Gravel Pit Subcommittee of the Select Board
Meeting Minutes
Tuesday, June 16, 2020
The Gravel Pit Subcommittee held its fourth meeting at the town offices, 705 Chesham Road, and via zoom.
Committee members present: Ryan Stone, Max Boyd, Mike Davidson, Wes Tarr, Kathy Scott, Scott Neary, Don Scott (consultant)
Members of the public: Constance Boyd, Erik Anderson
The meeting opened at 4:00 pm. Committee Chair Ryan Stone reiterated that the purpose of the meeting was committee review of the draft report to be submitted to the Select Board next week. This was a work session with no public comment.
Agenda
All voted in favor to approve the meeting agenda.
Previous meeting minutes of 6/2/2020
Kathy Scott requested clarification of the email submission from Lisa Anderson to Ryan Stone about perceived omissions in the minutes, particularly relating to buffers between the town pit and the Andersons’ property, and the O’Neil pit and the Harris Center property. Ms. Scott wished to point out that the buffer between the town gravel pit and the Anderson property is 10’ and that the encroachment into the buffer between the O’Neil pit and the Harris Center property was the result of a prior owner of the O’Neil pit. The committee also noted the boundary discrepancy was a result of the existence of two different surveys. A new and complete survey will be done by the town in conjunction with an application for an AOT permit. Following this discussion, the committee moved and voted in favor to approve the June 2 Meeting Minutes. As previously approved by the committee, the email from Ms. Anderson was included as an addendum.
Draft Committee Report
The committee then reviewed, section by section, the draft report prepared by Ryan Stone. Members discussed potential additions and edits to the Preface, the Summary of Uses, the General Conditions of Use, the Specific Conditions of Use, the Town-Specific Conditions, Future Uses, and Supporting Documents.
Except for a minor edit, all members were satisfied with the Preface. In the section titled Summary of Uses, members agreed it was specifically addressing Map 10 – Lot 31, the former O’Neil pit, as mandated by the Warrant Article, and that it would be up to the Select Board to decide if committee recommendations also should apply to the old town owned parcel. The committee subsequently agreed that they would advocate for this, and that some recommendations in the report would be relevant to both parcels. On the matter of whether or not the two parcels should be merged, Mr. Stone noted that the report is only advisory and, again, it would be up to the Select Board to determine whether or not to merge the lots.
On General Conditions of Use, Kathy Scott suggested that a reference be made in this section to the Emergency Use conditions more thoroughly outlined in a subsequent section. Members generally agreed. During further discussion, the committee addressed the fact that the AOT is not required unless or until the town decides to open additional areas for excavation.
Additional recommendations in the report under General Conditions of Use included the establishment of buffer zones, noise, dust and visual mitigation methods, recommendations for storage of materials and allowed access/egress.
Members then turned to Specific Conditions of Use, clarifying language and which supporting documents can be referenced. Mr. Stone will add a reference to 155-E. The consensus of the committee was to eliminate as unnecessary the line referring to activities exceeding five consecutive days.
On the section titled Town-Specific Conditions, which includes recommendations for reclamation timelines and areas of reclamation, the committee will recommend a 100’ buffer along the Jaquith Road boundary, a 50’ buffer along the length (490’) of the rail trail, and a 50’ buffer for the Anderson property.
While the draft report lists a number of possible Future Uses for the parcel, the committee will not recommend anything specific as it feels this is best left to future boards and citizens.
Mr. Stone noted that, given the size of the Supporting Documents section, he would provide the SB with a flash drive that includes the approximately 175 pages of material. The committee further noted it would add the M&W Soils Engineering Report under Legal/Technical documents as well as a map delineating the existing and new haul roads.
Members agreed with the content in the Closing Statement, and had no further revisions to recommend. Mr. Stone noted he would aim to have the final draft report to the committee for final review over the weekend prior to the public hearing. The goal is to make it available to the public several days in advance.
Members thanked Mr. Stone for all his work. The meeting adjourned at 6:15 pm.