 Okay. So I think, so we're live at this point, Erin. We should be live. Yep. Okay. So nobody from the public yet at this point. But today is August 12, 2020. This is the Amherst conservation commission meeting. And so just going down the agenda, first or comments from me, which are none. So that is quick. I believe that Dave is coming. So I assume he'll just be here in a few minutes. And he has some exciting news that I'm sure Erin's excited about. And so, but until he gets, oh. He's always right on the money. He is. So I guess for Dave to come, you have to say Dave's name. Hi, Dave. Hello. So we were just getting started and we were just mentioning that you were on the docket and you had some exciting news. Well, let me, yeah, let me hold on that. Hold on that exciting news. Maybe I'll, you know, build up the anticipation. Was it shared already? It was not. Oh, okay. Then let me give you a couple of quick reports here. And then we can turn it over to Erin. So yeah, just a couple of quick updates for the commission. We continue the town continues to staff buffers pond. Seven days a week. We're going to try to do that. Probably. Right through Labor Day. My hope is to maybe go through the 15th of September. We're utilizing staff from other departments that are underutilized during the COVID situation. We're using parking enforcement. And all indications, I mean, all the feedback I've gotten up there has been very positive. It provides a presence. The parking has been excellent. There's been no days as far as I know, where it's really gotten out of control this year. So there's a lot of reasons for that, but I think it's been a good experiment to have staff up there seven days a week. We continue to do the testing for E coli every Monday. We get the, we get the results back from the wastewater treatment plan on Tuesday. And then we decide based on those numbers, whether we need to post the pond for those swimming or not. We've been in kind of a run here now of about three weeks where the water. Level, the E coli levels have been well below. Recommended levels. So we're in kind of a good place. Typically what happens is after a big flashy rain, then the E coli level goes up when you get all that flushing, if you will, in the watershed. We did have a little bit of a little blip on the screen this week. We did get some reports of some blue, green algae up at the farm this week. We're in contact with the department of public health. There is a. What's it called a cyanobacteria, which is an aqua green bacteria that occurs in fact, Northampton has a couple of ponds that are closed because of it. So we're going to keep an eye on that. As I said, I've been in touch with the lead person for that particular bacteria at the, at the department of public health. And he's kind of guiding us through this. We may end up closing the pond. If that is. Determined to be a major factor up there. We're also now testing the fort river at Stanley street. This is the so-called jump bridge. At Wentworth farm conservation area. Unfortunately the levels of E coli in the fort river, given how low the, the, the river is. The concentration. And the lack of flushing, if you will, the watershed. Those levels have been above reportable levels for three to four weeks running down. So we're advising people on our website and out at the, out of jump bridge itself at Wentworth farm, not to swim there. While I'm there, I will compliment Brad and Tyler out in the field. If you've been to Wentworth farm lately, they did replace the railing. On the bridge there that we're getting quite old and worn and brittle. So jump bridge looks really nice. They didn't do anything other than the railings and the, the side rails and the safety rails, but it looks, it looks very nice. Yeah. Has anybody been out there? Yeah. Yeah. Good. And they figured a lot too, which is really, which was great. Trails in terms of trails. I think the, the, the word of the day right now is, is word of the day is really a storm damage from last week. I was away for a couple of days when that storm hit. But yeah, they will be clear. Yeah. We'll be cleaning up trails probably into October. Maybe beyond we're getting reports every day of trees down, major trees, small trees. So Brad and Tyler have really been out there almost like tiger teams. They have two summer staff working with them and chainsaws. And they've been doing a good job, but there's a lot of big Oaks, big maples that came down. And that's where they're going to be. And so in the end, they're going to be doing a good job. But there's a lot of big Oaks, big maples that came down in that storm we had. It was that last Monday or Tuesday. So they're doing more mowing. You know, they're, they're getting to places. We haven't mowed in a long time. I mentioned last time, Akon's flats, which I think looks really, really great. I will also say they mowed the trail in bluebird meadow. They're going to be mowing on the road, so they're going to pick them up. You know, they're going to be there to pick them up off of Southeast street. And just so happens, the signs, the famous, now famous signs from Carol Gray, are on the way. She's going to pick them up in New Jersey. So we're going to store them at the old Hitchcock center for a little bit. We'll take them out of their wrappings. We'll take a look. I want to make sure we. I would love to not pour concrete if we can help it. Let's put it that way. I think they'll be substantial enough. So they'll, they'll, they'll set fine, but I really don't want to pour concrete. That seems very permanent to me. And, you know, signs get vandalized, et cetera, et cetera. I'm not wishing that on the signs, but things do happen out there. Yeah, Dave, I assume that it was Carol who put up the signs for blue bear blue bird meadow trail. Um, you know, I think that was Brad. Yeah, I think Brad put those up. He was so proud to finally get that trail mode. I'd keep those up just temporarily. Yeah. Um, Hickory Ridge. I have no new, uh, substantial news on that purchase, but I will say all the indications are, I've been saying this for months, but they continue to be that we will buy Hickory Ridge this fall. So, um, stay tuned on that. But I, I think, um, October is probably realistic. Um, and then finally, um, some very good news. Um, so in the, in, in this year's budget starting July 1st, we were able to do some rearranging, um, of some of the funding that comes to the conservation department. And it's resulting in, I think three very important and positive things. So you may recall that Libby last used to work with us in conservation and through some creative, um, uh, approaches to staffing. And again, given COVID we know that there's no more funding coming to conservation, but we wanted to keep conservation whole. So what I decided to do in, in, in a, what I think is going to be a really strategic move for us is we are not going to fill Libby last is old position, the administrative assistant position. Uh, Aaron has picked up some of those responsibilities. And we thank Aaron and Stephanie and others for, for picking up some of that. And then, uh, Angela Mills up in the town manager's office will also help us. But what this allows us to do by not filling that position is redirect those funds and those hours. To other staff. So the real exciting news is that, uh, starting Monday, Aaron will be with us full-time. So. Now, uh, that is very exciting. Yeah. That's amazing. Yes. So she and I are full-time paid for your full-time job. Yes. That's the point. Very excited. Very excited. Before you get too excited. Uh, Before you get too excited. Before you get too excited. Uh, this is not a full-time job for wetlands. It is 20 hours a week in wetlands. And the other remaining hours, which are 17.5 for a 37 and a half hour a week, we'll be working closely with me, with Brad, with you all on conservation priorities. So this is really going to give us a huge boost. Uh, working on agricultural licenses. Land acquisition projects. I mean, Hickory Ridge is a great example. That is a massive project that I am going to need Aaron's help on. And we're going to need Aaron's help on, but this is going to allow us to look at, um, um, you know, encroachments on conservation land more closely, work on our land management plans. Um, I've got, I've got Aaron planned out for the next three. But, uh, we're really excited. She's done a lot of this work in other communities. So I think I share, uh, my excitement with Aaron. Aaron, uh, you and I have been talking about this for a while. And I think it's going to be a great move for you. And we're happy to have you on board full time. Nice. So much. I'm beyond ecstatic about it. I'm just so happy. That's awesome. Thank you. We'll, we'll manage. We'll manage this in such a way that we can. We'll manage this in such a way that we can. We'll manage this in such a way that when the wetland side of things, when there is a lot to do, we're not going to be counting hours when there's a lot to do in wetlands, that'll naturally, you know, peak up. And then when there's a little low, obviously Aaron may spend more than, you know, 17 and a half hours on other things, but that's just going to be, there'll be peaks and valleys throughout the throughout the year. Um, what this also allows me to do is it allows me to, um, bring on, uh, Tyler P's, uh, for an additional 10 hours out in the field. Tyler's position has been 30 hours a week and it'll now be 40. So that gives us even more. A land management focus. Yeah, that's nice. Cause don't you usually, it's like, usually, like every two years, you have to replace that position, right? So this is potentially, you can stay longer. We're hoping to really keep Tyler for long haul. And then lastly, the, the, the third part of this is that, um, in discussions with the town manager, uh, we've decided that, uh, Brad and Tyler are going to focus, uh, specifically on conservation land and conservation trails. Uh, now for many years, we've been splitting them with the watershed lands and it is absolutely impossible to get all of that work done. So, um, they're going to be spending their respective 40 hours a week on conservation land, conservation trails, working closely with Aaron, with me, with you. So these three things combined are really, I think going to afford us the opportunity to, to really work on that backlog of projects. And instead of being reactive, really be proactive and get out there in front and create those community gardens and get those agricultural licenses done, invite more community gardens on our land, and work with you all and myself on, um, plan management plans for all of our areas. So it's a real great opportunity. That's huge. Well done. That's really, really exciting. We're excited about