Open Space Committee Regular Meeting May 6, 2015

OPEN SPACE COMMITTEE – SUBJECT TO APPROVAL
REGULAR MEETING MINUTES – May 6, 2015 

CALL TO ORDER
First Selectman Lisa Heavner called the regular meeting of the open space committee to order at 4:32 p.m. on Wednesday, May 6, 2015. The meeting was held in the main meeting room of the Simsbury Town Offices located at 933 Hopmeadow Street, Simsbury, CT. In attendance was Ms. Heavner, as well as the following committee members: Don Rieger and Ferg Jansen. Staff included Director of Culture, Parks and Recreation Gerard Toner, Town Engineer Jeff Shea, Director of Community Planning and Development Hiram Peck and Assistant Town Planner Rachel Blatt.

PUBLIC AUDIENCE
During the discussion on 1 Old Bridge Road, Deeg Mackay co-chair of the Old Drake Hill Bridge of Flowers, said her impression of the flower bridge folks is they want more openness to the area, not necessarily keeping the house, and not adding a lot of space for cars or buses.

REVIEW/ADOPT MINUTES OF APRIL 1, 2015
There were no changes to the minutes.

OPEN SPACE INVENTORY UPDATE
Mr. Rieger and Mr. Toner met with the intern, Adam Hammershoy, who will be conducting field work on selected parcels of open space in town. During the meeting the three went over the app that will help in the collection of data. Mr. Rieger also wrote up a protocol for using the app and helped Adam get started. He will start off collecting data on 15 parcels.

1 OLD BRIDGE ROAD UPDATE
Ms. Blatt presented the idea submissions from the public on the property. She said there were a total of 13 emails that came in and one hand-drawn submission. She said of the ideas that were submitted there were three that appeared most often: boating, kayak launch, and pavilion. Other suggestions included a kiosk, restroom and drinking fountain, among others. The full report was posted on the town website under the open space committee’s page.
There was discussion on parking for the area.
There was also mention of a letter from the Connecticut Audubon Society expressing interest in establishing a Simsbury Audubon Center, location to be determined.
Mr. Shea went over some of the engineering issues, such as improving the safety of the retaining wall and erosion prevention measures.
Mr. Rieger said the types of plantings used is one of the most important design elements, as there are plants that can contribute to the stability of the bank and decorative plants that will serve the same purpose.
Mr. Rieger also wrote something up about the property that can be used as a framework for a discussion.

DISCUSSION OF ONION MOUNTAIN PARK INQUIRY
Mr. Toner was approached by Steve Philbrick of the Canton Land Trust about possibly joining or connecting trails from a parcel on the Canton side that would connect into Simsbury’s trail system. Mr. Toner said this is in the early stages and more of the work would be on the Canton side. If it happens, Simsbury would need additional signage, etc. Mr. Rieger said he supports connectivity as long as its sustainable and not an effort to put a trail where a trail doesn’t belong.

ETHEL WALKER WOODS MASTER PLAN UPDATE
Mr. Shea handed out a hard copy of the draft report to members. The report has been refined and comments from the committee and public were considered. Going forward the idea is to work on a phased improvement and capital improvement program.

There was some discussion on parking lots, access and trail maintenance.

Mr. Rieger said he was happy the report was taking invasive plants seriously.

The next step is to forward the report to Ethel Walker for review, and present the report at a joint meeting between parks and recreation, open space and conservation. At some point it will be presented to the board of selectmen and there will be a public hearing on the plan.

SET DATE FOR JOINT OPEN SPACE COMMITTEE AND PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING REGARDING OPEN SPACE MATTERS
It was decided to try and hold the joint meeting in mid-June.

OTHER BUSINESS
Ms. Heavner said the meadows master plan draft came out and she and Mr. Rieger and Mark Deming, from the economic development commission, took a two-hour hike on the property. She said there are some existing trails, one could be a loop, and with a little work the trails could be made more accessible. Ms. Heavner suggested a plan be drawn up to address some of the low-hanging fruit issues with the trails and it be presented to conservation and the economic development commission in an effort to move forward.

ADJOURN
Mr. Rieger made the motion to adjourn, it was seconded by Mr. Jansen and all voted in favor. The meeting was adjourned at 5:40 p.m.