I as I understand is similar to other deer bog restorations where somewhat of a natural thou leg is going to be identified and
recreated. So most most of the time the first stage is filling in those ditches at which point the mil foil will not be able to survive on site. Um and there's no risk to it staying on site right now. So, as opposed to taking an herbicide
application approach to eradicating it, we're just waiting for it to be kind of as a positive byproduct eradicated during the restoration construction phase. Okay, great. So, it's only found within the ditches and not in any of the standing water that's proposed to remain as standing water in the phase two.
That's my understanding. We can certainly report to the conservation commission if it's noted out um otherwise. Okay, that would be great. Um, and just a general recommendation to the conservation commission about um,
the application in general. I I appreciate and understand your your wish to give as much background in future information as possible, but I would recommend a plan revision excluding all information that you're not attempting to permit under this application. um as
to be clear because you're also in the ISPM mentioning stockpiling and burying invasive plant material which you have noted that you're not proposing to do under this section. Um just to be perfectly clear, I think we should have that revised and resubmitted before we
um approve to issue this permit. Um, and my last question is, so you mentioned you want a 5-year permit and you have intentions of closing this invasive species management permit out prior to applying for the full phase 2
construction permit, but in the pamphlet it says you're going to be applying for that in the fall. Is that incorrect for the NOI for restoration construction? Yeah, I would have to refer to Julie Busa on
that who's heading the next phase of permitting. I don't know if Mark is aware of the plan. I think yeah, we can get some more clarity on this, but I think we want to make it clear to the community that we intend to begin a formal process starting with, you know, the necessary amieba filings. Okay.
And I think that would also it would just benefit from having all of the surface work only, no excavation herbicide application in this first permit. So that even if you're opening a related project under construction, this one would still be valid to keep open if
needed because none of the work would be overlapping. Um because if any of it would overlap, then it would need to be closed prior to the restoration construction one. Um so it would just be beneficial for everyone to separate out all of those steps.
Um and just a note that there are three open orders that certificates um requests for certificates of compliance have been submitted and will be reviewed at our next hearing and one of them was for restoration. So it is kind of directly related.
Um, so that I at that I recommend that the board continue for revisions to reflect our conversation and and annual monitoring. Can can I ask your question? I and I I I understand why because we normally we normally do say if you have a if you got
an open order of conditions and you you create a new or you seek seek new permitting uh that you would typically close the or the order out. Mhm. In this case, uh, wouldn't it make more sense to let them keep that open because I'm
assuming I mean, to be honest with you, I would have liked to have seen this as as one big restoration project and, you know, then we wouldn't have to have this discussion, but um, I mean, obviously, you're doing and spending a huge amount
of money on invasives management, and I think it would behoove the the project moving forward. I you're gonna have to continue to do invasive management. It's not like you're going to do five years and then be done with it. So, um
you know, I mean, I would like to see something so either either allow uh through continuing uh conditions for a certificate of compliance if you if you move toward the idea of closing out the order
uh but still providing for invasives management. moving into the future. Um, I think that's what I was saying. I think we agree that Okay. Um, yeah. I just I want to make sure we're not we're not just closing it out and then and then saying Yeah, that's what I was
suggesting is that as long as we separate any excavation from this permit. Um, then we would be able to keep it open when they apply for the full construction. So, they're separate. So, we want to continue this to
the four uh 17th of July or August 7th. That's up to the applicant. Do you need extra time or is the 17th? Okay. The next available date would be fine. I can get the revised materials very quickly. Okay. Okay. So, do I hear a
motion to continue to July 17th? So, move Jack. Second. Second. Second. All in favor? I Okay. No signature, right? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
All right. Next, we have uh continued requests for COC's. I've got five we can vote on at the same time. Number nine, which is SE832328 from Steven Bickerton of 122 Exit Road.
Number 11, SE832138 for Clifford Betron from Nine Flakeyard Lane. And then 1314 and 15 SC 832311 from John John Griffin and Ian Salani
from 1167 Great Allen Road 83 SE831494 Cynthia Ducham 38 Charles Street and SE832306 a partial for Jeffrey and Anne Farara from 116
Mayflower Terrace. I hear a motion to accept those. So move, Jack. Second. Second. Bradford. All in favor? Anybody opposed? Okay, they're on their way down, I think. So, let me just make sure I get
the right one. So, we'll start with this one. Did you have any to say for that one? This is I don't think so. I should be here. What you here for? I try not to. Oh, I'm sorry. He was
supposed to tell you not to come. You're all set. Um, so I do have a question for you. The the realtor requested to pick up the COC on Monday. I told him I need written permission from you in order to let him do that.
