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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018 09 12 CFFCOC Special Meeting Final Summary  * Decisions and action items are indicated in bold font. Members Present: Scott Brinton, Interest – Agriculture; Lige Christian, Vice Chair, District 3; JD Gallant, District 3; Rob Harbour, Interest – Working Lands; Ray Hunter, Interest – Fallow Farms; Richard Jahnke, Interest – Coastal Areas; Lorna Smith, Interest – Ecotourism; Sarah Spaeth, Interest – Jefferson Land Trust; Craig Schrader, Interest – Climate Change; David Wilkinson, Chair, District 1 Members Absent: Phil Andrus, District 2; Mary Biskup, District 1 County Staff Present: Tami Pokorny, Coordinator, Environmental Public Health; Pinky Mingo, Environmental Public Health Rebekah Brooks, recorder I. Call to Order: Chair David Wilkinson called the meeting to order at 4:09 PM. II. Welcome and Introductions III. Approval of Minutes: JD Gallant moved to preliminarily approve the minutes from the May 9, 2018 Meeting; Richard Jahnke seconded. The minutes were preliminarily approved by consensus. The minutes from the April 16, 2018 Meeting were accepted and signed by the Chair. IV. Review of Agenda: The agenda was changed by consensus to accommodate the guest speakers; the presentations were moved up in the agenda. V. Guest Observer Comments: Tami Pokorny introduced guest presenters Pinky Mingo, with the Jefferson County Environmental Health; and Erik Kingfisher, with the Jefferson Land Trust (JLT). VI. Old Business: There was none. VII. New Business Stewardship of Perpetual Conservation Easements and Preserves Erik Kingfisher, Jefferson Land Trust (JLT) Stewardship Director, presented on the history of stewardship within the Land Trust, and how easements and preserves are protected through relationships, defense and enforcement. The Land Trust was established in 2002 with the mission of helping the community preserve open space through conservation easements and preserves of working lands and habitat. Conservation easements protect conservation values in partnership with private landowners and are established in perpetuity. Preserves are managed by JLT as the landowner and are maintained through the management plan mostly for wildlife value. Erik addressed a question about whether or not properties managed by JLT continue to provide the public benefit of property taxes: land that provides income continues to bring in taxes, as do some of the open space properties. Private owners of land on which JLT holds easements continue to pay taxes. Some properties become tax exempt if they are gifted back to the County, but public benefit is provided through more than taxes. Returning to his presentation, Erik discussed the JLT Stewardship Program, which is centered on regular monitoring and associated landowner relationship building to ensure trust and compliance with easement terms. Costs include dedicated stewardship funding, which the Land Trust is required to set aside with each acquisition to steward the land in perpetuity. Perpetual stewardship sustains and enhances the land for future generations. The group discussed cooperating with JLT to make the annual report form clearer on what has been done at each property, in order to better understand and defend the success of the JCCF to the Board of County Commissioners and the public. The possibility of editing some of the questions on the project application was also mentioned. Project Monitoring – Example of Glendale Farm Erik Kingfisher discussed the terms of the conservation easement that JLT holds on Glendale Farm, which protects the agricultural and habitat values of the farm and creek. The property consists of two forest zones, a riparian zone and two building envelopes with buildings on them. The original owner who acquired the easement has since passed away, and the easement went to his long-term partner, who has accrued 29 abandoned RVs on the property. One of the stipulations of the agreement is that accumulation of waste is allowed within one of the building envelopes. Conservation values have been well managed, and the pastures and riparian area have been improved. A hazardous waste term in the agreement has allowed the JLT to require the owner to drain the RVs, but she refuses to remove them from the property. Two fires on the property have been of major concern. The conservation easement is co-held with Jefferson County. Pinky Mingo went over the rules that the County can follow up on regarding removal of the vehicles and cleanup of the property. The County has issued the owner a citation for solid waste, which it expects will be contested. A compliance agreement was declined by the landowner and she has been given a year to clean up the property. The County has the ability to do an abatement, but does not have access to the estimated $200,000 in cash necessary to dispose of the vehicles and other waste prior to liening the property. Since the conservation values are being well managed on the property, and the agreement of the easement is being met, cleanup of the waste is not an obligation of the Land Trust. However, the violations do need to be pursued, and it is now up to the County to continue to follow through with their citations in court. Erik agreed to work with Tami Pokorny on improving the annual report form so that the JCCF receives the information it needs from sponsor(s) in order to be confident of any given project’s status. Proposed Project Change: Bishop Dairy Sarah Spaeth explained the financial situation with the Bishop Dairy project. The Bishop Family decided they did not want a Navy easement on their property, so the JLT is pursuing funding through the US Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Services (NRCS). It takes a long time for NRCS to review the easement on the national level, send staff out to create a farm plan, review land conditions and decide what the property is eligible for. The contract with JCCF is approaching three years, so an extension is needed. Lorna Smith moved to extend the deadline for the expenditure of the JCCF funding as outlined in the letter dated July 25, 2018 and signed by Sarah Spaeth regarding the Bishop Farm preservation effort. Lige Christian seconded. The motion passed by unanimous vote. VIII. Sub-Committee Reports Rob Harbour and Richard Jahnke reported on what the sub-committee meetings had discussed. They developed language in the manual for changes to approved projects and identified areas that will be put forward to the full committee for other changes, including how to define emergency meetings, how changes are requested and roles of the committee and staff. The edits will result in about another page added to the manual. There were also some suggestions for changes to the scoring system regarding farmland and silviculture and how to make them more equivalent to each other. A new question may be added to better reflect JCCF values and to give weight to important projects that might otherwise score low. IX. Return to New Business Public Hearing on 2018 Projects There has been no decision made yet on the 2018 projects, because the necessary analysis from DCD on the availability of developable land, and possible jobs impacts, of the proposed CF projects is delayed due to the comprehensive plan rewrite process. The first Monday in October is set as a tentative date for the public hearing. The delay has impacted one of the projects proposed for funding. Next Meeting and Agenda Meetings were scheduled for 10/10/18 and 11/15/18 for the full committee, with the November meeting only if necessary. The subcommittee agreed to meet on 9/26/18. X. Announcements/Administrative Staff Update: There was nothing new to report. XI. Observer Comments There were no comments. XII. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 6:01 PM.