 All right, this hearing is now called, this public hearing is now called the order. This hearing is being held as required by the provisions of chapter 131, section 40 of the German laws of the Commonwealth, next relative to the protection of wetlands as much recently amended in article 3.31, wetlands protection on the time of Amherst, general bylaws, today's date, December 22nd, 2021, time is 7.03, and I think that covers all the official stuff right there. Yeah, so Larry, you'll need to, why do I keep calling you Larry? I am so sorry, Leroy, I know your name. You'll have to read that before each hearing opens, okay? And then when that's perfect, you just need to read it before each hearing opens, and then the statement on the agenda for each of them, which is the address, applicant name, and if you need me to open that up, I can for you. For some reason, my remote computer's not letting me in, so that's why I'm feeling a little, sure of what's going on if it's something with the town hall computer, what? All right, first up is comments from me. I've got nothing big except a wish on a well, a new spot, I'm sure she'll be fine. Then comments from staff. Was David with us tonight? You said he might be back up for you. He's supposed to be here. Do we have to do, sorry, do we have to do attendance? I can't remember, my brain is, it's an accident in my body, y'all. Did you say attendance? Yeah, I don't do that, no, I don't think so. I'm thinking of my other, sorry, we have to do it in my other one and I was like thrown off here. All right, I'm back with you, I'm with you. Thanks, Laura and Fletcher. So, whether for Dave, not yet, maybe later, there are any comments from you? Yes, and forgive me because I, for some reason, I'm having trouble getting into my remote computer. And I was just in here, so I don't know why it's a problem, but I'm working on getting in right now. That's all right, if you need a couple of minutes, did everybody get a chance to look at minutes? Maybe we can pass a couple of those through. Sure, yeah. All right, someone wants to move to prove the minutes if they have the dates right in front of them, otherwise I can do it. I'm happy to, oops, I'll approve the minutes of, I forget, I forget, I'm just a couple of minutes. You know what, let's, it doesn't matter if you were there or not. Let me just, I think my computer's opening right now and I've got the PowerPoint, so I can help you guys out. Just give me literally 30 seconds. Got it, I can make the motion. Yeah. Okay, so can I do them as a slate, Erin, or do I have to go one by one? I'll go one by one. All right, so motion to approve the minutes of February 12th, 2020. Second. Thank you. All right, voice for it, voice for Fletcher. Aye. Lara. Aye. Bona. Aye. And I for me, so pass. And Michelle, great. I move we approve the minutes. Oh, I'm so sorry, Michelle. You just wrote it on my website. I'm an aye. And Michelle, aye, yeah, okay. Aye. No, I'm so moved, sorry. I move we approve the minutes of 922, 2021. Second. Second, we'll go with Michelle on that one, because I feel bad. Voice for it, Michelle, first. Aye. Bona. Aye. Lara. Aye. Fletcher. Aye. And I for me. Move we approve the minutes of 10, 13, 2021. Second. Second, Lara there, voice for Fletcher. Aye. And Lara. Aye. Michelle. Aye. Lara. Aye. Fletcher. Aye. And I for me. Second to last, I approve, I move we approve the minutes of 1110, 2021. Second. Second, Lara there, voice for Fletcher. Aye. And Lara. Aye. Michelle. Aye. And I for me as well. And last, I move we approve the minutes of 12, 821. Second. Second, Lara there, voice for Fletcher. Aye. Lara. Aye. Michelle. Aye. And I for me as well. So moved on all of them. All right. So yeah, Aaron, I didn't want to skip over you earlier. Do you have some comments you want to say? So I don't see if Dave's on the call yet. They don't see him there. The one comment I have is that on our agenda, there's two items. There's accepting a gift of open space, which Dave would be speaking to. And there's also a request for certificate of compliance for the same subdivision, which is the Vistatera subdivision. And there's three orders of conditions on that. The commission can, you know, proceed how they'd like to. I'll show you kind of what. So this is the request, the request for certificate of compliance for this. There's three DEP file numbers. I would actually recommend that we, that we move on the first two, which are, sorry, it's moving. It's these two. The last one I would recommend that we wait on. I'm in conversations with Tom Reed, because I did an inspection today. And the site, there's two unstable lots. And there's some missing maintenance logs. So I have to actually make sure those lots are stabilized and get the maintenance logs before we can proceed on actually issuing the certificate of compliance on those. The first two, the first one was a denial. And there was, so the work never commenced associated with that. The second one, the work also never commenced. It was during the economic downturn. And so anyways, so we can move on those first two certificates, but the final one I would ask for, that we table that until we get more information from the applicant. I can make the motion. Erin, if you want, unless there's questions. Yeah, anybody have any questions on them? All right, well, I'll go for it. Okay. Moving to issue certificate of compliance for 089-0527 for invalid order of conditions because the order of conditions were never, you know, commercial, the, it lapsed. Second. Seconder Fletcher, voice for honor. Hi. Hi, Michelle. Hi. Laura. Hi. Sorry, I keep getting you while you're drinking. Fletcher. Hi. And I for me as well. I'll take this one too. Move to issue certificate of compliance for 089-074 for invalid, invalid order of conditions because the order of conditions never commenced. Second. Second to Fletcher, voice for Michelle. Hi. Laura. Hi. Laura. Hi. Fletcher. Hi. All right, for me as well. You guys are flying tonight. I can't even keep up with you. This is great. Okay. Okay. So we're still waiting on Dave. Yeah. So I'll give you guys a couple updates. Still monitoring Southeast Commons regularly the Kestrel Land Trust culvert failure. Stay tuned on that. We might be having an emergency certification for that. I'm still getting some information from engineers on culvert, failed culvert on the Kestrel Land Trust driveway which is also our emergency access for the Plumbrook Pond slash Epstein Pond. And there are some issues because there's high flows right now and the driveway has sinkholes in it. They put a steel plate over it so that it doesn't collapse but it's a pretty serious safety issue. And so it might be an emergency certification. It might be a notice of intent in the very near future but stay tuned on that one. I'll give you an update at the next meeting. Working on dam inspections, did a dam inspection at Epstein this week. And that might tie into our emergency certification because there might be some weird boards that need replacing in the outlet structure for the dam. And then did an inspection at the Marker's Pond dam. I don't know if you guys recall