Conservation Commission Minutes 1/9/19

Stratham Conservation Commission
Public Meeting Minutes
1/9/19

Present: Allison Knab, Bob Keating, Pat Elwell, Bill McCarthy, Ana Egana, Tim Copeland, Brad Jones, Dan McAullife
Also: Tavis Austin

Public Session
Called to order 7:04

Minutes

Tim moved, Allison seconded, approval of November 14, 2018 public and non-public minutes. Motion passed.

There was no meeting on Nov 28 for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Tim moved, Dan seconded, approval of December 12, 2018 public and non-public minutes. Motion passed.

Mailbox

A wetlands utility maintenance notification was received from NHDES. PSNH has asked for maintenance to change a pole and will do it as soon as they have approval and ground freezes. No CC action is necessary.

NHDES sent a letter regarding the drainage pipe for 8 Whitaker Drive. A non-site-specific permit was issued to allow installation of a stormwater drainage pipe that is associated with the construction of a new subdivision access road.

Letter received from SELT with monitoring reports for the following conservation easements it holds as Grantee Interest and for which the Town of Stratham holds an executory interest:

Broderick - boundary lines need improvements but overall no major problems were identified. Volunteer monitor Bill Campbell lost his phone during the monitoring.

Jones - Owner Brad Jones is concerned about wooly Adelgid on hemlock and is keeping an eye on this issue and also has concerns about beavers damaging trees. Photos were attached of oak trees that were damaged by beavers.

Roberts - Owner and current farmer met with SELT rep and the owner expressed concerns about how to keep contractor abutters from encroaching on property and wants to test pond for water quality.

Scamman 1 - Forested parcel. Abutter still has not replaced concrete boundaries that were removed. Tim has observed that the same abutter has been dumping old washing machines and other junk so that it is filling up with trash. Tavis said he will have code enforcement officer revisit the property. No other issues were reported.

Scamman 2 - Farm parcel. Monitored while corn maze was up. Nothing of concern was noted in the report.

Short - Could not find corner pins, but it did appear that dog cage was within exclusion area. No other concerns were noted in the report. The town maintains trails on the property and had added some crushed stone to deal with wet areas.

New Business

Bartlett-Cushman House P&S
There is a statutory requirement that requires the Selectmen to ask if there is any CC intended use for that property. Bill noted that we sent a letter requesting that the land that is kept for the town that is subdivided off be kept in an easement, and the Selectmen rejected that request. Tim moved that we tell the Selectmen we have no intended use for the property, Allison seconded. Motion passed.

CC Representative for ESRLAC - Pat will put out a request on Facebook and Stratham talks and/or the town website. Allison would like the Selectmen to send out a list of open positions.

Bill will be writing a new section for the 2018 Town Report.

The Rec Dept, Tracy Abbott, wrote to the Selectmen stating that she had heard the CC and the Park Assoc were "joining together" and they were being excluded. Pat responded that this was not accurate, explained meeting date and invited the Rec Dept to join the meeting.

The Skate Park "Committee" will be providing a presentation on Monday Jan 14 at 6 pm. Bill will be attending to express the CC vote stating that the CC does not want the skate park to be located in the Park.

Old Business

Planning Board Updates

Starbucks is coming. They will be in the Staples plaza.

Colin Laverty has given notice and there will be a luncheon on Friday at noon.

Paul's celebration will be Jan 31 5:30 -8 at the Fire Dept.

Large property at One Fine Chocolate Place will be undergoing some construction. Wetlands Approvals for site have already been reviewed for some of the construction. But other building additions will need to be reviewed and traffic studies will need to be done.

Municipal Updates

The Master Plan NRI update Horsley-Witten rough quote was above the quote provided by RPC. The CC discussed that it would be good to have the same "voice" continue with the NRI and that no additional money would be necessary because it would be incorporated into the cost of the Master Plan. Tim moved, Allison seconded, to instruct Tavis to move forward with incorporating the cost and the changes to the NRI by H-W. Motion passed with Pat and Bob voting against the motion

ARM Projects - Bill will put together a list for consideration at the next meeting.

Bright Line statement for dept. heads. - The statement that bill put together was very broad so it was reviewed at the last meeting. Pat will give Bill notes, and it will be discussed at the next meeting.

Tim moved, Brad seconded, going into non-public session to discussion land acquisition .

Allison moved, Tim Seconded, closing the non-public session and sealing the minutes. Motion approved.

Tim moved, Ana seconded, close of meeting . Motion passed 9:10

Reminder that the joint meeting with the Park Association will be at 6:30 on Wed 1/23 BEFORE THE CONSERVATION COMMISSION MEETING AT 7 PM. at the Stratham Municipal Center.

Respectfully submitted, Pat Elwell