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HomeMy WebLinkAboutNatural Resources Advisory Board - Minutes - 02/02/20000 MINUTES CITY OF FORT COLLINS NATURAL RESOURCES ADVISORY BOARD REGULAR MEETING 281 N. COLLEGE FEBRUARY 2, 2000 For Reference: Randy Fischer, NRAB Chair - 226-5383 Bill Bertschy, Council Liaison - 484-0181 Tom Shoemaker, Staff Liaison - 221-6263 Board Members Present Randy Fischer, Don Rodriguez, Kelly Ohlson, Reagan Waskom, Bill Miller, Jan Rastall, Rick Harness, and Nate Donovan (until 10:00 p.m.) Board Members Absent Phil Murphy Staff Present Natural Resources Dent: Tom Shoemaker, Mark Sears, Karen Manci, Susie Gordon, and Sally Maggart The meeting was called to order at 6:05 p.m. Guests Sally Craig, Planning & Zoning Board David Bell, CSU Student Agenda Review • Flatiron/Resource Recovery Farm will be moved to 6:30 p.m. • Don Rodriguez and Kelly Ohlson have items to discuss at the end of the meeting. Review Council's Six Month Planning Calendar • February 15: Changes to Trash Licensing Requirements Review Action/Tickler Log The updated Action/Tickler Log in the packet was not current. The Board did not discuss this item. Committee Reports • Issues and Concerns: The committee has had two productive meetings in which process, product, history, and the future were discussed. Jan Rastall suggested reviewing the Board's by-laws. The by-laws state that a work session may be held on the third week of the month as needed for information gathering purposes. A quorum need not be present and minutes Natural Resources Advisory Boar. February 2, 2000 Page 2 will not be taken. It was decided to have a work session February 16. Kelly Ohlson and Bill Miller asked to have copies of the by-laws sent to them Flatiron/Resource Recovery Farm Tom Shoemaker reported that things are unraveling. He said that LaFarge wants to make it happen but the problem now is that gravel production has had record months and there is not enough in reserve to complete the deal by Council's second reading. Shoemaker said that mining has been done up to the oxbow, but has stayed out of the trees. He said that the County is willing to help but they are concerned about getting paid back. Shoemaker said that he will still be moving ahead to the second reading of Council but there will be a change in the description to clarify the areas to be saved. He added that the worst case scenario is that the area that has been mined is done to the best standard of reclamation practice. Review Future Agenda Items • Residents of the Scenic Knolls area would like to have 1/2 hour at the March meeting to present information on a proposed equestrian trail that will connect the Cathy Fromme Prairie with Coyote Ridge. This will be scheduled for the next Trails Committee meeting. • George Wallace, CSU, wants to share a white paper report, "An Evaluation of Tools and Techniques for Minimizing the Loss of Agricultural Land and Water in Larimer County". This will be discussed at the February 16 work session. Update on Pay -as -you -throw Ordinance: Susie Gordon Susie Gordon, Environmental Program Manager, reported that this is on schedule to go to Council for the first hearing on February 15. Gordon said that other measures to improve recycling and waste reduction are included in the proposed changes. She added that Council was receptive in August to the new amendments and the Board's Solid Waste Committee has met several times to review the proposed changes. Gordon noted that specific reporting information is needed from the trash haulers to determine if they are being consistent in charges for the amount of trash collected. Specifically, they are being asked for routing sheets, a daily list of addresses and a documentation of extra bags in order to provide follow up on customer complaints. Kelly Ohlson said that it is important that boardmembers attend this Council meeting. He said that pay -as -you -throw is a good tenet of environmental policy and reminded members that Council recommended this instead of districting. Gordon reviewed the changes to the ordinance. She emphasized that the reporting by the haulers is strictly for compliance and not for districting purposes. Confidentiality is very important to the trash haulers. Gordon said that another important issue to the trash haulers is that they do not want to get prosecuted because of a single frivolous complaint. They want an administrative policy that tracks and monitors complaints, with a system for customer reporting that starts with contacting Natural Resources Advisory Board February 2, 2000 Page 3 the trash hauler, follows up with a letter to the hauler, and gives the hauler an opportunity to report back on the problem. Randy Fischer asked what the trigger would be for an audit. Gordon said that the ordinance would authorize a random audit. Ohlson asked if a member of the public could report signs of abuse with someone else's trash service. Gordon said that she will ask the city attorney's office for an interpretation. Randy Fischer said that there are whole sections missing from the December version of the proposed ordinance. Gordon explained that the adopting ordinance refers to the changes. She said that she would like to have the Board's support for the ordinance. Fischer said that he has not had a chance to read the