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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOpen Space Comm. 01/28/2019Oven Svace and Recreation Committee Minutes January 28 , 2019 Present: Perry DiMascio, Katelyn Gonyer, Chris McCluskie, Diane Simms, Christopher George ft,der), rvE"ill c� R�hs n�v.,.,_ Guests None The meeting of the Town of Mansfield Open Space and Recreation Committee was calle�f Katelyn Gonyer says this was previously under the direction of Colin Cauldwell. Ken Taylor had come in for a quote of around $2,000 to clear some trees but at that point there had been so much volunteer work to do; that they were going to reassess this decision. Ms. Gonyer says these funds allocated are still available. Perry DiMascio asks if it was $3,000. Ms. Gonyer says she will verify that. Diane Simms asks if this was for the Great Woods property. Ms. Gonyer answers it was for Corporal Hardy, with Great Woods as a secondary priority. She says the focus will be in Great Woods. Katelyn Gonyer describes the grant. She wrote it with Jenn Carlino, from Norton, and they received $40,000 to hire a community resilience manager. They will come in and hold a public workshop. The first was to explain the program on how to claim this status of climate change. She said there were about 30 people there for two, four hour workshops. This detailed environmental, structural, and social aspects in regards to climate change. She mentions there are issues around bridges and dams; in regards they function with pumping and structural integrity. Chris McCluskie asked who's in charge of the dams in Town. Ms. Gonyer says it's the DPW but some are private. Mr. DiMascio asks if some could be state. Ms. Gonyer says it can get confusing as to ownership. Mr. DiMascio also mentions the army core. Ms. Gonyer mentions she's looking to have her department get more involved in this process but it's slowing down as land becomes more unavailable. Ms. Gonyer says it's a lot of labor intensive work to provide the information for the grant. She would like to see a Town wide trail maintenance plan. Mr. McCluskie asks about the trees removed by the dump. Ms. Gonyer says part of that is tied to the landfill and part of it tied to reworking the intersection. Katelyn Gonyer discusses acquiring an intern to provide low level work to look at some of the potential vernal pools. Ms. Simms asked what they would do. Ms. Gonyer says they would just do plain assessments; to make sure they have met all conservation criteria. Ms. Simms mentions Wheaton has an environmental protection program. Ms. Gonyer says she is planning to outreach there first. Mr. McCluskie asks if this would be a paid or an unpaid internship. Ms. Gonyer says it would be unpaid. She says if people do a good job, then she always provides the accolades they deserve. She says there is currently no link to Open Space on the Conservation website and would like to have Open Space more connected to Trails. Ms. Simms asks if there is a link on the Parks and Recreation website. Ms. Gonyer says this would help and be more encompassing. Ms. Simms mentions scheduling trail walks through this format. Ms. Gonyer agrees with this and mentions she's still working around her current schedule availability, as she is only part-time. She mentions always being granted both grants previously discussed. She says they are submitting an application for the Mass Trails Grant. This is more of an urban project this is a portion of Old Colony running from East St, to North Main St; running to the Bike Path. Ms. Gonyer says she is starting a Culvert Replacement grant tomorrow. She says they're trying to restore as much natural hydrology as possible and they are looking at it in a more regional way. Ms. Gonyer says this is an item she will be bringing up to the Canoe River Aquifer Advisory Committee and hosting programs on storm drainage and maintance. She also says these grants will allow Wetlands/Open Space & Recreation public outreach and the creation of elementary school level workshops. Katelyn Gonyer says she still has signs in the design process but would like to wait until the Open Space and Recreation Committee has a full board before moving forward on the voting process. Katelyn Gonyer says she has recently moved to Town and will now be more available for site walks. She would like to start scheduling these. Ms. Simms says if these are neutral fact-finding missions, and if there is no discussion, then you don't need to post these as an open -meeting. She asks what the context of these site walks would be. Ms. Gonyer says this would be to walk around the property to assess its current