it. So you'll see, yeah, that is great. And obviously people, you'll, and that you'll, the nice thing is you'll see results done on the land that everybody in town is going to notice and hopefully, you know, hopefully notice and be excited about. That's great. And I had shot bread and email earlier. And I think, you know, what's really kind of telling to me is in this COVID year, how many more hundreds, if not thousands of people are using our public land. And it's a wonderful thing, but it's also, uh, many people have kind of, um, Woken up and said, you know, people we never got out on the trails are now out there and they're giving us feedback. And frankly, not all of it is positive. They want, they want better bridges. They want, uh, clear trails. And that's, that's a wonderful thing. And frankly, I think people deserve it. So this is a way for us to, to provide them with some of those, you know, we want a world class conservation program and a world class, uh, trail system in Amherst. That's our goal. So we leave some with just log crossings and mud pits though, just a couple. You want to get dirty? Not a problem, but like, you know, you don't want to get too manicured here. I'm just kidding. Yeah, believe me. Bridges they build are too pretty. No, I am, I am not for manicured nor am I for opening up all of our areas. I think leaving some of them just as they are. And if you want to bush whack in some of these conservation areas, go for it. Um, there's ticks. There's poison ivy. There's stream crossings where we're not going to make it all safe. We're not going to make it all safe. You can't make nature safe and clean and, and neat and manicured. It's not our goal. So I'd like to hear it. Thank you. Erin, I don't know if you want to add anything. Before we, the commission moves on. Um, just, I am really excited to get started on Monday and, um, hopefully catch up a little bit on some of the backlog of stuff that I feel like I haven't been able to. Um, get to in the last few weeks because it's just been so incredibly busy. Um, and then really I'm just so excited to sink my teeth in and, um, you know, share the lessons I've learned from other communities and kind of adapt them to Amherst and what works for, for Amherst specifically and, um, um, I think that's something that I'm really excited about. I'm excited about mapping of land is something I'm really passionate about. So I'm just really excited to, to dig in and, and, um, with the commission's help and with Dave's help and with Tyler and Brad's help to put some stuff together. That's really going to show the residents of the town that we are all working really hard to, um, and, and a way that they can enjoy it, you know, so. Right. Yeah. Just for example, you know, all the down trees on the trails, you know, bring them to Ragnarwood and have them bellow up to make new bridges. Sorry. We have that. We have done that a couple of times. Um, we actually milled them. I can't remember. I think we milled them at Keats is on root nine, but Keats. I love that place. I love that place. I love that place. I love that place. And they're gone. I got a bunch of stuff from my house from them. So anyway, um, I think what I heard Aaron saying is the first week or two or three. Uh, I think we may be leaning toward the wetland side a little bit as you get caught up. But we'll get in a groove and, and it should be great. So thanks. Yes. Aaron, I'm all like my area of love and passion is all about the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the only way that you want to, like, I can help you. Um, holler. Yeah, absolutely. And you know, the, the kind of. Uh, Ebb and flow that I've noticed in other towns is wetlands work gets really intense spring, summer and starts to Peter out in the fall. And then in the fall, things get quiet in wetlands. And that's really. Excellent time to do some proactive. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So that's kind of what I see is being, and I think the timing couldn't be better in terms of the change in the budget so that I can make that shift and start to really, um, Take a look at stuff and start to get the ball rolling on the management end. So I think it's, it's going to really work out. Well, That's great. And yeah, impressive magic that you're working their data. So well done. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. For a long time, my responsibilities and you all know this as assistant to our manager have pulled me farther and farther away from, you know, my, my first love, which is, which is the conservation lands and managing those. So there's, there's something in this for me too, which is it gives me the opportunity to work with Aaron to work with, have her work with you work with me. Um, and we're going to have over 2000 acres of land that we have. So it's going to make me sleep a lot better at night. Knowing we're really focusing on these lands as we should. So. Excellent. Okay. Um, so Dave, do you have any other updates? I mean, there's certainly no bigger news I assume, but that was impressive. Nope. I think we're we're all set. It's just, uh, You'll see a lot of work going on out there. Brad and Tyler already focusing solely on conservation land. So that transition has already happened and we're seeing that already out there. They're very responsive to a lot of these calls that are coming in from residents. So why don't we use that as a segue to an issue with conservation land? And so, Erin, can you set us up with the complaint that we received for Harkness? Yes. Let me just make sure I've got the right screen up that I'm sharing. While you're doing that, Erin, I'll just, I will let you know that at your next meeting, there will be a proposal coming in for North Amherst from the Coles company. I've been talking to their outreach person and they would like to, they would like to work with us to set up a story trail at the Mill River Recreation Area. Essentially, these are, you know, small posts that are put up on the trail between Mill River Recreation Area and Buffers Bond. And they would have little slots for a storybook to be installed. So the idea is for children and families to walk through the woods, read a page from Story X and then go on to the next one. And you'd read a page or two from the story and then you keep walking and it takes you through the forest. And it might be any number of books. So we will, we'll find a slot on your next agenda for Hannah to come in and talk with you about that project. They have those at Silvio Conti, right? They do, but I don't find them well maintained there. No, they're not. That's my, in my head, I was like, okay, mental note, make them better than those. But yeah, same idea. So we have a complaint about conservation land. Yeah, for some reason, the photos are, are not opening. I think that they will come, come along as a, I think it's just going to take a second for them to open. While we're speaking of complaints, Aaron, did you have any photos of the, of the hot tub that was left on conservation land? Hot tub? I didn't even know about that. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Yeah. About a week or 10 days ago, somebody backed into. One of our conservation areas off of a near old farm road and they, they dumped an entire hot tub. Intact hot tub on one of our trails. So. Rad and Tyler were right on it. And within four or five days, we had it out into a, to a reputable. Hauler and off it went. So. Yeah. I'm not sure what's going on. Why it's not letting me open the photos. Is Harkness log town road? Is that the one? Harkness is a Harkness. Brooke is in Echo Hill. You might have to just describe it, Aaron. Yeah. So I have them open on my screen. Do you want me to share? Sure. That'd be great. Do I need to stop sharing first? Nope. I think I just stole it. Okay. So, but. What you're seeing on my screen. Yeah. So, so what you're seeing is sort of to your right, you can see Harkness, Brooke, the actual stream bed. And what's happening. And. Yeah. So. I have them open on my screen. Do you want me to share? Sure. That'd be great. The photos. That'd be great. Do I need to stop sharing first? Nope. I think I just stole it. Okay. Okay. So. And what's happening. And you know, I think that there's a lot of indicators out on this particular property that there's a lot of people that are looking for. Activities to do outside to stay busy, maybe. And this was, I guess, a family. That was out. And back behind. On this property. And. There's a lot of, you know, There's a lot of people on the side and making a little trail, makeshift trail with the cobbles from inside the stream bed. Laying some logs that were down across the stream to make little, like makeshift stream crossings. There's also some spots where people were like painting on rocks and putting them in the stream bed or next to the stream bed. And then an area adjacent to this where there was like almost a couple, like upside down buckets in a circle. There was some trash there. It looked like. Excuse me. Like people had, you know, been maybe sitting there having snacks and like there was a bunch of dead wood getting piled up as if they were preparing to have a little, a little bonfire or something out there. So we were contacted by a concerned resident in Echo Hill who'd been kind of witnessing this going on over a matter of a couple of weeks. I went out with him and we hung some signs and I have lovely, you know, examples to share with you for whatever reason there, they don't seem to be opening for me. I'll see if I can get them to open again. And so we posted some signs with some descriptions just. Oh, here we go. Let me see if I can. Share my screen again with you. That's not it. Sorry, this is, it's complicated because I'm going into my, I'm remoted into my work computer for this. So I don't know if you guys can see this, but I created some signage and laminated the signs, kind of tried to make them bright. And we hung two of the signs. We hung two with the resident. Just in case any of them get ripped, one of them gets ripped down, he can hang them back up. Just trying to deter people, I guess, and inform people that they're damaging the stream and damaging wildlife habitat potentially could cause storm damage in the future and that what the work that's going on there is in violation and that they could get in trouble for it. So just trying to kind of inform people, I guess that what they're doing is not okay. And we hung them in two conspicuous areas immediately adjacent to where this work is going on. The other thing I thought I should share with you. This was slightly more concerning to me. I mean, I know that that's not, it's not that it's not concerning, but there was an area right off the trail, a circular area where there