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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLand Conservation And Stewardship Board - Minutes - 04/13/2022 Land Conservation & Stewardship Board Regular Meeting April 13, 2022 Andrea Elson, Chair Ross Cunniff, Vice Chair Members: Cole Kramer, Denise Culver, Elena Lopez, Joseph Piesman, Mike Weber, Vicky McLane, Alycia Crall 0 4/13/2022 MINUTES Page 1 1. CALL TO ORDER: Andrea Elson, LCSB Chair, called the meeting to order at 5:33 pm. 2. ROLL CALL: Board Members Present: Andrea Elson, Ross Cunniff, Cole Kramer, Denise Culver, Elena Lopez, Joseph Piesman, Mike Weber 3. Board Members participating via Zoom: Vicky McLane, Alycia Crall City Staff attending: Katie Donahue, NAD Director and LCSB Liaison; Alynn Carnes, Land Conservation Specialist; Barbara Brock, Financial Analyst; Bernadette Kuhn, Senior Environmental Planner; Julia Feder, Environmental Program Manager; Kate Rentschlar, Environmental Planner; Zoe Shark, Public Engagement Manager ; Charlotte Norville, Public Engagement Specialist; Kristy Bruce, Environmental Planner 4. AGENDA REVIEW: Chair Elson amended the agenda to include two items previously listed in the agenda as discussion items and moved them to action items. The first one will be the Annual Appropriation of Prior Year Reserves and the second item will be Poudre River Native Fish Project. Julia suggested two items that relate to conservation stewardship planning and public engagement be combined. Chair Elson announced Mountains to Plains and 2021 Land Conservation report would also be discussed. 5. CITIZEN PARTICIPATION: No citizen participation 6. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Member Piesman made a motion to approve the March LCSB meeting minutes and Member Kramer seconded the motion. The motion was unanimously approved. 7. ACTION ITEMS: Reappropriation and 2023-2024 BFO Offers Katie Donahue, NAD Director reviewed the BFO offers explaining that NAD isn’t proposing any offers beyond normal operations in prior years. We’ve drafted our ongoing offers, basically approximately the same amount of money to do the same work. We will bump up things due to inflation and in planning we are looking at accounting for the big planning efforts that we will start in 2023 and 2024. We are remaining consistent in our work but one addition which we refer to as an enhancement to add staff to our Planning and Special Projects workgroup. As we’ve built out the conservation stewardship planning, we want to make sure we can keep up that structure with multiple zones and build it into our Master Planning process. We want an additional staff member that can commit and manage the recreational scope our work. This staff will be tasked to ensure we are integrating conservation, ecology, and visitor use, while making really data driven decisions that support our mission. The goal is to put good data and planning with conservation first and a small percent of recreation. We feel like this is a DocuSign Envelope ID: A171C1F7-DD89-44BD-B35D-3E3F07F01975 Land Conservation & Stewardship Board Regular Meeting April 13, 2022 04/13/2022 MINUTES Page 2 staffing area where we really need to put some additional thought. Discussion: Member Lopez asked Katie to describe the Recreation Planner position she will be requesting. Katie explained the position of the Recreation Planner would be to include human dimensions, like what CSU is doing, in planning. We’re doing a lot of things around recreation right now. We collect a lot of survey data; we are trying to be more data driven about how we make recreation decisions but there’s a lot of room to do more of that. A Recreation Planner would give us the ability to look ahea d at recreation trends along the front range. Looking at the recreation trends will help guide us as to what’s coming up and how do we plan for that. We need to consider our stand of ecological values and find an appropriate place where recreators fit in. Member Cunniff understands the value to the City of the Recreation Planner but hesitant that it should be NAD funded versus Recreation funded. The ballot language is clear about how recreation is allowed if appropriate and sensitive to the other priorities of conservation. He wants to ensure we are not spending conservation funds on recreation planning. Julia explained that on the natural areas planning team the planners wear two hats: planning and project management. For this position we have a need to facilitate what is the appropriate way for human dimensions and access to nature through the IDF process, which is how we make informed decisions. As we operate 3-4 IDFs a year, we need the staff to work at that level. This staff would come in to pla y that way. Member Cunniff says that planning for recreation in terms of the outcome was written that planning for recreations fits the ballot language of the natural area, otherwise its just a recreation position. He wants to ensure that City Council doesn’t create a budget offer that contradicts that. Katie ensured the members that its important that natural areas funds. Member McLane expressed great concern to follow the ballot language which doesn’t include a recreation planner position. Kate described the work they would be doing as a Recreation Planner, and that it’s a common title, in the field, for this type of work. We’re using language that’s common to the field. The goals of that position would be up to us to determine how we align with the ballot language and to ensure that we have that right mix and not be driven from outdoor folks. Member Kramer suggested Visitor Use Manager as a title versus Recreation Planner. That seems to be common on the federal level as well. When you compare natural areas