January 14, 2025 | Bonnie Hill Sutton Conservation Commission (SCC) DRAFT Meeting Minutes Wednesday, January 8, 2025 Present: Henry Howell, Chair; Debbie Lang; Chuck Bolduc; Don Davis; Lynn Wittman; Joanna Murphy; and Bonnie Hill. Absent:. Jim Morris. Others Present: Rick Werme, Donna Catanzaro. Call to order: Henry Howell called the meeting to order at 6:32 pm. Previous Meeting’s Minutes: The minutes from the last meeting on December 11th were unanimously approved. Financial Report: Debbie sent out a spreadsheet before the meeting. Keeping track of our finances was a bit challenging at year’s end, as we did not receive admin budget reports in a timely manner. As a result we had a small budget overrun of $225. On the positive side, everything did get paid. Expenses for December included $790 for secretarial services, $180 for plowing, $100 for a GIS license, and $50 for an Intertown notice regarding acceptance of the Sievert donation. November’s expenses included $250 for 2025 membership in NHACC. The Sievert donation was accepted by the BOS and deposited in the Donation account, and Chuck wrote a note of thanks to the family. Here are the Bar Harbor Bank account balances as of the end of December: Conservation Fund: $232,882.82 (sum of all sub-accounts) Conservation Fund Unrestricted: $214,464.01 Sievert King Hill Gift: $17,302.85 Donation Holding Account: $1115.96 Capital Reserve: $79,649.59 Non-Capital Reserve: $1,000.00 Future commitments: Booker max $8K, Stockwell approx $15K, Wright max $15K for total of $38K Trail Maintenance and Development Trails Advisory Committee Report Update on the KHR donation system – Chuck said that next week he and Julia Jones will be meeting with the contractors who are re-doing the town website, and they will be told what we need for the donation system link. Henry said we need Chuck’s latest map of KHR to be posted on the website, too, and Chuck said that will be done. In addition, he has sent the map to ASLPT. They are updating their website and will put the new map on there. In the meantime, Chuck said the map can be seen on the smart phone app Avenza. KHR Penacook Path culvert rebuild/replacement – Henry and Chuck met with Chad of the Mitchie Corp and they hiked up Penacook Path to look at the culvert. Mitchie can do a complete engineering analysis that would get us all the way through the NHDES permitting process and supply a box culvert. The cost would be in the neighborhood of $400,000. They said a bridge might be a better solution, since there is no permitting required. Henry said this is essentially just a trail that needs to be able to take vehicular traffic, and that a simple, strong wooden bridge should suffice. The culvert would be removed, and the stream would be allowed to flow straight through. Chuck will get in touch with a company that does wooden bridges, and he will let Anne Payeur of ASLPT know what is going on. Status of snowmobile agreement – Henry signed the agreement and mailed it to Aaron Flewelling, president of the Sutton Ridgerunners. Chuck said he is trying to coordinate with Aaron when they can get out to KHR together and put up the signs. Review of Intents to Cut and Logging Issues S. Dube, N. Pound Rd, 15 acres out of 40, T/L# 05-910-390, Chuck Rose, logger. Wetlands Review None New Business Discuss notice of change to RSA 432 – A notice was sent about this from the NHACC. The application process for certain wetland permits has changed, and wetlands applications can now be sent electronically. Debbie and Bonnie will meet with the town clerk to talk about the procedure changes for reviewing wetlands permit applications. Bonnie will take Don’s place as the backup gatekeeper for wetlands permit applications. Info for Hazard Mitigation Plan – Bonnie said the committee is looking for information and pictures of disasters in Sutton over the last 5 years, and asked the members for input. Debbie said there was a microburst near Blaisdell Lake last spring, and she will try to take a picture of the damage there. Bonnie asked about the beaver dam breach that wiped out the boat launch at Blaisdell Lake. She asked Henry if he took any pictures of the trees that fell down all over the trail at Webb/Crowell last spring before he chainsawed them all. Graffiti on I-89 bridges – Henry received a complaint about graffiti on the Exit 10 bridges. Don said that years ago, kids from KRHS would paint junk on the bridges at graduation time, and an agreement was made to let them paint murals there instead. The members all said they have seen the murals but haven’t seen graffiti. All agreed that this is not a conservation issue anyway. Old Business Annual report