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Video-1: youtube.com/watch?v=Wb33J4a5dig

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Hello, this is Joseph Flurry, Reading's Associate Conservation Commission member. Um, stepping in for Chuck Terrone. This meeting will be conducted in person in remote format consistent with chapter 2 of the acts of 2023 which further extends certain CO 19 measures regarding remote participation in public

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meetings until June 30th 2027. Please note not all items listed may in fact be discussed and any other items not listed may be brought up for discussion to the extent permitted by law. This agenda includes those matters which can be reasonably anticipated to be discussed at the meeting.

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>> Second. Yep. So, Walter believes the camera is supposed to light up. I see ICTV here should be on. >> Okay, let's go ahead. >> Y >> please note that this meeting is being recorded. All materials for the meeting

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are available at the following link which I'll drop in the chat. Brian B, commission chair will facilitate the meeting. Please note that there will be a public comment period for each hearing. Each V vote taken during this meeting will be conducted by roll call vote. We begin with a roll call attendance. Brian, can you please review

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tonight's agenda? Sure. Review the agenda first. Um we have several hearings. The first is a continuation for 281 Main Street. That's notice of intent. Then we have a couple of enforcement matters. The first is 10

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Brentwood Drive and the next is 38 Bond Street. That's it for our hearings tonight and we have a number of discussion vote items. Uh an update on town forest committee, an update on our mass trails grant application

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and then we have a request for certificate of compliance which has already been continued. um old new business uh conservation staff DPW um coordination meeting then violation

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notices there'll be no administrator's report tonight and then minutes for approval having said that uh let's do the attendance I'm on yet >> Walter

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Walter Talbert member present >> Michelle member present >> Rick member Present. >> Martha Moore, vice chair, present. >> Ryan Bo, chair, present. Joe >> and Joseph Flurry, associate member, present. >> Joe, can you?

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>> Yep. I don't see him in here. Yeah, >> sure. Can you introduce yourself and say you're present? >> Not in yet. >> And do it anyway. >> Nothing's popped up yet. I think he's joined. Unless he's a phone number.

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323925 is the last four. >> Did he send you a text asking to get let in? Ah, >> is he on the right link? I don't see it on here or here. There we go.

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You see it? See a DM. Would that be Shog or >> can you ask what he's coming in as? >> Let me join. >> We're not seeing his name. Double check

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his link. Are you coming in as shock? It says members outside the organization are not allowed to join this meeting chat. >> Oh, he's doing the chat line. You're on the left. >> Yep. All right. Bye.

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>> Okay. Um, we'll start and then have him join when he gets here. Yes. >> Oh, the correct link wasn't play clickable, says Chris >> Haley. >> That's odd. Okay, Shah, can you introduce yourself

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and say your present, please? >> Sorry about that. I'm here. Thank you. >> Can you give us your name? >> Cherox, member present. >> Okay, thank you. Okay. 281 Main Street. This is a continuation of public hearing

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for notice of intent. Um, is there anybody here for that hearing or anything? >> Sorry about that. I'm here. Thank you. >> Sorry, who was that? >> Shrock. >> Okay, >> that was just me. Sorry. >> Oh, gotcha. Anybody here for 281 Main

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Street? >> Okay. Um, so this is the one we were waiting for uh a report to come in from the wetland scientist. Uh, so nothing was posted. So, we can't we know anything to talk about. So, uh we need

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to continue this. Um we should continue it to the next meeting. So, can I have a motion to continue 281 Main Street to July? >> Continue. >> You want to do it just in case? >> Okay. I move to continue 281 Main Street

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to July 22nd. >> Walter Tabett's in favor. Oh, pardon me. Walter Talbot seconds. Walter Talbot's in favor. >> Michelle in favor. >> Rick Kio in favor. >> Martha Moore in favor. >> Oh, sorry. >> Oh, go ahead. You're right. >> Jerox in favor.

