Conservation, Energy, & Environment Committee - Regular Meeting

Order. It is what? 4:34 and roll call. Uh members present, we have in the room Nancy Bowden, David Hager, um myself, Paula Jones online, we have Brenda Watson, and Bob Dickinson. Okay. Um, in terms of the approval of the agenda, I would like to move new business item uh 7A CEC letter of support for Chick Ahoy Farm kind of up um since we have both Lorenzo and Diana um from Chicks Ahoy online and you know they offered to attend in order to you know talk a little bit about what they're doing or answer any questions. So, pardon me. Sure.

I move we make that change in the agenda. Can I have a second? I'll second Brenda. Okay. Great. Thank you very much. Okay. Uh, any objections? Okay. So, um, could I also question Sure. for the agenda? Yep. Will there be any discussion of the PCD which we were given to review?

We can certainly talk about that. Um we I think we can talk about that maybe in Nick's update and kind of roll that in and just find out kind of what our timeline is and yeah we can do that. Anything else? And then yeah, and we have an other bucket um which I realize is in announcements and updates, but that's maybe misplaced. So in terms of new business items. Okay. So without further ado, um first of all, um we have Lorenzo Jones and Diana Martinez. Welcome. Um so actually actually No, we're gonna start with that. Um, so if you would like to say a few words of introduction, um, that'd be great. Thank you.

Awesome. Great. Thank you so much. I I had intended to be on in person, but I have this congestion thing that I'm hopeful is not contagious, and I thought it'd be best if I just sat home instead. We appreciate that. Thank you.

Uh, my name is Diana Martinez. I'm the executive director and founder of uh Chickixoy Farm. And uh Chick-Hoy Farm is a Bloomfield-based nonprofit organization um that is teaching people how to become farmers. And so our goal um is to uh support the development of new underrepresented farmers, which includes Bilpac farmers. We add the L in BIPO to highlight Latin people who are often part of our food production process but not really owners in the same uh sense of our like um of farms, but also women uh queer folks, young people and getting folks started in farming in spaces where people often think food doesn't grow. Um Bloomfield is a particularly interesting community because it was once at one point a booming um agriculture community that is now a lot more suburban. And so um you know we know that we can grow food in our neighborhoods and our goal is to support folks in in doing that. Um and our goal is really to change uh the face of agriculture and faces is an acronym we use to um mean uh farming, agriculture, conservation and environmental stewardship. So we care about all things uh farming and land use space that um uh lead to like the production of food and also recreation and education. Uh and so in Bloomfield that has um uh looked a lot like us partnering with organizations, supporting young people, uh interns who have helped us grow food in our uh sites and uh starting up a farm uh operation, a formal farming operation in Bloomfields, which is what this letter and this grant would be supporting. Um, and I'm going to actually pass it to

Lorenzo to maybe talk a little bit more as a Bloomfield resident, a longtime Bloomfield resident and our president about what the specific goal for the land that we have in Bloomfield uh is going to be and also um you know what our vision for it is o overall.

Thanks Diana. I'll be brief. I won't cover like Diana laid laid it out really laid out really well kind of our thoughts here and kind of what our um our MO is the more specifically I live in Bloomfield on Kenwood Circle um came out of Bloomfield High School 1989 family out of Bloomfield been around for a minute came to Bloomfield originally in the late 80s my aunt Merl moved here from Chicago um in the late 70s lived on Willow Lane So, I I was actually part of the last the last junior high class at um the junior high school. So, I heard about the metaccomatic class moving over. It's interesting stuff. I love it. Long story already. Long story short, I live in Bloomfell. I started farming about four years ago. About five or six years ago, I work with my family, set up some farm projects in other states. And so, we kind of turned our attention to Bloomfield. And the idea was initially to start, you know, buy land and make that land available to folks, underserved folks who wanted to become farmers. And so, um, we saw the land in Bloomfield. Um, I bought some other land in another part of the state, couple places, but I bought Bloomfield. We saw the land in Bloomfield. Originally, we were thinking like, oh man, 16 acres around the corner, it's farm stuff. Long story short, we got into it. It was like, "No, like this is conservation. This is land stewardship. This is, you know, education, recreation, and we're like, well, okay, right. Like, we can we can we we can we can make that work." And what it actually ended up doing was we had to make a decision. I had to make a decision personally if I was going to lay down like this idea of being a chicken farmer and pick up like this goal of becoming a conservationist. And so we just spent the last three years. I've been tracking you all's committees,

the PLCD stuff. Um, some folks in Bloomfield, Peter, reached out to us. NY's been a huge help and a leader in a bunch of this conversation. And what we've tried to do is bring the land at 92 Hoskins Road into like more public use and connect it to the trails um that's over there and really kind of bring it into like being like a place of social capital like in the town. And so the project that we're asking for support on is a project that ostensibly helps us move the land into more of an educational use. um financially I'm paying for it out of pocket so none of that stuff is coming out and we've been able to raise some money through the organization but the idea is that we've got a place that connects to the Aussie program eventually it connects to like seniors like we can do camping and all kind of things so even the property when I this the last part the property when we build it what we're looking at what we've I what we've settled on is a is what's called a barnaminium and so the idea is that like the building there like obviously would be like my primary residence but the building there would be a building for learning recreation and education. So, we're wide open. The PLCD plan, the all the stuff people heard. I want to name another thing here. Side thing. I've been I've been a community organizer since 1991 in Connecticut. Faith McMahon, may she rest in peace. when she became a state representative, she's the she was the only state legislator who supported us when we were working on drug policy reform, specifically the cracker pot of cocaine bill. She was one of the few suburban legislators who went to the Harvard community court to fight for more social services for people in Bloomfield and she was a personal friend of my mother's

war belrave. So, like I see like this is a thing that like in some ways I feel like I owe Bloomfield. Um, I've been doing this work a long time and I feel like I want to have a community-based organization in Bloomfield that's diverse, that actually does something with all these random conversations from Facebook to the back of whatever restaurant and actually turn this stuff into something that we can talk about constructively for the next 20 years, 30 years, 40 years. And um I want a kid that goes that ends up at agricultural school that started at Hoskins that ends up a farmer that started at Hoskins. So I'll stop and step back, but we're completely wide open. We're wrapping up this site plan. We're going to get all the approvals. We're going to jump through all the hoops. Um I resigned from the wetlands commission as a commissioner um today so that there's no conflict of interest in any relationship and things like that that we might need to establish. So with that said, I'll throw it back to um to you all and thank you for this time.

