Guide to Lake Warren Watershed Management Plan (“Plan”)
At a public hearing on 9/11/2017 the Alstead Planning Board voted to incorporate the Lake Warren Watershed Management Plan into the Town's Master Plan. The Lake Warren Association (LWA) spearheaded the effort to develop the plan with the help of the Southwest Region Planning Commission, FB Environmental Associates, and a grant from the NH Department of Environmental Services.
First of all, we should understand what a Plan is, what a town’s Master Plan is, and how they are related.
A town’s Master Plan is a planning document that serves to guide the overall character, physical form and development of a community (RSA 674:2). It describes how, why, where and when to build or rebuild a city or town. It provides guidance to local officials making decisions on budgets, ordinances, capital improvements, zoning and subdivision matters, and other development-related issues.
While the Master Plan is not a legal document, it does provide the legal basis for zoning and other land use regulations. Specifically, in order to adopt a zoning ordinance (RSA 674:18), the Planning Board must have adopted a Master Plan with, at a minimum, vision and land use sections (RSA 674:2). In addition, certain types of ordinances cannot be legally adopted or certain grants may not be feasible unless an up-to-date Master Plan is in place.
The Planning Board is responsible for preparing, amending, and adopting the municipality’s Master Plan (RSA 674:3). Many Planning Boards create committees that include non-Planning Board members to assist with updating the plan. The Master Plan can be amended and adopted one section at a time or as a whole. The Planning Board is required during the preparation of the Master Plan, to inform the general public and to solicit comments regarding the future growth of the community.
By state law, the Master Plan may include “A natural resources section which identifies and inventories any critical or sensitive areas or resources, not only those in the local community, but also those shared with abutting communities. This section, which may specifically include a Water Resources Management and Protection Plan, shall provide a factual basis for any land development regulations that may be enacted to protect water resources and other identified natural areas. A key component in preparing this section is to identify any conflicts between other elements of the Master Plan and natural resources, as well as conflicts with plans of abutting communities.
In other words, the Watershed Management Plan is an optional part of the Master Plan, and is intended to be the factual basis for any actions taken to preserve the quality of our town’s water resources. Having a Watershed Management Plan approved both by the DES and the Alstead Planning Board helps in two ways: (1) It makes the town eligible to apply for federal and state grants for work that will help stabilize and improve the health of the lake and its water quality, and (2) it improves eligibility for private grants.
A Guide to reading the Lake Warren Watershed Management Plan
Chapter 1 (pp. 1-6) has a summary, followed by a run-down of prior work, on lake water quality.
Chapter 2 describes how the lake and its watershed are entirely within Alstead and names seven major stream systems that enter the lake in addition to the “direct drainage” from surrounding land that slopes down to the lake. (See Map 8 on page 81.)
Chapter 3 gets into water quality. In Section 3.6 we get to the point: the phosphorus content of lake water must be reduced by 25% over the next 10-15 years. The chapter ends with a summary of how various “non-point sources” (streams coming in from around the watershed, direct runoff from shoreline houses, septic systems) might be candidates for remedial action.
Chapter 4 focuses on organization suggestions and “Best Management Practices” (BMPs) with discussion of improvements in yards or buildings and education, land use policies, road maintenance practices, etc. Table 4.1 lists 40 examples of projects to accomplish management goals. Section 4.4 describes “adaptive management” to be maintained over time. The recovery of Lake Warren is not a one-time project; it is ongoing, like maintaining one’s health.
Chapter 5, in Section 5.3, gets into the details of an Action Plan. Section 5.6 describes how these efforts can be augmented in the future. There are BMPs that seek to modify road crew practices and projects. Others that seek to tighten standards for septic systems; others that might alter allowable building and siting practices. There is a section on monitoring the lake water, and a management section with indicators that will demonstrate progress in a number of ways, including public awareness.