HomeMy WebLinkAboutLand Conservation And Stewardship Board - Minutes - 11/10/2021DocuSign Envelope ID: 1438B2B9-9709-4AD1-9AD0-47FE49678C47
Land Conservation & Stewardship Board
Regular Meeting/Zoom Meeting
November 10, 2021
1. CALL TO ORDER: Andrea Elson, LCSB Vice Chair called the meeting to order at 5:31
p.m.
2. ROLL CALL: Andrea Elson, Vicky McLane, Mike Weber, Alycia Crall, Cole Kramer and
Elena Lopez
Excused Board Members: Raymond Watts, Joe Piesman, David Tweedale
City Staff: Michelle Vattano, Charlotte Norville, Justin Fredrickson, Craig Yonkers,
Crystal Strouse, Anna Garlick, Aran Meyer, Hannah Eining , Alyssa Armbruster,
James Zafarano, Dave Myers, Alynn Karnes, Matt Parker, Austin Jardine and Mike
Auciello; NAD Staff and Seve Ghose, Community Services Director
Citizen Participation: John Ellis, Chris Coultas, CSU, Natural Resources Program.
Both were interested in public land planning in general.
Zoe shared that she received a message from the President of the Overland Mountain
Bike Association, he would like to wait to participate in a Board meeting until early
2022 when the new Board members have been appointed.
3. AGENDA REVIEW: Andrea reviewed the agenda. Andrea added the Hughes Property
memo to City Council as an additional agenda item.
4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Mike Weber made a motion to approve the October
LCSB meeting minutes with additions concerning a discussion regarding the
Restrictive Notice at Cathy Fromme Prairie Natural Area. Alycia Crall seconded
the motion. The motion was unanimously approved 6-0.
5. NEW BUSINESS
Resource Management
In the past, the Board has appreciated presentations from natural areas staff and
various workgroups within the department. Those presentations can be vital to the
board when making recommendations to City Council or voting on an action item
concerning natural areas. Zoe invited the Resource Management workgroup to present
before the board.
Matt Parker, Resource Manager introduced himself and provided a summary of the
roles and responsibilities of the Resource Management team. Each staff member within
that workgroup introduced themselves, provided a summary of their background and
the current work they are performing for the department.
NAD Director Hire
Seve Ghose, Community Services Director, provided an update on the NAD Director
hire process. The job posting listed for one month, 47 applications were received, the
list was then narrowed down to 12 applicants. Those 12 applicants were then
11/10/2021– MINUTES Page 1
DocuSign Envelope ID: 1438B2B9-9709-4AD1-9AD0-47FE49678C47
11/10/2021 MINUTES Page 2
Land Conservation & Stewardship Board
Regular Meeting
interviewed and again narrowed down to 8. Those 8 applicants were interviewed by
Seve, City Manager staff, Human Resource staff and the recruiter. These were very
highly qualified candidates. The final 5 candidates will next be interviewed in-person
and provided an opportunity to participate in public and staff forums. The interview
process has been very inclusive, including several different departments as part of the
recruitment process. Seve invited Board members to participate in the public forums to
meet the candidates. There will be an opportunity to share questions in the chat and a
survey you can complete to provide input on your opinions on the candidates. After the
two panels, there’s an employee forum and final interviews all the panel members will
gather to limit the list. Seve is confident that a decision will be made by Wednesday
November 17 and hopes to have the new Director on board by the end of the year.
Land Conservation
Dave Myers, Land Conservation Manager reported on a couple of open meeting
discussion items and then he would like to move into Executive Session to discuss
confidential land opportunities.
Dave updated the Board on the Restrictive Notice for Cathy Fromme Prairie Natural
Area. He submitted the agenda item summary for City Council which will go before
them on Tuesday, November 16, 2021, on consent. The second reading will be
December 7th. The Restrictive Notice has been out for public comment which closes
November 30th and then CDPHE will review the Notice for any comments/changes. If
there are any changes it will postpone second reading until we were comfortable with
those changes. If there are no changes the second reading will take place December
7th on consent.
Dave discussed conservation easements in the natural areas. The Board received the
email with Ray’s concerns. Dave is working on a charter to lay the groundwork for
conservation easements. He would like to review the entire natural areas portfolio in
terms of conservation easement priorities. Those priorities will be submitted to Core
Management Team and then in February he will bring the list to the Board for review
and would like to have an extensive conversation with the Board on those properties
that are listed as priorities in terms of placing conservation easements. He will then
meet with Larimer County to discuss conserving some of the larger properties of 150
acres or more on a reciprocal basis, which he went into detail with the Board several
months ago. Once the priority list is complete, he will meet with Colorado Open Lands
to see where those priories land with them. There are a few natural areas that don’t
make sense to put a conservation easement on. More details on those properties can
be discussed later. Other things to look at is cost sharing and a timeline for the project.
DocuSign Envelope ID: 1438B2B9-9709-4AD1-9AD0-47FE49678C47
11/10/2021 MINUTES Page 3
Land Conservation & Stewardship Board
Regular Meeting
Dave would like to review Ray’s concerns in his email and have the opportunity to
discuss that with the Board prior to drafting a memorandum.
