Andover Conservation Commission Final Minutes
September 11, 2019
Present: Mary Anne Broshek, Tina Cotton, Jenny Bodwell, Lee Wells, Jerry Hersey, Jessie Schust, Derek Mandell.
Also attending through the discussion on the Proctor snow making operation: Jon Warzocha from Horizons Engineering.
Minutes: Review of 8/22/19 special meeting minutes: Motion made to approve minutes with Tina Cotton’s comments. Approved.
The August regular meeting minutes were not available. Jenny will send them out soon for review and approval at our October meeting.
Jesse will send the final July minutes to the Beacon, Marj, and CC members.
Correspondence: none
ASLPT update: Their Workshop: Conservation Options for Landowners, will take place on Sept 12, from 7:00 to 8:30 PM.
Mapping Training
Mary Anne sent the UNH Cooperative Extension link on GPS training to Jesse. (extension.unh.edu/gisgpsbootcamp). The on-line GRANIT mapping tool is available to anyone. Jesse recommends that we all get acquainted with the website. Jesse will provide training on using GRANIT mapping at our next meeting. Lee can provide a digital projector.
Proctor Permit/Jon Warzocha:
The Proctor snowmaking intake from the Blackwater river needs work/repair and a NHDES Minimum Impact Permit is required. Jon works with Horizons Engineering, which does design and permitting for ski areas including systems for snowmaking. The Proctor system needs both long and short-term work to make their system sustainable. The intake was originally installed in the late 70’s/early 80’s. They have a pump that draws water out of the Blackwater River that sends it to their snowmaking equipment. This year the river has changed its course. The water has cut across the old ox-bow so that the intake is no longer in a good location. Proctor needs a short-term solution for this year while they work on a long-term solution. The proposal for this year, now that the channel is dead water, is to bring in a machine, dig a hole around the intake, create a little more water storage. Because Proctor discovered this fairly late, whatever is done needs to happen soon in order to be ready for this year’s ski season. With our signature/approval DES will review this within thirty days. A 20’x 10’ area will be dredged, it will be surrounded by erosion control and no trees will be cut. Heavy machinery would be on the bank, no machinery will be in the river. Horizons Engineering needs to work on a permanent solution for the coming years. The future long-term solution will be complex as the channel is dynamic and the course will continue to change.
Members felt a site visit was not necessary as Jesse and Jenny are quite familiar with the area.
The permit is good for 5 years, so it could be dredged more than once.
Jenny made a motion, seconded by Jerry, that the Conservation Commission/Chairperson sign off on the application for expedited approval of minimum impact dredging project for the Proctor Ski Area. All were in favor. The form was signed by Mary Anne at the meeting and given to Jon.
Jon offered his expertise to the CC for any wetlands permitting questions. It is important to keep in mind that the NHDES Wetlands rules will be revised in December.
Wetlands Ordinance:
We hope to provide the Planning Board with our draft ordinance by the end of September so it can possibly be ready for a vote by the next town meeting. The ordinance is based on an overlay map that shows wetlands, surface waters and vernal pools and their buffers that are described in the ordinance. Jesse will work on the map and will include the prime wetlands as approved at the 1989 town meeting. GRANIT mapping tools allow inserting buffers so Jesse will try to add these as well.
Lakes Region Planning Board has offered to help with mapping/printing – Jesse will contact them (Dave Jeffers). Mary Anne will send Jesse the contact information.
There is no mapping of Andover’s vernal pools available at this point. There is a manual by Fish and Game that describes how to work with interested town residents to identify and map vernal pools. As noted in the 8/22/19 minutes, CC members agree that identifying vernal pools is an important future project.
The current draft allows the planning board to require a site evaluation by a wetland scientist if it appears a wetland is nearby rather than a requirement for all building permits.
The definition of surface waters (from the state law) currently in the draft ordinance includes seasonal streams. We need to determine if we really want seasonal steams in the ordinance. Mary Anne will discuss with Sandy Crystall –NHDES.
Mary Anne will incorporate Tina’s comments, 8/22/19 suggestions and additional feedback from Sandy Crystall and send a new draft to members.
