Middlesex Conservation Commission
Minutes of Meeting, February 5, 2004
7:00 – 9:00 pm
Middlesex Town Hall


Attendees
Bill Rossmassler
Judy Keyes
Barry Goodman
Dave Shepard
John Austin
Rick Paradis
Heather Furman

Call to Order
7:11 pm

Housekeeping
 • Minutes for January 2004 were unanimously approved after review and discussion. Heather, Bill and Dave discussed getting the minutes posted on the Middlesex town website. Heather agreed to send finalized versions to Tim Murphy
 • Correspondences: Bill shared correspondences. 
 • March 2nd is Town Meeting Day. 5-7 pm. Bill & Heather will make a poster of the design charrette for Town Meeting.

New Commissioners
 • There was a short discussion on potential new commissioners. Dave agreed to make a contact first, and we will also draft a poster for Town Meeting to advertise a vacancy.

Treasurers Report
 • Discretionary budget currently stands at $941.88. This money is budgeted through June 30, 2004. The MCC budget stands at $1974.59. 


Committee Discussions

MCC Assistance to MPC on Zoning Update
Bill handed out a draft of the new zoning regulations for review and comment. The Commissioners should look at anything that is natural resource related and make comments by next meeting.

The Commissioners also reviewed a draft map of the zoning regulations and discussed the RR10, MR 2 and Conservation Districts. There was general agreement that Conservation District should be zones 27 acres to fit with the State’s Current Use program.

Tree Grant
Judy discussed planning for the next grant round. The removal of dead and hazardous trees on the Morse property is proposed. She will submit the grant buy February 20th. Reimbursement issues were also discussed.


Friends of Worcester Range
The next meeting is scheduled for February 24, 2004. Elmore will vote at Town Meeting to establish a conservation Commission. Morristown and Middlesex will vote to establish a conservation fund. 

Conservation Fund
Bill will look into whether or not donations to the conservation fund are tax exempt. Heather suggested drafting a post card to mail to the grand list to asking for support of this fund. She volunteered to follow through on this.

Dave will contact Virginia Rasch at the Association of Vermont Conservation Commissions to get names of contact people in other towns that have town conservation funds. Commission members can then contact these people to get information about the conservation funds in their towns. This information will be used to help fill out the matrix that Bill has prepared. Dave will email commission members with the list of towns and contact people.

There was discussion about preparing some form of poster or other material about the conservation fund that could be posted at Town Meeting.

Town Owned Land Along the Winooski River
Dave suggested a visit to the town land along the Winooski River in the Welch Industrial Park as part of the April or May MCC meeting. The purpose would be to assess whether there might be some work that the MCC could perform that would enhance the wildlife habitat value and public access of this property. Possible projects might include: putting up bird nesting boxes, exotic species control (if this is currently a problem) and defining a footpath to access the river.

Other Business
Barry mentioned recreational corridors as something the MCC might take up. Bill said we could apply for grants for this type of project including a municipal planning grant. It might also be possible to involve the Friends of the Worcester Range in this.

Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 9:15 pm.


Next Meeting
The next MCC meeting is schedule for Thursday March 4th.
Respectfully Submitted


Heather M. Furman, Secretary