proposed ordinance and is concerned that there might be something not acceptable in it. Gordon explained the two or three changes that were made from what the Solid Waste Committee last saw. Fischer said that a memo from the Board was sent to Council in November when they voted on a resolution to increase waste diversion. He said that it could be tweaked for this purpose. Ohlson asked if a memo is needed if this is on consent. Gordon said that the Board has that option. The deadline is Tuesday, February 15, for Council's "read before" packet. Bill Miller made the motion to have Randy Fischer amend the Board's November memo to Council to endorse supporting the ordinance. Waskom asked if the Solid Waste Committee supported the changes. Fischer said that they did in the previous drafts, but since the new changes were just received, he would have to have more time to review the new proposed ordinance. Bill Miller withdrew his motion. Natural Areas Work Plan 2000-2001 Mark Sears, Environmental Program Manager, said that he hopes all this work can be completed in two years. He received the following comments from boardmembers: Land Conservation A. Acquisition Team • Need to acquire more than 214 acres a year. • Recommend hiring a land agent. • Can save more money by buying now while the land is there. B. Planning • Need to discuss Cooper Slough. It is a little after the fact. • Should have prioritized acquisitions north of Valley Business Park three or four years ago. C. Database • Assumed we always had a database. • Will it be available to public or in-house. (Will be strictly available to the land acquisition team) D. Acquisition Process Natural Resources Advisory Boara February 2, 2000 Page 4 Get best deal possible for the City. Be warm, fuzzy, kind and responsive but get fair deal for citizens. E.& F Property Owners • Point out why the City is a viable partner —the money will be thereat closing. G. Negotiations • Negotiate tough. Look at realities of the market. • If it is an important piece and have to pay more than appraised value, won't get an argument if it is within reason. H. Status Report • A quarterly report is adequate. • A funding piece in the report would be helpful. • Use Board's opinion as part of negotiation process when price seems excessive. J. Conservation Easements • Don't identify just one land trust, say "private organizations, such as Larimer Land Trust". Restoration and Enhancement A through E Restoration Work • Need to build in a monitoring component and check on progress. • Staff identified on first page, but not in the rest. Prefer not to have names. • Might not want 'h FTE in education and might want to delay enforcement person. More immediate to have a person to monitor construction on development sites. Does not mean an education person is not wanted. There are too many needs with scarce resources. Need to get funds for staffing a field person. • Eliminate "efforts". Make it "continue to restore sites". H. Eradication • Eliminate "plans". Make it "continue to eradicate". • Are there priorities for eradication. (Riverbend Ponds is the most infested and the highest priority. Priorities are established each year depending on the need) • Is there a GIS overlay on noxious weeds. (No. The Natural Areas program is purchasing a GPS system for mapping) J. Natural Areas Enhancement Fund • Reference to budget not anywhere else. Be consistent. Public Improvements B. Construction • Benches are good. Make parking lots adequate. C. Fencing Natural Resources Advisory & • February 2, 2000 Page 5 What is the difference between buck-n-rail and western rail fence? (Buck-n-rail is on a tripod and western rail is horizontal. Buck-n-rail is less labor intensive and easier to repair. The initial costs are similar) Paved Bike Trails • Move reference on bike trails. Eliminate "paved". • Move this section to Public Improvements Maintenance • Two paragraphs are titled "C" C. Inventory • Expand "targeted weeds" to include trail management plans for all natural areas using GIS technology, not just weeds. It would be good to have a comprehensive trails management plan. D & E Maintenance The wrong message is sent when a kiosk is installed and sits empty for a year and a half. Regulations need to be posted. Cleaning needs to be more often than "periodic'. Education/Interpretation A. Master Naturalist Program • It seems like the Master Naturalist Program is providing funding for Poudre School District projects. • Consider having a citizen conservation corps to assist in removing russian olives, installing fences, etc. • Would like more detailed specifics where Master Naturalists volunteer and what they do. (Volunteers are needed to help in a variety of ways. The Master Naturalists do more things than act as speakers and guides). • Remove editorializing "Master Naturalists are great supporters of the Natural Area Program and volunteer to help in a variety of ways." • Emphasize interpretation as a management tool and have programs that help staff, for example, the "Leave No Trace Program". • Have the Master Naturalists pay for their training and get reimbursed for doing public service. • Expand scope of Master Naturalist program using interpretation as a management tool. B — D. Brochures • Put kiosks at the mall instead of 281 N. College. Get them where the people