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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLand Conservation And Stewardship Board - Minutes - 05/12/2021 Land Conservation & Stewardship Board Regular Meeting/Zoom Meeting May 12, 2021 5/12 /2021 MINUTES Page 1 1. CALL TO ORDER: 5:30 p.m. 2. ROLL CALL: Raymond Watts, David Tweedale, Joe Piesman, Mike Weber, Alycia Crall, Cole Kramer, Andrea Elson, Mike Weber Excused: Vicky McLane Andrea Elson, Vice Chair, led the meeting for Ray Watts. 3. AGENDA REVIEW: The agenda was reviewed, and no changes were made. Zoe sent a memorandum to City Council on behalf of NAD regarding the purchase of Hughes Stadium using Natural Areas funds. Andrea would like to add that discussion to the agenda. Joe reported he attended the Super Board meeting and can provide some background on that. 4. CITIZEN PARTICIPATION: Elena Lopez, Environmental Scientist; Kevin Krouse, public. 5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Page 3, first and second paragraphs end with same sentence. Joe Piesman made a motion to approve the amended April LCSB meeting minutes. Alycia Crall seconded the motion. The motion was unanimously approved 8-0. 6. UNFINISHED BUSINESS: Andrea acknowledged the Board retirement gathering for Mark and John, held on May 5, 2021. Most Board members and some past Board member attended. Mark and John both will be greatly missed. Earlier in the week Zoe forwarded an email from Neighborhood Services regarding the SPAR application for NISP. The City also adopted a resolution to investigate and evaluate of 1041 Powers. Andrea offered the link to Board members for more information. Andrea has yet to complete the Bios for LCSB members. She will get those out over the next week. Ray mentioned there was a challenge to the SPAR application process that Friends of the Poudre River sent to City Council inquiring about the legality of the process. Joe gave credit to Ray and LCSB leadership on the memorandum sent to City Council regarding the Board’s views on the 1041/SPAR process. NEW BUSINESS 7. COMMUNICATION AND BOARD MATTERS: Mike provided an update on the Bicycle Advisory Committee Meeting. There were DocuSign Envelope ID: 52E15231-37E7-42FF-A6E4-411920B29263 Land Conservation & Stewardship Board Regular Meeting 0 5 /12/2019 MINUTES Page 2 some unfinished businesses about the shared ebike and scooter mobility and some of the items associated with that and reaching out to underserved communities and how to better reach out to them. The Poudre Trail Way finder was discussed and new signage from Fort Collins to Greeley to determine the route . Any input, from the Board should be sent to Mike. Discussion about parking on Mulberry in the bike lanes was also discussed. Brad Buckman from Engineering discussed the Larimer County street standards, including bicycling and construction, boulevards, trees, etc. Safe Routes to school was discussed specifically about safety and small children. Budgeting for Outcomes was also discussed. Mike’s term as Bicycle Advisory Committee/LCSB liaison has expired at the end of April. Mike asked if any other Board members were interested. With no interest from the Board, Mike agreed to continue as the liaison for the Bicycle Advisory Committee for the next two years. David assumed a liaison from the Parks Department was to sit on the LCSB. He asked if Zoe could inquire as to if someone would be participating. Zoe will check with Mike Calhoun to see if anyone was interested. Natural Areas Equity and Inclusion Strategic Plan Laura Fritz, NAD Public Engagement Specialist presented the Natural Areas Department equity and inclusion efforts and Plan as it supports the mission to conserve valued lands. Laura summarized NAD’s proposed DEI Strategic Plan and how we can implement it within our Department’s overall mission. Laura is seeking feedback, from the Board, on the Plan. Her presentation, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion summarized basic ground rules when discussing the issue, why DEI is important to the Natural Areas Department, a summary of NAD’s strategic plan and a list of community engagement partnerships. The next steps for the Natural Areas Department will be to implement action items from the DEI Strategic Plan and to work with other city departments and the community to understand how to better engage with the whole community. NAD’s effort for DEI will continue to align with the City’s goals and initiatives. The Strategic Plan will remain a working document. There will be many chan ges and updates as NAD learns about additional opportunities to incorporate DEI into our practices. Discussion Laura took note of some of the Board members’ concerns about the language/wording in the presentation and made recommendations. Signage is very important in other areas of the country in terms of DEI, specifically indigenous people, and history of the land. Charlotte mentioned there is a BFO offer to DocuSign Envelope ID: 52E15231-37E7-42FF-A6E4-411920B29263 Land Conservation & Stewardship Board Regular Meeting 0 5 /12/2019 MINUTES Page 3 create a land acknowledgement statement and hopes the LCSB will support that. Gateway Natural area visitor use planning. Heidi Wagner, NAD Senior Environmental Planner presented on NAD’s efforts to address the increase visitor use at Gateway Natural Area. Over the last year visitor use of the area has increased over 100%. Staff acknowledges the fact that high usage of the area and an overall visitor use evaluation was necessary. A multi-department charrette was held in March of this year to assess the increasing needs and options for Gateway Natural Area. Heidi provided background on the usage over the last year, staff needs for the area, level of service required for the area and. Heidi reviewed a list of ten key recommendations staff came up with that demonstrate priorities for the site and next steps for implementing the new tactics. 