MINUTES

HORSE HILL NATURE PRESERVE (HHNP)

06/05/06

DRAFT

Members Present:

Tim Tenhave, Chair HHNP Ad Hoc, Master Plan Robyn Goinsalvos, Horseback Riding, Abutter

Andy Powell, HHNP Ad Hoc, Conservation Harry Watt, Mountain Biking

John Hall, Watanic Bowmen’s Club Linda Reid, Abutter

Mike Ruggiero, HHNP Ad Hoc, MYA Debra Huffman, HHNP Ad Hoc, Master Plan

Connie Kreider, HHNP Ad Hoc, Heritage Roger Blais, Right Riders (ATV)

Janet Comier, HHNP Ad Hoc, Parks Bob L’Heureux, Hunting

Tom Vaillancourt, Mountain Biking Bette Philo, Abutter

Denise O’Dwyer, HHNP Ad Hoc Helynne Wenz, HHNP Ad Hoc

Ruth Roulx, HHNP Ad Hoc, P&R, Heritage Comm. Harold Watson, HHNP Ad Hoc

Shannon Barnes, HHNP Ad Hoc Newton Coryell, HHNP Ad Hoc

Members Excused:

Ron Simard, Watanic Bowmen’s Club

Chris Christensen, HHNP Ad Hoc

Others Present:

Kerrie Diers, NRPC Assistant Director

Karen Baker, NRPC Administrative Assistant

Steve Schaffer, NRPC GIS Manager

Meeting Opened

The meeting was called to order by Tim Tenhave at 7:06 PM.

Announcements:

Bob L’ Heureux informed everyone about the Telethon that was held on Saturday, June 3^rd from 7:00 am to 2:00 pm on channel 20, for the flood victims of Merrimack only. The telethon would run continuously until Thursday, June 8^th at noon, so folks still had time to make contributions. He also let the group know that there would be awards for contributors, the highest ones being a $1000 shopping spree from the exit 10 mall people and $1000 towards the building of a garage. In addition, there would be many other smaller prizes awarded including a video that Bob had participated in about the flooding in Merrimack.

Tim Tenhave reminded everyone about the special election to be held on Tuesday, June 13 to elect to more members to the new Town Council. He also informed the group that for the next two weeks he would be hard to reach and to contact Denise O’Dwyer for anything urgent.

Debra Huffman asked for volunteers interested in being tour guides for trail tours of HHNP since not all the trails are marked.

Public or Press Comment on Agenda

There were no comments/questions from the public.

Review of Minutes

Motion to approve the minutes of April 3, 2006 came from Shannon Barnes, seconded by Debra Huffman. Minutes from April 3^rd, 2006 were approved with changes by the Consensus Building Group, 17-0-0.

Motion to approve the minutes of April 17, 2006 came from Shannon Barnes, seconded by Bob L’Heureux. Minutes from April 17^th, 2006 were approved with changes by the Consensus Building Group, 17-0-1.

Agenda

Kerrie Diers was up next and gave an overview of the definitive plan. She asked that editorial comments be submitted separately to Karen Baker to make corrections, which would be returned once complete, and that she was looking more for substance, content and any comments. She also asked for input on what the group thought was important or what could be pulled out or elaborated on.

Helynne Wenz wanted it noted in the minutes the suggestion about taking the Lastowka name off the watering hole and changing the name of the brook to Lastowka brook.

Listed below is a brief overview of what was agreed upon by the CBG during discussions regarding additions, deletions, and the outline of the definitive plan.

Section iii. Mapping Exercises - move to end of report before Appendices.

iv. CBG Definitive Plan Agreement should be changed to a larger roman numeral and moved to after the Objective Criteria for Suitability Analysis outline (approved January 30, 2006). In addition, each use should be a capital letter.

Each use map should be next to the page with CBG Gradients of Agreement Scale Vote for easier reading and flow.

iv. CBG Definitive Plan Agreement, h. Hunting – add a sentence “Hunting serves as a wildlife management tool, is a controlled sport, and has an excellent safety record.”

Move G. Implementation Considerations on page 44 of Chapter II-Introduction and add to Appendix A.

Move all of Appendix B contents and to Appendix A.

Add Appendices to Table of Contents.

Change the two instances referring to the width of the “Area accessible by road” for the Athletic Complex to 22’ as opposed to 22”.

Move all background info maps not included as part of CBG Definitive Plan Agreement to one central location.

Cut down on verbiage, summarize and refer to minutes.

Last paragraph on page 1 of the Executive Summary should read the same as item #10 on page 42 under section D. Management Recommendation.

Chapter II-Introduction, last paragraph, last sentence of section A. reworded.

Chapter II-Introduction, page 17, section c. Mapping Exercise #3, under “Group 3 Report”, first bullet, second sentence should read “Potential problem at the northwest corner with woodcock”.

Move from Appendix C the “Athletic Complex Site Suitability Report and Analysis by Tom Kokx Assoc.” to Appendix A.

Add an Acknowledgements page.

There is going to be 2 minority reports accompanying the HHNP Definitive Plan. A large portion of the meeting was the discussion of these minority reports. Where they should go, should they be included with the plan as an appendix or go as an addendum, whether the minority reports should be read by the group prior to voting on the document as assembled or without, voting outcome if included or read prior, whether it would be available to the public, and 2 different views of having it included (Andy Powell did want his groups minority report included as part of the Definitive Plan. Mike Ruggiero wanted his groups minority report included as an addendum or separate from the Definitive Plan). During these discussions there were several motions made:

Tim Tenhave moved to not have the minority reports included in the Definitive Plan because the group was unable to come to consensus or agreement. Shannon Barnes seconded. Tim Tenhave moved to separate minority reports from Definitive Plan (not included as an appendix of Definitive Plan) with a vote by the CBG of 10-9-0.

Motion to reconsider the last motion vote came from Newton Coryell and seconded by Shannon Barnes with a vote by the CBG of 13-4-0 after some discussion of the members.

A final decision was agreed upon (by consensus, not formal vote) to include the minority reports as part of the document, not as an appendix, after the appendices with a section tab to identify them as such, not to be seen prior to the June 19^th meeting and that both Andy and Mike would bring them to the meeting to include with the definitive plan when presented to the BOS.

Motion to adjourn came from Denise O’Dwyer seconded by Shannon Barnes. All were in favor and the meeting adjourned at 10:04 pm.

Next meeting will be held on Monday, June 19^th at 7:00pm in the Merrimack Town Hall Courtroom.

KD/kmb

#235D-33