HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Natural Resources Committee - 03/04/2015South Burlington Natural Resources Committee
575 Dorset Street
South Burlington, VT 05403
(802) 846-4106
www.sburl.com
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
6:00pm
South Burlington Municipal Offices, 575 Dorset Street
MEETING MINUTES for Regular Monthly Meeting
APPROVED 4/1/2015
Present: Betty Milizia (NRC Chair), Patrick Clemins (NRC Clerk), Russell Agne (NRC Member),
Larry Michaels (NRC Member), Cathyann LaRose (NRC Staff Liaison - SB City Planner), Sarah
Dopp (SB Land Trust), Laura Dlugolecki (Winooski Nat Res Conservation District), Anna Dirkse
(Winooski Nat Res Conservation District), Tom Chittenden (City Council)
The meeting was called to order at 6:03pm.
2/4/15 Minutes: Agne moved to approve the draft minutes without modification and Michaels
seconded. The motion passed unanimously.
Chittenden County Stream Team: Dlugolecki and Dirkse from the Chittenden County Stream
Team, a program of the Winooski Natural Resources Conservation District, asked the
Committee if we would interested in partnering on a rain barrel making workshop for the
community. The Stream Team would organize and run the workshop, and the Committee
would help with logistics and promotion by passing out their advertising materials. The
workshop costs $30 for each rain barrel for participants to cover the cost of materials and is
family-friendly. The Committee was generally interested in hosting the workshop at City Hall on
a weekend afternoon in May or June.
Communities Caring for Canopy Grant: The Vermont Urban and Community Forestry Program
has announced this year’s Caring for Canopy grant opportunities. The standard Caring for
Canopy grant funds projects between $500- $5000 and the mini Canopy grants funds projects
up to $500. Both require a 50% match. The grants are intended as seed money to help
communities care for their urban tree canopy by taking the necessary actions to developing and
sustaining a community-wide tree program (i.e. tree planting, tree inventory, tree maintenance,
plan development, public outreach and program development). La Rose suggested that Craig
Lambert, City Arborist, might be interested and have projects already in mind. Michaels
suggested planting near our shoreline to protect the shoreline or as a riparian buffer along
Potash or other streams. LaRose suggested focusing on Silva Cells for the City Center. The
Committee asked LaRose to approach Craig to see if he has interest in pursuing this grant. The
Committee would be willing to supply a letter of support for the grant after review at our next
meeting.
Wheeler Nature Park Management Plan: Clemins walked through the mostly cosmetic changes
that he and Dickson made to the last draft of the management plan. Milizia then led a
discussion on a number of changes that she and Agne discussed since the last meeting including
rearranging the classification of the sections of the park and making the objectives under each
goal in section 4 stand out more prominently. Based on this discussion, Milizia will rework the
Homestead section of the plan, adding information about each of the subdivisions of that
section of the park, and Clemins will reorganize the goals and objectives section. The
Committee will review these modifications for discussion at the next meeting.
Action Items:
· Clemins and LaRose: Work with Winooski Nat Res Conservation District to plan rain
barrel workshop.
· LaRose: Ask Craig Lambert if he is interested in submitting a Caring for Canopy grant.
· Michaels: Reach out to the Energy Committee regarding the Georgetown University
Energy Prize and how our Committee could help.
· Clemins and Milizia: Collaborate on next revision of the Wheeler Nature Park
Management Plan.
· Milizia and LaRose: Schedule visits from the Fellowship of the Wheel and UVM Maple
Sugaring folks at a future Committee meeting.
Next Meetings: The Natural Resources Committee normally meets on the first Wednesday of
each month.
The next meeting will be:
· April 1st, 6:00pm – Continue work on the Wheeler Management Plan.
Meeting adjourned at 8:14pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Patrick Clemins