Conservation Commission Minutes

Date:                   February 22, 2017

Attendees:         Neal Brown, Carol Irvin, Conrad Dumas, Janet Renaud, Candi Fowler, Henry Underwood (guest/SWRPC), Jim Trenz (guest), Rick O’Connor (guest), and Janet Lutkus (minute-taker)

The meeting was called to order at 7:31 pm. The following items were addressed:

1. Call to order, organize agenda, mail, etc. – Conrad.
   • Conrad reviewed the correspondence – The items reviewed were:
     • A rental agreement for roadside round-up  (to be okayed later in meeting)
     •  Intent to cut – Muzzey Hill Road    
     •  DES acknowledging intent to do forestry work
     • Notification of nomination for Janet Renaud to be a member/chair of the Contoocook and North Branch Rivers Local Advisory board (CNBRLAC).
     •  A copy of the New Hampshire Planning and Land Use Regulations manual for 2016-2017

1. New Business – Henry Underwood, Jim Trenz, and commission members.  

• SWRPC – Natural Resource Inventory (NRI) Update – Henry Underwood.
  • Henry addressed a previous discussion about an NRI survey.  The purpose of the survey is to find out what’s important for Greenfield residents. The 2012 Master Plan obtained some useful feedback on residents’ interests in road maintenance, environmental issues, and wildlife preservation.  Henry handed out a list of 8 prospective survey questions for the commission to review. Henry wants feedback from the commission on these questions ASAP and plans to convert this list into a survey and provide links. Janet will distribute electronic copies of the list of questions to the commission members. The completed survey will be circulated to board members and all town residents.  Commission members discussed including a link to the survey on the town website in the Spirit. The deadline for submittals to the April issue of the Spirit is March 1. Henry will produce PDF and Word output of the final survey. Circulation of the survey will be the commission’s responsibility.
  • Henry has not connected with Bob Marshall as discussed at the last meeting but it is on his list. Bob Marshall has been contacted and will be expecting to hear from Henry.
  • Class 6 roads and Class A trails mutually exclusive and classified as one or the other. Class 6 roads are sometimes changed to Class A trails, by vote at town meeting.  Class A trails have no vehicle access, no maintenance required, full public right of way. A Class A trail converted from a Class 6 road no longer shows up on the map as a Class 6 road. The commission referred Henry to the Greenfield Trails Association for more details on the existing Class 6 roads and Class A trails.  The association has a web site which Henry will use for contact information.
  • Photographs for the NRI.  Henry will contact Ken Paulsen directly.  Henry created a list of types of photos he is planning to include and distributed it to the commission for their review.
  • The commission handed off a packet of materials (maps and documents) Diane Boilard had originally collected for the NRI to Henry.

• Requesting commission’s assistance to put land parcel into Conservation Easement – presented by Greenfield resident Jim Trenz and joined by Greenfield resident Rick O’Connor. The church is selling a 15.7 acre parcel of land on Route 136 (R4-07-01).  This property is located across the street from Winrose Farm. It is the headwaters to the drainage system on Jim’s property and to the beaver pond. Jim, as part of a consortium of people would like to collectively purchase the land from the church, gift the land to the town of Greenfield, and put a conservation easement on it so it will never be developed. Although the Monadnock Conservancy approached him in the past, they are not currently interested in owning this property. Gifting the parcel to the town of Greenfield would make the commission responsible for monitoring the easement. Further, as the consortium does not have enough funds to purchase the property, Jim requested that the Greenfield Conservation Commission fund hiring a grant writer to get a grant from the state to cover the rest of the funds. Although Jim has approached the church about buying the property, the agreement to sell is only an oral agreement to date. Jim’s attorney (Silas Little) has already drawn up a purchase and sale agreement for the property that would be contingent on obtaining the rest of the funds for the purchase through a grant. Jim estimated that a possible range for hiring such a grant writer could be 3K – 5K depending on the time involved. It was agreed that this figure was not qualified by anyone in attendance with facts to support it. No one in attendance had the knowledge of a grant writer with the required expertise, specific grants for this purpose, or dates surrounding the grant availability. Conrad pointed out that the first question the commission needs to consider is if they are interested making an investment to protect this particular parcel of land. Janet made the point that by giving the land to Greenfield, the commission would become responsible for monitoring the easement, which has legal ramifications. This is new territory as the town of Greenfield does not currently hold any easements.  This decision is complicated and requires the opinion of town counsel concerning liability and other ramifications. Carol expressed concerns about abutters violating terms for easements, which could result in legal responsibilities and costs for the town. Although Conrad feels it is important to conserve this parcel of land and Candi, Neal, and Janet, support the idea of furthering the effort to conserve the property, no one can agree to Jim’s requests without more information and consideration. Carol expressed the importance of discussing the matter with town council before any further action. Conrad will talk to Aaron first. Conrad agreed to talk to town council to talk to Silas Little (Jim’s attorney).  Jim agreed to locate a grant writer and write a proposal to present it at the commission’s March 22 meeting. In between, Conrad will talk to our attorney to discuss the feasibility of supporting this effort.
• Roadside Round-up on April 29 – It was agreed that the hall must be reserved from 3pm to 9pm.  Conrad will sign the agreement that he reviewed at the beginning of this meeting as part of the correspondence. The commission agreed to do a “kid’s competition” again this year. Janet will remind Karen to order the bags. Conrad will have Catherine order the envelopes. Neal will reserve a room and contact the givers and commission members regarding envelope stuffing for April 19.  The Roadside Round-up will be re-addressed at the March 22 Conservation Commission meeting.
• George Proctor stewardship – Janet. The first joint meeting of the Sportsmen’s Club and the Greenfield Conservation Commission will be held on Tuesday February 28^th at 5 pm. 

The meeting officially adjourned at 9:17 PM. The next meeting is March 22, 2017 at 7:30 pm.

Minutes respectfully submitted by Janet Lutkus to Conrad Dumas and Janet Renaud for approval, corrections, and posting.