Open Space Planning Meeting
10/28/09
Meeting opened at 7:04 in Boards Room, Town Hall, Warwick, MA 
Sign in, Approval of minutes from October 7, 2009.

Ted wonders about the minutes for the public meeting 10/14/09.  Karro
thinks that Kimberly took minutes.  Ted will contact Kimberly to see if
she took minutes and comments for the next meeting.

General comments about the Public Forum from the committee are very
positive.  Ted comments that the committee was able to present a quiet
confidence in our work and that was picked up by the audience and others
really liked that we included children.  Mary was struck by a couple of
comments - Matt's statement about Warwick being "rich in unfragmented
forests - they can't be recreated once they are lost."  Also the
importance of farm land was carried throughout the presentation, and
David Brown's photo of the warbler really caught the audience. 
Different voices doing the presentation worked well, and it wasn't
boring.  Many people from the audience hung out to talk more to the
presenters.  The food was terrific, too.  Kimberly did an excellent job
putting together the slide show.

Specific comments recorded by Dustin Shepardson from the Public Forum:

Carbon storage in Warwick forests - offsets for other carbon operations.
  Committee thinks that we should at least touch on it, and look at
whether selling carbon offsets may not damage our long term plans.  Brad
Compton notes that our forests are owned by private individuals and
if we are watching we might be able to help them to participate in any
programs or the town forests. FRCOG economic development plan for
Franklin County includes five areas of economic development wood
processing, renewable energy, niche agriculture, internet business, and
tourism - the Open Space presentation touched on all of these.

Do we have say in how the state land is used - Matt notes that earlier
on we were discussing how to interface with the state ... one option is
to establish a "Friends of  ..." committee.  Another option may be to
have town liaisons working with the state to keep it closed to outside
of town.

Making roads that are safer and more accessible to foot traffic - Karro
notes that many people do use the roads for recreation.  The highway
department should be aware of this.

Suggestion of rock climbing on southern side of Mt Grace for those
interested Olsen field damage from ATV- who should be called? 
Discussion about ATVs use in Warwick State Forests - once again a
liaison with the Town and State Forest are needed.

Camping at Sheomet Pond (Town voted no on this?) - Are we opening up
recreation to out of town people?  More discussion about communication
with the state, who to contact to talk to about various problems within
the state forest system. Trash is a problem on trails - suggestion about
sign stating "Pack in - Pack out. " Maybe an annual walk to clean up
trails should be scheduled.

Comments from Chris Duerring as well. She suggests the following
language:  "Offer teenagers the opportunity to volunteer to assist in
GPS work, including inventory of historical, geologic, archaeological
sites, and trail mapping."  And "Include teenagers in committee to
define meeting place and needs."  We look at C5 and feel that we are not
constraining ourselves regarding trail maintenance.

Dave Shepardson notes that there is a correction on B-2 in Section 9 -
It should read "Accept land and easement donations"

Maps have been at the Warwick Library since the Public Forum until
Monday for people to comment on.  Dave will present all the changes to
Ryan at FRCOG. We talked about including the NHESP report as an
Appendix, because information isn't included on maps.

Development Constraints Map - the Rivers Protection Act setback should
be 200 feet not 100 feet.

Open Space Protection - notes number of roads not labeled.  Ted notes
that we need to save the comments

Was the Ashuelot River edited out of the text - should it be on our
water resources map?

Scenic and Unique Environments - Dave has a number of comments.  Karro
suggests that we might want to include the name of the historic Y camp
that was located at Camp Catamount ...

Are the names of the maps the ones that are required in Open Space Plans
or can these names be tweaked?

Sweet Revenge: Clare Green made a suggestion and the committee agreed on
a course of action.

Next meeting is scheduled for Nov. 11 - there is a conflict at Athol
Bird and Nature Club - Tom Wessel is presenting and there won't be
enough people to hold a meeting.  The next meeting should be either on
November 4 or November 18 - Ted will contact Kimberly and find out which
night is better for Kimberly to meet and will let the committee know.

We need to think about how to incorporate the comments and assign times
to the action items in Section 9.

Adjourned 9:29 p.m.