in order to keep to keep the kid safe in in terms of the accessibility question all playgrounds are required to be accessible so when we are looking at different structures there is usually what's called a transfer point at the base of a structure which is the place at which an individual with limited Mobility such as in a wheelchair would be able to be placed onto the structure and out of their wheelchair there are also requirements for any specific structure a certain number of play elements that must be ground level so that even if you could not get on to the structure itself there would still be things you could do from the ground so there's definitely you know a lot of existing requirements out there that both the manufacturers of these structures and we would be seeking to fulfill and part of what we're we're hoping to put out there is you know asking in in terms of proposals asking for the most accessible features possible and the most inclusive features possible okay so thanks Shar and it would be again great that somewhere in the plan it specified that we were going to meet with these safety standards you know the the commission
has done a a fantastic job of going out and res search in this stuff and we we are required to have it be in the public record you know what those things are and and I think you've done the homework we just need to write it write it down as part of the plan and and have that go so thank you so Jed would you want that shown on the plans in the form of a note in the general notes that are under a playground category that we could we can describe the depth of the wood chips and the the as the safety standards that it's meeting the Safety Stand yeah okay that would be a very acceptable way to do it perfect I I'll make sure we do that and that the structures that are going to eventually be built comply with Ada standards for some as TM or whatever governing body ou okay that it I I don't want to speak out of terms Jed is that that about right I'm just trying to think I don't know what got us onto the discussion there on all that safety stuff I I'm trying to transition from our discussion to calling on the the public I want to hear what the Public's
got to say and I guess so I think we're there there's a few more things in oh that's where we were Jim fisty okay good thanks way all right the applica next in Jim's comments or the application should include a statement by a licensed professional engineer indicating that the plan is in conformance with all applicable regulations and he notes of particular concern is determination that the project does does not negatively impact the availability of flood water storage for a 100-year event Inland Wetlands did approve the Project based upon the original plan and that is part of the record here and I don't believe that the plan dated six sub makes any substantive changes substantial changes to the initial plan that in inwi inwi Inland Wetlands reviewed Jim Joe would you be able to put that comment in about the the no reduction in the water storage area absolutely yes okay we actually
increased the storage Minor by a minor amount yes okay very good thanks okay section 11 two of the zoning regulations detail the bulk or dimensional requirements of all development the we already discussed the Pavilion and how it falls within the front yard setback Eric addressed that for the commission to consider we talked about storm water management Jim did not have an opportunity to review the lighting plan let see and that is about it Jim does have U some suggested motions here but I'm I want to get into that when we close out the public and go to deliberation right I'm not sure we're yeah I was going to say we're not sure we're there yet okay now I think that that wraps up what what Jim had there so at this point I'm going to try and run through the list of attendees that I see here for public comment and if you have anything to say now is a good time to do that and so ba I know you've commented a couple of times you're probably here from the committee that put together the thing any other comments that you'd like to make no thank you we just appreciate the time of the planning and zoning committee and look forward to seeing this project through to Brandy oh hello hello yeah I've helping on the committee also on the playground committee I also have a local business in town I'm the home daycare on Long Hill Road so this is an important project to me and I think to all the young families in town we have been talking God I don't even know 15 20 years about trying to do this so
we're very excited about it all all the families I talk to in town are very excited about it so yeah we're just ready to to get going going on it and get it all in place okay and we appreciate everything thank Celeste thank you Jed yeah I just think that this is a a wonderful project for the town and thank you to the committees for their hard work and dedication and time that they put into researching this and proposing this I agree with Brandy I think this will be a wonderful addition to the town we have lots of new families in town and I think this will be great and looking forward to playing some pickle ball and hanging out there soon so I think this is great thank you next up is Eve good evening I'm Eve I live on the corner of long hill and Riverside I was just curious if there was going to be any security cameras or anything installed at the new proposed pickle ball fields Christine you want to so address that we would like to have security that is definitely one of our goals we are trying to figure out there there are different ways to set up security and it usually needs to feedback to the resident state trooper and we're trying to figure out how that would where the cameras would reroute the information back they they it wouldn't be like a a standalone type camera unit that you could set up in your yard because someone would have to go down there and check and Rewind you know the tapes daily so we we're trying to figure out if the feed how how
to get the feed back to the resident state trooper or even through the Public Works building across the river so we would really like to have that in place just to make this to keep this area as beautiful and and just to make sure everybody's using it in a responsible way understood thank you so much Hank any comments for us on this did we satisfy your concerns in the letter that you sent us I believe so I had a step out so I missed a bit a little bit of it Jed so the only question I had is I heard that it was
you know it was shielded dark sky compliant but do with as far as the type of lighting the warmth of the lighting do we do we manage to fall within that 4500 the 5700 or so Kelvin I don't know that I saw that on the plan and so we'll have to take a look at that I don't know the answer to that Hank I saw some numbers there but I don't know what those numbers meant so Hank I can answer that so the the specific lighting detail sheets that we got have multiple options for that so when we specify it we would specify a an LED bulb or bulbs for usage that are in the correct range great and then the only other comment I have had is I think to follow
up on something Jed that you were talking about the height of the poles I heard I think I heard 30 feet I don't know what the standard is you know so I'm less conversent on that but I would certainly weigh in that obviously the lower the better because you're going to have less you know less throw you know to the periphery you know beyond the the the the courts but I think as long as we maintain the you know that high percentage of the lighting being maintained on the you know within 35 ft of the of the courts and so forth you're you're good but that's I think that's worth exploring you know what the what the height options are oh okay thank you Hank yep next person on the list is Jeremy I think you're probably here with John I don't know if you had any comments you wanted to make at this point Jeremy no I'm here for the pccd discussion thank you okay very good Katherine Hutchinson yes thank you my only question is is to whether or not the proposed plan particularly with regard to the play area anyone has consulted