One thing I will say is that when we first started doing this work, we asked people like you know what do you want to grow? Um and we ask that question every year at our annual event. And we don't just mean like what do you want to grow by means of food. We want to we we we mean like how do you want to grow? Like what do you want to learn? What do you wanna what relationship do you want to build? And then we help people go do that thing. Um even if that's not us leading that thing, it's them leading that thing. And one of the challenges that people who would be farmers often tell us they face is municipal barriers. Uh zoning regulations, rules, you know, red tape, uh bureaucracy. Um and we acknowledge those things that exist. Um, and we see them come up almost right away, you know, like for example, every municipality has some kind of different rule about chicken keeping, you know, and folks in our uh folks in our communities have to navigate, you know, different rules if they move to Meridan, if they move to Middletown, if they move to Bloomfield. And um, so part of our organizing work is eliminating those barriers for people to feed themselves. Um, and also growing relationships with municipal leadership that says like if you're invested in this thing, we care about this thing. How do we partner with each other to care about that thing and make it grow? Um, and I I will note that like that's been one of the most difficult um, you know, to to do. Um, this purchase of this land was not without its uh, own set of hurdles and and um, drawbacks. Um, and we are very excited that this body is actually like receptive to what we're looking to do. Um, that we have alignment on those goals and that like we can, you know, partner together to

grow this thing. You know, this one grant is one of several that we're submitted or are in the process of submitting for this property. Um, but we have a vision for trails, right, like Lorenzo said, that connect um to other parts of town. We have a vision for pollination. We have a vision for um young youth education, maple trees, you know, like tapping of trees, sugar shacks, like we have a wide creative ideas. Um and are very excited to have some partnership in that and maybe some folks like Nancy who are like, hey, vote it in, you know. Um and so yeah, just to say like we're very grateful for um that you're opening up that even the possibility of like supporting us with a letter. So thank you.

So um I will take questions, comments from the committee. Brenda Watson has her hand up. Go ahead, Brenda. Thank you so much. Um, it's still a little unclear to me what what you want to do and how many acres of land is it and will it be kind of like another hour farm where there's education and and and you know programs for students in town? Um, and are you collaborating with our farm?

So, so like um I don't know Nancy give me the high sign if I'm talking too fast. Right. We've spent some time since um this summer um putting together a table of folks um and we've got a small group called Baja um the Bloomfield Agricultural Justice Alliance and the ideas around pulling together we've got some farms to the table. This particular land 92 Hoskins is it's 16 acres 2 acres of of a buildable lot 14 acres that's in conservation and recreation on paper. We really want to have a conversation with the land trust about like what how do we get this land into the hands of the land trust? How do we get this into the hands of the board of education? And so to some extent, yeah, our farm, but like like but like our version of our farm, right? So an example would be like I I lived on Taco View Road. My wife lived on Greenbryer. um worked at Wentbury work at the farm shop. One of the things is that like my other family lived off off Elizabeth A and Mariam. I never seen nobody from Elizabeth Avenue or from Persia Park on Hoskins. And it was clear to us growing up that we didn't cross the high school. You didn't go to the sticks. So it's like I kind of see this as an opportunity of like not so much our farm but like our operation that says like like if you're a kid that met a comet and you were into bugs like there's space here, right? If you are like a researcher, a scientist, there's there's there's stuff about the land we don't even know. We haven't we did a forestry plan and like the frogs and the turtles and the salamanders and so what we kind of see this is kind of

like this bag of opportunity that we really never opened as a town before. So yeah, community programs we got pathways to agriculture where we we do like hyper like um organizing community organizing training and we do farm work with them. They got they have their own farm projects, right? And we we help people get their farm numbers like people you don't have to be growing chicken having or I guess raising chickens to be a farmer. You can be a beekeeper. We can do pollination. Do we have beekeepers? Is there we know we got monarchs. So like to us it kind of sounds wide open. But but for us it's like if the only reason why we don't do this is money like that ain't going to be the issue. God willing and the creek don't rise, right? We got we have we're going to have the resources to move forward. The question is, I don't know that I've ever been offered something like this as a black man in heart in Bloomfield. My kids, black kids ain't been offered it. And I'm saying there's a lot of kids off of Bloomfield Avenue, Blue Hills Avenue, a lot of kids out of Persia Park, a lot of kids on top of View over at Rockwell that we could we don't got to have kids at Rockwell Park fighting this summer. Some of them can get be getting some soil underneath their fingernails.

So like we're wide open. Um and I'll say this last thing. I'll say this last thing to that point. This thing around Blue Hill Civic Association closing down and the impact that that have on our families in Bloomfield, right? Who participate in that, the impact on the town financially because of some of those things. Like I I I grew when I lived in Bloomfield, I went to Harford, I hung out on Garden Street every weekend, Mother Street, Infield Street. That's the '9s. That's the 80s, right? I want to keep Bloomfield kids here. I want to get Harford kids here. Not Adam Street. Not the avenue this summer. This summer. Not down the road. This summer.

Yeah. When Lorenzo says we're wide open, that's literally that we're at the design phase of this project. Um, and that is like both a site plan design and like a programming potential design. And we want to create a space with all the ideas that folks are bringing to the table in mind. So, we've partnered with the Bloomfield Junior Warhawks. One of the things that we talk about often is, you know, exposure. Most of us are just one or two generations removed from a relationship with farming and growing and the land and our kids are growing up in spaces where they have less and less, you know, dirt to play with, right? Um, one of the things that we talked about and we've done in other places is called like pre-amping. Bring a bunch of uh tents. teach kids how to put up a tent, teach kids how to like start a fire, and maybe they don't feel comfortable enough to spend the night that day, but they experience what this would be like and take baby steps towards that. What we know for sure that we want is a system of trails that connects to other existing Bloomfield trails. Um that we can also use as educational landmarks to highlight special trees on the property, special spaces where there are vernal pools and special places where there might be um sensitive species like the salamanders where we could teach folks about those with story boards which we've you know seen done in other spaces. that for sure. We know the programming will be what folks need it to be because we are a community- based organization. So like if folks come and say hey we want to do a session here that's around pollination like we'll do that you know if people if there's a project a class in a um you know one of the Bloomfield schools wants to take on the land if there's um you know kids who are into birding some of our young

people are really into birding um having them have like that space available to go find and explore and and learn those are the things that like we as an organization will take the lead on like planning and putting together or making the space available for other people to just come on and do that thing themselves. Um so yeah, like literally we are o open in the sense that like we're designing this co-designing it with folks as we move. Um but for sure we know we want to create this trail system. Um and for sure we know we want pollinators, right? Um, and and we want to be good stewards of the land because just because it's green doesn't mean it's healthy. Um, and so we want to look at like invasives, right? We want to do a deeper dig into the forestry plan which we've already done. Um, but actually take a look at like what do we need to make this a thriving ecosystem so that like you know we have the best possible resources leading into the Farmington River. Uh, which you know the Griffin Brook runs right through this property. Um and so yeah, those are, you know, our big ideas right now. But um all of this stuff is co-created with folks.