Beaver Deceiver Research and Article:
No progress. Jesse and Alan will continue to work on it and report at next meeting.
Bog Pond Map: Mary Anne will send the GPS points and previous mapping done by Derek and Jesse to professional mapper, Eric Fontaine.
November 2, NHACC Conference: Lee will attend.
Co-Occurrence Map: Alan and Jesse will be working with Harvey Pine. Jesse will invite Harvey to join us at our next meeting. As noted at a previous meeting our two main questions are: do we want to change the weighting? Do we want to add or delete layers?
Monitoring:
Lee will join Derek on one of his monitorings.
Newman/McKenna easement – Amanda Hollenbeck sent us copies of the monitoring forms for 2019. The Town of Andover is the easement holder. We have a chart of all the protected lands in Andover (done by Derek). Alan cannot update the chart because of the format used by Derek. Derek is going to put the chart in a new format so that it can be easily updated.
Jerry will contact current owner, Jim McKenna, to let him know that monitoring will be done this year and ask if he wants to be there. We will do two monitoring walks of this property. Derek will do a detailed one and a group of CC members will do one by the house.
Beacon Articles:
Jenny will write an article on wetlands for the October Beacon
Lee will write an article on how to’s for NHDES permitting– helpful walk-throughs from the NHDES website and what help is available.
Alan: should contact the Beacon about printing his article, which is currently on the website. Lee will contact Alan about this.
November Meeting: Barbara Richter, Executive Director of the New Hampshire Association of Conservation Commissions, will be joining us to talk about the role of Conservation Commissions.
Champagne Gravel Public Hearing:
Champagne’s proposed excavation project is located at 235 Bay Rd. Jesse attended the Planning Board meeting on Tuesday September 10th, 2019 to learn more of Champagne’s proposed excavation project.
Jesse reported that the meeting was a well-attended meeting; it was filmed, so it will be available on cable TV. John Champagne’s agent, John Bentley was there as well and did much of the presenting. The firm that has been retained for engineering the site gave their positive views on how the project could work. Much of the time was spent asking questions. There are abutters in Salisbury, who are concerned and CC members felt it was important for the Salisbury CC to submit comments. This is a project of regional concern and the Salisbury Select Board and Planning board have been involved.
At the hearing concerns were expressed about:
•noise
•danger from blasting
•contamination of ground water
•future growth/spread of business
•proximity to stream/river
There is already an Andover ordinance, which limits noise levels to 60 decibels at the property line; this should be tested at the site. The Planning Board would like to have a third party panel of experts examine the concerns. The next meeting, in two weeks, is to decide who that third party will be. Those with concerns that they feel need to be addressed by this third party should contact the Planning Board.
The Conservation Commission decided to submit a letter to the Planning Board regarding our views that the third party should consider the following potential impacts:
•Environmental degradation of adjacent wetlands through erosion/siltation during routine and exceptional storm events.
•Water quality impacts on the nearby Blackwater River via surface waters including the stream that passes through the northern edge of the property.
•Water quality impacts on the stratified drift aquifer that lies under the northern area of the site. This is a large valuable water resource for Andover residents that underlies the Plains Road residential district. We would like to know if there is potential for hazardous infiltration of contaminants from the proposed blasting/crushing/excavation operation.
•Geological faults in the near bedrock could serve as a potential source of contamination to dug and drilled wells for residents in nearby properties.
•Need for an alteration of terrain permit- the ZBA minutes indicate one is needed, but Jesse was not aware of any discussion. An expert from NHDES should be contacted.
Jesse will write a letter to express our concerns and express our desire to have the third party expert(s) look into these issues. Mary Anne recused herself as she has already written the Planning Board to express her concerns as a land-owner who lives near the site of the proposed business. Jerry, as Vice-Chair, representing the Conservation Commission, will sign the letter.
Proctor Community Service Projects: Alan was not at the meeting so these will be held over to the next meeting.
Motion to adjourn was made by Jesse, Jerry seconded, and all were in favor at 9:55 pm,.