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>> Brian Bbo in favor. Um, for other votes, can you come in before Martha and after Joe? >> Yes. >> Okay. Um, >> not after Joe. >> After Rick. Rick. >> After Rick. >> Joe. Joe doesn't. >> No, I just called you Joe. I apologize.

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Apologize to your wife. Um, okay. So, the next uh is 10 Brentwood Drive. This is enforcement discussion. This is regarding alleged unauthorized tree removal and land alteration activities within the area potentially subject to

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the jurisdiction of the Reading Conservation Commission, including the 100 foot buffer zone to a bordering vegetated wetland. The commission will discuss site conditions, applicable permitting requirements under MGLC 131,

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paragraph 40 and the reading wetlands protection bylaw and potential enforcement actions including the filing of an application, restoration requirements and/or issuance of an enforcement order. So having said that, let me just uh

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quickly cover the situation. So, um, we had a resident contact the office, uh, to say that there was work being done where they thought was near

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the wetlands. So, of course, we're required to check out any report like that. So, I went out there to 10 Brentwood and I saw that there in fact had been work done. Uh before I went I checked the GIS which is not 100%

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accurate but it gives you an indication and um according to the GIS the wetlands buffer comes close or even perhaps a little bit over the back of the property and the work was done basically up to the back of the property. So clearly was

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in the 100 feet from the uh in the buffer zone 100 feet from the from the wetland. So based on that, Chuck wrote up an enforcement letter uh which we dropped off in the door um

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and I stopped by a couple times during the day and I finally connected in the evening with the homeowners there. Um, so at this point, I mean, they've agreed to uh come here tonight for this for us

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to talk about as I read. And so, do you want any you want to add anything to that? If you do, just please come up, introduce yourselves. Any other information you want to add to what I said? >> I guess just how we got to So, there we

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are. >> Can you come up here and give us your name and address, please? Although we know what that is. So, I'm Sheri Selther, resident and owner of 10 Brentwood Drive. Um, so we recently bought the property.

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The property was previously owned by an elderly woman and then was inherited and rented. So, the property really the land hadn't been maintained. It was overgrown. Um,

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so we purchased it and there was a lot of poison ivy, poison sumac, like invasive species coming into the area. Um, so I have young nieces and nephews.

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They want to come play. We want to use the property for different things. So we decided to clear it. I researched that you don't need a permit to take down trees or clear your own private property, which I looked on

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the website. And >> can I ask you where you saw that? >> The Reading Town website >> and where they say that you can take down trees on your property. >> I don't remember exactly. >> Okay. before the record. Um, if it's

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within certain distances of wetland resources, then buffer zones apply >> 100 feet to a wetland, 200 feet to a river, a stream, 100 feet to a vernal pool and so forth. So, it's not cart blanch.

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>> Okay. So, then I did know that um there are restrictions on conservation land. So I said, "Let me pull a map and see what is directly behind our property." And I realized that behind our property

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is private property owned by the individual two doors down to our right. So I knew at that point it wasn't conservation land. So I thought we were okay. I have no idea that there are

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limitations on privatelyowned property if it is considered a wetland. No idea. I grew up in Reading. We had conservation land behind our house and I 100% did know there were restrictions on

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what you can do on conservation land. I did not know there were restrictions on privately owned property. >> Again, for the record is two different things. There's conservation land, not all of which is wetlands, and then it's just conservation land which is uplands

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and it's just being protected in general. So the issue here is the wetlands and the wetland buffer. >> Right. Now we know that. We didn't know that before and we thought we were okay up to our property line. >> Okay.

