Speakers labeled via automated voice-based diarization + AI name-matching against the city's official roster. Automated transcription can still mis-hear a name during fast speech (e.g. a rapid roll-call vote) -- clear near-misses are auto-corrected, but this is not manually verified line-by-line. Treat names as a strong best guess, not an official record.
[0:01] Speaker A (unidentified): I think he said it's supposed to be read. Is that read? Mm-hmm.
[0:06] chair/presiding officer: Okay, good. Are we live?
[0:09] Speaker A (unidentified): We should be live. If I'm not, I'm sorry. I apologize.
[0:13] Speaker C (unidentified): Oh, my gosh.
[0:14] Speaker D (unidentified): You should come, just even come visit.
[0:17] Speaker A (unidentified): Oh, that's going to be a good job.
[0:19] chair/presiding officer: Oh, I'm the chair?
[0:20] Speaker C (unidentified): I was an IT specialist. My chair won't have to work on the school board.
[0:24] Speaker E (unidentified): We've done the website together.
[0:26] Speaker D (unidentified): He's done all the work for me, but it's really awesome. I can't wait.
[0:29] Speaker E (unidentified): I was going to say, so that's going to be my 9-1-1. I would say there will be a follow-up message after I look at the website because I would love to.
[0:40] chair/presiding officer: Okay, so we don't have a chair or vice chair, so I'm just going to go with it.
[0:45] Speaker A (unidentified): We're good. Call the meeting in order.
[0:50] chair/presiding officer: And approval of the meeting minutes from August 10th. We accept the minutes as written. Second. All in favor? Aye. Yes. All right, it's unanimous. And announcements. Any announcements?
[1:14] Speaker A (unidentified): Mandy's not here. Jason's not here. Robin couldn't make it.
[1:19] Speaker F (unidentified): And Brooks couldn't make it.
[1:21] Speaker A (unidentified): Mandy's sick, and I don't know about Jason. It didn't happen to me.
[1:24] Speaker E (unidentified): And guess what? We will make sure we fill them in.
[1:27] Speaker A (unidentified): That's right. We will carry on. Yep.
[1:31] chair/presiding officer: Items for discussion, water resources and natural resources, and Eric is going to be the one to
[1:37] Speaker E (unidentified): lead us through this lovely discussion. Oh, you know it. Yeah, okay, so first off, I want to say that I got some comments from Joelle, good comments in the sense of clarifying that Grafton Notch State Park is not in fact in Newry, and that there's conserved land in both Riley Township and Graft in Township, but just making that clear because I have to say, even when you're doing research, what the heck, like there are so many conflicting points of like this is new, this isn't a newer, this is, this isn't, so yeah, I just wanted to make sure everybody looked through that to say yes, no, and that's why, you know, obviously I was like, well, I'm going to send it to Joelle to be sent it to both of you, so Joelle filled me in on that, so I just wanted to put that out there as the, you know, introduction of I've made that clearer in the updates that I need and more so talked about it in the sense of that there are a lot of conserved lands that are abutting Newry, so it makes it more of a regional landscape, but these are the exact pieces of land that are conserved in Newry, just to make a little bit clarification there, so that was the main piece, but let me just bring it up so we can go through it. So you went through the 20 page one. You know, I want to go through the 20-page one, but we don't need to. We can just go through the other one.
[3:01] Speaker A (unidentified): So the other one, people, I put together, did you see the blue thing? Yes. That should be a separate one, but it just kind of separates it. I had to copy or do all the stapling. And I said, you know what, I'm just going to take it.
[3:14] Speaker D (unidentified): That's perfect. Thank you.
[3:17] Speaker E (unidentified): That's perfect, yes. Yes. So, when you go into the full chapter before I start reading it and you get into the online version, because there are so many, like, very large scale maps from either USGS or the Maine Geological Survey, etc. et cetera, instead of inserting all of those like sand and gravel aquifers, because they come up in three different quad triangles, I linked them so that you can click on it and look right to it. But then I also said where they were and what they were in the case that some people want to look them up after that. But being that it was already 22 pages and I really was trying hard not to make it longer than that. I was like, you know what, let me see what I can link that way it can be in there as a reference so there were two other things that I found through the main geological survey there was like mineral resources in Newry that was published in 2013 and then there was one on Step Falls from 2023 so I linked both of those reports in the case somebody wants to look at more information in there and another thing I found was that Maine Geological Survey actually broke a report on lithium in Maine in 2023 so I went into how that's a resource a little bit but the fact that Maine has some of the strictest mining laws in the country and that no matter what it would have to go through the whole load of process to move forward but I linked that as well in case people wanted to look at the applicability of that in the area too
[4:51] Speaker A (unidentified): But I'll go through the key findings now.