we issued an emergency certification out there for some washout that had occurred and I brought an engineer out there to have a look at it to try to give us some ideas for kind of an alternatives analysis of other things we could do to try to improve the situation because it seems like it's happening on an annual basis the damage, the storm damage to the dam. So trying to come up with some alternative options that might help reduce that and reduce the impacts of the storm damage. Is there a one of those alternative options like let the pond drain and take out the dam? I mean, I know the neighborhood would be extremely upset about that, but... Right, right. I mean, we've put in already a ton of time and money into this. Anyway, I understand the politics behind it, but honestly, like... Yeah, yeah. No, your point is definitely well taken. I've done dam removals before and they're very political when people like open water. So I definitely hear you. I think all options are on the table. However, I think there is strong opposition to removing it. So I'm hopeful that there might be a happy medium, but again, it also would require funding. So that's really the big elephant in the room is who's gonna pay for what and we need to figure that out first. But trying to see what we could do from minor adjustments to sort of middle of the road adjustments to more substantial adjustments that might address the situation and kind of give it more stability and sort of better equipped for the future as we see stronger storms and more frequent storms because we don't wanna have to have to be in there dumping trap rock every year as it gets washed out. Yeah, I think Fletcher's point is really valid though. So, you know, I hopefully it's something we'll be able to discuss when we have more information. Yeah, and I mean, as my, I mean, Dave isn't on the call right now, but yeah, that's fine. But the land is under the Conservation Commission care, custody and control. So your voices are very, very important because you're the decision makers. So 100% agree with you. And I wanna make sure that we vet every decision that's made. I, let me see, there was another, I got a complaint. Let me see if I could find the photos from it and I'm not sure that I have them. I feel like the last meeting of the year I'm fumbling. There was a complaint of tree cutting on I believe it's 1107 North Pleasant Street. It's right next to Simple Gifts Farm. There's a very small intermittent stream that flows under North Pleasant. I did go by and take some pictures but there's some pretty substantial diameter trees that were cut along that little brook. And so there needs to be some sort of response action. I was sort of wavering between an enforcement order and a letter of some kinds. Like just telling them there that they've committed a wetlands violation but I wanted to get your perspective, your opinion on how to respond just because this was a very last minute one. Literally looked at it, the complaint came in and I looked at it yesterday and I haven't yet had a chance to sort of formulate the best response strategy on it. But I would say probably five or six large diameter trees right on the bank of the intermittent stream. Dave, this is 1107 North Pleasant Street right next to Simple Gifts Farm. I got a complaint of tree cutting. And so just trying to formulate. Are you talking to the owners at all? So far? What's up? Have you spoken to the owners already so far? I have not. I've not made contact with them. I just took pictures yesterday and the house looks like it's unoccupied right now. I think it might be a student rental. It's a definitely rental unit. Yeah. Actually, I saw it yesterday too. I was like... Did you? Yeah, I should have called you. Looks like you're on it. Oh, I got the call. Yeah, I mean, I'm assuming that because it's not on the Simple Gift side. It's actually on that, the butter side. Yep. Yeah. So I'll be reaching out to the owners. I guess it's more, do we want to just issue an enforcement order right off the bat or issue a letter asking them to do some replanting? I think maybe just first have a conversation. Yeah, and we have to start with a conversation or if they're unavailable, we can send out a letter but just tell them that they must stop, obviously. Fletcher, Erin, you've both been out there. Have you seen any sense of what was going on? Maybe they were already leaving and they felt like they should take them down. The trees were really close to the house. And that was kind of my thought was that maybe they thought that they were hazardous, maybe branches falling, but I mean, they're right on the bank of the stream. So and right on the road and right on the road right there. Yeah, somebody should have known better for sure on that one. Some replanthins, I think it's a good idea to just have a car. Just whether it's a letter or I don't know who the owner is. But I think, yeah, just take and, you know, see what you did. Let's let them know what they did. And if we can get them to replant something, I think that'd be a great idea. Okay. Actually, I'm pretty comfortable with replanting, too, if you want to start on that letter at some point. Or does anyone else have any comments or feel pretty good about that? That sounds good. I think that sounds good. I just think if it is a rental, I think we maybe we have to have more, maybe stringent or, I don't know, conditions about monitoring it or just making sure that, you know, we're not chopped down for like a backyard bonfire or I don't, you know, there can be some absentee land ownerships with that area next campus. So just something that sort of acknowledges that they will take care of it if they're not necessarily a homeowner. I think that's a very wise point, actually. How would we go about something like that, Ari? Because I know there's not a lot of time, obviously, in the staff. Should we put it on the drive? Yeah. I mean, just keep an eye on it. We could all, you know, it's pretty open area. We all drive by there. I mean, we could require them to file and after the fact request for determination. If they had come to us with that, with a request to cut those trees down, that's exactly what I would have asked them to file anyways. So filing one after the fact seems like a logical thing to me. And then we would have three years of, if the permit would be valid for three years. So if we required replantings, then it would give us an opportunity to monitor that they were actually doing them. So that's an option. Same as pretty reasonable to me. Anybody else have any thoughts on that? Just making sure the trees are still there after three years and like doing okay in their cages or whatever. Just, you know, if it's a college rental, who the heck knows? Like kind of oversight is happening at that property. I mean, that was my question was just making sure that we are like the crossover between like rental registrations and everything else. I don't know how these violations impact that, but you know, it's important that the property owner know and is passing that along. And maybe this is a question for Dave about like, is