Cold River Local Advisory Council
January 22th, 2015

Next meeting: February 26th , 2015

Present: Kim Lewis, Debby Hinman, Fred Ernst, Cathy MacDonald, Sam Sutcliff, Gary Speed, Carol Wallace

Absent: Mike Heidorn, Mitch Harrison

Meeting called to order at 7:11 PM.

Minutes from December 4, 2014 meeting were reviewed and approved.

Getting Our Minutes Out
Debby created a cover letter for the chairs of planning boards, conservation commissions, DES, and town officials of Walpole, Langdon, Alstead, Acworth, and Lempster. Kim sent approved minutes to the town offices and ask them to please post to the websites and outside the offices. Several people responded that they appreciated receiving them.

Treasurer’s Report
Balance, 2015​​​​$ 8877.29
Income Interest​​​$0.75 in Dec
Expenditures ​​​​None
Balance , December 31, 2014​$8878. 04

CRLAC has received an anonymous gift for which we are very grateful. It will be reflected in the next month’s treasurer’s report.

Membership
Membership is up for:
Cathy 3/23/15
Michael 3/23/15
Gary 6/6/15
Fred 11/7/15

Vilas Pond
The issue of maintenance of Vilas Pool is under discussion. There will be two warrant articles on the ballot in Alstead in March. One is to get the gate operable and a second is to get an engineering inspection of the footbridge.

Warren Brook
KAStevens, Inc, one of the original bidders on the Warren Brook restoration project, has been contacted to rebid their plan. Scheduling of a meeting between our hydrologist, Sean Sweeney, KA Stevens, CRLAC and the Town of Alstead is underway. The meeting is now expected to take place the week of January 26th.
Mitch has contacted Cold River Materials and they have confirmed that they will still honor their commitment to donate rock and they have been informed of the anticipated construction schedule.

Sam contacted the Town of Alstead road agent to confirm they will honor their commitment to provide trucking services.

Sam will contact landowners affected by the project to let them know the new construction schedule once it has been determined.

Sam, Mitch, and Mike (the Alstead contingency) will monitor contract timing in the spring to ensure the work is completed within the specified time period. There are concerns about completing $35,000.00 worth of work before the DES funds expire.

Sean will review the various grants to determine required submittals and prepare those submittals.

Wetland Permit in South Acworth
Debby has not heard any response after contacting Travis Royce by email about CRLAC’s concerns. The Conservation Commission has received the same plan without any revisions and is now looking at it as well. DES will inform CRLAC of any decision on the application. Debby will contact Travis Royce again.

River Quality
No new news.

Have we overlooked the funding of plantings along Warren Brook?

John McGee had commented that the lack of riparian trees along the Warren Brook is not good for water temperature, stability of the floodplain or for the long-term in stream habitat benefits of riparian trees. He recommends that someone (and he offered to help) plant native saplings where landowners provide permission. DOT may be one of the major landowners. Mitch thinks the trees are doing OK, just not yet maturing enough to provide shade. We will investigate but plantings will probably not be done until in the spring of 2016. Students from Walpole and Alstead may be used.

Bower Brook Bridge

We have been notified that DOT plans to begin work on Bower Brook Bridge. Fred emailed Sean to inform him of the proposed work, and we have communicated to Acworth that Sean’s design and engineering work is the standard to which the project should be done. Debby will restate this at the public meeting when it is held.

East Acworth Wetlands
Approximately 5 acres have been offered for inclusion in the conservation easement of East Acworth wetlands pending approval of this gift at Town Meeting. The land is located on Keyes Hollow Road along the Cold River.

Next Meeting: February 26; March meeting will be on March 26 at Fred and Ellie’s house in Walpole. Sean will be invited.

Meeting adjourned at 7:54 PM

Respectfully submitted,

Kim Lewis