Warwick Open Space Planning Committee
Meeting Minutes 
April 22, 2009
Meeting Notes Taken by George Roaf, Typed and Edited by Ted Cady

The meeting was called to order by Ted Cady at 7:00 PM with 12 members
attending.  There was a reminder to sign in.  There were introductions
around the table.  Karro can not attend so previous arrangements were
made to have George Roaf take notes which Ted will type up and
distribute.

The Minutes of the April 4 Meeting were unanimously approved. 

Mary Wall gave the Equestrian Caucus update.  The number one priority is
to maintain and expand existing trail network.  Some towns in Eastern
Mass. are "legislating horses out."   Currently trails are being GPSed. 
There is a concern about properly maintaining trails.  In response to
the question of what do properly maintained trails mean, Mary explained
how trap rock was used on an area which is very hard on horses' hoofs. 
Pallets may be a good way for snowmobiles to cross a wet spot, but they
are bad for horses.  In response to a question about wood chips she said
that they were slippery for horses hoofs so many people do not use them,
but some do. 

Matt Hickler and the Survey Subcommittee gave the Survey Update.  310
copies not printed and will go out with the Warwick Newsletter.  There
has been a problem getting it in .pdf format to go out with the
electronic version of the Newsletter.  It probably will have to go as a
Word file.  The general feeling was that having it as a Word file
attachment would be a good idea because it would be easier to fill in. 
Not everyone has a copy of the Survey.  Matt will Email a copy to Ted
who will Email it to the entire Committee. 

Patricia Lemon gave the update on Friends of State Forests in Warwick. 
Brian Erickson, the guy in charge of Mt. Wachusetts, is now in charge of
much larger area and seems very amenable.  He said there is a need to
better train DCR staff in trail maintenance.  Patricia would like to see
a better turnout of Warwick people at the next meeting in June, because
at the last meeting most of the people represented interests outside of
town. 

Clare Green gave the update on the Teen Subcommittee.  Chris Duerring is
going to organize a meeting of teens, but it is not scheduled yet.  She
will check with Chris on the schedule.  Ted stressed the fast pace of
the project and the need to get them onboard soon because it may be
harder to get organized after the Summer break starts. Clare also
discussed the possibility of doing something with the students at the
Community School, which resulted in an invitation for Ted to speak to
the students there at a Friday Assembly.  Ted said that he felt
uncomfortable with the assignment since he has no experience dealing
with children and someone with age appropriate experience would be
helpful in planning.  There was some discussion and it was decided that
Clare may do the follow-up, but this her busiest time of year so it may
be difficult at best.  It was agreed that Ted and Clare will try to meet
at the library. 

Ted mentioned that he had offered to speak at the Senior Meal Site on
the day the Women's Guild Meeting immediately follows the lunch.  There
was agreement that this was a good idea and that Ted should follow up on
it. 

Kimberly began the review of Section 3 and 4.  Kimberly was given
updated information on the lakes and streams that are stocked and a
brief discussion followed. 

Ted asked if material would be accepted and Kimberly said it would be if
not extensive.  Ted stressed the need for a clean streamlined process
because the time frame is tight and it is important to have adequate
time to discuss the heart of the Plan which is the Goals and Objectives,
so he would prefer dead lines be dead lines.

Clare asked about PCB update on Miller's River.  Kimberly has not
received it.  Clare will follow up and get her source to submit it to
Kimberly.

Page 3-15:   Historic Sites Table 3-1 will be sent to Pat with Ted's
corrections by Kimberly.

There was an extensive discussion of the broadband paragraph which was
written by Jessica Atwood.  It was noted that there are no large
businesses in Warwick.  Ted submitted a correction to the paragraph
noting that Warwick was in beta stage of testing a Warwick Town
Broadband System.  Patricia noted that additional information is in the
Town Report which is on the Warwick Web Site.  There was discussion of
the need for better phone service, the survey currently being done by
Selectboard concerning problems with Verizon service. Kimberly will have
Jessica amend the paragraph.  Matt requested and Kimberly agreed to
waive the deadline requirements regarding this since new information by
come from the Survey of Verizon users. 

Kimberly noted a need for the number of new house building permits.  The
committee had the information and gave it to Kimberly. 

Kimberly asked for the date of the Build Out Analysis.  Ted said it was
l995. Post Meeting Note:  This date is wrong, and was probably the date
of data in the report not of the report itself.  The report is undated
but dated data searches suggest the correct date is 2000. 

Kimberly said she needed the number of single and two family homes in
Warwick from the Assessors.  Ted agreed to supply data.   Lively
discussion followed concerning zoning and lot size.  It was finally
agreed to keep the paragraph as is. 

There was a discussion of soil information.  Kimberly noted that it was
old data.  Mary Williamson noted that the information has recently been
digitized.  It is not new information, just in a more convenient format.
 There will be an effort to get the information to Kimberly. 
 
SECTION 4 
Kimberly used flip charts to go over all the data of Section 4 in great
detail.  This included the Brooks, Lakes and Ponds,  Recreation Areas, 
Historic Areas, Geologic Areas, and Areas of Special Interest.  There
were additions, subtractions and amendments to the 2002 Open Space Plan
Section 4.  It was noted that Warwick has a low salt use policy for
Winter road maintenance and does not use herbicides along the road
sides.  The details are in the notes of the meeting but are not included
here because without the tables they would be unintelligible.

Kimberly gave the assignment of coming up with your 3 top problems for
next meeting with her.   It would be helpful to start on them on the 13
to have them for Kimberly when she meets with us. 

Last call for edits to Section 4 - must be in by May 13. 

For May 13 meeting - prepare for discussion of whether or not to list
currently unprotected lands that should be protected and if it is
decided to list them, what lands should be on the list. 

Review Goals and Objectives of the 2002 Open Space Plan.  If things go
well, we may be able to start on them.

Next meeting May 13, Next meeting with Kimberly is May 27. 

Meeting adjourned at 9:30 PM