= Town of Pelham, NH<= span style=3D'font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'>=

Pelham Conservation Commission<= /o:p>

6 Villag= e Green

Pelham, NH <= st1:PostalCode w:st=3D"on">03076-3723

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MEETING OF 2/15/06<= /u> &= nbsp; &nbs= p; APPROVED 6/14/06

Members Present: &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; Absen= t: &= nbsp;

Paul Gagnon, Jay Stearns,= &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Amy Breault = &nb= sp;

Paul Dadak, Lisa Loosigia= n, &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Bob Yarmo

Glennie Edwards (Alt)

Shirley Wakefield (Alt)

Vice Chairman Paul Gagnon= brought the meeting to order at 7:40 p.m.

NEW BUSINESS:

The Commission reviewed a= nd accepted the draft Stewardship Plan for Tax Map 33, Lot 1-159 (Merri= am property on Sherburne Road= ). Vice Chairman Gagnon had copied th= e plan to Conservation members via e-mail at the time of negotiation on the purcha= se of this property the middle of December 2005. Mr. Gagnon gave an overview on the stewardship plan for the television audience to make them aware of what we = were accepting. He read a paragrap= h from the document that he had received from Dwayne Nadeau, a certified forester = and member of the Merriam family. Mr. Nadeau owns a piece of property that abuts this parcel and is managing it. It began “While not legally binding, and therefore not requiring any formal signing, it would probably = be appropriate for the Conservation Commission or selectmen to make this part = of the public record by preparing a cover letter stating that it is the intent= of the town to voluntarily manage this new acquisition in a manner consistent = with the attached conservation goals”.&nb= sp; Mr. Gagnon explained, that although this did not require a public vo= te he felt that we should take a vote so that it would be part of the minutes = of the Conservation Commission that we either chose to accept or chose not to accept it as a guide as to how we would manage this property. Mr. Gagnon went on to say that the= town purchased this property free and clear of any attachments, stipulations or = covenants. In other words the town bought all rights to the land said Mr. Gagnon. If the town wished to do something else with the land, other than conservation protection, they would have that right.

Mrs. Wakefield asked what= would be the reason for using the land other than what it was proposed for. Mr. Gagnon said that the reality i= s that you cannot pass legislation that cannot be undone by future generations. There is a warrant article coming = before the voters in March that also asks that this land be put into the umbrella = of a “town forest” said Mr. Gagnon.= He said that in a hundred years from now, should the townspeople vot= e to take it out of being a town forest, and should they vote to put a fire stat= ion on it, they would have the right to do that. Mrs. Edwards asked if there was la= nguage in the deed that would secure this land in perpetuity. Mr. Gagnon explained that the town bought “all rights”, and had there been restrictions on the property it would have sold at a much lower price because it would not have been worth as much and the town would not have paid as much. A question was asked about a porti= on of the land being set aside for snowmobiles.&= nbsp; Mr. Gagnon said there was a section of non-motorized language that recommended the continuance of snowmobiles of an existing trail.

Member Jay Stearns felt t= hat the plan was very clearly written with regard to the family’s intent for = the future use, etc.

Commission members talked= about signage for this property. Mr. Gagnon said he had received an email from Bill McDevitt concerning a sign o= n a piece of conservation land in the town of Atkinson that he really liked. The sig= n read “SOON TO BE BUILT ON THIS SITE – ABSOLUTELY NOTHING”. Mr. Gagnon said that all town-acquired parcels would eventually have signage.

MOTION: To accept Stewardship Plan (Edwards/Dadak)

VOTE: 6-0 to accept

MEETING MINUTES:

MOTION to approve minutes= of 12/14/05 (Dadak/Loosigian)

VOTE: 5-0 to approve. Jay Stearns abstained

REVIEW AND COMMENT ON SCH= OOL WARRANT ARTICLE #19. This is a sixteen million ($16,000.00) proposed bond submitted as a Citizens Petition warrant article that would eventually require a wetland crossing or crossin= gs, dredge and fills and a foot bridge if voters approved this warrant article. The Pelham Sch= ool Board through its chairman has asked that the Conservation Commission give their comments.

