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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-02-2025 NRB MinutesIV. NATURAL RESOURCES BOARD MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING SEPTEMBER 2, 2025 Chairperson Stadelman called the Natural Resources Board meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. Pledge of Allegiance was recited by all. Roll Call Present: Mr. Stadelman Ms. Thompson Mr. Krauss Not Present: Ms. Ware (Excused) Mr. Carrano (Excused) Also Present Mr. Bruggen Ms. Shellenberger (a) Mr. Trinkle Alix Bernard, Community Development Director Felicia Gordian, Environmental Technician Joseph Perez, AV Technical Assistant Janet Graham, Technical Writer Approval of Minutes A. August 5, 2025, Natural Resources Board Meeting Minutes All having indicated they had reviewed the Minutes of August 5, 2025, Mr. Stadelman called for a motion. A motion approving the Minutes of August 5, 2025 as presented was made by Mr. Krauss, seconded by Ms. Shellenberger, and approved unanimously via voice vote. V. Announcements A. Mr. Stadelman said that Ms. Ware and Mr. Carrano will not be in attendance tonight. As such, the alternate member, Ms. Shellenberger, shall be voting during tonight's meeting. B. Mr. Stadelman said that on August 12, 2025, Mr. Frank Trinkle was appointed by the City Council as a regular member of the Natural Resources Board. As such, there is currently one vacant alternate position available. NATURAL RESOURCES BOARD PAGE 2 MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING SEPTEMBER 2, 2025 C. Living Docks Workshop with IRC -- Friday, September 19, 2025 Ms. Gordian said there is a living docks workshop coming up. This is in partnership with the Indian River County Natural Resources Department, their Lagoon Division. She stated that in tonight's agenda packet there is a flyer for the workshop itself. It is taking place on September 19t' from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at Riverview Park. We are very excited for this event. This will be a nice partnership to continue the Living Docks efforts that have been started by the Natural Resources Board in the past. Hopefully, we will see more of these sorts of projects come to fruition. She had the opportunity to join this division and some of their volunteers at a Living Docks installation at another location just outside of our city borders. As far as attendance goes, this is not mandatory, but staff would really appreciate your attendance if you can come to the workshop. Ms. Ware did indicate that she would be able to be present for the event. If there are any of you who are interested, please make sure that you sign up and register officially with the Natural Resources Department at the County using the link. , There is a QR code on the flyer itself, or you could reach out to them. Their contact information is on the flyer. Their website is Indian River.00v/naturalresources. That is on the bottom of the flyer. The County does similar projects throughout the year. They host several other events such as the Living Docks installation that she was able to attend last week. These opportunities may come up throughout the year; it is not just a one-time program. She added that, if you are interested in attending, she would like to know. However, you do not need to inform her at this time. There was discussion regarding the Living Docks program and what it entails. Ms. Heather Stapleton from the Indian River Lagoon at National Estuary program. She commented on the discussion. There will be two sessions on that Friday. One is from 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. The other is from 10:30 to 12:00 p.m. She described what both the sessions will be about. Mr. Trinkle stated that a couple of weeks ago it was announced that 180 countries were getting together to try to reduce the amount of plastics. It completely failed. Too many countries said no, we are not interested in reducing plastic. So, that will probably affect all the way down to ideas of single -use plastic in which we are involved. D. Presentation from Nicolette Mariano of Treasure Coast Shellfish. Ms. Mariano introduced herself and described her position with Treasure Coast Shellfish. She said that they are the only oyster aquaculture farm in Indian River County and the Treasure Coast. She gave a presentation describing what the group does and showed several slides which showed what the oyster program is all about. There were questions from the board members and extended discussion regarding her presentation. NATURAL RESOURCES BOARD PAGE 3 MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING SEPTEMBER 2, 2025 VI. Aqenda Modifications -- None VII. Public Input Ray Osborne identified himself and stated that he thinks that plants are really important. He tries to get feedback in the community from different people. He recalled when he was a volunteer for the City planting several native trees. He still goes back and checks on his tree. Native plants mostly take care of themselves, so there is not a lot of work involved in maintaining them. He read an Al synopsis of the importance of native plants and trees. He has a seminar coming up on September 13t' regarding finding more volunteers. He also spoke on the properties of solar and the maintenance of solar panels. VIII. Unfinished Business A. Treasure Coast Waterway Cleanup -- Debrief Ms. Gordian stated that she has the official results back from the Marine Industries Association of the