with the town's insurance carrier to make sure that they're not going to require something that either hasn't been covered here or that they might want to have to change their PL in order to be compliant with what the insurance company might require Christine I'll go back to you as kind of the the leader of the the group there was there any discussion on that sounds like a good point to check that is that is a great Point we have to look into that I don't know if it would follow under the same categories as the playscape that is currently at the Andover elementary school if it would be under that umbrella or in addition to we'll have to look at the town's policy but that is an excellent point thank you for bringing it to our attention yeah welcome so I can partially answer that the town uses kerma which is a members based Municipal insurance program and it's basically a loss Bas program so there in in something like this we would work with them in terms of Hazard mitigation which we do for a lot of things but they never tell the town you can or you can't do anything they just have their risk management review whatever it is that you're you're proposing to do but our rate only go up if we have actual accidents that are reportable claims so was there something on in there that we needed to to check with because we're adding this additional liability or you think we're good to go there Eric I mean I could certainly put a note into our kerma rep and you know I
would actually think the pickle ball courts probably have as much liability as the playgrounds because you think about all the residents that are aging and that are more susceptible to injuries who are now going out and doing things to make themselves healthy there is definitely an increased accident risk but you know but I I would bet that the vast maj majority of towns in the kerma that are covered by kerma have both multiple playgrounds as well as pickle ball courts and other athletic facilities you know they've not had a problem with any of our previous recreational offerings so I don't think it would be an issue but I'm happy to reach out to Kera okay y I appreciate that I think it is a good point just to make sure we're not probably the the only result would be your your bill would go up a little but I don't know but I also don't necessarily think
that's a zoning issue I don't yeah I I don't think it is either I just thought it was something that we probably want to take a look at Jed this is Katherine again yep go ahead my thought being is that I know when the church came and did insurance came and did its annual review and looking at the church property that that was one of the things that they had called to our attention and required that we do very specific things in order to have the coverage I would just hate to see the project that's under the discussion tonight go forward and then find out that the insurance company was going to require something to with regard to the liability insurance that the town has just a suggestion for try to get everything taken care of before the final approval or whatever if that's what's going to happen that every base be covered understand and appreciate appreciate the comment Katherine we we owe it to ourselves whether even though it's not the zoning issue the the the commission that put together the plan owes to work with Eric to make sure that we're all okay there now my thought being that the plan that you if it's approved is not going to cause problems with the insurance that could be taken care of while this process before Planning and Zoning is going forward
that's it just say I trying to I see what you're saying if there's anything we need to add to the detail to make it so that we're in good shape yeah okay just a suggestion no thank you anything else guile sorry I was muted I'm just waiting for the portion of the very good Sarah do you have any other comments for us I don't think so I just wanted to say as someone that you know grew up in Andover and has now returned to raise my own family here I really think that having a area with a playground and the pickle ball courts and the Pavilion will just be a tremendous asset to the well-being of the community both physic physically and in terms of you know social and emotional health and we know that that's an area where a lot of people have been struggling and that bringing people together and bringing people together Outdoors is just going to be a tremendous asset for our town so I really hope that we can make this happen thank you thanks SAR and Shannon well Sarah almost took away my thunder but I'll add some some things first of all Jed thank you to you and the commission for all of your time this evening and your consideration really appreciate it as someone who was on the committee dealing with the soccer field development when we were dealing with that Grant I was so pleased that we got this other Grant because ever since that time as Brandy kind of alluded to we very much have wanted to put a playground in and when we had our first meeting of this committee the number one
priority was getting a playground as every everybody who's on here knows who's had any kids in town the only playground that now exists is at the school and while school is in session there's no other place to bring kids in Andover to play on a playground so that's been a top priority and as Sarah just mentioned we wanted to try to appeal to the entire town so to provide a social place while the Pavilion is there the pickle ball Courts for us aging community who can still get around a pickle ball court and then I think it was really important something that that a lot of us came to similarly the only basketball court that's Outdoors is at the school as well so instead of creating a fourth pickle ball court we thought it would be great to have that area available as an area where kids could play while parents or grandparents play Pickleball for basketball or for other sports to try to be an all-encompassing area so I'm on the committee as an as an alternate I've really been pleased with all of the work that we've done and our chairs have done a a fantastic job Christine's knowledge has been invaluable so I really hope that the town sees the importance of this project and and lets us go forward thank you thanks Jen and I think those were the only people that that
I see on my listing here the names popped around a little bit is there anybody out there that I missed hey Jed Jed it's Wayne I one thing I neglected to bring up on the lighting is the hours of operation and I know Hank had some recommendations in concerning migratory birth words but does the does the recreation the the Andover Recreation committee have any thoughts or or do they have any thoughts concerning hours of lighting that should be considered I thought I heard the discussion of nine or 10 which fell within Hank's concern of 11 I think so right that's where we're at okay yep so I think we got that that
covered from Hank's concern anyhow very good wa I think also people will be during during the heat of the summer when the days are really hot people might be waiting till after dinner to go out and play but it's not dark in Midsummer until after 8:00 so it might be a 2hour window that they're on whereas in the spring or the fall as the day nights are starting to get warmer and people are starting to play outside again you know it's getting dark at you know 7 or 6:37 7:30 you know they might go on a little bit earlier but we want to cap the the end time so spring and fall might have a little bit more of a duration but in the summertime we'll have the smallest duration that the lights will be coming on my thoughts were that the committee
would have a better feel for the pickle ball enthusiasts and when they might want to be using the pickle ball courts than someone like me well we we do know I mean In the Heat of the summer they are waiting till after did they either playing early in the morning and they're trying to wrap up before 9 or 10:00 a.m. just so they're not out when the sun is really high and then usually later in the afternoon as the sun's starting to go down and the air is a little bit cooler I think it's a it's a day by day but I do see a lot of people in the summertime playing very early in the morning you know 7:00 to 9:30 10 maybe 11: if if it's not too hot and then through the afternoon there's usually a
break and then a pickup around dinner time or after dinner and that is a discussion that's required to be part of the lighting plan so we we need to have that you know flushed out a little bit when we get to talk about that at this point Hank Did you have a comment there I see your your name popped up I I just wanted to note that the timing you know which was no lighting from 11: p.m. to 6: am really was in two migratory Windows the summer is outside of those windows so if folks were there earlier or later in the summer months June through early early August they'd be fine because the the migratory windows are August 15th to November 15th and April 1st to May 31st so basically you've got June through August 14th where you know the the timing is really not a big issue okay thank you Hank so at this point I think that's all the discussion that we wanted to have on the plan for tonight the next up on the agenda is close or continue the public hearing and my sense would be we need to continue the public hearing the the lighting plan needs a little more work on it the setback issue my my sense is that Eric came up with a a creative solution if that's what the town wants to propose they should propose that as part of the formal plan and we'll have a chance to think about it and and discuss that at our next meeting and then the third thing that I've got to wrestle with is I noticed that we started the recording a little late very late in the public hearing and I think what that might
