Your Weekly Update: A Week in Review of the Environmental Commission, by Supriya Mamidi

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At the June 8 Environmental Commission Meeting, EC members discussed WW Community Park gardens, the upcoming Planning Board meeting, the last Town Council meeting, a pilot program for installing lights on park entrance boards, environmentally friendly fireworks, and Memorial Day.

In WW Community Park, some of the Eastern Red Cedars next to the rain garden died off and the Sneezeweed plants are getting trimmed. EC plans to change the seasonal signage in the garden. The garden circled in the image below is the rain garden. The other garden is the pollinator garden. The Eastern Cedars are in white.

On June 14, the Planning Board will review the revised concept application for the Penns Neck Plaza development.

The EC formed a subgroup that will work on the revised Conservation Plan Element of the Master Plan. The element includes the existing natural resources and how WW is maintaining, protecting, and improving those resources. The EC will look over the first draft of the element and “endorse it” to go to the Planning Board for their review and adoption in July.

Sonia Gawas briefly covered the May 22 Town Council meeting.

Hema Shankar spoke about a pilot program for installing solar lighting on park entrance boards. A bar type light would be placed on top of the signs. The flood light would radiate from the ground. The EC will experiment with the lights on the boards and will then select one type of light to install.

Inder Singh, an EC member, recapped his research on the negative impact of fireworks on the environment. Some alternatives to traditional fireworks were discussed, including substituting laser works, using fireworks with compressed air and fewer chemicals, and lighting fireworks that are not produced with perchlorate.

Elliot Gordon, an EC member, recapped Memorial Day.

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