Because you're the representative. Yeah. No, that's okay. Okay. Okay, we'll let you know if it's ready on. Okay. All right. Happy 4th. Sorry for the confusion. Okay.
Great. and Charles more from Okay, while that's make its way down, we need to go back to uh 80 SC 831 1165
Gamma Schwarz condo 29 Lewis Bay Boulevard. They want a uh continuence. Is that right? Yes. We need to vote on that, right? August 7th. Yes. So, I need a motion to continue. So, move. Okay.
Ed and Brad. All in favor of I continuing uh 29 Lewis Bay Boulevard. All in favor? I I. Anybody opposed? Okay. And then
SE 832338 11 Prince Road Alice Joselow continue to July 17th a motion. So move second. Okay. Jack for second. All in
favor? I All right. Next is Take a breath. Okay. There's something different. Okay. So, we're going to Choba Engineering Group.
Um, okay. LLC. There's no number here for Ecatrina and Family LLC. 1272, 1276, 1282 on Route 28. Proposed raise and replace of gas station with canopy, convenience store, and residential
buildings, including new septic. Pending supplemental info for pair review needs to be continued to 717. Do I hear a motion to continue? So moved. Second. Second. Okay. Thank you. All in favor? I
Great. All right. Opposed. Opposed. You think call. That's all. CPA applications have been posted. You want to talk about that, Miss Britney? They're available on the town website if you have a CPA application to file.
Okay. All right. September 5th. What is CPA? CPA is a community preservation act funds. Um so there's each member of the community pays CPA as part of their taxes and they're available for projects. um the community
community preservation committee um gets together and reviews projects in order to uh re recommend any for town meeting and then they get voted on to issue the funding for projects at town meeting. in the past they've been used they're in different sections open space um
recreation open space and recreation is one category um historic and housing um so you can use it for park projects housing projects recreation and they use it for like baseball fencing we used it for the Chase Park project it's just a great opportunity for funding okay cool
thank you represent yeah there's been a lot of projects um you know that benefited from that uh those available funds There's a whole application process of course and everything else. Friends of Bass River have access money.
Um the the Fascher Hall which used to be the new church comes to mind. Um you know just a lot of different uh historic and um uh recreational projects across the town over several years. A lot of money has gone into
those things. And you know it's a open meeting type of a process where um there are representatives from from various boards and and um uh it's an interesting and very valuable kind of a part of our uh of our whole system. So if you ever
want to attend a meeting, you know. Thank you. It's good. It's a good it's a good good group. Okay. So that's a good transition to the two letters of support. Did I I don't know when it'd be appropriate, but I just wanted to add another thing if I
can. Okay. Yeah. I wanted to make sure there wasn't any confusion when the reorganization was discussed about my continuing as the um uh the vice chair. And if anybody was interested and you wanted to have some sort of a vote or whatever, that's
perfectly okay with me. Um I I I I thought I was a little confused by it in a sense. So, I just wanted to see if it if you want to bring it up again if somebody else wants to be nominated. Um, if you want to have a a contest as to who can get the most votes or I don't
really care, but um I'm happy to do it, but if someone else is interested in it, by all means um have a vote for the different people. Okay? If I hope I'm making myself clear, they won't hurt my feelings. I might
cry, but is there anybody else who want to put their name forward for vice chair? I had expressed interest, but it was mainly because I thought Paul didn't want to do it anymore. So, I'm happy to
continue. You're good. Okay. I didn't want you to be upset at all. I'm very happy. Also, my misunderstanding, Paul. Sorry. I thought you were no longer interested. I was also the vice chair by the way of the of the um preservation committee. People tend to like to give me vice
chairman types of you know positions. Um so anyway, but it's it's okay. All right. Just wanted to make sure everything was okay on that. Thank you. Okay, Britney. Um yes. So the often when we staff pursue grants, they ask for
letters of support. So we have two requests for letters of support to um for two separate grant applications. One of them is for the DPW. They are pursuing um
do can you read the forot it was exactly they're pursuing um DP Salt Mars restoration and monitoring grant for um a title restriction project and for a culvert replacement on that shore road
and shortwarf creek. It is a degraded salt marsh system and they've had a community engagement um public meeting for input. They're working with Tyen Bond as their consultant to try and release this title restriction by replacing this very small