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>> Um >> All right. We got it. Um so at this point, even though you didn't know, that's not um I want to say an excuse, but that sounds too harsh, but that's not an acceptable reason, not

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knowing. Um and so the first thing we have to do is to agree that there is a violation and given that it's well within 100 ft of the resource there's at least a violation of the 100 foot

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buffer. Additionally, there may be a violation um because again, if you look at that GIS and you turn on contours, you'll see that there's a 100 foot contour

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that runs into the back eighth of your right hand side of your property. That's the same elevation as the wetland itself. So, that in fact may actually be a resource. that may be wetland even

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though it didn't it was wooded or whatever when you got there. So that's something that uh we have to determine. So um what I'm going to say here is that you need to hire a professional wetland

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scientist >> to delineate the wetland. And part of the problem here is that the land has been cleared. So there's no vegetation and the type of vegetation is one of the indicators for a wetland. And

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so what the regulations say is then you fall back on soil uh what the soil looks like. Um and I know when I was there talking to you folks, I saw some gray soil which is an

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indicator. is not absolute but it's an indicator. So that's another reason why we need a wetland scientist to delineate it and delineate is just a formal term for survey where it is and put flags around

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the boundary. So based on that we can then know what actions might be taken. >> So that's the first step. Um, see so uh, actually, so we also need to do a

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site visit as a commission because I've seen it from in the backyard with you standing at the equipment. Anybody else who has seen it has seen it from the street >> and so we need to to go there. Um, another thing we need to get a handle on

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is how many trees were removed. Um um you want to go up there and uh how many trees would you say you took down? >> Well, I count. >> Can you go up here? Introduce yourself, please. >> So,

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I took down four. The rest of it was falling down. It was in the ground and I just cut them. >> So, there were four >> four. I took it down >> and the rest were on the ground. >> Yes. There was large decaying dead trees that had fallen over that nobody had to.

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There was some partially >> Oh, I'm sorry. You didn't >> Sorry, I should have caught that. >> Sorry. >> Um, all right. So, um, that's yet another reason for us to go out there on the

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site visit because we actually have the pictures taken from the listing and there's a couple of pictures of the backyard. And while there are some in it that are visibly leaning, uh, there appear to be many more trees

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than four that have been removed. So, I think what we'll do is go there on a site visit and compare what we see in person with what is in the picture to look for roughly how many were taken going back

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to what's left there now. Um, if my memory serves, you basically have cleared back to the stone wall, right? >> So, that the full extent of your property has been cleared. >> So, that's the next step is to figure out the tree count. Um,

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see, >> I know there were some concerns with what we plan to do at the property and >> I was going to get to that for sure. >> Okay. Okay. >> Um, so that brings me to the plans that

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we need. So, we do need a plan from you for what you propose to do. You know, um, you propose to clear it, so you mark all the trees that are removed. That's going to be hard. will work with you to get that count. Um,

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and um, that plan needs to include what you're going to do to uh, restore situation. What are you going to do to address the violations? So, the violations for sure are taking down trees without a permit. for sure

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it's violating the 100 foot buffer and potentially it's the wetland resource itself depending on what the wetland scientist determines the actual boundary of the uh of the wetland right so so that's a plan that you need to put

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together and I know you have some interest in getting this done we have interest in getting this back on the way towards being healthy So, um, that plan I think you should be able to pull together by our next meeting, which is the 22nd.

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>> Okay. >> So, sorry, I say something. >> I just, um, don't want there to be any misconceptions about who we are and that we disrespect the environment because that is so far from the truth. Um, and I

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know there are concerns about we come in from the city and we just want to tear everything down and we want to spray chemicals. Nothing in my house is toxic and there will be no chemicals sprayed on our property. That is 100% true.

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>> Um, we deeply respect the environment. Actually, we wanted to mimic our backyard like the Rose Kennedy Greenway. That was my dream. I would like to have a pollinator garden. We want to have a vegetable garden um you know space to

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use it while respecting the need of plants and replanting. >> Well, that's actually right in line. I said that we need to have you as part of your plan what you're going to do to remediate it. So that would include a planting plan. So in this plot plan

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showing what you propose to do, it should include what you intend to do for replanting. So, what trees and where? What shrubs, if any, and where? What ground cover and where? If you're going to do a pollinator garden, that's great. Where?

