Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017.06.22 OSTB Reg minutes_S MINUTES OPEN SPACE AND TRAILS BOARD REGULAR SESSION June 22, 2017 Town of Basalt Council Chamber 101 Midland Ave., Basalt OSTB Present: Graeme Means Howie Mallory Hawk Greenway Tim McFlynn, Wayne Ives, Dist. 1 Dist. 2 Dist. 3 Dist. 4 Dist. 5, Chair Staff Present: Gary Tennenbaum, Lindsey Utter, Jessie Young, Janet Urquhart, Dale Will, Richard Neiley, Fran Soroka BOCC Present: George Newman Wayne Ives called the meeting to order at 9:05 a.m. PUBLIC COMMENT No public comment. APPROVAL OR THE MINUTES Hawk Greenway moved to approve the OSTB June 6th, 2017 regular session minutes as amended and the executive session minutes of the same date as presented. Tim McFlynn seconded. Motion passed(4-0). Howie Mallory was not present. Emma Open Space Management Plan—Final Drafts Lindsey Utter noted since the management plan was last presented to the OSTB the Roaring Fork Conservancy(RFC), Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) and Basalt Parks, Open Space and Trails (BPOST) all have submitted letters supporting the management plan. Their letters have been taken into consideration and are incorporated in the final draft. RFC encourages continued leash laws and seasonal closures. CPW expressed concern that all agricultural activities not attract bears. CPW asked that the management plan language indicate that the expansion of Hwy. 82 altered what had once been a seasonal wildlife migration corridor. BPOST letter said they would support the re-sale of the Emma storefronts and the Mather house. Twenty-seven people attended the last open house. Discussion and outcomes 4.1.5 Fence removal and/or replacement p.36 and 4.2.3 Orchard expansion p.38: CPW's support letter expressed concerns that by expanding the orchard in particular would potentially attract more bears. They recommended mitigating with bear fencing. The board directed to make sure the management plan's language was consistent in regard to fencing removal and potential bear fencing mitigation. Staff responded that staff would work with CPW on fencing to reduce bear conflict and not obstruct wildlife migration. In regard to expanding an orchard by the Emma Schoolhouse, Lindsey commented it would take five plus years for a fruit 1 Emma Open Space Management Plan final draft submitted as part of the June 22,2017 meeting materials.Minutes for June 22,2017 reference this document. 6/22/2017 OSTB Regular Minutes Page 1 of 5 tree to produce fruit and future fencing budget would be pinned down later. Newly introduced fruit trees by the School house would have protective fencing around individual trees. The goal for this new orchard area would be to provide a public amenity. 4.1.6 Signage p.36: Staff commented the signage will be consistent with all Open Space properties. 4.2.1 Agricultural Leases p.37: The current three agricultural leases will go back out for formal proposal requests this September. 4.2.2 Agricultural Structures and Improvements p.38: Approvals will be made on a case-by-case basis. Structures and improvements must fit within the guidelines of the conservation easement and with the Emma Caucus. Staff has been working with the County Engineer to resolve creating access over the Home Supply Ditch. 4.3.1 OST staff will work with Colorado Parks and Wildlife to monitor and improve the migration corridor p. 39: CPW's letter noted they no longer recognize the area an important wildlife migration corridor. Staff intends to continue monitoring the underpass for types of wildlife use and working with CDOT & CPW on enhancements. Hawk Greenway commented on Tom Cardamone's letter (p.63) on how creating a land bridge would restore the migration corridor and would also make the Emma Townsite area whole again. This led to board and staff discussion about other areas that have utilized underpasses or land bridges and that these types of installations are working. Board consensus was for the management plan to speak to option as a potential for the future. Consensus was to add an action item under 4.3.1 that would examine the whole big visionary issue of how to create a corridor for wildlife and connectivity. 4.4.2 Mather House p.41: Hawk questioned about the number of OST employees and what housing requirements would be placed on a similar size private business. Gary responded that he has been working with the County Manager and OST would need to look at the whole Pitkin County staff. The Mather House requires major updates before determining how it will be used in the future. Graeme added the area is in close proximity to agricultural leases and that the townsite and house location offers the possibility for multi-dwellings. One of the identified needs from the local food production community is on-site housing. The management plan area offers opportunity on both sides of Hwy. 82 for potential tiny houses. Gary responded that there are hurdles including current zoning and conservation easement restrictions existing over the agricultural areas. All options will be discussed when the historic structure steering committee convenes in early January 2018. It was decided the language in 4.4.2 would remain as is. 4.5.1 Light Hill foot and horse access p. 41: It was discussed and staff agreed the plan would add language that the trail will be referenced as a primitive access trail and once the trail is established use monitoring would be utilized. 4.5.2 Emma Trail p.42: 6/22/2017 OSTB Regular Minutes Page 2 of 5 There was discuss about exploring options that would allow more motorized options to the townsite location. Prior to Hwy.82, this segment was a County Road. Graeme questioned whether the land could accommodate a separated trail from this old County Road segment. Staff will research whether the Town of Basalt's conservation easement would allow a trail. Staff agreed to explore the road legality of this section that is now known as the Emma Trail. 