[4:56] Speaker E (unidentified): So one, Newry contains extensive and interconnected natural areas. So obviously just kind of pointing out that a lot of the town is forested and relatively undeveloped. Existing developments concentrated primarily around the Sunday River and Bear River valleys along Route 26, aka Bear River. Beginning with Habitat reports that most habitat blocks in Newry exceed 500 acres, while the largest contiguous block, which extends into neighboring communities, exceeds 97,000 acres. Just thought that was really interesting that when you look at the contiguous nature of all of them again, while I, why I really wanted to put that piece in there too about Graft and Notch, I just thought that was interesting. So before I continue on, you'll see in the 20 page report part beginning with habitat which is a program within IFW has now been writing these reports that go over all of the components as far as natural resources, so rare plants, rare animal species, invasive species, deer habitats, inland wading bird and waterfowl habitats, all those different resources they give you kind of a letter now. So what I did was insert the letter right into the chapter. I've been in conversation with them and they're like please do that 's why we write them. So you'll see in the full report that there's a few pages worth of information from them and then the corresponding maps that they give as well that have the information on it. So it pasted in there, but again if it's coming from the biologists at Beginning with Habitat, I'm going to take what they have to say, so that's included in there as well. So second, obviously as you know, steep terrain and soil conditions create significant development constraints, so approximately a thousand acres are located above 2700 feet. Why does it say around right there? So, this is good, we're reading it through together, I just fixed that. Why I point that piece out is in relation to the Natural Resources Protection Act, elevations that are 2,700 feet above the median sea level, I think is the way they describe it, are considered fragile mountain areas. So they're protected under NRPA. So I just like to call that out and the fact that they are a conserved resource, and I think you know something I was thinking about in writing this is the more that we bolster the fact that those are not only protected resources but they're valued resources by the local community, it'll give us a little more rationale say down the line if we want to put in more protection around the mountain areas to protect those scenic views or things of that nature. So I just tried to work that in where I can. Yeah, so I don't know why this, I'll fix up that sentence that's there after that. But within the chapter, I listed all the different mountain areas. If you guys, you know, wouldn't mind checking through, making sure I didn't miss any, because I really did try to go around the map like six times to make sure that I got every single one. But then in the same token, I was like, well, are there other areas that aren't labeled that I'm not including? So please fact-check me in any way. Okay, so steep slopes, shallow bedrock, dense till, and seasonal soil wetness limit development potential and increased erosion, drainage, and emergency access concerns. So within the longer version, I go into the fact that there's a lot of constraint due to the steep slopes that you have in town. I found this really good map that kind of shows it as a heat map in the 20-page version, so it really like kind of brings to light the high peaks of elevation you have, and then it really makes it clear there's your two river valleys and there's everything else. So I thought that was a cool one to include, and then within the chapter it just gets into the conditions of the soil there, you know, how they are in the way of handling development, and there's a map I got from DACF that shows like hydric soils on it. I inserted another soils map within there. There's the bedrock geology maps in there. The sand and gravel aquifer maps are linked in there as well. So just trying to show the natural land constraints that exist today, which does push a lot of our development goals in your area.
[9:30] Speaker D (unidentified): Can I ask you one question about your links? Please. So like links, hyperlinks always break. And so how does the final report actually get solidified in a record? You know what I was thinking is what if I just include
[9:46] Speaker E (unidentified): an appendix with all of that stuff in it? Yeah, might make it really long, but if we make it a separate, yeah, here's the appendix, and that way I can take everything that's linked within, so if you know at that point it works, they
[10:02] Speaker C (unidentified): If we want to go back to the plan and you can't link it in 10 years or when you're redoing it, you still have to look at it.
[10:09] Speaker E (unidentified): That is perfect, but I was totally thinking the same thing, because I can't help but like to look at things sometimes while reading it. So I even think it could be worthwhile to have. But I don't have paper.
[10:23] chair/presiding officer: You can always go back to paper.
[10:24] Speaker E (unidentified): That's so for me if we have at first, you know, what's funny is in my drafts I had natural resources map appendix because I'm kind of thinking it might be nice, I wanted to leave the beginning with habitat ones in there and a few of them just because it got like a little boring without any graphics in there, but I think the ones that were linked like the bedrock, the sandy gravel aquifer, maybe even that report, the ones that we feel relevant, I think let's just put them in an appendix at the end and Then that way either someone's reading through it they can see what it is there and then I'll say math number but in the appendix and they can either go there or the online thing because that's such a good point they break all the time so I like that one just me and then I feel like you know we're still able to include the information it's in there but again when I started putting them within the chapter I was like okay we're up to 30 pages yeah and I know people are not going to read it yeah You know what I mean so that's a great idea I'm excited you guys are down for that so three this is the one that I edited the most so major protected areas Grafton Notch is not in Newry public reserve plans Grafton Forest Wilderness Preserve according to Joelle that's not a thing I could not figure out where that was coming from so again this is where you all come in handy for me of just wading through the facts versus the not facts. So I updated that to include, again, all the lands that are actually preserved in Nuri in the chapter. There's an overall map that shows all the conservation lands, and then I took a little snip of the Moosic Land Trust map, which shows the names of all of the areas, just so you can have some perspective for that. So I put both of those in there. Second bullet point on here, just interesting for including that MLT identifies approximately 45,000 acre Upper Bear River, Upper Sunday River area as a conservation priority because of its ecological significance and vulnerability to forest fragmentation but within the chapter I thought that was interesting just because I was able to really illustrate it through the maps that I have from beginning with habitat because they show like the large blocks as well as the different designations so the state's focus areas and the Mohoosic range is one of them so that kind of matches up there which I thought was interesting for habitat connectivity is particularly important so just calling out roads culverts dams and development compartment terrestrial and aquatic habitats again so whether it's string crossings whether it's deer crossing etc beginning with habitat identify Sunday River Road as an area with a concentration of wildlife vehicle collisions so that data actually comes from DOT they have this like crash query tool that shows you what accidents are from in town. Interestingly enough, as much as you wouldn't think, here are one of the number one, you know, reasons of accidents around here, so I thought it was useful to bring that in this chapter two, to just say, you know, not only is it finding ways to keep the big forests of lands contiguous is helpful in making sure that, you know, we're providing them the space that they need. 16 public culverts have been assessed in Newry with five identified as barriers and one is a potential barrier to aquatic connectivity, so there's Stream Smart program and they give recommendations on culvert sizing and such, so Stream Smart culverts provide an opportunity to improve both aquatic passage and infrastructure resilience. So I mentioned this in here because further down within the strategies, when we get into that, was one of the strategies that I included was to update maintain the culvert inventory and utilize Stream Smart practices when possible in wake of the barriers that Beginning with Habitat identified, and again, they, so things like that, there is funding available for as long as you're going through with the Stream Smart practices, so the more I bolster it in here, the more that will give us opportunity that we're going to do these, so this will help us get culvert funds. That's how I check it out. Yeah, well, that's it. So the more that you call them out and things like this and identify, you know, the different reasons that it's necessary, I think it's helpful, just right when we find out where these colors are. I have a map in here, but there's another one, so they identified on DOT's website to just send you guys, yeah, too, so they have all those different things, but there's, I did put a little bit more information about the Stream Smart program just within the chapter two. Exactly, and that's, you know, the perfect why we do what we do, what the comp plan is, to set those sort of things up. So I've got one, I think I'm excited. About, I think that'll be, you know, just a good Avenue. Do you guys have so many rare species and areas of natural areas of concern? Like usually when I'm going through these for other times, it's like, no, we have a few, we got like three. So documented resources include word turtles, northern spring salamanders, Bicknell's thrush. You have four rare high elevation plant species, five rare natural community types, and then there's the inland waterfowl wading bird habitat locations and for deer wintering areas. So those are all illustrated through those maps that I said for beginning with habitat and in that report that beginning with habitat wrote, which details the different kind of species, where they were identified, what rating they are as far as endangerment goes, and then what the standards are for development in relation to that. So then like I said before, the Mahoosix focus area of statewide ecological significance extends into northwestern Newry. So obviously that's kind of coming down the Grafton Riley into Newry a little bit area. Again, that's illustrated on the beginning with habitat maps. Something I will mention within is they have such a good online resource that if you do want to just look at a random site in your area and see all these things in comparison, you can go on it. So I'll find a way to like reference that they can be used easily. But something I did include is the old recommendation of use the maps that beginning with habitat provides in the development review in future decision-making in town, etc. Just so that you know, we know where they are, we can identify them. Geology and mineral resources require careful planning. Nuri contains glacial, sand, and gravel deposits, significant aquifers, pegmatized gemstones, lithium-bearing materials, and construction aggregates. Twenty-one mineral sites are identified in Nuri by the main geological survey. Major resources include lithium, beryllium, cesium, feldspar, mica, tantalum, nobium, graphite, gem tourmaline, polycytes, sputumene, and mineral specimens. So again, there is so much information through the Maine Geological Survey about the mineral resources in Newry that just it was like the doors blasted open. I spent two days just looking through everything they have, and they have all of these. So there's, if you go on their site, they have like 21 different locations identified. And in the chapter, you know, I go into that, show where they are, and just say exactly what they identified there. But again, that was like, there's nothing like that and a lot of other locations, so it just stood out to me of how much of a significant resource it is for you guys, because it's, have you been to the Gem Museum? Well, That's, I was going to say, oh my, oh come on, well, my joke was to my...