require us to do is have that initial part of the public hearing over again so we can have that discussion and be part of the public record I'm not an expert on that we haven't had the problem of not recording the thing in the past but I think that's the way that's going to end up going Jed that was I I ended up hitting record I I didn't notice until later that the meeting hadn't hadn't been auto recording I happened to notice up at the top that it wasn't set for auto record so I I switched it on so I apologize for that no I I understand and I didn't back you up when when you the little Banner normally signs up there that recording in progress and so but it is a requirement that I think it's a requirement that the public hearing be recorded and so I'll have to figure out the best way to do that but between those those three issues and it gives us a chance to since I think
we'll be going through the drawings again if we have an updated drawing at the start of the next meeting you know the the we can talk about the changes that were made and and discuss those and and get that all in the record but I think with with those couple of issues you know we cannot close out the public hearing tonight so I intend to continue the public public hearing at our next meeting on February 18th and if all goes well we would be able to make a decision following the closure of the public hearing at that point any commission members have any comments or concerns about that way ahead okay so at this point we adjourn the public hearing for tonight
to be continued on February 18th I think is our next February 18 next meeting next up on the agenda is call to order the regular meeting it's 8:40 I call the meeting to order and I'm looking for the we we are still recording are we not John yeah okay yeah we're good roll call and seating of alterat I see all the regular commission members present I don't see any alternates here tonight so so the regular commission is here the alternates are absent and we will seat none of the alternates changes in additions to the agenda I have none public Communications limited to concerns not slated for the public hearing anybody from the public have any
comments at this point okay up new business first is the application of the town of hand over on the pickle ball courts play gapes Etc and we will not be deliberating that item tonight we'll wait until after we close the public hearing at the at the next meeting review and comment on the budget for the coming year and John if you can let me share my screen yeah you should be able to let's see it's been so long since I did this I forgot there we go kay I've got a couple of the blocks okay the blocks are G away from the where the business is one of the one of the concerns in our current budget is is we we have about used up the the budget for the year for Professional Services and that ends up primarily due to the legal proceedings on the gravel pit and so I would like to think that we're about at the end of that but we're probably not and so I feel that you know for next year we've got to at least raise the budget up from 6,500 to 10,000 I don't know that that's going to be enough but legal legal things as we knew when we started are not cheap so that was my recommendation there training I'm hoping that all the commission members attend the Connecticut Bar Association training on March 22nd that's the biannual training we have to do so that if we do that this year training budget should not need
very much money next year and I lowered it to $150 just in case somebody's got some training that we need to do in there and then the mapping we've got a big mapping project going on right now trying to fix up our zoning map we are taking we're looking to take the money for that out of Professional Services it it was a bill of like $3,000 way more than we had for printing Maps so I left it standard three $300 for mapping and that would be printing out Maps once we got them right so that's that's what I would propose for our budget for next year and I will make a motion to approve the budget as discussed I'll second that joh thank you Scott any discussion on the budget from anybody hearing none I'll call for a vote an hi Scott hi Patrick I I'm sorry I couldn't get to the mute button fast enough is there any way we could print out those maps in House at the Town Hall I don't know maybe we could I'll check into it but I'm sure that in the past that $300 has gone to providing us some of those professional services that we end up overspending so it's not like we don't get to take advantage of them okay so I'd like to leave the number there that's what we've done and and I'm sure we print out whatever we can but that be that so Patrick your vote hi Leanne hi and I vote I as well motion to approve the budget passes 50000 sharing next up is Hank and apologize we're running a little late tonight but I think it was all good
stuff but Hank your turn you're on okay can I share screen am I able to do that yep you should be able to w okay folks see that yeah me hold on put it into slideshow mode okay and I thank the Commission in advance for allowing us to take up two sessions of your of your time so I'll try to get through this it'll depend I guess on the the amount of questions you might have about of the recommendations so at the last meeting we presented on the results of our open space analysis and the natural resource you know and our process for the natural resource inventory based on the that work we we have come up with some draft
recommendations that we'd like to you know for consideration over the next 10 years you know as we plan on trying to achieve some of the goals assoc that we've outlined for protecting our natural resources and for open space so just as a refresher there we we've looked at the recommendations in three broad categories policy recommendations which primarily focus on the open space plan regulatory recommendations which primarily address the inla wetlands and water courses commission regulations and zoning regulations in particular the Ard the rural design regulations and then a group we call management which involves the work of the Conservation Commission some of the work of Public Works Department land owners in town and the Andover Lake Association and this really involves more non-regulatory it's more about trying to imp promote and Implement more best management practices townwide that assist with some of our natural resources o quickly the for the policy recommendations around the open space plan these are very similar to the recommendations that were made back in 2015 with the open space which were basically to utilize the open space map and supporting data from the natural resource inventory when prioritizing Parcels within open space corridors for protection through acquisition transfer development rights or Andor conservation easements so basically it's really to use that information to help prioritize areas that we might pursue for various easements or acquisition continue the fee and Le
of that's in place for open space where appropriate and budget will recommending an annual budget of $50,000 if possible for the open space fund and I know we've made gains on in in that area which is which is good seek open space funding through State min ipal cost sharing program and coordinate open space goals with Joshua's trust Joshua's trust is the land trust that really we we fall within their catchment area so there's opportunities for Partnerships around acquisition of open space and and working with Jos trust to to you know to help Provide support for Acquisitions that we might pursue State funding usually they fund two-year budgets that provide some matching fun fing for towns to per you know that are that are pursuing open space so there's some good Grand opportunities there we made an attempt