And I I'm going to have to act as timekeeper here. So allow maybe five more minutes. Do other committee members have questions, comments? Couple of questions. Uh what is the SAR organization and for how much uh is your grant applying? Okay. Um, SAR is the let me um sustainable agriculture regional education grant. It's a it's a agriculture specific grant. Um, this grant that we're applying for is called the farming community grant and it would allow us to fund our faces project which would give uh uh create like training space but also some uh learning uh actual agricultural like practicing space on that 2 acres of a buildable lot for some of our uh farmers in training to who need space to practice either beekeeping or smallcale uh growing projects. And we're thinking particularly things like mushroom cultivation um you know pollination beekeeping those can those things in particular less like animal husbandry chicken keeping um and very limited like very like very limited growing space because it's not a huge huge lot. Uh but this grant that we're going for is upwards of 40k. We're requesting, we're falling on the like 25k end of it. Um, but it's to support the building of farming community. So like building relationships with other farmers, increasing the resilience of a food system in a local community. Uh, and that's, you know, what our application for this grant is for. We've prior to this, we also submitted a grant to Deep for um the beginning of a planning um for the trail system with

our engineering firm. Um and that we submitted earlier and we haven't heard back about that one yet. But we're also keeping our eye out for other great opportunities that might support either the actual development of trails or the planning phase of like you know what this would be like the conservation work would be. Two other questions for you. One you probably know that right there on Hoskins Road lives um Jessica Jessica White on this committee. She is an accomplished beekeeper and has an active apiary in her yard. So, you probably already know that. The second I've heard such things.

We've heard Yeah. What did you say? We've heard we've heard. Yes. They're aware. Yes. And the And the second question is, what is your relationship to Will Cox Park? That's one of the ones we want. We've got a meeting coming up um later this month with um Sharon Man, I believe. um and and some other folks specifically around the trail stuff. We we um but we want that relationship. We don't have one right now. The short answer.

Yeah. And actually, I'm going to jump in here because I'm on the parks and wreck committee. So, um in terms of physical proximity, well, they're across the street from I mean, this property is like a literally across the street from Willox Park. Um certainly the opportunities for connectivity and programming with Wilcox Park and with um Farmington River Park which is not that far away which has a bird trail. Um and also I'm sure Traprock and

the lower Farmington Salmon Brook Wild and Scenic Committee would be very interested in what you're doing since Griffin Brook which is a tributary of the Farmington River flows through your property. So there there are just so many opportunities I think for connections and partnerships. Um you know I think yeah you know you're in the early phases of kind of like imagining this thing and thinking looking at community needs but you know I think it's the kind of thing we need. Um that's my two cents.

I will say one last thing. We uniquely are starting ahead position right. We're we we're starting from the position of what we have to do to to like make sure we're in good standing with the town this as far as building the house and all that stuff, right? Like like and as opposed to somebody said, "I bought this land. I want to build a house on it first and then we'll talk." We're saying no, like we got this land like can we do something with the 14 acres while we do something with the two acre buildable lot. and that we feel like puts us in a pos puts the town in a position where we can be more active this year. We've got our own program we're going to do there. We're going to go get the insuranceances and these things. Um, but like we'll finish the site plan, but we're much more interested in making sure that the site plan is consistent with ostensively to be honest with you. I don't know if I should say it as concretely as this, but like the site plan being much more and 99% consistent with what Trap Rock would say the land should be used for, right? As an example, right? So like the experts here being on the wetlands commission can't even tell you how much respect I got for these guys. Hurt my heart to resign. I can't even tell you how much respect I got for these every one of them. So I'll stop. But we want to start with what we got to get done to do it right and then we'll make we'll make everything else fit where where make it work the way it's supposed to according to that.

Okay. So, what I'm going to do at this point is, you know, if the committee had is had an opportunity to review the draft letter that I put together, um I'm the deadline, I think, is the 23rd for you to submit the application. Um, so will someone make a motion to approve the letter? So, moved. Can I have a second? Second by David. Um, any discussion? further discussion. Actually, I don't want to open it up because we have we have other things on the agenda. Yeah. Okay. Um are is there any other support coming in? Yeah.

Other than this other letters? Yeah. Other than this letter? Yes, we have other letters of support. Um from Slowpoke Farm, uh from Peter, um trying to think about who else. uh from Ebony at Harvesting Humanity, some of the other folks that make up this body that Lorenzo referenced that we created, Baja, um that are all like, you know, in alignment, the farmers market folks. Oh, yeah. You have anything from the egg center, the school? Yeah.

No, no, not no not from the a center. We also asked um you know the town uh land used office and and you know they declined because of a potential conflict of interest but we don't have one from the u murder bank folks. Okay. Okay. So um are there any opposed? I'm going to ask it this way. I see Brenda. Okay. So any opposed? Any abstensions? So is everyone in favor? I I Bob, are you in favor? I'm just going to make it for the record. Unmute, please. Yep.

All right. So, we we have no Well, we have no Yeah, we have no um abstensions, no nays. So, um, it's approved and we will get that letter turned over to you right after the meeting. Thank you. Yeah. And at at some point when we have a little more time, um, we'll invite you back because I think this is really, you know, an interesting, great project and, uh, you know, all the things you're trying to do in terms of partnering and working with various entities and making it a real community-based organization. Those are all the things this committee supports. So, we're we're pleased to support you. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. Thank you. Yes.

I just want in response to Commissioner Hagen Hager's question, staff is working through the manager's office to see whether or not we can get letters of support um from either the council andor the mayor uh where there is no um no potential conflict in terms of um what the land use department has because we're a regulatory agency. I don't have an answer on that yet, but um we're working to see if we can also get letters of support from um from both the manager's office andor I mean the mayor's office andor the council. Great. Thank you. All right, we're

there's a short video on YouTube that we put about Hoskins Land a couple years ago if folks want to check it out. It's on the Chicks and Farm YouTube page. I can't drop I was going to drop the link, but I can't. Okay. and and yeah, if you haven't looked at the website, I encourage you to do so because um there's a lot of interesting information out there. So, thank you. And if you if if if don't don't feel compelled to stay through the rest of the meeting. Um but but thank you. Yeah. Thank you so much tonight. So, we're going to get off. Yeah, we got a board meeting. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Take care. Bye. Bye.

All right. All right. Let's back up to the approval of minutes. Um, can I have a motion? Minutes need to be Yes, the minutes need to be approved and I'll second. Okay. Um, go ahead. It's up for the minutes. Yeah. Is this opening to open the edits the minutes or is this Yeah, we So, now we'll have discussion. Yes. Y Okay. So, we have a motion. We have a second. Um, is there any discussion, any corrections or edits

on behalf of the staff? Yes. Um, so, uh, for the section of the minutes titled violation at 171 Mountain A and remediation plan. I'm not sure what page that is. Um, page three.

Page three. Thank you. Um, yep. Just a few edits to clarify. mainly I ran this by Peter Castali, our wetlands agent to make sure that the minutes from this meeting or the meeting for CEC did not conflict with those of the IWWC. So essentially um the following edit should uh should be implemented. I believe I'll read what what I think it should say. Mr. Gabuzdo was contacted by a resident concerned about wetland vegetation removal, not wetland removal. The wetlands were not being removed. the vegetation was being removed

at 171 Mountain A and subsequently contacted the town's wetland agent Mr. Castaldi. Mr. Castaldi brought the matter before the IWWC who determined there was not a formal violation and that remediation would be appropriate. So instead of but and this is an important point to our agent. Um the next sentence should be removed the sentence which says there is a current remediation plan in place. this is not technically true. Uh instead that sentence should say vegetation replanting is scheduled for spring of 2026. That's a more accurate statement. Um and then the rest is accurate. Miss Miss Jones asked Mr. Gabosa to keep the committee updated as he will. Um I have those edits here if those are not clear. I I know I kind of read them sort of fast, but I can pass them on, but I wanted to make sure folks were okay with those edits. Uh once again, I ran these by our wetlands agent to make sure they were consistent. Any other corrections or edits? So, can we deem those minutes approved with the corrections by our environmental planner? Okay, let's move on. All right. Um, so, um, just to try to be efficient here because we have a trails meeting at six o'clock. Um, so there are several things listed under old business that I think will be um, somewhat discussed in the environmental planner and town planners report. So, I just want to point that out. Um, so without further ado, uh, Nick, do you w to

start out?