Treasure Coast on the most recent waterway cleanup. She described how much debris was collected. The entire cleanup totaled 3.93 tons of debris, and there were 1,206 volunteers who participated. In Sebastian, it was 0.4 tons of debris, and there were 55 volunteers from Sebastian. She mentioned that she found the Butterball turkey to be the most interesting object discovered. She added that at the last committee meeting it was mentioned that they were seeing high numbers of debris in other areas, and there were mixed reports on the volume of debris found in the Sebastian area. Mr. Krauss had a question about whether they try to recycle some of the items that are found. Ms. Gordian said that is a good point and is worth bringing up in the future. B. Sustainable Sebastian Ms. Gordian reviewed the update to the plan. She stated that there are two pieces of fertilizer ordinance matters that staff has been working on. Ms. Thompson has developed an infographic to promote awareness of the fertilizer ordinances and particularly the period of time that is currently in effect when people are not supposed to be utilizing fertilizers. She added that we will probably have to add the fertilizer ordinance number to the documents. That way, people will have that as a reference point that they can look into as part of the City's code. She said that the same thing would go for Mr. Trinkle's document that he has shared with us. The City's Communications and Social Media Coordinator will take the information and turn that into a colorful and approachable piece of outreach materials that we can give people alternatives to using traditional fertilizers, especially during this period of time when certain fertilizers are not supposed to be used. NATURAL RESOURCES BOARD MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING SEPTEMBER 2, 2025 PAGE 4 Mr. Stadelman reminded everyone that there is a prohibited application period of the fertilizer ordinance in effect from June 1st through September 30tn. Mr. Bruggen asked a question about putting signs at businesses throughout Sebastian regarding the fertilizer ordinance. Ms. Bernard said she is not currently aware of that idea, but she stated that is something that she wants staff to look at for future years. Ms. Thompson mentioned that her goal was to outline the mechanism of how fertilizers, etc. are getting to the lagoon. She wants people to understand what is going on between the time the fertilizers are applied and when they are going into the lagoon. Ms. Gordian brought up the subject of Garden Club Park. She stated there are a few signage-related items that need to be mentioned. Ms. Thompson is working on some verbiage for the signs related to the planting that is going to be implemented. She added that Mr. Bruggen just sent her some information on potential Stormwater signage regarding the pond and how it plays into the park's scheme as a whole. Ms. Gordian stated that staff is looking at hosting a weeding workday at Garden Club Park to help mitigate any of the invasive species that are starting to invade the native landscaping. That will be on the calendar, and on October 11 th the Garden Club Park workday will occur. Ms. Bernard added that this will be in partnership with the Girl Scouts and the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee. Ms. Gordian added that this project is open to the public, so volunteer groups can come out and join us. Mr. Trinkle said he is working on item 14A. He did a lot of research and put together some suggestions that would probably work to fill that need. He referred to 16B on the Stormwater fee credit program. He did some research on this matter and what other cities and counties are doing around the state for stormwater fee discounts for various management procedures. There was discussion about an energy audit. Ms. Bernard said that the City's Facility Director has met with a potential company regarding an energy audit. She is not sure what the outcome of that meeting was, but she knows that a meeting has taken place. Mr. Krauss mentioned that on item 20A, he chose sandhill cranes and explained his rationale for that choice. Ms. Gordian discussed how important our interactions are with the wildlife in our area. Mr. Bruggen discussed his assignment and said he could not do much while he was out of town, but he will be getting together with Ms. Gordian now that he is back home. NATURAL RESOURCES BOARD MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING SEPTEMBER 2, 2025 PAGE 5 Ms. Thompson spoke regarding the Tree City Growth Award. She described the program, and she will send Ms. Gordian the criteria for this award. Ms. Gordian explained that this Growth Award Sebastian has not been able to achieve over the past few years because we have not been able to achieve enough points. If we can start to focus on that before we get into the application season, because that is coming up in late October and November, that would be productive. That is when the regular Tree City USA applications open up. Also the growth award opens up then as well. Mr. Stadelman said he was to conduct an annual checkup on City operations to determine if more sustainable options can be acquired. That is item 1 E. Ms. Gordian asked Mr. Stadelman if he has any particular ideas on that and if so, send her an email if he want to start working on that item. C. Upcoming Event Planning 1. Updated NRB calendar. This is a calendar for the remainder of 2025 and the new calendar for 2026. The 2026 