last year and we're pursuing that but the the property sold before we were able to actually submit the the grant we actually got to the stage of finalizing the Grant and communicating with deep but we never really formally submitted proactively engag land owners of critical undeveloped Parcels within open space corridors regarding long-term conservation options and this to me is is a real important piece landowner relations are very critical to protection and natural resources regulations really only get so far really working with land owners is is a critical piece and a critical chunk of that is really looking at building relationships to help promote opportun so that land owners understand the options that they might have should they want to preserve land as easements or you know should they be interested in long-term protection of of of their properties so that we we're a strong advocate of building landowner relations and moving forward and some of the roles that we're going to take within the Conservation Commission will be toward that goal utilize the natural resource inventory data and maps to guide various use of Municipal open space and we've already taken strides on that with some mowing recommendations that we can we can talk about so really these all address sort of policies to pursue managing our open space correctly as well as potentially acquiring or protecting additional open space in a very strategic manner based on the information that we based on the open space that we have protected now and based on the results of our natural resource inventory Hank are you aware of any open any properties that we should be looking at now for open space acquisition yeah there's a few that that periodically come up that we've we've you know
we'll we'll tend to keep our eye on and had discussions I mean you know there was the the large the of course there was the property along the skunka mug river that that is ass mostly in the town of centry but there's significant acreage in and over the old Times Farm Camp you know there was that property but that was obviously ver I understand that's that's in process now of potentially reopening as a camp I don't know all the details but that was one you know there's been you know the Lano property which we made a a a significant effort to try to get an open space Grant with the state to try to purchase but was end up being purchased by a a private individual before we could move on it so there you know we we've there are some that we've mapped out we need a process I think a little bit more proactively to
monitor as stuff goes up and that gets to my point Jed the proactive landowner relations if you remember we actually colorcoded all of those large Parcels that are undeveloped within the open space corridors and that's one of our goals is to really start to build landowner relations there to see see to to try to get ahead of of of losing Parcels thanks so to move so those are really more the open space policy recommendations I don't know if there's other questions about any of that or if you would prefer me to just continue to go through the various regulation changes and and other areas before we and ask questions at the end do you have a preference Jed I think we should press on with your regulation changes okay we shall press on so in the first ones that we're T touching based on deal with the wetlands regulations and in our Wetlands regulations Section 1.6 list currently lists areas of special concern so we're recommending that that list be updated to include cold water streams and vernal pools as as important special areas within our and we have more detail on these that we can submit including the existing language and our specific recommended language changes you know that that we can
provide the second one is to expand the Upland review area in section 2.26 to include the Hop River cold water streams and vernal pools to 300 feet currently it's 200 feet most the most wetlands in town the Upland review area is 100 feet within those areas that are in section 1.6 those areas of special concern it's currently 200 feet so for example around the Hop River it's 200 feet we're recommending that to expand that to 300 feet the justification of that is that's consistent with the science of where the the the amount of land that basically you start to see what are called Edge impacts that can be that can occur within those systems and just to as a reminder a 300 foot up and review area does not prohibit activity within that area it just opens it up for review for application and review it's not a a set buffer for example in L Wetlands amend section 7 . 6D to include the commission may require an animal or plant inventory of the Wetland Andor surrounding up and review areas that's language that's in other towns regulations and it it dovetails with the ability of the wetlands commission to be able to utilize the Vernal pool data that that was collected in the natural resource inventory so if there was an application pending where they felt it was important to collect where we didn't have inventory data because it was on private land and we didn't have access that the commission could recommend
that in that that data be collected as part of the information that they would you use to review the the project amend section 4.4 to require a notification of Timber Harvest form currently there is that is one of the areas where we see a lot of variability and we're relying on the applicants or the the contract Foresters to determine whether there's a wetland they're within an Upland review area or whether there's a Vernal pool on as part of the Timber Harvest and what I'm seeing is that there's a there's wide variability on what we're what the commission is actually receiving for applications and that's an area I think that we need to strengthen the review potential Timber Harvest is a byright activity but that is the bught is Det determined by the commission so the commission you know basically makes that determination if that activity is by right so I think it's important to look at getting more advanced notification of Timber Harvest associated with our parcels and you'll see that show up a little bit
later in one of the other regulations we'll recommend it Han could I could I could I tell you something about yes Scott you certainly the the state requires every town to be notified of any timber Harvest just you know that's just another whether or not whether or not it's in a in it's encroaches on a wetland yeah it it doesn't matter Harvest is supposed the town supposed to be notified yeah there is a there is a there is a a formal Timber Harvest form and that's what we're recommending sort of adopting to be able to utilize to you know as part of that review process and that could be jointly used used with the the the Vernal pool map and the wetlands maps to determine whether there's the Harvest Falls within a the Harvest plan Falls within an area
that would require potentially require a review the other thing it does is it provides the other it because it's proactive in that case it allows it gives you an ability to promote best management practices so the goal of it isn't necessary to restrict Timber Harvest it's really to be able to promote more best management practices associated with those and make sure that we're catching all of those that are potentially impacting some of the the wetlands of priority wetlands in town so to move a bit to zoning regulations the Ard 5.5.7 point5 we're recommending replacing existing 75% removing 7 100% instead of 75% of the Wetland acreage from the calculation for building allowances underd 5.5.7 point1 we're recommending replacing 40% with 50% as the minimum amount of open space set aside in the Ard 5B point0 and 5.5.2 a replace Parcels of 10 10 acres or greater with 5 Acres or greater to be the default development method for open space subdivision in other words we're trying to promote more within our open space areas in those Ard we're trying to Pro promote more open space you know preservation through that mechanism would that be just within the corridors
