Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-05-2021 NRB MinutesNATURAL RESOURCES BOARD MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OCTOBER 5, 2021 I. Chairman Stadelman called the Natural Resources Board meeting to order at 6:00 P.M. Pledae of Allegiance was recited by all. III. Roll Call Present: Ms. Lovell Mr. Carrano Ms. Callaghan Ms. Ware Absent: Ms. Valenzuela — Unexcused Dr. Mosblech (Zoom) Mr. Stadelman Dr. Carrier Mr. Bradley (Zoom) Also Present: Ms. Kim Haigler, Environmental Planner Mr. Gary Vicars, MIS Technical Analyst Ms. Janet Graham, Technical Writer (Zoom) IV. Aooroval of Minutes — Auousl 8. 2021 All Board members having had a chance to review the Minutes, Mr. Stadelman called for a Motion. A motion to approve the Minutes of August 8, 2021 as presented was made by Ms. Callaghan, seconded by Mr. Carrano, and approved unanimously via voice vote. V. Announcements A. Mr. Stadelman stated that Ms. Daisy Packer -Morris is unable to attend this evening, so the KIRB presentation will not be made. B. Mr. Stadelman stated that April 23, 2022 will be the Earth Day celebration. Ms. Haigler stated that the last Earth Day went well and was a good fund raiser for everyone involved. Ms. Ware stated that the Art Club will again participate and will again do face painting. She also hopes to get the school involved again with the poster contest. NATURAL RESOURCES BOARD PAGE MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OF OCTOBER 5, 2021 VI. Public Input -- None VII. A. Police Department Night Out, October 10, 5-7 p.m. Outreach opportunity Ms. Haigler said this event has been very well attended in the past. Different departments of the City have their own tables and discuss what they do. Presently, she believes that Stormwater will have a table. FEMA, and the Building Department will also have tables. Residents who attend will have a chance to address different departments directly. She added that part of the Sustainable Sebastian initiative is to increase NRB's outreach, especially at City -sponsored events like this, and she has all the items that will be needed. She will be there, and she only needs two volunteers. Mr. Stadelman and Dr. Carrier volunteered to assist. B. City -Wide Demonstration Gardens Initiative Discussion of current demonstration gardens Ms. Haigler reviewed that currently at City Hall a lot of the native plants have been self - seeding and spreading. More plants from the Audubon Society can be added. They have some new plants available. She asked for input from any Board members who are interested. She would like to add some diversity of the plants because the plants that are self -seeding presently are all yellow. She would like to add some plants of different colors. There is also a demonstration garden at the Garden Club Park. That was installed with assistance of the ladies from the Sebastian Garden Club. They will be having a meeting this Saturday, and they will be discussing what worked and what did not work. She stated that the plants that are gotten from the Audubon Society are great native plants. They donate them, but they are very small. She asked for anyone who Is willing to "babysit" plants until they get a little larger to let her know. Ms. Ware suggested a rain barrel be placed somewhere at Riverview Park. Ms. Haigler explained that items such as rain barrels go against the City's ordinances, as they were not used back when the ordinances were established. She said there is a whole list of things to include in a new comprehensive plan that will be addressed. She will address things pertaining to a new comp plan and ordinance revisions at the next NRB meeting. Ms. Haigler reviewed that there is a shade garden at Hardee Park that was put in by Sebastian Junior Women's Club. Over the years people have planted random plants that do not belong or are invasive. She asked if anyone on the Board is familiar with NATURAL RESOURCES BOARD PAGE 3 MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OF OCTOBER 5, 2021 shade natives to let her know so that it can be shown what can be done under trees, such as ferns, etc. 2. Possible signage enforcements Ms. Haigler stated that at all the parks and at City Hall there are new signs posted. A whole sign master plan was implemented, and new signs were installed at all the parks and City properties. She suggested that every sign have a planting that is standard, so that they are all alike. She added that Brian Benton, Director of Leisure Services, asked that we start at City Hall, Riverview Park, and Barber Street to do the plantings. Mulching has already been done under the signs, and those areas do get irrigation. 3. Riverview Park Improvements Ms. Haigler explained that there is irrigation there, but it does not reach all of the areas. She also reviewed that Riverview Park does not have a native garden. The irrigation at the park is being renovated and should be completed within the next month, and areas at the entrances to the park and around the perimeter can then be used to display native plants. Now that there will be much better irrigation coverage in the park, some beautiful plantings can be done along the sidewalks and along US 1 so as not to interfere with vendors' booths when events are held. She does not know how long the plants will be available from the Audubon Society, so she would like to do as many plantings as possible while the plants are still available. She said that Sebastian Garden Club ladies are very interested in assisting with these plantings. Vill. Old Business Ms. Callaghan stated that a couple meetings ago the Board had voted to purchase a plan so that people could, instead of printing out voluminous pages of material, submit everything together in a site plan. Ms. Haigler reviewed that the headquarters for that program are located in Louisiana, and they were affected by the hurricane. The meeting was rescheduled, and the City had to reschedule that meeting, but the plan is to definitely have that meeting. She explained that there are many elements included in a site plan, and the County has already begun to work on this plan. She will let everyone know when the meeting has been held. IX. Member Matters Mr. Stadelman asked what is required for having a guest speaker. Ms. Haigler said to just let her know, and she would handle it. She also suggested approaching different NATURAL RESOURCES BOARD PAGE MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OF OCTOBER 5, 2021 groups such as the Rotary Club or Chamber of Commerce to request a speaker to come to one of the NRB meetings. She needs to have two weeks' notice so that