[18:34] Speaker D (unidentified): Oh my gosh, I've been there like five times. I need to do it. Seriously, I need to go. It is unbelievable.
[18:39] Speaker E (unidentified): Well, I said to all my co-workers, I'm going to go kick rocks in Newry because I think I can find something fun if I do that there.
[18:46] Speaker D (unidentified): You won't believe what is in this museum.
[18:49] Speaker E (unidentified): So clearly I then got into the Jolly Green Giant research of the big mineral that they have on display at the Smithsonian, which I mentioned in the chapter as well, and then all the different things, the fact that they went through the mineral resources when they were developing the nuclear program. Like, I cannot even tell you how much I read up on that. It was so interesting. So I was trying not to make it too long, but I did try to throw some of that stuff in there because I thought it was really cool.
[19:19] Speaker D (unidentified): Honestly, so let me know if you want to go, I'll go with you. I'm gonna be really
[19:36] Speaker E (unidentified): excited, as you could tell, because I was excited just reading about it. And then I made sure I was like, everybody look at this picture of this gem. Everybody's like, the thing you write comp plans, not, they're like, yeah, I know it. You can't imagine. I then, I served all the books, the pictures, I was like, it, yeah, so I'm gonna be pulling some of that, something really cool. Yes, it's amazing. So I'm excited to go there now because I feel like I need to like make a little reference of like, there's local resources such as the Gem Museum where you can learn more, you know. Yes, I do that kind of stuff when I'm writing it. So I just added in Newry has received detention because of the lithium baron spoon mean identified and pegman type deposits near Flambeco Mountain. The presence of a mineral deposit does not mean that extraction is commercially feasible or legally permitted. Any proposal would require detailed evaluation of the deposit, land ownership, access, environmental impacts, and compliance with All state laws and local regulations, so again, I just wanted to touch upon that. Yes, we know this is here, it's happening, we've received attention, but there have been conversations to understand the feasibility of it based off of what Mandy was talking about that day of, yes, it's there, but we don't know for certain if it would be something that would, you know, big money making operation, but identified it in the sense of having it in this part. So lower down, I put in a strategy of closely monitor all extraction operations just to keep an eye on it in mind, I bet, and that's what I was thinking in writing. Oh, that's it. So when you see it, and even when I was looking up, I was like, oh, this is definitely like, so I was like, I need to recognize that we know that's there, but that also we are keeping an eye on those things, and you guys do have really good ordinances surrounding it, and the state also, but I made a point of putting it in there to recognize that we know these resources are here, and we need to make sure that we protect them and the development around them, make sure it's not degrading anything else. Yeah. Then I got into flooding and severe weather. So flooding and severe weather are important resilience concerns. Flooding is identified as Newry's most frequent hazard, while severe storms, high winds, drought, wildfire, extreme temperature, and landslides also present risks. So I went into that a bit in the chapter of, I found this landslide susceptibility map. That map does, you find a lot of stuff when you start researching, guys. I went to that, it was kind of amazing. Is that not right? That's why I linked it. I was like, who would have thought? So I had to land that out. Yes. So that's, it was interesting to me because they even had notes in it. It was like probability of rocks falling. So I like tried to pull in that kind of stuff and just say what came out of that. I mentioned Maine won't wait, the whole climate action plan, everything that's coming out of that. Then I found out that over the years there's been these random watershed surveys that were done by like some state ish kind of things, so I think the findings are relevant, and I wanted to find out more information about them, so I referenced them in here because there was apparently a watershed survey of the Sandy River watershed, the Bear River watershed, and then there was like some other little kind of thing, so I put that in there, and I'm going to elaborate a little bit more on the findings Within the specific water piece of it, but I wanted to focus on this part today just to make sure you guys are all on board with what I have going on so far. So I did want to call out in this section to that mountainous terrain and dispersed development could complicate emergency response. So again, just something we've talked about over time, something I've heard a lot from being in the area, and I think the more we leave that into here, you know, it opens the door of opportunity should there ever be any sort of mechanism that we could use to help with that. So then I brought in that the December 2023 storm caused major flooding and damage along Bear River and Sunday River, affected Route 26, Bear River Road, same thing, Sunday River Road, and Joelle told me there was no Sunday River access road. So I looked into that more and I wanted to ask you guys which one you thought had worse flooding because I put in this is always where were you yeah she told me those two but then I was like okay that's the one that I wrote in I wrote Sunday River Branch Road is that the one of the ones that got the most this is why I need to ask you guys these things thank you so I mentioned that there again that flooding caused a lot of damage here do we know the total amount of money that
[24:57] Speaker A (unidentified): it too much I can't I'll talk ahead because it was mostly steep on them not 26 or 26 yeah 23 that's like a yeah we did bridge road we did all of a sudden
[25:10] Speaker E (unidentified): yeah so that was the one that I included instead of saying those two but I also okay so I wrote major flooding was reported along the Bear River and Sunday River in multiple sections of Route 26 were washed out significant damage was seen on Bear River Road quotes through 26 Sunday River Road and Branch Road should I include any others in that after I said nearly all roads in Newry roughly 14 miles you bet I read Joel's article were damaged to some extent and two homes were lost because I just kind of wanted to incorporate that part to say oh is that accurate yeah like should i do that yeah all right so then i just put damage to bear river road route 26 can be observed through the photos provided by oxford county emergency management agency so you'll see that one kind of looks weird but it was two different pictures that spanned the whole thing so i tried to put them together so you could actually see them thing because i thought those pictures were so wailing it's like you can read about yeah there's road washouts but when you
[26:22] Speaker D (unidentified): See that you're like, that's a road washout. I was stuck on that side at the guide service, and I cried when I came down the road with my car. I was trying to get out because I was helping them, and I stopped and I was like, I'm not going anywhere, and I literally cried. I was like, oh my god, apocalypse. It was unbelievable.
