Condensed from approved minutes:
Members Present: Jerry Hersey, Tina Cotton, Jenny Bodwell, Mary Anne Broshek, Derek Mansell, and Lee Wells.
Minutes: Review of minutes from April 10, 2019. Tina made the motion to accept the minutes as corrected, Jerry seconded and all were in favor.
Correspondence: Newsletter from NH Lakes.
Dawn Chorus Walk on 4/28: Participants met at the ball field by the rail trail, and at least 15 species of birds were seen. The walk, led by Alan, was a success!
Upcoming Events: Alan has been unable to get Skip to answer emails for Beaver Deceiver talk. Once contact is made, advertising will be done. Bats will be on 5/23 and the forestry workshop date is still TBD. Larry will take care of publicity once Jerry has things set up for the forestry workshop.
Bog Pond Mapping: Jesse is working on the map which will include the boundaries of the prime wetland, a line to show a 50 foot buffer from the prime wetland boundary, the snowmobile trail, the forest buffer easement around the cell tower, Belletetes building and parking lot boundaries. Once the map is done, we will meet with the Planning Board to determine the delineation of the conservation easement line. It was noted that Earle Chase marked the boundary of the “West Andover Swamp” once the snowmobile was crossed on the east side of the property. Jesse has a first draft using QGIS and Derek found the coordinates for the snowmobile trail. There were still piles of gravel on the snowmobile trail. Jesse will contact John Thompson to check on what his plans are for moving the gravel. Mary Anne has asked Marj for a meeting with John Thompson to get his plan for the restoration of the 2016 incursion, and his future gravel excavation plan. Ausbon-Sargent would like the snowmobile trail to be included in the conservation easement. Selectboard is on board with using the snowmobile trail as the southern boundary of the conservation easement with consideration of the previously granted 50′ buffer and critical wildlife habitats.
Bog Pond Wetland Marking: Jesse and Alan will determine how and when to get the markers up once Jesse gets back from vacation.
Town Clerk and Wetland Permit Notification: Mary Anne will get Jenny the Town Clerk’s chart of what types of permits we should legally be getting, i.e., gravel, forestry, and wetlands. The Town Clerk should send permits to Jenny, who will inform the rest of the Commission. Jenny will check the NHDES website for granted Andover permits going back to 2019. Jenny will do a demo on how to look up permits for the next meeting. We did receive an email expressing concern about a logging operation on Rt. 4, and will be looking into it.
Wetlands Ordinance:
Mary Anne will send her draft ordinance to the wetlands experts (Jay Aube, Sandy Crystall, Elizabeth Harper) and the rest of the Conservation Commission for comments and suggestions. It is based on the ordinance from the Innovative Land Use Planning Techniques book with additions and revisions taken from a review of ordinances and advice provided by other towns.
Tina will send Derek the link to the Innovative Land Use Techniques.
Co-Occurrence Map: Do we want to update it? It is now 9 years old. Jesse will check with Harvey Pine when he gets back from his one year sabbatical. Jesse and Alan were assigned to this.
Bradley Lake: No interest in conservation easements from major landowners at this time.
Verizon Cell Tower Buffer Area: Jerry said the buffer area was not marked in September. We need to have the 150′ buffer marked in accordance with the forest easement buffer agreement with Verizon, and so it can be put on the easement map. Tower construction will be delayed to next year, so the Verizon lawyer will not give out coordinates. We will measure out the buffer distance around the tower using QGIS.
Beacon Articles:: Jenny will write an article for the Beacon on Wetlands- What’s the difference between wetlands, prime wetlands, vernal pools and why are wetlands important?
Tina made a motion to adjourn at 8:50 PM, Jerry and Derek seconded, and all were in favor.