Minutes of the 4/6/06 Meeting

In attendance:

Edythe Anderson, Town of Newbury; Aimee Ayers, Lake Sunapee Protective
Association; Andy Chapman, NH DES; Terry Dancy, Town of New London; Peter
Dzewaltowski, Upper Valley Lake Sunapee Regional Planning Commission; June
Fichter, Lake Sunapee Protective Association; Deane Geddes, Town of Newbury;
Carol Foss, Little Sunapee Protective Association; Cynthia Hayes, Town of
Springfield; Charlie Hirshberg, Town of Sunapee; Ken Lawson, Town of Springfield &
Kolelemook Lake Protective Association; Steve Russell, Environmental Committee
Chair-Sunapee Hills; Bill Thomas, Town of Sutton.

June Fichter opened the meeting at 6:30 p.m. The Coalition discussed seven areas of
business during the meeting.

1. Minutes-October 12

Ken Lawson moved to accept, and the motion was seconded and unanimously
approved.

2. Watershed Advisory Committee

June Fichter said they are still in the process of formation, and have identified the gaps
that need to be filled—from the construction industry, the Town of Sunapee, forestry,
sportsmen.

3. Public Workshop

June Fichter said the workshop has been scheduled for Wednesday December 13,
with a snow date of Thursday December 14. It will open at 6:30 p.m. with
refreshments, and begin formally at 7. They anticipate the workshop will last about two
hours including questions and answers. The following agenda has been confirmed:
1.        Donna Nashawaty will open the workshop, and serve as Master of Ceremonies.
2.        Woody and June will speak as representatives of SAWC, presenting reasons
for and importance of the Watershed Coalition and a Watershed Protection Plan
3.        Dave Bailey will make a presentation.
4.        Paul Sesca of DES will discuss drinking water source assessment.
5.        June will go into the objectives of the plan and processes.
6.        Questions and answer session.
Andy Chapman confirmed that the agenda is on the website.

Bill Thomas asked how this is being published. Several members read Debbie Cross’s
piece in the InterTown Record, and June Fichter said there will also be something in the
Argus. In addition, brochures have been distributed in Newbury, Sunapee, Wilmot and
New London. For that last, Terry Dancy confirmed that he has provided brochures to
the New London Select Board, the Conservation Commission and Planning Board.
Peter Dzewaltowski will be posting a folder of them in Goshen. Bill Thomas suggested
the possibility of adding some color to the front photograph. In addition, he
volunteered to contact the Colby Sawyer campus radio station about some publicity,
and Aimee Ayers said she has learned that WNTK will accept a fax press release. She
will follow up on that as well as contacting TDS about having something on the Channel
3 cable station. Deane Geddes said he could send it to everyone in Newbury. Edythe
Anderson suggested that the two towns with email lists—Springfield and New London,
could email something out about the workshop, and Peter Dzewaltowski said the
Planning Commission also has a community email list. Jennifer Palmiotto will take care
of the ad in the Kearsarge Shopper. Everyone agreed that right now is too early for the
workshop publicity. The first week of December would be the optimum time for this.
(Email announcements can go out a couple of times.)

What if the weather is bad? The public announcements will instruct people to check the
web site, or call the numbers on the brochure for further information. The general rule
of thumb is that if schools are closed that day, the workshop will be postponed to its
snow date: Thursday December 14.

4. Uniform Code of Regulations

Peter Dzewaltowski said the Regional Planning Commission is considering submitting
an application for a grant from the State Conservation fund, specifically the moose plate
fund, to implement a program for something that comes out of the Sunapee Watershed
Plan. He asked members for their thoughts on proposing development of a uniform land
use regulation model, one that could be tailored to Lake Sunapee.