there overlap between sort of violations for, yeah, violations for concom and things like rental registration? Is there that overlap or not really? I think the short answer is no, there's not really overlap, but we should have all of their contact information on file for both the owner and the property manager. So Aaron, that's something you could easily get from the second floor and they have phone numbers. So I think, I don't know. I'm sorry, I missed the, I have a new laptop and 12 minutes or whatever 15 minutes I've been trying to connect with you guys and I could not get on, but we certainly should be able to make a phone call as opposed to a letter or an email and say, what's going on here? You made a mistake. So I think being in touch with Kaffee on the second floor of town hall and getting that rental registration information could kind of cut to the chase on stop too. Cause I don't know as we know that are they planning to cut more trees? I don't know. But let's get information as quickly as possible from the owner or about the owner and contact information and get word out to them. We have all their emails as well. Okay. That sounds like across the border and we definitely want to reach out and make contact preferably by phone with these owners soon and later just to tell them to stop as far as what to do about it. Looks like we're all in agreement and we'll be asking for it after the fact RDA with replanting that would give us three years to make sure it's actually in. Everybody feeling good about that? All right. Kind of like just make sure I'm not missing Laura but looks like we're good there. So go for it Erin. So I would defer to Dave so that he has a chance cause I know that there was the Vista Terrace gift of land and I don't know if we're held up on that Dave. I don't know if you saw the emails between me and Tom. Yeah, I did respond an hour ago or something. I think we can wait on that. It's not a big deal. I don't know if you could share the plan though just so I could refresh the commission members memory on this, this is a gift of land off of Vista Terrace which is a new subdivision road off of 116 kind of near the double roundabout in South Amherst and we negotiated a deal with the current owner of the subdivision for I think there are seven new homes and I believe a donation of five to six acres. So here is Vista Terrace. The lower part of your screen is 116 on the right is going up over the notch and this is a new subdivision going off to the east. This abuts the conservation land that we purchased from the Epstein family and the old trolley line that goes up over the Mount Hoyak range. So the goal here was to purchase and maybe Erin you're controlling the cursor so you could just highlight if you will or outline the open space and I can't read that but I think it's about six acres. Is that right Erin? You might be able to see that better than I can. Five points. Five point three nine. Yeah, there we go. Five point three nine acres and the goal here is to accept that as conservation land and then we would make a connection to the Mount Hoyak range and the trolley line trail so that we would also have an additional parking area here a small parking area for maybe four to six cars and with this deeded fee interest land would come an easement over Vista Terrace for the public to pass and repass in cars, bicycles are on foot. So that yeah, it'd be a nice little way for people to again access the Mount Hoyak range and the new pond at Epstein at Sweet Alice Conservation Area. And so I don't think we're quite ready for prime time here. I was hoping to get some documents from the from our town attorney and those did not arrive. So, but again, this is something that's been in the works for probably five years is my guess. So we'll get it done in January. And I think Erin, you were out at this site and determined what that there were some issues with the Yeah, I'll show you guys the pictures Bear with me for just a second. There's stability issues out there. This is a picture of beside today after the rain beside the parking area. It's kind of washing away the the mulch that they spread. And there's there's problems with gullies being formed in the in the runoff. I also noticed that there's a I mean, there's a there's a house lot on one side that's also unstable. And then the house on the other side, it's kind of hard to see, but down in this area, they're having an erosion problem. And it looks like they put some hay bales in there to try to address it. But it that should be corrected before we issue a certificate of compliance on it. So you'll work with their attorney to get that that corrected. Yeah, the markers are put up the wetland markers. That's the the blue posts with the other the wooden posts with the blue marker on the top. The stormwater structures looked like they were in great shape. There was the and I don't this isn't I believe even I'm not sure the proximity of this to the to the wetland, but there is some problem. It looks like there's people accessing down to the Epstein slash suite Alice property on this little trail area that connects down to the trolley line and it's really unstable. So anyways, there's just some issues there that need to be addressed. And then they're missing maintenance logs as well, which I'd like to get in hand just to show they've been maintaining the stormwater structures. So I think I think if Aaron, you can work on those issues and then we can get this teed up for the first meeting in January or the second meeting in January for the for the gift. It does have to go through the town council. The town council has to accept the gift as well. So there's a little process here. Most of the erosion issues, I think, are probably not on the parcel that we're talking about. That last trail that Aaron showed an image of is kind of a bootleg trail that I don't think there's going to be a lot that we can do about it. It's not a trail that we we planned or or developed or worked on. So is that trail on on the property that will be gifted to us? Or is that outside of outside? OK, yeah. Is there any way to create a trail on the property that's been gifted to us? Oh, we are. We're planning to make that trail connection in twenty two. Got it. To redirect footpath. Yeah, I don't you know, the the desire, the desire paths, the desire line from the neighborhood will still be where Aaron showed it. Sure, the shortest path of the public will be discouraged from using that. And there will be no parking down that end of the cul-de-sac. It's not even a cul-de-sac. It's a dead end there. There's no turnaround down there. So the public will be directed to park on our land in our parking lot. And there will be no street parking. And then we will develop a trail that will need to be permitted through you because there are some resource areas that we need to go through. There's an old farm road, Woods Road that we will stay on. But there's a culvert we need to go over. And yeah, some some redevelopment of that that old Woods Road. So we're farm road. So we'll work with you on that in twenty two. Is the town parcels going to be. I saw there's two open space parcels, one on each side of the road. Is the town one just going to be on the east side or the west side also? The town. The only thing we're accepting is on the south side of the road because the the Vista Terrace goes almost to east west. We're not accepting anything on the north side of the road. Looking at the map on the left. So there is an open space part on the on the left. I think that'll remain subdivision open space. So that'll remain with the association. I think they have an association. At Vista Terrace, but we I don't think I'm I've really gotten out of the practice of accepting tiny little parcels that we then have to maintain and trees fall and issues arise on those little parcels. It's certainly. Twenty years ago, we accepted a lot of those little parcels and now they're coming back to us. So I try to work that sort of what I was getting at. So I'm glad we're going with the big connected one. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. Overall, it sounds like great project and we're in no rush and that there is a couple headwinds, including town council. So maybe we should put this on the second meeting in January. Is that so good? Yeah, I mean, it's not a public hearing. So we'll see what the, you know, if if everything is ready for the first meeting, then great. If not, then we'll, you know, I'll I'll kind of go with the flow and see when everything is when the information from town council is ready and when they've stabilized a lot. It's tough this time of year, honestly, to to issue a certificate of compliance when there's not vegetation established on a lot. I told them they're either going to have to lay down turf or put down erosion control blankets, but we'll see what they come up with and I'll keep you guys posted. Sound good. Anything else from you, Dave? Can I just follow up with that just quickly, Erin? So in December, the idea of laying down turf seem are you talking about this time of year, putting down? What what would they do? What would be a reasonable? Well, usually if a site is this level of unstable, I mean, it's poorly drained soils where they're getting rills and gullies in it like that. Even if they do put down mulch hay, it's just going to wash away. So the only way to really protect the soil is to either put down an erosion, a staked erosion control blanket with seed. And again, the seeds not going to take until the spring. That would be the best option, in my opinion. But they could also lay down turf. Now, you know, I hear what you're saying, like with it being cold. But we've had three days ago, a sixty five degree day. So it's like, you know, it's tough to tell what the weather is doing. And again, I doubt that because of the cost that they would go that route. But I have seen I have seen people do that in the winter and that it has been successful and it stops the erosion. So yeah, it's there's not a lot of great options. Yeah. OK. Yeah. I can say it's done so it is possible, but it's not the best solution for anybody. Yeah, turf is a really nasty product to make turf is not. Not you can play with it. Yes. And I used to lay turf in California and it was not cool. Yeah, I mean, the only I have I've seen it used in really tough cases where there's been too much water velocity to hold seed or to hold mulch. And it's been very successful in some cases. But I agree 100 percent with everything everyone's saying. It's like they're asking me what's the solution. And I'm like, well, there's really not a whole lot of options. So. And the focus would be on those areas that are eroding because in terms of square footage, there's a lot of there's a lot of square footage out there to cover. So we're not suggesting they cover all of the all of the. All of the soil, all of the, you know, all of the the lots with I'm just kind of probing a little bit. Well, what would are you suggesting they cover all of that lot with something? Well, the commission, I mean, I have never seen a commission issue a certificate of compliance on an unstable lot in a jurisdictional area before. I think that the 100 foot buffer cuts through this location because the the wetland marker is like just just back behind this. Silt fence, but we'd have to take a look at the plan and see exactly where it fell. But stuff in the buffer zone should be should be stabilized with with something. If it's outside of the buffer and they want to try to, you know, recede it and stuff. I mean, I guess that's in the commission's discretion as to whether, you know, they would consider that if there are areas outside of our jurisdiction that are unstable. Yeah, it's interesting. I thought there was more. I think a lot of their base seeded very late and it looks like a lot of it just died because I think a lot of that was seeded. And I think they probably just got not a lot of germination late in the season and it just died quickly. But yeah, I don't know if they brought in topsoil either. They may have, but. Oh, I think they did. They had a huge pile of topsoil out there. OK, I spread. Yeah. But anyway, I don't mean to belabor this this one issue, but we'll work on it between meetings. So. LaRoy, you asked me if there's anything else. The only other thing I just I apologize for being late, had connectivity issues here at home. But I did provide the commission with some of the correspondence with the DCR and regarding the Bay Road parking lot, the materials that I submitted and then their response, which I think was generally favorable to obviously keeping that parking lot the one thing we do have some follow up items from that situation. One is that we need to in the spring discontinue the roadside parking along Bay Road. So I'm going to work with DPW on that. How we do that will be interesting and we'll figure that out. Whether we use boulders, a combination of boulders and signs. We'll see. I'll work with the superintendent of public works on that. And then the other pieces we do need to work with our IT department to make sure that our GIS maps and layers are up to date. Because, unfortunately, and again, I'm not blaming IT. This is really on me because I knew about the CR out there. I just had not committed to memory exactly where that CR covered. But work with our IT department to make sure our layers are up to date with regard to CR's held by the state or and or Kestrel Trust or any other bodies, any other organizations. So I think those were kind of the takeaways in talking with DCR. They want to make sure, you know, obviously that those are corrected. So happy to take any questions on that if you have any. This isn't a question, but I was just out there the other day, Dave. And I don't know if it was you or Kestrel, but the footprints and the tracks on the road are. Awesome. That's such a great touch and it was so helpful because for a minute I was like, I'm definitely I've been here before. I've been walking up someone's driveway, but the tracks. That's I hope those are going to stay. I don't know if it's possible tracks. Yeah, I haven't been out there recently. I don't know. Did they enlarge them at all? Kestrel put those