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Home My WebLink About06-14-2024 Fairhope Environmental Advisory Board Meeting MinutesMEETING MINUTES -ANNUAL CITY STRATEGY SESSION JUNE 14, 2024 / 3 - 4 PM, LIBRARY~ GIDDENS CONFERENCE CENTER ATTENDEES COF Officials: Justin Hammers, Nicole Love FEAB Board Members: Amy Paulson, Ben Frater, Gary Gover, Jennifer Fouch, Jim Horner, Anna Miller, Carl Couret FEAB Members Absent: Nigel Temple Official Quorum Count: 8/9 FEAB Active Participants: Sarah Bogdanovich, Sarah Chandler, Jamie Crawford, Cynthia Rush Honored Guests Pat O'Neal Minutes Author: Sarah Chandler Commencement: Amy called the meeting to order at 3:00 p.m. SUMMARY OF SALIENT DECISIONS, DISCUSSION, AND ACTIONS •Unanimously approved FEAB Active Participant: Jamie Crawford, former Department Head and groundwater subject matter expert at MS DEQ. •Unanimously approved official subcommittee: Sustainable Waste Management Practices (SWaMP). SWaMP is partnering with FHS, Hope Community, FEEF, and Fairhope Community Gardens for composting projects, including demonstration projects (FHS, Hope Community, community gardens). •Established Greenspace Assessment Working Group to provide COF a review, ranking, and next-step recommendation of owned COF parcels and hi-priority spaces that are good candidates for trails, greenspace connections/corridors, or pocket parks by our annual workshop/spring 2025. DETAILED MINUTES 1.Housekeeping a.Introduction of guests -Jamie and Pat b.Subcommittee Regulations -legal review of FEAB Bylaws and Alabama Open Meetjn�s Act: i.A subcommittee can be created and meet as needed to fulfill specific actions and create progress. ii.Subcommittees will report to official FEAB meetings, which will capture pertinent subcommittee information in FEAB Minutes for public disclosure. c.Subcommittee Determinations i.SWaMP will be an official subcommittee and has discretion to announce pertinent meetings to City Clerk with +5 days advance notice for communication to public. ii.The FEAB Greenspace Assessment Working Group is not an official subcommittee. This Working Group is individual task-based and does not hold meetings. 2.Priority Issues and Subcommittee Reports a.Green Space Assessment -reviewed draft outline and asked for group feedback for the green space areas of opportunity. Greenways Assessment was also shared by Michelle Melton in advance of the meeting. There is a need to narrow down the definition since everyone has a different view of what 'green space' means. Justin's presentation was a success and his plan for Knoll Park restoration and maintenance will move forward. Ben wants to scope the research to City property. Outcome is to review the areas where we can connect land parcels, make them trails, small walking spaces, or pocket parks. Caution here is to remember they have to be maintained by the city so let's stay somewhat focused in our recommendations. The outcome could even be a brochure so residents and visitors would know where they can go to enjoy outdoor spaces. i.� Group to review Ben's one-pager. Ben to send link for group to review Baldwin County Parcel map to view all the properties in Fairhope. ii.� Ben plans to discuss green space definition in next meeting b.SWaMp -looked at Summit St site for larger-scale composting. Looking to partner with USA through Stephen. New member is joining from Fairhope High School and will develop a compost site there in front of highschool. Wo_rked on a resource list to start composting from scratch. Got a free rain barrel for the next site. Going to do a site visit at the Mobile Urban Gardeners at Taylor Park. Need to learn rules about composting. i.&llim;, SWaMP will meet again June 24 c.Energy Policy-Local building code forum will be reviewing codes to adopt this fall; Anna is available to engage with them upon request, especially regarding identification of where additional scrutiny should be applied/best practices on how to streamline enforcement of some codes that are not being followed. Anna is working on a housing project for disadvantaged communities that is helping her to learn about pain points to build to new energy efficiency standards (i.e. installation, silt fences). She said the Codes are not that far off from what we do today, but often requirements aren't getting verified. i.Action: Anna will check with Eric about the review of code meeting (week of June 17). ii.Action: Anna will talk to Lance about building codes in Mobile that may be relevant. d.Water conservation -there won't be a water conservation campaign because it was not received well by Facebook trolls; Nicole is looking at a new venue or method for reaching residents. FEAB declined the request to lead a water conservation workshop for the public. The new wet wells are coming online. i.filllim: Jamie/Pat to reach out to Caleb Leach, Krebs POC for status on feasibility study for opportunities to incorporate conservation into city projects (like purple water use at 3.Other Items new subdivisions) or other community pilot projects. May also reach out to Darryl, COF Water Superintendent for additional context and status information. 1.New Members -Pat is considering membership as Active Participant 2.Flying Creek Groundbreaking -all FEAB is invited -Tuesday, 6/25/24 at 9am. Shuttle from Fairhope docks. 3.Green Drinks: 6/19 is next happy hour at My Place, speaker on Fortified Homes ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 4 p.m. NEXT MEETING: Friday, July 12 @ 3 p.m. @ Fairhope Public Library FEAB CONTACT INFORMATION: Chairperson: Amy Paulson amy.paulson@yahoo.com (251)654-7401 Board Members: Carl Couret ccouretjr@yahoo.com TBD Jennifer Foutch Foutch.jennifer@gmail.com (618)318-0354 Ben Frater ben.frater@gmail.com (404)314-8815 Gary Gover gQyer�@!;iell�QY!b,□et (251)990-8662 Jim Horner none (251)928-9722 Anna Miller anna@keenliving.pro (251)279-0395 Steven Scyphers sscyphers@southalabama.edu (334)701-8864 Nigel Temple 757nigel@gmail.com (757)803-3589 Active Participants Sarah Bogdanovich smbogdanovitch@gmail.com (727)421-7321 Sarah Chandler sarahchandler504@gmail.com (504)239-6651 Jamie Crawford 7jsimiecrawfQrg7@gmsiil.com TBD Cynthia Rush cru:ib3QQ@gmsiil,cQm (251)223-3880 Carole Tebay cftebay@gmail com (850)466-6592 CITY CONTACTS: Corey Martin, City Council Nicole Love, COF Grants Coordinator Christina LeJeune, Planning and Zoning Department Justin Hammers, COF Urban Forrester corey.martin@fairhopesil.gov nicole love@fairhopeaLgQy christina,lejeune@fairhopeal gov justin.hammers@fairhopeal.gov