Nat'l Resources Conservation Board

10801 Town Square Dr. City of Blaine Blaine MN 55449 Anoka County, Minnesota Minutes - Final Nat'l Resources Conservation Board The Natural Resource Conservation Board is an advisory body to the City Council. The Board is charged with recommending acquisition of lands for open space and developing a Natural Resource Plan which includes environmental policy and guidelines for the maintenance and preservation of Blaine’s existing and future opens spaces and trail corridors. One of the Board’s functions is to hold public meetings and make recommendations to the City Council. For each item, the Board will receive reports prepared by City staff, provide the opportunity for public response, conduct Board discussions and make recommendations. The City Council, however, makes all final decisions on these matters. Tuesday, August 20, 2013 7:30 PM Council Chambers NRCB Tour of Selected Open Space Locations 1. Call To Order The meeting was called to order at 7:30 p.m. Also Present: Staff Liaison, Jim Hafner; and Recording Secretary, Kathy Altman. Present: 7 - Chair McKinley, Rafferty, Schrunk, Castillo, Truchon, Gunter, and Villella Absent: 1 - Perkins 2. Roll Call 3. Approval of Minutes Under 6(b) add that the motion was approved unanimously at the end of the discussion. MOVED by Boardmember Truchon, seconded by Boardmember Rafferty to approve the minutes of the July 16, 2013 Board Meeting as amended. The motion carried unanimously. 4. Approval of Agenda City of Blaine Page 1 Nat'l Resources Conservation Minutes - Final August 20, 2013 Board Boardmember Truchon stated she would like to discuss collecting wood in the open spaces under other business. Chair McKinley stated she had two announcements under other business. MOVED by Boardmember Schrunk seconded by Boardmember Truchon to approve the August 20, 2013 Board Agenda. Motion carried unanimously. 5. Open Forum for Citizen Input None. 6. New Business 6.a Final report on kiosks Staff Liaison stated Mr. Bostrom had reported he had finished the work and he would prepare the final accounting and cost so the Boardmembers would know what would need to be paid out of the Open Space Fund. He stated when the report was received, he would bring it to the Board for approval. Chair McKinley requested the Boardmembers think about what they would like put into the kiosks. She stated she would like to have a box attached to the kiosks to put the trail maps in. Boardmember Truchon stated she would like a large map of all of the trails/parks in the City put in the kiosks. Chair McKinley stated a reason for the kiosks was to inform visitors of what was in that area also. Boardmember Truchon stated they could post pictures of the orchids, trilliums, significant trees, etc. in the kiosks also. Boardmember Schrunk recommended the trail box should be posted on the back of the kiosk instead of on the post. 6.b Progress report on Information Boxes City of Blaine Page 2 Nat'l Resources Conservation Minutes - Final August 20, 2013 Board The Staff Liaison stated the information boxes were located at Menards, but they had not been purchased yet. Chair McKinley stated she wanted boxes placed at Pioneer Park, Oak Savannah, Laddie Lake, and Hidden Ponds. Boardmember Truchon stated East Lake Park would also need a box eventually. 6.c Board member reports on Open Space visits Chair McKinley stated Boardmember Gunter had handed in her report on her park last month. Boardmember Gunter stated she had seen Mr. Bostrom putting up the kiosk. She stated she walked the trails at the park. All of the weeds were under control and there was no encroachment on the trails. Boardmember Rafferty handed out his report on Hidden Ponds. He stated he visited the park on June 18 in the afternoon. He noted he saw a couple of people on the playground, but no one was walking the trails. He suggested the wood chip trail needed some minor maintenance such as a tree across the trail be removed and additional wood chips put in. He noted there were also a few trees in front of the trail which had died. He indicated on the north trail loop there was a canoe there and someone had cleared cut part of the trail and put in a bench by the lake. Boardmember Schrunk read her report on Pioneer Park. She noted she saw some people on the trail. She indicated one bench on the trail looked like it needed to be repaired and the bridge over the drainage ditch was in poor shape. She stated there were also a lot of weeds and long grass growing along and in the trail. Chair McKinley stated there were some tall poles also with flat boxes attached at Pioneer Park. She asked what was the purpose of those. Staff Liaison stated he did not know what the purpose of those were. Boardmember Truchon believed they were bat houses. Staff Liaison stated he remembered hearing something about bat houses, but he would need to check with the Parks Department. Boardmember Castillo stated his report was pretty much the same as Chair McKinley as nothing had been done at that park since then. He stated one thing that might change was when houses get built closer to the park they should start considering some type of a trail system City of Blaine Page 3 Nat'l Resources Conservation Minutes - Final August 20, 2013 Board there. Boardmember Villella indicated he would email the Boardmembers his report tomorrow. He stated he put the article he wrote on the last page of his report. He noted the park was unique because of the fishing pier as well as the disc golf course with the trails and raingarden. He stated he was