Sure, I can I can start. Um, so yeah, Paul, as you kind of suggested, a lot of these things that I have for my updates are already items on the agenda, so I will get to things such as CEC regulations uh, at that time. things that are not otherwise noted on the agenda. Um, I have a few copies of the building and land use department uh monthly report. I sent the PDF to Paula. She can distribute it to you all via email in case people wanted to look at it now. I have copies here. I just didn't make a bunch because a lot of paper I suppose. Um, projects on this list that I've personally been involved in as of late. Uh, 529 Cottage Grove. Uh I was a part of the pre-construction meeting there. Um they are interested. They they inquired about the beginning of the process for true removal uh and vegetation removal. We we guided them on our current regulations. We did hint not hint but you made them aware that those regulations are currently being reviewed but at this time we told them what those regulations were and advise them on how to proceed. Um a few weeks ago there was a um intra somebody had a preliminary investigation meeting with land use staff regarding uh potential housing developments on Crystal Lane. Uh the addresses uh that were of interest were 38 3422 and 18 Crystal Lane. Uh there has been interest in um potentially revising the lot lines to potentially make them more suitable for single family housing. It was an investigative meeting. Nothing at all in any way kind of official, but that did come across our office. Um, and lastly, um, I will say, uh, you all might recall CEK, uh, discussed a proposed solar project at 141 Wittenberry Avenue. Uh, CEK has filed their wetlands

applications, their applications for I want to give you the map amendment and their IWD IWWC permit. They filed those with the IWWC. Um, they were accepted by the IWWC at their most recent January meeting. Um, they are scheduled for a public hearing on March 16th. In addition, today uh they met with myself and other members of my land use staff in order to get more information about what zoning might look like in the future and get a better idea of timeline. We notified them that uh we have just finished the very first draft of regulations that might pertain to solar. They are no way official. However, we told them that is in progress. That is all I have and the other updates. There are likely things that will overlap with John and his update, but that's all I have for now.

So, did John want to uh make any comments? What's I don't know. Yep.

Sure. Um yeah, Nick is um that's the monthly report that we give to um the governance committee and the council and it's now getting much broader distribution that pretty much covers um the development aspects. Um I think that um you know as Nick indicated um um at the commission meeting on the 19th of February, we will be presenting a series of um zone tax amendment proposals related to solar um related to cannabis uh related to um to um certain developments. Um we're also going to be in response to David's question uh discussing at that meeting um u the re proposed revisions to a number of the chapters of the POC. Uh I have received comments from some of the commissioners and from um from community members uh including the hangers um which have been very beneficial. We will report those to the commission. Um hopefully the commission will um say that we're on the right track and uh we will then go to to finalizing um uh the POCD chapters and and the graphics um and present those um to the commission at their March meeting where hopefully they'll be able to approve it and um forward it on stat for the statutory um review but not but not necessary action by the town council. So hopefully we will end this saga um in April um after the council has their um 30 days to comment if they wish. They're not required to. They have

no uh nay or say on the plan that rests solely with the TPZ and I would hope that um they will formally adopt it at their April meeting. Okay. questions or comments for either um Nick or John? I I just would add one other thing. When

Sure. Yeah. Um development continues to be really active in town. Um for the fiscal year ending last June 30th, we did about a million4 dollars worth of building permits. We have exceeded that already in the first six months of uh of FY26. Uh and we still have a number of pro pending projects coming down the line. So um um building permit revenue is up and there are a number of significant projects um uh that are either just starting or um or pending uh that we probably will see um a lot more activity of in the next two to five months. Nancy, uh, this is old business, I guess, and I I probably missed a meeting in which it was discussed or something, but whatever happened with the complaints at the Blue Hills, um, res, not residents, but all the digging up that was being h being done on at a Blue Hills site. Um, that is talked about it last year.

Citations have been issued. um cease and desist orders have been issued and it is now processing through the judicial system. Okay. Thank you. Actually, I have one question and I should have asked it um maybe earlier. Um there's removal of trees at the golf course. That is correct. Yeah. And I I I think I can guess what that's about, but can somebody um cuz I we've been asked and and the land the land conservancy got a letter because I assume we're we have but the golf we have a property that abuts the golf course. So uh what trees? What's the reason?

There are two two um distinct um efforts ongoing. Um the first that which has been completed and did not need a wetlands current was that um about 13 trees were removed along um the southern side of fairway 15 because their root structure uh was significantly compromising um uh the fairway and and the cart paths and um they um so there were number of trees removed there. they did not have any wetlands impacted. This has all been reviewed by by the wetlands agent. The second and more significant um impact is that the um that a lot of the deadfall along the two bridges, the one bridge um that goes from from 11T onto 11 fairway and the bridge that runs from 16 green over to 17T. There is a lot of deadfall in there that is that is a safety hazard uh for um both um both golfers and maintenance and whatnot. And so th those are um proposed to be um significantly reduced but they will the trees on on the fairway have actually been the lumber was removed. The lumber will not be removed uh in the along the bridges. that will be left there because um we're hoping that uh it is not necessary to put any machinery into the wetlands itself. They will do all the work from the bridges or they will go in by hand uh to cut all of the dead trees down. um that requires a wetlands permit and um I believe that is on for a hearing at the wetlands commun

commission committee meeting um this coming Tuesday.

Okay. Um I guess I have a comment and I haven't looked at the plans. I'm I think I'm familiar from walking the car paths. Um the land conservancy just had its second nature lecture series on um what was the term morticulture which is um the environmental benefits of dead trees, snags, things like that. So I completely understand the um safety aspects and you have to be concerned about things falling on the cart paths and then the bridges and so forth. Um, but you have wildlife habitat, you have animals that use, you know, hollow trees, snags, things like that. So, I guess my comment would be, and maybe I need to write a public comment, my comment would be to the extent that things can be maybe not cut all the way down, particularly if they provide h they're trees that would provide habitat, um, I think that needs to be considered rather than just cutting things down, you know, to ground level. So that that would be my two cents being a tree hugger including dead tree hugger. So

I would um I would urge you to make um to um to either contact directly Peter Castaldi and pass that on to him. Um or make um you know submit a written comment to the um to the inland wetlands commission for their meeting. But I think that's a that's probably not something that's been specifically thought of by any of us. And um from my perspective, that's a that's an excellent um recommendation because obviously you can you can get the trees down to a point where they're not a safety hazard, but still can provide habitat. Yeah, exactly. So that if they do fall, they just fall in the wetlands area and don't compromise public safety. Yeah. Y

they're not removing the lumber, which is great. I mean, leaving the deadfall there, I mean, that is very valuable. Um, so I'll I'll stop. I'll get off my soap box, but um I will talk to the land trust, the land conservancy about submitting a comment. Excellent. Thank you. Yep.

