Town of Sutton Selectmen Meeting Minutes

TOWN OF SUTTON

Sutton Conservation Commission

Draft Meeting Minutes

Wednesday, March 16, 2022

Present: Henry Howell, Chair; Barbara Hoffman; Don Davis; Chuck Bolduc; Lynn Wittman; Wally Baker; Debbie Lang; Jim Morris and Bonnie Hill. Wally is now an alternate member.

Members of the public present: Aaron Flewelling, A. J. Giglio.

 

Call to order: Henry Howell called the meeting to order at 6:32 pm.

 

Previous Meeting’s Minutes:  Don moved that the minutes from February 9th be approved, and Chuck seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

Financial Report:

The only expenditure from the Admin account during February was $150 for snow plowing at KHR. There will be another $100 payment for plowing coming up. The bank statements for February had not yet been received.  Henry has a check for $350 from the Sutton Ridgerunners that needs to be deposited to the Conservation Fund, but it has to be approved by the BOS first. Chuck will take it to the BOS meeting on Monday.

Trail Maintenance and Development

Trails Advisory Committee Report

>Draft KHR Hiking Map review

Chuck has finished the draft hiking map. He is working with Alex Simoneau, who is creating a map related to the Forest Management Plan. There was a discussion about including some interesting historic stone wall formations on the map; Don said there is a large square stone enclosure near the top end of the Felch Trail. He wondered if the people involved in Granit’s Stone Wall Project would know anything about it. Henry said his trail guide is going to be available via a QR code on posts along the trails. He is seeking input for points of interest to include in it. Don said he found a cellar hole near the junction of Penacook Path and the Maple Leaf path for which he is trying to trace ownership.

 

>KHR Donation System

Chuck said this is hung up right now around the issue of the account that will be used to handle the donations.  He is going to the BOS meeting on Monday to explain what we are trying to do. Henry read a letter from town counsel Laura Spector-Morgan that said the only types of funds to which money can go directly are revolving funds and special revenue funds. The BOS needs to approve all donations, and they can’t pre-approve donations before they are received. This is difficult when there are a lot of small donations. Henry said Laura S-M does not feel that the KHR fund qualifies as a revolving fund for receiving gifts. Don wondered whether the Town might have voted back when the KHR fund was established, to allow it to receive gifts, since it was originally created in order to receive a gift of money. Barb said she would research the history of the KHR fund by looking through town reports from the relevant time period. After she has done that, Chuck will talk to Betsy Forsham for more information about the fund, and this historic info can be presented to town counsel. If she still says the KHR fund doesn’t qualify, we will have to wait until next year’s Town Meeting to establish a revolving fund. With this kind of fund, the money can simply be released by the town treasurer. The other option is establishing a Friends of KHR non-profit group, which would pay mowers and contractors directly out of their fund. This would involve setting up a board, and by-laws, and a lot of other complications.

 

>ORFS hike at Webb/Crowell Forest

Henry led a hike of 15 people for the “Outdoor Recreation for Seniors” group last week.  He said people loved the trail and were very appreciative of it. He will send pictures to Bonnie for the website. Wally pointed out that Eaton Grange Road is in very bad shape near Webb/Crowell and may need to be closed for part of mud season.

Appointment: 7:00 PM Aaron Flewelling, president of the Sutton Ridgerunners Snowmobile Club and A.J. Giglio, trailmaster.

Aaron recapped what he told us at the last meeting; that lots of snowmobilers have been used to riding on the two trails at KHR that lead to the cell tower (trails 1 and 2), and that once our signs went up, there were a lot of questions and complaints. They would like us to open those trails back up to snowmobiles. He said they are willing to help with trail maintenance, so he feels that it would be a win-win. AJ said the club gets money from the state in proportion to the number of miles of trail they have, and insurance coverage for snowmobile-related liability would be expanded to those trails if they were officially open. Insurance is handled through the NH Bureau of Trails, and a not-for-profit organization, the NH Snowmobiling Association, handles registration. Chuck asked whether that insurance would also cover other trail users such as skiers, but Aaron didn’t know.

Henry said he wanted to remind everybody how we had agreed to approach the use of the land at KHR. Trails on the north side are to be kept wild, and mowed occasionally for wildlife benefit. Trails in the south are to be maintained as recreational trails, notably for backcountry skiing, and mowed accordingly. Chuck said that since there isn’t much winter recreation in the northern area, the trails in the south are the only ones left for skiing, and trails 1 and 2 are the best and longest trails for that. They are the gem of the trail system. He said he picks up a lot of garbage there, and saws up the downed trees, and it feels like there isn’t much sharing going on. The snowmobiles are all over the entire width of the trails. Aaron said they have been riding there forever.

