Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Education Document Release
This new document is going to be made available in clear laminate for use in homes around Crystal Lake. This one page brochure can be placed near washer/dryer or other area where guests/renters will be reminded of good practices to preserve our lake. Click on the document to see in larger form. The document was developed and will soon be available from Jackie Stowell.
Friday, June 19, 2009
ANNUAL MEETING ANNOUNCEMENT
You are Invited to the
Friends of Crystal Lake
Annual Meeting
on Thursday, June 25, 2009
at 4pm
at Sue and John Sargent's
34 Crystal Lake Drive
Orleans, MA 02653
Steve Bornemeier of FOCL and Orleans Pond Coaltion will present the latest strategies to help preserve and protect our beautiful lake.
Please join us, bring a lawn chair, invite a friend, and stay for refreshments
RSVP to Sue Sargent 508-255-1005 or sue@sargentfamily.org.
Friends of Crystal Lake
Annual Meeting
on Thursday, June 25, 2009
at 4pm
at Sue and John Sargent's
34 Crystal Lake Drive
Orleans, MA 02653
Steve Bornemeier of FOCL and Orleans Pond Coaltion will present the latest strategies to help preserve and protect our beautiful lake.
Please join us, bring a lawn chair, invite a friend, and stay for refreshments
RSVP to Sue Sargent 508-255-1005 or sue@sargentfamily.org.
Friday, December 12, 2008
FRIENDS OF CRYSTAL LAKE ANNUAL MEETING
The annual meeting was held at the home of Jim and Mary Bast on June 25, 2008 at 4:00. There were 36 attendees.
President Kent Arnold welcomed everyone.
Secretary’s report: It was moved and seconded that we dispense with the reading of minutes of the August 2007 annual meeting.
Treasurer’s report: Maury Webb reported that FOCL has $7,410 in the bank. $525 dues were paid to OPC, and $500 was paid to OPC for the “Orleans Blue Pages” booklet campaign. Communication takes up much of our dues revenue.
Jim Bast reported that we currently have 103 members which is the largest pond membership in Orleans. Remember to use our blog to communicate your thoughts and comments and share information that impacts our lake. The blog is: friends-of-crystal-lake.blogspot.com
Election of board members: Mary Bast, Sue Sargent, and Mal Bornemeier were presented as the slate of new board members This slate was moved, seconded and approved.
Mutt Mitt Report: Dave Brian reported that about 200 mitts were used at both ends of Crystal Lake this year. Thanks to Agway for underwriting the productions the Mutt mitts around town.
Finlay Road drains are up and running. The completion of the road repair is delayed until the utility lines have been changed and summer traffic ends.
Judith Bruce talked about the work of the Wastewater Management Steering Committee (WMSC). The committee has been working on the waste water issues for 8 years. It is a huge task. We know how much nitrogen must be removed from Pleasant Bay. The DEP and UMass have yet to give us the numbers for the estuaries. The WMSC is looking at a conceptual approach which focuses of 3 possible plans.
1. A decentralized system with perhaps 10 local facilities
2. One large central system
3. Large system in South Orleans as well as one in town and perhaps using effluent to irrigate golf courses in that area.
A central system will handle 140 million gallons per day; a decentralized system will handle 204 gallons per day.
All of these suggested systems will work, all can be added to and each can be phased in and is modular in approach. We will not sewer the entire town in plan in the first plan, and how to allocate the cost equitably will be a particular challenge to the town. The Board of Selectmen will make the final decision.
As a measure of how we succeed at reducing the nitrogen levels, we will be looking for the return of eel grass, shell fish and improved water quality.
Workshops to discuss these various plans are scheduled this summer each week beginning July 8. They will be held at Town Hall from 6-8 PM. Your comments and input will be encouraged at these meetings. August 5 workshop will focus on our Crystal Lake neighborhood. We strongly urge each of you to attend. By the end of October, the selectmen will present the chosen option to the town at a special town meeting.
The hope is to put “shovel to the ground” by 2012. Any plan will be phased in over 25 years.
Senator O’Leary is working on low or no-interest funds which will be available to towns for these projects. The State may impose mandates on us if we do nothing now as well as lose favorable funding. Judith added her awareness to include fresh water ponds with the estuary mandates.
Kent Arnold introduced our guest speaker, Lindsay Strode of Cape Organics. Lindsay began by stating that the financial investment we have in our properties is tied to the health of our Lake. One thing we can do to protect this resource is to maintain a buffer zone of 10-15 feet along the lake front. A border of shrubs by the lake acts to prevent erosion and helps to keep leaves from falling into the lake; try bayberry, sweet fern and sedge. He brought several samples of native and indigenous plants for us to learn about and handle. Some suggestions were: Atlantic White Cedar, Virginia Rose, Sweet pepper, natural grasses and the many varieties of viburnum. Lindsay reminded us that planning is critical because it keeps you focused on your planting goals. Plan ahead, you can still do the work in stages.
