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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 2 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. 3 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. 4 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.