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So, we need to have something in the record that we can look at now to approve it. And also whenever you come for certificate of compliance so we can see that you did what you were supposed to do. So, that's why you have to have it in the record. So, that's good.

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That's part of it. plan for what you're going to do both in with the property itself and then what you're gonna do for replanting. >> We'll have to study the sun. That's what we've been trying to do to see what plants will thrive and survive in

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certain areas of the property and that will, you know, we'll do that over the next week or two, >> right? And to help, not to entirely take that away from you. Um, but we do have some lists on the website that uh show

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plants, shrubs, trees that uh survive better in wetlands, near wetlands that can help. >> That's on the Reading Town website. >> It's on the conservation division, right? >> Massachusetts conservation website. No,

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>> no, the town of Reading. Okay. >> Under that, you go to the divisions. the conservation division. >> Bunch of options on the left hand side. One of them has to do with um I think it might say native species or something like that, but should be clear. >> Okay.

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>> And if it's not, you should contact Chuck and he'll be happy to help you with that. >> Oh, all right. >> And his contact information is on the conservation page as well. Uh email address and phone number. >> Okay. >> All right.

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>> Yep. Brian, one thing I didn't hear you say is um that we ask people to do native plants within that 100 foot buffer of the wetlands. So once you know where your wetland line is when you're choosing

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your your plants from wherever you're going to get them, we're looking for native species. So um you where you put your vegetable garden would also be part of like We will would hope that that would be 100 feet away from the wetland.

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>> Yes, of course. >> But the plants that you're going to reappoint >> should be natives, not um foreign, right? Like no ginkos and stuff like that. >> Yeah. >> Right. So that's what we plan to do. Once we know where the buffer is, then

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we can organize our plan and what suits the sun and the environment and the soil best. Um, >> okay. So, >> are chickens allowed near? >> Um,

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>> not roosters, but >> you can, but you have to watch the output from a chicken that can't be near the wetlands, which makes it difficult to have a coupe >> uh compost pile. Again, not right near

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the wetlands, especially as close as you are. But I'm sure you could look that up. Nothing. I'm an expert in >> permanent structure would be the bigger concern. >> Yeah. I would you hear that? >> Yeah. The permits for the structure. Yeah. Permanent structures.

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>> Permanent structure. So the way it works is the scientist is going to delineate the wetland boundaries. >> Yeah. >> 25 feet from that boundary is a no disturb zone. >> Yeah. >> You can't do anything in that zone. You

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can plant the trees and vegetation, but you can't do anything. An additional 10 feet, so 35 feet altogether, is no structure zone. So that's what he said by no permanent structure. The chicken coupe would be a permanent structure. So another reason you couldn't do it that

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close, but those are two >> two additional numbers you should be aware of. >> Okay. So we talked about a site visit. I would propose um this Monday. this Monday.

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>> All right. So, Monday at 8:30 is our typical time for doing starting site visit. So, uh we'll be there um Monday at 8:30. You're obviously welcome to be there. You don't have to be. Uh so, we're going to go out there and look at

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the situation, take pictures. The usual >> That's Monday, July 13. >> Yeah. >> Is that going to work for you? >> Yeah, I think we can make that work. If not, Who do we let? No. >> Uh, again, Chuck. >> Okay.

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>> Although, actually, that won't work because Chuck's not >> he's not he's on vacation. He won't be back to the 13th. Um, so you can look on the website under conservation commission and you can look for me, Brian Bro, the

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chair. I have an email on there. So if you got to let me know anything, just email that and I will check it out. >> Okay. >> Okay. And then once Chuck is back, that would be a normal contact. >> Okay. And then we will hire the wetland

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scientist. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Um so again, I'm assuming you have some emergency. We certainly do. So I want you to come back in next meeting, the 22nd. At that point, presumably you have

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the weather scientists picked out. I don't know how busy they are at this time of year, so perhaps that won't be, but either way, uh, you'll come back and you give us an update. Yes, we have somebody. Yes, they're going to start looking at this time so we can see the

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progress. Additionally, I would think that you could have uh the plans we're looking for put together by then, at least a first cut. So here's the work you intend to do on it and here's what you're going to do for a planting plan.

