Open Space, Recreation & Historic Preservation Advisory Committee

OPEN SPACE, RECREATION AND HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMITTEE MINUTES September 12, 2012 NEXT MEETING: October 10, 2012, 7:30 PM , Committee Room at Hartley Dodge Memorial Building. Please notify the Chair if unable to attend. PRESENT: A. Baillie, C. Coultas, L. Ellis, M. Honohan, C. Kellogg, R. Poeter. Guest: Tom Haralampoudis CALL TO ORDER: Meeting called to order at 7:38PM. The Open Meeting statement was read. MINUTES: Motion made and passed to accept the minutes as written. Poeter/Baillie MADISON OPEN SPACE TRUST FUND MEETING: A. Melissa Honohan met with Bob Vogel, Ray Codey and Robert Kalafut on the Fund balance and commitments. B. Mr. Kalafut will do a status report for us when all the tax receipts are in. 1. Current balance - $143,000 2. 2012 balance - $416,000 3. Balance at the end of 2012 - $559,000 (Total of 1 and 2) 4. $160,000 commitment for bond interest. 5. At the end of 2013 after the reassessment, total, could be as much as $700,000 or $725,000 C. Fund dollars for 2013 are not designated as yet to pay off debt. D. Can use the fund to leverage purchases. GREEN ACRES FUND UPDATE: A. Mayor Conley, Carmela Vitale, Ray Codey and Bob Landrigan will travel to Trenton to check on Green Acres funding available to us. $1.2M is the amount expected but back log on being released. B. Letter from Green Acres requires that purchased property with Green Acres funding be remediated. (MRC and Bayley Ellard ) 49 acres should be included for testing. C. Need DEP to sign off on the area before we can request more Green Acres funding. OPEN SPACE TRUST FUND PROCESS: A. Need to develop a policy for applying for Madison Open Space Trust Funds. Reach out to the Council and our Liaison, Doc. Esposito to help. B. Also need to develop a application form. Suggested we schedule an extra meeting to work on the appropriate language for the policy and form. Invite  Barbara Heskins- Davis from the Land Conservancy as she worked on Madison”s Open Space Plan. C. Suggestion was that the Fund not cover the complete cost of a fund request but perhaps have the fund cover 80% of the cost and the submitting applicant provide the remaining 20%. D. Suggestion we ask the Mayor and Council how they would advise tapping into Open Space Trust Fund. E. Several items could be funded by the Fund. 1. Cole Park Fountain repairs – Cathie Coultas will try to locate the deed for Cole Park Fountain to see if any restrictions. 2. Roof on Luke Miller Forge needs to be treated. 3. Replace the Memorial Park Shelter 4. MRC amenities. RAIN GARDEN: A. Rain garden at the MRC not working properly B. Repair funding should not come out of Open Space Trust Fund, but should be taken from the original MRC funds. Contact Borough officials on this. (Bob Vogel and Sandy Kolakowski) ADJOURNMENT: Respectfully submitted, Cathie Coultas, Secretary