1. Entry way and existing pay station 2. Second pay station. 3. Annual passes 4. Day passes 5. Boat slide 6. Signage and safety 7. Turf and shade trees 8. Shelters 9. Nature playground 10. Trash and recycling Staff will implement the tactics in two phases. The first phase, in the summer of 2021, include the entry way, pay station, signage, annual passes and shelte rs. The remaining tactics will be implemented in the fourth quarter of 2021, with an expected completion date at the end of 2023. Super Board Meeting Update Joe Piesman attended the Boards and Commissions Super Board meeting and provided the Board with an update. He asked Elizabeth Blythe, with the City Clerk’s Office, regarding the staggered terms of Board members. City Council would like a more diverse participation, especially from younger people. The difficulty is that younger people typically have a harder time committing to a 4-year term. It was suggested there could be a 4-year term, a 2-year team and a 1-year term. I ideally a mixture of those terms on each Board and Commission would be beneficial. That would explain why Joe and Vicky are on a one-year term. Joe assumes he and Vicky will get two more, 1 year term. There wasn’t any discussion about eliminating or combining the LCSB with any other Boards. City Council is trying to clearly define Boards and Commissions. Andrea asked about any discussion around expediting the onboarding process for new members. With the new City Council Joe thought it would DocuSign Envelope ID: 52E15231-37E7-42FF-A6E4-411920B29263 Land Conservation & Stewardship Board Regular Meeting 0 5 /12/2019 MINUTES Page 4 not happen any time soon. Zoe reported that LCSB would be in the June recruitment. Hughes Property Update Dave Myers shared a memorandum that Zoe Shark sent to City Council regarding conserving the Hughes property with Natural Areas funds. Zoe explained the memorandum was a response to City Council’s inquiry if Natural Areas could completely fund the purchase of the Hughes property. The recommendation in the memo suggested spreading out a potential Natural Areas Fund payment for Hughes over several years via installment payments, or using a long-term debt offering via certificates of participation. Mark has been the liaison on the Hughes Stadium. Discussion The only recourse the LCSB has due to the charter language, would be to file a memo regarding the funding source. Board members agreed NAD funds should be used specifically for Natural Areas only. Several Board members agreed the purchase price was more than they would be willing to sacrifice knowing there are other properties suitable. Board members felt it was a good idea to send a memorandum to City Council addressing the issues and demonstrating support for NAD’s opinion listed in the memo they sent. Ray suggested going back to the Natural Areas ballot language in Open Space Yes and look at potential actions that the City takes at this point to identify any contradictions. Andrea agreed to work on a memorandum to review for next month’s meeting. Cole and Alycia agreed to assist with the draft. Concept of Conservation Easements on all natural areas Dave Myers, Land Conservation Manager The Board has requested information and discussion on the concept of placing conservation easements on all Natural Areas-owned property. Conservation easements are voluntary agreements between landowners and a qualified conversation organization that permanently restricts development and subdivision of property. Conservation easements are permanent and are associated with the land parcel in perpetuity. Dave continued with explanations of rights conveyed to the easement holder, rights retained by the landowner, timeframe for conveying a conservation easement, determining the value of a CE and the impact a CE has on the property’s value, specifically financial incentives for landowners. Discussion DocuSign Envelope ID: 52E15231-37E7-42FF-A6E4-411920B29263 Land Conservation & Stewardship Board Regular Meeting 0 5 /12/2019 MINUTES Page 5 Joe asked about eminent Domain for affordable housing. Dave said he would check in to it. Dave explained it happens for right-of-ways sometimes, and it could happen for that but for affordable housing Dave thought it might be a good idea to inquire with the State and find out how it falls within the condemnation law. He will also check into mineral and surface rights. Dave explained that when NAD put a conservation easement on a property its perpetual however, conservation easements can be amended if agreed upon by property owners and conservation easement holder. Some Board members inquired about risks for properties without conservation easements and if they were less protected. A property is more protected with a conservation easement. Board members encouraged Dave to place conservation easements on all NAD properties. Dave reported that NAD would first prioritize those properties that they would put CE’s on, from NAD’s inventory, they would also have to find interested, qualified conservation owners, through certification of the state. Once we have one of those entities we would negotiate on terms and values. 8. OTHER BUSINESS Meeting adjourned at 8:22 p.m. __________________________ __________________ Vice Chair, Andrea Elson Date DocuSign Envelope ID: 52E15231-37E7-42FF-A6E4-411920B29263 6/25/2021