Mr. Gagnon said that he h= ad not received any formal documents from the School Board relating to this request for comments from the Conservation Commission. He had viewed the proponent’= s web site and power point presentation. He said there are currently 51 acres of land for the three schools a= nd that in order to expand there needs to be 56 acres. The 56 acres is relevant to the nu= mber of students presently in the schools. There are islands in amongst the wetlands that are behind the high school and elementary school. The current proposal is to utilize some of the uplands with access off Willow Street. The area would accommodate a parki= ng area and tennis courts. Mr. G= agnon said he couldn’t see any impact of a conservation nature. He felt that there would probably = be input from the Conservation Commission if this got to the state level. There isn’t any square foota= ge and there are no dredge and fill applications to consider at this time and this would only be for discussion and no voting would occur.

Member Jay Stearns questi= oned the process and said that he was not familiar with this warrant article. It was explained that if this were= to become a state issue the Conservation Commission would only be in an adviso= ry position to either the state or the School Board. Mr. Stearns also asked if we, the Commission, were being asked for just the pros and cons or would we go one = step further and make a recommendation on whether we would support this warrant article or not.

Member Paul Dadak comment= ed on a prior site walk that had been done when this area qualified as a primary wetland. He said that the tow= n was in a long process to have that qualified and included public hearings with = DES, etc.

Member Shirley Wakefield = felt that it was important to look at the purpose on the use of that land and sa= id if it’s something really necessary, say for the good of the community, and then something should be done. Also, if it’s something that a developer wants to use then it becomes a totally difference issue where it would be for commercial use and= it would be for the developer’s betterment. She said that if the town votes to extend the school that would be a town vote. That if every possible way had been considered to make it happen, and then we would look at it differently.

Member Glennie Edwards sa= id that in her opinion she felt that support or non-support of this was far and abo= ve what the skills are of board members to make a recommendation one way or another. The only thing that = I can see is where the high water mark is she said. She also stated that she didn̵= 7;t feel it was the Commission’s responsibility to get another report, that the land doesn’t change and her comment would be no comment.

Mr. Gagnon said we, the Commission, did not have to have a vote on this prior to town vote/meeting. Member Jay Stea= rns made mention of Mark West who has done environmental studies for the town.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> He questioned if funds were availa= ble from the Conservation Commission should we need to get a more professional technical opinion. Mrs. Edwar= ds commented that she believed he had already made reports when the wetlands qualified for prime wetlands status and that she would be surprised if they school board didn’t already have a report on file. Mr. Gagnon said that the plan for = the use of the uplands by accessing from Willow Street was less intense and was not a signific= ant wetland crossing or a dredge and fill.&nbs= p; Mrs. Wakefield felt that the whole thing was premature, that it hadn’t been voted on yet and that we have nothing to say on what happ= ens one way or another. Mr. Gagno= n said that the island issue would be under the jurisdiction of DES and the Army C= orp of Engineering and that permits would not be issued.

REAPPOINTMENT OF STEWARSH= IP COMMITTEE: Deb Waters, current chairperson of the stewardship committee was expected to attend this evening but did not show.

OTHER: The Planning Board has requested t= hat the Conservation Commission assist them at a site walk on Saturday, Februar= y 25 at 8:30 a.m. at 35 Irene D= rive. Property owner/tax map: Andre Lemieux, 40/5-185-37.

MOTION to move to non-pub= lic session. (Jay Stearns/Paul Dadak)

VOTE: 6-0 to move to non-public session.=

MOTION to adjourn meeting (Shirley Wakefield/Jay Stearns)

VOTE: 6-0 to adjourn meeting.

Meeting adjourned at 8:10= .

&n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; Respectfu= lly submitted,

&n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; Glennie Edwards, Recording Secretary