Jim asked if there was a way to accommodate both snowmobiles and skiers, through scheduling use according to times and dates. Aaron did not think that would work, but said maybe people could be kept to one side of the trail. Don asked if the trails could be made into a one-way loop. Henry suggested just letting snowmobiles on one of the two trails. Wally suggested a one year trial basis. Don asked how they close the trails, and Aaron said the law is that the trails are closed when there is less than 8 inches of snow on them. Henry asked what kind of controls can be put on the trails regarding trash, etc. Aaron said they have no authority to police anything, but he thinks most of the people who know about these trails are club members. He said Fish & Game will meet with them regarding signage and a club trash pickup day. Don wondered, if we allowed one trail to be open, for a one year trial, how this would be made known.

Don asked if there were parking issues with people coming from out of town. Aaron said some people park at Kezar Lake, but since parking is limited, most people enter from elsewhere in the trail system. Henry asked whether the trails in Sutton are part of the larger trail network, since that means we could potentially get a lot of people coming into KHR. Aaron said yes, but since the trails in Sutton are narrow, he thinks a lot of people avoid it. Henry said he has seen lots of snowmobiles speeding down the Penacook Path.

Chuck said that we are trying to set up a donation system, and we might lose the opportunity to get donations from backcountry skiers if the trails are heavily used by snowmobiles. Aaron said the club gets a few thousand dollars in grant in aid money that comes from registrations. This is matched 80 to 20 by the state, for maintenance. Jim asked if there would be any compensation to the town if we open the trails, and Aaron said the club is not allowed to pay, according to the state. They could help with mowing, though.

Bonnie said, as a cross country skier, she is against opening yet more trails to snowmobiling, and that in her opinion, snowmobiling is incompatible with cross country skiing. She said that cross country skiers are the poor stepchild of the winter recreation scene, as hundreds of miles of trails that would be great for skiing (rail trails, for example) get turned over to snowmobilers. Snowmobiles ruin the condition of the snow for skiing, they are noisy and emit noxious fumes, and they travel at high speeds that put other trail users at risk. Debbie said she could see that safety could be an issue, and she wondered if alternating weekends could work. Barb asked which of the trails was better for skiing. Chuck said it depends on the conditions. He said the problem with alternating is that once the snowmobiles have ridden all over a trail, it is no good for skiing (although it is fine for sledding.) AJ said the NHSA has a campaign called “Don’t Take NH for Granite” to urge snowmobilers to be responsible. He said the speed is supposed to be kept to 45 mph, that modern snowmobiles are much quieter and have cleaner exhaust than in the past, and that there are regulations regarding exhaust and decibels. Henry said that the reason the state is so supportive of the snowmobile industry is because it is so popular and lucrative for businesses. Chuck pointed out that money is not being brought into Sutton, since we have no businesses to spend money at.

Jim said that the SCC is trying to raise funds, and asked Aaron if they could contribute. Aaron said they could talk about it at their meeting, and asked what the fundraising goal was.  Chuck said it was for maintenance – use of a brontosaurus, culvert repairs, washout repairs, etc. Aaron said the members have a lot of tools and equipment, such as an excavator. Wally said shared work days could be beneficial to both groups. Barb suggested that Chuck and Aaron get together to work out what amount of maintenance could be traded for the use of one trail. Henry said we have lots of maintenance needs other than on trails 1 and 2, too, such as on the Nichols Trail and Mock Turtle. There are muddy areas where we need to put down planks. It would have been useful to have the use of a snowmobile to haul planks to those areas during the winter, since it is so hard to get them in there in the summer. Aaron asked about a trail walk. Henry suggested a spring cleanup session in which they could look for problems. Don suggested that the snowmobilers report to us about problems that they see while using the trails. Jim summed up the salient points of the discussion as follows: a trial period, limited trail use, shared maintenance, an annual cleanup, and documentation of everything that everyone agrees to. Before one of the trails is chosen, Aaron will walk the trails with Chuck and Chuck will talk to some of the backcountry skiers. Chuck said that then we will have a discussion, make a plan, and vote. He said the more Sutton residents get to use the KHR trails, the better.  Jim said the action item is to determine which trail to designate. The discussion ended at 8:00.

Correspondence

  • Consent form from Eversource regarding tree pruning on SCC properties. Don offered to give his name on the consent form as the contact person, and checked the box saying we would like to be contacted about the location of the tree cutting.
  • NHACC February eNews with news about efforts by other ConComs, training opportunities, grant info, information about designating prime wetlands, native bee research in NH peatlands, and more.
  • Email from NHACC with Legislative Update for 2022.
  • Email from the Colby-Sawyer College Community Based class, reporting on the status of their landscaping and community outreach project. The essence was that they are going to be working with the Lake Smart program and doing outreach to get people to sign up for it.
  • Conservation News, newsletter of the Merrimack County Conservation District, with annual plant sale order form, article about brook trout habitat restoration, and more
  • Lakeside, winter 2022 issue of the NH Lakes quarterly publication, with article about NH legislation introduced to study impacts of cyanobacterial blooms, and more.

