Minutes of third Citizens’ Advisory Committee meeting for Wilmington Community Waterfront Revitalization Program (CWRP)

 January 17, 2006 , Wilmington Town Hall

1.  Attendees (12) (Bold= Wilmington resident)

Background

Please see previous minutes or contact Town Supervisor or project consultant for background. 

The committee discussed membership issues.  The committee has 14 members already, not including the consultant team or Town leaders; this size is considered unwieldy by other people who have completed LWRPs.  It’s considered easier to accomplish the large amount of work to be done with a tighter group.  The committee decided to close membership at its next meeting, February 21.  A new member, Michael Vilegi, proprietor of Adirondack Lean-Tos, joined during this meeting.  Ms. Harriet Adams has decided she cannot commit to the full committee process, but explained her waterfront-related concerns to the consultant.

Goals

The first item on the agenda was a discussion of the committee’s goals in undertaking the CWRP process.  As they represent the cross-section of Wilmington residents, their common goals will help form the backbone of the plan overall.  Each resident wrote down their top three interests; one for her/him, one for the children of the community, and one for their neighbors.  Through discussion, the common goals of the group included:

·                     Restoration of the river to its state approximately 30-40 years ago (?) – that is, deeper and cleaner.  Water quality, algae/bacterial contamination issues, sedimentation, channel narrowing, were specifically noted. 

·                     Enhanced public access and improvement of public use areas and facilities.  This included improvements in the following:   swimming, fishing, paddling access points and facilities (e.g., the beach and nearby property, fishing trails and boating access to the river); and walking / nature / historical interpretation trails and areas.  

·                     Economic development including promotion of tourism.

  Next there was a review of a new boundary map (revised with previous meeting comments) and a discussion of the inventory draft text, which must be adapted for the presentation at the January 31^st meeting, so comments are requested by the consultant by this Friday, January 20, 2006 .

·                     The current boundary map is attached.  It shows a riverine buffer determined in part by slope and soil erodability, therefore of varying dimensions, but approximately 1000 feet from the river.  It only includes the river, not “hotspots” of sedimentation, at this point.  These and other relevant areas, such as fishing access points and viewsheds, must be added next.  Please send your comments to the Wilmington Supervisor or consultant. 

·                     Sedimentation / dredging information:  at the last meeting, the committee asked the consultant team to find out more about how this might work; how it would be done with least environmental impact, what impacts might be, etc.  A brief summary of the team’s findings follow.  Please note – this is just a crude summation; the team is still in the process of documenting comprehensively the range of options available in general to the community; a full range of options sprcifically designed to address Wilmington ’s concerns will not be available until an engineering / sedimentation feasibility study can be conducted.  Two sources (Steven Flint, invasives specialist and hunting/fishing guide; and a web search) told the team’s ecologist that dredging is always damaging in some ways to the local ecosystem.  Because current technologies require a vacuum-type process that macerates the material it encounters on the river bottom, including fish, other animals, any toxins, and any invasive plants, there are potentially negatiave impacts.  Adiditonaly, the process ahs to be done during a short time frame in summer, at the hieight of th e visitor season and recreational calendar.  For the AuSable River ’s West Branch, it may have to be repeated every 15 -20 years (worst case?) if sedimentation sources are not reduced. 

·                     A question about control of natural sedimentation was raised.  Are there ways to address it if the AuSable watershed is prone to moving lots of silt naturally?  [The AuSable River Asosciation may help us address this question, too.]  The consultant knew of several practices, including revegetating eroded areas and zoning that includes slope considerations and soil types to prevent development or work in erosion zones. 

Update on plans for January 31 Community meeting:

·                     Discussion of survey and committee members’ outreach as individuals in their neighborhoods.  The survey will be available for pickup at the Town Hall, Library, and Youth Center , and will be first in a series of short surveys on CWRP-related topics to gather community input and raise awareness of the process.  They will be attached to the back of the Town newsletter as well.  In addition they will be administered in person at the Transfer Station on the next two Saturdays by committee members.  These will also hand out the one-page information sheet about the CWRP process. 

·                     Outreach aside from the survey includes:  a press release (sent 1/16/06 ), post card to each residence (to be sent 1/20/06 ; total cost: less than $120), flyers, poster w/photos (Jane and Kara to do), e-mail announcement to local lists/friends of committee members.

·                     Agenda proposed for that meeting:

§         6 pm - 7:15 committee presentation on where we are, what we’ve done so far, and where we need to go (Judi / Holly / Kara to coordinate)

§         7:15 – 8 pm question and answer session ( Tom / Kara to help facilitate)

·                     Coffee will be available ( Tom / Holly to coordinate)

  After the January 31^st meeting, the committee will move on to plan an dimplement short focused community vision/planning workshops on specific aspects of the CWRP, then in Spring will be looking at policy adaptation, project identification, and other next steps. 

                        Quick update on planned meetings with agencies (DOT), plan for next steps.  Discussion about additional outreach to advocacy organizations to invite early suggestions and advice.  Jeanne is inviting Cty DOT representative Michael Fayette to attend committee meetings.  Jeanne will work with subgroup of committee members ( Tom , Rachel, Kevin, Michael V.) to talk with advocacy organizations about CWRP. 

-                      The committee’s Public Participation Plan was submitted to the NYSDOS for approval, 1/15/06 , with slightly expanded details on the survey plan. 

Reminder of Norms adopted by committee

(From the minutes of meeting on 12/03/05.):

 For more information on the Wilmington CWRP, please contact:

Jeanne Ashworth , Town Supervisor (946 7179) or Kara Page , ASCI (946 7557)