Dublin Conservation Commission
Minutes
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Attending: Jack Lewis (chair), Karen Bunch, Suzan Macy, Ned Whitney, Sue Yarger, Selectman Sterling Abram and Sara Doenmez and Chris Riley from Dublin School
The minutes of the meeting of Wednesday, November 14, 2007 were reviewed and approved.
Dublin School: Sara Doenmez described some of the conservation-related activities that they had heard about and would be interested in following or being actively involved in. They included: Beetle work on purple loosestrife (Lythrum); control of Japanese knotweed; work on town/conservation properties such as Howe Reservoir, Route 137, and Beech Hill, with work possibly including property review, recommendations for use, recommendations for maintenance or development as conservation/recreation areas, development of appropriate signage, and formation of work teams to move from design to reality.
Sara Doenmez also mentioned that Dublin School already has trails and nature areas that they would be pleased to make part of a larger whole.
The Commission was delighted with the ideas, interest and enthusiasm shown by Dublin School, and looks forward to working with the school in a number of the areas mentioned. More firm plans will be made during the first few months of 2008.
Iorio Property: The Iorio property lies on the Marlborough border and runs south from route 101 toward Stone Pond. Clough Harbor had called to say that it wasn’t quite far enough along with its work on plans for the property to make its planned presentation to the Commission. The Commission briefly reviewed the history of the property. The previous owner had violated a number of DES regulations and the property is under orders to be cleaned up. This work has been happening, and the new owner, who has interests in both raising horses and racing cars, will be coming to several town boards and commissions for consideration of plans to make use of the property.
Frost Pond Dock: The Commission discussed the recent complaint made to NH Department of Environmental Services about the existence and deterioration of a dock on Frost Pond. Members of the Commission had seen the problems referred to by the complaint, and the Commission agreed to write NHDES expressing the Commission’s belief that the complaint has merit and its hope that DES will review the complaint as soon as possible.
Route 137 Property behind Life Safety: The Commission discussed the visit of several members to the town’s property near Life Safety. The participants found a scrubland with fairly poor soil, some field, some emerging forest, and great views of Mud Pond, which forms the property’s eastern border. Their initial impression was that the property could be modified to enhance the views and provide limited parking for a reasonable cost. They recommended that putting together a more detailed plan for development and use could be a great initial project for the Dublin School. The Commission concurred with this recommendation.
Dublin Lake:
1) Water Testing: On November 28, Karen Bunch and Felicity Pool got follow-up samples of water from the sites recommended by Ken Warren of NHDES. The tests came back with good results, indicating that there wasn’t an ongoing problem at any of the sites.
Karen also reported that the arrangement of having Rusty Bastedo, Susan Emerson and Judy Knapp take water sample to Concord had been set up and was working well so far.
2) Lake Host: Karen reported that neither Jerry Lawler nor Hank Campbell feels that they can be the Lake Host Point Person in 2008. This is the volunteer coordinator for the Lake Host program. Karen is continuing to look for a replacement, and would be happy to get recommendations.
Beech Hill Clean Up: Jack Lewis reported that the cleanup of the property is virtually complete, with the lagoon drained, all buildings other than the Platt House gone, and the property being returned to its predevelopment state. He also mentioned that the Platt House property, with the house and about 13 acres, had been put on the market at the end of November.
Open Space: Jack Lewis commented that the Open Space Planning Committee was in the process of putting together a draft Open Space plan.
Meeting Schedule: The Commission decided to continue to meet at 7 PM on the second Wednesday evening of each month for the first quarter of 2008. Meetings were scheduled for January 9, February 13 and March 12, 2008.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:50 PM.
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