down. They were pretty small when I was at the large them, but there's a variety of animals and they are easy to follow. So we are Aaron and I are working on a new map for that area, which should be done in January sometime. And then we will be adding our own signs. I feel like Kestrel has done a great job at kind of branding some of that trail, but most of the land is actually town of Amherst. So we will be coming out with kind of our own signs with the town seal on them and and kind of making sure that people know when you're on Kestrel land and when you're on town of Amherst land. Sounds good. Not that it's a competition. We collaborate with Kestrel. But it's a little town of Amherst next to the turkey prints, like next to. Yes, it is important to know when you're on town land and the dollars have gone to preserve the land, et cetera, et cetera. So. Absolutely. We have a couple of the appointment things, which are exciting, but it is I got seven 40. So should we go straight to your hearings? Is there a sound right now? Sure. Yeah, that sounds good. Right. So first hearing, and these are both new, right? Yes, both of them are being opened tonight. All right, so let's open this first one. Sharing is being held as required by provisions of chapter one, 31 section 40. General Leslie Kamloff, the neck relative of the protection of wetlands as most recently amended and article three point three one. Wetlands protection under the town of Amherst, General By-laws. This is Jordan Bravia notes of resource arid delineation and read by the Berkshire Design Group for Zybloot Zybloot. Zybloot Realty LLC. It's a tough one for confirmation. The resource area bond is at three ninety eight and four or six North Hampton Road, map, 13 D Love 47 map, 13 D Love 48. I see we got a few people from the public here. So just a quick reminder on how we do this. We are going to have presentation of the applicant for about five minutes or so. Then we'll hear from staff that's Aaron for about five minutes. Then commissioners and finally the public. We welcome all comments happier here, but please keep it to the subject matter we're talking about. And remember, we have to talk issues and not opinions. So with that, do we have anybody from Berkshire Design here? I believe Rachel, I will promote her to a panelist and Jess, I believe, as well. And if I got anybody wrong and they're not actually here for this project, I apologize. Welcome, Rachel. Welcome, Jess, baby. Thank you. Thank you for your time. We're here today representing the owner as a result of the two parcels. And we're here seeking an anrad delineation confirmation. We anticipate coming back before you probably in in the middle of winter when the snow is on the ground. So we wanted to be sure to have a chance for you guys to look at the wetland delineation and review it prior to that. What you guys look at today will serve as basis for future future thoughts about how our client uses the two parcels. And Aaron, should I should I share my screen with the materials or if you would like to present your welcome to. OK. Can you can you all see my screen? OK. The site is along Northampton Road, adjacent to Greenleaf's Drive. There's a residential house on one parcel and then the garage on another. The site itself is about 70 percent developed with impervious surfaces of building and road and paving. And the back portion of both parcels is vegetated. And at the very back of the property is where the where the wetlands are. The vegetation on site is in that back area is significantly overgrown with invasive species. I think we notice there's a ton of bittersweet and multi flora rose. Ward Smith, our wetland scientist, was out there and he he's both hydrology. Well, he used hydrology, hydric soils and vegetation to delineate the edge of the of the wetland areas. And I think that's it. Is there anything else that you I just want us to cover? That is pretty straightforward, I would say. But Aaron, I guess you're up any words from you on this. Yeah, I'll just share my photos from the site. I walked to the site with Rachel, Jessica and Ward. And it is a it's a real mess in terms of bitter oriental bitter sweet on the on the site. It's pretty much taken over everything. But everything was pretty. There wasn't any. Areas of the property that that was I sharing that. Did you guys see it? Sorry, goodbye. I thought I was doing a share screen. There wasn't any areas that seemed marginal or questionable about the delineation. There was almost like a almost a grass line up against most of it. And then a parking area. There was an area that was kind of wooded, but it was pretty obvious where the upland and wetland line was adjacent to that. There is a drainage going through there on either side. There's a culvert going to the Hawkins Meadow side. And then there's a culvert going to the Greenleaf side. So it's a little drainage, swale intermittent stream that flows there. And yeah, I didn't I in walking this day, I didn't have any issues with Ward's delineation at all. I did request data sheets just for the sake of having them because anytime we have an anrad, we've always had those submitted. And I felt like it would be important for us to have just to document soils and plants in the wetland and upland areas. The one I guess question I had was on the form A it was blank with regard to the resource areas delineated and the linear feet of delineation. And so I just figured I would check in on the fact that that that detail is missing from the form. Usually will include the resource and the amount of linear feet that was delineated. All right. I thought we had I thought we had submitted that so we can we can get that to you. That was we had discussions about that in our office. Was it it was it just BVW that you guys were looking for confirmation of? Or were you looking for confirmation of bank as well? Just BVW just BVW. OK. Yeah, so the the linear feet that we had the BVW was 242. I have it on our. I just want to sell that number somewhere. Yeah, I have it on ours. I can resubmit it. I don't know why it would have went away. But yeah, I can resubmit it to your email as you know. OK. Yeah, that that I mean, it's I have no problem with the delineation. And I just I just want to show that it was just blank on my form. But I have no problem with the with the delineation itself. I think it was very straightforward and and that's fine for us to include maybe if you just resubmit the the revised form with the number on it and then that way we can issue. But I have no problem with approving. I just think that if we are going to be issuing the anrad tonight, that we need to specify that we're issuing the anrad approving the the boundary of bordering vegetated wetland only. Oh, anybody opposed to that? I'm living it to just give it to me. All right. Any other thoughts, opinions from commissioners at all questions? Again, seems pretty straightforward. But now we turn to the public. Anybody from the public have any comment on them? The idea here is that it should be a little icon where you can raise your hand if you have a question or comment. And it looks