Okay. Any other questions? Yeah. So, regarding the POC, which I guess is going to be uh reviewed uh next week on the 19th uh at your meeting, um comments that were forwarded to you, Paula, have been forwarded to John. Your comments have not because I asked if you had submitted them and did you answer my question? The answer is I did not. I forward them to you. Okay. I will then forward them to John. All right. I would just say that the quality of what is written is night and day. Yes,

it is excellent. The maps in what and what I got to see are are not are not present and some of the strategies are not present, but the wording and the uh detail and the knowledge that somebody who knows Bloomfield is writing it is so clear and it is just a relief to see what the improvement is. Well, we appreciate that. And the reason the we're still we wanted to get the text done, then we will do the maps and the and and update the strategies, but we wanted to make sure we were on target with you all with the with the text before we uh tackled the other part.

Yeah. And I I I agree with that and I submitted comments, but yeah, send I'll No, I will I will do that after the meeting. I will forward them along. This the second question I guess goes to to Nick and maybe you're gonna you forwarded to us this uh uh maybe draft on solar. Is that coming up?

Yeah. And actually I I want to say something about that before we get into it because we have limited time and I want to make sure we have an opportunity to really review them and give comments. So I guess my question right up front is what is the process for you collecting input? because I don't think we're going to get much done in five or 10 minutes. Um, in terms of being able to submit to TPZ,

we um we are going to have an internal conversation with the with the TPZ uh on the 19th, but they will not be assigned a public hearing until at least March. So, you have um you'll have ample time to submit your comments. And how late in March would that be? It will just remind me of meeting dates. It would be the fourth Thursday in March. Okay. So, and and we meet on the second Thursday. So, we can certainly put this on the agenda next month, but we can also provide any comments we have prior. Absolutely.

Okay. Um Val has a comment. She thought in the package it implied a public hearing on March 16th meeting on unless I have my dates wrong. I I'm maybe we have a we may have a meeting on the 16th that I have not recollected. Um but um I'll have to confirm that uh with Linda. should be the 26th. That'd be the first. Yeah. Just

it's probably Yeah. Kev um Kevin Goff is uh in the sidelines here and he said maybe it's a typo. The 26th would be the fourth th fourth Thursday.

Yeah. That's next week. That's not the public hearing. That's not the public hearing. We'll have to check that March date. We may have Yeah, yeah, normally it would be the fourth Thursday to the table.

Yep. So in in looking at this draft very briefly, the the one one question that came to my mind is it's it's wonderful with all the definitions and and what various things are, but how does this encourage construction building projects in Bloomfield to have solar? That is I don't see that coming through in in this draft at all.

Sure, I can comment on that. Uh so the purpose of these regulations was to give to to give regulations for those who were pursuing or thinking about pursuing some kind of solar development in one way. Uh a few meetings ago, David, you did mention some kind of uh thing to encourage companies when building the buildings to have solar. I did draft language related to that that I believe will be more appropriate in the form of an ordinance and I believe that pro for now we are focusing on zoning regulations and less on an ordinance type solar initiative at this at this time although it is on the docket in my department.

I would just say again then that that subject that you're referring to the ordinance has been something on the table of this committee for probably uh eons and nothing has ever happened. I I regret to hear that. Uh in my four and a half months here, I've been trying to to dust off certain things and get at them. And I I will work on making sure it is not one eon more that this is the this is the eon. Uh I really will try um especially with all the constructions that's being proposed and coming up to your committees. It makes a lot of sense. I will make sure it's very close to the top of our pile. It is on top of my my computer for sure. Yeah. Kevin Goff.

Yeah. Kevin Goff. Um as as to to uh uh uh David Hager's point, uh Val and I were on the committee back when that was that has been going on for a long time. Uh I just want to make a quick note for the committee to be aware of the TPZ schedule this year. TPZ generally meets for our normal regulatory hearing meetings the fourth uh Thursday of the month. There are some exceptions to that depending on month, but this year there is a new uh series of meetings that will occur the third Thursday of each month. Again, there might be an exception to that. There's an exception to the fourth Thursday some month, but that will happen every quarter in the middle month. So February for the middle month of first quarter, uh May for the first uh middle month of uh uh second quarter etc. Those are going to be specifically planning meetings where we will not be taking up hearing items but talking about planning in general things we need to change in the regulations. And I think that's a I think that is uh Commissioner O'Brien really pushed this and I think that is a great um I think that is a great addition because we will be focusing on these things before you know before you get to oh now there's a hearing on it. What are I you know what are ideas? It it'll help I think especially this committee which will have a lot of interest and input on a lot of the things uh and the economic development commission and other groups to be able to say gee if you're looking at this shape it this way and maybe we'll have a lot less um you know we'll get things straightened out much better upfront before they get to the actual hearings. So keep in mind that's why you're going to see a couple of months this year or you're going to see four months this year with two TPZ meetings. So, I just wanted to sort of give everyone a heads up on that.

Okay.

Okay. I'm gonna try to get control of this meeting back, which I should probably just give up. Um, we it's good discussion and there's obviously a lot going on. Um I will so I encourage everybody between now and next week if you have time to look at the draft and you know submit any preliminary comments and please I mean please do copy me but please send them directly because I don't want to be the person holding up the input. Um and I will try to keep an eye on email. Um send them to actually send them to Nick. Yep. Ngabuzda um bloomfieldct.gov. And if you can copy me, that's great. I'm happy to circulate them, but um my email is in such a mess that sometimes I miss things. So, I just don't want to hold anybody up. Um I also I guess I'm just going to I'm thinking out loud here. I also want us to re remember that we developed a policy on renewables. We modified it to get at battery uh battery energy storage systems, but the whole it it started out with concerns around solar sighting and you know the it was for the council to adopt which they did and the the energy plan is something that came out of that. Um, no, I'm I'm I'm mixing things up at this point, but we we have there's a solar policy, and the solar policy kind of laid out some things that we thought were very important, such as appropriate screening, you know, visual screening, um, making sure that we were mindful of the communities and the areas where we, you know, potentially put things. Um, so there it's like I can find that and send that out because I just think it's a good reference point. Um, and a you know, as

a reminder of what this committee talked about um several years ago. Okay. Um at this point, I'm going to move on. Um but we've touched a lot of things already. Um the priorities discussion, this is like a under old business. Um I don't recall if I sent an email out to the committee um explaining what I did with the recent, you know, the most recent iteration of the document categories for CEC priorities 2026. What I did was I took I took all of the things that came out in our discussion last month that Lynn had summarized in the minutes and then I incorpor you know I made edits and I tried to incorporate the edits that were suggested into the document. So, for example, nature-based solutions for environmental health. We talked about um sort of um distinguishing between projects we were continuing, projects we were supporting um that other groups are doing because we do I think kind of walk the talk when it comes to partnering with other groups. Um so, basically in number one, number two, number three, number four, the the four main categories. Um I that's what I did. I incorporated the things we talked about last month into it or did my best to. The other thing I added at the very top um we have in boldface CC should monitor relevant uh bills at the state level. That was a carryover from last year but I added below that CC will serve as the lead or partner entity as

indicated in the plan of conservation and development implementation summary strategies and actions. Okay. And I wanted that statement in there to reflect the fact that we are identified as an entity playing a role in the implementation of actions in the new POCCD and there were a bunch of you know there's a bunch in the natural resources section where we're listed and I want I don't want to forget that unless it's changed um in the latest iteration. So, I'm looking at Nick.