Fall is the best time to plant a lawn and to put lime down. Use less fertilizer on native plants, and compost at 20%. Use very light fertilizer after year one. Organic matter holds nutriments; too much peat is not helpful. Remember, landscape is always changing; you can change and rearrange your plants. If you remove plants for construction, replant them when projects are completed. Lindsay suggested the following places to find native plants: Ernst Conservation Seed in PA, Sylvan Nursery in Westport, and NRCS.
There was a consensus among those members attending that late June is a good time for the FOCL Annual Meeting.
The meeting was adjourned and a social time followed.
Respectfully submitted,
Marilyn Bornemeier
Secretary
President Kent Arnold welcomed everyone.
Secretary’s report: It was moved and seconded that we dispense with the reading of minutes of the August 2007 annual meeting.
Treasurer’s report: Maury Webb reported that FOCL has $7,410 in the bank. $525 dues were paid to OPC, and $500 was paid to OPC for the “Orleans Blue Pages” booklet campaign. Communication takes up much of our dues revenue.
Jim Bast reported that we currently have 103 members which is the largest pond membership in Orleans. Remember to use our blog to communicate your thoughts and comments and share information that impacts our lake. The blog is: friends-of-crystal-lake.blogspot.com
Election of board members: Mary Bast, Sue Sargent, and Mal Bornemeier were presented as the slate of new board members This slate was moved, seconded and approved.
Mutt Mitt Report: Dave Brian reported that about 200 mitts were used at both ends of Crystal Lake this year. Thanks to Agway for underwriting the productions the Mutt mitts around town.
Finlay Road drains are up and running. The completion of the road repair is delayed until the utility lines have been changed and summer traffic ends.
Judith Bruce talked about the work of the Wastewater Management Steering Committee (WMSC). The committee has been working on the waste water issues for 8 years. It is a huge task. We know how much nitrogen must be removed from Pleasant Bay. The DEP and UMass have yet to give us the numbers for the estuaries. The WMSC is looking at a conceptual approach which focuses of 3 possible plans.
1. A decentralized system with perhaps 10 local facilities
2. One large central system
3. Large system in South Orleans as well as one in town and perhaps using effluent to irrigate golf courses in that area.
A central system will handle 140 million gallons per day; a decentralized system will handle 204 gallons per day.
All of these suggested systems will work, all can be added to and each can be phased in and is modular in approach. We will not sewer the entire town in plan in the first plan, and how to allocate the cost equitably will be a particular challenge to the town. The Board of Selectmen will make the final decision.
As a measure of how we succeed at reducing the nitrogen levels, we will be looking for the return of eel grass, shell fish and improved water quality.
Workshops to discuss these various plans are scheduled this summer each week beginning July 8. They will be held at Town Hall from 6-8 PM. Your comments and input will be encouraged at these meetings. August 5 workshop will focus on our Crystal Lake neighborhood. We strongly urge each of you to attend. By the end of October, the selectmen will present the chosen option to the town at a special town meeting.
The hope is to put “shovel to the ground” by 2012. Any plan will be phased in over 25 years.
Senator O’Leary is working on low or no-interest funds which will be available to towns for these projects. The State may impose mandates on us if we do nothing now as well as lose favorable funding. Judith added her awareness to include fresh water ponds with the estuary mandates.
Kent Arnold introduced our guest speaker, Lindsay Strode of Cape Organics. Lindsay began by stating that the financial investment we have in our properties is tied to the health of our Lake. One thing we can do to protect this resource is to maintain a buffer zone of 10-15 feet along the lake front. A border of shrubs by the lake acts to prevent erosion and helps to keep leaves from falling into the lake; try bayberry, sweet fern and sedge. He brought several samples of native and indigenous plants for us to learn about and handle. Some suggestions were: Atlantic White Cedar, Virginia Rose, Sweet pepper, natural grasses and the many varieties of viburnum. Lindsay reminded us that planning is critical because it keeps you focused on your planting goals. Plan ahead, you can still do the work in stages.
Fall is the best time to plant a lawn and to put lime down. Use less fertilizer on native plants, and compost at 20%. Use very light fertilizer after year one. Organic matter holds nutriments; too much peat is not helpful. Remember, landscape is always changing; you can change and rearrange your plants. If you remove plants for construction, replant them when projects are completed. Lindsay suggested the following places to find native plants: Ernst Conservation Seed in PA, Sylvan Nursery in Westport, and NRCS.