[26:43] Speaker C (unidentified): We had people come and cry.
[26:46] Speaker E (unidentified): I needed to kick home with that. It's going to be okay.
[26:51] Speaker C (unidentified): But it did come back together really quickly.
[26:54] Speaker E (unidentified): Yeah, seriously. It's impressive looking at the damage to now. Even you're like, you guys handled it quick. It was bad.
[27:03] Speaker A (unidentified): It was funny because we ended up having an emergency selectance meeting that morning really quick after stuff was coming fast, and we had to close, and good thing we closed what we did. We were worried we wouldn't be able to get home and handle them. Yeah. It was crazy. It was fast.
[27:20] chair/presiding officer: I just now have completed my field. Just now. At the cost of buying an excavator and a dump trailer and a lot of money.
[27:33] Speaker E (unidentified): Yeah, I bet basically just money in a dump truck going out into your land. It was, and that's, I really, I know I got a little lengthy on that part. But in the same token, I did want to really make the point of like, it was really bad. It wasn't just like stuff, yeah, so I really just got into that in there, then went through the pictures, then I got into emergency management in the chapter. I'll go back into the other thing, but I just went into Newry's emergency management planning occurs within a broader municipal county and state system. I mentioned that Joelle, so the code enforcement officer for Newry, is designated as the director of civil emergency preparedness, which I think is great because not many other people have recognized it in the same way Henry has, so I just really wanted to call out that as far as emergency preparedness goes, you guys are a lot better off than most other communities just because you have paid attention to it for a while now. So I just wanted to point that part out, and then brought in that Oxford County Emergency Management Agency. They provide regional training, regional planning, training coordination, resource management, damage assessment, and emergency management support, and then I mentioned in there to the Oxford County and EMA emergency operations plan and hazard mitigation plan. Then I'll go back to the other thing now. Okay, I then called out that the town participates in the community resilience partnership and that you have just recently received a $75,000 community action grant for groundwater sustainability assessment, which is intended to inform future water supply development, land use, and perception protection decisions. Amazing, that's all I can say as far as that goes i've been wanting that kind of information for anybody just to try to understand it a little bit better so the fact that 's the kind of study you guys got through the community action grant was amazing in my eyes so i made sure to include it and that one of the strategies is to really implement the findings from that groundwater assessment whenever it's done and make sure it's you know put forward into the ordinances so that we're taking all of that into consideration because that's going to be
[30:16] Speaker A (unidentified): great. I think it'll be really helpful. Do we know who's going to do that and when it's going to happen?
[30:24] Speaker E (unidentified): AVCOG is a part of that, right? We're the, so somebody at my office is the regional coordinator of the community resilience partnership in our region. So they just, they pretty much just announced the grant like a month ago, but what they'll do is work together to get an RFP out. They'll find somebody to do this study, probably somebody like at the environmental or something along those
[30:47] chair/presiding officer: lines to do the assessment. I think it is, right? Yeah, yes, she did say that. Yeah,
[30:52] Speaker E (unidentified): that's really funny. They're pretty good. So, I think, you know, that is, it's to be, but I really wanted to make sure I mentioned it even though it, they like just were awarded. I was like, we're putting that baby in here. So I made sure I put that in, and like I said, I'm, that's something that you're like would recommend through a comprehensive plan like this to be like, you should do
[31:16] chair/presiding officer: something like a groundwater sustainability assessment, but you're
[31:20] Speaker E (unidentified): already doing that. So it's like to be able to have that and recommend even more is just great, you know. So I'm psyched about that one. Then I went into two existing ordinances. So existing ordinances provide established protection frameworks. So you regulate sensitive resources through the shore land zoning ordinance, the udro floodplain management ordinance. I wanted to bring that up. You guys have one, right? I think you probably do, because if you didn't, then president shouldn't be able to like buy Flood insurance, so you have to have had one at some point, but I'll help you with that at some point. We can update it because I had to take the floodplain management course. I have to say, through my position, for so now I know a lot about floodplain stuff. So if you know, we can do that at some point too. But I did want to just check that with you guys. I'm pretty sure we do. If you didn't, I feel like there would be like big sirens going off. Yeah, because I don't have one of those maps that just be hanging in the corner and you just got fun. You did get funding from FEMA for the disaster, and I think it would have had a large effect, so I put that in there, and then I just mentioned the road entrance ordinance, too, just being that a lot of, you know, erosion control methods, or when you're doing the road stuff, so I just wanted to put that in there, too, in the sense of, okay, you know, it's not really just if you're going through development review, even if you're doing smaller things, like you'll still have to conform to the standards that NERI has. Within the long part of the chapter I called out the exact sections of the UDRO and what they regulate. So I went to a new one. Right, yes, luckily I got that from Ted like early on that I've been like perfect because it's all new chapters
[33:03] Speaker D (unidentified): we it's all rearranged. Yes, I want to make sure you didn't read. Yes, the old
[33:06] Speaker E (unidentified): one. Yeah, okay, I'm pretty sure, right? Yeah, I would think that. If you wouldn't mind just double-checking, Heidi, but it would section 18 was like the general performance standards. I think those are the new ones. Yes, which to me since I'm at the permit you have the ordinance, so that's why I was just like because the new ones on the website, right, Heidi? No, there's an updated one that's 2024. We just 20, we do 20 May. Yeah, Heidi, I used the 20 26 one on the site, but okay
[33:54] Speaker D (unidentified): I would always be happy for. Yeah, the reason that I'm pointing that out is that this UDR was completely reorganized. It's much better. Yeah, much better, sections are completely different. Yeah, but it's much better. It is. I have