are. • Surprised the brochures are not further along. • There are a lot of brochures out there done by others. We do not need to reinvent the wheel. • Delegate brochure development to Master Naturalists. Natural Resources Advisory Board February 2, 2000 Page 6 Why isn't the "Living Next to a Natural Area" brochure getting done? The information needs to get out. It could all be in one brochure. Send it to neighborhood associations and realtors. E. Interpretive Features • Initiate additional programs like the Leave No Trace educational effort. There is a master training for Leave No Trace. It has a broader appeal than the Master Naturalist program. • Suggest having business size cards for trail users to hand out saying why dogs need to be on leash in natural areas. The State Forest Department has a card like that. F. Environmental Newsletter • Expand the mailing of the Environmental Newsletter. • Look at getting fair share time in the City utility insert. K. Site Signs • Consider some level of consistency in natural area signs. There is no common element. • The Education Committee should look at sign design. Enforcement B. Permits • Are non -conforming uses of natural areas permitted? Is there a definitive list of permitted use? (Anyone requesting access to a natural area needs to receive a permit. Management plans have permitted uses listed.) C. Rangers • Will support additional rangers in 2000 only if they are going to enforce the laws. • The County has a "no tolerance" program. We need to do that. • There is no need for a mounted patrol component. Policy and Site Planning Development E. Go Colorado Grants • Think more broadly in terms of partnership for GOCO grants. Think broader than government agencies. • Protection of agricultural lands could be logical nexus. F. Research • Look at who constituents are and find out more about people using natural areas. It will be good information to have. T. Draft Design and Mitigation Manual • It is good that something is going to be done with the Design & Mitigation Manual. V . Bonding Authority Natural Resources Advisory P d • February 2, 2000 Page 7 • Be careful on the "bonding" thing. W. Excess Revenues • Work on wording. There is already a policy that the overage in Ordinance 29 goes to Natural Areas. Land Acquisition Priorities Comments Oxbow, 9C: The City should not buy buffer zones in the Oxbow area. Cooper Slough, 15A: Need to enforce buffer zones at Cooper Slough. Totals, Page 4, Need to breakout totals and present in a different way. Put actual acres that are protected from development vs. the total. Boxelder Update: Mark Sears Mark Sears said that the ordinance in December contained two items that were not in the original ordinance: 1) Allow fill over the force main; and, 2) Remove the gravel bar in the bend of the river. He said that Anderson Consultants have been hired to look at this and they are recommending against removal of the gravel bar because it would allow sediment to carry down stream and cause the same problem to the force main. The recommendation to Boxelder is to not remove the gravel bar and not reclaim any land lost in the flood, but to use rip rap to control future loss. Sears explained that no real negative concerns were found regarding the fill over the force main. The County has approved it and FEMA approval is needed. Boxelder would have to indemnify the City and LaFarge against any damage coming out of it and would have to release the City and LaFarge from anything prior. Sears is not sure that Boxelder is willing to do that. A dike parallel to the force main may be needed further out into the gravel pit to keep a minimum flow in the river. Sears reported that the second reading at Council has been postponed. He said that he can take the ordinance back to Council with NRAB's original recommendation. Ohlson asked who paid for the consultant. Sears responded that the Natural Areas program has about $25,000 so far. Ohlson asked: If it is Boxelder's thing, why did we pay $25,000? Sears said that the Boxelder issue is only 25 percent of the problem. We needed to go in and get information on what protection is needed. No action was taken. Fischer asked Sears to keep the Board apprised. Announcements • Ohlson reported a West Side Flood Control (Canal Importation) meeting is being held tonight and there is another one at Blevins tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. He asked if Bob Smith or Susan Hayes could give the Board a presentation at the March 1 meeting. • Ohlson said that he had a Sierra Club sprawl report that he will provide to those interested. Natural Resources Advisory Board. February 2, 2000 Page 8 • Rodriguez said that he has been contacted by the Lee Martinez neighborhood group. They asked if boardmembers could come to a 1:00 p.m. meeting on February 26 with the Parks Department at Lee Martinez Park. He said that the neighbors are concerned about programmed activities. Rodriguez said that he will be attending the meeting. • Ohlson reported that the latest proposal is to locate the Cultural Arts Center at the Aztlan Northside Center site. • Harness said that the Bureau of Reclamation will have a meeting at Horsetooth to get baseline information on putting in drilling rigs and the need to carve out access roads. The meeting was adjourned at 10:30 p.m.