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>> So if you get those done before the meeting, that's what you want to do. You want to get it submitted so we can look at it in the meeting. >> Okay? >> And ideally it's a number of days before the meeting so it can get distributed to all of us so we can look at it.

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>> Okay? If it's the last minute, we can look at it, but we can't make decisions based on it because it wasn't enough time to deliver it. >> So, distribute it before the meeting. >> You want to get it to Chuck ideally

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four days before the meeting on the 22nd. So, that Thursday before, >> okay? >> Because town hall is closed on a Friday. So, the Thursday before the meeting, if you have it in, then it gives Chuck time to get it to us. so we can be prepared

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to look at it in the meeting. >> All right. >> Um, so I know there's a stop work order the front of the house that would be beyond the 100 foot buffer. Are we um allowed

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to work there? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> It's just in the back. And I would say not any of the back because we don't know where that line's going to end up being drawn. And again, where I'm afraid that it may come out uh into the right

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hand back of the property, that may affect Well, if it comes in, that would affect where the line's drawn. So, >> okay. >> But the the front, I believe, is safe. >> Okay. >> Um I'm wondering whether they need to

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put some erosion control down. um think it would be a good idea. I haven't been there. I don't know what it looks like, but if the vegetation is all torn up, it would be good to have some erosion control along the property boundary so that if there's a

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>> big storm like yesterday, it doesn't all wash into the wet. Luckily, it didn't. >> I don't think it's pretty fat flat property. I don't think it' be a problem, but it's a good precaution to take. So, excuse me. you have some erosion control across the back. And

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that can be ideally it's a silk sock, hay bales, something to protect it until whatever is going to be done is done and it gets stabilized. And you should show erosion control as part of the plan you're going to put

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together. What you going to do to protect it in the meantime? >> Sometimes they're called mulch socks. >> Yeah, it's another term. >> S O XX for some reason. sharks, somebody's marketing.

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Okay. Um, and when you do hire the weapon scientist, if you'll let Chuck know as soon as you've done that, the more information he has and therefore we have ahead of time, the more prepared we are for the meeting, >> right?

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>> Okay. >> Is there you have any questions on this? >> So, did you guys want to add anything? We'll try to pull up more photos of it. >> Can you introduce yourself? Thank you.

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>> I'm Mark Stum. I uh was the real estate agent. So, I was just going to say that we'll try to pull up more photos that show because not all the photos make it online, usually the pretty ones. So, because there were a few big down trees in the back, so we'll try to get more. >> If you have more information, by all

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means, send it to Chuck. >> Okay. Thank you. The two main ones that we're thinking of, there were like four or so of the backyard and there was one looking over a railing that showed the pretty good extent of the yard and there was one

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from an angle. >> Yeah. >> That showed a good view of most of the yard. So, >> if you have one as more information, >> yeah, we'll try to get as many as possible so it paints as clear a picture as possible. >> Great. Thank you. Any question, comments

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from the commission members? >> Just the tree count. So, are we going to just try to do a best estimate of whether or not it's more than four trees to kind of approach next steps or how how do we handle that? >> We're going to do a tree count and once we get a number that we're comfortable

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with, we'll take it from there. It's four 104. Whatever it is, we'll we'll look at it once we have a number we think we can rely on. >> Were stumps removed? I didn't see any stumps. Were the stumps removed? >> Yeah. Okay. I didn't know if there were

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any under the pile to the right. Okay. So, yes. Um, nothing else from anybody here? No. >> No. >> Then, you know, please get us as much

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information as you can. get that weapon scientist lined up. Get a plan of plans to us as soon as you can so we can all get this wrapped up. >> Public comment as well. >> Hang on a second. >> Um, ask for public comment as well. I

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don't see anybody online with their hand raised but >> anybody here? >> Please hit the react button raise hand function. We can unmute you. >> Seeing none. >> Seeing none. Thank you.