[34:14] Speaker E (unidentified): Have to say the 2026 one is, every time I've looked through here to do the planning board training and everything like that, I was like, this makes sense to me. Like, and a lot of the time they don't, you know what I mean? Like you can tell it's been like a conglomerate event it's over the years, which was just before you read it. So it's been nice looking through it, and honestly doing the comp plan with that has been next, because that's what one everybody with the mineral resources, it's in section whatever of the UDRO, that's where the standards are laid out. So I really went through to say which section, so again, it Heidi will verify that for me, yeah, but I did the 2026, so yeah, that's
[34:57] Speaker F (unidentified): on the town website, yeah, so
[35:02] Speaker E (unidentified): I just brought those in because sometimes I know it's like you can say in there that nobody regulates these things, but kind of hits home more if you're like, in section 26 of UDRO it regulates for mineral resources. So I just kind of laid that out within the chapter so that's nice and clear, yeah, because otherwise it's, yeah, exactly. So I said existing standards address stormwater, erosion, groundwater, wetlands, fisheries and wildlife habitat, flood areas, scenic resources, mineral extraction, and other development impacts. So in the chapter again I go into it a bit more on the things that you guys do regularly by, but again your standards are really good compared to a lot of other towns that I work with, so it is, you know, just reaffirming that we're going to continue to enforce the standards that we have in place now, being that they're so, you know, sufficient as is, but we'll continue to assess them to react to what's going on, truly. All right, then I mentioned the scenic resource locations that I also highlighted in red within the chapter, so I will read to you guys from within the chapter what was identified as scenic resources. So it said, number one, Sunday River, rocks and waterfalls, thinking we'll keep that one. Thoughts? Yeah. Two, deep hole. What and where is that? It's on this side. It's not marked. But it's not marked. I was really trying to figure it out.
[36:48] Speaker A (unidentified): to be a local resource. It used to be just locals at one day and now it's freaking everybody.
[36:55] Speaker E (unidentified): I was very, because I was reading it and I was like, I have no idea where this is, and it clicked in my head and I'm like, I think that's for a reason. Yeah, it's above the
[37:03] Speaker A (unidentified): church on the left hand side. Should I read that? Yeah, it's there, people know. You bet
[37:12] Speaker E (unidentified): have step balls on you. You bet we should have Step Balls on there. I think all of us, because they can agree. Yeah, you know what I have to say? I went to that Mahoosic Land Trust meeting and they started talking about Step Balls, and I happened to go to Step Balls two days before with my six-year-old nephew, who had literally the time of his life. Let me tell you, I was like the best aunt of all time. It was like I had a lot of fun, like a lot of fun. So anyway, I was ready for that conversation and it was funny because they start talking about the parking and management and like when I first like in my mind I couldn't help but be like, oh yeah, great, you know, if they had more parking and as soon as I got there in the whole day, they should never do that. It perfectly manages itself through the parking limitations and there's like a perfect amount of people there and for some reason they all leave around the same time. I watched it happen. It's like they go in shifts and then like suddenly four people are leaving and four more are pulling back in. I was like, how is this just naturally occurring? But it's like the best way to manage the resource, I have to say. You could not and you would be a mouth of if that place got overcrowded. You would have people falling on their heads in the box half that out there now is like this. It used to be, oh my dad, yeah, because I even realized how wide it was. But to me, that was like an important realization that, no, that's the way it is. And if it was any busier than it was now, it would be dangerous because people would be running past each other. They'd slip, the resource would get degraded. So that was really interesting to me, just like going and spending the day and then thinking about it after. I was like, it works out, you know? I brought a tube for my nephew. So obviously the attendant that was there was like, hey, none of that. I just looked at him. I go, I know you're messing with me. He's like, yeah, I am. But my fiance believed him and tried to put it back. I was like, no, he's kidding. So all right, so I've added Step Falls, Horseshoe Falls, what, where, that's just above the deep hole up here above the church. Is it still relevant? Yeah, okay, so we won't have the ones that are local resources that we don't necessarily want to be like, this is one of them. We don't have to map those ones, but we can map, you know, obviously Step Falls we want to show on the map, Sunday River in general you can identify it. I Think mentioning it, you know, either way I think it's good. Okay, then we had Bald Mountain, Picket Ledges. I was, see, these are the ones I
[39:53] Speaker A (unidentified): started looking at and I was like, is that a different name for Tablewalk? No, that's in Grafton.
[40:00] Speaker E (unidentified): I was, yeah, so these are the ones I was like, ah.
[40:07] Speaker A (unidentified): Pickett Ledges makes me think it's up off Only, because Pickett helped do that subdivision.
[40:18] Speaker E (unidentified): So to me, if not one of us, you guys, knows what it is, then it's not a local scenic resource of
[40:25] chair/presiding officer: importance, so
[40:32] Speaker A (unidentified): that
[40:41] Speaker E (unidentified): one, that'll be a question mark for now, because you don't, we should figure out why it was on there originally, because then we might want to keep it in. If not, that would take it off, but it's not that we all left clarity, right? Then there was Letter S, Leonard Ledge, and the covered bridge, and I'm not
[41:05] Speaker A (unidentified): saying Leonard Ledge, I'm not sure where that one is. Those
[41:09] Speaker E (unidentified): these were the ones where I was like, I'm going to need the local knowledge here. So those were the ones identified, but then the fun part comes, what else do we want to answer the list, guys? You think of any places that you're like, this is something that I really like in town? I have to stick from the outside standpoint that doesn't live here and has no say in this. I really do love the Vista when you pull right on to Bear River, right where the sign is, that's a
[41:46] Speaker A (unidentified): beautiful view shed, so
[41:51] chair/presiding officer: I'm thinking like that. Yes, I did, so I was so excited [Speaker E (unidentified): about that. She] just came in to register a car and she was like, can you send those to me? And then I was like, let's ask her. And she was like, oh yeah. Why not?
