Open Space, Recreation & Historic Preservation Advisory Committee

OPEN SPACE, RECREATION AND HISTORIC PRESERVATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES August 8, 2012 NEXT MEETING: September 12, 2012, 7:30 PM, Committee Room at Hartley Dodge Memorial Building. Please notify the Chair if unable to attend. PRESENT: A. Baillie, C. Coultas, M. Durham, L. Ellis, M. Honohan, R. Poeter OPEN MEETING STATEMENT: Statement read prior to Call to Order MINUTES: Approved as written PURPOSE AND RESPONSIBILITIES: A. Open Space, Recreation and Historic Preservation section of the Madison Ordinance distributed and discussed. B. See Ordinance attached to official minutes. FINANCIAL REVIEW: A. Madison’s Open Space Fund can be used for purchases, long term leases and to bring down the debt if qualified under the rules B. List of Madison properties of interest was always discussed and updated by the Committee in the past. C. Important to know what funds are available in the Trust Fund. Source of information would be Robert Kalafut. D. Mayor Conley would like a budget review and a short and long term plan developed. This plan would then be distributed to other related groups for discussion. E. The question came up as to who did the environmental reports on the MRC and Bayley Ellard fields. Plans need to be developed in cooperation with the Recreation Dept. F. The ROSI will need to updated – Bob Vogel is the contact on this. COOPERATIVE PLANNING: A. Several groups should be working together on Sustainable Madison. B. Meetings should be set up with appropriate committees. C. Barbara Heskins –Davis from the NJ Land Conservancy is the go to person with Open Space planning and history questions as the Conservancy created Madsion’s Open Space Inventory. TRACTION LINE: A. Morris County property so would need to work with them. B. Morris County has submitted a grant request to study the Line. C. Recreation Dept should initiate with the Mayor and Council working with Morris County on the encroachment problem. HISTORIC SITES INVENTORY: Work in progress but the data base has been completed. NEW BUSINESS: A. Parks signs should be increased to identify parks more clearly. Example: The entrance to Summerhill from DeHart Street. The Open Space Committee should not be the one to take the lead on this. Parks Committee will be notified by Parks liaison, Cathie Coultas. B. Zoning Board should have maps of environmentally sensitive land. 1. Need to improve the stewardship of our Open Spaces. Environmental Commission should also have maps of sensitive lands. 2. Should we have a representative from Giralda Farms on our Committee? Could be of help with some of the bike path connectors. KALAFUT MEETING: A. Annual OS Trust Fund income is $416,000 B. Currently $362,000 fund balance C. Need to know what the commitments are for the fund. D. After re- assessment of Madison property, the fund could yield as much as $700,000. MEETING ADJOURNED Respectfully submitted, Cathie Coultas, Secretary