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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Natural Resources & Conservation Committee - 01/04/2023NATURAL RESOURCES & CONSERVATION COMMITTEE Meeting Minutes for January 04, 2023 6:06pm Attending: Dave Wheeler (Staff Liaison), Jean Sebastien-Chaulot (Chr), Larry Kupferman (Vice Chr), Linda Bailey, John Bossange, Katherine Boyk (remote), Helen Riehle (City Council Liaision- remote) & Lisa Yankowski. Missing: Drew Shatzer 1) Jean welcomed everyone. 2) Changes to the agenda a. Added 4B – Tree Ordinance Next Steps. 3) Comments from the public- no public attendees. 4) Adoption of minutes from December 07, 2022 a. John moved to adopt, Larry 2nd. Katherine had one correction. i. Minutes approved with correction of upgraded to updated (#7a). 4b) Tree Ordinance next steps a. It was felt the existing ordinance was due for clarification and possible updating. The NRCC is the designated Tree Board. We are not sure what that means or entails. The work group headed by John, has reviewed the ordinance and would like to meet and collaborate with Craig Lambert (SB City Arborist). Dave will ask Craig to attend our next meeting. The NRCC will need to be prepared with questions and specifics for Craig. John and Dave will meet to discuss the questions and changes we have. The information will be forwarded to Craig to review in advance. He can reply to any changes he may want to suggest. Craig does see one change happening that brings the Tree Ordinance in-line to the State of VT. b. Further discussion revealed that we have not had to settle any tree removal disputes. Larry asked about city right-of-way and trees in those areas. He and Lisa mention that supposedly the city “owns” so much from the middle of a road, our neighborhood is older, the streets are narrow. The “so many feet from the middle of the road”, would put the city-right-of-way in the middle of some of our neighbors’ homes. 5) City updates a. The city, including Craig, has been very busy cleaning up after a couple of extremely windy days we experienced. Downed trees, branches, lost electrical service. Power was lost at 3 pump stations for wastewater around the city. But thanks to processes already in place- no leakages or discharges happened. b. The city was in the process of hiring a new person to replace Ashley. This is a different e position from Erica. The person decided on a different company. 6) Ash Tree Grant a. The city council approved our application for ARPA funds to match grant funding Dave has applied for. The funds are towards the Emerald Ash Borer tree replacement plan in conjunction with removal and some tree treatment. Dave reminded us that neither the tree injections nor tree removal are eligible using the grant funds, but replacement of trees are. He wanted to let us know because we still have the CIP funds which can be used towards injection treatment. A new hybrid plan is being developed per the NRCC suggestions. Unfortunately, the CIP budget was down funded from $150,000 to $50,000. This happened during budget talks and the realization the city will need to increase property taxes by 9% for FY’24. Neither is good news. To continue advocating for the tree canopy restoration and supporting Craig - we will need to continue looking for additional funding over the next few years. Dave is currently looking into another possible grant that provides trees purchased at discounted pricing. 7) Open Space Plan a. Dave had been looking to get this into the EPWP under the CCRPC so we could get so assistance. We would only be eligible for staff time and there are no available hours until 2024. But the Comprehensive Plan review/update is looking to update all the city plans. b. The work group is just about done with the preliminary inventory list. It has been hard trying to find and verify some of the information and maps we need. The work group is continuing to meet. 8) Comprehensive Plan a. The NRCC is expected to host the meeting on March 1, about the environment. b. We have been assured city maps will be updated. We are forming a work group with Jean, Linda, Larry, Lisa and John alternately attending as available, to discuss our feedback for any changes to the Comprehensive Plan update. We will need to discuss this at the next NRCC meeting. The 1st meeting is Mon 01/09 at 5:30pm at the library. 9) Pesticide Ordinance- Next steps a. South Burlington does not have a pesticide usage ordinance. The State of VT does. Burlington does, but according to the state- it is not enforceable. Katherine mention that the state legislature will be working on updating the Pesticide Use Ordinance. We are curious to see if it will be stronger or weaker. We are leaving this issue until the state work is completed. b. Lisa mention how many years ago, the group- Voice for Potash Watershed, had done a campaign of getting home owners, businesses and the golf course to agree to not use pesticides nor herbicides. To use environmentally friendlier methods. Dave had been involved with the, “Raise the Blade”, campaign promoting friendlier mowing methods. These are options we can think about in the future. 10) Member updates a. Chair- nothing to update b. SB Land Trust i. The Long property on Spear St, has been sold to a private owner. The group and other land trust groups are looking to get this this conserved with possible small housing development for farmers and farm workers. The bulk of the property would be conserved since it becomes part of the “Great Swamp”. c. Champlain Valley Conservation Partnership (CVCP)- nothing new. d. Weed Warriors- Drew is not in attendance but had been seen in Red Rocks in December with a group of students doing some work. e. Airport Land Use- Michele is not present. Helen added that the director, Nick Longo is in a planning phase and would like to work with us. She will send him Michele and Jean’s email addresses for contact. f. Open Space work group- see previous notes. We are just about done the inventory list and will be presenting it to the NRCC. We are meeting 01/11, library 6pm, upstairs. g. Tree Canopy work group- see notes under #6. (Group members are John, Linda, Drew & Michele) h. Herbicide/Pesticide Ordinance- see notes under #9. i. Other Paper Articles- Katherine submitted an article, got it back to rewrite and has just resubmitted it. John just had an article published in the last edition. 11) Other business- we discussed some of the possible changes, updates to the Tree Ordinance. Tom DiPietro (Director of SB DPW), wants to create specifications and uniformity in processes & procedures across the city and Public works. Lisa motioned to adjourn, Linda 2nd- adjourned 7:47pm Next meeting is February 01, 2023 6pm Future agenda items: -Tree Ordinance discussion with Craig Lambert - Discussion of the Open Space Inventory -Discussion of logistics for our hosting the Comprehensive Plan on March 1.