[42:30] Speaker E (unidentified): Leonard Lynch. I mean, is this ledger over here? I don't know if that's what. And that being said, is it really, like, important, then, if we don't even know where it is?
[42:40] Speaker F (unidentified): all of them to check those out, yeah, the list is, so just past the color of bridge
[42:45] Speaker E (unidentified): yeah, oh my god, that was the, I was like, this feels wrong. Is it spelled Leonard, like Leo? Yeah, I couldn't, why could I not say L-E-O out loud? I was like, that one, you guys said it, what we do, it's been a day, I think it's
[43:09] chair/presiding officer: already, yeah, it was really a Monday.
[43:14] Speaker A (unidentified): But yeah, I'll check them under the ledge and then pick it up legend, unless that's the ones up off Chase, that's not what we call them.
[43:23] Speaker E (unidentified): Well, I'm happy that we could at least say, all right, obviously Set Falls should be on there, but are there any other ones that you're like, yes, that's one of the things, you know what I mean, that just stands out to you? Or there's, are mainly those ones, I think mainly those. Okay, there's
[43:47] Speaker F (unidentified): so many places that just have
[43:49] chair/presiding officer: Amazing views. I know that's the hard thing. My neighbor told me the other day, she said, I tell everyone you have the best compliment I've ever had. This is good. Up by Norman's is good. That is good too.
[44:04] Speaker E (unidentified): Yeah, but those I think are things that I even like to call out is like scenic view sheds.
[44:10] Speaker A (unidentified): Yeah, I mean like when you're going up past Kevin and Pauly's, the field up there before my grandmother's house, that's looking like prep that field and looking at those mountains is really pretty too. Yeah, and that's Mount Kitty and that's where that
[44:24] Speaker C (unidentified): landslide was. Yeah, 80 or 80 or whatever it is.
[44:27] Speaker A (unidentified): Yeah, so
[44:30] Speaker E (unidentified): I think it would be cool if we added in like significant view sheds. Yeah, I can only say I know that it's like kind of annoying, but I have to say there was one time where this development project came in and it would have completely ruined like a scenic view shed like that, but because they identified it in their comp plan, I was able to be like, well, we got to make sure that you don't degrade that scene of resource we identified and exactly that. I'm like, we
[44:57] Speaker A (unidentified): might as well put them in, you know what I mean? Yeah, look at the back.
[45:05] Speaker D (unidentified): It actually is a bigger painting, it goes on the other side I think that painting
[45:11] Speaker F (unidentified): is at the historical society. Yeah, that's cool, and then from my place you can look right up the Sunday River Valley and see Goose Eye and the mohousks.
[45:26] chair/presiding officer: There's so many pretty... Yeah, they said...
[45:29] Speaker E (unidentified): There was one sentence...
[45:31] Speaker F (unidentified): This is the historical society's journal.
[45:34] Speaker A (unidentified): I haven't been in there for a while. You still read the book, you've got my Christmas.
[45:39] Speaker F (unidentified): They put it up for, I think it's once a year.
[45:42] Speaker E (unidentified): The old plan just said, along the Sunday River Valley, there are several opportunities to view Goose Eye and other surrounding peaks. Right, which I was like, that's good, but I don't want to explain them more because you know me, I'm like, let's say what they are so long, if anybody tries to ruin it we can tell them no, it's a special now. Yeah, well, so how do we want to describe your property? I just write into the company Amy's property, but like how could I describe it? We always call the farmers all right this corner it's
[46:27] chair/presiding officer: Every time I turned around, somebody would stop taking a picture this weekend, and I just was like, oh this isn't even that pretty, a week ago.
[46:33] Speaker E (unidentified): That is so funny.
[46:36] Speaker A (unidentified): I went up to a bagel on Saturday after, just to get out of my house, and the cars, holy shoot. They were so bad.
[46:46] chair/presiding officer: Even my husband goes, "I've seen more this year." People weren't riding in Jeeps because it was the Jeep Jamboree, they were making a video. I was like, "I wish I could see that." Because they're like, "Can you show me?" I was like, "Down the road making a video of it all." And I was
[47:00] Speaker A (unidentified): like, "Yeah, I bet it was the first time." I used to do that when I was on the back of the motorcycle. Yes, like coming down through a notch up there by Awesome. Yeah, beautiful. Yeah, yay. All
[47:18] Speaker E (unidentified): right, so Farmers Corner, what are, there's definitely a few more. Well, I mean, the one down here, are you like by the design? Yeah, okay, yeah. I like that. I think I'd
[47:33] Speaker A (unidentified): like to keep 26. I mean, my brother used to mold, if my brother still mold to fields, but now they're paid by Chadford's, they're not Chadford's. I just
[47:44] Speaker E (unidentified): want to see in the Grange there. Yes, oh my gosh, right, yeah, me too. Well, what a good, that building you guys use a lot. We do use it, comes in, it's a good way.
[47:54] chair/presiding officer: We try to keep it. I got married here.
[47:57] Speaker A (unidentified): I had my reception there the first time.
[48:00] Speaker E (unidentified): See, I'm getting married in Newry now.
[48:02] chair/presiding officer: I got married all over again. I had my reception there. I got married in church.
[48:06] Speaker A (unidentified): The next time I got married in the field.
[48:09] Speaker E (unidentified): Then I had my baby shower at the baby shower. Field sounds like better luck. I love that one. Yeah. Yeah.
[48:14] Speaker A (unidentified): We don't own the church anymore, so.
[48:17] Speaker E (unidentified): All right. So Farmer's Corner, entrance to Bear River Road.