You're asking if um there's been a change as to whether CEC was specifically called out in the POC. Yeah. Well, we were in the we were in the first draft in the one that was extensively rewritten. So, and you're I'm sorry, Paul. So, so so so basically I'm just saying I'm assuming that we're still identified as one of the entities in terms of helping implement the actions in the plan. So to my knowledge, if you're referring to CEC being called out in the this the strategies, right, like that table. Yep. To my knowledge, those have not been changed. The the things that have been changed mostly is like the body text. Yeah. Um so if they have not been changed, I have no reason to believe that CC's reference has not been changed as well.

Okay. and and and I left it general and didn't kind of list specific things, more to just indicate that we're kind of responsible for paying attention to those things and trying to, you know, do what we need to do to support the implementation. So, at some point, I want to take action on this, but I don't know. I don't want to rush people. I'd certainly like to, you know, do this by next month because we'll be a quarter in, but people want to have it uh a little more time to look at it. Oh, we don't we no longer have a quorum. So, we'll wait until next month, but yeah, and she she had warned me that she needed to leave a little early. So,

but I think this is terrific what you did. I mean, it's very good. I I don't understand the bold part you're just talking about though. I don't I don't understand what that means.

Um I basically just I just use the same font that we did that we had from 2025 from the 2025 document that that very top document about or top paragraph about documenting or monitoring the bills at the state level that was there. I just left it. But then I wanted to add up front, you know, at the very top because I didn't really have it reflected anywhere in here. And to me, it's important that the POCD be called out. So that's where I chose to do it. And we can move it.

Could you give an example of that? Um like we're being asked to we're being asked to be involved in looking at connectivity, looking at potential land acquisitions, you know that with each Go ahead. Add maybe add a word that we were the lead or partner entity um to carry out, implement or something. um will serve as a leader partner entity um to help to help implement to help implement. Yeah, it's it's it's in the grid.

I guess that part I don't I didn't see. Okay. Well, you didn't see it because it it it it wasn't in the rewritten part. It's what's in the original plan. There is a table there's a table in the back and I actually it's good to know that as far as you know it hasn't changed because I had suggestions for edits there that I think are worth looking at. Um so I will you know I guess I want to make that comment as well if I haven't in what I just sent in. I still would like some rewarding and maybe it's just shuffling around of the

Okay. Can you can you can you we don't have to do it right now but actually can you can you look at it and suggest something and then we'll make that change you you if you know I'm just saying CEC will serve as the the lead or partner entity in for the implementation strategies and actions and then as indicated Yep. Okay. That's good. In the plan of of BC because you got that you kind of you don't know what you're talking about till you you know right switch around. That's good. Lynn, can you make that change? Madam Chair. Yes. Just um I just confirmed that the meeting in March is the 26. That's our one meeting in March.

Okay. And that's when we hope to take up formal approval action at least public hearing anyway on the uh text amendments. Okay. Okay. Great. Okay. Very good. So, um, take a take another look through. Um, if there's anything else you want to word smith, we can do it, but we'll not spend a lot of time next month and vote on it. All right. Okay. Very good. Um, landscape. Okay. So, jumping down, uh, landscape regulations, tree ordinance. Is that

yes I can comment on that. So um

jumping up briefly for a moment the solar regulation was reviewed by staff and has been distributed to CEC and will soon be I'm not sure if it already has been distributed to TPZ but that is in motion. Um, as far as the landscape regulations, which were reviewed essentially along at the same time uh as the solar regulations, they were reviewed by staff. Uh, staff approved of the measures within the proposed regulations. However, upon further consideration, we are now looking into kind of splitting up some of the language. some language that would then be more appropriate to have in a zoning regulation and other language that would be more appropriate to have in an ordinance. Yes. Mainly because some of the enforcements we're looking at cannot cannot be enforced via Connecticut zoning regul or zoning within the state of Connecticut. Um specifically things about payment in lie of that is just it's just not in the parameter of a zoning enforcement for the kind of payment in lie of that we are exploring. Um, so all that's all to say is progress has been made. Town staff is happy with what we've come up with. It's just kind of now on me. This literally happened two days ago. It's now on me to find the best way to present it to the bodies that be in the form of an ordinance andor and zoning regulation. Does that make sense?

Yes. So more to so more to come and making good progress is what I'm hearing. That is what I'm trying to say. Yes. Okay. Good. Yeah. Phil, this go on. Yeah, it's on. It should. Well, I I I know you're busy moving along. I was just curious on the solar regulations. Uh I remember you saying you were going to compare them to some towns other than I believe Yeah. Uh the southeastern Connecticut. Did you end up doing that?

We can. Yes. That so I can tell you a little happy to get into it. uh the way the regulations were crafted. Um I did research uh that was a combination of seeing what was previously proposed and drafted by town staff years ago. The earliest files I found were from 2020. Um I reviewed those and the other major thing I consulted were existing solar regulations in western Massachusetts uh and northern Connecticut. Um a helpful hint, the town of Enfield, Connecticut has extremely comprehensive solar regulations. So much so they are featured on the American Institute of Planning's website. Um so that was a pretty good endorsement for me. Um so yes, Connecticut has some wellrespected regulations that hopefully will then Bloomfield's next on that list. Yeah.

Okay. I I mean I'm happy to send comments and I just briefly looked sure what's written and it's basically any any parcel of land in Bloomfield would be open for a special permit for a solar array on these regulations. There's no there's no qualification as to whether it's residential property, industrial property. So you're basically opening it to any property any property uh that also follows the parameters of the regulations and receives the what's being proposed is that and receivable of a special permit by the commission.

So so this is even less restrictive than the than the um regulations proposed by the CEKC person when he originally came. They had some they had some um issues there about the size of the the acreage of the Yeah. application. That's all even that even that part is eliminated. So, it's it's a very generous opening. Well, excuse me. I'm just commenting it's very generous opening of essentially the entire town to a special permit application. Correct. I will also mention that the

the existing bulk requirements also must apply to any. So it does not mean that solar can be put on any parcel as long as they are within the bulk requirements that exist for that zone for that accessory or principal use. So again there are restrictions for every zone regarding bulk requirements. Uh and in addition for every parcel there must be a t a commission review special permit. So there are several I wouldn't call it open. I would say there's a path for any parcel, but there are many steps on that path that must be considered. Mhm.

