MASTER PLAN STEERING COMMITTEE

MEETING

Thursday, May 02, 2002 – 7p.m. – Corner Meeting House

Members Present: Judy Pilliod, James Bolduc, Candace Daigle, Linda Frawley, Richard Ashbaugh, Tom Carroll, Don McLelland, Gordon Bartlett.

Also Present:            Jeff Marden, Kenneth Knowlton

N. McCurry has asked to be excused from her seat on the steering committee because of her commitment to being appointed as chairman of the Transportation subcommittee and family matters.  L. Frawley recommended and J. Marden was appointed the steering committee based on his involvement in three of the subcommittees.

J. Bolduc handed out a summary of suggested scheduling to help subcommittees create the drafts for the June public meeting.  He asked for comments from each subcommittee on using the document.

J. Marden noted that he would like assistance on Housing and Recreation Introduction.  C. Daigle noted that staff could provide assistance for them.

L. Frawley will contact D. Harper regarding inviting P. Oberhausen to the next Community Facilities meeting.

L. Frawley reported that the Conservation and Preservation Subcommittee is 95% complete.  They have also invited Denise Naiva from the Conservation Commission to join the subcommittee.  K. Knowlton reported on the on-going Town Forest project to replace the trail crossing to recreate the ponding area.  The project is in the scheduling phase where the who/what/when will be decided for the summer project.  Seventy-five percent funding has been made available through WHIP funds.  The Rotary Club will be donating the sign for the town forest.  They are also dealing with issues such as gates and locating property lines.  The second project is a property that has been donated to the Town and the Commission has been evaluating the property for a future trail system.  This is an important start towards the Commission’s goal to protect the Tioga frontage.

R. Ashbaugh reported that Construction Materials goals & objectives are pretty set.  He’s started on existing conditions by using a spread sheet.  C. Daigle will send copies of the current year’s reports.  R. Ashbaugh would like to include a summary of our amendment status.  J. Bolduc noted that SEA has just been employed by another Town to help to administer a new excavation & reclamation ordinance and they have been working on just that type of project.

R. Ashbaugh also reported on Utilities.  He offered to meet with J. Bolduc and W. Brunkhardt.  J. Marden suggested that the subcommittee also explore alternative energy sources.  L. Frawley could provide contact information for the major windmill project at UMass-Amherst.   C. Daigle will provide the RSA cite regarding tax incentives for alternative power.

L. Frawley asked that each subcommittee provide a draft for summary in the upcoming issue of the Belmont Better Times. 

J. Marden reported on Housing.  Issues being investigated include requiring that subsidized housing be visitable by developing standards to support that construction and the idea of adaptable versus accessible.  Adaptable would be construction that can be easily converted from traditional to accessible.  J. Pilliod offered to provide additional information from AARP.  J. Bolduc suggested that the new terms might be appropriate for the Introduction section of the chapter.

J. Marden also reported on Recreation.  Some of the existing conditions have been completed.  They are still missing the Belmont Baseball Organization info.  There have been some other minor changes.  They’d like to include use of the old town shed on Sargent Street.  The Boy Scouts have been using it, but are unsure of its future.  D. McLelland stated he has informed the Scouts that they have the use for at least 5 years but at that point it may depend on the site conditions.  The Boy Scouts have been asked to paint the building in exchange for their use of the building.  He felt that if the building were ever demolished the recommendation would probably be to replace it with some sort of community center.  It’s a useable building, but it’s not possible to make major site changes at this time.  J. Marden expressed the importance of gaining public involvement and support.

J. Pilliod reported on Land Use.  May 8^th is the next meeting.  Each member is working on separate sections.  C. Daigle is working on existing conditions.

J. Pilliod also reported on Transportation.  She feels that more work needs to be done on Existing Conditions.  R. Ashbaugh asked if telecommunications and windmills might work into Land Use. 

J. Pilliod reported on the Land Conservation Conference meeting, Landscapes and People - Conservation Tools for a growing state.  Phil Auger is going to be giving a similar presentation to the Conservation Commission on May 8^th.  The focus was on the importance of everyone working to preserve the places they love.  C. Daigle has the model easement from SPNHF and a list of contact information for all the people involved in state-wide conservation & preservation.  The meeting focused on people of like interests meeting to discuss this important subject.  L. Frawley noted that it was very interesting to see what is being put together as a group of leading professionals in this discipline.  They are an extremely important resource. 

L. Frawley reported on the economic chapter.  She has received positive interest from several people to come up and brainstorm on economic development in developing information for this chapter.  C. Daigle sent out recent town meeting reports to those interested.  The tentative date is May 22^nd.  There would be a preliminary report available for the June 21^st meeting.

Those present discussed the format for the June 21^st meeting.  This will provide an opportunity to reach out to the public again.  The Corner Meeting House has been scheduled for that date.  D. Harper suggested keeping the refreshments to pastries and punch and to expend noticing efforts on general notices in place of individual mailings.  L. Frawley asked if it would make sense to open the doors at 3pm for people to come in and see the displays.  Perhaps having the Food for Thought Café set up refreshments.  L. Frawley wants to make sure that a highest effort is made to encourage and allow opportunity for public involvement.  We’re looking for public comment on what we’ve put together.  Put together packets of the draft for hand-outs with a mail-in comment sheet.    We’ll be putting out some information ahead of time also.  J. Bolduc suggested other methods of encouraging attendance such as door prizes or other give-aways.  Need to encourage subcommittee members to interact with the people who do attend.  Questioning people about they do and don’t agree with, or would like to see.  L. Frawley does not see it as a trade show format.  She feels it’s important to use this as an opportunity to extract public comment.  She feels this should be a session at which the subcommittees report.  K. Knowlton suggested “Last Chance for the Next Ten Years”.  J. Pilliod reminded people that the intention was to update sections on a regular basis and not wait for another 10-year project.  She felt it was important that people understand that they need to speak now if they want their comments to be included in this version of the Master plan.  Suggested time was 6pm to 9pm.  C. Daigle suggested a format similar to November’s.  K. Knowlton suggested that some people like to talk and some to listen, but many just like to gravitate towards what they’re interested in.  L. Frawley said that the comments she’s heard are to pull the funsie stuff like the ice cream and music.  Tom Carroll will have the explorers available for traffic/kid control.  L. Frawley suggested a 30-minute program at a minimum. 

Next meeting will be 7pm on June 4^th.    Meeting adjourned at 9pm

Respectfully submitted,