for Town Report – Henry passed out a write-up he did of the SCC’s activities for the last year. The members looked it over and made some suggested changes, and Bonnie will incorporate it into the report she is writing. Henry will send her pictures of new trail features at KHR and Webb/Crowell, and Debbie will ask Jamie from ASLPT if she has pictures from the foliage walk at Webb/Crowell. Update on Stockwell property donation – Rick Stockwell told Henry that they are almost done with the survey. There are some discrepancies that need to be ironed out, but they should finish in a couple of weeks. Henry said the next step is to place the land in a conservation easement under ASLPT. This should be done before the property transfer, and the SCC has pledged up to $15K for expenses related to this. Henry has sent this information to Rick, asked him to send the SCC his invoices, and asked him to contact Andy Deegan of ASLPT about the easement. Update on Wright conservation easement – Henry said that Bob Wright has written a letter to Andy Deegan about putting an easement on his land, but Andy has not yet responded. Publicity SCC-sponsored community presentation – Bonnie handed out copies of a spreadsheet of large properties in Sutton with their acreage, owners’ names and addresses, and tax lot numbers. She also handed out printed flyers for people to post or mail to property owners. Don said he would ask Ryan Sheets if he would like to speak, from the perspective of a person who bought property that was already under easement. Debbie said the ASLPT Lands Committee meeting is tomorrow, and afterwards Andy Deegan will send us a list of people to invite. Flyers will be mailed out to the property owners on the list. Members who are acquainted with the property owners will write a note on the flyer. Flyers will be posted at the post offices, library, transfer station, grocery stores, Town Hall, etc. Electronic copies will be emailed to the local conservation commissions, Sutton Ridgerunners, Sutton Historical Society, and posted on the Sutton Facebook. Members volunteered to make cookies, brownies and hot mulled cider for the event. Ads will be placed in the Intertown Record and Shopper, for two weeks. Andy Deegan and Brian Hotz will be asked about their audio/visual requirements. Since we do not have a snow date, the event will be canceled in the event of severe weather, and WMUR will be notified. The flyer directs people to email the commission for info. Property Reviews Property on Eaton Grange Road – Henry responded to a letter received a letter from Leah Simoni of Eaton Grange Rd, who wanted to know if the SCC is interested in sharing the cost of purchasing a 400 acre property next door to her for conservation. Following the consensus in the SCC, Henry said he responded to Ms. Simoni in the negative, for the following reasons: 1) 198 acres of the highest quality part of the property has already been conserved by the Forest Society. 2) The price, $777K, is far beyond our reach. 3) The town does not want to own such a property, and the idea of co-owning a piece of property with a private individual seems unworkable. Henry recommended that the Simonis contact the Forest Society to see if they are interested. SCC membership changes Yvonne Howard submitted a letter of resignation, effective immediately. We will miss her passionate defense of wildlife, especially those that live in our wetlands. Don Davis will be resigning as of March 2025 and will be re-appointed as an alternate member. We are happy that he is transitioning off the board in a gradual manner, as he is our repository of SCC institutional memory and deep knowledge of the town. Having served for over 25 years, he has to be the longest-serving commissioner in SCC history! Don will take over the remainder of Yvonne’s term, and Joanna will be appointed as a full member to serve out the remainder of Don’s term. Henry will notify the select board of these changes. Correspondence Pamphlet from Eversource regarding tree pruning in town. Consent required. Email from Julia Jones stating that our Department Narrative for Town Report is due 1/20/2025. Email exchanges with Brian Hotz of the Forest Society and Andy Deegan of ASLPT regarding public presentation in February on land conservation December eNews from NHACC with news of other concoms, Taking Action for Wildlife training series, UNH Extension training series, wildlife talks by NH Fish & Game, and many grant opportunities. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 8:50 PM. Next Meeting: Wednesday, February 12, 2025, at 6:30 PM, at Sutton Town Hall. Respectfully submitted, Bonnie Hill, Secretary