HomeMy WebLinkAboutArticle 68 Wrk Grp Minutes - 11 08 2011_201402041900222725
ARTICLE 68 WORK GROUP
Meeting of November 8, 2011, at 10:30 am
4 Fairgrounds Road, Community Room
Final Minutes
ATTENDING
Members: Peter Boyce, Acting Chair, Cormac Collier, Caroline Ellis, Mark Lucas,
Wendy McCrae, Mike Misurelli, Seth Rutherford, Lee Saperstein, and Ernie Steinauer
(entered at 10:40 am)
Absent: Dave Fronzuto, Bam LaFarge, Richard Ray, and Lucinda Young.
CALL TO ORDER
Acting Chair Boyce called the meeting to order at 10:31 am; a quorum was present.
APPROVALS
By acclamation, the Preliminary Agenda was approved.
A move to approve the Minutes of September 28th was made by Mark Lucas and
seconded by Mike Misurelli. With reference to a comment about the lands of Sankaty
Golf Club being in equilibrium for nutrients (page 4), Mark Lucas suggested that there is
not hard evidence to support this statement. Cormac Collier, who was quoted, suggested
that a more conditional, “may have” be substituted for “had.” With this correction, all
but Wendy McCrae voted to approve the Minutes. Wendy abstained because she had not
attended that meeting and did not have knowledge about it.
CHAIR'S COMMENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS; COMMENTS FROM THE
WORKGROUP
Acting Chair Boyce told us that he had been in touch with Chair Young and that she is
recuperating well. She has every belief that we will complete our tasks by year end.
He reported on his contacts with Representative Tim Madden with respect to the “Brewer
Bill” on fertilizer application control
(http://www.malegislature.gov/Bills/187/Senate/S00333). The bill, which places most of
the authority for regulation of fertilizer in the hands of the Department of Agriculture
along with consultation by UMass Extension, has been reported out of the Joint
Committee on the Environment and is now under review by the Ways and Means
Committee. Ernie Steinauer asked Peter if we could get a report or synopsis from Mr.
Madden on the bill’s progress and likelihood of passage. Ernie also reported that his
agency, Mass Audubon, did not comment on the bill when it was in Committee. Lee
Saperstein noted that most of the Towns that are on waters included in the Estuaries
Reports might have concerns similar to ours, namely that agricultural practices in the
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balance of the Commonwealth are very different from those on sandy, glacial-origin
soils.
BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES PLAN STATUS
Peter Boyce noted the good progress of the Best Management Practices Plan (BMP) and
said that it was Lucinda Young’s wish that we have an independent internal review of the
BMP before it is forwarded to the Board of Selectmen. She has asked Peter Boyce, Bam
LaFarge, and Wendy McCrae to read it carefully and note, particularly, if it makes sense
to a layman, i.e. a gardening homeowner. Several members of the editorial subgroup
(Collier, Lucas, Saperstein, and Steinauer) suggested that they were comfortable with the
technical content of the BMP and now needed to know if it is readable.
Secretary Saperstein wanted it noted formally in the minutes that the editorial sub-group
had done a tremendous amount of work on the BMP and that the other members deserved
a strong vote of thanks from the entire Work Group. He made an identical comment
about the technical reviewers who gave us willingly hours of their time and shared with
us extensively their knowledge of turf management science. All present concurred.
In anticipation of the discussion on the BMP, Lee Saperstein reminded the group of the
proposed standards of performance that had evolved from the work of the sub-group.
These were captured in the recently approved Minutes of September 28, 2011.
“No more than 3.0 lb of N per 1000 sq ft in any one year.”
“No more than 0.25 lb of N per 1000 sq ft of fast-release nitrogen fertilizer in any
one application.”
“Intervals of application to follow this guidance:
o If 0.5 lb N/1000 sq ft or less is applied, an interval of no less than two
weeks should be used;
o If 0.75 lb N/1000 sq ft is applied, an interval of no less than three weeks
should be used;
o If 1 lb N/1000 sq ft is applied, an interval of no less than four weeks
should be used.”
“No phosphorus unless a need is indicated by a soil test.”
It was also noted by Lee Saperstein that Mark Lucas had done a substantial amount of
work, both independent research on the Internet and consultation with our reviewers, to
quantify the nutritional impact of compost applications. This work resulted in several
tables and additional lines of text that will be inserted into the BMP in the final edit.