There was a consensus among those members attending that late June is a good time for the FOCL Annual Meeting.
The meeting was adjourned and a social time followed.
Respectfully submitted,
Marilyn Bornemeier
Secretary
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
APCC Action Alert Second Notice:
The Environmental Bond is on the Governor's Desk.
We Must Make Sure that Funding for Wastewater Infrastructure STAYS IN THE BILL.
The wastewater infrastructure funding provisions in the bill would dramatically reduce the very high cost of wastewater infrastructure for Cape Cod communities. Governor Deval Patrick needs to hear from us how critically important the Clean Water Act portion of the Environmental Bond bill is to the future of Cape Cod and other communities.
If you have not already called the Governor's Office, PLEASE do so as soon as you can. (If you have already called, thank you very much.)
Call Governor Deval Patrick's office at 617.725.4005.
Tell the person answering the phone that you want to "ask the Governor to support the Clean Water Act portion of the Environmental Bond WITHOUT AMENDMENT."
Other Talking Points
Nutrients from poorly treated wastewater have severely degraded, bays, estuaries and rivers across the state in violation of the Federal Clean Water Act. The already high cost of solving this problem will only go up.
If we don’t address this problem now, we will see increased financial stress on local and state budgets, and on individual homeowners.
The Massachusetts Clean Water Act contains important planning tools, and 0% loans to cities and towns to address wastewater problems in rivers, bays and estuaries across the state.
This provision will provide significant local aid, and has the endorsement of environmental, housing and labor groups, as well as the business community.
We Must Make Sure that Funding for Wastewater Infrastructure STAYS IN THE BILL.
The wastewater infrastructure funding provisions in the bill would dramatically reduce the very high cost of wastewater infrastructure for Cape Cod communities. Governor Deval Patrick needs to hear from us how critically important the Clean Water Act portion of the Environmental Bond bill is to the future of Cape Cod and other communities.
If you have not already called the Governor's Office, PLEASE do so as soon as you can. (If you have already called, thank you very much.)
Call Governor Deval Patrick's office at 617.725.4005.
Tell the person answering the phone that you want to "ask the Governor to support the Clean Water Act portion of the Environmental Bond WITHOUT AMENDMENT."
Other Talking Points
Nutrients from poorly treated wastewater have severely degraded, bays, estuaries and rivers across the state in violation of the Federal Clean Water Act. The already high cost of solving this problem will only go up.
If we don’t address this problem now, we will see increased financial stress on local and state budgets, and on individual homeowners.
The Massachusetts Clean Water Act contains important planning tools, and 0% loans to cities and towns to address wastewater problems in rivers, bays and estuaries across the state.
This provision will provide significant local aid, and has the endorsement of environmental, housing and labor groups, as well as the business community.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Two Important Meetings Alert
(copy of email from Jim Bast)
To Friends of Crystal Lake, there are two upcoming meetings of direct and specific interest to us:
1. Public Hearing on Nutrient Management Regulations - at 2:00 p.m. tomorrow, Thursday, July 31st, in the Orleans Town Hall Nauset Room the Board of Health will discuss their proposed new "regulations to minimize, to the extent possible, the increase of excess nitrogen and phosphorus in the local environment." BoH can enact these regulations entirely on their own, so the hearing is particularly important if you want to express interest in what essentially limits a one acre lot to four bedrooms or a ratio thereof (e.g., two bedrooms on a half acre). There are numerous aspects and nuances of the proposed regulations, on which I am no expert. But you may desire to talk with Sue Sargent who is very knowledgeable on the subject, as Sue has engaged BoH on the proposal and has had her letter to the editor published in the paper. A phone call to Sue (508.255.1005) will work better than an e-mail, as Sue's computer is down temporarily.
2. Wastewater Workshop - at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, August 5th, in the Orleans Town Hall Skaket Room the Orleans Wastewater Management Steering Committee (WMSC) will present a workshop on the three options under consideration for a Comprehensive Wastewater Management Plan (CWMP). Our opportunity is to learn much more about the need for a CWMP, what such a Plan might include and cost, and to provide our inputs to the WMSC. Early arrival is encouraged, as the Skaket Room has been filling up for these very interesting workshops, and alternative seating in the Nauset Room is a little less attractive (especially for the Q&A period).
a. Feedback - at our June 25th FOCL Annual Meeting our Board requested all members to let them know after this workshop if they felt it would be desirable for us to all meet for further discussion of the three options and the CWMP, especially if we felt that FOCL should develop an advocacy position for quick input to the WMSC as they evaluate "public acceptability" of the Plan. Please get back to me quickly after August 5th, I'll collate responses, and forward them to the Board (or you may prefer to contact Sue or Mal or Mary or Sally or Maury or Kent directly).
b. Alternatives - if you can't attend the August 5th workshop, there will be two other ones on August 12 and August 19th.