to other states its clear there is a need for a visitor use management to look at that. Katie welcomed the conversation and agreed to revisit the discussion as BFO offers are submitted. DocuSign Envelope ID: A171C1F7-DD89-44BD-B35D-3E3F07F01975 Land Conservation & Stewardship Board Regular Meeting April 13, 2022 04/13/2022 MINUTES Page 3 Annual Appropriation of Prior Year Reserves Barbara Brock, Financial Analyst presented the Annual Appropriation of Prior Year Reserves. Funding for the Natural Areas Department for purposes, other than capital projects, lapses each year if not spent. Unspent prior year funds and unanticipated revenues need to be appropriated into the following year’s budget before they can be used. The purpose of this item is to appropriate $10,167,000 in unspent funds and unanticipated revenues in the Natural Areas Fund to fund land conservation, restoration and wildlife habitat, trails and visitor amenities, special projects and other NAD needs to benefit the residents of Fort Collins. Of the total appropriation $9,200,000 will be used for land conservation, which is our main goal. With over $10,000,000 in land acquisitions under negotiation there is a reasonable likelihood that most of these funds will be spent in 2022. Barb reported that 2021 was a good year for sales tax, with on-line sales tax being an extra. Discussion: Members inquired about the proposed van that Public Engagement is requesting. Questions evolved around the cost analysis of renting a van versus buying a van. Barb reported that staff is looking at cost feasibility for the purchase, but that ADA accessibility is also a feature NAD must provide. Member Piesman asked about the $10M, and asked Barb to clarify where those funds were coming from. Barb continued to provide breakdowns of how the money will be allocated. Member Piesman made a motion that the LCSB recommend that City Council approve the proposed 2022 appropriation of prior year Natural Areas Department reserves. Member Culver seconded the motion. The motion was unanimously approved 9-0 Poudre River Fish Passage IGA Bernadette Kuhn, Senior Environmental Planner, passed around the Exhibit “A” to members that includes additional detail about the project , along with the Scope of Work to give the Board an idea of the particulars of the work NAD has been doing over the last 3 years to obtain a grant from Colorado Parks and Wildlife to improve habitat for native fish at the Environmental Learning Center (ELC). Bernadette explained this is part of a much larger project that we are working on, with Utilities, to secure a Water Right at the ELC. This Water Right is a junior Water Right, but senior to NISP so it’s a very important Water Right for NAD to hang on to block future river depletions. Our job over the last three years, along with Utilities, has been to decide how to address the badly damaged diversion structure to maintain the instream water flow right. This has been a DocuSign Envelope ID: A171C1F7-DD89-44BD-B35D-3E3F07F01975 Land Conservation & Stewardship Board Regular Meeting April 13, 2022 04/13/2022 MINUTES Page 4 challenge to keep it in the river, how do we do that to protect river health ? We are asking for the final construction dollars. Our goal is to create a series of pools to use the water right to use the flows into the ponds for native plains top minnow. We would like to use the funds from the grant to create these ponds and come up with a concept to finalize the project. Once the IGA is signed Natural Areas will go to City Council and ask for a reappropriation for the $199,879.20. Member Cunniff made a motion that the Land Conservation and Stewardship Board recommend that City Council approve the grant appropriations. Member Kramer seconded the motion. The motion was unanimously approved 9-0. Conservation and Stewardship Planning Julia Feder, NAD Program Manager explained there are three parts to this presentation: The Poudre River Zone Update, the Mountains to Plains Zone Update and public engagement across zones. Julia introduced Kate Rentschlar, Environmental Planner as well as Jennifer Shanahan as her support planner. Kate will walk you through the planning and where we are with the discovery phase of the planning process. Julia expressed that the Natural Areas Department would like your opinion on sites along the Poudre River that are important to the Board. The Mountains to Plains Update will also be discussed. This is an opportunity to hear your feedback and staff is happy to schedule a one on one with board members. There is also a public engagement portal that we are collecting from the public. You can also put your comments in the public engagement portal. Zoe is also here to discuss the public engagement process with conservation and planning. Kate Rentschlar provided a short presentation on conservation and stewardship planning. This is NAD’s current approach to planning focusing with an approach that’s consistent, accountable, transparent, and focused on adaptive management. Key to this process is the Zone Management approach, with this approach our 52 natural areas have been broken into 6 different zones. Each zone goes through a zone update process every 7-8 years. We then update and reflect on, priorities, different tactics, and management appropriate for that zone. In between the zone updates we have this ongoing zone check-in. This year we are in the process of the Poudre River Zone update. The zone runs from Gateway Natural Area all the way down to Arapaho Bend Natural Areas. There are 21 natural areas along that corridor with over 2,300 acres. The properties vary in size and ecological values. Kate went on to describe the update, the 12–15-month process and how they are broken into 3 different