Environmental Advisory Council

EAC October 15, 2024 Minutes Members in Attendance: Steven Nelson, Dan Ford, David Reidel, Grant Alger (via Zoom), and Building and Zoning Director Karyn Hyland. Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 6:30 pm. Approval of Minutes September 17, 2024: Minutes were approved as amended. Reports: Farmer’s Market/Outreach & Communication: It was proposed the Farmer’s Market be removed from the agenda for the time being. It was decided to keep it on the agenda for tracking purposes. The Borough's social media channels sent a “Leave the Leaves” announcement. Grant has some edits to make to the EAC website. Steve would like to provide some information on ticks while eliminating any “medical advice” from the data. Ticks will be an April communication topic and will probably be rolled out on social media channels rather than DMail. Earth Day: There is a concern about the weather when hosting an outdoor event. Steve thinks there should be an alternate day, an alternate location, or to cancel the event if the weather is undesirable. Some alternate locations could be the firehouse, the library, a school gymnasium, or even the County parking garage. Steve is also concerned about the amount of time that is spent planning. Is there a way to keep the project's scope but draw in more people? Several options were discussed for tracking the number of attendees and how much of an impact the event has. Options for activities include a film screening, invasive plant removal at Borough Park, and a bird walk. Attending the Farmer’s Market on Earth Day and promoting more discreet activities (the film screening, etc.) would allow for involvement with Earth Day and flexibility. The final consensus is to keep the activities at Broad Commons and expand on this year’s event. DCAP: There was a discussion regarding scheduling the public presentation of the proposed plan. The concern is that the December meeting will be hard to get people to attend, so it may be best to push the public unveiling to a meeting next year, with further scheduling to be determined. Steve presented the high-impact recommendations to the ERC at their last meeting. Bird Town: Grant sent his presentation to the group and asked for member feedback. The Bird Town meeting will be held on Zoom as there are now 72 Bird Towns in the Commonwealth. Grant wants a presentation ready for the next Bird Town meeting in case Doylestown is chosen to share it. Comprehensive Plan Update: Karyn shared where to find a draft of the Comp Plan. The October 8 Comp Plan meeting has the first rough draft of the plan. Significant edits are happening, although the general recommendations will probably stay the same. It does not include the recommendations that have come out of the DCAP. They will meet again on November 12, 2024, and Karyn expects noteworthy changes will occur. Karyn expects it to be handed over to Borough Council by the end of the year. Index of Open Areas: Dan has little to update right now. However, finding a way to share the Index meaningfully is still a priority. Dan noted how using the Index can help the Linden Elementary advocacy group to save their school, and a discussion was held about ways to find quantifiable data to be used towards that end. The members also discussed how the data taken from the inventory could be used in the future for decision-making, such as conversations about open spaces in the Borough. Dan would like to develop some actionable plans before the next meeting.  Old/New Business: Under New Business, Grant mentioned the tour of Chapman and Veteran’s Parks. The discussion focused on preserving space. Grant wonders if a zoning amendment can maintain the area as open space. Dan thinks an easement could be a better way to protect the current space. Deed restrictions are another option to be considered, and they would be more difficult to undo than an easement or zoning amendment. Adjournment: With no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 8:43 pm. Respectfully Submitted by: Erika Fellman Minutes Secretary