[48:28] Speaker A (unidentified): The one before, this one's before Davis field, is before the one that you can see Sunday River and
[48:42] Speaker E (unidentified): I'm just putting the maintenance that I do. You think it's okay? Class mine in that way. Well, we'll, well, we'll figure out if there's better wording down the line, but I think it's just to get the locations and even, you know, I'll show them where they are like on the aerial, on the map, identify, we've identified these areas as seen a few sheds of importance for the town, and then I'll have them in the list with them so you can see where they are.
[49:08] Speaker A (unidentified): I don't know what to call them.
[49:12] Speaker E (unidentified): I'd say the Whitefields. [Speaker A (unidentified): W-I-G-H-T] That's how everybody knows it.
[49:21] chair/presiding officer: You know, now it's different, but that's what, that's it, but that's also, I feel
[49:25] Speaker E (unidentified): like part of the charm of saying like, they're known as this because they don't have an official name. It's the historic aspect of them that make them appreciate. Yay, I'm happy we got some of those times. I was thinking about that on my way here. I was like, I know place like, it's nice to have places, but just even, I think it's so important to be more on the Sunday River side.
[49:56] Speaker A (unidentified): Well, that mountain's got houses now. You know, like when you're coming down to Jordan and you look across, it's really pretty. Yeah, that is. Is that Montcubor? That part is to Jordan, the Sunday River's road. What do they call it? I don't know what they call it. Do they call it the Jordan Road? I call it the Jordan Road. Monty Brooks and I ran, but the Jordan is the Sunday River's road. Yeah, the Dutch. Yeah.
[50:22] Speaker D (unidentified): The whole valley. Yeah.
[50:25] Speaker C (unidentified): That's pretty. How should I write it?
[50:29] Speaker D (unidentified): It's a northern view coming from Jordan.
[50:34] Speaker E (unidentified): Northern view from Jordan Hotel.
[50:36] Speaker D (unidentified): Yeah. That looks towards the valley. It's pretty. It's so pretty. Yeah, right? I know. I love Kevin and Polly's, though, because you can look up and see that. Right.
[50:54] Speaker A (unidentified): The legend is there. Yeah. Oh, yeah. That's so cool. Yeah, that's
[51:02] Speaker E (unidentified): good because that no that's really helpful so i added those ones and because that was the main stuff i really wanted to add those in because it's that comes from you guys so she likes the local content yes i need it exactly i'm like i got my dream
[51:15] Speaker A (unidentified): because we want it to be people don't know what we have i still got to do the nerd history but
[51:20] Speaker E (unidentified): i have to do it but it's a combined effort you have to take some of this put it in there but that's why i was like okay i'd like to call out the facts and so that it isn't like okay Hey, read our comp plan, and you'll know what things we have. You know what I mean? And if we have the executive summaries, you will actually have correct information now. All right. So last thing I called out in the executive summary was public input and how it strongly supported land protection. So 72% of survey respondents reported being pretty or very concerned about protecting Newry's environmental and natural resources. resources just a nice figure to pull there because clearly it's of importance 83.6 supported making rural districts more restricted to protect natural lands resources and scenic views so again just tying that into thinking about the scenic view sheds and how we can you know bring that into consideration as well to make sure that we're keeping that rural field through keeping resources like that and then 79.1 supported conservation easements purchase of development rights or land acquisition for conservation that is like never the case when I put that question out there people are like no if it finds our taxes are going up we're not doing it so the fact that we can like use that I think is really nice so I just wanted to put that in there in the sense of we asked you could have told us all no outright I've gotten it many a time but to see that much support was definitely interesting to me, so I just wanted to make a point to call that out. Key conclusions, I have Nuri retains an extensive natural resource base characterized by large forest blocks, relatively intact habitat connections, high-quality waterways, significant mountain ecosystems, and substantial conserved lands. Nuri's physical landscape places limits on where and how development can occur. Steep slopes, shallow bedrock, soil limitations, wetlands, flood-prone areas, aquifers, wildlife habitat, and sensitive high-elevation ecosystems should be considered collectively when evaluating future development, which they are through your ordinances actually already, but again, that's elaborated further below. Climate resilience and natural resource protection are increasingly interconnected, so protecting floodplains, stream corridors, forests, wetlands, groundwater resources, and habitat connections can simultaneously reduce environmental impacts and improve community resilience. So not only does it protect species, it then also helps the town from reducing those environmental impacts. Future growth will need to account for significant physical and environmental constraints, particularly steep slopes, sensitive habitat, blocks, aquifers, waterways, and hazard-prone areas. So again, we're just leading to the point that we're going to be careful when we're making our map for future land use and then I got into planning considerations and the goals policies and strategies. So I'll just read Newry specific strategies that I came up with being that the state ones are mandated anyway, so we kind of don't have a choice there. But number one, I did consider incentives that direct higher intensity development towards appropriate growth areas while maintaining stronger Protection standards in rural and environmentally sensitive areas. So ongoing, being that you do have it in your ordinances, but considering, is there any way we can incentivize that on our end, you know, in the future? Just thinking about ways in which we can kind of push that even further than just having it in ordinance to. I did explore partnerships with the music land trust in the woods and trails and other conservation organizations to pursue voluntary conservation easements, development right Acquisition, open space preservation, and protection of its important scenic areas. So again, just keeping that conversation going with them so they know our conservation priorities and can account for that into what they're doing. I will update the 2011 culvert inventory because that was part of one of those studies that I looked at, so there is an inventory somewhere, so just find that and I wrote so update the 2011 culvert inventory to oversee conditions and facilitate maintenance, prioritize relate Replacement of undersized or barrier culverts using street smart principles. Like I said before, implement the findings received through the groundwater sustainability suitability, I think it's sustainability, sorry. Yeah, me too, I'm like, okay, autocorrect, I love that, right? Yeah, all right, so the groundwater sustainability assessment through land use standards in the UDR route. So again, just taking anything we can from that five, account for the substantial increase in visitors and seasonal residents Associated with Sunday River and short-term accommodations when determining emergency response capacity, evacuation needs, communications, shelter, and mutual aid agreements. I'm sure that is something that is already taken into consideration, but I think putting it in writing is always a good thing. The town knows that we are focused on emergency preparedness. Closely monitor extraction operations to ensure degradation to groundwater resources are minimized, so again, hinting at just really making sure To keep an eye on that seven, investigate the viability of establishing a regional conservation Commission, give or take, it is their interests, would that be applicable, but thought it could be something nice to include. Work with private landowners to keep private land open for public access, again, just keeping those relationships to make sure they're maintained. Collaborate with the main land use Planning Commission to protect resources in the Mahoosuc focus area. This was a recommendation that came from beginning with habitat so again I thought it would be nice as something to include I put long term being that coordination with the land use Planning Commission is hard on anybody said but I think it's good thing to have a right last huh yeah I just had to put like three spaces because why did it do that yes it was messed up on the other thing on number five
[57:43] chair/presiding officer: yes all the other ones say okay
[57:47] Speaker E (unidentified): yeah I hate when stuff like that happen I like that me too so then people do not
[57:53] chair/presiding officer: know what CEO is never lie and they think it's been like though you own the
[57:58] Speaker D (unidentified): the town of New York yes and they will not press that okay yes whenever you
[58:18] Speaker E (unidentified): Should I say Skiway or Ski Resort? I have went back and forth with that one a lot. What's better?
