MINUTES
Warwick Open Space and Recreation Plan Public Forum
October 14, 2009
7:00 PM Warwick Town Hall 

Prior to the start of the meeting attendees were asked to sign in. 
Unfortunately there were not enough sign in sheets, so some were not
able to sign in.  The committee had hoped to have 20 people attend, but
over 50 came.  This is a remarkable turnout, better than at some special
town meetings, and constitutes over 6% of the town's population.

The Public Forum started at 7:00 PM in the main hall of the Town Hall. 
People had cups of home made apple cider and munched on cookies and
crackers as they looked at the various open space maps which were
displayed on vertical racks.  The maps had been at the library for the
last two weeks.  There was an 8 x 11 inch white lined tablet
beside each map to record viewers comments and corrections.

At 7:20 Dave Shepardson gave a 20 minute presentation on the maps and
answered questions.

At 7:45 PM Karro Frost, Chair of the Conservation Commission introduced
the excellent power point presentation which had been put together by
Kimberly Noake-MacPhee of FRCOG Planning Department.  All the pictures
were taken in Warwick, except the pictures of invasive species.  Ted
Cady, Planning Board Chair, spoke on the Purpose of the Plan.  Mary
Williamson, Open Space Committee Chair, spoke on the Accomplishments of
the last 7 years.  Ted spoke on How the Plan was Updated.  Dave
Shepardson, retired from MEPA, a member of the committee and chair of
the Maps Subcommittee, spoke on the key findings.  David Brown, a
retired professor and wildlife consultant, a member of the committee,
and Chair of the Species Space Cadets Subcommittee (the Species Space
Cadets Subcommittee is made up of David Brown; Brad Compton, UMass
Wildlife;  Karro Frost, Senior Analyst at New England Environmental;
Matt Hickler, Ecologist).  Karro then spoke on invasive species.  Matt
Hickler spoke on Values and What We Can Learn from the Plan.  Clare
Green spoke on the involvement of teenagers and students from the
Community School in the development of the Plan.  Mary spoke on the
Goals and Objectives and the Five Year Action Plan.  The presentation
lasted almost exactly one hour.  The Draft 5 Year Action Plan Section
was handed out for comment.  Karro Frost moderated a lively discussion
afterwards with notes being taken by Kimberly and Dustin Shepardson (a
member of the Committee and Chief Power Point Projector Operator).  
(These notes will be included in the Minutes of the next meeting).

The meeting was not adjourned.  After the discussion the formal part of
the meeting ended, but more than half the people stayed on to look again
at the maps and to informally discuss aspects of the Power Point
Presentation.  After awhile members of the Committee started folding up
the chairs and putting away the tables which sort of gave folks a hint. 
By about 9:30 PM the room had been restored and the last of the
attendees had left.  The general consensus of both committee members and
attendees is that it had been a remarkable meeting with high interest
and a strong sense of community.  The consensus was that the high
quality of the power point slides, the multiple speakers, the obvious
amounts of hard work and committee pride, and the broad breadth of the
presentation from maps to kids to economic development meant there was
something for everyone which made for a unique experience for the
attendees.  The fact that over half the people stayed after the meeting
to discuss things informally was unusual and indicative of the
attendees' interest in the presentation.

Ted Cady