had been these upside down black crosses painted on a circle of trees. And the gentlemen who took me out here said that they had put like a, I'm not even sure what it's called, like some kind of a star in the middle of the area, like a pentagram. Yeah, I mean, he said that this was done right after all of the, you know, rioting and stuff started and he didn't know if this was coincidental or if it was trying to send some kind of a message. Either way, it's really disconcerting to walk out in the woods and see this. So anyway, I wanted to share it with you. This is, up on top of the ridge away from where the other work was happening, but just kind of bizarre and not something I've ever seen before in conservation land. Erin, in terms of the signage, have you been back in touch with the residents who alerted you to it? Has there been any more work done or do you think the work has stopped? So I only went out and hung the signs with him this past, I think it was this past Wednesday and I haven't had a chance to check in with him since then, but I will probably follow up with him next week and just see if he's observed anything. So a couple of suggestions. I'm not sure if that was the only thing that was happening. I mean, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. A couple of suggestions. I'm not sure if that was the only sign you put up. But one thing I would do in the future is make sure you kind of have the town emblem, the town seal on the sign. Okay. And also leave some contact information for you if you didn't up there. So the sign should include, you know, the location of the town, the location of the town, the location of the town, the location of the town. So it's a little bit of a conservation commission, but I think giving people an opportunity, a phone number and an email to get in touch with you. If they have questions or follow up would be good. Okay. And then the other thing, I guess the question for the commission is, you know, is this the type of situation where we should. Be returning that stream. You know, I don't know, permitting some sort of a modest restoration, moving that material, those cobbles back to the stream bed. So I'll just put that out there. And that would be done by Brad and Tyler. I assume. Yeah, I mean, we would, we would do it under under your direction and with, with Aaron's guidance, but it might be that type of thing that, um, you know, I'm not sure what the staff do, you know, in the coming weeks or a month. Again, I'm not sure whether it would require, uh, Uh, a request or, you know, I, I want to make sure. We don't get too complicated here, but. Returning cobbles to the stream doesn't seem terribly complicated to me. Yeah. And just restoring something that was already there. So it's not a. It's not intended as an alteration. Was it an alteration? Aaron, do you have thoughts on that? You've been out there. I haven't. I mean, my first thought honestly is. To issue an enforcement order because enforcement orders, you can require restoration as part of that. It's just. Who do we issue it to where the landowner and, you know, it kind of sends a counterintuitive message to, you know, to the community. Um, I don't know what to do to everybody because it's not like the town committed a violation. So. But I feel like at the same time it is a violation and it should be restored. Um, so. I don't know. I mean, the, another option is we could file an RDA for it. Um, I just feel like it's. Restoration work that was done in violation. I don't know if that makes sense to me, but I don't know what other thoughts are on that. Can we just go in and. Put the stones back. You know, I mean. I saw there was like a little pit dug and I don't know. I haven't been out there, but. I like the idea of putting a sign up and then putting a phone number. That's probably true. Cause maybe the people that did it might actually come forward. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know anything on them. So. Right. When the stones back and then. And not worrying too much about it and just let nature take its course. Literally when the water starts coming back down. Yeah, I'm guessing it was like a family who has, you know, two 10 year olds and is losing their mind and needed something to do. I think that for me, it's more about like, let's get it back, put up a sign. Okay. I'm just going to go from there. The only thing that I will, those painted rocks. Or me to no end. So just need to take those out. Before we let everything go back to it. Unless it's better to keep them in, I could be wrong, but from everything I've read about those projects, it's better to take them out. Yeah, we just want to make sure that we're doing, we're not doing any more harm by restoring somehow. So I can't see how that would be. So if, if it's the commission's, you know. If it's the commission's direction, I think we'd be happy to kind of slot that work into the fall work plan and try to get something in, you know, before the fall rains and in all likelihood, you know, the stream is going to do its thing in the fall and create new water courses and move things around. And obviously we're not going to put things back in piles and try to spread things out as, as naturally as you can. Yeah, I think that's a good idea. Yeah. Um, I don't think that's a good thing to do because I don't think we can issue a correspondence of some sort. Like who are we issuing that to Aaron? I don't. Well, just maybe a. A statement from the conser, a public statement to the, from the public conservation commission that states this work was done, unbeknownst to the town and conservation commission. I think that's fine. I think that's fine. Yeah. And I mean, this is also a pretty small thing that happened out there. I mean, if it was a larger alteration, I think it would be a different case. And, you know, thinking about what we would do if this was on, let's say private land. I think we'd probably just have a conversation with them. I don't think it's reached the level of enforcement. Okay. If it was a bigger alteration, I would go for enforcement. Even on our own lands. Okay. Let's just go for it. I would go for enforcement even on our own lands, but it doesn't feel like it will reach that threshold. At least. I will also say, and this is a little different because they took the rocks out of the stream, but we have dams all over town in the Fort River, the mill river and the tributaries that people put up during the summer to hold back flow for swimming areas. I mean, even jump Rook as one. And so it does happen. Yeah. Oh, sorry. I noticed it in the Fort River out at grove park. Somebody had done that as well. Put up a little stone dam in the river. One thing that's coming to mind is if it is a pattern and maybe we just don't know, or maybe this means it's not that this is the first one, but if it is a pattern at some point, it might be worth drafting some little sort of. Articles too strong a word, but some little thing that we put in some of the papers that we put in, the conservation commission is so excited that you're using our land. Like, please, this is a resource for you. Here's how to use it respectfully. And we put it in, you know, the Gazette and the indie and like just kind of one, get it out there of like, Hey, we really excited that this is an opportunity for you to use our, to use conservation land, keep your distance, pick up after your dog and don't move stuff. Yeah, don't touch anything. Right. Don't touch it. Yeah. Yeah. There's a way to harness the energy that they have. And so, you know, moving stones, not a great thing, but maybe there's trail work or something else that, you know, those, can do. Yeah. Pull invasive, pull poison Ivy, you know, let's do that. Yeah. I was out at Port River or aim with this book this morning. And I noticed that I'm one of the upper bridges, pedestrian bridge, somebody had put a sign that's like, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service, like small stone dams can be barriers for fish, like please don't build dams in the river. And I feel like I should tell you that those little stone dams don't really impact the fish. In fact, at low flow, it creates refugia for them. So, I mean, I, I would definitely be on the end of like a, a, a, not a super active approach to like removal of anything like that. Like, yeah. Part of my job is to put logs in the brooks. I know, right? Like that. Is really important for the fish. So I feel like a lot of resources spent on this, maybe. Yeah, we should spend them elsewhere. I think signage is the, and people's contact is a good idea. Yeah. This is probably a couple of hours of work, I think, just to put it all back. Okay. Sounds good. Okay. So Aaron, do you have enough direction on this one from us? Yes. Yeah, I think so. Cool. Okay. So we do have a couple of people who joined us from the public at this point. And so we're moving into the piece on to Fino. But I apologize to people from the public if you are here for this one, because to Fino is going to be continued. But before we actually do the continuation. Aaron, do you wanted us to talk about a couple of things? Well, I just wanted to, I guess, reiterate that this is something I get contacted about probably three to five times a week in terms of other departments or members of the public reaching out, asking questions on the status. And I think there's a lot of fatigue going on in the neighborhood amongst a butters of what the status is. And there's just frustration that. They're not being responsive to what the commission's asking for. And that one of the suggestions was that the commission set a deadline for the requested information. And I know we had discussed that. And that was something I was supposed to talk to Ted Parker about. I did reach out to him and leave him a message, but we were not able to connect to, to discuss either where he stands on his revisions or on, on the additional information requested or, you know, his thoughts on the deadline. I did spend some time over the last couple of weeks getting him some large scale plans. I worked with Beth Wilson to track down the large scale plans for him from the original approved plan because he was interested in those for the restoration area, just because he's doing some follow up work to make sure the restoration area was completed. But, um, but yeah, I just, I feel a little at a, at an impasse with it because I keep being asked, particularly, you know, Chris Brest, the town, the planning, I guess, planning director or town planner. She, she keeps inquiring because they're at an impasse on their end as well. And I think something needs to happen in the conservation arena in order for them to move forward. Yeah, but I mean, yeah, so we're at an impasse. I guess