Bicycle Advisory Commission (BAC)
Mike Weber, LCSB member, provided a BAC update. SPIN talked about the upcoming
issues and changes on east Pitkin near Fort Collins High School and Dave Dixon spoke
about some opportunities around the downtown area for bicycle safety.
Active Modes Plan
Cortney Geary, Active Modes Manager, FC Moves. FC Moves is the transportation
planning division in the city. Her team is focused on walking, biking and micro mobility
like e-scooters and e-bikes. Cortney explained the purpose of the project is to update
the Pedestrian Plan, that hasn’t been updated since 2011 and the Bicycle Plan that was
last updated in 2014. The team will be combining those plans into a single plan,
referred to as the Active Modes Plan. This will also allow the opportunity to address the
newly micro mobility types of transportation such as e-bikes, e-scooters, and
skateboards. The city has adopted a Zero Vision Goal to ensure zero fatalities and
injuries around micro mobility transportation. Cortney reviewed the background and
project overview that included the process and project schedule, various engagement
objectives and the various committees that will participate in the planning process.
Those committees will be technical, community and key stakeholders. Including people
of various diversity characteristics, underrepresented people and groups and public
comfort will be vital to the planning.
The Board agreed they would like to be provided with updates on the planning process.
Mike reiterated that the integrity of the natural area properties needs to be considered.
Balancing the natural areas and conservation is vital especially when considering
motorized toys. The mission and vision for those areas are incredibly important.
Elena asked where the micro mobility devices are allowed. E-bikes and e-scooters are
encouraged to operate on the street like a bicycle. On the paved trails e-bikes in natural
areas and parks are allowed and e-scooters are not allowed. The Mason Trail is not a
Parks trail so that is the one trail in the city where e-scooters are allowed. In downtown,
CSU dismount area, neither e-scooters or e-bikes are allowed on the sidewalks.
Hughes Stadium Memorandum
Andrea shared the memorandum with the Board concerning using the Natural Areas
funding for a limited, proportional part of the purchase of the former Hughes Stadium
property.
The Board had a lengthy discussion about the second sentence of the last paragraph,
DocuSign Envelope ID: 1438B2B9-9709-4AD1-9AD0-47FE49678C47
11/10/2021 MINUTES Page 4
Land Conservation & Stewardship Board
Regular Meeting
which Andrea highlighted in red. The objective is to let Council know that if it’s going to
cost natural areas a substantial amount of money to purchase the land but to return it to
the natural condition could potentially be an even higher expense. Mike felt thought we
need to convey the cost to restore the property is considerable. He suggested leaving
that intention in the memorandum.
Elena felt at this point we don’t have a calculation as to what that cost would be. If we
indicate in the memorandum that the cost to restore the area was too extensive would
that hinder future opportunities to purchase lands that need the same. Zoe provided an
estimate of what the cost might be per acre, but Elena was uncomfortable with an
estimate versus true costs. She also felt that the language minimizes and diminishes
the importance of land restoration in general. Natural Areas clearly values land
restoration or we wouldn’t have other properties that were degraded that have now
been converted to natural areas.
Vicky McLane watched the City Council Finance Committee meeting. She thought it
was clear that the concept of allocating costs to various departments was covered. She
feels the memo is an important aspect of the process. We don’t know the exact cost.
She would argue that we get into the details down the road and doesn’t want to give the
impression that Natural Areas is a bank. Vicky moved to send the memorandum to City
Council leaving the wording as is, but the motion was not seconded.
Elena Lopez moved to send the memorandum to City Council, as written, striking
the sentence in red. Alycia Crall seconded the motion. The motion was approved
5-1, with Vicky McLane voting no.
Board Member Reports
Vicky reported she attended the City Council meeting addressing Boards and
Commissions. One of the recommendations by Council was no more than 10 applicants
will be considered at any time for any of the Boards. This could short-change the LCSB.
Vicky wrote a letter to City Attorney Carrie Daggett inquiring about appointments to
Boards and Commissions but had not heard back from her. Both Zoe and Carrie were
unaware of the issue currently. There doesn’t seem to be a process in place right now
for interviewing candidates. We currently have an Interim City Clerk so that might be
the hold up for right now. Vicky asked if some Board members might have to stay on for
a couple of extra months. Carrie would get back to Vicky when she has something to
report. Currently 4 members’ terms will expire in December. Vicky, Joe, David, and
Ray’s terms will expire at the end of the year.
Zoe will send the spreadsheet she received from the City Clerk’s Office that identifies
members and expired terms.
DocuSign Envelope ID: 1438B2B9-9709-4AD1-9AD0-47FE49678C47
11/10/2021 MINUTES Page 5
Land Conservation & Stewardship Board
Regular Meeting
Cole Kramer moved that the Board go into Executive Session for the purpose to
discuss property acquisition and deposition. Alycia Crall seconded the motion.
The motion was unanimously approved 6-0.
The Board moved into Executive Session at 7:31 pm
The Board reconvened into regular meeting at 7:52 and adjourned at 7:58pm
12/14/2021
Andrea Elson, LCSB Vice Chair Date