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HomeMy WebLinkAboutNatural Resources Advisory Board - Minutes - 04/10/1991MINUTES CITY OF FORT COLLINS NATURAL RESOURCES ADVISORY BOARD Special Meeting Council Information Center - City Hall April 10, 1991, 7:00 p.m. Board Members Present Dave DuBois Will Smith Ward Luthi Harold Swope Bill Miller Board Members Absent (excused) Chuck Davis Tim Johnson Christine Ferguson Deni LaRue Staff Members Present Tom Shoemaker Edith Felchle Karen Manci Bob Wilkinson Smith called the meeting to order and turned the meeting over to Shoemaker for presentation and discussion of the sole agenda item: the Natural Areas Policy Plan (NAPP). Shoemaker handed out a memo about the key dates in the review process for the NAPP. He said there will be time set aside for discussion of the NAPP at the May NRAB meeting. Staff will then bring the NAPP to NRAB in June asking for a recommendation for adoption. Shoemaker said that the draft NAPP will be distributed to NRAB members later this week. Smith asked if staff is looking for criteria or for specific lands to be acquired. Shoemaker said that at this time the board is considering policy recommendations. Smith asked if NRAB needed to make a recommendation to Council at their 4/23 worksession at which the NAPP will be discussed. Shoemaker replied that the 4/23 worksession is for the purpose of presenting the draft plan to Council for their information, but no decision will be made at that meeting, therefore Council will not be looking for recommendations from advisory boards at that meeting. There was discussion about the need to identify the 4/20 natural areas tour and discussion as a public meeting in order to fit legal guidelines if a quorum of the board gets together. DuBois moved that a special meeting be called for the 4/20 NAPP tour, with the condition that the special meeting be canceled if it is determined that a quorum will not be in attendance. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously. Shoemaker presented the slide show of the NAPP, identifying the types of resources that the plan seeks to protect. He said that the natural areas that still exist are in about six to seven percent of the city, and most of them are in the Urban Growth Area. Fort Collins has, and the NAPP seeks to protect, habitat for humans and for conservation. The purposes of the NAPP are to inventory natural areas, define needs, and define natural areas policy. The NAPP involves adoption by the Planning and Zoning Board, followed by Council approval. Among other things, the NAPP identifies rare and endangered species that exist in Fort Collins and that depend for survival on habitat that exists in Fort Collins. The NAPP focuses not only on important sites but also on natural systems of importance. Resource areas identified in the NAPP include the Poudre River, Fossil Creek, Spring Creek, Boxelder Creek, Dry Creek, Cooper Slough, the Foothills Resource Area, lake resource areas, and isolated areas. The NAPP also seeks to protect food chains for important species. Policy goals for the NAPP include land acquisition of natural areas, land use regulation and planning, mitigation, and cooperative planning. The plan addresses restoration and enhancement, management and maintenance on City owned lands, exotic species, human/wildlife conflicts, research and monitoring, education and interpretation, interdepartmental cooperation within city government, intergovernmental coordination, partnerships, and community involvement. Staff also had natural areas maps available for NRAB review. Discussion of the NAPP presentation There was some discussion regarding development that might occur outside the development review process and thus fall through the cracks. There was a question raised about where staff expected opposition to the NAPP to come from. The reply was that little opposition is expected, but some individual land owners may feel that the plan encroaches on their rights. Smith was concerned that perceptions of the definition of "natural areas" might include maintained parks. Swope said that more funding is needed to get going on this before all the natural areas are gone. Smith felt there may be an issue about the City acquiring more land and thus increasing maintenance costs. Swope said a referendum is needed that introduces legislation at the state level to require all state lottery money to go for open space. The meeting adjourned at 8:50.