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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCanoe River Comm Minutes 05/03/2001Canoe River Aquifer Advisory Coipp ;ittep;; Meeting Minutes May 3, 2001 f.t.r rr F S Minutes of the meeting held by the Canoe River Aquifer Advisory Committee on Thursday May 3, 2001 at 1:00 p.m. at the Foxborough Town Hall, 40 South Street, Foxborough, MA 02035. Members Present: Wayne P. Southworth, Easton; John Marsh, Easton; Philip Barske,Easton; Robert Boette, Foxborough; Joan F. Sozio, Foxborough; Leonard Flynn, Mansfield; Ed Tartufo, Mansfield; Suzanne Erikson, Norton; Susan Mims, Norton; Fred Watson, Norton; Dave Masciarelli,Sharon Others Present: Joe Denneen, Sen. Sprague's Office; Jenn Carlino, Norton Conservation Agent Call to Order - Meeting called to order at 1:00 p.m. by Wayne Southworth. IL Review Minutes of April 5, 2001- Minutes unanimously accepted. III. Recognition Event — Annual Awareness Day— May 12, 2001 Mansfield Fish & Game Club A revised list of those who will receive recognition certificates from the CRAAC was distributed to members for review and finalization. Additions (including Jonathan O'Reilly, Meredith Holford, Rick Foster and Barney Frank) and corrections were made to the list. Leonard Flynn said that the area surrounding the Rod and Gun Club is not an attractive area. He suggested moving the parking area to the Highway Garage and walking along a path to the river. Ed Tartufo said that cars would be unable to turn around if parking were moved. Podiums will be brought to the site. Tables at the campground will be used. Displays will be set up inside. Ed Tartufo will bring donuts, and Wayne Southworth will arrange to bring coffee. IV. Mill Pond Dam — Mansfield Leonard Flynn said that this project is going great. Between $175,000 - $200,000 has been appropriated for the Mill Pond Dam. A contractor has already been selected for the project. V. Green Belt Project — Update Leonard Flynn said that he received a copy of a Notice of State Surplus Property that is sent out to all state entities to determine if they have an interest in purchasing state - owned land. This is standard practice when the state is petitioned to turn over land to a community. State agencies must express their interest to the State prior to May 11, 2001. A note attached to this notice said that there is light at the end of the tunnel. However, Pat Rogers has said that the Department of Capital Asset Management requires an appraisal of the land and would require payment for the land. Leonard Flynn pointed out that this land was bought with Federal funds. The DCAM has to be certain that state assets are not sold illegitimately. Also, before the land is released, there must be legislation initiated by local representatives (this is being done in Norton by the Conservation Agent) for the acquisition of the land. Fred Watson suggested starting a citizen's petition requesting that the land be returned to the town. Leonard Flynn advises against this because the CRAAC has already requested involvement from State Representatives, and has not yet heard back from them. Up to this point, they have been nothing but cooperative and responsive, and he feels that an initiative petition would not be advisable. As a side note, Leonard Flynn said that he and Bob Jones have met with the science department at Mansfield High School. The students are interested in learning more about biodiversity, endangered species and water quality. He suggested recruiting other CRAAC members to educate students about these areas. Dr. Barske said that he would be happy to participate in this and agreed that this would be a great idea. He added that the well display is a great visual learning tool. This could be run at the Canoe River Awareness Day. Committee members can learn how to run this at a future meeting, and then they can bring it with them to educational talks. Leonard Flynn also brought up contamination of sites. He said that it appears that some of the biggest culprits for contamination are state, federal and local agencies. He said that Mansfield is going forward with plans to put the new fire station at the highway garage, labeled as an expansion of use. Local officials need to be educated in order to know what needs should or should not be in a water resource area. There is a real concern about MTBEs and other contaminants from motor vehicles. Leonard Flynn said he has even seen cars being washed along the riverbank in back of the police station. Wayne Southworth said that this committee could focus on education. He pointed out that waterways are in much better shape now than they have been in the past, due to education. On Saturday April 28, 2001, Wayne Southworth and Leonard Flynn attended the New Mayflower Compact Congress conference at Stonehill College. Fifty or more communities were represented. Wayne Southworth ran a workshop with a presentation on the CRAAC as a model for Water Resource Management. The Canoe River Aquifer Advisory Committee was presented with an award entitled the First Annual New Mayflower Compact Award as an example of innovative regional collaboration. A copy of the press release was distributed to CRAAC members. Leonard Flynn spoke with Whitney Hatch of the Department of Public Lands. They will help communities preserve open space. They have used money for land acquisition and are good at getting grants. They have been tentatively scheduled to speak at the next CRAAC meeting on June 7, 2001. Leonard Flynn has also been in contact with Arthur "Badge" Blackett of the Trust for Public Land. The Canoe River is in good shape for funds because it has already been designated as a sole source aquifer. The Trustees of Reservation deals exclusively with areas that are of historical or ecological significance. VI. Department of Food & Agriculture — Public Education Campaign for Responsible Pesticide and Fertilizer Use The Committee has been in touch with Mr. Gerard Kennedy of the Department of Food and Agriculture in the past. Taryn Lascola of the Pesticide Bureau will be at the next CRAAC meeting to discuss their outreach proposal to help protect the aquifer. Dave Masciarella will bring Sharon's pesticide policy with him to this meeting. New government regulations require a pesticide license anytime a pesticide is used, even for water suppliers and school systems. VII. New Business Leslie Luchonok sent a letter to the CRAAC thanking them for the honor of receiving a recognition certificate. The CRAAC has been mentioned recently in both the DEP Publication In the Main and in the Stream Advocate. The Natural Resources Trust of Mansfield has a web site at www.geocities.com /NRTMA There is also a link at the Sun Chronicle's web page. Joan Sozio and Wayne Southworth will work on revisions to a standard letter that is sent out when someone inquires about the CRAAC. This letter has not been updated in a while, and the committee has achieved many things of note since the last update. Committee members have been asked to provide their e-mail addresses to Wayne Southworth. Easton, Foxborough and Sharon will all be receiving Drinking Water Awards on May 10, 2001 in Leominster. Foxborough will also be receiving a Groundwater Source Protection Award and an EPA Business Partnership Award for conservation in the stadium re -use project. Leonard Flynn noted that a recent study showed that bottled water is not any better than tap water. Posters were distributed by Wayne Southworth to Foxborough, Mansfield and Sharon for National Drinking Water Week. Wayne Southworth thanked Jenn Carlino for her effort in putting together the award for the Vision 2020 Conference. The recent CRAAC- sponsored lawn care seminar had a very low attendance, in spite of the fact that notices were put on cable television and in newspapers, and over 700 fliers were distributed. Perhaps next year the seminar will be recorded in a studio for distribution on video to member communities. The CRAAC will meet again on June 7, 2001 in Norton at 1:00 p.m VIII. Meeting Adjourned At 2:20 p.m. the CRAAC voted unanimously to adjourn its meeting.