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Agriculture Commission Agenda and Minutes April 3_2013Northampton Agricultural Commission Agenda and Minutes 7:00 PM Wednesday April 3, 2013 210 Main Street (City Hall) Room 10, Northampton Agenda Agriculture Commission membership update Approval of Agriculture Commission Minutes of March 6, 2013 Coordination with the Northampton Conservation Commission, Kevin Lake, Chair Joint agriculture preservation restrictions Open space preservation program Licensing conservation land for farming Wetland permitting Update on status of projects Dike Road closure at Pleasant Street No parking under and adjacent to water standpipes Maintenance of Meadows Roads and other items from BPW meeting, if any Final date(s) for 2014 Agriculture Forum and any other preparatory work Set next meeting Provision for extra meeting during the summer if necessary Fall meeting schedule Other issues not anticipated when agenda written Minutes Members present: Chair John Omasta, Vice Chair Rich Jaescke, John Bobala, Bob Vollinger, John Kelly, Chip Parsons and Stan Zawalick. John Omasta opened the meeting at 7:00 PM. Agriculture Commission membership update: John Omasta introduced Stan Zawalick, the newest commissioner and all the members introduced themselves. Approval of Agriculture Commission Minutes of March 6, 2013: Upon motion by Rich Jaescke and second by Bob Vollinger, the Commission voted unanimously to approve. Coordination with the Northampton Conservation Commission, Kevin Lake, Chair: The Commission briefly discussed areas of joint interest were there has been successful coordination: agriculture preservation restrictions (which require votes of both commissions to approve if funded using the city’s current CPA allocation), open space preservation (informal coordination when farmland involved, such as the city effort to preserve farmland from the state on Venturers Field Road), and licensing conservation land for farming, where the Agriculture Commission has been consulted as recently as the last meeting. Most of the discussion was about maintenance of roads in the Meadows and what projects were easy to permit or even exempt from wetlands rules and what projectgs where harder. The discussion was productive, but more research is required, which the Conservation Commission will briefly start at their next meeting. Update on status of projects: Dike Road closure at Pleasant Street—Completed a year ago and now permanent. No parking under and adjacent to water standpipes—Ordinance introduced and working its way through the City Council committee process. Final date(s) for 2014 Agriculture Forum—January 11, 2014 with a snow date of January 18, 2014. Keep Farming—Fran Volkman and Adele Franks presented the Keep Farming restaurant survey. The Commissioners expressed their appreciation for the work. Keep Farming will finalize the write up and the city will post it on its website. Keep Farming next step is the fourth and final survey, institutional users. (Past surveys were community members, farmers, restaurants.) They proposed having a Smith College capstone class taught by Paul Wetzel coordinate the final survey and putting together the next stage of the project. The Commissioners agreed with that approach. Set next meeting: The Commission’s next meeting will be at 7:00 PM on Wednesday September 25, 2013. The Commission agreed to hold an extra meeting during the summer if necessary. Other issues not anticipated when agenda written/public comment Laura, an abutter to the farmland at Mineral Hills Conservation Area on West Farms Road, said that she would prefer if the city didn’t allow Roundup at the Conservation Area. The Commission briefly discussed the benefits that Roundup allows no-till agriculture and reduces soil erosion. Russell Brain from the Easthampton Agriculture Commission said that he was observing because Easthampton’s new Agriculture Commission is studying what works and doesn’t in other communities. Commissioners invited the Easthampton commission to participate, if not cosponsor, of the 2014 agriculture forum. At 9:00 PM, upon motion by Chip Parsons and second by John Kelly, the Commission voted unanimously to adjourn the meeting.