The Eightmile River
Wild & Scenic Study Committee
Meeting Minutes July 11, 2005, Salem Town Offices
Present: Anthony Irving, John Rozum, Eric Belt, Randy Dill, Nathan Frohling, Walter Smith, David Bingham, Sally Snyder. NPS - Kevin Case.
Absent:, Larry Reitz, Linda Krause, Brad Parker, Jamie Fosburgh, Sue Merrow, Bill Koch
Case reported that a written timeline has been developed for the local land use commissions that describes the remaining processes for completion of the management plan and in general the overall study. The timeline has three main areas. First, pursuing and achieving endorsement of the draft management plan by the local land use commissions by the end of September. Second, hosting a community meeting in October to present the draft management plan to the public. And, third by mid-December having town meeting votes proclaiming support for designation and the implementation of the management plan. Case noted there a number of steps and many meetings in between these milestones to make this happen. It was noted that also by October it will be necessary to have DEP review and hopefully support the management plan.
Frohling reported on progress regarding the discussions with towns on implementation of tier one priority tools. Tier one tools are those that the management plan will highlight as high priority to be pursued for implementation of over the next year. It is clear the towns have made a very strong effort to better protect local natural and cultural resources. For the purposes of Wild & Scenic designation the Management Committee is asking the towns to raise the bar to provide an added layer of protection that will clearly prove to Congress that the local communities are very serious about seeing local resources protected and enhanced. A model riparian overlay regulation has been outlined and discussed with the staff and land use chairs in each town. The proposed overlay, while potentially establishing strong protection for riparian function, would only affect a small portion of land in the watershed and provide flexibility to minimize any burden on affected landowners. The committee discussed at length some of the details proposed in the model language. Other tier one tools discussed with the local leaders include pursuit of a strategy to keep impervious surfaces under 4% in the watershed, pursuit of additional resources for open space acquisition to prevent habitat fragmentation, and implementation of stormwater planning and management tools. All these items are not unfunded mandates for the towns but instead would be the priorities for funding resources that may become available if the watershed were designated. In addition, the towns were asked to consider adding a basic goal statement to their plans of conservation and development supporting Wild & Scenic and the ORVs. The towns all seemed supportive of the concept. Frohling noted one big change in the process for land use commission endorsement is the elimination of a second combined commissioner Summit. Due to time constraints all the remaining communication will be at the town level, with the thought that after the study process is completed the commissioners can be reconvened at a Summit as a kick-off for pursuit of the implementation of tier one tools. The outline for the draft management plan was handed out for review. Any comments on the current form are to be forwarded to Frohling. Case will be working on completing a full draft of the plan by mid-August for use in presenting to the local commissions in late August and early September.
Smith reported the website has been substantially updated. There are still some additional changes that are in process. A six-page newsletter has been written and a draft design completed. It will be mailed to all 7,000 households in the three towns and will provide information on the remaining steps in the study process, benefits of designation, top priority management issues, and promotion of the upcoming community meeting and town meeting. The committee is planning to hold one Community Meeting to present the draft management plan and elicit feedback. The concept is to hold it as an open house that starts in the mid-afternoon and goes to possibly 9:00 pm at night, with two presentations of the highpoints of the plan at specific times. During non-presentation times the public will be able to review displays on various components of the plan and have one-on one discussions with management committee members, town representatives and other key resource people.
Nothing new to report.
Meeting Adjourned 7:15 pm.
Submitted
K. Case