Expect some joint events between the Rochester Land Trust and the town of Rochester at their open space properties in the near future.
At a meeting of the Conservation Commission Tuesday evening, Rochester Land Trust President Halima Tiffany was on hand to discuss future events to celebrate the opening of several properties that are currently either in the process of opening or that have recently opened.
Tiffany mentioned potential events at both Doggett’s Brook and Leonard’s Pond, which are currently being worked on, as well as possible events at Mary’s Pond. She hinted at potentially having some sort of kayak/canoe events at the ponds and said she hoped the events would help create awareness about some of the joint projects between the trust and the town.
“[The events] would be something nice to have,” said Tiffany. “We were just thinking with partnership with the town, we’d like to host some of these activities.”
“The next step is town participation,” she later added.
Town Conservation Agent Laurell Farinon said that there’s still some work to be done at both Doggett’s Brook and Leonard’s Pond, and she was looking forward to any future events that may be in the works.
“I think it’s exciting,” said Farinon. “It’s just building upon what we’ve already been working on.”
In other news, the board voted unanimously to have a peer engineer review 25 amendments to an Order of Conditions for a proposed addition by Shawmut Associates at their recycling facility at 50 Cranberry Hwy. in Rochester.
Even though Shawmut Associates already have an Order of Conditions approved by both the Rochester Planning Board and the Conservation Commission, they want to make some changes to the plans, and the Conservation Commission would like to see the changes reviewed by a consultant before issuing a final approval.
Farinon said that it would cost $1,000 for the engineer’s review and that the work would be done upon payment from Shawmut Associates. According to associates from Green Seal Environmental on behalf of Shawmut, the changes mostly involve storm water retention at the site.
Also, the Commission discussed the current first phase of the town forest/Old Colony forest management project, which started Monday. Farinon said that she hadn’t heard many complaints from abutters, and that weather permitting, that phase should be done within the next few weeks.
“Things are moving along really nicely,” she said. “We haven’t had much as far as complaints at all.”
Initially, several neighbors had voiced concern about the project, but after some consideration, the Commission and the forest management consultant, Phil Benjamin, decided to do the work in small phases so as not to upset abutters.
Farinon also announced that the Commission would be keeping a “level-funded budget” for fiscal year 2015 per request of Town Administrator Richard LaCamera.
By Nick Walecka