standing. Ms. Simms says as long as these are just considered nature walks they shouldn't be held to open -meeting law standards. Ms. Gonyer says Mill Pond would be her first priority. Mr. McCluskie asks if any of these funds can be used to clean up some of the ponds. Mr. DiMascio asks if this is a function of the dam being open rather than closed. Ms. Gonyer says this could be the reason; which is why she'd like to see things move to a more natural flow. Mr. DiMascio says Walpole just did a huge dredging project. Mr. McCluskie says it's extremely difficult to find clean natural water in Town. Ms. Gonyer says this process needs to start with assessing each parcel. She will provide a copy of the Lakes/Pond management document at the next meeting. She says there is already a lot of work on the table. Ms. Simms asks how the committee parcel works out amongst them; instead of placing it all on Ms. Gonyer. Ms. Gonyer says the first item to implement is the scheduled walks and set them on a specific date and time. She would also like to go back and look at the scheduling of the meeting. She would like to hone in on one or two items and focus on those first. Ms. Gonyer would like to do Wednesday; as her availability is best then. Ms. Simms says by April timing shouldn't be an issue. Ms. Simms proposes once a month starting in April. Ms. Gonyer says these walks are only around a half hour and this is just to get used to exploring the area/habitats. She offers second Wednesday of each month starting in April. She says, time of year depending, these walks will start around 5-6:OOpm. Ms. Gonyer also offers to allow the Committee to meet at Town Hall and carpool to the location. Ms. Gonyer says there may be a name change to Open Space and Recreation Committee; as there has been confusion surrounding the connection to the Recreation Department. Katelyn Gonyer would like to choose some focal points for this Committee and addresses them. She would like to see this committee become a more solid committee. She thinks this could be done via social media outreach and more media creation. She would like to see the creation of an Open Space and Recreation website. Ms. Gonyer says there are a lot of small things they can accomplish but she thinks it's time to move towards community outreach. Discussion is had on the logistics of having a shared drive where the Committee can share/work on documents mutually. Ms. Gonyer says the main idea is to not take away any decisions from the public view. Mr. DiMascio states that the basis of Open Meeting Law is that you can accumulate but not deliberate. Ms. Gonyer clarifies that you can always introduce agenda items but you can't discuss said agenda items. Ms. Simms, if they like the Google Docs idea, she can start on the first part of document creation. The Committee agrees to this. Ms. Simms will provide this to Ms. Gonyer first and she will then provide it to the rest of the Committee. Ms. Gonyer also mentions to discuss the need for more Committee members with locals in Town. Ms. Simms asks about open property acquisition and if there is currently any available land in Town. Ms. Gonyer says there are about 2-3. Mr. DiMascio says these are loosely connected to Open Space but he's had situations where the Conservation Committee says they didn't want the property. Ms. Simms asked if they said why they didn't want it. Mr. DiMascio says, at the time, the Town did not see it as valuable as Open Space. Ms. Gonyer says, since she's been here, she has accepted all land that developers are willing to provide. Ms. Simms asks what responsibility the Town has to maintaining such properties. Ms. Gonyer says it depends on what it is; if there are any easements than yes it needs maintenance. Ms. Gonyer says she is currently working on making the donation process easier. Mr. DiMascio asks if there are any updates on National Lumber. Ms. Gonyer says she was told to address it with Town Council. Mr. DiMascio asks if the Town engineer was able to go out and access boundaries. Ms. Gonyer says she has confirmed he has before but then negotiations stop when other legal conversations occur. Ms. Simms would like a copy of this document for the Google Docs. Scheduling is discussed amongst the Committee. Ms. Gonyer will make sure the meeting schedule is resent out to the whole Committee. Y mll4�il� 3E'T'"�'2 '2 S•^, h' 'l: " 't+ „^'� ? ,, Y� .,,wM tr..,.._.,,.rve,rr i,.-.✓v^^ �.,'.:Z Postponed until the Committee has a Chair -Person. XI, Adjournment *Motion to adjourn made by Mr. DiMascio, 2"d by Ms. Simms at 8:08pm, Vote: 3-0 PASSED Signature of Clerk Minutes taken by Christopher George y/z� //9 Date Approved 3