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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLand Conservation And Stewardship Board - Minutes - 10/13/2021 Land Conservation & Stewardship Board Regular Meeting/Zoom Meeting October 13, 2021 10/13 /2021 – MINUTES Page 1 1. CALL TO ORDER: 5:32 pm 2. ROLL CALL: Joe Piesman, Raymond Watts, Vicky McLane, Mike Weber, Cole Kramer, Andrea Elson, David Tweedale, Alycia Crall, Elena Lopez Natural Areas Department/City Staff: Alynn Karnes, NAD Land Conservation Specialist; Zoe Shark, NAD Interim Director; Michelle Vattano, Business Support III. Citizen Participation: Brian Cook, CSU Student 3. AGENDA REVIEW: Ray added 1041 Memorandum to City Council as an agenda item WELCOME NEW MEMBER: Ray introduced Elena Lopez as the newest LCSB member. LCSB members provided individual introductions. 4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Joe Piesman made a motion to approve the September LCSB meeting minutes. Mike Weber seconded the motion. The motion was unanimously approved 9-0. 5. NEW BUSINESS: Nature in the City Zoe Shark, NAD Interim Director announced the Nature in the City grant proposals. In the past NAD has had a representative on the LCSB to participate on the review committee for the grants. The commitment is to read the applications, attend several committee meetings and determine the funding allocation. Alycia Crall volunteered to participate for the upcoming application review process. 1041 Memorandum Vicky initiated a memorandum to City Council on LCSB’s opinion of the 1041 process. Ray asked if any Board members had any concerns or changes to the memo. As an ongoing issue, Ray mentioned the moratorium concerns with implementing the 1041 process. He would like to keep the momentum. Some of the activity, water projects, particular pipelines can affect water quality so there’s some overlapping opinions with the Natural Resources Board (NRB). He suggested working with the NRB to join forces on the efforts to provide a joint statement. Joe suggested voting on the current memorandum and then discuss hosting a joint meeting later. Joe Piesman made a motion to approve the 1041 memorandum to City Council as is. Vicky McLane seconded the motion. The motion was unanimously approved 9-0. DocuSign Envelope ID: 55D42EC5-84DC-4B91-8CD4-04E6A922E1F8 Land Conservation & Stewardship Board Regular Meeting 10/13/2021 MINUTES Page 2 Notice of Alignment - Reservoir Ridge Dave Myers, Land Conservation Manager reported the City of Fort Collins Utilities will be replacing the water line at Reservoir Ridge. Due to the emergency nature and public safety caused by the broken waterline servicing the Primrose Studio and caretaker house, Natural Areas staff granted permission to the Fort Collins W ater Utility Field Operations to replace and relocate a 2-inch waterline. The installation was conducted September 27 thru 28. The new waterline was bored with minimal temporary impacts to the natural area. Dave reviewed the financial statement. Board members had no issues or concerns with the alignment. Restrictive Notice – Cathy Fromme Prairie Dave Myers, Land Conservation Manager introduced the Restrictive Notice on Cathy Fromme Prairie Natural Area. Dave has introduced the topic to the Board several times in the past. As shared with the Board at the August 2021 Executive Session, staff has successfully negotiated the terms of the Restrictive Notice on Cathy Fromme Prairie Natural Area preserving the Department’s rights to manage the Natural Area with very limited restrictions. The Restrictive Notice (RN) from Colorado Department of Health and Environment (CDHE), will be recorded with the County Clerk’s office and tied to the land. The purpose of the RN is to protect human health and the environment from contaminated groundwater by restricting uses by the landowner that may cause exposure. Dave reviewed the restrictions of the RN and explained there would be no financial impact t o the Natural Areas Department. Discussion: Ray asked how far downstream the toxins been detected. Dave demonstrated on the map where the toxins have been detected on both areas. The potential for interception wells might be necessary in the future. The Order of Consent will list the remediations requirements and process. Through the IGA and the County being the manager, NAD doesn’t have a seat at the table on the negotiations of the Order of Consent. Dave will come back to the Board when he has more information on the specifics. Dave explained that the landfill has to pay for the first $3M of remediation, specifically to the groundwater contamination. The County will pay 60% and the city will pay 30% and the City of Loveland will pay 10%. Mike asked if the Notice would prevent the future construction of a trail from Cathy Fromme to Coyote Ridge or the construction of any infrastructure such as parking lots or widening of Taft Hill. Dave reported that future surface disturbances shouldn’t be a prob lem so the potential for a new trail shouldn’t be affected by this