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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-14-2023 NRB MinutesIV. NATURAL RESOURCES BOARD MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING NOVEMBER 14, 2023 Chairman Stadelman called the Natural Resources Board meeting to order at 6:01 p.m. Pledge of Allegiance was recited by all. Roll Call Present: Dr. Carrier Ms. Ware Mr. Stadelman Absent Ms. Callaghan -- Excused Mr. Carrano -- Excused Ms. Haggerty (a) -- Excused Ms. Billman Dr. Mosblech (Zoom) Also Present: Felicia Gordian, Environmental Technician Brian Benton, City Manager (Zoom) Joseph Perez, AV Technical Assistant Dominic Adams, AV Technical Assistant Janet Graham, Technical Writer Approval of Minutes -- October 3, 2023 Mr. Stadelman called for a motion. A motion approving the Minutes of October 3, 2023 was made by Ms. Ware, seconded by Dr. Carrier, and approved unanimously via voice vote. V. Announcements Ms. Ware announced that this coming Saturday, November 18th, the Art Club will be at Riverview Park between 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. There will be beautiful art on display, and they will make great Christmas presents. NATURAL RESOURCES BOARD MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING NOVEMBER 14, 2023 Ms. Ware also announced that the Art Club will be December 1st, which will take place at the Art Club itself. go to the Food Bank. VI. Aqenda Modifications -- None Vil. Public Input -- None Vill. Unfinished Business A. Sustainable Sebastian PAGE 2 hosting its bazaar starting on The proceeds from this event i. Reduction of Single -Use Plastics -- Champion: Ruth Callaghan Mr. Stadelman stated that Ms. Callaghan is not at the meeting this evening. a. Progress Update i. Items Due 1. Comparison Sheet for alternatives to SU Plastics -- Sarah Haggerty 2. Updated info Packet for Event Vendors & Businesses, & Schools -- Donna Ware b. Next Task Assignment Ms. Gordian stated that she can provide the updates for this meeting. At our next meeting, this item can be discussed while Ms. Callaghan is present. Ms. Gordian described the items due at this time are the Comparison Sheet for the alternative items from Sarah Haggerty and the updated Information Packet for vendors from Donna Ware. She added that the Cost Comparison Sheet is included in the agenda packet. One side contains the list from Ms. Haggerty, including the items in red, which were single -use items. Everything in black on her side of the sheet is the more sustainable options. On the back Ms. Gordian created another sheet, which she described. Ms. Ware said she has gone online and scoped out a few practical tips, which she had previously provided. She suggested creating a bi-fold or a tri-fold document to hand out to people. Ms. Gordian interjected that everyone should have a copy of the information sheet from Ms. Ware in their updated agenda packet. NATURAL RESOURCES BOARD MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING NOVEMBER 14, 2023 PAGE 3 Ms. Gordian suggested doing that same thing but not with all the items, and she asked if anyone would consider doing that. Ms. Ware said her only question about providing this information to the public, she is aware that we are looking at mainly the restaurants. She suggested that we have two pathways at the same time because she thinks the general public will be interested in the educational information for themselves, especially when we are out in the park and doing other things, that we have something to hand out that is concise. She pointed out that the NRB has still not resolved the issue about going out to restaurants. Ms. Gordian added that she can then post some graphics on our Facebook page and having a regular series of tips that we provide to the public so that there is a constant flow of information, sharing, and education as well as taking that information to schools. Ms. Billman asked, regarding the City facilities if we have to use to -go containers, or is it more things like flatware, paper goods and things like that. Ms. Gordian said flatware and paper plates are the most typical items as well as maybe straws. As far as using to -go containers, that would be if there is a gathering at City Hall, i.e., an employee is leaving, and a luncheon is held for that person. Ms. Billman also suggested that we provide the restaurants with a copy of this list to look at for comparison purposes. Ms. Gordian agreed. Ms. Gordian added that there are a few contacts that she has with several of the purveyors whom Sarah was looking into. If anyone has the opportunity to reach out to these purveyors for some of this information, that would be helpful. She asked that anyone who would volunteer to participate in getting that information, to contact her. Mr. Stadelman volunteered for this task. ii. Native Landscaping -- Champion: Sherida Billman a. Progress Update 1. Item Due: Meeting with Antoine Vanmeir (Parks and Recreation Department) b. Next Task Assignment Ms. Billman said she did have a meeting with Mr. Vanmeir. They did not make any major decisions on what they are going to do. They felt it was important to meet with the staff who actually takes care of the parks and to get input from them as to what they are comfortable maintaining and also if they have suggestions for plants that they might be agreeable to have in their areas. She said she learned with the staffing, each park is assigned NATURAL RESOURCES BOARD MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING NOVEMBER 14, 2023 PAGE 4 to a specific person, and that person will do maybe multiple parks. She will follow up on setting up another meeting. Ms. Gordian provided an update on the Tulip Pond project. The fountain has finally been installed. She added that Sebastian has a grant extension to May 30, 2024. The plan going forward with this is that, up through the end of December, staff will be working on all preparations for the planting, any removal of sod, etc. On January 19th9 2024, we are planning our first Florida Arbor Day celebration. That