Back to Weir River Estuary Park Committee Meeting Minutes
January 5, 2011, at Hingham Town Hall
Present: Dick Avery (Cohasset)--SCRIBE
Faith Burbank (Hingham)
Amy May, Judeth Van Hamm, Scott Plympton (Hull)
Absent: Charlie Higginson (Cohasset), Jim Rodgers (Hingham)
1. Meeting began at 7:12 P.M.
2. Minutes of December 1 , 2010 approved with the following corrections.
Note: (a) that Faith also championed the Open Space Plan for Hingham
(b) that new by-laws for Hingham will address rafting of boats in
waterway channels
(c) that Amy May agreed to replace Judeth as a co-chair
(d) Corrected minutes will be sent by Judeth to Dick, Faith, and Amy to
forward to appropriate Town authorities re Open Meeting Law
3. Amy needs to be appointed to the committee by Hull Selectmen to be Hull's co-chair
4. Forum Planning
(a) After quite some discussion about when in the spring of 2011 to convene a forum, it was suggested and endorsed to use the springtime for small group meetings with subgroups to draft parts of the ACEC Resource Management Plan. Then in the fall after several of such meetings, a convocation to review the draft plan could be arranged.
(b) First small group meeting will be at our January 25th meeting to include Harbormasters from Hingham and Hull plus Dave Clinton (Coast Guard Auxillary) and a Hingham Harbor Development Committee representative. Time set for 7:15 to 8:30 P.M.
(c) Purpose of the first small group meeting is to...
Identify their issues regarding the Weir River Estuary
Learn what regulations guide them in dealing with the estuary
Ask what they know of natural resource issues re the estuary
Uncover any added safeguards they would recommend
(d) Dick will emcee the discussion and lead off by discussing briefly the reasons for a resource management plan.
(e) The next sub-group meeting would be on Tuesday February 15th , and deal with impaired resources in the ACEC. Invitees will likely include the following:
CZM -Jason Burtner DCR -Liz Sorenson (ACEC) Jim Comeau (Land Acq) EPA -Sarah White Fish&Game -Mary Griffin Marine Fisheries -Brad Chase
.........and Shell Fish Wardens and Con. Com. reps from Hingham and Hull
Faith will ask Jason (who knows the estuary) where and when best to meet with this select group.
(f) Judeth will email the LPP to Amy as a WORD document so that Amy can begin to flesh out parts of the resource management plan. The desired matrix of assets versus characteristics, uses, issues, status, access, etc. can best be thought of a a GIS map with overlays.
(g) The third small group meeting would be targetted for March 2.
5. Quick review of Activity Matrix Nothing significant to report
6. Next WREP Meeting is set for Tuesday January 25 7:00 P.M. at the Estuary Center on GW Boulevard.