Restrictive Notice. If vault toilets were desired to be built it could be a little more complicated. DocuSign Envelope ID: 55D42EC5-84DC-4B91-8CD4-04E6A922E1F8 Land Conservation & Stewardship Board Regular Meeting 10/13/2021 MINUTES Page 3 Cole Kramer made a motion that the Land Conservation and Stewardship Board recommend that City Council approve a Restrictive Notice on Cathy Fromme Prairie Natural Area. Alycia Crall seconded the motion. The motion was unanimously approved 9-0 LCSB and interest groups LCSB and interest groups Ray initiated a discussion around the Board meeting with interest groups and asked Board members to provide input on a process to do so, on occasion. He mentioned that the Overland Mountain Bike Association (OMBA) has been very verbal with City Council about increasing softer surface biking in the natural areas. Ray feels they’ve been unclear of exactly what OMBA is proposing and whether they include habitat protection and conservation as part of their intentions. Zoe consulted with Ingrid Decker, of the City Attorney’s Office. Ingrid suggested that if the Board needed to know more about a particular topic or interest groups concerns, in order to advise City Council, then LCSB should interact with interest groups to better expand the Board’s knowledge on a particular topic. Ray said that the LCSB has and should provide equal opportunity to any interest group, specifically to better understand the groups’ agendas and ideas that might be going before City Council. If a particular interest group would like to present before the Board, he suggested a pre-meeting to set ground rules and appoint a speaker for that group versus a large group attending who all want time to speak. Without creating the appearance that the LCSB supports any group, the Board should support ideas that coincide with natural areas. Ray asked the Board if they had any ideas on what that process might look like. Zoe explained that Ingrid Decker advised that any group can be invited to LCSB, as long as it was the Board’s decision. It’s up to the discretion of the board t o consider what should be heard to better inform them prior to advising City Council. The decision should weigh solely on the Board and not the special interested group. Mike recalled the prairie dog advocate group that attended a LCSB meeting at one time. Although a large group of people attended the meeting to advocate for prairie dogs, one speaker was nominated to represent the group and speak. He thought that might be a good pattern to follow. The group participated as public commenters versus a group that was invited to speak. Vicky thought the most important thing was for the Board to establish a general premise when we meet with these groups. She wasn’t in favor of meeting with the OMB outside of a DocuSign Envelope ID: 55D42EC5-84DC-4B91-8CD4-04E6A922E1F8 Land Conservation & Stewardship Board Regular Meeting 10/13/2021 MINUTES Page 4 public comment atmosphere. She is very much against mountain bikes on soft trails in our natural areas. Ray suggested using the public comment period as the avenue for speaking. If a large group of folks attend the LCSB meeting, do we allow them to condense that into a one- person presentation similar to the prairie dog presentation? Vicky felt that limiting public comment would be a good approach. The Board agreed that inviting special interest groups for a short presentation is valuable when they are advising City Council on topics. It provides an opportunity to inform and educate the Board prior to the Board writing any memos to City Council. Alycia reminded the Board that there may be several interested groups that repres ent the same recreational activity. There are several mountain bike groups, there are several prairie dog groups, all of them have different agendas. When we invite groups to discuss special things, we need consider the entire context of the issue and remember there could be several groups representing one issue. Alycia felt there were two issues; 1.) those groups that are interested in speaking before the Board through public comment, and 2.) those groups that are invited to further educate the Board on a specific issue. Cole remembered allowing the prairie group advocates to have just one spokesperson worked well. Allowing a large interest group that might fill the room might be a little overwhelming in terms of the limited time the Board already has. If we go with public comment format, then he suggests having a spokesperson for a limited time versus a lengthy listening session. The Board agreed that OMBA should be invited to attend public comment and provide a spokesperson to present with a limited time. Joe suggested having someone on NAD staff, with trails, attend those meetings when OMBA is invited that can provide valuable information to the members. Cole suggested inviting Kenny, with the OMBA, to attend a board meeting to express the concerns of the OMBA. A follow up Board meeting could address those concerns while a NAD staff member familiar with the issue