4.6 Commercial and special use management actions p.42: Staff clarified that the allowable number of people addresses current conditions which does not include commercial or special uses on the townsite parcel. The management plan is on a five year update schedule. Typically, special uses tend to be educational activities. (See board action below) Richard Neiley entered the meeting around 9:20 a.m. Howie Mallory entered the meeting at 10:11 a.m. Dale Will entered the meeting at 10:20 a.m. Janet Urquhart, Jessie Young and George Newman left the meeting at 10:28 a.m. OSTB Bylaws and Working Agreement Review2 Bylaws of the Open Space & Trails Board of Trustees Article V - Section 4 (1) Chair: Wording in the section is fine, assuming the Chair is present in person. Article VI-Meetings Section 1: Change second sentence to 'The Executive Director and the Chair may schedule a second regular meeting.' Section 8 —Agenda: Reflect on what is currently practiced. Simplify the last sentence. Article VII—Conflict of Interest Strike previous content and reference `Pitkin County's Standard of Conduct for Pitkin County Public Officials'. Working Agreements - Board direction: Change `Governance Policies' back to `Working Agreements' 1. Core Functions: Make format consistent and correct grammar. 2. Agendas and Packets change to `Meeting and Agenda' 4. Meeting Preparation and Conduct: Change all semi-colons to periods. I. Replace 'The Board agrees to' with `Actively work toward ....' M. Correct spelling `rational' to `rationale' 5. Board Etiquette Outside Meetings: A. Board Member Inquiries: first sentence add 'or Acquisition Director' z Revised OSTB Bylaws and Governance Policies submitted as part of the June 22,2017 meeting materials. 6/22/2017 OSTB Regular Minutes Page 3 of 5 6. Responsiveness to Public: D. Third sentence, correct spelling to `public' 7. Involvement in Land Use Matters: Correct grammar 8. Coordination with the Board of County Commissioner: A. Move this to the Bylaws. Name as Section#11 (under#10. Committees) Staff will bring back the edited Bylaws and Working Agreements to the OSTB's July 18th meeting. BOARD COMMENTS Carbondale to Crested Butte Graeme Means commented that the Wilderness Workshop (WW) has announced public meetings for July 10th in Redstone and July 1 lth at the 3rd Street Center to present their consultant's Crystal Valley wildlife study. Board and staff discussed that the WW consultant's study is based on old public data and not current field work; the WW study's focus is on the bighorn sheep population; the bighorn sheep population has been in steady decline; some biologist speculate that decline in population is from cross contamination with domestic sheep but the science to back up the speculation is evolving and difficult to follow. Board expressed concern that by WW publicly releasing their non-scientifically based anecdotal study prior to OST completing its site specific ecological studies would confuse public perceptions about the Crystal Valley's current wildlife conditions. OST's ecological consultants are currently out in the field performing on the ground site specific observations in the Crystal Valley. Lindsey reported that OST's ecological consultants met with the WW consultant. Apparently, the WW consultant is using the 2004 Crested Butte to Carbondale feasibility study authored by Tom Newland as basis to their study. The Board discussed strategies with staff on how best to inform the public about OST's wildlife activity verification protocols and that to date the OST has not determined a trail alignment. The board asked staff to research whether any science based research is being conducted on the causes in the decline of the Rocky Mountain big horn sheep populations. Dale contributed that there is current speculation that the bighorn sheep population decline is attributed to a disease carried by domestic sheep. There are land management discussions about whether domestic sheep grazing allotments above Marble are still appropriate. Wayne added, as a former Forest Service employee he dealt with the bighorn sheep population for several decades and commented that there are so many unknowns as to why the population is declining. Wayne continued that the area's bighorn sheep are indigenous to this area. Over the past twenty to thirty years the interactions with domestic sheep has declined mostly because the area ranches have moved away from sheep ranching. Wayne added the bighorn are migratory animals that head-up into the high country during the summer months which are the months of highest human activity in the valley floor. Hawk suggested seeking a bighorn sheep expert outside the realm of CPW. Lindsey responded the bighorn are a difficult field of study and the only lead has been to a bighorn expert in Montana. Staff suggested evaluating the situation and to bring back potential recommendations to the next board meeting. Graeme asked for demographics on the types of public residences within the planning area and how potential trail alignments would impact residential areas. The Board suggested releasing OST's public process approach prior to WW's public meetings. Possibly via press release or a televised Commissioner meeting segment. 6/22/2017 OSTB Regular Minutes Page 4 of 5 I Castle Creek Hawk Greenway brought up the Castle Creek Trail planning and requested that staff collect more photographic documentation of people using Castle Creek Road to access the Music School & Community School campuses. Staff agreed. E-Bikes Howie Mallory inquired when an E-Bike policy could be addressed by OST. Gary responded that possibly this fall. Currently the Other Power-Driven Mobility Device Management Plan (OPMDMP) is enforced on Pitkin OST trails. OPMDMP provides individuals that are defined under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) the use of power-driven mobility devices on designated Pitkin County OST trails. BOARD ACTION Emma Open Space Management Plan Hawk Greenway moved for the OSTB to approve the Emma Open Space Management Plan as amended at the June 22, 2017 OSTB meeting. Tim McFlynn seconded. Motion passed. (4-0) Howie Mallory was not in attendance at the time. EXECUTIVE SESSION The OSTB moved to enter executive session in accordance with CRS 24-6-402(4) (a)(b) and (e) for the purpose of discussing acquisitions, attorney consultation and negotiations at 12:20 p.m. 0 The OSTB adjourned executive session at 2:30 p.m. ADJOURN The OSTB meetings of were adjourned at approximately 2:30 p.m. Approved: Attest: Wayne Ives, Chair Fran Soroka Pitkin County Open Space &Trails Board Pitkin County Open Space &Trails Administrative Specialist 6/22/2017 OSTB Regular Minutes Page 5 of 5