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>> Okay. Have a good night. >> All right. So, next is >> just one thing. Sorry, between the two ones. I'm just going to uh step out for a little bit and be back in about 15 to 30 minutes. I have a work meeting in B. >> Okay. So, note that Churro is stepping

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out at 7:31. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Um, so next one is 38 Bond Street. This is an additional enforcement um, hearing. So I think I've talked

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about this in the past, at least generically. 38 Bond Street is a piece of property where it's actually a shed belonging to the homeowner that's on conservation land. However that was done, I don't know, but it's been there

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for a long time. was not in great shape, but as well on the conservation land. Um quite some time ago, uh there was a hearing on it. Um and it was decided at that time by that commission that the

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shed could stay as long as the homeowner lived there, right? Uh that's no longer true. He has passed on. And so at this point we're asking the homeowner to um remove the shed. Um additionally over

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the years some grass crop has been grown back towards the shed. And so as part of this once we talked to the homeowner as part of the overall we would need to have um of course you have to stop

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growing that without mowing that grass. is likely to going to have to plant some plants. It'll all get covered when the homeowner comes in and we have that conversation. In the meantime, I did talk to the renter and I pointed out the uh boundary stones and I told him you

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can't do anything past the boundary stones. Unfortunately, he had recently put in I'm going to call it a lawn structure like a little statue or fountain something. So, he knows that that can't stay. Um, I didn't tell him

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to remove it now, but he knows it can't stay, but when we talk to the homeowners, that'll have to be part of the overall discussion at that point. Chuck has a letter out to the homeowner, not the renter, the homeowner, and he hasn't got an answer back that I'm aware

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of. Again, he's on vacation, so we'll see if he gets anything when he comes back. But for now, uh, this one will just be on the agenda for the next meeting. Okay? And it's enforcement item, so we don't need to do a motion to continue or

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anything. So that's it for our hearings. And that brings us to discussion and vote items. The first discussion item, Joe will give us an update on the Town Forest Committee meeting. >> Sure. So, uh, two weeks back, I attended

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a town forest committee meeting, um, out in the town forest at the, um, was the old council circle, fire circle. It's quite nice. Um, the Jeff Lansson is still their chair. Um, there were two

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topics for conservation. One was around a beaver dam, which they've spoken to with Chuck. I think some of us are aware of it here. I believe that's going to be handled through Chuck. a later discussion. And then uh secondarily, there was some brief discussion around

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potentially having our summit with all of kind of the environmental groups in town. So trails, town forest, conservation and >> yes, >> some of you are newer and you don't know what the summit is. Basically, Chuck pulled together

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a meeting of all those entities that Joe was talking about. basically anybody who has a mission similar to ours and we got together at the cabin to tell each other about what we do, what kind of help we need, just basically to foster

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communication and ideally coordination amongst us. Back to you. >> So there is interest um in pursuing that. So I think there will be some coordination either through a future meeting here. I don't know if we need to discuss it as a group here for dates, but I think there'll be a proposal to at

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least try to host a summit for 2026. >> Yes, I recall the last time getting the date was the thing that was a nightmare, right? >> Because there was probably 30 people all together. We're trying to coordinate, you know, it's always fun. Um, there

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wasn't one last year. Um, >> we didn't have a cabin >> cabin. We couldn't use it. That's where we held by meeting the first time at the cabin still not available. There's been the idea of maybe holding it under the pavilion which would be reasonable