she can put the speaker on the meeting agenda. Mr. Stadelman also asked if a speaker would be able to participate via Zoom. Ms. Haigler said yes. Ms. Callaghan suggested Emily Dark, from Leave No Trace. Ms. Haigler said Ms. Dark is difficult to get ahold of, as she is verybusy. Ms. Callaghan said she would be happy to contact Ms. Dark. Mr. Stadelman asked if there is interest in doing a float for the Christmas Parade again this year. It was the consensus of the Board that they would like to do it again this year. Ms. Haigler explained for the new Board members what is involved and that she needs to be the hub for that project. She also reminded everyone that candy wrapped in plastic should not be given out. She also has seeds to give out again. She will put this on the agenda for the next meeting. Mr. Stadelman thanked everyone who participated in the IPM plans. It was a lot of work, and a lot of time was invested in those plans. Mr. Stadelman said he is working on the package for the solar project to provide for car charging, etc. FPL has a program where they basically put in all the infrastructure for almost no cost. This pertains to all the City vehicles as well as putting car chargers around the City. FPL will maintain everything, and the City buys the electricity. He should have that information by the next meeting. Ms. Haigler suggested Mr. Stadelman provide that information to the Community Development Department for their review as well. Ms. Lovell reviewed that the netting for the riverfront area had been spoken about at a prior meeting. She inquired about the status. Ms. Haigler said that is a CRA matter because that applies to waterfront businesses. The CRA is a separate tax district. Lisa Frazier is the Director of Community Development, and she supports the idea. This matter is being discussed, and it needs to be decided how it will be handled as far as funding, etc. Ms. Callaghan asked if there are any other items under the Sustainable Sebastian initiative that the Board could be working on. She mentioned the Litter Quitter program that has been discussed in the past and the fact that restaurants are still using plastic straws. Ms. Haigler explained that because of COVID, everyone was scrambling to get their take-out products, and she felt it was not a good time to address the businesses about making smarter choices. At that point, they were buying whatever they could get. She thinks it is now time to readdress that matter. She will reach out to Daisy Packer - Morris to set up another training event for volunteers. Ms. Callaghan also mentioned a NATURAL RESOURCES BOARD PAGE MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OF OCTOBER 5, 2021 system for volunteers to log in where they have visited and what was accomplished. Ms. Haigler said there is a system set up by KIRB where volunteers can log in and fill out what they did, and that will be reviewed. She explained how the whole program will work, using KIRB to get started. She said there is funding for this program for the decals, etc. Her suggestion is to ask local breweries to sponsor the coasters. X. Staff Matters Ms. Haigler reviewed the success of the IPM plans and the media coverage on them. She was contacted by an IPM specialist with IFAS, and he is looking into getting an IPM certification for planners. He is going to use some of our materials, and she is going to have some input for it. She emphasized that Sebastian led the way on those programs as there is not another municipality, including the large municipalities, doing what our small municlpality did with those IPM plans. The plans are already being implemented by City staff, and the data are already being entered. She is looking forward to seeing how from year to year less chemicals are being used. Ms. Haigler said she has plaques for the other members who were involved in the IPM process, including Brian O'Neill and Kathy Brothers. Ms. Haigler mentioned Dr. Carrier's talk at MRC last month. She said it was incredible. She Teamed a lot about sharks. Forbes Magazine came out with a list of the top marine biology books of all time, and Dr. Cartier has four books on that list Ms. Haigler said she reached out to the graduate student that did the bottlecap study. She has not yet heard back. She said she has the bottlecaps already. Ms. Callaghan suggested that if that research student has an advisor —and they usually do —talking to the adviser. XI. Items for Next Aaenda A. Introduction to green infrastructure Ms. Haigler said she has scheduled a class at the end of the month on low -impact development. It is sponsored by MRC. She has also been working on her certifications and GIS, which is digital mapping. It is about mapping our green infrastructure. It is taking the City's parks and properties, County conservation and County -owned properties, and drainage rights -of -way and putting them all together. She is going to bring the map to the next meeting, and she wants to talk about green infrastructure, including what can be done to enhance the connectivity as it pertains to wildlife. B. New comp plan and ordinance revisions NATURAL RESOURCES BOARD PAGE MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OF OCTOBER 5, 2021 Ms. Hagler reviewed that the green infrastructure ties in with the new comp plan and the ordinance revisions that we are going to discuss. We have looked at the new comp plan and have read the Natural Resources section of it. We need to know how different it is from what we are already doing. So we are going to see the comparison between what our current ordinances are and what we are going to be changing. Ms. Haigler added that by the December meeting, she is planning on that meeting being a workshop for low -impact development and green infrastructure. Ms. Callaghan asked if the board members for Parks and Recreation can be invited. Ms. Haigler said yes, and she noted that she works a lot with the Director of Parks and Recreation. She actually goes out to the parks and walks the parks with members of the Parks and Recreation Board, and they discuss future plans for the parks. Presently, staff are looking at a restoration project for Bark Park. She hopes to have some news on that in the next couple months. She would definitely invite the Parks and Recreation Board members and the Planning and Zoning Commission members as well. She would also like to have some residents attend. XII. Adjournment There being nothing further, Mr. Stadelman called for a motion to adjourn. A motion to adjourn was made by Ms. Callaghan, seconded by Ms. Ware, and approved unanimously � via voice vote. ! � By: A Date: