Aimee Ayers, Lake Sunapee Protective Association; Helen Charpentier, Town of Sunapee; Andy Chapman, NH DES; Deane Geddes, Town of Newbury; June Fichter, Lake Sunapee Protective Association; Charles Forsberg, Town of Sutton; Charlie Hirshberg, Town of Sunapee; Kathryn Holmes, Town of Newbury; Ken Lawson, Town of Springfield & Kolebrook Lake Protective Association; Robert Wood, Lake Sunapee Protective Association.
June Fichter opened the meeting at 5:30 p.m. The Steering Committee discussed eight areas of business before adjourning to the full Coalition meeting.
1. Motion made, seconded and approved to accept the minutes of September 14 as drafted.
2. June Fichter briefed the Steering Committee on the recent meeting with Jennifer Palmiotto of Granite State Rural Water Association (GSRWA). They are still in the process of forming the Watershed Advisory Committee (WAC) for development of the Watershed Protection Plan, and the objective remains to have representation from a variety of constituencies. So far, the confirmed members include forester Anita Blakeman, Dick Wright (with some time constraints) representing the hunting and fishing constituency, and from this Coalition: June Fichter, Deane Geddes, Terry Dancy, Suzanne Levine, Ken Lawson, Helen Charpentier, and possibly Bill Thomas. They still plan to recruit at the Chamber of Commerce, Realtors’ Association, and other potentially interested groups. Helen Charpentier clarified that her greatest interest is in working on the towns’ land use regulations. Steering Committee members agreed that the work of both SAWC and WAC will extend to cover that area, among others.
3. Plans are underway for the Public Workshop and Information Session, tentatively scheduled for December 13 or 14. The location has not yet been determined, but the ideal would be an easy venue, one which would allow a roundtable forum, with some surrounding space for posters and displays. There was general agreement at this meeting that the optimum date and time would be December 14 (in lieu of the regular SAW meeting scheduled for that date), at 6:30 p.m., allowing the first half hour for people to view the displays. The primary goals for the workshop will be to increase awareness of the need for protection of watersheds, and to involve people in the process of protection.
The tentative agenda for the workshop is:
a. SAWC members will introduce the session with a presentation of the Coalition’s objectives, and reasons for developing a watershed protection plan. b. A presentation accompanied by graphs will be made of the (water test) data available so far. c. There will be some discussion of local water bodies; that is, the lakes and ponds within the watershed. d. Paul Sesca of DES will discuss the natural resource attributes, drinking water and source water assessment. e. Jennifer Palmiotto will conclude with a discussion of the process for development of a watershed protection plan, with a stress on the need for local participation. f. Question session.
June reported that GSRWA will pay for a half-page ad in the Kearsarge Shopper. Aimee Ayers said that the Education Subcommittee will develop press releases. Some announcements can be placed on the web site and there was some discussion of placing announcements for the workshop on Channels 3 and 12, as well as WNTK talk radio. Target dates for workshop publicity is the week after Thanksgiving. Kathryn Holmes suggested that those media may want to do a show on SAWC in general. Andy Chapman added that the workshop itself could be taped for future showings.
An early edition of the workshop brochure was available at this meeting, and Steering Committee members will distribute copies to several interested parties. The balance of the brochures will be printed to include the scheduled date and time, the agenda for the workshop, a contact number and web site address, and will be posted in Town Halls, libraries, the SAWC web site, the LSPA web site, other.
4. Charlie Forsberg opened some discussion on watershed overlays in Towns. A simplified version of the one which did not pass in Sutton last March may be presented in that Town again in March 2007. Kathryn Holmes asked if he feels that SAWC getting behind that would be helpful. Does he see that as being under the purview of SAWC? Charles Forsberg said yes, if what is proposed is less complicated, do-able, and enforceable. What is good for Sunapee, would be good for others. He asked if landowners will be targeted during publicity of the Public Workshop, suggesting the importance of making clear that the intention of a watershed overlay is not to overlay the landowners. Steering Committee members agreed that the general goal is to get the message out to everyone.
5. June Fichter reported that Tara Banford’s analysis of Towns’ regulations (land use, zoning, site review) will be completed by mid-November. In response to Steering Committee members’ questions, she said this will be a much expanded version of, and much more in depth than the matrix currently available. Tara’s work will include identification of gaps, as well as some suggested language or model ordinances for filling in those gaps. It will be up to SAWC to prioritize, and develop appropriate ways to present the data with suggested solutions to the Towns. Kathryn Holmes said her vision is for a SAWC Standard, perhaps to be presented in a booklet. Helen Charpentier asked if they are looking at existing watershed plans (from other areas). Yes, they are looking at those; Jennifer Palmiotto has a format, and that will be tailored for the Sunapee watershed.
6. Andy Chapman said before presenting this to the towns, the Coalition will need that water quality support information. June Fichter confirmed that the Geosyntec analysis will be available by November.
7. June Fichter reported that Tara Banford’s build-out analysis will be available in November as well.
8. Updated Coalition Member Lists were distributed. Note made that Kathryn Holmes’ email address is omkat143@verizon.net. Please submit any other corrections to Peter Dzewaltowski.
The meeting adjourned at 6:34 p.m. The next meeting of the SAWC Steering committee will be November 9 at 5:30 p.m.