Mike Misurelli asked if our tentative recommendations had been reviewed by Paul Sachs
of North Country Organics. Mark said that he and the edit sub-group had been in a
conference call with Paul Sachs and learned that he, Sachs, was minimally concerned
about phosphate losses from compost but was in general agreement with our nitrogen
advice, i.e. he supported ½ lb N/1000 sq ft per application to a maximum of 3.0 lbs in a
season.
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The group then turned to the Compost Application tables proposed by Mark Lucas, which
were displayed by Secretary Saperstein on the screen in the room. There was agreement
that these tables were valuable and needed to be included in the BMP. Ernie Steinauer
had a series of suggested editorial changes that might improve reader understanding and
Mark Lucas thought that we should highlight those parts of the Table that represented
compliant rates. Secretary Saperstein indicated that he would incorporate these changes
into the BMP and asked those who had suggestions to look carefully at the Tables when
they reviewed the BMP.
Secretary Saperstein said that it was his plan, if the group approved, to circulate the BMP
with the draft minutes, both to the Work Group and to interested parties. He noted that
the time for comment is over but that he would happily receive notations of error,
mistake, and miscomprehension. A proposed public version of the BMP will accompany
the agenda for the next meeting and it will be the substance of a motion to approve the
BMP for forwarding to the Board of Selectmen. The group concurred with this plan of
action.
DISCUSSION OF OTHER ITEMS NEEDED TO COMPLETE CHARGE AND
GIVE FINAL REPORT TO BOS
The next issue before the Work Group was amending the regulatory packages that we
created to conform with the recommendations in the BMP. Lee Saperstein said that he
believed that the regulations should be simple, straightforward, and somewhat stricter
than the BMP. In this respect, he suggested that the regulated performance requirements
would include
no more than 3.0 lbs of N/1000 sq ft per year;
no more that 0.5 lb of N/1000 sq ft per application;
a maximum of 0.25 lb/1000 sq ft of fast-release nitrogen fertilizer per
application;
a minimum of two weeks between applications;
no phosphate unless the need was indicated by a soil test; and
no more than one-quarter inch depth per application of low-phosphate compost.
He was emphatic that these were “straw man” proposals that would provide for
amendments of the regulatory packages but that were open to discussion and further
amendment. It is his intention to distribute these proposals shortly to the Work Group
only for discussion at their next meeting where these amendments and edits would be
possible.
Peter Boyce then opened a discussion on Homeowner education by stating that he will
compose some simple statements for the editor, Peter Brace, to use in the Blue Pages
document under development by the Harbor Plan Implementation Committee. He will
send his text to the Work Group for their review.
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Peter Boyce then moved on to other tasks remaining before the Work Group with a
question on budget: “Did the Group want to recommend a budget to the Board of
Selectmen for implementing our suggestions?” The consensus was that we should make
recommendations on publishing copies of the BMP, including professional editing and
printing, but that performance issues are between the Board of Selectmen and the
Department of Health. We also should be explicit about the need for homeowner,
landscaper, and vendor education; these include insertion of recommendations into the
Blue Pages, as mentioned above, development of brochures and handouts for distribution
at the point of sale of fertilizer products, and small, plastic cards that can be used as a
depth gauge as well as having a printed synopsis of desired performance. Costs for these
items should be estimated.
Ernie Steinauer stated that the BMP would benefit from an outside, professional editing
job that ensured that it was readable and attractive. Questions on who would do this
editing, when, and how much it would cost led to the further question of the maintenance
of an oversight committee on nutrient contamination. Whether the Article 68 Work
Group should be disbanded, continued, or replaced by an Implementation Committee
were questions that should be discussed with the Board of Selectmen. These issues are of
sufficient substance that several members believed that our presentation to the BOS
should happen in a workshop and not as one agenda item among many at a scheduled
Board meeting. Cormac Collier emphasized that it was equally important to have a well-
advertized public presentation on our recommendations.
NEXT MEETING
To enable completion of tasks before the winter holidays, the Work Group agreed to meet
on Thursday, November 17, 2011, at 10:30 am. This meeting is confirmed for the
Community Room of the Public Safety Facility at 4 Fairgrounds Road. If needed, a
second meeting was scheduled tentatively for Tuesday, November 29, 2011, also at 10:30
am.
ADJOURNMENT
At 11:51 am, Wendy McCrae moved and Mark Lucas seconded adjournment of the
meeting. The Group concurred unanimously.