everybody's at an impasse because yeah, they need to come back with additional information. They need to respond to our last set of queries. Um, and this has been going on for a long time at this time. I don't remember. Yeah. It was October. I remember it was one of the first applications I got when I started. And as a, maybe in a side note, maybe to put in the parking lot, this is the second time, I guess, this fiscal year that we've had the situation where an applicant is going bouncing back and forth between the planning board and the concom. Um, and I'm thinking of the Southeast street. I forget what the technical, what the actual name of it was, but the one behind. Um, Florence savings bank. Yeah. Um, seems like this happened and I'm not, I'm confused. They like wait for one of us to give. And then they go to the other one. Well, there's actually a lawsuit with the planning board. Um, because they've refused to release lots as building lots because of the condition of the road. Um, and so the planning board's really interested in knowing if these lots are going to move forward. And so the planning board's really interested in knowing if these lots are going to be approved for development, because there may be some link between development of these lots and completion of the road, or if the lots aren't developed, then the road might not get completed. Kind of there might be correlations there. So I think that's what the concern is. Um, I don't think so ordinarily, a lot of commissions are very strict about actually hearing from an applicant before issuing a continuation. Some boards, if they hear nothing from an applicant, we'll literally just say we're closing the public hearing. If this applicant wants to come back, they have to repost and re-notify a butters and start all over again. I'm not suggesting that we do that, but I do think that a. Um, a note to Ted's dating that we need an update on where things stand and that we'd like to, you know, get, get this, get these orders resolved fairly promptly might be. Prudent. Yeah, at least put it out there that yeah, we might have to cancel at some point. I mean, I think it's, yeah, unfair to the board. It's also very unfair to all the people from the public who've been trying to keep a prized of this. Um, and. Yeah. Um, I mean, especially if he's not getting back to you Aaron with sort of general. Yeah. With your inquiries. And so yeah, I do see that there's somebody from the public with a comment. And so we'll go around the commission for a minute and then, we definitely will give you a chance to add your comments. So Brett, can you bring that up? Can we, can we cancel this? Do you say cancel the application? Cancel isn't really the right word. Aaron, do you want to walk? Yeah. So the board could just say take no action at all. The board could say we're not continuing. Um, in order for this to be an active hearing, um, a legal hearing, we have to continue to a date and time certain. So we would actually have to continue to the next upcoming meeting or another upcoming meeting with the time and date. If we, um, just didn't do that, they would have to start over. Um, so it's really at your discretion. Um, I think that in this case it's, it's a number of applications and, um, In fairness to the applicant, I wouldn't, I wouldn't necessarily recommend that we do that, but I do think that it is fair to ask for when can we expect this information and maybe say we'd like it by X date. I think is very reasonable. And I think how it's been going at this time, I think it's also reasonable to have him on our next call to at least explain where they're at. And then we can talk through this and set up, set a deadline at that point. Okay. Erin, if you'd like, why don't you and I try to call Ted next week? Um, I, I, I do. Have pretty good luck reaching Ted. So why don't you and I connect. And let's, let's get some answers here. Okay. That sounds great. Any other comments or questions from the commission? Okay. So, uh, Rebecca, at this point, you should be able to speak. Hi, can you hear us? Yes. Uh, it's Mark and Rebecca Schneider. We're, we're two of the butters. Um, and we've been, uh, at your meetings now for about a year, every single one we, uh, It's must see TV for us every couple of weeks. Um, and so we are, um, um, I'm glad that you guys are bringing up these questions that are on the screen, because the truth of the matter is. As it gets continued and continued, I think there have been some confusions around the real issues here that, um, we learned the last time that the developer was on a call. That there was really no way he admitted to being able to construct anything on these lots. Um, and we're also keeping to the rules of staying away from, uh, a wetland. Um, so I know he's asking for an exemption and, and the truth of the matter is it shouldn't be conflated with the issue of. He has also gone ahead and sued the entire development, all of our neighbors in order to pay for the road that needs to be finished that he never finished. Um, and I think that's, um, sort of an amazing, um, number of variables all coming together that, that he has sort of created. We are very concerned about this commission. Allowing for exemptions. Having anything to do with the fact that then he then promises to finish the roads like he was supposed to. He's worried that these lots will not be able to be developed on. And it just gets very confusing. The truth of the matter is these lots shouldn't be developed on in our opinion, because he can't fit them in while still maintaining the distance to a wetland. That's really the only issue. Uh, that I think that we should be considering the fact that we've then been sued to finish, to then to become developers and finish a road that we had no, no stake in is a separate matter. Um, so going back and forth between different commissions is a strategy that the developer is taking in order to confuse matters. And I just want us to bring, bring this back to, uh, the issue at hand. And, and if we can, you know, as much as we love you guys and we feel like we've come to know you very well over the year, uh, the truth is it would be nice to take a little bit of a break from this commission. Um, If we can set a date, not every two weeks and hope that it gets canceled. If we can take a little bit of a summer break from all of you with no offense, but it would be nice. Um, and, uh, you know, I really appreciate the work that you're all doing, but I did want to sort of say some of that stuff. And I apologize for being long-winded. Yeah. Thank you, Mark. And yeah, no, we fully appreciate that this is not how you want to be spending your every other Wednesday. Um, and yeah, those issues about the roads, those are issues. That's not our concern. I mean, our concerns are about the wetlands. And so that is always going to be first and forefront on our minds. Um, it gets a little bit complicated. Um, and, you know, we're going to get through all of the complicated issues, but the road is sort of a non-starter as far as I can tell with us. Yeah. We do tend to go back and forth with planning and just because they need both of our approvals. But again, we have our mandates and we will stick to those mandates. Um, yeah. And I feel like we're getting dragged along just like you are. And we would like some closure on this. And so that, and fortunately we are going to say, I think we're going to probably lean towards meeting with him in two weeks. Um, but, you know, that's going to be more to get a status update and figure out how we move this forward and bring closure. So is that all I can say, Mark, but thank you for the comments. And so. Could I just say something too, just as a kind of to bring it back is that the, I think the commission is wanting to do what's right, but also recognizing that this could, what we need legal guidance from our town council, which we have sought out. Um, but town council has indicated that they need additional information in order to properly guide us into the decision making process. So, um, As this is a very complex. Issue and project. And we want to make sure that we proceed in such a way that we're not only doing the right thing, but, um, not setting, setting up for a lot of litigation that in the end might result in wetland damage. We want to do. We want to make sure that we have the, the absolute best thing we can, um, for this. So just to put that out there. Yeah. Okay. So Mark or Rebecca, do you have anything else you wanted to add? No. No, okay. Thank you. Okay. So, um, at this point. Yeah. So we have a back in front of us. Um, I don't know if anybody else has any other comments, but I think at this point. Um, you know, I'm leaning towards continuation for two weeks with a requirement that the applicant come before us in two weeks. Um, if he's not here, I'd say we do not continue. Um, but you know, I think that he should be here in two weeks and we can talk about a path forward at that time. And so I'd like to know what status. His status is what his timeline is. Um, That basic information. And so does somebody else have a better idea or a different idea? Okay. So I guess we're looking for a motion at this point then. If I could just recommend, um, August 26th at seven 45 PM. As a continuation time. I moved to continue. Oh, I just forgot. You said it like two seconds ago. I'm literally correct. To August 26th at seven 45 PM. Correct. Yep. No one's going to second. Thank you. Okay. So, uh, we still need to do voice votes. So Jen. Hi. Letcher. Hi. Hi. Anna. Hi. And me. Hi. So, um, we are continuing all of the topinos until said date. So. Yeah. And Rebecca and Margaret may be elses on. Yeah. Please get in touch with Aaron. Again, we are going to talk about this next time. We will. I'm, I wish I could say we're going to have closure. At least we're going to have a path forward at that point. Yeah. And I don't know, maybe he will also come back with additional information. So it could be a more substantive call as well. But Aaron will know beforehand if additional information is being submitted. Okay. So thank you. Um, so why don't we move on to our seven 35. We, yeah, we're fine with that. Um, so this is a request for determination. For a new well. Um, and so I'll have my cheat sheet up here somewhere. Where to go. Okay. This meeting is being held as required by provisions chapter 131, section 40 of the general laws of the Commonwealth and act relative to the protections of wetlands as most recently amended. And so for those people who are here to talk about this, if you can raise your hand and we will make you a panelist. So I'm assuming that's why you are here, Beth. Yeah. Welcome back to Beth. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So, I'm glad you are here, Beth. Welcome back to Beth. I don't know if anybody else, if anybody else is here, just use that little raise hand feature. Okay. So if not, um, Beth welcome back. And Beth, if you would like to introduce us to the project and I'll give us a little background, please. And at this point, Beth, you are muted. Oh, no, you're good now. We cannot see you, but we can hear you. Oh, all right. Here, wait, let's do this. Hey. Now we can see you. Hey, Beth. Hello. You're on the other side of the table. I can see you guys are still having lots of fun. Okay. Yeah, this, this is an RDA for the installation of a replacement. Drinking water well for the town of Amherst. Amherst has five groundwater source drinking water wells. This is well, number four. It's located off of Southeast street in Lawrence swamp. It's not far away, but it's not far away. It's not far out that way, but it's past baby carriage water treatment plant. The way is out. Anyway, so this well has been well, the original one number four has been losing pumping capacity for a while. Back in 2013. It was pumping at 31.4 gallons per minute per foot. So back in 2019, they had it cleaned and redeveloped, but it didn't make much of a difference. It increased it a little bit, but I think it was still at about seven gallons per minute per foot. So after talking with DEP, the water department and consultant on the water department decided the best thing to do with the NDP decided that the best thing to do would be to put in a replacement well. And so, yeah, so I know it's showing right there. The red dot is where the replacement well for is going to go. It's about 40 feet south of the existing well number four, which is inside that well house. It's going to be about 55 feet from the wetland boundary. It's going to be 168 feet deep. The upper casing is going to be 24 inches. So that's what in the end, you'll see above ground about a three foot tall casing. That's 24 inch diameter. Tapering down to an 18 inch diameter as it goes down into the ground. What else do we want to know about it? So right now there's a test well at the location at this location. We were required by DEP to put in a test well. I think Aaron has some pictures of that. That's a 12 inch casing on the ground. And that, yep. So there you can see the location of the test well. And that's where the new replacement well is going to go also. The same drilling company that did the test well is going to do the final replacement well. It's called Mahar drilling. I think they're from air of Massachusetts. So to drill the new well, they basically back the drill rig up right here. You can see the picture. They'll back up to where that location is. There's going to be erosion control along the 30 foot line, even actually closer. It's going to start. You look at the, do we bring up the site plan? There's another one. There we go. So you can see on there, there's the, um, there's a wetland line. There's a 30 foot, a 50 foot and a hundred foot. Um, So erosion control is going to come along the 30 foot. So it sort of starts right at the bottom right corner of the existing well house building. Comes to the south and then it'll actually come even closer to the bottom right corner of the building. So it's going to come along the limit of work. And it's going to be a soap fence with, uh, with a bales. And so the drilling process will, uh, produce cuttings and, and they're going to use water during the drilling process. A lot of the water goes into the drill hole and it doesn't come back out, but there will be some, um, I'll definitely be drilling cuttings, which when we did the test, we were going to drill it down to about 75 feet, I think. Um, and just like with the test, well, on the works all done, the cuttings get taken off site. So the area will really get restored back to what it is right now, which is sort of like a gravel pad right there. Um, and then, and so once the well is drilled, there's going to be a pump test. Um, but then after that, there's a little more additional work. There's, there's going to be some water lines put in. So just some trenching. Um, I'll be trenching. Going to the West from the new well. And then you can see there's a line that's going to come off to the North, which is going to be a sample line, the first one. And then there's going to be a hydrant put in. And then just connection to the water main. There's a 12 inch, I think it is water, water main that goes down the access road to take the water out to the treatment plant. Um, what else can I tell you? So the 48 hour pump test. Um, we needed to put in a sedimentation basin and it had to be 400 feet from the existing one number four. So during that pump test, the water is going to be pumped down the road through a pipe to a sedimentation basin, which will be built. The generally company will build it out of sort of concrete blocks within a plastic liner. Um, and it'll, it's there to collect sediment, but the water that's coming up is, um, it's all groundwater. It's not going to have a lot of sediment in it. Um, but they do need to pump for 48 hours to test the pumping capacity. And it's, you know, it's a significant amount of water, but there's really, it's going to be relatively clean water. Um, and we chose that area because it's, it's, it's no wetlands nearby at all. Um, and as, as the sedimentation basin filled with water, there will be a, um, a discharge pipe coming out and over time they may alter where that discharge pipe outfalls over the 48 hours so that the water doesn't start to erode anything. But, um, I walked the whole area around there. And there's, there's, there were no wetlands within 100 to 200 feet of that sedimentation basin. Um, what else can I tell you if there is natural heritage, um, a portion of the work site. And so the RDA was sent to natural heritage and we have a letter coming back that I think you did. There's a copy of it with the RDA where there was, um, they considered it no impact. And I think that's about all I have. Yeah. That kind of tells the story. Do you have questions? Okay. Thank you, Beth. And so Aaron, do you have any more pictures or? Yes. Um, so this is the. Wetland that's immediately to the West, I believe of, um, where the site work is. Sorry for some reason, all my photos got rotated. Um, this is the wetland to the North, I believe of where the site work is. This is pretty significant distance away from where the work is, um, but we just walked the flagged wetland line. And this is the other end of that line. There's a flag there. And then this is the, a photo of where the, um, the basin that, um, Beth was describing would be located. The цis road in an upland area. It is more. Um, one question I had was, Beth, do you know the, um, I did send the, a butter notification, um, labels to. The consultant that you guys had. I just didn't know if the return receipt cards had come through or. Um, Tayden Howard emailed me one today. I can send it to you. Oh, perfect. Thank you. I can't remember how many where there were, but she she said it there was at least one so I can send you that maybe there was a couple others. Great. Hey Brett, I've got a couple of questions for Beth. Okay time. Hi Beth. Couple of questions looking at the site plan number one is there going to be a new building built around the new well. No, no, there's not. You'll just see the metal casing similar to the picture of that 12 inch one but it'll be twice as big. No. And so everything will be underground so the the existing well. What happens to the existing well does it stay open or or you just leave that building there and there's a connection between the new well and the old well. Yeah, we're going to have to talk with TP about, we're going to keep both of them. The old well is going to be sort of an emergency well, and they actually can't run at the same time just because they're considered for two sources. So that's why this one has its own connection to the main. So mostly the replacement well is going to get run, but then what folks at the water department have said is that they will run the old one every now and then just to kind of keep it. Keep it active, but it's really just going to be an emergency well. Right. I guess my last question would be regarding natural heritage I know they signed off on this but did you find out what species I guess my line of inquiry is really around wood turtles. And I know we've had wood turtles nesting on the access road to well number four before right. Yeah. So, can can DPW can you commit to some sort of a sweep I'm just thinking of the well, you know the well trucks and any other DPW trucks I mean, somebody could easily just essentially run over a wood turtle, you know, out and about in this area. When you do the work. I know that's definitely something that that we can do. You know we can, the day that the drillers are going to come out, especially with the big drill rig. We can sort of be in front of them and do like a do a road sweep of the road. The drill rig would stay in place the whole time. You know they would be coming back and forth with pickup trucks. I mean, I think if the commission is comfortable I presume it's something you could do and you know it might be kind of doing it in the morning because you know the drill the folks get there whether it's DPW staff or construction staff or you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, in the morning at seven in the morning and you know, with Turtle X is you know, you know, just popped out of the woods and and somebody backs over, you know, a 40 year old turtle or something female or whatever. So, anyway, I just think it would be kind of a nice addition to this plan if the commission agrees. Any comments or questions? That's it for me. Thanks. How about other commissioners any comments or questions. Beth, could you just describe to me again the sedimentation basin so that gets pumped for 48 hours. So it's just catching sediment and then that all that wire is just being discharged down through the woods. Yeah, right. And then what they do with the sediment. That'll go off site along with all the cutting from the drilling. Yeah. Okay. And you feel that's a pretty good site. You said it's away from all the wetlands and stuff like that. So that's Yeah, no, I think it's a perfect, it's a good spot for it. Cool. Discharge pipe off of it is going to probably be 25 feet so it would Go into the woods there and like I said, I've heard them, we've been talking about that they would sort of move it during those 48 hours so that it doesn't really erode one area or just sort of completely pond one area. They'll move it and they'll be somebody on site of course the entire 48 hours because they have to monitor the water level in the replacement well as it's being pumped. Right. And then, I'm sorry if you're very said this but the, the new well location will that be another gravel pad, or is the gravel pad already existing. It's already existing. It is okay. No more. Yeah, gotcha. Okay. Yeah, I don't see any clearing any additional clearing. I mean obviously there will be some additional disturbance, but that's going to be pretty minimal so it doesn't seem like too big of a deal to me. So other commissioners. Yeah, so if, if the current well only produces seven gallons per minute. I think the replacement well will be more. I mean, do we have evidence that the current well is clogged like the casing is jammed up or like, why do we think moving it over just a little bit is going to produce a better well. Yeah, no, what they think happened with the existing well number four is just after the screen, but crunched a bit. So when they've gone in, you know, they did in 2019, they tried to redevelop it and I think even 2015 or something had worked on it, you know, they really make efforts to clean and redevelop the wells. And in 2019, after doing all that, and everything was still so low and when they redevelop and they put this camera thing down, they can tell it's rubbing on the on the screen for the screen that scrunched and so it's just not pulling And the test well, that's why we had to put the test well in the one that's there, the 12 inch one. We did a test on that too. And it did well. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, because my next question was going to be are there any like, so the aquifer test or like the pumping test is 48 hours if you're getting too much drawdown like if it seems like the well isn't going to perform are there measures to make sure, you know to like, correct. Oh, sure. If it doesn't pass the pump test, then if they all then we would have to start all over and try to find another location. We're really helpful just because the test well did so well. But yeah, that's why I said that's why PEP requires a full 48 hour contact. Hopefully it'll pass and be good. Fingers crossed fingers crossed. So anything else Jenner. Thanks. Any other commissioner. Is there anybody from the public who has a comment on this one you could just use the raise hand figure feature. Okay. So I'm not hearing anything so I think we're ready for a motion. So there are a couple of additional conditions that were raised and but I think besides that it's gone. Overall what I'm hearing is a negative determination. So Aaron, can you just rehash real quickly the conditions. Sure. So I heard a recommendation for road sweeps prior to the start of work for wood turtles and I just wanted to clarify wasn't sure if that meant daily road sweeps or if just prior to the drill rig entering the site. I would argue for daily. Okay. So I'm not sure what can kill a wind turtle just as quickly as a big truck. Okay. Relocating the discharge pipe for the sediment basin periodically to prevent scour spoils or cuttings from the drilling shall be removed off site and the site will be restored to its current condition. Yep, that sounds good and I think yeah parts of that were already part of the application so I think we're good. So, this is just a straight up negative or is there a special number here. I don't have the number right in front of me but it would be a negative determination work in the buffer zone with conditions and then a positive determination under the well under the local well and spy law. It's a three. Okay. Thank you. So, looking for a motion at this point. I'll make a motion that's that the well, well number four replacement would be a negative determination number three with conditions and a positive determination under the local wetlands bylaw. Thank you so looking for a vote at this point and so on your top of the list right now. Hi, lecture. Hi. The screen just got rearranged. Jen. Hi, sorry. LaRoy. So and I. So I think I got everyone there. So. Okay, so I think we're good with that that then. Obviously you and Aaron will be in touch. Thank you very much. Thanks, Beth. Good seeing you. Have a good one. Thank you all there. Just hit it a bunch of times. Okay, so moving on to our 740 agenda item. And this is cold. Another request for determination. So this meeting is being held is required by provisions to chapter 131. This meeting is being held is required by the provisions to chapter 131 section 40 of the general laws of the Commonwealth and act relative to the protection of wetlands as most recently amended in the town of Amherst wetlands protection bylaw. This is for 97 Holst Hill Road and this is being presented by cold spring environmental on behalf of Kim De Shields. So if you are here as part of this, if you can raise your hand and I see you, Alan. Before we take testimony, I just wanted to state for the record that I spoke with Larry Miller who was mailing the a butter notices and he did not get them out in time for this hearing. So I just wanted to say thank you to the board for that. I think it went out on Friday. This was a last minute filing after the fact based on an emergency certification was issued. So my recommendation to the board would be to, um, to continue to the next meeting, uh, to allow a butters to have comment. Okay. That makes sense. Okay. So we're good with that. But should we take opening remarks from the applicant at this point, or should we, can we wait until next time? So I would say maybe pertaining to the emergency certification we could if you guys want to entertain ratification of the emergency certification, I would definitely support that. But as far as considering the determination, the request for determination, I would definitely hold off until a butters have been notified for that. That sounds good to make sense. And so Alan, um, do you want to give us, do you want to introduce yourself, introduce the project and give us a little background? Greetings. Yes. Sorry, I'm a little dark here, but I took a seat and things were nice and light and he kept going and going. And here we are now and a wonderful. So can you hear me okay. You are good. Okay, great. So yeah, this is a simple septic system repair on 97 Holst Road. And, you know, we did seek emergency certification because of the need to move forward with the fact that the old system was in failure and Ed Smith and I from inspection services were in agreement. And I think Aaron was too that the, you know, this had to be dealt with sooner rather than later. So given that we asked for, we were working on RDA and then as for emergency cert also, I wished I had known this is the first I heard that he didn't get them out in time. I guess it happens. My understanding was they were supposed to be up Friday, but that's not you know there if it's not in time it's not time. And, you know, the work has begun in the last 24 to 48 hours so fences up. I know and visited the site. We basically have a snort sloping property on the south side of Holst Road, and it is there's only one place we can really get the septic in there. Oh, thank you for the photos. And that is the excavator basically sitting right. The leech field would be between the house and the excavator and where you're looking at right there. And no closer to the road, the wetland is to the left of that photo beyond the trees and that's just a 50 feet. And that's why we're asking for an RDA effectively negative when that comes to task. For the work only at any rate, getting back to this instruction. It is in excess of 50 feet in compliance with title five, but it does certainly trigger your local bylaw and it does certainly trigger an RDA for the work to be approved. In addition to the emergency cert for the work to be done within 30 days. There is a small BBW intermittent stream starting there as well to the left or to the east as we were to where that excavator was sitting. And that's really what we're talking about. There's also a small culvert on the west side. But that goes under the road and I think we just lost Alan. So I could just jump in and say that Leroy and I walked the site today and there was erosion controls up around the work area. There was a filter fabric and also a erosion control sock there. There was very little in terms of tracking on the roadway. So they were keeping the site pretty clean, which was nice. And I would just recommend that the board ratify the enforce or excuse me the emergency certification that was issued so that the work is approved by you and then we could review the after the fact RDA at the next meeting. Yeah, Alan's not back on yet. But so does any other any commissioners have any comments or questions? I think that's a reasonable approach. We have one person from the public still on here somebody who's calling in. So I'm not quite sure how they can, I don't think they can raise their hand or what they can do. Okay. Can we, do we need to deal with, I think we need to deal with the RDA first continue that and then ratify, Aaron? Sure. Yeah, that would be fine. Okay. And so for the continuation date and time I would recommend August 26th at 8pm. Looking for continuation motion. I move to continue this RDA to August 22nd at 8pm. Second. Okay, so going around the horn, Jen? Hi. Fletcher? Hi. Anna? Hi. LaRoy? Hi. And I for me as well. Okay, so we're good on that and then the next piece we have is to ratify the emergency search. So looking for a separate motion. Motion for that one. I move to ratify the emergency search. Do I need to go more than that or? It's for 97 Holst Road, but besides that we are good. Second. Okay, so going for a vote, Jen? Hi. Fletcher? Hi. LaRoy? Hi. Anna? Hi. And I for myself as well. So, okay, so I think we are all set with this one. Anything else you need from this? Need from us on this one, Erin? No. Okay, so those are all of our official agenda items, but now there's the other stuff. So the emergency search we dealt with. So. Do you just want to go down the list that is on the agenda, Erin? If it's okay, I'll just jump into my report and I'll kind of burn through it as quickly as possible. Just to let everybody know I did issue determination for 227 Pomroy, the order of resource area delineation for Sheetsbury Road. 152 Logtown Road. That's the, the permit that was floating around for signature. I think it was with Larry. Okay. Does anybody know the status of that? Okay. I'll have the bug Larry and find out what's going on with it. I really need it back. It's a long past due to issue, but I'll follow up with Larry on that. So just to give you guys in a couple, a couple of meaningful updates. The first is I, the building department put me in touch with a, who needs to file an RDA for a shed that's over 50 feet from a wetland. So they're actually exempt under the wetland protection act, but they are jurisdictional under our local