Members were unanimous in agreement that this would be a boon to SAWC in doing
its outreach, as one of the largest problems facing the watershed now is that there does
not seem to be a consistent means for Selectmen to deal with problems related to
construction and its impact on the water, and most towns do not have a full time staff
member to address these issues. The objective of a uniform code of regulations would
not be “no growth,” but “responsible growth.” At this meeting, members threw out
some ideas for consideration:

o        Cynthia Hayes suggested tying the implementation of an erosion control plan in
with the driveway permit (rather than with the building permit, by which time the
damage from excavation may already have been done).

o        June Fichter suggested raising the bond limitation.

o        Peter Dzewaltowski said there is now a more effective means for erosion control
than silt fences, and that could be required to be implemented.

o        Bill Thomas reported on a recent seminar at which the guest speaker, Michael
Simpson of Antioch discussed meteorologists’ anticipation of the near future increase in
number of major storm events. This implies a pressing need for Towns to upgrade their
culverts on a regular basis. Bill pointed out that this would be a major long-term
expense and Towns need to start planning for it now.

o        Cynthia Hayes suggested conservation of open spaces and forests should be
included in the uniform code. Peter Dzewaltowski pointed out that that will be a
component in the watershed plan.

o        Bill Thomas has also recently heard David Carroll make a strong case for setting
aside some conservation land that would not be open to the public, but kept for wildlife
habitat only.

o        Edythe Anderson asked what relevant maps are available. Cynthia Hayes said
the State has just issued its Wildlife Action Plan including maps, which looks at things
regionally. Terry Dancy said the New London Master Plan included a list of lands
worth protecting, which served the purpose of setting some objectives. June Fichter
suggested that identification of parcels important to the protection of the watershed,
could be made an action item. Cynthia Hayes added that that could include getting
towns to do a natural resources inventory.

5. Land Use Subcommittee

Peter Dzewaltowski said that Tara has what she needs for Tuesday’s meeting regarding
the matrix of land use regulations, with the possible exception of an updated map for
Newbury. Though that Town has changed its zoning, there is no recent map showing
updates. June Fichter said that her understanding is that Tara has all the Towns’ latest
codes. She asked if the Newbury Planning Board is now updating its zoning map.
Deane Geddes said that the Conservation Commission is updating a lot of different
types of maps as trail maps, maps of deer yards, etc, for the Master Plan which is to be
completed by March 2007. He suggested the possibility that the Zoning Board is doing
something also. Andy Chapman asked if the Master Plan will adopt the work of this
Coalition. Deane Geddes said he made a pitch at the last meeting about including
SAWC in the Master Plan. Terry Dancy said inclusion of SAWC in the Master Plan is
a point that should be made to all the Selectmen.

6. Other Business

o        Edythe Anderson called the Coalition ‘s attention to the just-developed
Webster/Highland lakes Watershed Protection Plan, and suggested it be mentioned at
the workshop as it provides some precedent for the work and objectives of SAWC.
Andy Chapman worked on that plan, and said the report will be presented to the
Franklin City Council on December 4, with a request that they support it for future land
use regulations. The concern is that there has already been found some bacterial growth
in Webster Lake. In response to June Fichter’s question, he said that the plan was
developed by Brian Sullivan of Franklin, the Franklin Planner, members of the Andover
Conservation Commission, and others.

o        June Fichter reported that the data for Lake Sunapee between 2005 and 2006
has shown that a couple of parameters—for phosphorus and conductivity—are starting
up. In response to Ken Lawson’s question, Andy Chapman confirmed that Geosyntec
is still working on their results.

o        Edythe Anderson reminded everyone of the DES Watershed Conference on
November 18th. A couple of Coalition members noted that according to the website,
that conference is full now, but there was suggestion that people who are interested
may want to go anyway, as there may be some no-shows.

o        Bill Thomas will be away for the first half of 2007, and suggested the Coalition
give some thought about inviting another representative for Sutton.

7. Scheduling

Bill Thomas suggested it would be useful for the Coalition to have a debriefing session
after the public workshop, and members agreed to schedule that for Monday
December 18 at 5:30. June Fichter said the Geosyntec data will be available at that
time as well (actually, that data will be available prior to the workshop).

Peter Dzewaltowski will email the Coalition’s 2007 meeting schedule to Ken Lawson
for inclusion on the website.

Meeting adjourned at 7:30 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Sarah A. Denz
Recording Secretary