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, November 19, 2013 7:00 PM Council Chambers 1. Call To Order The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. 2. Roll Call Present: 8 - Chair McKinley, Rafferty, Schrunk, Castillo, Truchon, Gunter, Villella, and Perkins 3. Approval of Minutes Chair McKinley requested the following change: Change staff called the roll to Chair called the roll. MOVED by Boardmember Gunter, seconded by Boardmember Truchon to approve the minutes of the October 16, 2013 Board Meeting as amended. The motion carried unanimously. 4. Approval of Agenda Staff added an item under Other Business. MOVED by Boardmember Rafferty, seconded by Boardmember Truchon to approve the November 19, 2013 Board Agenda. Motion carried unanimously. 5. Open Forum for Citizen Input City of Blaine Page 1 Nat'l Resources Conservation Minutes - Final November 19, 2013 Board None. 6. New Business 6.a Materials for kiosks Chair McKinley stated she has had a very busy month and has not been able to work on the materials for the kiosks. The Staff Liaison stated Chair McKinley spoke with him after the last meeting. He indicated they are working with the GIS people to put up maps of the open spaces. He stated they will work on a listing or photos of items someone would find at the parks. He stated if someone would write a history of the two parks, that could also be included. He stated the information box has been installed at Oaks Savannah. Boardmember Gunter stated she would like to see at Pioneer Parks something on the bat houses also. Boardmember Truchon noted Laddie Lake also has the prairie restoration that might be mentioned. Informational. 6.b Presentation on Open Space Fund and 5 Year CIP The Staff Liaison presented the 5 year CIP. He updated the Board on the open space improvements. He noted most of the areas have had significant improvements with respect to restoration work and invasive species control. He indicated in 2017 they would be hitting the point of where the improvements would start becoming maintenance and the park dedication fees could not be used for maintenance. He noted maintenance had to come from the General Fund. He outlined proposed improvements to Site 7 including a phased trail system, amenities, and a nature center. He also outlined a proposed wetland banking project that would potentially provide a source of revenue for the open space fund. He summarized the future of the open space fund. He noted revenue would be coming in as long as there is developable land in the City and over the next ten years they were anticipating quite a bit of City of Blaine Page 2 Nat'l Resources Conservation Minutes - Final November 19, 2013 Board development. He stated the park dedication fees were limited in use by the state Legislature and could not be used for maintenance. He stated at some point, the available use of the fund would become limited. Boardmember Villella asked what would prevent the City from putting any wetland banking funds into the general fund. The staff liaison responded there was nothing to say the City couldn’t put the funds in the general fund, but the Council was committed at this time to put the wetland banking funds into the NRCB account. The Staff Liaison noted the NRCB is part of the Park & Recreation Department and currently the share of the residential park dedication fee split is 65/35. He noted the parks projects are in need of additional revenue with a potential source of the additional revenue would be to reduce the park dedication fee split to 75/25. He indicated the Council wanted input from the NRCB about how this should be done. He stated an adjustment would be made, but the NRCB would have a voice about how it would happen. He asked the Board what they thought about the idea of taking less money for a couple of years to help the Park Board, but after a couple of years the split went back to 65/35. Boardmember Perkins stated if the Board could get buy-in from their Board for the wetlands concept and use that for the stand along revenue, then he would be comfortable going with an 80/20 split. The Staff Liaison responded to make the number work, if there would not be any revenue from wetland credits, there would be a shortfall in year 2020, but if there was revenue from the wetland credits, the 80/20 split might work. He recommended the Board not go lower than 20 percent at this time and then go back up after a couple of years to complete the NRCB projects. There would be an annual review of the park dedication fee split with the possibility of adjusting the fee as needed at that time. Boardmember Perkins asked if there was an opportunity to be more aggressive to give the Park Board more for the first two years and then cut back after the first couple of years. The Staff Liaison did not recommend the NRCB offer too much as the NRCB would need funding for future projects also. He stated in order to do the projects, it was necessary to fund it with the existing revenue source unless the Park Board would go higher for the NRCB split after the first couple of years. Boardmember Perkins stated he was concerned about the wetland City of Blaine Page 3 Nat'l Resources Conservation Minutes - Final November 19, 2013 Board banking fees and what would happen with them. He stated if the Board showed some goodwill now, this could be used as a negotiation point in the future with respect to the wetland banking. The Staff Liaison noted the wetland banking revenue would not come in all at once, but it would come in incrementally. Boardmember Perkins asked if they knew from a year to year basis what the Park Board’s overage was. The Staff Liaison responded what they were looking for was only a portion and by adjusting the split, they would still need to look at other sources of funding. Boardmember Villella stated he was concerned if the wetland banking credit went through that the Park Board would want to lower the NRCB’s share of park dedication fees. The Staff Liaison responded he did not think that would occur as the Council has expressed support for the 75/25 and would likely support the 80/20 plan. Boardmember Villella asked what were the other Cities doing with respect to splits. The Staff Liaison responded he did not know, but it would be interesting to find this out. He did not know if other Cities did this. Boardmember Truchon stated they have always had a good working relationship with the Park Board and they have supported the NRCB on projects in the past. She stated she was comfortable with the 80/20 split as long as it was made clear to the Park Board of the NRCB project plans. She recommended the NRCB projects be shared with the Park Board. MOVED by Boardmember Villella, seconded by Boardmember Castillo to take staff’s recommendation for a 20/80 split for four years and after the fourth year, go back to the 65/35 split. Motion carried unanimously. MOVED by Boardmember Perkins, seconded by Boardmember Gunter, to approve the CIP. Motion carried unanimously. 6.c December meeting decision The Staff Liaison stated that traditionally the Board did not meet in December. Chair McKinley asked the Board to think about goals for 2014 for the meeting in January. City of Blaine Page 4 Nat'l Resources Conservation Minutes - Final November 19, 2013 Board MOVED by Boardmember Castillo, seconded by Boardmember Rafferty to cancel the December meeting. Motion carried unanimously. 7. Other Business The Staff Liaison stated Josh Bostrom was having his Eagle Scout Court of Honor ceremony on Sunday, December 15 at 3:00 at the Blaine United Methodist Church and has invited the Boardmembers to his ceremony. 8. Adjournment 8. MOVED by Boardmember Castillo, seconded by Boardmember Schrunk to adjourn the meeting at 8:20 p.m. City of Blaine Page 5