The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink About10-13-2023 Fairhope Environmental Advisory Board MinutesFEAB October 13, 2023 FEAB MEETING MINUTES October 13th, 2023 Fairhope Public Library, Board Room Member Attendees: Gary Gover, Anna Miller, Jim Horner, Ben Frater, Carole Tebay, Jennifer Foutch, Amy Paulson, Steven Scyphers Members not in attendance: Nigel Temple, excused absence. City of Fairhope: Daryl Morefield, Water/Sewer Superintendent; Nicole Love, Grant Writer; Kim Burmeister, Christina LeJeune -Planning and Zoning Department City Council: None Honored Guests: Jessie Patterson (Fairhope Single Tax), Sarah Chandler (corporate sustainability professional), Cynthia Rush (writer), Sara Bogdanovich (compost company), Lisa Smith (Get it Goated) Minutes taken by: Kim Burmeister Amy called the meeting to order at 3:00 p.m. FEAB Minutes: September minutes were approved as amended. Steven (first); Jim (2nd) Unanimous approval. November FEAB meeting: City offices will be closed on November 10th for Veteran’s Day. FEAB’s meeting for November was therefore changed to Thursday, November 9th, pending Library confirmation on availability. Summary of meeting: 1. Amy provided a Water Conservation Strategy draft to Corey, to be given to the Mayor by Corey. 2. FEAB is supportive of a city water reclamation feasibility study. 3. FEAB is excited about the posting of a position for Urban Forester and specifically for his/her role in the implementation of park management plans. 4. Joint Environmental Advisory Board – draft ordinances for wetlands, erosion control and red soil & clay are complete. 5. Nicole announced an upcoming environmental page on Fairhope’s website which will round up all environmental information for Fairhope, including links to the FEAB page. 6. Nicole encouraged FEAB to present articles or items of interest to her, for consideration/ inclusion on the Fairhope website, FEAB link and or Fairhope Facebook page. 7. Upcoming Fly Creek AL-DOT culvert project could potentially complete a Fly Creek Watershed Study action plan from 2013 if it includes stream channel restoration. 8. Get it Goated is a goat brush clearing service from Robertsdale, for natural brush cutting and removal. Butterfly Garden on S. Mobile Street is one area where this might be beneficial. 9. Nicole is presenting a potential Butterfly Garden grant for invasive plant removal at an upcoming Council Meeting, October 23. FEAB October 13, 2023 10. Outdoor classrooms – FEAB is offering assistance for any school that would like their help to establish an outdoor classroom. 11. Plastic Bag Reduction Campaign – FEAB is considering how they can help; Jim has already contacted a few grocery store chains to get information from corporate. Jr. Council not interested at this time. Agenda from Amy: FEAB October 13, 2023 FEAB October 13, 2023 Water Conservation Strategy: Amy sent Corey a compilation of FEABs recommended water conservation strategy/resolution: Daryl: Rain bird is one type of irrigation sensor that can be used and promoted for water conservation. Nicole: Encouraged FEAB to consider water conservation campaign and outreach strategies, such as a “Water Wise Resolution” language. Rain barrel workshop (with MS4 partners) would be one event which could help kick off such a campaign. Amy: supports water conservation mandates, even when not in a drought. Jim: asked Daryl if there was a correlation between low water pressure and water conservation. There is not. FEAB October 13, 2023 Greywater Reuse Feasibility Study Corey has suggested FEAB provide a guidance document for greywater reuse options. Nigel created a scope of work so that City can consider contracting out for the study. Daryl made some revisions to what Nicole and Nigel drafted. Daryl updated the FEAB that what we are talking about is not actually greywater, but “reclaimed” water. Greywater is household waste that comes from showers, laundry water, etc. This is specific to households. Reclaimed water is the sewer water that is sent to a sewage treatment plan, cleaned and sent back out in the purple pipes. Joint Environmental Advisory Committee Draft ordinance revision suggestions have been sent to Ashley Campbell with Baldwin County. Jim: 5’ buffers are not sustainable. Minimum should be 30’. Amy said this is in the revisions. Amy needs help with work on the Joint EAB if anyone is interested. Currently, she and Gary are the FEAB representatives for the Joint EAC. City of Fairhope Job Opening: Urban Forester Nicole: City is looking for an Urban Forester to manage Fairhope’s natural parks, including the Triangle Park, Colony Park and Knoll Park. Amy: Position announcement mentions this position as having the authority to implement park management plans, which has been a priority action item for FEAB. City of Fairhope Environmental Page Nicole: She is drafting information for an environmental page for Fairhope. Currently, most of the environmental information is on the Planning and Zoning Department page. The Environmental Page will be a resource to contain all city environmental information, including a link to the FEAB page. If FEAB would like to have any information put on the environmental page or specifically the FEAB page, send draft information to Nicole. She can have IT staff place it on line but it needs to go through her first. Same protocol for the City of Fairhope Facebook page. FEAB can recommend and draft article items: (draft and send to Nicole for review). Amy said FEAB might be interested in having their own Facebook page. Nicole encouraged FEAB to recommend / draft items for the City of Fairhope page. A separate Facebook page would not be sanctioned by the City of Fairhope. Fly Creek / AL-DOT Culvert project Nicole: She is involved in discussions with AL-DOT regarding upcoming culvert and streambank restoration efforts, in conjunction with Fly Creek restoration work pending at the Triangle property on Fly Creek. Kim: The Fly Creek Watershed Study of 2013 named the Highway 98 @ Fly Creek culvert retrofit to restore the natural creek channel as a priority action item. She hopes this work will include the retrofit. Butterfly Garden on South Mobile Street Carol asked Lisa Smith about goats to control invasive species such as kudzu. Lisa: Goats will eat the kudzu down to the ground but may not remove the roots. The grazing activity is something that would need to be done on a schedule until the kudzu is eradicated. Goats are a very popular and natural method for brush clearing in rural areas. Nicole is presenting a butterfly garden grant opportunity to council on 10/23. The scope will include removal of invasives. City will then need to purchase natives for replanting at the butterfly garden. Rotary club has agreed to update the existing butterfly garden sign once the area is replanted. FEAB October 13, 2023 Outdoor Classrooms Carol: Meeting with Principal Brazil (FWES) was cancelled. Discussions with Brazil did not indicate support at this time. Gary suggested Carol / FEAB reach out to other schools. Jessie represents FST and said Cecil Christenberry with the BOE has interest in securing $150K for outdoor education in Fairhope. Jessie said FST is also looking for shovel ready projects to fund. Sarah would like to help if any community gardens at schools or otherwise are established. She is a composting resource. Plastic Bag Reduction Campaign Mayor had previously suggested staff approach Jr. Council to see if there is an interest in spearheading the campaign. Jim: spoke with Publix and CVS locally. Both have corporate interest in plastic reduction but are not yet pushing it. Kim: Post-meeting information: According to Paige Crawford, the Jr. Council is not considering the plastic reduction project at this time. Suggestion: FEAB may wish to take the lead on this as an action item project to develop campaign—fact finding for starters—following Jim’s lead. (TBD at November meeting). The meeting was adjourned at 4 p.m. Next meeting: Thursday, November 9th @ 3 p.m. @ Fairhope Public Library FEAB CONTACT INFORMATION: Chairperson: 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 Gary Gover govers@bellsouth.net (251) 990-8662 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