Editorial comment. So, it's up to us to make sure we elect good people to the commission who follow the regulations. One one other and the PCD and I'll just say that's what's being proposed. So, of course, the whole point is to have dialogue, receive input from anybody who wishes to give it, but that's what we came up with. One one quickie I saw that you're um because I'm thinking about the the CEK proposal that brought this up was

is that the the requirement for a 15 foot buffer zone of vegetation is only for whether it borders residential property for. So for example, according to this, the property right next to Samuel Real Park could be essentially clearcut and visible from the park without because it's not a private property. You don't list municipal properties as needing vegetative buffers like parks or park system and what

I'll have to to review that. Um but again if if the TPZ or CEC or any commissioner committee thought that that was a concern, there' be a period to voice that concern and therefore a special permit may not be granted as once again as is currently proposed. But for that exact scenario, I have to double check and if that's a a concern in the regulations, that can certainly be be reviewed by my staff. Thanks. Yeah, my pleasure. Okay. Anyone else before I move on? All right, let's see. Uh, sustainable CT reertification quick update. I can keep it quick because it's a good

You're working on it.

I am working on it. Uh long story short, it's going really well. Um the last uh point tally I believe are reported. Last time we checked in mid January, we were at 85 points that I believe are locked in. That was 42.5%. We are now at 115 points, 57.5%. That is more than halfway to bronze. um all of all the 12 actions that must be completed, all the 12 categories that must be completed, we currently have at least eight that uh have met met those qualifications. So, we're more than halfway in terms of required categories. Uh in addition, I'll give you two quick updates about meetings I have had with staff at sustainable CT. Uh I met with Katie Meador. Uh she is a sustainability team fellow. Uh I got some more clarification. I do want to mention one thing actually I'll keep it quick is the last meeting I mentioned the term sustainability team does that sound familiar and how you know for every application there must be one I asked Katie you know what does that exactly mean because it seemed kind of broad and I want to tell you what she told me she explained to me that the concept as described on their website is intended as guidance to each participating town to encourage collaboration between town staff and community members. So that said, while there is no formal team with an official roster list of members here in Bloomfield, Bloomfield's effective sustainability team for those purposes at this point consists of land use staff, other town staff, CEC, really all members of the public who participate in these meetings. It's really any form of, you know, collaboration between the Bloomfield community. Um, so that's all I'm what I'm trying to say is we don't need to submit a list of people. we don't need, you know, this it's it's more of a I don't know, an ethereal concept that I think we're already doing. So, unless there's

Yes,

ether in the eons and all the EU. Yeah. Um anyway, I want to just give clarification on that because people have occasionally expressed interest in joining the team, which is, you know, from what I can tell, it's an open team really. Um yeah, the last thing I want to say is I met with uh Kate. So, there's Katie and Kate, not confusing at all. Uh Kate, who's also at Sustainable CCT, she specializes in um giving guidance for the equity toolkit. Uh which you might know is in addition to having to get a certain number of points, do actions in all the categories, every certification needs to have at least have the equity toolkit applied to one action. So I asked her for some clarification. I brought up some potential projects and I got really great feedback. Uh I can tell you the two projects that I am looking into applying the equity toolkit to um are the uh town center master plan uh community feedback process uh which we have a lot of documentation to that process um and has been a finished plan. So the product is complete uh as well as the uh Bloomfield Public Libraries strategic plan. Those can both be applied to sustainable CT actions. I got a lot of positive feedback from Kate about using one if not both of those. And in fact today I met with Elizabeth Lane and Rachel Tonucci from Boomfield Public Library and got a lot of I would say excite excitement about collaboration in general and also for the equity toolkit. So I'm feeling very good about what I thought this would be like the last hurdle certification which is the equity toolkit. So once again I got my marching orders today from the library. So later this month I want to get that going. That's what I got. Good. Any questions? Nancy,

where can we find details about the equity toolkit? You don't have to go through it now, but Oh, sure. Um, long story short, you can go on their website, but if you like, I can certainly send a link after this meeting. Very easy. Yeah. Yeah. There's a lot of information. Yeah, there is. Yeah. So, one of the things that's supposed to go up in the library, which is not up yet, is a ongoing weather station. Oh, I don't know if that fits into what you But it should be there and it should be on the on the on the uh board flashing things. Digital digital thing. Whatever. That's interesting.

Monitoring. It's a weather station that's monitoring things.

I'll look into that. Um, once again, I know we're the clock is ticking, but I just one more bit of good news. Um, related to the libraryies strategic plan. Uh, I got really great feedback from staff at BPL. Um, they seemed very excited about the sustainable CT in the town. They asked me to speak at the, um, strategic plan unveiling on February 25th. So for all those online in the ether curious, the library is having a strategic plan unveiling an opportunity for meet and mingle to talk to people in the library about what the library can do for you so to speak. Uh I've been given a very strict three to four minutes much as I'm going over right now, but to talk about sustainable CT and all that. So I think that's just really good news for the support from other departments. Uh and hopefully more folks will learn about it and get get excited about it. So thanks for letting me go over my time limit here. All right. Um, Nancy, do you want to uh do any updates on extreme heat? And the answer can be no. It's

No, I have I have a I have a comment prepared. You have a comment prepared? Okay, go ahead. Given the weather over the last few weeks, I did not want to appear psychotic by calling anyone and asking if they wanted to talk about extreme heat. So, I have done nothing yet, but I still have my list of people to Yeah, I just figured I'd let it warm up a little bit. But the flip side of that is extreme cold. So, it, you know, it is right. It's all part of the destabilization of climate, but my particular project is extreme heat.

Right. All right. Um, under all business, uh, items F through H are just more quick updates. um the sustainability fair, Simsbury sustainability fair, um on Saturday, May 2nd. Um Bob went to their first planning meeting. I went to their second planning meeting. Um actually they have uh Simsbury is sending three um three members of their zoning commission to the tour of Seabberry um on Saturday, which is very nice. And I sort of mentioned it and they were very interested at the second meeting. So, um, just a really nice opportunity for some cross town collaboration. They want, you know, they're they're talking conceptually about putting together a so like a large um map uh showing Simsbury, Avon, because Avon is collaborating as well and Bloomfield in terms of solar installations. And I think they want to get at, you know, uh, commercial, municipal, as well as residential. And apparently they have a good website or what they have a good source for that. I'm going to get some clarity on like who's doing what because I think that would be a wonderful thing for us to have for Bloomfield and I think it would be a useful thing um when we do our next Sunday sawy fall celebration um to have that as you know something we can use kind of on a go forward basis. So, um there's that and they're very excited about the trees for Bloomfield um you know they thought that was a great initiative. We're now in year six um the fact that we have Tree City USA designation and um so we're going to do a presentation on that