[58:24] Speaker A (unidentified): I always say Skiway.
[58:26] Speaker D (unidentified): Yeah, Skiway. I think it's Skiway.
[58:29] Speaker A (unidentified): I think it is Skiway.
[58:31] Speaker E (unidentified): We're all now officially establishing Skiway.
[58:34] Speaker D (unidentified): Yeah, only because it gets confusing. Are we talking about the road, the river? Yeah.
[58:38] Speaker E (unidentified): Is everything named something over here? Yes. But you're totally right Heidi, so thank you. Yes, thank you. yeah so then collaborate with them on any future preservation project just to make sure that we're joined yeah 559 and I did in fact make it through
[58:54] Speaker D (unidentified): guys I know I'm gonna say it again but I would love to see something about a
[59:01] Speaker E (unidentified): land bank and that strategy I think that would be a good strategy you know you
[59:08] Speaker D (unidentified): can say that you're working with private landowners to keep private lands open for public access but we should really put it in a long-term strategy would be to acquire public lands for via land-based mechanism or something I so
[59:26] Speaker E (unidentified): if this I think 11 it would be even just to investigate the viability of a land
[59:36] Speaker D (unidentified): bank program and that's where land or any property sales there's a minimal yeah to a land bank and then you can use that bank to acquire like maybe first right of refusal on conservation loans that you're trying to protect scenic
[1:00:04] Speaker E (unidentified): views or what yeah so I put that as item 11 yeah I mean I just if we have it in there because then if we have an avenue where we could then we have it in here if we don't then we don't but if we have it in here we could yeah that's that's what I'm thinking too because obviously something like that is like hard to initiate but if we have some stepping stones in here it'll yeah all right cool so I put that in this number 11 and I'll include that appendix I'll I'll make sure I just put all of those in one thing. I'm going to update a few more pieces on here based on what we talked about, and I'll add those scenic view sheds to the map and clarify with you guys where exactly they are. There's probably other people
[1:01:03] Speaker D (unidentified): double-edged sword to not put it in or put it in. Yes.
[1:01:13] Speaker E (unidentified): So just think about it in that sense of continuing up. Because obviously, yeah, I've had the draft, but I always update things based on when we do the next chapter, and then that like just put a little more information, and so keep your ears open if something else comes up you think about it, we'll just throw it on it. Yeah, if you have it in there, it doesn't mean it's gonna happen. Exactly. Yeah, this
[1:01:41] Speaker D (unidentified): is the heart of the community, it is
[1:01:47] Speaker E (unidentified): definitely the biggest chapter, I have to say, it's just the most full of information and the research, but like I said, like I've really wanted to be able to dig into it and not be like, here's surface level information, like I wanted to read those reports and stuff so that I could actually hone in on the real facts in here. So I am happy. Thank you guys. Yeah, so if anything else you can think of, obviously I'm happy to include it, but I'm good guys, it's really
[1:02:17] chair/presiding officer: really great with all the rest, like we do feel, I feel like we're making awesome
[1:02:21] Speaker D (unidentified): progress, we are. I was thinking about it now, it's like, yeah, like yeah, we're we
[1:02:27] Speaker E (unidentified): really the other chapters that we have left, transportation, public facilities and services, which is mainly what the town owns, a fiscal capacity, which I'm going to work with you guys on, capital improvement plan, which is pretty much just your audit and what you're saving for in the future, and the future land use plan. So that's the stuff that I'll pick you guys out for, like the financial pieces, but a lot of what's left is like talking about what the town's going to do financially and the future land use plan stuff. So I was, it kind of dawned on me, I was like, wow, we've done a lot, you know, I like for
[1:03:06] Speaker A (unidentified): probably at this point, I mean, we have the managers being that you didn't come
[1:03:12] Speaker E (unidentified): to, I love the right to know before I bet I didn't tell anybody else, that's like, I'm not going to come to the meeting, I had four that we are told that I had four planning board meetings a week for all of September. I was trying to be a good sport, but I was a little tired, you know. Yes, it was okay, good, that makes me
[1:03:35] Speaker A (unidentified): happy, but so is our next one, do we do the first Monday, a second, I don't like
[1:03:41] chair/presiding officer: that, I remember second one is why they're not on the same
[1:03:44] Speaker A (unidentified): because select board like this
[1:03:46] Speaker C (unidentified): All right, all right, cool, so you're picking our next meeting with that, we
[1:03:55] Speaker D (unidentified): don't, yeah, it was nice, okay, no, I really do love this chapter, it's
[1:04:03] Speaker E (unidentified): really good, thank you for saying that, because I was like, I just, I need to
[1:04:08] Speaker D (unidentified): be good, because my soldier already know you're, I'm feeling good, thank you
[1:04:17] Speaker E (unidentified): because that's what I was worried about, I was like, I need to make sure we're hitting on this one, because it is really the heart of it, yeah, thank you, yay, and now we'll just keep it going, yeah, okay, yeah, second, yeah, you kind of just, that's why I was like, I can't not put these in there, because they're interesting, so