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HomeMy WebLinkAboutArticle 68 Wrk Grp Minutes - 11 29 2011_201402041900227725 1 ARTICLE 68 WORK GROUP Meeting of November 29, 2011, at 10:30 am 2 Fairgrounds Road, Conference Room Draft Minutes ATTENDING Members: Cormac Collier, Caroline Ellis, Bam LaFarge, Mark Lucas, Seth Rutherford, Lee Saperstein, and Ernie Steinauer. Absent: Peter Boyce, Dave Fronzuto, Wendy McCrae, Mike Misurelli, Richard Ray, and Lucinda Young. CALL TO ORDER Secretary Saperstein, acting as Chair pro tem in the absence of Chair and Vice-Chair and with the consent of those present, called the meeting to order at 10:39 am; a quorum was present. APPROVALS By acclamation, the Preliminary Agenda was approved. Approval of the Minutes of November 17, 2011, was moved by Bam LaFarge and seconded by Ernie Steinauer. Several suggested changes had been forwarded earlier and were incorporated into the Minutes; approval was unanimous. CHAIR'S COMMENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS; COMMENTS FROM THE WORKGROUP Saperstein began his comments by noting that Chair Young and Vice Chair regretted that they were unable to attend today’s meeting. He went on to suggest that if we were able to give the regulatory package – Home Rule Petition and Board of Health Regulations -- a full review, we would have done a lot in this meeting. Several members asked about our intended accomplishments for the day. There was concern that we not to rush to create a package with which we were not happy. The consensus was that we would tackle the regulatory package and see how far we had reached by about 11:50 am. DISCUSSION OF REGULATIONS Prior to the meeting on November 17th, Secretary Saperstein had sent the Work Group a set of amended regulations: Home Rule Petition and Board of Health Regulations. At the meeting on the 17th, it was noted that these drafts would not be complete until the Group had considered phosphate application rules and an inclusion of compost into the regulations. The members present agreed to open the entire package for discussion although most of it centered on Section 5. Standards of Performance. 2 Mark Lucas began with Section 5.2.2., (application dates); he asked if they could be written positively instead of negatively. The group agreed that fertilizer should be applied between April 15 and October 15 and amended the exclusion dates accordingly. The amendment was made by Mark Lucas, seconded by Ernie Steinauer, and approved unanimously. All of Sections 5.2.4. and 5.2.5., consistency with Conservation Commission, Con Comm, regulations, were brought up by Mark Lucas. It was agreed to point out these sections to Town Counsel when the regulations are reviewed because they are difficult to enforce. It was agreed, however, that consistency with ConComm was important and that we would not try to second guess future changes to ConComm regulations. No change was considered to our regulations. 5.3.1.1. was reviewed and found to be all right. At 5.3.1.2., the Group stopped to consider how the regulations would treat applications of phosphate. After some discussion of trial language, Cormac Collier offered a new section 5.3.1.3. and the group agreed to consider it. The additional language reads, “Applications of compost, which contain phosphorus, may only be applied in conformance with the Nantucket BMP.” The word “only” was inserted by Mark Lucas. All agreed to the change. Caroline Ellis asked about the use of the word “calendar” in front of year in section 5.2.2. When it was recognized that the dormant season actually fell in two, successive calendar years, it was agreed that it was simpler and more accurate merely to remove the reference to a year. Again, all agreed to the deletion. Ernie Steinauer asked that we step back and look at language in section 2.1., “Purpose.” He asked that we remove “high percentages of fast acting” as a modifier to nitrogen. Our goals, he reminded us, have grown from merely reducing the use of fast-acting fertilizers to one of interest in the total application of fertilizer, and that slow-release products can have similar leaching characteristics. The group agreed and the deletion was made. Sections 5.3.2. and 5.3.3. were seen to be all right as written. 5.4.3. was modified by a motion from Mark Lucas that was seconded by Ernie Steinauer. The change was an editorial one that altered word order in an attempt to improve understanding of the sentence. All agreed. At this point, Cormac Collier moved that the package be sent to the Board of Selectmen for them to begin a legal review with Town Counsel. Bam LaFarge seconded the motion. Before a vote was taken, several members of the Group repeated their desire to have a chance to make a formal and final vote on the package after suggestions for change had been made by Town Counsel. Mark Lucas also asked if we should amend the recommendations for foliar fertilizer application in section 5.3.5. and the consensus was that we should not. At this point, an unanimous vote agreed that the Board of Health Regulations, as amended at this meeting, should be forwarded to the Board of Selectmen for them to begin their legal review. Once again, it was noted that the Work Group 3 would like an opportunity to review suggested changes and to make a final vote on the regulations. Cormac Collier made a similar motion for forwarding of the Home-Rule Petition, HRP, provided that the amendments made for the Board of Health Regulations would be incorporated into the HRP. Caroline Ellis seconded. Mark Lucas asked that we look at section 1.5. of the Home Rule Petition and proposed that we delete ‘slow release’. The group agreed with the deletion. At that point, all approved the motion to forward. The amended drafts are included with these minutes. DISCUSSION OF ONGOING EDITS TO DRAFT BMP Chair Young is continuing to work on editing the draft BMP. Cormac Collier, Mark Lucas, and Ernie Steinauer agreed to meet to create some language on compost application and its impact on phosphate. They will set their own meeting time and place. NEXT MEETING No additional meeting is scheduled at this time. The Article 68 Work Group will meet to consider the BMP when it is ready and, again, to incorporate any recommendations for change made by Town Counsel. Those meetings will be on call. A progress report will be given to the Board of Selectmen at their meeting on December 7, 2011. An open work shop will be scheduled for some time in 2012. ADJOURNMENT At 12:03 pm there was unanimous consent for adjournment.