like no. So I'm going to have a draft motion for this one. Yes, I can take it. Yeah, let me just share my screen. OK. Moving to issue the anrad approving. The vegetated wetland only. For three ninety eight and four or six Northampton Road. Proving that the BTW BVW boundary is as delineated. Second. Voice vote on. Hi, Michelle. Hey. Fletcher. Hi. Laura. Hi. And I for me as well. All right. We are at the kitchen. Thank you, Rachel. Thank you, Jess. Have a good night. Thank you, guys. Happy holidays. Next. Learn a consulting, I believe. Yeah, and I'll promote Erica to panelists. She's in the audience. Thank you. I'm sorry. Learner. This hearing is being held as required by provision of chapter 131, section 40 of the German laws of the common act relative to the protection of wetlands and as most recently amended and article three point three one while in protection under the time of Amherst general by laws. This is a request for determination of applicability by learning a consulting for Amir Mekishi for selective thing of trees and vegetation. We then will not meet. I believe. What was it? I'm sorry. Oh, I'm sorry. I was I was going to say Mekishi, I believe, but I may also not be doing him justice, to be honest. Fair enough. Within the hundred foot buffer zone at 11 trillion way, Matt, 21 day, about 70. Obviously, Erica, you're here for them. Anybody else? Is that everybody? All right. So you just said the same deal in your presentation. And then we'll hear from you. And then commissioners and so on. So with that, feel free to give us a little presentation of what you have going on here. Great. Would you mind if I share my screen real quick? Absolutely not. Go for it. Thank you. So my name is Erica Larner, Larner Consulting for Amir Mekishi. This shall be 11. Sorry, 11 trillion way. The majority of the house development is, well, the entirety of the house development is to be outside of the hundred foot buffer. There is a small bit of clearing that was inside of the natural heritage priority habitat line. We previously achieved about a year ago a determination of no take from natural heritage for this. And I did the delineation at that same time. And there is an intermittent stream. The intermittent stream and the BBW associated with it is where the endangered species is presumed habitat. So the layer does go along with that particular stream. This particular filing is asking for that we are able to clear up to the 50 foot boundary, which is the approximate edge of the property boundary with selective thinning of pine trees leaving the oaks in place. During the construction of the single family home, it is quite likely that a lot of the tall spindly pine trees will have a difficult time with standing the winds and their exposure. And we'd like to promote some of the hardwoods as opposed to some of the less likely to endure pine trees. There are some hemlocks on the property as well. I do believe the applicant would be looking to remove a few of those as well up to the property boundary, which would be the 50 foot buffer zone. I'm happy to answer any questions that anyone has. All right, before I get to us, so we'll hear from Erin. Thank you. Of course. So I walked the site with Erica earlier this week, yesterday, I believe. This is facing the, this is standing in the outside of the buffer actually looking into the buffer zone and then turning around facing the road. And then this is actually at the property line looking down toward the intermittent stream on either side. And then let me see, this is facing out from the buffer toward the road. So there are quite a few oaks that are sprinkled in there and there's definitely some larger pines that are also in the stand as well. And let me just pull up my PowerPoint. I think my only questions really were whether they were planning to stump the trees that were being removed and if there was going to be excavation up to the edge of that 50 foot boundary. My understanding is that the intent would be a flush cut with no pulling of stumps. That stump grinding could be a potential option but that the actual pulling of stumps would not occur. That it would be a flush cut with potential for grinding but no pulling of stumps. We'd be quite happy to have some sort of erosion control if it made the commission more comfortable. That's a very easy solution. I also just want to comment that while we're out there the slope that you saw that Aaron took the picture that really looked towards the resource area the flag to the left of the picture is really a great angle that the delineation for where the intermittent stream and the BBW was there's a very clear break in slope. It was not what I would call it is a difficult field investigation on my part. Yeah, the work is on sort of a plateau and then on the edge of the property line where the 50 foot buffer is that's where the slope sort of starts to go down toward the stream. So you're saying you're going to leave all the oaks in that as you're just taking out the white pine and some of the hemlock? Correct, the entire, yeah, to leave all the hardwoods well I believe hemlock might be considered a hardwood but to take to leave all the oaks and to selectively remove the evergreens there is some intent for vista and there is also some intent for protecting the house with the taller pine trees that may not withstand the alterations in the area but no, we would only be selectively thinning up to the 50 foot, not a wholesale clearing leaving the stumps in place and flush cut or stump grinding only. Erin, could I jump in is I'm having kind of a flashback to maybe walking this site is this something that came up about a year ago where some of the neighbors concerned about the lot or clearing of that lot? Is that jogging my memory? Yes, there was some cutting out there and we did get a complaint and I went out and looked at it and the cutting at that point was outside of the 100 foot buffer in like the spot where the sort of the house lot is proposed but I did reach out to Amir at that point and let him know that we had gotten the complaint and I kind of inquired at that point and then Erica gave me more information with regard to the delineation and the extent of concom jurisdiction. So I think that that's what's prompting this filing. Okay, yeah, I'm Leroy there may be, you know as you know, maybe a butters who wanted to comment and I'm sure you'll make time for that when appropriate, but thanks. What's the species mapped for that area? I apologize, give me one moment and I will look up the notate determination and find out for you. It's on my computer. I just can't pull it out at this exact moment. Give me a sec. That's a good question, Michelle. I have a gas. May I ask, and I do not mean this in any way, shape or form to be suggestive that the commission should not discuss this or to discuss their jurisdictional rights at all but if we're not doing a notice and it's a privately owned parcel or during alterations on, should we publicly mention the species is that actually something I should introduce into the public record because it is usually maintained as an exemption from the public