Town River Stewards Committee
Meeting Minutes
February 17, 2005
Location: Bridgewater Public Library
Attendees: Kitty Doherty, Carole Smudin, Jim Revil, Ralph Galante, Mike Enos, Kent Kreutler and Jim Howell
The meeting began about 7:00 P.M. at the Bridgewater Library. Minutes of the November meeting were accepted after review. The major purpose of tonights meeting was to clarify what the next steps in our plan would be and to get the important put in from Kitty Doherty from her NRTB and Wild and Scenic Waterway vantage points.
MRS. DOHERTY SHARED INFORMATION REGARDING THE DRAFT TAUNTON RIVER STEWARDSHIP PLAN NOW AVAILABLE ON THE tauntonriver.org SITE, A VITAL PLANNING TOOL THAT EACH COMMUNITY ON THE TAUNTON RIVER WILL BE ASKED TO ENDORSE AT SPRING TOWN MEETINGS. THESE SPRING TOWN MEETINGS WILL ALSO HAVE A WARRANT ARTICLE REQUESTING THAT CONGRESS DECLARE THE TAUNTON A WILD & SCENIC RIVER UNDER THE NATIONAL PARK SYSTEM.
SHE ALSO SAID THAT THE TRIBUTARY TOWN RIVER SHORELINE SURVEY - THE DOCUMENT THAT BROUGHT THE TOWN RIVER STEWARDS TOGETHER IN THE FIRST PLACE - SHOULD BE AVAILABLE ON THE TOWN WEBSITES BY THE END OF THE MONTH, AND ALSO THAT BRIDGEWATER'S CARVER'S POND MANAGEMENT PLAN WAS NOW COMPLETE, WITH AN EXCELLENT ACCOUNT OF THE GREENWAY CONNECTION CONCEPT EMBEDDED. UNDERSTANDING THIS CONCEPT IS KEY TO FUTURE FUNDING FOR THE TOWN RIVER PROJECTS.
She stated there would be aN INFORMATIONAL MEETING AT Bridgewater State College FOR THE PARTICIPATING PARTNERS, THE SPRING STREET NEIGHBORS AND OTHER INTERESTED STAKEHOLDERS, probably April 12, to SHARE background information on the FORMATION OF THE TOWN RIVER LANDING FEASIBILITY STUDY COMMITTEE, WHO ITS multiple PARTNERS ARE, and THE CURRENT PROPOSAL TO CONSTRUCT A PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE FROM THE LANDING ACROSS TO THE STILES & HART CONSERVATION AREA, AND TO CREATE A CANOE LAUNCH AT THIS SAME SITE.
THIS CONCEPTUAL PROJECT IS LISTED IN THE TOWN RIVER SHORELINE SURVEY REPORT, THE TAUNTON RIVER STEWARDSHIP PLAN AND BOTH THE BRIDGEWATER OPEN SPACE PLAN AND COMMUNITY MASTER PLAN.
Among those ON THE FEASIBILITY STUDY COMMITTEE are the WILD & SCENIC COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN, National Park Service REPRESENTATIVE, NRTB REPRESENTATIVES, DELEGATES FROM THE COLLEGE AND COMMUNITY COUNCIL, TRSC as well as State Public Access Board REPRESENTATIVE AND OTHER KEY members of the COMMUNITY.
THE PURPOSE OF THIS MEETING IS TO UPDATE ALL AS TO WHAT HAS TAKEN PLACE THUS FAR, WHO IS INVOLVED, WHAT EACH PARTNER IS DOING TOWARD THIS PROJECT GOAL, AND TO INVITE THE PARTICIPATION OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD INTO THE PROCESS.
IT IS HOPED THAT A BASIC YES - NO DISCOVERY ON SOME ASPECTS OF THE PROPOSAL CAN BE DETERMINED THIS SPRING -SPECIFICALLY IF THE SITE IS PHYSICALLY SUITABLE FOR THIS PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT, AND WHAT THE TIME FRAME OF DEVELOPMENT WOULD BE.
She also announced that April 1 at the Polish Club is the Annual NRTB meeting and asked for any who could to attend that event. DOHERTY INVITED THE TOWN RIVER STEWARDS TO HAVE AN OUTREACH EXHIBIT UP AT THIS MEETING, AND NEEDS A REPLY REGARDING THIS.
Jim Revil has continued with his yeoman work in clean up at the Stiles and Hart site and hopes to have a point of egress to and from the river be part of the TRS goals. He announced that the Lincoln Club is planning a river clean up when the weather improves.
Our next meeting will be March 17, at the Bridgewater Library and we will try to meet at 6:30 P.M. instead of 7:00 P.M. The plan for the next meeting is to set goals for this upcoming season, such as clean up, signage, access etc.
Meeting was adjourned at 8:00 P.M.
Submitted by Jim Howell with additions from Kitty Doherty
List of Meeting Minutes >
view