will be considered as the first phase of the planting, and the eight new trees and their companion plants are supposed to be planted on that date. The subsequent plantings will be done in March and April. Four months after each planting there will be a volunteer taking photos to show how the plants have progressed over that time. Mr. Stadelman pointed out that the Tulip Pond project is a commercial tax demonstration project, meaning commercial entities can use Tulip Pond as an example of what to do for their landscaping, and they can get a tax credit for it, in reference to the Stormwater Fee Credit Program. iii. Tree Protection & Landscaping Ordinances -- Champion: Thomas Carrano a. Progress Update i. Item Due: Outline of Areas for Improvement - Staff b. Next Task Assignment Ms. Gordian reviewed that previously it was discussed regarding having a list of areas for improvement for these ordinances. She drafted a list going through just the residential tree protections and landscaping section summarizing what she thinks are some of the major points. Other staff members have advised her to make additions to the list. She would appreciate feedback on the list. She also added that with the new Community Development Director there will be new valuable input regarding this item. iv. Resource Conservation -- Champion: Donna Ware a. Progress Update i. Item Due: Outline for City Staff on Resource Consumption & Conservation b. Next Task Assignment Ms. Ware stated she is not certain what her tasks are. Ms. Gordian explained her two tasks are blended. One for the single -use plastic section was taking the PowerPoint that Ms. Callaghan had developed and turning that into a physical packet that can be handed out. The other is more for outreach that we can distribute to staff members internally to get started NATURAL RESOURCES BOARD MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING NOVEMBER 14, 2023 PAGE 5 on not just single -use plastics, but on paper consumption, energy, and fuel uses, etc. v. Green Infrastructure and LID -- Champion: Nicole Mosblech a. Progress Update i. Item Due: Newhall & Tuxedo Tract Reports -- Staff b. Next Task Assignment Dr. Mosblech reviewed that she had reached out to Ms. Gordian over the last couple of months. Over the next months she has a list of four parks that she would like to visit. She will have a better update for everyone then. One thing she did want to mention is that she goes to the Stormwater Park on Englar, and one of the invasives that she has been noticing is a vast amount of air potato. She said she has done air -potato -removal events with the Audubon Society, and she was wondering if this might be something we could incorporate into perhaps our Earth Day or a volunteer day in April. Mr. Stadelman suggested they could set it up at a later date. Ms. Ware thinks that is an excellent idea, and we can wait another month to get into it after we get through some other events. She suggested that school kids would love to do that as a school project. Ms. Billman agreed that it is an excellent idea. Dr. Carrier added that it is important to note that some of our priorities on Earth Day have shifted a little bit, and Felicia is going to be talking about some of our living shoreline projects that she is pioneering. He suggested that we are not going to be able to continue with what we have done with the oyster mats. So, having a hands-on project, which is what Dr. Mosblech is suggesting, would be a good substitute. Ms. Gordian thanked Dr. Mosblech for bringing this subject up. She has a report that she will discuss that has on it a couple of the tracts that she visited recently, and we can go over how the invasive species are involved in that. She thinks getting the public involved in this project is a great way to take some of the load off the City when it comes to maintenance of these areas. Dr. Mosblech stated she has done this twice with the Pelican Island Audubon Society, and it almost seems that if someone does this on a regular basis, it does help cut back on the overwhelming task of trying to get the air potato out of there. Mr. Stadelman suggested putting this item on the next agenda. Regarding the Tuxedo Tract report, Ms. Gordian said she has the reports on both the Newhall tract and the Tuxedo tract. She described the area where these two tracts are located and the makeup of each tract. NATURAL RESOURCES BOARD PAGE 6 MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING NOVEMBER 14, 2023 vi. Sidewalks & Bikeways -- Champion: Charles Stadelman a. Progress Update i. Item Due: Champion Meeting a. Next Task Assignment b. Review of Task Assignments Mr. Stadelman stated that the sidewalks and bikeways are all tied in to overall transportation and state mobility guidelines. What he looked at were the sidewalks and bikeways as they traveled over the railroad tracks. A lot of what was talked about was redoing a lot of the sidewalks as they are going down Barber Street and addressing what we can and cannot do. A lot of the sidewalks have to end because someone owns that piece of property. He recalled that there were a couple of areas that could be worked on, but doing sidewalks is difficult, mostly because they are tied directly into the roads. He suggested transferring his duties to Ms. Callaghan. He explained that there is not much that can be done regarding sidewalks, and she is more effective and is more knowledgeable about what needs to be done for sidewalks and bike paths. She is a cycler, and he could transfer those duties to her, and if she will take them on, he would appreciate it. He will check on that. Ms. Gordian said that needs to be discussed with Ms. Callaghan, since she is the champion for single -use plastics. Mr. Stadelman emphasized that someone needs to go to the county meetings, and we need representation at the county level. Sebastian needs to be involved in that way. He added that the monies come from federal, state, and county, and it stops there. Ms. Billman spoke regarding the Schumann Drive area. With the