calendar has some to -be -determined event dates on certain months. Those will not show up on the mini calendar until she has confirmed them. 2. Touch & Tour -- Saturday, September 13t', 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Ms. Gordian explained the event, and she wanted to confirm who on this Board will be able to be present during the event. The first shift will assist with some setup, and the second shift will assist with teardown. Neither of those will take a lot of time. She asked who would be present at this event. Ms. Shellenberger will be there for the 10:00 a.m. shift. Mr. Stadelman asked to put him down for the 2:00 p.m. shift. Mr. Krauss had selected the 10:00 a.m. shift. Mr. Trinkle said he will be there the whole time. Mr. Bruggen volunteered his time from 1:00 p.m. to closing. a. Stormwater Superhero Kids Activity Proposal -- by Frank Trinkle Ms. Gordian stated that Mr. Trinkle came up with a potential activity for this event. Mr. Trinkle is teaching kids how rainwater and other runoffs go into the canals and into the lagoon. He described that kids will participate in this demonstration, and it shows how fertilizers and other materials get into the water that goes into the lagoon. He provide some certificates for the kids who will say something like "You're now a Stormwater Superhero." There was discussion regarding advertising this activity and also where the NRB table, etc. will be the day of the event. NATURAL RESOURCES BOARD MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING SEPTEMBER 2, 2025 PAGE 6 Heather Stapleton stated that the IRL National Estuary Program's main offices are open during the event in the old historic schoolhouse, and they will also be here for Touch & Tour with a salinity science activity for the kids, and she described how that will work. 3. International Coastal Cleanup -- Saturday, September 20th, 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Ms. Gordian stated that this event is relatively short, but staff is looking to have an all - hands -on deck situation as far as participation from the Board goes. There will likely need assistance from the Board between 8:00 a.m. and 8:30 a.m., before the start of the event, and just after breakdown. You are not obligated to join in the afterparty as is offered by Coastal Connections as part of the whole event for the day. She asked who will be present for this event. Ms. Shellenberger and Mr. Stadelman volunteered, and Mr. Krauss is tentatively going to attend. The remaining Board members will be out of town on that day. Ms. Stapleton reminded everyone that Indian River County does have about 25 sites. There are some new sites in Sebastian. So, if it turns out that you do get a lot of volunteers early at the Boat Ramp and they are looking for something to do, feel free to send them down to the Park for a bit, as they will have an educational activity going on before the cleanup begins. 4. Sebastian Kids Fest — Saturday, October 4th, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Ms. Gordian stated that the October meeting is coming after this date, so attendees will be solicited at this meeting. Mr. Trinkle will be there for the whole event. Mr. Stadelman will be there. Ms. Thompson will be there and can fill in wherever help is needed. Mr. Bruggen will be there. He would prefer from 9:00 a.m. till 11:00 a.m. or possibly until noon. Mr. Krauss will let Ms. Gordian know as soon as he knows for certain. Ms. Shellenberger is flexible. There was discussion about the NRB shirts. Ms. Gordian said new shirts will be ordered with some changes to the logo. Ms. Bernard said staff will have an update at the October meeting. 5. Christmas Parade -- Saturday, December 6th, 2025 at 6:30 p.m. Mr. Stadelman said there will be a tropical theme this year. We will have the trailer again, but no costumes. Ms. Gordian asked that, if anyone has knowledge that they will be out of town or unable to attend or if they have any new ideas for the parade, let her know. NATURAL RESOURCES BOARD MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING SEPTEMBER 2, 2025 PAGE 7 Ms. Thompson suggested seed packets again this year. Ms. Gordian said there will be someone walking on either side of the float and will hand out the seed packets. Ms. Bernard stated she thinks there are some stickers and/or tattoos left from last year that can be handed out also. IX. New Business -- None X. Items for Next Aqenda and Date -- Tuesday, October 7t', 2025 1. Sustainable Sebastian 2. Event Debriefs a. Touch & Tour b. International Coastal Cleanup c. Sebastian Kids Fest 3. Preparations for Upcoming Events a. Christmas Parade Mr. Stadelman asked when the Board will begin working on the landscaping ordinances. Ms. Gordian said that is something that staff recently talked about. Staff is looking to assess what the protocol should be for redesigning the tree protection and landscaping ordinances. That process could be very complicated, but staff is looking into updating the Land Development Code as a whole. This is one component that we can begin to chip away at and make strides on, and hopefully by the time the LDC does eventually have its complete overhaul, this will fit right into whatever that code will look like. XI Adiournment There being no further business, Mr. Stadelman called for a motion to adjourn the meeting. A motion to adjourn was made by Ms. Thompson, seconded by Mr. Trinkle, and approved unanimously via voice vote. By Date Chairperson Charles Stadelman A