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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-10-2020 Fairhope Environmental Advisory Board Meeting Minutes.. FEAB January 2020 FEAB MEETING MINUTES January 10, 2020 3:00 p.m. Fairhope Public Library Board Room, Fairhope, AL Member Attendees: Gary Gover, Ben Frater, Jim Horner, Jeanine Normand, Amy Paulson City Council: None City of Fairhope: Kim Burmeister, Planning and Zoning Department Honored Guests: Lee Faulk; Mike Nance Minutes taken by : Kim Burmeister FEAB MINUTES: December minutes were approved . Motion: Jim; Second; Ben DISCUSSION OF ITEMS: Membership: Gary discussed membership and by-laws status. Currently FEAB has 9 members . There is one vacancy. Lee Faulk may be interested in becoming a member. She is considering applying. In September 2019, FEAB approved a motion to revise the language of the by- laws: From Sept. 2019 FEAB minutes: Gary s uggested an am endment to the FEAB ordinance 1435, code of ordinance . This will address non-attending members. H e suggested this amendment as a motion to amend: (b) The board will co ns ist of six to ten active members. Members may be nominated by the mayor, city council or other members. Members w ill be appointed by c ity council. An appointed mem ber with unwarranted absences from three (3) consecutive meetings in a twelve -month period shall have resigned th e ir appointment. Jim made the motion to accept the motion: Mike seconded. This passed unanimously. FEA B September 2019 *MOTION* Add A n appointed m ember with unwarranted absences fro m three (3) consecutive meetings in a twelve-month period shall have resigned th eir appo intment to ordinance I 435 Section 2-82 "Membership " Gary has not moved this motion forward to Council because he is still in discussion with Lisa Hanks, City Clerk, for clarification on quorums and membership. There is some discrepancy on what constitutes a quorum . Gary mentioned the Educational Committee by-laws as being a good guidance tool for the FEAB by-laws if changes are made . Gary will follow up with Lisa on clarification of quorum rules and possible by-law changes . FE AB January 2020 Coastal Management Living Shoreline Tool Amy recently attended a Living Shoreline workshop at Five Rivers. Weeks Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve Coastal Training Program and other partners presented a free guidance tool (still being developed) for regulatory employees, property owners, contractors and developers. According to the workshop brochure : "The Living Shoreline Sustainability Model {LSSM} identifies locations where living shorelines are suitable based on a suite of shoreline conditions . The workshop demonstrated data layers necessary to run the model and provide examples of selected sites along the Coastal Alabama region ." Permit guidance is also offered . This tool targets shoreline management alternatives to bulk heads. Amy suggests the City promote this tool for community use and possibly as an inclusion item in the Comprehensive Plan and on the City website. Gary said this would be a good example of a positive input item and suggested Amy present this to Planning Commission on February 4t h . It was unclear as to whether Amy will present this on behalf of FEAB or as a citizen . Jim felt like FEAB needed more discussion on this before presenting as a FEAB item . Amy will check with M i ke Shelton on this, since he is the expert on the living shoreline guidance tool. https :// cm ap2 . v ims . edu/Li vings horelin e/D ec is ionS upportToo 1/index.htm 1 Jeanine mentioned the need to encourage more sea grass growth along ou r shorelines at the shoreline and also just off-shore . Ben said the "working waterfront" program might fit with this as well. Kim suggested including Richard Johnson, Public Works Director and City engineer, in on these discussions. He is in charge of park shoreline projects and might have experience with this tool and with living shoreline projects in Fairhope . Jeanine said the City needs to offer better direction to the public on wetlands and shoreline improvement project alternative s. Citizens are not sure who to call. Kim also mentioned gulley protection as an important line item relative to shore li ne protection . Triangle Conservancy Ben has invited the Triangle Conservancy group to the February FEAB meeting . This group is advocating environment options for the triangle property. Richard Johnson should be invited to the next meeting. Kim will include him on the email invite, as well as Jessica Walker, Community Development. https ://triangleconservancy .org/ N atural Resource Inventory Ji m w ould like to kno w th e statu s of th e C ity p erforming an en viro nmental audit on th e Trian g le prop erty , as was p asse d on a motion by FEAB in 2 01 9. Ge na To di a , Wetl and R esources , has prov id ed a qu o te. Kim said it mi gh t be p ertin ent fo r th e C ity to update th e existin g Natural R es ource Invento ry from 2 00 3 , whic h was a city-w id e environmenta l reso ur ce audit. It is avai labl e on-line but n eed s to be updat ed . 2003 Fairh ope NR Inventory FEAB January 2 02 0 Climate Change Amy said she and Mike are working on climate change action plans which may be considered for implementation by the City . This will be available before Earth Day for ratification consideration. Meeting adjourned at 4 :00 p .m . Next meeting is Febru ary 14th: Fairhop e Lib rary B oard Room FEAB CONTACT INFORMATION: Chairman : Gary Gover govers@bellsouth .ne t (251) 990 -8662 Members : Shawn Graham ShawnDG12@aol.com (251) 928 -5120 Jeanine Normand drjnormand@aol.com (251) 928 -2284 Tony Pritchett aQritchettassoc@gma i l.com (251) 990 -5185 Nicole Love nicolemrobinson@hot mail .com (407) 312 -1362 Ben Frater ben.frater@gmail .com (404) 314-8815 Mike Shelton yauQon3@gmail.com (251) 990 -2995 Jim Horner none (251) 928 -9722 Amy Paulson amy .Qaulson@yahoo .c om CITY CONTACTS: Jimmy Conyers, City Council ji mmy.conyers@fairhoQeal.gov Kim Burmeister, Planning and Zoning Department kim.burmeister@ fairhopeal.gov