would be on hand to answer or review any concerns. Zoe reported that Ryan Kogut is the main point of contact for NAD to converse with the OMBA group. There have been many conversations with Ryan and Kenny about concerns that OMBA has. She can continue to coordinate NAD staff for any other type of interest groups that might attend the LCSB as well. Zoe suggested the OMBA meet wit h NAD’s Core Management Team as a separate opportunity. She suggests having a Board conversation and then a staff conversation. Initiating good conversation would be a good DocuSign Envelope ID: 55D42EC5-84DC-4B91-8CD4-04E6A922E1F8 Land Conservation & Stewardship Board Regular Meeting 10/13/2021 MINUTES Page 5 idea. Andrea thought it boils down to whether we want an official presentation f rom a group to have the opportunity to ask questions. If a group has already been to City Council and raised issued specific to natural areas, she thinks it’s a good idea to move on that sooner than later. The Board agreed that allowing special interest groups to provide information, feedback, and general conversations is important. Brian Cook, CSU student attending the meeting asked to speak and was recognized by Ray Watts. He reviewed the LCSB’s bylaws and read the section regarding public particip ation to the Board. Article 6, for public participation reads “All meetings of the Board shall be open to the public and shall at or near the beginning of each meeting afford members of the public an opportunity to speak to any matter coming within the purview of the Board, regardless of whether such matters is scheduled for or has been previously scheduled for consideration at that particular meeting. Time limitations may be imposed by the chairperson on such public input as necessary to allow for the conduct of the business of the Board and agenda for the meeting in a timely and efficient manner.” He reminded the Board that public interested groups can attend, uninvited and request time to speak. Ray mentioned his concern that the OMBA went to City Council, instead of coming to NAD and the Board first. He feels it’s a power play. Zoe said she sees it differently and believes that any group can go to City Council or other public engagement opportunity at any time. Residents and special interest groups have that option and are encouraged to do so. Ray felt it would be a good idea to reach out to OMBA and provide them an opportunity to speak to the Board about their concerns. Zoe agreed to contact Kenny and invite them to public comment while also inviting an appropriate NAD staff to be available for any questions or concerns. Land Conservation Updates Dave Myers, Land Conservation Manager, reported on two new acquisitions. The Dry Creek property he’s been speaking of over the last year is a total of 1.6 acres. This is a key property for trail connection from Dry Creek to Willox. The goal is to protect Dry Creek, from Willox to 287. Good progress has been made on this connection. The Cooper Slough is a 24-acre acquisition between Mulberry and Vine, extending through the neighborhood on the north side almost all the way to Running Deer Natural Area. Natural Area’s goal is protecting the warm water slough. DocuSign Envelope ID: 55D42EC5-84DC-4B91-8CD4-04E6A922E1F8 Land Conservation & Stewardship Board Regular Meeting 10/13/2021 MINUTES Page 6 Executive Session – Land Conservation Ray moved the Board into a Land Conservation Executive Session at 7:14 p.m. All Board members were present. The Board concluded Executive Session at 7:43 p.m. and returned to the regular meeting. BOARD MEMBER REPORTS: Bicycle Advisory Committee (BAC) Mike Weber distributed a memo to the Board prior to the meeting updating everyone on the BAC activities. ‘We had an update from the Transportation Department regarding upcoming items. They are working with active modes on safer travel for pedestrians and bikes and more connectivity. The final 1.75 miles of the Poudre Trail is supposed to be completed by 2023. The cost is expected to be around $3.3 million and $1 million i n grants is already secured. This will complete the 45-mile trail from Bellevue to Greeley. The Active Modes folks and Bike Fort Collins are working with Transportation to get a bike path connection completed under the new Lemay overpass at Vine for future connections. The departments are trying to work together in planning and construction to prevent more costly additions after the fact (like the Power Line Trail crossing of Harmony). The Mail Creek siphon crossing from the Power Line Trail extending toward Timberline is full funded and 30% through design so construction will probably happen there next year. Also, the new Active Modes Master Plan is starting, and Zoe and I have requested that the LCSB be included in the process, so I believe Cortney will be presenting to LSCB at our November meeting. The meeting was adjourned at 7:48 p.m. ____________________________ _________________________ Raymond Watts, Chair Date DocuSign Envelope ID: 55D42EC5-84DC-4B91-8CD4-04E6A922E1F8 1/3/2022