Environmental Advisory Council

EAC February 20, 2024 Minutes Members in Attendance: George Mullikin, Grant Alger, Steven Nelson, David Reidel, Dan Ford, P.R. West, and Building and Zoning Director Karyn Hyland. Borough Council Member Dennis Livrone and community member Lorraine Sharaf of State Street also attended. Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 6:30 pm. Approval of Minutes January 16, 2023: Minutes were approved as amended. Reports DCAP (Steve): The DCAP steering committee reviewed possible actions by sector that will be modeled to see how much impact they will have on greenhouse gas emissions. Once that is complete, they would like to pass this along to Karyn for a staff review, bring it to EAC, have a joint meeting with the EAC and Planning Commission, and finally, the public. Steve hopes to have this set by the EAC’s April meeting. The Planning Commission has no firm finish date for the comprehensive plan. Karyn will attend a DCAP meeting on March 14, 2024, to facilitate the conversation and help narrow down topics included in the document. Farmer’s Market/Outreach & Communication (Dan): While Dan has no update for the Farmer’s Market, he would like to prepare a framework for when EAC members will be present at the Market and what topics they will be discussing while they are there. Karyn will meet with Bucks TMA, who partnered with the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) to study air quality. This will involve some public outreach, but the Borough does not yet know the scope of the initiative. Karyn believes this may be a good topic for the Farmer’s Market. Steve would like to know if the TMA has any plans for outreach and communication so it can be included with any EAC communications. Bird Town (Grant): Bucks County Birders would like to host a bird walk with some of their master birders. They could pair up with the master gardeners for a lecture and development of outreach and communication. Comprehensive Plan Update (P.R.): Nothing new to report, as the Planning Commission has not met. The Planning Commission will meet again at the end of February to discuss the comprehensive plan. Index of Open Areas (Dan): An overview of the document was given, explaining the rationale behind the document (i.e., links to data sources, etc.). Dan provided a lot of the reasoning he used in making decisions concerning this document. The members of the EAC agreed that this is a complicated concept to define and show on a map. Dan suggested the primary focus of this map should be on land use and type rather than ownership and boundaries of protected parcels. Dan will continue to build the map for the next meeting. Old/New Business: CCA Discussion: George has drafted a basic recommendation based on the sample MOU provided by another municipality. Steve would like to recommend that Council consider the MOU. It is non-binding, and it is not a contract. It starts a relationship between the Borough and the broker. We could do further research to find a broker if we do not want to go with Dennis Rowan’s organization. This MOU will put  the Borough on record to explore this opportunity. A motion was made and seconded to recommend Borough Council consider the MOU. The motion passed unanimously. Earth Day Planning: Grant shared a document that outlines ideas for Earth Day activities. The first question is to nail down a date. This year, Earth Day is celebrated on Saturday, April 20. Grant suggested expanding upon this concept and presented ideas such as bird walks, films at the County Theater, an info tent, and activities at Broad Commons. Grant thinks this should be more impactful than just a table at the Farmer’s Market. The members had a lengthy discussion about their vision, whether to host a function at Broad Commons with several other environmental nonprofits or have a table at the Farmer’s Market. The scope of the event must be determined before any planning takes place. Many ideas were shared, including asking for sponsorship from a place like Burpee Seed Company to donate native seeds or asking an organization to give demonstrations on building bird boxes. It has been determined that Broad Commons may be the best place to hold the event. The EAC members agreed the event will be held on April 20 and as a rain date on April 21. Grant would like to host a bird walk in a Borough park like Veterans Park in Maplewood. It was decided that a bird walk would happen with a location to be determined, an informational table would be placed at the Farmer’s Market, and Earth Day activities would occur in Broad Commons. A lot of great ideas came from this brainstorming session. George wants to revisit this topic at the next meeting and see where everyone is within the planning and logistical stage. Adjournment: With no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 9:21. Respectfully Submitted by: Erika Fellman Minutes Secretary