bylaw. So I'm working with the owner to file an RDA, a local jurisdictional RDA for that shed, but they, they had ordered the shed and asked to have it delivered, ordered it and arranged to have it delivered before they knew they needed a permit. So it may be slightly after the fact, but I've spoken with him about mitigation and I'm going to be meeting with him on Tuesday to help him through the permitting process. So. I also got a land use request for. The use of conservation land. And I wanted to. I'm sorry, I somehow lost my place here. I wanted to run that by you guys. And actually Dave as well, as long as he's on the call, this is. Basically a. Individual who would like to do an outdoor learning program for children. So I'm going to be talking to him on conservation land. And this is basically, I think in response to a lot of the childcare dilemma that's going on right now with children not being able to. Be around other children and in a. Classroom environment. And so she's looking to do something. She's looking to do something. And so I'm going to be talking to him on that. So I'm going to be talking to him as a second to read this. I received it fairly recently. You're on view, Dave. So she had specifically referenced the Hitchcock center as being. A possible site. She was interested in. Yeah, this is the first time seeing of this. So I. My preference would be to kind of take it under advisement and. Come back with a recommendation at your next meeting. Okay. Thank you. This came from Brad. I apologize, Dave. I thought you were copied on it, but I think that's good. If you haven't seen this yet. I might have been copied, but to be honest, the volume of emails right now. Yeah. Understandable for me is I'm kind of putting this in the context of what is the town allowing. At recreation areas through LSSE. The town as a whole has decided. Not to do outdoor camps. Not even, I don't think we're doing anything, even with small groups. So. I don't know. I'd like. I'd like to think through this a little bit and, and, and have some sort of a recommendation at your next meeting. Okay. I'm not trying to put this person off, but. Yeah. I'm not trying to put this person off. I'm not trying to put this person off. But it is, you know, the. There is also, I understand they have a liability insurance, but the minute this is sanctioned by the commission, by the department. We own some of the liability for what happens in this. In this. Outdoor learning. So. I'm also wondering whether. Do we wait and gather more information on COVID? And this is a possibility in the spring of 2021. So those are just my initial thoughts, having not seen this until a couple of minutes ago. I understand it's outside and outside is, is preferable to inside. I get that. Yeah. And we want to try to encourage, obviously, we want to try to encourage. And, you know, more exploration outside and, and, um, creative learning and nature study. But. Anyway. This seems similar or it's ringing a bell for me with what happened recently up at Chesterfield Gorge. Um, where there was a summer camp and like, they were out at the Gorge using the space. Um, and they. You know, they didn't want groups assembling there because of the town's current restrictions. Sorry. There's the dog on gatherings. And so yeah, I, I agreed to take a little bit more time and look into what it means because I, I don't know. I mean, I think because they asked us now, we, we really have to do that kind of due diligence around it. Um, I mean, I mean, I think this has the, has this been sent to the entire commission and if not, could you send it to everybody and copy me and then you and I can talk about it between now and the next meeting and. Do a little more discussion next week when I see you. That sounds great. Do that. Yeah. I mean, a couple of other questions that I have. I don't know if she talked or this person, if they talked about, um, numbers. I don't know if they talked about parking. I don't know if they, there's some mention there about bathrooms. And so that'd be another fear. And, um, I didn't see any mention grant. I just looked at it quickly about. Inclusivity. So I don't know how much they're going to be charging. Will there be opportunities for people who can't. Afford that. Um, those types of pieces and that's all on top of. Um, the obvious COVID concerns. Yeah. So it'd be nice to have this person, you know, be here next time that we could talk through it. It feels different to. Take a group to visit the conservation land versus saying that the conservation land is your home base and you're like, that's where you're based out of. Cause then it, yeah. Yeah, especially they're going to be making money. Oh yeah. Yeah. I mean, we have had groups like this in the past. It wasn't there like a tinker garden. Yeah. We did about one, I think in 18 or 19 at, um, Amethyst brook. You know, the issue of restrooms always comes up and that's, that's a challenging. There is no, there is absolutely no way that we can allow you. The old Hitchcock center. I can tell you that. Um, from a code. Code standpoint. So. Yeah. And they were asking to use the bathrooms at mill river. And I don't know what their status is. Uh, they're, they're open. They're actually open and cleaned regularly and they'll be open probably until. I don't know, maybe October 15th or November 1st. So. Okay. Well, let's, let's, uh, do a little more research on this and maybe invite them back in two weeks. Okay. Sounds good. Um, so for monitoring reports, there's not a whole lot to report because it's been so dry, but I am going out to 40 university drive next week to inspect final erosion control inspection. Hopefully they can come down. And then that site is no longer needing to be monitored. Um, I also got two requests for certificates of compliance from Hickory Ridge. I thought Dave was copied on these as well, but I may have been mistaken on that. These are for, um, They were submitted by Tom Reedy, um, on behalf of, um, I think it's Barry Roberts, um, or the former, the former owner, but he's going through trying to clear the property for purchase, which is related to the town's purchase of the land. Um, So I haven't done any site visits relative to this, um, project, but or relative to these projects, um, because they were relatively old, um, projects that were done a while ago. And I was unsure about, um, You know, entering the property at this time, but, um, I did ask them for, I reviewed the orders and the conditions associated with the orders that were issued. Um, Um, The only order that was really pertinent, I felt like that would have required an ongoing condition was, um, on either of the orders that were issued was that one of the orders, um, Required a, um, Uh, May long-term maintenance log for the storm water operation and maintenance plan. And, um, I requested a copy of the maintenance log. Um, Basically to just confirm that the maintenance had been. The storm water maintenance had been taken care of. And this was the letter that I, um, Got in response to that was that all of the records have basically been removed from the facility, but that they. To the best of their knowledge, Um, So I followed the operation maintenance plan and never had any issues on the site. So. That's what I got in response to the request for an operation and maintenance log. Um, but other than that, there was no. Ongoing conditions associated with the. Um, Orders of conditions that were issued on the property. Um, So that's what I got in response to. Um, And the other one was some a little more current. Is there an action you're hoping the commission will take tonight or. Um, well, there, there are requests for certificates of compliance before the board. So I don't know if the board wants to entertain the requests or if we want. Um, The ongoing, the only ongoing condition was the maintenance condition. So, um, I mean, I don't have any objection to these being issued the certificates of compliance. The work was completed on the sites. Um, but. So you're looking for a vote on each of these, correct? If we're comfortable. Yes. Yeah. I mean, these seem like I don't see any issues with these out of somebody else has. Um, Excuse anything specific. If not looking for a motion for order of condition number one. So we should reference. Let me, I'll just grab the, um, The EP file numbers for these. Sorry, I'm switching between screens here. Um, And it's a little difficult to read. I mean, Um, I would, I would like to know when I should talk about the crosses on the trees and we may just loop. APD in on that and just have them take a look just. Sure. So remind me about that. And we'll, we'll do that. Okay. That sounds good. Um, so I would request two separate motions. Um, for these, since they're two separate, um, Certificates. Um, So we're going to start with that one. And we just need a motion to issue a certificate of compliance. All right. I'll make a motion to issue a certificate of compliance for, um, let's say eight, two, three. Uh, eight, nine, three, six, three. I see. Eight, nine, three, six, three. Second. Okay. So voice vote on this. Jen. Hi. Butcher. Hi. Hi. Hi. Leroy. I know. Hi. And I, oh, sorry, Leroy, I thought I heard an eye there. So. Okay. So I think we're good on this one. So the next one. Um, the next one is DEP file number. Eight, nine dash five, eight, two. Eight, nine, five, eight, two forever. Take her. I'll make a motion. I'll make a motion. Eight. Sorry. That was so much confidence. For what is it? Eight, nine. What is it? Five, eight, two. Five, eight, two. Oh yeah. So looking for a second. Oh, Jen got it. There we go. Okay. So Anna. Hi. Let's her. Hi. Leroy. Hi. Jen. Hi. And I for this as well. So I think we're good on all of these. Great. Okay. Oh, so just as an update, just as a FYI. Um, this is very good news. I've been meeting with and conversing with ever sourced regarding the work that they're doing at the POTX substation and also the large transmission line structure replacement project that they're doing. And I believe that they have agreed to do all of the projects that we have asked of them. So the beaver removal. A POTX, the, um, there would be a wetland mitigation project, which would probably be creation of some sort of wetland basin may have vernal pool characteristics on, um, but they would do all of the construction and stabilization of that. They just don't want to be responsible for long-term monitoring of it. Um, so they would ask the board to do that. But, um, I believe they've also agreed to, um, provide the polls for the crossing at amethyst brook. And they're doing some additional mitigation as well. So great. Great. Yeah. We're going to go ahead. What, what, what do you, um, the, what was the, so they're going to do the fix the, the culvert