records specifically so there's no alterations. I'm happy to provide it, but I believe it is one of those cases in which that if we were to be filing a notice of intent in which we would do a dual filing that that would be an appropriate part of the record I'm concerned about introducing things to the record that are not appropriate. I'm happy to do with the commission decides. I just don't want to introduce a named endangered species and put it at risk for a take when we're not within that jurisdiction. So please, I will happily look at all my just. Yeah, I mean that's what Eric is saying is definitely legitimate. If it's something that people would look to collect natural heritage usually likes to keep it private and only release it when it's necessary to the owner the regulatory body. And that land behind the back there is also held as part of the association. So it's also a privately held parcel as opposed to public land. So if it would comfort the commission I'd be happy to send it the email for your private non-public records. That would be a solution I'd be quite comfortable with. Oh, I agree. Yeah, I think that that's, that would be fine. I can, if you send it to me, Eric, I can forward it to Michelle. I have a really small thing and I apologize if this is my error. In the form that was submitted section B the determinations, it says Belcher Town. And I just want to confirm that. I'm sure it was a typo or like an auto fail but just before it goes official it would be great if that would say Amherst. Yes, absolutely. No worries. I figured it was an auto fail, no problem. I just wanted to make sure that was mentioned. Yeah. Great, thank you. And Erin, if you'd like me to be prior to any kind of issuance, I mean, obviously I'll be sending you the determination of no take with the information for Michelle. I can also make sure I resubmit the edited RDA that has the appropriate town listing. So your record is clear and accurate. I'd be quite happy to do that. That's completely fine. Yeah, I appreciate that. Any other questions from any other commissioners? No comment. All right, I'm turning to the public then. Is there anyone here from the public that has comment on this particular hearing? Anyone does have comments, you can raise your hands. Oh, we have one, at least. One, one, two, three, four. All right, you should be able to talk from speaker. Hello. Hello. Hi, my name's Wei. So I actually, I live in 15 Trenton Way. So it's next to the 11 Trenton Way. So my quick question is like, I just want to double check, it's like, so according to the application, it's like only oak tree will be, will be caved, right? That's correct. Small trees or pine trees is going to be cut down. According to the application, yes. Okay, so the other thing is like, because I saw the property line on the backside is just 50 feet to the wetland and then the zone is going to be in between 50 feet and 100 feet. Yeah, so I just want to double check like, what's the jurisdiction distance? Like, is that legal to cut down the tree, like within 100 feet distance or it has to be outside of net distance, like out of 100 feet? Oh, that is what we're here to determine, that can be clear up to 100 feet is within our jurisdiction. But yeah, that's what we're going to discuss right now. Right, so if somebody wants to cut a tree that's within Conservation Commission jurisdiction, so within 100 feet, they have to file a permit to do that with the Conservation Commission and so that's why the applicant is here tonight. But to answer your question, the commission can permit tree removal within 100 feet. Okay, that's really my concern is because we shall the same the conservation line because if Amiel, like Amiel, he gonna cut down over the tree and maybe we're gonna cut down over the pine trees, maybe, I do have some concerns, it's gonna have some influence to all of my trees in my backyard because really, we moved to the property about five years ago and we leave everything as it is. It's like, we didn't cut down any trees not yet. So that's, I don't know, like the main concern is like in that way, because they do have, you just mentioned like some species or like they do have many animals live on behind. Like we know like there's some fox under a black bell and this kind of stuff living in that area or so. So yeah, that's my only concern. And the other thing is like, do you know like, what's the building size? Erica, do you know, do you have an estimation or Rachel, what was left? So I know that it's the bookshelf design company, right? Do you have an idea of what's going on? The previous hearing. The one we're dealing with here is just Erica. And through the chair, may I address the question of the building size and share my screen again? Would that be okay? Absolutely. Thank you. Here we go. All right. So this would be the approximate concept plan. As this particular project, sir, is the general, the main proportion of clearing is outside of the commission's jurisdiction, this underfoot buffer. The actual house size itself is not set in stone. We are looking at an approximately 2,400 square foot house with some small clearing with lawn into a priority habitat zone that the natural heritage and endangered species program, say would not result in a take of endangered species. And the clearing that would be selective to remove the pines would be in this area and it would leave a 50 foot untouched buffer between there and the resource area. In general, as the commission's discretion, they're welcome to permit, well, their own regulations do regularly permit, but within discretion, they are welcome to permit building within 50 feet and clearing within 25 feet within the local bylaw. So this particular project has been designed to try and provide the VISTA and the housing that the applicant would like, but minimize some of the alterations in the buffer. And if there's any other questions that I can address that help the abutter feel more comfortable, I'm happy to answer them the best I can. Okay, it helps. Yeah, another quick question is like because I realized like there are 25 inches around, right? So to the property line, like I saw there was a driver here, so it's like, I just wanna make sure like the trees in between the driveways, like the driveway and my proper line is gonna be caped or it's gonna be removed also. This is maybe not about the red line stuff, sir. It may not be, but it's actually something I can discuss with the property owner that it's something that you'd like to preserve your privacy buffer. Am I accurate in that? Yeah, exactly. This particular map here to the left? Yeah, yes, yes. Yep, yep. Yeah. It's not necessarily with the purview of this hearing, but I have no issue letting the owner know that you'd like to preserve your privacy buffer and let him know that to the best of his ability, I'm sure he'd like to be a good neighbor for my interactions and I'd be happy to convey that desire to him. Okay, please, yes, because it's really so close. Like if you observe my property, because I bought this house, I have no idea like my property is so close to the property line. So