at the park three different times. He noted the bench in front of the pond had large growth in front of it. He indicated there were a lot of people at the park each time he was there. He stated some of the benches were old also and the weeds along the pier needed to be trimmed. Chair McKinley handed out her report on the park she visited. She stated there was still overgrowth around the observation deck. She noted the trails were in great shape and were heavily used. She indicated it was unfortunate there was no off street parking for this park. She stated Kane Meadows needed some additional benches and replacing the one at the loop junction. She stated the section of trail starting at 85th and up to the John Henry Graham loop needed a name. She recommended naming it after some plants that are growing there. She indicated she would be contacting Jason for some ideas/suggestions. She stated the willow growth needed to be cleaned out and she would suggest this for Earth Day in 2014. 6.d Report on dedication of Scientific Natural Area Chair McKinley stated the dedication was held on July 25. She thanked staff and the Boardmembers for attending the dedication. Boardmember Truchon recommended the Scientific Natural Area be put on the city’s website. The Staff Liaison stated he would check into this. 6.e Update on Open Space and Trails fund The Staff Liaison stated the printout did not reflect money the Board encumbered for the Capital Improvement Plan for this year. He noted fund total at the end of the year was $629,000, but over the course of this year there had been spent $13,360, but also a share of the park dedication fees paid to the Park Board totaled $99,489. He stated the fund balance right now $715,535 and then subtracting the encumbrances around $200,000 making the available funding right around $500,000. City of Blaine Page 4 Nat'l Resources Conservation Minutes - Final August 20, 2013 Board Chair McKinley requested a printout be handed out at the next meeting. She requested staff look into a workshop meeting with the City Council at some point in the future to discuss the funding. She asked the Staff Liaison to present at the meeting in October how the management plan compared to work that had been done. 6.f Board discussion on changing monthly meeting time MOVED by Boardmember Castillo seconded by Boardmember Gunter to change the meeting time back to the original time frame of 7:00 p.m. starting in September, 2013. Boardmember Truchon stated she liked the meeting time to remain at 7:30 p.m. Boardmember Castillo stated he had a new job and he was much more flexible with his time and that was the reason he was proposing to start the meeting at 7:00 p.m. The Staff Liaison noted the time of the meeting was on a number of different places on the website. He stated they had three meetings left this year (September, October, and November). He asked the Boardmembers if they want a time change to take place in September or January. Boardmember Truchon stated Tuesdays were a busy day for her and she was happy that meeting had been changed to 7:30 p.m. Boardmember Gunter stated if this motion passed, she thinks it would be better to start this in January. Boardmember Truchon amended the motion to say to change the meeting date to 7:00 p.m. starting January 1. Boardmember Castillo stated he was not in favor of that amendment. Boardmember Villella asked when the time had been changed from 7:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Chair McKinley responded the time changed around a year and a half ago. Motion carried 6-1 (Boardmember Truchon). 7. Other Business City of Blaine Page 5 Nat'l Resources Conservation Minutes - Final August 20, 2013 Board Boardmember Truchon stated she was walking on a trial (the loop) and encountered a person who had a wagon and was cutting wood from the downed trees. That person said he had the right to cut the downed trees and take the wood and it was legal. She asked if this was lawful. The Staff Liaison responded they have had problems with this in that area in the past. He stated he would talk to the Parks Department about this. He noted this was dedicated parkland and cutting/collecting wood was not allowed. Boardmember Truchon stated at Springbrook Nature Center there was signage stating collecting was not allowed. She wondered if they needed to add signage to the trails. Chair McKinley stated Tom Godfrey had left the Parks Department. Chair McKinley asked if anyone had heard of American Wetlands which was a program promoted by the Terrene Institute out of Alexandria, Virginia. She indicated this organization promoted American Wetlands Month in the month of May. She stated this would promote the wetlands and this program was throughout the United States. She stated this was something to think about for next year. The Staff Liaison stated the Board took a tour this evening before the meeting with five members in attendance who visited various open spaces and parks in the City. He stated there was some property on Lexington Avenue up for tax forfeiture and the City had expressed interest in purchasing. He noted the County had sent the City a letter approving an application for the daughter of the owners to purchase the property from tax forfeiture. He stated the family had purchased the property back. He stated that family might have found a purchaser for that property and the property was no longer available for purchase. 8. Adjournment MOVED by Boardmember Gunter, seconded by Boardmember Villella to adjourn the meeting at 8:45 p.m. City of Blaine Page 6