you have or is that everywhere right now it would this would apply to where wherever you have zoned Ard a good a discussion could be had is to limitate within corridors you know our concern is primarily within the corridors because those are the areas that we've you know sort of mapped and recognized as was done back in 2015 we have more robust data now but as areas that are the priority for conservation of natural resources and for open space so those are the areas where we have the highest priority for achieving those goals so again those are you know discussions I think that need to be had and Jed as I mentioned this is something where I think you know the the to me the you know collecting the information up front you you then move forward over the next 10 years of you know doing the the work with the different commissions to to vet this and make the you know make your changes or make your your adjustments going forward you know with a goal of you know at the end of the 10-year period of the pocd having achieved various goals so these are good those will be good discussions to be had okay let's see where I am 16.42% . 5.3 and ardd 5.5.9 point5 we're recommending including Conservation Commission in The Advisory role for planning and open space control currently the Conservation Commission is not listed in that in that regulation we're recommending that the commission be listed as part of the review process consider this is a big one consider establishing a floating or overlay Zone encompassing The Hop River and craft appropriate setback regulations and this comports to Public
Act 2129 which basically it it put it pretty much mandated to zoning commissions to protect natural you know to one of the goals was to further protect environmental resources especially Water Quality quality associated with navigable Waters to Long Island Sound which The Hop River River would fall within and many of our rivers and water courses in the state do The Hop river is that Corridor is probably one of our greatest planting challenges in town because it is an area that is key you know has primary you know agriculture use is is very strong there there's good agricultural soils and a lot of Farmland existing obviously it's a major area for recreation with this with the Hop River State Park trail there and the various uses that are opportunities for recreation along that system the fishing and so forth stuff we were just talking about earlier on the commission with the pickleball courts it's also obviously the major transportation Corridor runs along it as well as our one of the major areas for economic development and it also sets sort of the scenic sort of trajectory for the town so it hits on a lot of I won't say competing interest because oftentimes they're not competing they can be collaborative interests but basically there's a lot of land use plans for that Corridor so I strategically we we feel that that
really takes looking at this in a way that is more holistic and a more proactive planning approach to try to balance those land use to make sure that we don't in our case in our purview we don't impact critical resources along there but other folks would have other areas that they're interested in in making sure that they're trying to realize and that's that's the balance and one way to get at that maybe to look at that as an overlay Zone and really Drive our consideration of that Corridor because it's very unique area within Andover I'll go so far as go a bit out on a limb here to say that I also think a future goal should be to look at an intermunicipal compact with Columbia and centry and Bolton to explore the possibility of that looking at that hop River quarter more collaboratively regarding some of these you know land use initiatives I know there are some joint initiatives around the corridor but to be quite Frank that the natural resources effort that I've seen associated with them hasn't been what I think it needs to be to balance and that's one that already The Hop river is under various pressures that are affecting its quality and I think we really we owe it to ourselves to be able
to really get on top of that because it's such a valuable resources for many many of the land use values that we hold in in in the town including natural resources and Public Act 21219 I think gives us leverage and strengthens our ability to to to do that so Hank can I jump can I ask you a question about that sure you can so that would so it wouldn't when you say when you the phrasing you use was setbacks but it could be a whole raft of overly regulations about impervious surface on-site infiltration low impact development whatever like just basically a bunch of water qual bunch of water quality techniques and stuff sure yeah okay yeah no no yeah and then the difference too from between the setback you know it opens up a whole John it opens up a whole host of opportunities
of how you would go with that but one of the things to understand about the setback which is different than say an Upland review area an Upland review area is basically you're saying say you know the 100 foot Upland review area for our Wetlands means if you're doing a regulated activity within that we're requiring an application so that our commission our Wetlands commission can review that and make a determination on whether there's significant impacts and you know and and offer advice on how to balance those and so on and so forth to try to you know mitigate avoid or mitigate impacts to those Wetlands a setback is a little different a setback is where you basically can say hey within a 100 feet of the Hop River you can't put a structure so it's not a review thing it's basically saying you're not doing this because that 100 feet around that is is is critical so we would want to look at that and look you know look at again you know that the the world of tools within within that overlay area that would enable us to basically protect the water quality and protect those other values from a recreational standpoint from a you know from Transportation standpoint a variety of different approaches to protect that system we're looking at it strictly from the natural resources but we recognize that there are a wide range of values associated with that and you know to me one of the challenges is these are often looked at as competing resources you often see it that way you know balance and I almost trapped myself into it saying you know balance the competing uses they're not necessarily competing uses you know they can they
can the trick is you know what you're doing and where you're doing it within there and how you're doing it and that requires being proactive on the review front so that you can basically effectively achieve your multiple goals yes you're going to have occasions where you run a you know you you you you run it loggerheads at a particular site but the re reality of is more like a bell curve with most of the stuff Falls within the middle and with good proactive planning you can achieve you can achieve your multiple values through that effort rather than looking back and saying gez we wish we had done that or somebody complaining that you know it's too late to go back now so I think that gives us an opportunity and I think it would be that would be interesting discussions on you know whether you know you know we we want as a town wanted to pursue that as a way to look at our The Hop River Corridor and then finally from management standpoint and again this is I'm a big fan of you only can get so much through regulatory it really requires a public investment and value of natural resources and I believe that you know we tend to have that in our communities you talk with folks they value the land they value the land for a lot of reasons they value and it's really all about the land so
there's various roles that are played within that so for example within the wons commission utilizing the Vernal pool maps and data collected in the NRA to guide relevant application reviews and through that process even though that's a regulatory process oftentimes you can provide a lot of comments and recommendations that are best management recommendations that are not necessarily a regulatory cudle but because you've now have an application before you it gives you that opportunity to weigh in on on a particular project Public Works and the Conservation Commission a good example of that is there was when Carrie cromton was on our commission over the past couple of years there were a lot of conversations had with Eric and with Public Works about seasonal mowing recommendations around municip ipal our Municipal properties to support pollinator habitat including the the establishment of a monarch way station along the Hop River Trail that has signage and is monitored and maintained and MaryAnn and Carrie were out there this year maintaining it so that's a good example of looking at and we've mapped certain areas that this is supportive you know