otherwise it's like if the owner cut down all the trees on the left side. So it's made me push me to cut all my trees also, so. Just a little, I think we've got the most of your comments. I appreciate your comment. Again, to be clear, it does sound like there will be some cutting within the hundred foot and we can't allow that. It also sounds like Erica and the property owner are more than willing to work with you offline. That's not really part of this hearing, but you can absolutely feel free to make contact with them and discuss property lines and how much to cut and feel good about. Yes, we're very hopeful that we can keep the tree as more as possible. That's the only concern, yeah. But thank you, it's very clear. Thank you so much. Thank you, Aaron. Yeah. Is there anybody else from the public that means to speak? Sorry. All right, looks like no. Any more further follow up questions from the commissioners? Just if the commission would like an erosion control barrier. Feel comfortable with an erosion control barrier at the limit of tree clearing, or would you feel comfortable due to the extent of the development outside? I just wanted to include it as a condition if you wanted it or not. I'm comfortable without it, actually, in this particular case. Anybody else have any thoughts? I think, yeah, I think. Sorry, I froze for a second. I don't know if I'm back. I'm going to reconnect. You're back, you're good, Anna. We can hear you. Yeah, we can hear you. We can hear you. Well, Anna's reconnecting. I will opine and say that if they're just thinning trees, I'm more comfortable with not having an erosion barrier. I don't know how we control that. I mean, is there there's an estimation of how many trees are going to be cut down or? I mean, to me, it's more providing a limit of work. It just tells them where the boundary is so that it's very clear where that 50 foot boundary is. And then they know they can't go beyond that point. I think sometimes having a line on the site can be useful for that reason. But would you say, the consultant, I'd agree with Aaron on that. It can prevent any potential violations. Sure, my question was because it's a downward slope. Aaron, are you would you be more comfortable with her? I think that it would be really a good decision to have a 50 to have an erosion control boundary or even just a straw waddle laid out at the 50 foot. It just just so that they know, don't clear beyond this line. And I think that sounds reasonable. But you're about to say something. I agree. That's very sense. And there's place to add in boards that makes it easy for you to. So I would just recommend these two conditions. The erosion control inspection and then come out after it's the work is done just to make sure that that the area is stable prior to them pulling it. But it's really just more about identifying the limit of work. And Anna, it looks like Anna's back if she. Are y'all that new silent Wi-Fi? I'm out of town today. I agree. I heard what Laura asked and it was what I was going to ask in that. So I got my answer. Excellent. Any other questions for Ms. Well, then we're looking for a motion. I'll make a motion. We good. I'll make a motion to for a negative determination of flickability under Lowlands Protection Act box three and positive determination box five under the town of Amherst, wetlands protection by law and with the condition that we're going to put erosion controls in place, the limit of work and inspected prior to the start of work and the area must be stable and inspected prior to removal of controls. Second. All right. Voice felt, Michelle. Hi. Laura. Hi. Anna. Hi. Roger. Hi. I mean, I for me as well. So pass. Thank you. Thank you very much. It was a pleasure. And I hope I get to see you folks again in the future. And take care. Happy holiday. You as well. All right. Actually, I have two hearings tonight. So that's done with that. But we're going to go backwards a bit to CPA liaison. Who did someone? You emailed me. Somebody was interested. Who was it? That would be me. Oh, are you interested still? I talk to Dave this morning at 9 a.m. So if someone else really wants to do it, I don't want to step on any heels. I move we appoint Laura. Laura, I'm going to say it wrong, but I'm going to do my best. Laura Pagliarulo. Nice job. Yeah. Yeah. To the Community Preservation Act Committee as the Conservation Commission liaison. So I can do it. I for the Fletcher. Aye. Aye. Aye. Michelle. We didn't hear you. Aye. Thank you for me and can Laura vote on this one? Laura says aye if she's allowed to vote. Sure. All right, there you go. Second one is for the bylaw review subcommittee. I believe it's going to be me and Michelle. If everyone's all right with that. Michelle still interested? We can't hear you, Michelle. Yes, I am. I move to appoint Michelle Leib. Leib. Leib, oh man. That was so bad. You got mine so well. Move to appoint Michelle Leib. Do we need another person here? LeRoy. Oh, LeRoy. Second to the bylaw review committee. Second. Second, yeah, you got it. You deserve it. Thanks, I did nothing to deserve it. Come on, just take the compliments. All right, all right. Yeah, it's your last night, take it off. Yeah, it's all right. You've always vote, Michelle. Aye. Laura. Aye. Laura. Aye. Fletcher. Aye. And aye for me. I'm so excited for y'all to do that too. That's going to be more great. I'm excited, but I'm just going all the way down there. I think we're back to other business unless I missed anything at the top. No, no. That is everything that I have for tonight, actually. I've got these certificates of compliance. The last one for Mr. Terrace, we're going to hold on, right? Correct. Yep. And then I've got all of the sheet in your emergency search. For something. There was there. That was just sort of a placeholder and. Well, what am I doing? That was a placeholder in case we ended up having one, but we, we, we don't have any emergency certifications tonight. Good day. Right. Thank you, Anna. Thank you so much. You've been amazing. Thank you. You've done such a great job and good luck with. Now you're moving to like a high level government position. I'm just going to accept all the conservation land y'all. Bring it on. Except the small parcels. Except the small parcels that don't actually help us. Yeah. You're right. Strategically. All right. Thank you all so much, truly. It's like, this has been one of the best experiences and I've learned an incredible amount. So thank you. Yeah. Thank you. All right. Are we good? I do it. Yeah. What do you want to do? I'll do it. Okay. All right. I move. I move read adjourn at eight, 18 p.m. A record. I second. It is a record. It is totally a record. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi for me. And another close with another great year with all of you. And happy holidays and all that. Stay safe. Ice coming. Cold weather coming. Stay safe. Be happy. Get out on all of what the Roy just said. I love it. I love it. I love it. Are you happy to be happy? Yeah. Yeah. Very bubbly apparently. Just happy holidays and enjoy. Bye everybody. Bye. Take care everyone. See you next year. Bye.