Hammonton Environmental Commission Minutes Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Joe Giralo called the meeting to order at 7:32 pm

Michael Hozik nominated Dan Bachalis for Chairman, which was seconded by Angela Donio. Dan accepted with the stipulation that we need somebody to handle secretarial functions. The ensuing discussion reached the consensus that we would need to hire a secretary. Dan was elected unanimously, with an abstention by Dan Bachalis.

Michael Hozik nominated Brooke Sacco for Vice Chair, which was seconded by Angela Donio. Brooke accepted the nomination. She was elected unanimously, with an abstention by Brooke Sacco.

Approval of December 2016 Minutes

Michael Hozik moved to approve the minutes of the December 2016 meeting as distributed. Terri Caruso-Cafiso seconded the motion with the correction that “lead” should be “led” in the first sentence under Forestry Management Plan. The corrected minutes were approved unanimously with abstentions by Dan Bachalis, Brooke Sacco, and Steven Carr

There was none.

Planning Board—Michael Hozik—There has been no meeting

Town Council—Joe Giralo reported that ACCC will do a drone project to take photographs over the lake. They are planning to take photograph in February, March, April and after bladderwort spraying, as a minimum. It will be necessary to notify residents of the area. This project is being conducted at no cost to the town. The plan different flyovers with different cameras—thermal and visual scans, for example. There will be presentations for the Lake Water Quality Committee and the Environmental Commission. It will take approximately 10 hours of drone work to capture the 60 acres of the lake in the initial flyover. Fowler Creek is typically the worst offender in terms of water quality, and that will probably be too cool to see on a thermal scan The cameras are capable of detecting differences of 3°. Theoretically, there should be no leaking sewerage as everyone is now connected to sewer

Parks & Recreation—Terri Caruso-Cafiso was not at the meeting and reported from the minutes: all the parks are in good shape; the dog park is progressing; the key fob program is in place to gain access to the dog park, and your dog must be registered for you to get the key fob; lighting on Capella Field will be happening; the reorganization meeting is next Tuesday

GEHRC—John Keenan is representative; We will ask John Keenan to submit a report; John was asked to determine if our master plan was consistent with the Great Egg Harbor River master plan. In the future, we should ask our consultant to specifically make the statement that our zoning is still in compliance with the Great Egg Harbor River Master Plan

Zoning Board—Has not reorganized yet

Green Committee—Amy Menzel—A few things coming up in January: Meet the Green Committee on Jan 26 at the Three Threes, at 6:00 pm. They want to Partner with the Environmental Commission to do a neighborhood clean-up in various neighborhoods around town. Steve Carr is interested in this. This event that would bring different service organizations together;

HLWQC—Dan Bachalis—The committee met last night and elected Dan Bachalis as Chair. They dealt with Hammonton Lake Management Plan, which the committee is going to begin revising. The current plan was created in 1995, and could stand some updating. They will work on this over the next month or so. In March they plan to begin to invite representatives from DEP, the Town Engineer, and the Environmental Commission to participate in the discussion. They also discussed the Hammonton Lake Clean-up. The committee also welcomed three new members

Bicycle Advisory Committee—Dan Bachalis—The committee will be meeting on the 4^th Tuesday of the month.

Old Business:

2017 Work Plan Review—No one had a copy; postponed until next month

2017 Hammonton Lake Park Cleanup

The cleanup needs to be done before the lake is allowed to rise. It must be raised by March 15. The suggested dates for the cleanup are February 25, with a snow day of March 4. Amy Menzel will find and update the flyer. The kick-off will be at 10:00 am, with plans to end at noon. Amy Menzel agreed to contact the Atlantic County Utilities Authority to make sure the date is compatible with their schedule. The Canoe Club makes hot chocolate (Angela Donio will check on this). Terri Caruso-Cafiso will get donuts from Shop Rite. We will need sign-in sheets and certificates for volunteers. Someone needs to contact Paul Galletta to see if he can supply copies.

Tree Removal Applications

Bates Mill Partners II at #501 12^th Street – Application for the removal of 3 trees.
No one had a chance to see this; postponed until the February meeting

Beverly Celona at #848 N. 3^rd Street – Application for the removal of 65 trees.
Too many questions: Which way is North? What area is to be cleared

Steven Carr moved and Terri Caruso-Cafiso seconded the motion to postpone action on this request until the February 8 meeting. The motion carried unanimously.

Dan Bachalis will review Bates Mill Partners’ application and may approve it before the next meeting

Other New Business:

There is a request from the Town to approve the removal of the two trees on Central near the Grape Street intersection; Amy Menzel moved to deny the application; Angela Donio seconded the motion to deny. The motion passed unanimously.

Request a Secretary—The Environmental Commission would like to request a Secretary for the Environmental Commission at $100 per month and a budget line of $1000 to allow us to pay our ANJEC dues, purchase trees for Arbor Day, and items for distribution on Green Day. Michael Hozik made the motion, which was seconded by Terri Carluso-Cafiso. The motion was approved unanimously.

Terri Caruso-Cafiso moved that the meetings begin at 7:00 pm; seconded by Angela Donio. The motion was approved with positive votes by Carr, Caruso-Cafiso, Donio, Menzel, Sacco, and Chairman Bachalis; negative vote by Hozik. The motion was passed. Public notice of the new meeting time needs to be issued, and the meeting time needs to be changed on the website and Channel 9

Angela Donio suggested that we submit reports in writing rather than presenting reports at the meeting. Her proposal required reports to be emailed ahead of time. Michael Hozik seconded the motion, which was approved unanimously

Discussion of request from Atlantic City Electric to trim and remove trees on South Grand Street—Terri Caruso-Cafiso moved that we authorize Chairman Bachalis to approve removal and trimming of the trees after his inspection prior to the next meeting. The motion was seconded by Amy Menzel. The motion was approved unanimously.

Amy Menzel suggested that Green teams from other towns have had an artist develop a map of recreation and open space resources in the town with a list on the back. We could try for an ANJEC grant to fund this and work with the Green Committee. She thinks it would be a good educational tool for students

Adjournment

Meeting adjourned 9:03 pm

Respectfully submitted,

Michael J. Hozik