TOWN OF GRANBY
Conservation Commission
Minutes
June 4, 2009
PRESENT: Mike Lengvarsky, Victoria Mazzei-Stepanov, Shelley Reuben, Neil Hornish, and Carolyn Flint. Susan Dwyer arrived at 7:44 p.m.
Chairman Lengvarsky called the meeting to order and confirmed a quorum at 7:36 p.m.
MINUTES:
The minutes from the May 21, 2009 meeting were reviewed.
ON A MOTION by V. Mazzei-Stepanov, seconded by S. Reuben, the minutes of May 21, 2009 were unanimously approved (5-0-0) noting one correction. The spelling of Rueben should be Reuben throughout the document.
COMMUNITY RESOURCE INVENTORY:
C. Flint received, by email, a partial copy of the State of Connecticut’s Plan of Conservation of Development from S. Dwyer. S. Dwyer would be glad to email this to anyone else who is interested. Just email her and ask.
The Farmington Valley Biodiversity Project: A Model for Intermunicipal Biodiversity Planning in Connecticut is an innovative partnership between 7 towns (Avon, Canton, East Granby, Farmington, Granby, Simsbury, and Suffield), the WCS/MCA, and FRWA to 1) collect and map biodiversity data, 2) identify priority conservation areas, and 3) promote awareness of the region’s unique biodiversity and ways to conserve it. This report can be found at FRWA.org.
Chairman Lengvarsky would like to create an objective as to what this will be used for. It is thought that a natural resource inventory would be best to start with. Looking at other town’s plans is a good source of information and some members have done this. Any maps used in a report produced by the Town of Granby’s Conservation Commission should have verbiage with them.
Before the next meeting: look at different town’s websites. What information posted do you like and feel should be used is out report? Once information is gained, as a group, create a model report. The look of the report and materials included would be decided at this time.
20% BY 2010 CAMPAIGN:
S. Reuben wrote an article for The Drummer, the Granby News, and possibly the I Towns section of The Hartford Courant to raise awareness of Clean Energy. The commission members had several constructive suggestions and ideas for rewording and reformatting the article. One suggestion was to hold off on the recycling issues until after the new program has started. She would like to write future articles profiling people in town who are saving money by going green. N. Hornish offered to help write some articles. Ms. Reuben asked for help at the next meeting, crating a list of topic ideas for future articles.
CELEBRATE GRANBY EVENT:
S. Reuben has volunteered to set up a tent at this event on June 13th at Salmon Brook Park, from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. She provided samples of handouts she will have printed and available for the public that day. She also brought a chart showing the progress of the Clean Energy signups, which she will display that day. V. Mazzei-Stepanov and N. Hornish volunteered to help. Other Boards and Commissions will be notified about this booth, and asked if they would like to volunteer their time on behalf of their Board or Commission to be available to speak with the public that day.
S. Reuben mentioned at this time that she is trying to put together a solar electric presentation by Alteris Renewables to be held at the Senior Center, tentatively, July 24th. It would give information on solar energy use in Connecticut, how solar panels work, information on clean energy sign up in Granby, and information on leasing solar panels. There will be an article in The Drummer prior to this presentation. It was determined that the Conservation Commission will host the presentation and there is no cost for the speaker. It will be made clear, by providing a list of other installers, that the Conservation Commission is not endorsing this particular company. People are encouraged to seek all the information they can and choose wisely.
RAIN BARREL EVENT:
This event will be held on Saturday, June 13th at the Town Hall parking lot, from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Rain barrels that were previously ordered will be delivered for distribution. M. Lengvarsky will be at this event and will have Clean Energy Initiative pamphlets available to hand out to the public.
NEW BUSINESS:
C. Flint commented on the recent article in The Hartford Courant about the solar panels the Town of West Hartford had installed and the savings they have had.
A status update on the Ridgeline Guidelines was asked for. M. Lengvarsky said he will attend an upcoming Planning and Zoning meeting to introduce the Ridgeline Guidelines to this Commission.
Upcoming meetings were determined to be: a special meeting will be held on June 25th. The June 18th and July 2nd meetings will be cancelled.
ADJOURN:
ON A MOTION by C. Flint, seconded by S. Reuben, the commission voted unanimously (6-0-0) to adjourn the meeting at 8:52 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Susan Christian
Acting Recording Secretary
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