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Home My WebLink About06-09-2023 Fairhope Environmental Advisory Board Meeting MinutesFEAB June 9th, 2023 FEAB MEETING MINUTES June 9th, 2023 3:00 p.m. in the Fairhope Public Library, Board Room Member Attendees: Gary Gover, Nigel Temple, Anna Miller, Jim Horner, Ben Frater, Carole Tebay, Jennifer Foutch Members not in attendance: Amy Paulson, excused absence; Steven Scyphers, excused absence City of Fairhope: Daryl Morefield, Water and Sewer Superintendent; Kim Burmeister -Planning and Zoning Department City Council: None Honored Guests: Carl Couret (Active participant); Cynthia Rush, Dr. James Connors Minutes taken by: Kim Burmeister Nigel called the meeting to order at 3:00 p.m. FEAB Minutes: May minutes were approved as written. Jim 1st , Nigel 2nd, unanimous. Summary of meeting: 1. Dr. Connors is a retired professor and attended today’s meeting with an interest in possibly assisting and/or joining FEAB in the future. 2. FEAB met new Water and Sewer Supervisor, Daryl Morehead, who attended today’s FEAB meeting. Nigel offered FEABs assistance if needed. 3. Nicole Love is working on a grant that may provide funds for improvements of the city Butterfly Garden on South Mobile Street 4. Rotary Club may be interested in fully adopting Butterfly Garden 5. FEAB passed a motion to recommend city funding for butterfly garden improvements for 2024, pending coordination with Nicole. 6. FEAB is assisting Planning Department staff with Parks Brochure updates by evaluating each park in the brochure, specifically the features table. 7. Anna is providing a PSA Water Conservation document draft (edited by FEAB) to city leaders for use as they see fit. 8. FEAB suggests city offer a simpler means for the public to provide comments on the Triangle property. Membership: Carole is officially a FEAB member. FEAB June 9th, 2023 Agenda from Nigel: 1. Housekeeping with Kim (max 10 mins) 2. Updates (Council meetings, steering committees, other efforts; max 15 mins) 3. Water Efficiency tips document review discussion - Anna to lead (20 mins) 4. New business (10 mins) Introductions: 1st time attendees were introduced: Dr. Jim Connors, retired professor: Kim will email him information on FEAB; Nigel encouraged him to attend as active participant. Daryl Morehead, new Water and Sewer Superintendent. Nigel offered any assistance from FEAB to Daryl on water / sewer outreach or other projects that need biological or environmental expertise. Triangle Property: Nigel is on the Steering Committee. FEAB needs a better understanding of how the public should offer comments. Kim suggested send email to Nicole. Further discussion was tabled until Nicole is in attendance. Nicole and Richard Johnson are key contacts for Triangle development. Butterfly Garden and Pollinator Habitats / Native Plantings: Ben: Nicole Love is applying for a $10K grant to improve the butterfly garden area (Magnolia Beach Park, just north of the American Legion on South Mobile Street, beach bluff habitat). Rotary Club recently updated the sign and has expressed an interest in fully adopting the garden bluff area. Note: History of Butterfly Garden/sanctuary: City installed the kiosk and signage more than a decade ago, exact year unknown. Initially Fred Nations, Naturalist, identified natural vegetation on site, primarily the active pollinators he saw. These were included on the sign/kiosk. Ben said cost of restoring the butterfly garden (removing vegetation- mostly kudzu-and prepping/ planting desired species) would be about 15K. City may provide in kind services (dump trucks, etc.) to help cover some of the cost. Gary: Would like to see more than one pollinator garden implemented in the city. Carole: Jamie Rollins, Horticulturist, prefers starting with one for now, for maintenance reasons. She has created a draft list of proposed native plants, but it will be based on availability at time of planting. She said most of the pollinators indicated on the sign/kiosk can no longer be verified. Nigel: Once vegetation is removed, it will be imperative to immediately establish and plant new vegetation, to prevent erosion and run off. Re-establishing the Magnolia Beach Park butterfly garden (sanctuary) will likely be a foot in the door to future pollinator projects around the city. Gary encouraged FEAB suggest budget item for Magnolia Beach Park butterfly garden reparations, in case grant does not go through in a timely manner. FEAB June 9th, 2023 Jim presented a motion: FEAB, pending communication with Nicole Love, recommends city Public Works include $15K in the 2024 budget for improvements to the Magnolia Beach Park Butterfly Sanctuary, to include: 1. Removing existing vegetation, kudzu 2. Prepping slope area for replanting 3. Replanting of native species, according to what is available Motion approved: Nigel 1st: Jim 2nd. Unanimous Nigel will contact with restoration biologist JJ McCool on rough draft for planting bluff area/butterfly garden. Water Conservation PSA Anna provided a draft PSA for water conservation, which Mayor has asked her to provide to Paige when complete: FEAB June 9th, 2023 FEAB June 9th, 2023 Figure 1 Water Conservation PSA draft Anna suggests FEAB later add direct links, but this will be provided for now. This will likely be used on social media sites, like Fairhope’s Facebook page. There is a current water advisory in Fairhope. Jim asked Daryl how residents could better monitor their water use. Daryl is not aware of a way for citizens to easily read their meter, including on-line direct sources for usage readings. This may exist for some digital meter systems. He said most of Fairhope’s meters are analogue, whereas Daphne is mostly digital. Giving residents an easy way to track their usage may be a good project idea for the future. City Budget Gary reminded everyone budget requests must be in by this month. Not sure of exact date. Parks Brochure: At the May meeting, Kim asked FEAB to consider assisting staff with Parks Brochure update, specifically verifying amenities listed in the features table and evaluating each parks written description. FEAB originally helped create this brochure 10+ years ago. Carole evaluated several parks on the list and offered updates to description and features table. Nigel asked other FEAB members / participants to consider evaluating a park. He emailed a draft designation list. There are six parks left unevaluated: 1. Stimpson Field (Mike Ford Tennis Court) 2. Fairhope Municipal Sporting Parks/Volanta Sports Complex 3. Colony Nature Park 4. Founders Park 25-acre Sports Complex 5. Manley Rd. Soccer Complex 6. Barnwell Field FEAB June 9th, 2023 Figure 2 Parks Brochure Draft 2023 (includes Carole's updates) Kim will amend features table when complete. FEAB June 9th, 2023 Meeting adjourned at 4 p.m. Next meeting: Friday, July 14th @ Fairhope Municipal Library, 3 p.m. FEAB CONTACT INFORMATION: Chairman: Gary Gover govers@bellsouth.net (251) 990-8662 Co-Chair: Amy Paulson amy.paulson@yahoo.com (251) 654-7401 Members: Ben Frater ben.frater@gmail.com (404) 314-8815 Jim Horner none (251) 928-9722 Nigel Temple 757nigel@gmail.com (757) 803-3589 Jennifer Foutch Foutch.jennifer@gmail.com (618) 318-0354 Steven Scyphers sscyphers@southalabama.edu (334)-701-8864 Anna Keene Miller anna@keenliving.pro (251) 279-0395 Carole Tebay cftebay@gmail.com CITY CONTACTS: Corey Martin, City Council corey.martin@fairhopeal.gov Nicole Love, Grant Coordinator nicole.love@fairhopeal.gov Kim Burmeister, Planning and Zoning Department kim.burmeister@fairhopeal.gov Christina LeJeune, Planning and Zoning Department christina.lejeune@fairhopeal.gov