um or or tableabling or some form. Um, also they want to they're very open to connecting um, Corey Pratti with their counterpart and Pollinator Pathways. I think Nancy Grandon is her name and because they've got an initiative going over in Simsbury. So, we're going to get those folks hooked up which I think is good. Um, so we kind of know what we want to do. Um but now we just you know I need we need to get some clarity around um who's doing what and what we have to do but it seems like a manageable good you know good uh opportunity to participate shred day I'm waiting to hear back um for confirmation on Saturday May 9th being available um but I I also want to make sure that the town has the um financial resources to support us because it's a tight budget year and you know that involves overtime and all of that. So, we generally offer twice a year, but um our piece of the budget pie CC's is relatively small. We pay for the uh the shred truck um but we're not paying overtime for police, all of that. So, we just need to make sure we're good to go. And oh, and the tour of Seabberry is uh on February 14th, Valentine's Day. Uh we limited enrollment or registration to 15 people. We have 15 people signed up. I mentioned we have three from um Simsbury and like our town manager is coming. Um councelor Merritt I think has signed up. Um our deputy mayor um we have a commissioner uh planning and zoning commissioner um Mr. Goff um as well as a number of residents and CDC members. So, it should be a nice group of people and uh John Carris has agreed to run a story in it next week or next week in the

local paper. So, that'll be um nice in terms of getting the information out. Say again where we meet. Uh we meet actually Lynn sent out it's it's it's the westernmost entrance on um help me out. Is it Whittenberry? What's the street? Simsbury. Well, it's yeah, it's there's Seabberry Drive. That's kind of the horseshoe around the campus. It's it's off of off of Wittenberry off of Whittenberry Road. As you drive in, there's a parking lot like right there. That's where they want you to park. And then they walk into the main entrance.

Yeah, that's what you were looking for. Main entrance. Should have just said main entrance. Okay. Um, new business. Uh, I will be quick on this. Um, I had really good intentions. Um, I think I sent an email out and I thank Dave Hager and Jessica White for sending some thoughts back which were um, actually consistent with the things I was thinking about. Um the humanities committee has asked for um just reflections on what our committee what all the boards and commissions are doing in terms of trying to become you know um reflect the diversity be more inclusive you know h how are we kind of growing and what what are we imp what are we doing in terms of how we operate as a committee and I don't have something written but I But basically what I got back and I just want to mention it quickly and lob anybody lob anything in. Um so basically uh Dave Dave Hager um talked about kind of what we did like trees for Bloomfield being a really good representation of how we operate. Um we gathered community, we made new contacts and friends. We really were inclus we were very um you know we worked very hard up front to get a project that was really embraced by the community. We had a couple false starts with the trees for free program until we landed on something that people liked. Um so we integrated town staff, council, citizens. Um it really kind of built a

real sense of community and you know the idea is how do we continue that? um an extension of trees for bloomfield is getting tree city designation which I think is really important as far as now thinking longer term you know and trying to kind of build more of a multi-year kind of approach with various projects um and keep getting reertified. Okay. Um Jessica um said she really like she likes the process we engage in to set our priorities. Um she thinks it's it feels open and inclusive to all ideas. We generally work together to collaborate on making initiatives happen versus people going it alone. Um my thoughts were I think we try to have um inclusive processes in terms of setting priorities. I thought that um we have open meetings and generally what we don't we what we do is we welcome public input and this is a long tradition of CEC we promote attendees to panelist we let everybody contribute um so we try to do that and then the word partnership comes to mind um I'm just thinking about what Chip AOY was saying the whole idea of trying to be really collaborative um we don't have to do everything. We do our best to understand what others are doing, other groups, departments, and be supportive. So, those are the themes I'm going to try to hit in 150 to 200 words. Is everybody good with that? So, so the Lorenzo Jones piece this afternoon is an

perfect example of how accomplishing what you want to accomp getting the Persian Park kids up to Will Wilcox Park and up to Hoskins Road that is monumental. Good point. I can mention it. I can mention that kind of initiative example that he gave is unbelievable.

Right. I agree. and that you know and I I am going to mention the shred day and the the electronics recycling war as a perennial favorite of the community. I mean we get pound staff always asking us okay you're doing it right when's the date because people are asking them and requesting that service. Um, so we good. Go ahead. Yeah, I just als I' failed to send you anything, but I would say that the two projects we worked on as far as public education projects we worked on as far as um, uh, insects, you know, we did that last year and buckets of doom

2024. Yeah. Which is making a comeback, by the way. Oh, good. And, um, extreme heat in in developing the material for both of those. and and or sharing it. Uh we tried to be as inclusive as possible and look at all um portions of the community of Bloomfield in particular and um sharing it with this the camp as far as buckets summer camp doing doing the buckets of due and having having a summer camp program their own. Yeah. and your and your extreme heat I think was excellent in terms of um get working with um the what the um

the ambulance ambulance having somebody from the ambulance you know somebody associated with that present um that kind of collaboration as far as we getting the word out to different uh organizations and sectors of the community.

Yeah. Okay. So, any other thoughts before I've got three minutes? Okay. Um, good. So, the rest of this is very uh quick updates. Um, good news on uh Tree uh Tree City USA. Um, I got notification from DEP on January I think 29th or 30th. um they have recommended to the Arbor Day Foundation, they've reviewed and are recommending reertification for us for the last the last calendar year. Um that's generally, you know, the big hurdle if there is one because um the Arbor Day Foundation relies on state agencies to kind of review your application. So, um I'm hoping to hear soon that um we're official, but you know, that was a big big step. So, that's good news. Um I did have a um really nice couple hour meeting with Sharon Man um to start talking a little bit about what we might do for Arbor Day this year. And we have, you know, an idea of doing something um manageable but nice um here on the town hall campus. And uh we're you know I'm in the process of setting up a meeting with India once Sharon returns from vacationing to kind of pin that down. But our thought is we have it on April 24th which is Arbor Day. That's a Friday. We do it at 400 p.m. Um that way hopefully town staff can participate. Um even though you're on different hours um it's still something that I think would you know accommodate schedules and we should have enough daylight then to do it.

And the rest of this is just more announcements. Um, pollinator pathways. I'm jumping around here. Um, Corey, who could didn't join us today, is leading the pollinator pathway initiative. She's the coordinator in Bloomfield for this new initiative. She had um with the BBC support and sponsorship had a really nice kickoff event with like 60 plus people participating. Um I attended it was really nicely done. There's a lot of enthusiasm um I think in the community to do this. So uh you know I just think that was a a good event and uh what a great initiative. public landscapes working group. I think that's in process in terms of um trying to do some um thoughtful budgeting. Would you agree with that, Nick?

Yes.

Okay. Yeah. The the idea is like how do we maintain these landscapes, especially the ones that are a little bit more complicated with new projects like the the library has this landscaping plan. uh what do you do to maintain it on a go forward basis and make sure you're you know taking proper care and things don't just die. Yep. And our very own Zelene Sandler is scheduled to do Trap Rock Ridge Land Conservy's third nature lecture uh on March 4th on boba links and warblers. the migration season will be soon upon us and uh she has some expertise on the topic. So all right is is there any public comment? Okay. Can I have a motion to adjourn? So move.

Okay. Second. Bob is seconding. Thank you very much, Bob.