HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Natural Resources Committee - 11/02/2016Wednesday, November 2, 2016
6:00pm
South Burlington Municipal Offices, 575 Dorset Street
MEETING MINUTES for Regular Monthly Mee ng
Members Present: Be y Milizia, Melissa Cuke, Sean Devine, David Crawford, Lisa Yankowski, Kris n Williams, Gwen
Kozlowski
Also Present: Maggie Leugers (SB Recrea on & Parks Director), Holly Baker (NRC Staff Liaison - SB Recrea on & Parks
Assistant Director); Mike Simoneau, and students from St. Michael’s College: Natalie Jackson, Kara Hehinger
The mee ng was called to order at 6:05 pm.
1) Addi ons, dele ons or changes in order of agenda items.
No addi ons, dele ons or changes were made to the proposed agenda. South Burlington Staff and NRC Commi ee
members briefly introduced themselves, since there has been a commi ee support staff change.
2) Comments from the public not related to the agenda.No comments from the public. Students introduced themselves.
3) Approval of mee ng minutes for October.
Gwen Kozlowski requested that the September minutes delete her name because she was not present. Lisa
Yankowski made a mo on to approve the minutes, Melissa Cuke seconded, and minutes for October were approved.
4) Updates from commi ee members
NRC members recently a ended the Vermont Associa on of Conserva on Commissions Conference held at Lake
Morey.
· Lisa Yankowski highlighted the Vermont Pollinator Challenge- crea ng a 15 foot wide sec on for wildflowers
that are pollinator friendly. This could be a poten al idea for city parks to implement.
· Kris n Williams reflected on cul va ng a sense of place and connec ng to cultural history (perhaps with
historical society) in addi on to natural history.
· Melissa Cuke appreciated the ability to share informa on between municipali es and see how similar
commi ees from across the state are handling common problems, such as the con nued struggle against
invasive species. She also noted that BioFinder is a great interac ve mapping tool. It has state level data
iden fying lands and waters that support high priority ecosystems, habitats and natural communi es. At this
me, users cannot upload data to the site.
· Be y Milizia a ended a session of 3 conserva on commission discussing local projects, how they collaborate
with local land trusts and get things done in their communi es.
· Maggie Leugers asked if presenta ons would be made available from the conference. Be y Milizia will ask
for some presenta ons, but some may be available on the website: vtconserva on.org
Melissa Cuke updated the NRC on her presenta on to South Burlington Planning Commission (SBPC) regarding the
Chi enden Country Regional Planning Commission’s (CCRPC) regional energy plan. Melissa appreciated and incorporated
feedback and ideas from NRC members. SBPC will submit comments to the CCRPC by November, and will then submit
dra maps to DPS by Dec. 1st. NRC will ask for updates when available.
5) Change of Staffing
· NRC members appreciated Cathyann’s tenure to the commi ee. Maggie Leugers, director of SB Recrea on &
Parks offered her excitement, support, and con nued help to NRC. NRC welcomed Holly Baker as new city staff
support. Holly and Maggie noted that there is a monthly e-newsle er (that went out this week). The NRC may
want to include a short ar cle/update on the commi ee in the future. NRC members will be added to the
listserve, if they are not already on it.
· Melissa Cuke offered the opportunity to adjust mee ng me. NRC members agreed that current me of the first
Wednesday of each month, from 6-8pm works best.
· Melissa Cuke proposed a retreat to brainstorm ideas as a commi ee, priori ze areas of work, and create aworkplan for next year. David Crawford & Be y Milizia highlighted the importance of connec ng with city counciland planning commission priori es. Maggie Leugers offered to send weekly update of mee ng agendas, minutesand a achments to ensure NRC members are up-to-date on current topics. Melissa and Be y will work with Hollyon se ng up doodle poll to set up retreat date in January that will replace January mee ng.
· Maggie Leugers shared that the Recrea on and Parks Department Commi ee reviews and provides feedback to
developers on their site plans for new projects. Be y suggested that two members of the NRC a end Recrea on
and Parks Commi ee mee ngs for this por on of the mee ngs. Be y and David Crawford will a end the
November mee ng.
· Be y Milizia proposed invi ng Jens Hilke (Associa on of VT Conserva on Commissions and Department of Fishand Wildlife) back for 1 hour of December mee ng. The goal will be to discuss / facilitate further conserva onwork plans.
· NRC members discussed need for one person to be established clerk. Gwen Kozlowski offered to become the
new clerk.
6) Task Force Updates· Open Space Project Task Force: Sean Devine updated the commi ee that he will be presen ng priori za on list
of recommenda ons to the city council next Monday (11/7).
· Wheeler Conserva on Easement Task Force: Melissa Cuke updated the commi ee that they are working on a
final dra of the report. There were minor changes made to the last document. One change of note was the
boundary between the homestead and the natural area has been be er defined and is more logical to dis nguish
the 2 areas than in previous versions of the maps.
7) Adjourn.
The Next mee ng will be December 7, at 6pm, South Burlington Municipal Offices, 575 Dorset St. David
Crawford mo oned to adjourn the mee ng, Sean Devine seconded; mee ng adjourned at 7:30pm.
Respec ully submi ed,
By Gwen Kozlowski