and damaged culvert that's causing also I think a sinkhole in the roadway. Um so they are intending to apply for that grant funding um for the next fiscal year and they're requesting a letter of support from the conservation commission to p pursue that funding for to release
this title restriction at the on that shore road. I'm sorry. Who are they asking the money from? So it's a grant a grant program um through the D. It's for salt marsh restoration and monitoring grant. How much are they asking? I don't
think they they included that. I think it might be awarded based on the number of applications. So, they don't specify. Okay. Does this relate to there was a meeting a while ago at the DPW uh office, I think, about this very same
thing where there were three different options that were um Yeah. presented by the town. Exactly. So, was a decision made that they're going to be uh uh putting in a bigger culvert? Is that the essence of it? that they're looking for
the town looking for the grant money. Yes, the town DPW. And so, um, they're looking to replace the culvert with a 9.5 wide culvert box and increase the elevation of the roadway to 12 ft. Um, I
think that was it was alternative one. Alternative one. Yeah. Okay. 7 7 and 1/2 by 9 and 1/2 I think. Yeah. I think that uh they said that the neighbors were pretty much
going for alternative one. Yeah, I think that was the most popular alternative. And so the grant would allow them to um get through the design phase. So they haven't begun the design phase yet. It was clear in that meeting I don't know
that alternative one putting in a bigger culvert is really kicking the can down the road a piece. Um but there weren't any other really great suggestions for what to do. So um I think I think it's important to well that's my opinion in
terms of um alternative one. I think they do need a letter of support but um you know is alternative one. So alternative two involved increasing the elevation of the roadway even further with the same box
culvert. Um and three was to put a terminate the road and put a pedestrian bridge. But so they the preferred alternative um yeah was alternative one. And so through the grant they would be
seeking the grant funding to support design and permitting. Well, the other alternatives would be a lot more expensive. So, or eliminating the roadway. The alternative two, I think, was raising the whole road some distance, an
additional 1.2 ft. Yeah. Alternative three was ending the road from two directions. That went over really well. And and um uh you know, so people would drive down that shore and have to turn around to get out, you know. Thanks.
That would be convenient. I want the ferry service across the road. And so this um letter of support wouldn't stake the conservation commission on anything. We would just allow them to pursue this funding opportunity and they would likely need to pursue additional funding
opportunities for for match assuming they would be getting permitting for good stream or a good um stream crossing standards and everything else because that pipe is that's this is poor stream crossing
standards as it is right now. Well, I make a motion to have the chair sign a letter of support. I'll second that. Look at that picture. Yeah. All in favor? Yeah. I I Great.
Opposed. Anybody opposed? Sorry. Okay. And there's one I hear everybody say, "Yeah, sorry. There's one additional grant opportunity um that I'll be applying that I'm hoping to apply for um pending a letter of support from you all. Um and it is a local acquisition
for natural diversity land grant program for fiscal year 26 um in order to pursue priority parcel for land acquisition which has been dis for the purpose of open space. Um it's a currently a vacant
lot and it has been through executive session with the select board. Um, and I can't really disclose any other information, but it would just allow me to p pursue this grant. This is another letter of support. Yeah.
To submit a letter of support. We instruct the chairman to assign a letter of support to that effect. Is there a second? Second. Second. Okay. All in favor? I. All opposed. I did get it in. Snatch that land up.
All right. And I made my Somebody gave me this. It's got Oh, you really like that. You write a good letter. Quite elegant. If I can get a little misspellings in there. I'll be very I would never do
that to you. I would never do that to you. Just put a new one in. Here we go. Was too sensible. Okay. Uh, no minutes. Um, they get done on time. And anybody have any other business? Is there meeting or
minutes to be approved? No, I said no minutes because it wasn't done on time. Oh, I see. There's a misspelling for No, two words. I didn't send them so you didn't read them. Very busy office. And um, poor Britney's
getting poor Britney's getting busier as we move along, too. So, um, anybody else? Okay. Do we like to hear a motion to adjurnn? So, moved. Anybody seconding? Second. Second. All
in favor? Okay. We are adjourned at 7:10. No.