looking at best management practices that enhance pollinator habitat which adds to beautification which you know ties to the trail I mean there's these These are it's a good example of of using good management Strategic Management the Conservation Commission we are very interested in have already begun this promoting natural resource conservation service has a variety of programs that are available to land owners that will help pay for various management and enhancement of habitats all the way from invasive plant removal to putting up bat boxes to agriculture I mean there's a variety to forestry applications we've already held two workshops for land owners but this is another good example of reaching out to land owners in a proactive way to promote best management opportunities based on their goals for their Pro property but also gives us the opportunity to inform them what we found through our natural resource inventory resources they may not be aware of and management practices they may not be aware of but gives them opportunities and to fulfill some of their goals in a way that that ties with natural resource goals within within the town but again proactive and then same with Farmland protection programs to support the agriculture Community we already have some parcels in in various agriculture lands there are numerous agricultural lands along the Hop River they serve multiple functions both agricultural functions as
well as Prime habitat for many species beautification there so there's again there's best management practices associated with those that can be used that will not only allow you know continue with agricultural goals but can now be you know better support some of the natural resources goals about preserving things like biodiversity good example of that is the Hop River Corridor The Hop River supports a reg a state and region significant population of the wood turtle that's a a state listed species that's currently under review by the fish and wildlife service for for listing under the federal Endangered Species Act and that decision it was due last year who knows when that will come down but there are certain mowing practices that can enh that reduce injury and mortality to Wood turtles that use hay fields and Fields along the river system and I can show you many images of wood Turtles with big chunks out of their shell from from mowing equipment so there's there's ways that practices mowing practices that that that can reduce that so as the Conservation Commission we're gonna that's one of the outreaches that we're
we're looking at undertaking with our agricultural community and that strategic Zone along the Hop River Corridor provide information and guidance regarding notification Timber harvests and promote best management practices regarding wetlands and water courses including veral pools to land owners this gets back to the farry form once again once if if we if we are getting forums in now that to review for Timber Harvest this provides the opportunity to engage with the the landowner as well as the Forester that's usually contracted by the landowner to be able to have a conversation on that plan and pro promote best met forestry practices that support other goals Beyond just Timber harvest the value of the Timber Harvest and finally coordinate with we need to we as the Conservation Commission we feel we need to do a better job of working with Alma on
planning for conservation management of Andover Lake and its Waters shed that's obviously one of our primary high value natural resources and recreational resources in town that that maintaining the water quality of that can be challenging Jay Jed you alluded to that earlier but and we we right now don't have a a you know a I would say a collaborative relationship with them we just haven't worked with them but that's one thing we'd like to work for more forward on to look at best management practices and how we can help support protecting that resource so these are I think that's the last one yep so those are a list of the recommendations that we've drafted as I mentioned we have a document that actually takes the language that we have the existing language and then you know shows that and then imp you know shows how what changes we would like to make so as we go through the process with the plan of conservation development we
would like to have the that process consider these recommendations to utilize the information that we've collected as a way to implement the the information that we've collected through our natural resource inventory and open space mapping and I'll stop there because I know that's a hell of a lot thank have you had any discussions with Joe Wagner on those Inland Wetlands recommendation I what I am not on the regulation changes I sat down with Joe when we completed the natural resource inventory I sat down with Joe and at the Town Hall and I gave him all of our files I gave him the I I I showed well I showed him how to log on to the our GIS site and on argis public site so he could access all of our maps including the Vernal pool map and our Wetlands maps that we have there I shared with him the complete spreadsheet database that ties to that for the vernal pools which was the inventory as well as the best development documents that are that that our work was based off of that that the wetlands commission can use in reviewing applications that provide the best management strategies for for working around those S wetlands and veral pools so he has all that information I have not gone through the regul you know the recommended regulation changes I've had some sort of off the record conversations you know when we were jointly reviewing for example a forestry application together you know so and I've you know I've I've given indications that you know that that we were looking at potential changes to
certain areas of the regulations and certain policies but we hadn't you know hadn't formally form you know formulated them yet so he's aware of some of it but not all of the specifics and he has all of the information so the information could actually be being used right now yeah good I think the recommendations are good they're specific and I think we'd actually have a good shot at actually doing them so you know what what could be better than that is there somebody on Alma that you coordinate with we actually have to we there there hasn't been we have two new and the names are going to escape me because it's been I think Eric knows one of them there are two two new individuals who have expressed an interest and MaryAnn probably could weigh in because she's been in contact with them two individuals who have expressed an interest in joining the commission and one of them is is a part of Alma that would be fantastic yeah Alma does two meetings a year one's normally in June one's in October and to have you know that Lis on person whether they're if they're on both commissions that brings you the information otherwise you could attend the meetings there and and speak your peace but I think that's an easy relationship to build yeah no I agree and that's one I think we need to do for sure okay commission members have any questions for Hank remember Harvest thing Hank I I agree with you just to be a little bit more strict and you know some kind of like guidelines definitely you know I I only mentioned to you that the the the state
requires anyone that's harvesting Timber to notify the town in addition to what you were saying you know those notification forms are out there the I think the state is rewriting the timber Harvest notification for to so it's a state form so all those things should be in your regulations that you know require all that stuff yeah that would be just like you know the building permit gets rooted to the Zoo to make sure that there's no zoning right issues in there and that's just a workflow issue that right we need to get but that makes all the sense in the world yep that's exactly right Jed it's a workflow it's basically just a and it gives you a proactive look at it yep Doo you review the recommendations that you had for you know the zoning ranks but they all seemed they all consist they they seem to support the directions that I'd like to go I assume you know most of the other commission members would too and I think those are easy changes to make yeah I I mean I do I think it supports the direction when you know we went back and looked at both the 2015 plan of conservation development as far as it related to open space and natural resources you know it I think we're
building on what was done then and I think when you look at the regulations what you did with the Ard especially you know there's you know we're building on work that's been done you know so and I and I that so it makes sense to me okay and I know we want to get with you John and I and ever else you want to you talk about the way ahead there we're not quite ready to sit down with you with our zoning map that's not proceeded quite as fast as I was hoping but we're improving that and one of the steps we want to do before we agree with the zoning zones that we have is we see where where your you know highly