was a beaver, beaver issue there. But what was the other thing they're going to make like a, a wetland basin where and want for what? Well, so as part of the work that they're doing at the POTX substation, they're filling a small area of wetlands to put in an access road. And they've got nowhere to replicate wetlands on the site. And so one of the creative solutions that we had proposed is in a, in a sort of exchange for them, um, doing beaver removal at the POTX, um, conservation area, that they would remove those beavers and then do a restoration on that property. Um, and we had discussed potentially doing a, a vernal pool creation of like a vernal pool out there. Um, because we know that it's in close proximity to spadefoot toad habitat. And, um, yeah. So that we could kind of have like a little win-win situation with the beaver removal and some wetland creation. Um, and then, um, hopefully also out on, is it Pomeroy court? They'll be doing some beaver removal out on Pomeroy court. We've been having an ongoing beaver dam problem there. And then the polls for Amethyst Brook, which we've had a very hard time getting and affording to, to deal with. So I think that they're going to be doing all those things. They've committed to doing all those things. And they're going to be presenting it at the next meeting. So, um, they just, I guess, I want to keep bringing it up to make sure that the commission's still on board and just knows this is coming down the line. Great job. Nice. That also sounds great. I know that they were trying to get us the polls last a different time. So yeah, hopefully that comes through this time. Great. Um, I got a pond inspection report for this suing pond and I did not have a chance to look at it. Um, I don't know if anyone else is familiar with this. I wasn't sure if this was the violation site from last fall, or if this was another pond. Um, but I, we can bring it back up at the next meeting once I've had a chance to review it. I just was unfamiliar with it. Is this one off of Bay. Yeah, this is off of Bay road. So Wayne, this is, this was a removal of. Cat tails and then the cleaning of a, um, Have a basin of some sort. I can't, I can't recall. There was like a flow structure basin there that, uh, the commission permitted the removal of a built up sediment. So I think. There's a pretty, should be a pretty, uh, substantial file on this with a notice of intent, Aaron. Yes. And I'll definitely track it down. It just came in in the last day or so. Um, I just wanted to make sure that it was on the radar. Anybody who hikes up to the big water tower. Uh, it's over on the left-hand side. So I've seen it. It definitely looks a lot cleaner than it did. So they've done work. Obviously I can't go over there to look anymore. Any detail. Um, really good news on mountain view circle. I've been in communication with Bob Predmore trying to. Shepard this along a little bit. Um, I am going for a pre-construction meeting with them. Um, next. Monday. Um, at 9 30 AM. Um, Fish and wild life. Um, Fish and wild life. Um, Fish and wild life did approve the use of a turbidity curtain during low flow. So if he, one of the issues he was having was being able to afford the pump around system. So as long as he can finish by September 1st, they've approved the turbidity curtain. So they are planning to move forward. Um, which is great news because that. Culvert is. Literally almost 90% blocked. It's really bad. Okay. I'm trying to burn through the rest of these, um, the comments. On that last one. Um, I know it's a very small area, but. Is that area? Um, uh, natural heritage. Is that, um, Box turtle habitat over there as well near that gentleman off of mountain view. You might just look at that. I think it might be, but I could, I don't know the maps, you know, Off the top of my head, but just check it out. I will check it out. Um, I know that there was a pretty extensive natural heritage, um, list of requirements as far as time of year requirements. And there was additional conditions associated with the approval. But I will definitely review that with Bob. And I think I am going to, uh, say good night. But thank you. We'll see you in two weeks. Hi Dave. Um, So. The common school had a minor, um, Request for minor administrative change to their order of conditions. And, um, luckily this is actually a. Really simple and easy one. I think for you guys to approve. They're basically just, you know, Converting a small area, um, Of pavers to our, I'm sorry, of pavement to pervious pavers. Um, And that was a requirement to try to reduce impervious surface on the site. Um, they are also reducing the width of the driveway slightly. Um, so. Permeable paver fire access and drive. They're adding. Eliminate eliminating six parking spots along the driveway. Um, 18 permeable paver parking areas and then, um, Driveway to be paved asphalt. So those are the only changes. Um, basically. Um, removal of impervious and, um, Uh, Additional, um, sorry, I lost you guys a little bit there. Um, Removal of impervious in the form of asphalt and then creation of pervious paver. Um, Removal of impervious in the form of asphalt and then creation of pervious paver. Um, In part of the asphalt that was previously approved. So hopefully you guys are good with that. I figured it can improvement over the previous plan. Yeah, those are all great improvements. Those are things that we talked about last time and so they just Considerations. I'm all for it. And yeah, I think as a administrative. Okay. Anybody else have any. Anybody have any issues with that? Much better. Um, would somebody mind making a motion just stating that the, Um, common school. Um, plan changes are a minor. Change. To the order of conditions. That the common school changes are a minor change to the order of conditions. Second. Hi. Hi. Letcher. Hi. Jen. Hi. Roy. And I for me. So next Erin. Okay. Um, you mass repaving. So this is something I am a little less familiar with. Um, because I wasn't involved with the. You mass, um, I guess blanket order of conditions that was issued. Um, but basically, um, you mass has come forward with. Um, a proposal to. Um, Repave. Um, University drive. And they're saying no proposed wetland impacts. Um, and they're planning to do the work, um, and follow all special conditions per the blanket order of conditions. DEP file number eight, nine, six, four, seven. The work will begin summer or fall. Um, Checking the wetland boundaries to make sure there was no expansion of the wetlands. Um, erosion controls are shown on the site plans. Um, providing copies of the landscape plans to us. They'll notify the commission once erosion controls are installed. Uh, They already sent me paper copies, which had been received in the office. So. Um, I am. Less familiar with the blanket notice of intent, but this sounds like it's just a, um, Notification based on a previous, um, This part of a blanket. Maybe maintenance, um, order of conditions that was issued to, to UMass. And I can look more into that and pull it. I don't think there's any action that you guys would need to take on that. Um, it's more or less just an FYI that that is coming down the line. Uh, I don't think this is coming down the line, Aaron. I mean, they're high and heavy with that right now. Unless they're talking about a different part of university. I think most of the university is ripped up at this point. Um, and you know, so that was a little weird with what Mickey was saying, like, it sounded like he was saying it was going to happen in the future, but they're doing it now. And, um, there's also a difference in my mind between. Replacing existing and that's fine, but there are parts of it that I've noticed where I don't quite know what it is, if it's expansion or. There's large dirt ramps going off of. Ah, so I guess the west side of university near Rocky Hill. What do you mean by dirt ramps? Like going into. So on the road or off the road off the road. And so I don't know if you, if you remember that, if you know that area of Fletcher. So there's a deep, there's kind of a steep little bank there. And it's kind of like a nice little, um, natural area that's there right across the street from rafters. Yeah. Um, I don't know what that ramp is for, what they're doing. They do have silt fence and other things up there that look good. Yeah. They actually have double barriers. They have, um, a sock and then a fence. I run by it every day. So I'm very familiar with it. All right. Yeah. I don't think they're replacing all the water lines and all that stuff. There's a lot of over new water, what not water lines, but something. It struck me as sidewalks. It struck me as being a very after the fact situation because, um, Mickey had sent me an email saying, Hey, we sent you the, the maps for the repaving project down on university drive. Didn't, didn't we? And I'm like, no, I never got anything. And then he sent them to me in the last like week or so. Um, so yeah, I don't know how you guys want to proceed with that. Or if you want me to request more information from Mickey, as far as like, I don't know where the wetlands are. I don't know where the wetlands are. I don't know where the wetlands are. I don't know if we're trying to ask questions. Are they expanding impervious surface? Um, things that, and I'll, I'll pull the old permit and take a look and see what was approved. Yeah. I think it would be good to know. And I mean, especially in that little area, I don't know where the wetlands are. I think there's some wetlands that are back there. I'm not sure if it's delineated or not. So I think that'd be useful to know. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think it's more for standard maintenance replacement. Man, that's probably standard maintenance. And that's fine. Um, but if it's expansion, that's something different. Yeah. I mean, at first bless, I'm not quite sure they are. You're talking about Brad, but it doesn't definitely looks like replacement. Yeah. Most of its replacement. It's just that there's this weird ramp. And I don't know if that's just temporary or. I don't know what the hell they're doing. It's a lot of dirt. It's not a minor thing. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know how to move stuff around. So. Well, I will, um, I will follow up with Mickey and relay these questions. And, um, we can talk about it under other business at the neck on the next call. But, um, I cannot believe we got through. It's not even at a clock. So are we good, Aaron? That's all I've got. Thank you, Aaron. As always. Yeah. Nice job. Yeah, thank you. Yeah. Yeah. To the guy. That's what you were looking for the motion. 40 hours. Yeah. Um, Motion to adjourn. Second. Jen. Hi. Let's hear hi. The Roy. Hi. Anna. Hi. And hi. So we are good.