Brightline coming through, she asked if they are responsible for putting sidewalks across the tracks. Mr. Stadelman stated there are actually sidewalks crossing the tracks. They are just finishing up the project, and they have to provide access. Until they are done with the project, you will not really see what is going on. Ms. Gordian stated that a lot of the issues that we have with the sidewalks and bikeways in the City of Sebastian are due to the amount of right-of-way space that we have. Unfortunately, when Sebastian was developed, not a lot of consideration was given for the amount of right-of-way space that would be needed eventually. She discussed where there are opportunities to put sidewalks, and there might be something related to a community engagement, talking to people about the issues that they see in their neighborhoods as far as the implementation of sidewalks or issues that there might be because of the fact that we have such limited space for the sidewalks. Mr. Stadelman added that, according to the city map, there is one area along Carnation Drive where there could actually be a sidewalk installed. He added that focus on NATURAL RESOURCES BOARD MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING NOVEMBER 14, 2023 PAGE 7 pedestrian crossings also needs to be continued. For instance, there are limited pedestrian crossings in the Riverview Park area. He also added that certain pedestrian crossings are governed by the Department of Transportation, and that is not going to change. Regarding next task assignments, Ms. Gordian stated that for single -use plastics, at the next step forward, at our next meeting let's aim to discuss our recommendations for the best uses to implement. She suggested that before our next meeting, Mr. Stadelman contact the purveyors and get that information back to her. Regarding native landscaping, she added that the next step will be organizing a meeting with Park staff and working with them regarding where they are willing to work on new landscaping. As to the tree protection and landscaping ordinance, Ms. Gordian stated this item is on hold for now. She suggested that when the new Community Development Director gets settled, we will have more information on this one. In the meantime, if all the Board members will look over the suggestions that she had made for the potential areas for improvement in the Code, if you see other areas for improvement that she has missed, please bring them to her attention. As for green infrastructure and low -impact development, Ms. Gordian addressed Dr. Mosblech and asked her, if she has a park or two that she visits during the holiday season, report on that at the next meeting As for sidewalks and bikeways, Mr. Stadelman stated he would like to include Ms. Callaghan on that item. Ms. Gordian stated she does not think both Mr. Stadelman and Ms. Callaghan would be permitted to meet to discuss this subject. B. Christmas Parade Preparations i. Float Options ii. Final Preparations iii. Parade Day General discussion was had regarding the float options, final preparations, and parade day. Ms. Billman had a suggestion for a sign with the Sebastian logo and a hole in the sign where people could put their faces representing the six old grouches, and this could be a photo op for people. All thought that was a great idea for something like that in the future, as the parade is only two weeks away. After discussion, it was decided to use a truck with a flatbed trailer for the float, as was used last year. Ms. Gordian said there are some funds available if needed. The time for working on the float was discussed, starting NATURAL RESOURCES BOARD MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING NOVEMBER 14, 2023 PAGE 8 at 3:00 p.m. the day of the parade, as well as who would handle acquiring the plants, (Ms. Ware), the hay bales (Dr. Carrier). Ms. Billman stated that she did reach out to the Audubon Society. They have a character, Peli, a pelican. She was hoping we could use this mascot and put it on our float, but was told that Vero Beach is having their parade the same day as Sebastian, so she suggested that maybe next year we could put the mascot on our float. IX. New Business Living Shorelines Briefing on Partnership with ORCA. Ms. Gordian stated that ORCA's focus is on aquatic ecosystems and the development of innovative technologies, conservation, education, and outreach. She has been having discussions with Missy Weiss regarding the kayak launch at Riverview Park. She was recently introduced to Ms. Weiss, and they began discussing living shorelines and buffered shorelines. This is something that ORCA has worked on with many other projects on living shorelines and buffered shorelines, and they are proposing that we can update our current kayak launch at Riverview Park and give it a buffered shoreline/living shoreline. She described how this would be implemented. There is an Indian River Lagoon Council grant that ORCA would apply for in order to move forward with this project. These grants are open now, and ORCA has some additional funding if need be. The City does have some additional funds that would be available to us if we needed to work through that. She added that we have requirements that we have to meet for FEMA purposes. If we have to meet FEMA requirements, we may need to update our shorelines anyway, so this would be extremely helpful, and this would be something that would help us with our BMAP credits. If we do receive the exemption from the DEP, that would be around June of 2024. If ORCA is fortunate enough to receive grant funding, that would be in approximately October 2024. Mr. Stadelman congratulated the City Council members who were elected. X. Adiournment There being no further business, Mr. Stadelman called for a motion to adjourn. A motion NATURAL RESOURCES BOARD MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING NOVEMBER 14, 2023 PAGE 9 to adjourn the meeting was made by Ms. Ware, seconded by Dr. Carrier, and approved unanimously via voice vote. • j9 Date: �'� • o k a