Agriculture Commission Agenda and Minutes December 11_2013Northampton Agricultural Commission
Agenda and Minutes
7:00 PM Wednesday December 11, 2013
JFK Middle School Community Room, 100 Bridge Road, Florence, MA
Members present: Chair John Omasta, Vice Chair Rich Jaescke, John Bobala, Chip Parsons, and Robert Vollinger, Stan Zawalick and future member, Maggie Gifford. Staff present: Wayne Feiden.
John Omasta opened the meeting at 7:00 PM
Agenda
Public Comment- none
Approval of Agriculture Commission Minutes of November 20, 2013. Upon motion by Chip Parsons and second by Rich Jaescke, the Commission voted unanimously to approve.
Outreach for January Agriculture Forum. The Commission reviewed the outreach for farmers, citizens and vendors. They set their January meeting for January 8th in case any last minute
to-do items come up for the forum.
Updates. The Commission reviewed pending activities—no parking ordinance under the two Meadows standpipes approved but no parking signs not yet posted. Stormwater utility ordinance
moving through City Council with the Commission taking a position that permanently protected farmland and open space provides ecological services that should be rewarded or at least
not charged a fee.
7:30 PM Keep Farming Northampton presentation and discussion—Fran Volkman reintroduced the Keep Farming project and the Smith College class working on the project Fall 2013 semester
presented the final report and recommendations. (All information posted at the Office of Planning and Sustainability website.) There was a lively discussion with the students, Keep
Farming volunteers, and community members to understand the report, but no additional action was taken.
Other items not anticipate when agenda written
January regional agricultural forum: Saturday January 11, 2014 (snow date January 18, 2014) at Smith Vocational and Agriculture High School