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unless you have slanting rain coming down but >> or mosquitoes >> or mosquitoes. So but there's an alternative. So yes, we should go ahead and uh figure out how to make this happen because this is >> that's it. >> Okay. Sorry for stepping in on

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>> No worries. No, it's perfect. Okay. So, next is an update on the mass trails grant application. Does everybody know what that's about? I don't know. So, we submitted um a couple of

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applications for a grant. Um the main one that we're interested in was trying to get some help, financial help in building a trail associated with the recal uh center by on Simon's Way. Uh

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the idea is that as part of the project, the town would have built I'm going to call them two trail heads, two bridge heads, and then where they ended, we're going to do a boardwalk that gets elevated in part. So that's the help we

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were looking for with the elevated part. We got a response back that we did not get the money. Apparently, there was lots of of competition. Chuck has reached out to them to get uh try and

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get a meeting with them to learn more uh what why didn't we get it? What did they find insufficient? Uh whatever. And so uh that not going to happen right away. They always have to focus on dealing with the money. They

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are this person. And so at some point in the future uh we'll have a meeting with them. And I say that positively because my understanding is that they usually want to have the meeting so you get a better grant proposal. So um

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and we can give you some more information on that as we get closer to whatever it is. Okay. Uh that's it for that one. >> That was only one grant. The second grant was for utility vehicle. Um I think Chuck kept on

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calling it a Gator. Um that was that's one that uh we tried to get a donation for what have you. In the end we submitted this grant request and that also was denied and another place

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reached to try to get that one was the lesser important of the two. I would say that trail U you know the way we envision it the way it was planned it would be an ADA trail associated with recal which is among

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other things it is a senior center so it would be a natural fit so that's why that at least in my mind it's more okay next is 1153 Main Street request for certificate

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of compliance this one has already been continued to August 12th, right? >> Yes. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Um the next is old new business. Uh we're

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always looking for qualified commission members. Um we do have a new one. Thought she's going to be here tonight. I'm not sure why she isn't. Duck's not here. I'm gonna blame him. But anyway, so uh we do have one new uh

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full-time member who will be joining us for next meeting presumably. Um but we still looking for more. Um how many do we have right now? One, two, three four five six.

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>> Six plus >> cross. >> So we still have associates for sure. >> Yes, two associates. >> Okay. Uh, so next is violation notices. We've already talked about 38 bond. We've talked about 10 Brentwood. The only

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thing I won't talk about further is 445 Pearl Street. I went by there. And the Southern Bank, which is the one that's most shaded, surprisingly, looks pretty good. That has grown in pretty well. So,

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um I don't know if they actually filled where the erosion channels were or was just grown in, but either way, it looks in pretty good shape. The northern bank still needs more. It needs to grow more. Whether or not they plant more or

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anything, I don't know, but the very least, it still is not complete and satisfactory at this point. So, sort of keep an eye on it. And um before I forget uh next meeting

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uh we are going to put the vote for chair vice chair on the agenda so we can actually have that vote. Um so with any kind of luck our new person won't be the same vote which would be fairly amusing but anyway so um that'll

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be next meeting and um the last thing is minutes for approval. There are two listed, but the only one we have so far is actually June 10th. You all received June 10th.

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Okay. Then can I have a motion to accept um the minutes for June 10th as amended? >> I'll make a motion to accept the June 10th minutes as amended. >> Walter Talbert seconds. Walter Talbertson in favor. >> Michelle in favor.

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>> Rick Kio in favor. truck. He's He has Okay. >> Right. Martha Moore in favor? >> Brian Bo in favor. Okay. >> So, that's 5 Z. >> All right. That's all we have on the

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agenda. Any comments before we adjourn? Anything to bring up? Tro, how about you? No. Okay. Um, so then have a have a motion to adjourn at 7:42. I move to adjourn at 7:42

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seconds. >> Say I. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Mr. Should somebody let Cheron know we're texting? >> Yeah, she text

