Approved Herring River Restoration Committee Mtg Mins

Meeting date: 
Thursday, June 30, 2016

Minutes

Herring River Restoration Committee (HRRC)

Cape Cod National Seashore Headquarters

Wellfleet, MA

June 30, 2016

9:30 am-4:30 pm

 

Members Present: Tim Smith, Steve Spear, Eric Derleth, Steve Block, Hunt Durey, Peter Herridge

 

Others Present:  Margo Fenn, Don Palladino, Martha Craig, Helen Miranda Wilson

 

Administration/Coordination:

 

Communications and Coordination with Friends of Herring River (FHR): Don Palladino updated the Committee on FHR activities.  FHR will meet with the National Park Service (NPS) Deputy Regional Director today.  FHR members will participate in the Wellfleet 4th of July parade. Don Palladino and Martha Craig are refining the scope of work and budget for the next three-year NOAA grant.

 

Approval of Minutes:  The Committee voted to approve the minutes of the June 9, 2016 HRRC meeting.

 

Meeting Schedule:  The Committee approved the following schedule for upcoming meetings:

            July 26, 2016              Regular HRRC meeting

            August 10, 2016          Regular HRRC meeting

            September 15, 2016    Regular HRRC meeting

 

Completion of FY16 Work Program Elements: June 30th is the deadline for deliverables under the FY16 DER grant.  FHR staff is uploading all the grant deliverables to the Herring River Google Drive site.

 

Discussion and Updates:  FY17 DER and NOAA Work Plan:  The Committee discussed how to allocate funding between the two major grants for work in the coming year. Hunt Durey outlined several priorities including addressing legal questions related to low-lying property (LLP) flood prevention, defining Class 1 activities for permitting and refining engineering design plans for these activities.  FHR and HRRC need to review the LLP survey plans that Louis Berger Group is preparing, and meet with property owners to discuss possible flood prevention measures. Properties included in the first phase of restoration should be addressed first.

 

The Committee discussed how to define the Project area for purposes of Cape Cod Commission (CCC) review. For MEPA review, the whole estuary was included, but the Project could be more narrowly focused on areas of physical construction/disturbance for regulatory review.

Don Palladino presented an outline of the upcoming work plan and budget in Smartsheet.  The group also reviewed a proposed timeline for the permitting process. The Project needs to select a lead regulatory consultant in the next few months.  FHR has prepared a draft Request for Proposals (RFP) for the regulatory consultant.

 

The Committee discussed how to finalize the scope of work and budget for the upcoming year, allocating funding between the DER and NOAA grants.

 

CBI Facilitation:  The Consensus Building Institute (CBI) is continuing to facilitate discussions between HRRC and the Chequessett Yacht and Country Club (CYCC). HRRC representatives consulted with CYCC officials regarding funding and an implementation plan for raising the CYCC golf course, the adaptive management process, project permitting and other related issues. The Committee discussed again the permitting approach for the Restoration Project and needed monitoring for adaptive management. CBI is developing a draft conceptual agreement for HRRC and CYCC to consider. HRRC representatives will meet again with CYCC in mid-July.

 

Legal Issues:  HRRC and FHR need to develop a scope of work for the next phase of legal work.

 

Other Business:  Margo Fenn noted that she was still trying to find a meeting date for the MOU Working Group. Because of scheduling conflicts, this will likely need to be sometime in July.

 

Documents Referred to in the Meeting:

 

-Minutes of the June 9, 2016 HRRC Meeting