MIDDLESEX CONSERVATION COMMISSION
Thursday, February 3, 2005
7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Middlesex Town Offices
Middlesex, VT

MINUTES

 
Commissioners Present
Barry Goodman
Heather Furman
Judy Keyes
Duncan Nichols
Rick Paradis
Bill Rossmassler
Dave Shepard
 
Other Guests
Gary Miller
 

Guest: Tom Jackman

Administrative Operations
Call to Order 7:10

Minutes
  Barry made a motion to approve the January minutes, Bill seconded. Minutes were approved with some minor changes.

Approve Treasurer’s Report
Rick reported the accounts had the following balances:
Special Projects/ Fund = $2006.99
Includes Keeping Track = ($ 207.60)
Selectboard Operations Appropriation =$957.39
Conservation Fund = $5,025.00

 • Invoice received for the Middlesex Monthly. $200.00
 • There was a brief discussion about our annual donation to the school. A request has been made for our annual donation (usually $300) to go toward the playground fund this year. Several Commissioners objected to this on the grounds that a playground is not necessarily conservation related. Judy suggested that an upgrade of nature trails or a conservation related field trip would be preferable. Bill suggested that the school give us a wish-list of things we can support, other than conservation-related books for the library. Duncan said he would ask what other school projects we could support. Judy suggested wildlife plantings. Gary said he talked to Cliff about “swallow cam”, a remote camera for classroom observation. Duncan and Judy agreed to talk with the school about what kinds of discrete projects they need that we could like to support.

Municipal Planning Grant
 • Guest Tom Jackman, Stowe Town Planner and Middlesex resident has agreed to help us with our Municipal Planning Grant (MPG) for mapping Class IV Town Roads. Tom suggested that he could call up other towns that have mapped Class IV Rds. and get a ballpark of the work that has been done so far and how much it costs. Bill suggested that we need to spend some time figuring out our goal for this project. He suggested that a town-wide recreational trails plan would be a great starting point. With that, we could do the best we can with the information we have and set the stage for a future research on Town Rds. An important piece is deciding how far back we want to go to document Town Rds.

 • Chittenden and Bethel were identified as towns that have had similar issues as Middlesex about the status of their roads. Both of those towns decided the best way would be to simply map their roads. Our issues may be different so it was suggested that it may make sense for us to pursue something other than just mapping (like the recreation trails plan).

 • The MPG’s are due in September. The Planning Commission may want to piggy-back with help with updating their zoning. A member of the subcommittee should coordinate with Sandy to determine if they would like to pursue this jointly.

 • Bill envisions a plan that would map trails and old roads and suggest a strategy for how we deal with old roads. Judy was concerned about legal ROW’s that we may come across as we research old roads. Bill suggested that we look at East Montpelier, which has a good recreation trails planning process. Dave suggested that it would be help to identify our actual existing Class IV Rds.

A subcommittee consisting of Dave, Duncan, Barry, Bill and Tom formed to flesh out the parameters of the project.


Town Meeting
 • There was some discussion about displays for town meeting. Gary and Judy volunteered to coordinate this.

Conservation Fund Committee
 • There was discussion about who would be willing to get up and speak at Town Meeting about the Conservation Fund. Dave had a number of questions he thought might get asked, and he listed those questions. Heather and Bill offered to write up an article for the monthly that would be in a Q&A format to address these questions.

Brochure
 • There has been a lot of work done on this brochure. Gary has compiled the votes on the photos and will decide which photos will be used. Bill has the final version of the text. We reviewed the text in detail and made edits. The final text was agreed upon.

Tree Grant
 • Judy is interested in writing a tree grant again that could enhance the Bandstand idea being discussed.  Bill suggested that she go to Selectboard for input and buy-in and also look at any money that might be in the Tree Warden budget for this year.

Other Business
 • See you all at Town Meeting!

Adjournment 9:04


Respectfully Submitted,


Heather M. Furman, Secretary