desirable properties are to protect and we make sure we're not doing something on word there so I'll get with you and John here at some point soon and we'll figure out when we can get together to do something like that we look forward to it okay and we thank you for your your your consideration and you know for working with us thank you Hank Maryann Maryann do you have anything else you want to share with us no I'll said just when do you expect she'll be ready to meet with us to start proceeding with some of the logistics well I am thinking that you know I got to find out with with John's schedule a little bit but Thursday mornings seem to be open for me and and we get together with John I don't know how that works for you and Hank at all but I would hope that we get something you know early February okay right anything else no I don't thank you very much thank you you D yes D hi it's lean that was I would hope that when you're making arrangements to meet that anything that's done would come back to this commission I it it almost sounds like it would almost have to oh absolutely yeah once we get once we get the chapter you're going to get to review it weigh in on it and all that stuff we'll have more discussions on it we're just
trying to figure out how to go from Hank slides to a chapter that we can look at okay I wasn't sure exactly what was going to happen after you you know if you schedule as you were starting to say some morning meetings what was going to be the next step yeah well next step is draft a chapter okay and then once we get the draft then we'll all get a chance to look at that okay good John this is this is the only topic we have on plan of conservation and development did you have anything else you wanted to you or Jeremy
wanted to discuss here with us tonight no just a just a heads up Jeremy and I have drafted up a sort of an introductory chapter that kind of does an overview of what a planet conservation development is what andover's history has been what the state plan you know process is and some of the background demographics and and trends that we talked a little bit about demographics and Trends you know probably nine months ago but this is sort of a put it in chapter format we were doing a little bit of editing on it yesterday and today and we will basically send it out probably this week just for people to read through over the next month and we'll we'll look for editorial comments next time and we're also finalizing a map that that identifies key Transportation improvements to accompany the complete streets chapter so we're we're continuing to do some Drafting and development in the background and we'll we'll distribute this stuff shortly and then J again as you said our our next step is to basically take the very excellent work that that the Conservation Commission basically is serving up on a silver platter and and convert it to the appropriate format for for the PCD chapter and then we'll have hopefully an economic development discussion in February February might get full depending upon the public hearing thing but we'll we'll take a look at when we can can get them teed up and ready to go here yeah so please please do send out that that draft to the first chapter it it looks different than the
last pccd introduction and yeah I think it it's great I I like the flow of it the tone of it and I think it's good work so but a real writer to to handle this stuff okay excellent thank you John and thanks for coming Jeremy you have anything for us while you're sitting there no I got lots of good notes and I have my marching orders for moving forward so thank you very much everybody okay yep thanks for coming tonight Jeremy thank you the next up is the status of litigation involving the gravel there's nothing Earth shattering there I would like to pass on that subject just in the interest of time there's certainly nothing for anybody to be concerned about if there's an interest I can I can it would be less than 10 minutes on our night but and I can give you a brief on where it stands should we do that or well here's how we find out I motion that the Commission in exe in her executive session to discuss pending litigation concerning the Gravel Pit All commission members Town manager prospective zoning agent and town planner are invited to attempt anybody want to second that motion second okay thank you Leanne I'll call for vote Patrick if we don't have any new information then I'll my vote is no for executive session okay well there's no new information that won't keep till next month Leanne yes so it sounds like Jed you're the deciding vote well so I will vote Yes
Leanne voted yes Patrick was no an was no and that was a maybe I guess the motion did not pass so we we forur that this [Music] month approval of the minutes from December 2024 I'll make a motion that the minutes from our December meeting in 2024 be approved I'll second that okay any discussion on the [Music] minutes I had a question I think I can bring it up quickly go ahead a question not necessarily a correction under number 10 administrative reports yep again this is a question this may have happened this way I just don't know in the middle of the sentence talking about it says bike rack is behind the ice is behind ice machine semicolon storm water management is required as part of approval is that correct does storm water management have something to do with it or again I'm just asking because it doesn't seem to fit but I'm not sure that that it's not part of the approval storm water management has nothing to do with the bike rack in the ice machine and I don't recall what the storm management comment is and Jim's not here to ask it so I can't answer the question anybody else have any insight on that I think I Jed I think I can answer the question I believe
we're supposed to receive a report yearly from the property okay and and we have not that would be good I was I was actually thinking over the course of the last month that I remembered they had a bang up system for taking care of storm water but it required maintenance and so that's probably that yep so I guess the way way the comment is there Leanne is with the semicolon after ice machine I understand that part and then we need a storm water management report so maybe if we were to put the word report after management there that would make that clear okay so it's again it has nothing to do with the bike rack or the ice machine so maybe if we had the word report like you just said and then maybe mention the yearly report that we're supposed to get because even if if we just add the word report I reading that I still wouldn't be clear it still to me implies it has something to do with a
bike rack okay like if we just make it a little more clear that it's a separate item that we're supposed to get a yearly report that we haven't gotten and storm water management is part of that report so here's the here's where I would propose the correction storm water management report is required as part of approval a yearly report is required and has not been I think just maybe make it a separate sentence is that okay because again it is a separate item if it has nothing to do with the bike rack it just reading that you wouldn't know what you just said about or what Wayne just said about a yearly report okay let me try again here so we put a period after machine and then we say a storm water management report is required annually is part of the approval and this report has not been received yes that sounds really good okay got it thank you any other comments on the minutes hearing none I'll call for a vote to approve the minutes as amended
an i Scott I Patrick I Leanne I and I vote I as well motion passes 5 Z next up ministrator report zoning agent Wayne not the zoning agent yet but well on your way anything for us yeah you're muted Wayne you're M muted Wayne yeah there we go all right no correspondence was received we've had one board member who's asked for training the Bar Association training to date come on who and who's the one because I thought he didn't I thought I did okay and Wayne I also left him two messages did you okay I signed up yeah I see Patrick's hands up all right okay I also so John Patrick Scott J Scott how about Leanne Leanne I signed up too yep yeah we knew you did we had your your name last time we talked about training over there yeah okay my bad my bad oh that's okay now on the zoning agent you know Leanne brought up the comment the first time Wayne showed up in a meeting that we needed to vote for I wasn't sure what we were vote for but to approve Wayne to officially officially appoint him as an authorized officer to interpret and enforce your regulations well that's so I thought that that's what it was going to be and I looked at