phases; discovery, refine and document out phase. Kate then proceeded to go into each phase of the process. DocuSign Envelope ID: A171C1F7-DD89-44BD-B35D-3E3F07F01975 Land Conservation & Stewardship Board Regular Meeting April 13, 2022 04/13/2022 MINUTES Page 5 Jennifer Shanahan continued with an activity asking board members to participate in an exercise to solicit input and questions. Board members we re asked to provide a comment or questions for each area of the zone, divided by 5 maps. Zoe moved the Board into the public engagement portion of the presentation. She asked for questions and feedback about the public engagement process. We’ve had good response; we’ve had 2 of the 4 feedback opportunities. Folks walked the proposed trail alignment at Kestrel and then Arapaho Ben asking folks about the area there. We received some good ideas to consider as well as good feedback. Next, we will be a t Irish Elementary School and work with Poudre School District, so there’s several things that are behind the scenes that we are working on to received feedback from those that are underrepresented. Discussion: Member Crall pointed out that it would be interesting to have a list of the organizations NAD is working with to identify any gaps and who we are engaging in with conversations. That might be a way the Board could contribute to assist in this part of the process. Member Piesman thought outreach to stakeholders like Sierra Club, Nature Conservancy, Trout Unlimited and others would be a good idea. Cole asked if any of the HOAs had been contacted. Zoe said postcards were sent out to neighboring community members. Julia summarized that the portal for public engagement for the Mountains to Plains to Zone update is available through the end of May and then we will work in June to take that feedback to really understand the comments and feedback. We will bring conservation and stewardship back to the Board and the draft of the Poudre River Zone update in the future. Land Conservation Alynn Karnes, Land Conservation Specialist, provided an update on land conservation. NAD currently has a 414-acre regional parcel that we are closing on at the end of the month, a 261-acre regional parcel that will close the end of January and a 17-acre parcel adjacent to an existing natural area closing at the end of the year, totaling 692 acres under contract. Last month we closed on a 420-acre conservation easement, partnering with Larimer County totaling for 2022 , 1,100 acres. This is important to focus on acres because we do have metrics to report. Our land conservation goal is about 500 acres conserved every year. Based on the acreage conserved already we are meeting our goal and then some. Alynn Karnes presented the charter for placing conservation easements on Natural Areas owned properties that has been developed. She described the process of ranking DocuSign Envelope ID: A171C1F7-DD89-44BD-B35D-3E3F07F01975 Land Conservation & Stewardship Board Regular Meeting April 13, 2022 04/13/2022 MINUTES Page 6 for conservation easements and how properties were prioritized within each zone. Management was asked to prioritize properties within each zone based on their property development potential, proximity to waterways, and whether a conservation easement is already being conveyed. Once Management ranked the properties, then the rankings were averaged based on their feedback. Discussion: Julia we don’t own mineral rights at soapstone we only lease a portion of those. We’ve explored the opportunities to purchase those rights. It’s expensive right now. Elena asked if the Land Board owned those, Julia said a landowner owns most of them. The mineral rights lease that NAD does have expires sometime in 2038 Julia thought. Andrea mentioned the Board, in the past, were hoping to shake out as to when the City and County were looking at the revised oil and gas regulations coming from the state and if there was some way to work with the County to have protective status on those properties. Julia said that was a conversation we can have in the future. Alynn provided an update on a conservation easement on Meadow Springs. They’ve discussed that with Utilities and what it would cost to do that. She confirmed it would expend most of our current land conservation budget. We are looking at how we could potentially phase that cost out. The discussion is currently taking place with Utilities. 8. Board Updates Bicycle Advisory Committee (BAC) Member Weber provided an update from the last BAC meeting reporting the Committee discussed the ruling that passed for Safety Stop. The ruling passed today. The committee also discussed Budget for Outcome offers for Active Modes and the draft Bicycle Network recommendations were reviewed. Member Bios Chair Elson asked for final bio paragraphs from members. 1041 Committee Update Member Culver reported she received an email from Councilmember Kelly Smith, stating that nearing the completion of the draft regulations hopefully a release will be at the end of May. The next round of public meetings will be in June. She will get back to us with any additional information. LCSB May Meeting. Chair Elson asked if members were comfortable meeting in a hybrid format. Members were okay with the format. DocuSign Envelope ID: A171C1F7-DD89-44BD-B35D-3E3F07F01975 Land Conservation & Stewardship Board Regular Meeting April 13, 2022 04/13/2022 MINUTES Page 7 Kestrel Fields Natural Area Field Trip Julia mentioned the option for a field trip in June. She discussed parking and explained the distance of the walk for those participating. Meeting adjourned at 8:03 pm ___________________________ _______________________ Chair, Andrea Elson Date DocuSign Envelope ID: A171C1F7-DD89-44BD-B35D-3E3F07F01975 6/7/2022