 

Review of Wetland Applications and Issues:

  • None

 

Review of Intents to Cut and Logging Issues:

  • NH Public Golf Course, Shaker Rd (T/L# 7-455-213), North Rd (T/L#s 7-660-060, 7-698-078), and Kearsarge Valley Rd (T/L# 7-490-070), for a total of 200 acres out of 300. Don said they started logging on the warmest day of the season, when everything is wet. Henry said if we see anything amiss, we can report it to the state. Jim questioned about us just letting this go, but Henry explained that we have no authority. The intents are just an FYI, and we have no right to enter private property to look at what’s going on.

 

Old business

 

Review of Leo Maslan’s KHR Forest Management Plan – Barb said she has a lot of edits that she will send to Chuck. Chuck asked for any other edits to be sent to him. He said Leo will attend or call in to our meeting next month to discuss this. He said we need to decide our next steps. Now that we have a plan, we can just file it away, or we can take the next steps, which will include getting the plan to ASLPT, deciding where we want to cut, working out the access route, deciding on a timeframe, and doing public outreach.

 

Logging access routes update – Glenn Pogust has made contact with the son of the owner of one of the parcels that is in the alternate proposed logging route.

 

Horse Beach parking plan update – Lynn said she met with Peter Blakeman. Wally said that they are going to get together at the site. Don said he saw more than 25 cars parked at the lake today from 4 to 5:00.

 

New Business

 

Discuss designating Route 114 along Russell Pond and Blaisdell Lake as a Low Salt Area – Debbie talked to Jenn McCourt about this. She is the president of the Blaisdell Lake Protective Association (BLPA). Jenn sent a document from NHDOT that describes what needs to be done to get this designation. An excerpt:

 

“Type 4 Roadways * (Roadways with less than 2,500 ADT)
These are designated “low salt roadways” for which all municipal officials, including selectmen, police chief, fire chief, chief of ambulance service, and superintendent of schools or school board, have signed and submitted a written request to establish low (minimum) salt sections on existing Type 2 highways shown on the winter maintenance system map and recorded by Highway Inventory System.

 

She also gave examples of roads in our area that are already designated this way:

  1. Route 103A New London from Exit 12 Park and Ride driveway to Columbus Ave
  2. All of Little Lake Sunapee Road in Springfield and New London
  3. Rte. 114 in Springfield and New London from Little Sunapee Road to the center of New London.
  4. Route 114 Springfield from Bowman Road north to 4 Corners Road

Debbie will talk to Jenn about getting a write-up that Wally can present to the BOS. Then Elly can send it out to the relevant department heads to get them to sign off on it.

 

Review Planning Board’s Town Master Plan draft proposal – Henry summarized the parts of the Planning Board’s presentation that had particular relevance to conservation, and asked for comments. There was some discussion about the use of incentives (or stronger ordinances) to encourage cluster development and preserve open space. Jim said he was disappointed that the Master Plan contained nothing about supporting the arts. Lynn said she thought it was a good meeting and that Roger Wells was very realistic. Responding to a comment from Jim, Don pointed out that although NH does not put real estate transfer tax money towards land conservation, a portion of all deed registration fees from property sales does go to LCHIP.  Henry moved that the SCC endorse the Sutton Master Plan as presented by the Planning Board, and Barb seconded. The vote was unanimously in favor, with Wally and Chuck abstaining due to their positions on town boards.

 

Review SCC members service term dates – Lynn and Bonnie’s terms expire this year, and they have been re-appointed to new 3-year terms.

 

Review Sutton Annual Report – Henry urged everyone to read through the report, as there are many items related to conservation throughout it.

 

Property Committee Report

Current demand for land — Henry read us an Intertown Record ad from Angeli Real Estate, soliciting people to sell their land, just to show us what we are competing against.

Sources of funds for land acquisition – Henry attended a webinar about this, and he also pointed out the document that Barb wrote summarizing the types of grants that are available. Jim asked if the SCC should put together a procedure so that next time we have an opportunity to buy land, we can act more quickly. Henry said that both the Conservation Fund and ASLPT responded very quickly on the Chan parcel. Lynn asked if a parcel of land became available tomorrow, would Henry be able to reconstruct what he did, and Henry said yes. Chuck said that we will never be able to act quickly enough on a potential land deal unless the seller is also interested in conservation.

Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 8:58 PM.

Next Meeting:  Wednesday, April 13th, 2022, at 6:30 PM, at Sutton Town Hall.

Respectfully submitted,

Bonnie Hill, Secretary