our our bylaws and it says that the zoning commission votes on staff assignments and so not going to do that tonight but we'll do that in February to and you know so before he can be the official staff guy now normally somebody would leave and it's not the best practice but then after a while somebody new comes then the Planning and Zoning commission votes to to have that guy be the the staff this was a little different we were fortunate enough to have a very nice long turnover period And I think you know Wayne is ready to take the reins here probably by the end of February early March something like that so we will discuss that more exact time frame at the next meeting but but but Wayne's getting getting close to saying he's ready to hop in the saddle and then we will vote at that point on making Wayne the staff zoning agent I appreciate your confidence Jed yep I've enjoyed working with you Wayne there's you you'll probably make a mistake or two I make them all the time and don't like it when I do but there you go and but you've got an awful lot of good organization and workflow and and that kind of stuff that
you can bring to us and I'm looking forward to that in L wless water course we approved the the playground application at our last meeting and that was all that we had there and town planner John anything else for us there no I I have nothing additional okay yeah so commission discussion anybody have anything up for commission discussion hey Jed yeah hi yeah I just want to make sure that the economic development commission also gets some time with you and John and we can go over some of our ideas for the future because you know it's really important that our small businesses are supported and that we make sure that we with these new overlays that we have spots secured for the the growth of our town places for these walkways to go places for the town to be connected to because that ultimately is going to draw in you know ecotourism agrotourism all that stuff we were talking about the last meeting we we just need to make sure that we're all working together and make sure that we can well the EDC will be coming up with our own recommendations and and I'm hoping in a nice PowerPoint because that'll make it a little more concise for our meeting but okay no I make sure you don't forget about us absolutely not and thanks I think that you know the process that we went through with the Conservation Commission is working is working nicely you know it's not necessarily quick and easy but
it I think will result in a good product it takes a little work and we want to do the same thing now I I do think that the the starting point there should be the economic development committee come talk to us about your ideas just like Hank Did and then we figure out what we need to do but yes it will it will necessitate some meetings with you and other folks from that John and I to figure out how to put the chapter together then we'll come back to the entire commission for thank you follow on review and and scrutiny there that would be great thank you okay yep any other commission discussion Communications so I do have one Communications issue that to bring to your attention anyhow and I don't know if you can see big book I got in the in the mail from over at Christmas time talks about a cell phone tower going in over at the Hurst Farm and supposedly you know there were a bunch of us in the town that were sent a technical report last June or July and I don't recall getting it Eric doesn't recall getting it I haven't checked with the Inland W folks but but we had 60 or 90 days to give feedback on it OB viously first I knew about sell Tower was getting this big report over Christmas the did anybody happen to notice the public hearing notice in the River East last Friday I did I okay I did obviously as well and you know it was a big long thing the the thing that bothered me
about it was it did not reference Handover at all in the heading so I don't know what made me actually look for it I don't know if you could see it but it's a big long thing it just says hearing notice and I oh wow that's about the cell power so I'm not sure how many people in Andover would have picked up on the fact because most people you don't read those notices anyhow in the fact we're doing it but but we don't control cell towers sighting Council does and so I you know I'm in communicating with our our legal Representatives I don't plan on doing anything with that at this point plan sounded pretty good it's kind of out there in the middle of nowhere it meets our requirements as far as how high the tower can be I just wanted to call your attention that if if I saw that thing in July and didn't do anything with it bad on me and I'll try
to watch for that stuff in the future I don't get much Planning and Zoning bail those I would have thought I would have got it but but that's that's that and if you're interested you can attend the hearing look at the public hearing notice and and you can go but I don't think we have much of a say over where they put cell towers Jed this is Wayne y far as I know in Inland Wetlands was not notified either no I I you know I don't know what happened to it but I didn't have the time to make a big stink over something that I sort of agreed with their plan and and so I was just gonna let that
let that go at this point good comment at the public hearing that we didn't get the technical report yeah yeah yeah yeah if I was going to do that I would do that ahead of time and not roll that out there in the public hearing Forum and I did get some feedback from both Mark Brans and Allen about about that and yeah they said there's not much we could do about it so I said well why do we have those regulations he says well somebody might want to put up a radio tower or a ham radio tower or something okay we we'll leave them there that's all I have in the the communication aspect thing miscellaneous anybody got a miscellaneous pickle nope okay public comment we anybody left from the public here Katherine Hutchinson always stays into The Bitter End thank you Katherine anything for us other than which you already provided no thank you for asking but I have no comment okay very good with that in mind next meeting is scheduled for February oh nope I don't think we need a motion to continue the public hearing if we had to schedule a public hearing we would need a motion for it so I
didn't goof that one up we're good to go okay thank you very much little later than I was hoping we would go tonight but I thought we had a good session talking about the the playground just unfortunate we forgot to record it so we'll we'll go through at least the discussion on the the different drawings again next time and that will be that so I have a quick question about Wayne and Jim yep go ahead Leanne you said Jim wasn't available to be here tonight and we're going to vote on Wayne I guess next month y does that mean that there's are we still in like an overlap period where there's still both I Ian we know Wayne is in place but is Jim still in place so for example if we want to communicate you know we usually get things that say zoning Etc you know the email address starts out that way so if we communicate with them will they both see it will they both do the same thing for the time being so so Jim is still the guy if you send some the zoning he will probably get it I think Wayne has been looking at the zoning email you know for the last couple days while Jim's gone he's actually a funny story Jim went he's doing something fun and he's doing it down in South Carolina and he's not having as much fun as he has hoped because it's snowing down there I think they got more snow down in South Carolina than we got up here but they got they got more snow Louisiana than we have yep they did so but Jim is still the guy this was just you know and he felt badly that he could not
attend tonight it was somebody else made his travel plans and and they didn't quite line up with our meeting schedule and we talked about him going and I said go have fun and so now he's down there making Snowmen at Charleston but as far as lean as far as the emails are concerned I see the emails also okay okay thank you that that answers that yep okay so with that said next meeting is going to be virtual February 18th and I will make a motion to adjourn second thank you Leanne 945 I got 946 now but an okay we call for a vote Ann Scott hi Patrick hi Leanne I and I vote I as well motion passes 500 to adjourn I only do that because some of you guys don't have your screens lit up I can't see you raising your hand can't tell who's saying hi so we do it individually not that I expect anybody to say let's let this meeting go any longer