For info on not feeding the ducks, there are now signs posted by Sue and Mary at the Crystal Lake beach on Monument Road asking people to not feed the ducks. John Stark will soon have improved laminated signs for us. As might be expected, some people ignore the signs, and as unexpected, some are rather hostile when asked politely not to do so. So far the Town has not taken the signs down or complained to us about them.
Further feedback is requested on our e-mail broadcast messages, since we have e-mail addresses for "only" about 85% of our members. This one time, could you please respond to me (using "Reply" but not "Reply All") that you received this message. Also please let me know any e-mail addresses of other FOCL members that you may have readily at hand, and how often you visit our FOCL blog (www.friends-of-crystal -lake.blogspot.com). While Maury will quickly post this e-mail on our blog, we are fairly sure that not all FOCL members visit our very informative blog on a regular basis. Because our e-mail list is not complete, our Board considered sending out a postcard on the two meetings described above, but time and family visits to all of us here on Cape Cod overwhelmed the opportunity to get out a postcard mailing.
Thanks, Jim
508.237.5588
To Friends of Crystal Lake, there are two upcoming meetings of direct and specific interest to us:
1. Public Hearing on Nutrient Management Regulations - at 2:00 p.m. tomorrow, Thursday, July 31st, in the Orleans Town Hall Nauset Room the Board of Health will discuss their proposed new "regulations to minimize, to the extent possible, the increase of excess nitrogen and phosphorus in the local environment." BoH can enact these regulations entirely on their own, so the hearing is particularly important if you want to express interest in what essentially limits a one acre lot to four bedrooms or a ratio thereof (e.g., two bedrooms on a half acre). There are numerous aspects and nuances of the proposed regulations, on which I am no expert. But you may desire to talk with Sue Sargent who is very knowledgeable on the subject, as Sue has engaged BoH on the proposal and has had her letter to the editor published in the paper. A phone call to Sue (508.255.1005) will work better than an e-mail, as Sue's computer is down temporarily.
2. Wastewater Workshop - at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, August 5th, in the Orleans Town Hall Skaket Room the Orleans Wastewater Management Steering Committee (WMSC) will present a workshop on the three options under consideration for a Comprehensive Wastewater Management Plan (CWMP). Our opportunity is to learn much more about the need for a CWMP, what such a Plan might include and cost, and to provide our inputs to the WMSC. Early arrival is encouraged, as the Skaket Room has been filling up for these very interesting workshops, and alternative seating in the Nauset Room is a little less attractive (especially for the Q&A period).
a. Feedback - at our June 25th FOCL Annual Meeting our Board requested all members to let them know after this workshop if they felt it would be desirable for us to all meet for further discussion of the three options and the CWMP, especially if we felt that FOCL should develop an advocacy position for quick input to the WMSC as they evaluate "public acceptability" of the Plan. Please get back to me quickly after August 5th, I'll collate responses, and forward them to the Board (or you may prefer to contact Sue or Mal or Mary or Sally or Maury or Kent directly).
b. Alternatives - if you can't attend the August 5th workshop, there will be two other ones on August 12 and August 19th.
For info on not feeding the ducks, there are now signs posted by Sue and Mary at the Crystal Lake beach on Monument Road asking people to not feed the ducks. John Stark will soon have improved laminated signs for us. As might be expected, some people ignore the signs, and as unexpected, some are rather hostile when asked politely not to do so. So far the Town has not taken the signs down or complained to us about them.
Further feedback is requested on our e-mail broadcast messages, since we have e-mail addresses for "only" about 85% of our members. This one time, could you please respond to me (using "Reply" but not "Reply All") that you received this message. Also please let me know any e-mail addresses of other FOCL members that you may have readily at hand, and how often you visit our FOCL blog (www.friends-of-crystal -lake.blogspot.com). While Maury will quickly post this e-mail on our blog, we are fairly sure that not all FOCL members visit our very informative blog on a regular basis. Because our e-mail list is not complete, our Board considered sending out a postcard on the two meetings described above, but time and family visits to all of us here on Cape Cod overwhelmed the opportunity to get out a postcard mailing.
Thanks, Jim
508.237.5588
Friday, July 25, 2008
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
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