Planning Board Roll Call:

Russ Wilder, Chairman - Present
Alan Carpenter, Vice Chairman - Present
Lisa Linowes, Secretary - Present
Margaret Crisler, Selectmen Member - Present
Ross Mcleod, Regular Member - Present
Wayne Morris, Regular Member - Present
Walter Kolodziej, Regular Member - Excused
Roger Hohenberger, Selectmen Alternate - Present

Conservation Board Roll Call:

Cherie Howell, Chairman - Present
Betsy Carlson, Member - Present
Cristy Davis, Member - Present

Builder Representative: Steve Haight - Present

Background: In March, a warrant was presented to Windham's voters regarding a proposed land swap between two properties. One property belonging to the town is slated as conservation land. A builder privately owns the second property. The voters agreed to grant authorization to the Selectmen to investigate and, if appropriate, proceed with the land swap.

Since the vote, the conservation board suggested a joint site walk of the properties with the Selectmen, the planning board and the conservation board. The purpose of the site walk was to evaluate the properties in question and to confirm whether the swap was in the best interest of the town. The private owner is willing to swap (or not) the properties if the town so chooses.

The two properties are approximately 8-10 acres each and both are considered back land with no direct access via town roads. They are separated from each other by roughly 300-400 feet. The property presently owned by the town abuts school property. If the swap is made, the resulting land acquisition would be added to a much larger, contiguous parcel of conservation land.

It is important to note that any land swap would be based on value of the land and not on an acre-for-acre transfer.

The Site Walk commenced at 8:30 AM and ended around 10:30 AM.

Issues/Discussion:
The attendees walked the two properties observing the topography, terrain, quality of the trees, location of ledge, frequency and apparent depth of test pits, trails, abutting school property line and wetlands. While no conclusions were made on the walk, the following issues were raised and/or discussed:

1. Likely location and configuration of any roads built based on the property the builder owns/develops.
2. Potential build-out based on the property owned/developed by the builder.
3. Position of any road that crosses the wetlands and efforts to minimize impact.
4. Importance of a report on existing habitat corridors and an evaluation of which property offers the richer environment for wildlife and better preservation of the wetlands. Any report should consider post-development of the respective properties.
5. Existing trails and preservation of those trails in the event of development.
6. Consideration of an open space subdivision plan versus standard subdivision plan.
7. Appraised value of the respective properties now and in the event road access is made available.
8. Existence of the WWPD which appears to abut the property now owned by the town. The WWPD would extend the area that cannot be developed.
9. Existence of a third parcel of land that appears to have no record of ownership. This parcel is believed to be owned by the town and abuts the larger parcel of town conservation land.

These minutes are in draft form and have not been submitted for approval.

Respectfully submitted,
Lisa Linowes