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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03 March hrs minutes 2021 Minutes – Healthy Rivers and Streams Citizens Advisory Board Mar 17, 2022 Page 1 HEALTHY RIVERS AND STREAMS CITIZENS ADVISORY BOARD Regular Meeting March 17, 2022 2nd Floor Conference Room River Park Center, 123 Emma Road Basalt, CO 81621 River Board members present: Bill Jochems, Wendy Huber, Chuck Ogilby, Chris Lemons, and Kirsten Neff. River Board members absent: Chris Wheatley, Andre Wille Staff Pesent: Lisa MacDonald, Lisa Tasker, Laura Makar. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Board Comment – Chuck Ogilby brought up the topic of engaging students in a beaver project in the Crystal valley. Chair Lemons suggested the beaver topic be addressed in Open Discussion to keep existing speakers on schedule. Public Comment – None Additions/Deletions to the Agenda –Lisa MacDonald asked to give an update on the Basalt streamside amenities project budget during Open Discussion. Revised project cost estimates were emailed to Lisa for board discussion just prior to the meeting. Lisa requested that Laura Makar be removed from the agenda due to a personal emergency. Ms. Huber moved to add the streamside amenities update to the agenda and to remove Laura Makar. Ms. Neff seconded the motion. The motion passed 5/0. Later, Laura Makar was actually able to join the meeting by Zoom for the policy statement discussions and Executive Session as planned. Approval of Minutes January 20, 2022 Mr. Lemons moved to approve the minutes of January 20, 2021. Ms. Huber seconded the motion. The motion passed 5/0. Boatable Days and Flow Preferences Report, Roaring Fork and Crystal Rivers- Hattie Johnson, American Whitewater Per the requirements of America Whitewater’s grant from Healthy Rivers, Ms. Johnson gave a presentation on the results of AW’s surveys on the both the Crystal and Roaring Fork. They received 117 responses from on-water users on the Roaring Fork and 74 responses from on-water recreational users on the Crystal River. The full report is not yet out, but will quantify a baseline of existing river recreation opportunities using the ‘Boatable Days’ metric developed by American Whitewater. The study first defines flows that support the local recreational uses within a range of acceptable flow conditions according to users. The number of ‘Boatable Days’ or the quantification of recreation opportunities along the stream are completed by calculating the number of days within a period of study defined as acceptable to optimal flows for on-water recreational uses. The idea is to standardize recreational needs data with specific flow conditions in order to provide additional rationale for adequate water flowing in a river. This is one more dataset and tool to inform future river management decisions. Working under a new CWCB Colorado Water Plan grant, American Whitewater’s next steps will be trying to quantify the economic impact to a local community per boatable day. This pilot project will include the Crystal, Roaring Fork, Yampa, and the Poudre Rivers. Minutes – Healthy Rivers and Streams Citizens Advisory Board Mar 17, 2022 Page 2 Recreational In-Channel Values Reach (RIVR) and Letter of Support Request– Hattie Johnson, American Whitewater As an employee of American Whitewater (AW), Ms. Johnson has been working for two and a half years on a proposed statutory change C.R.S. § 37-60-134, an effort to enhance river-based recreation similar to the existing RICD (Recreational-In-Channel-Diversion), but without the requirement to build structures in the river. AW has also stepped away from including the ability to acquire a water right in this effort. Currently, besides a RICD, there are no other tools to protect flows specifically for recreation. She came before the board to ask for a letter of support for the current iteration of those efforts. Ms. Johnson will provide a draft support letter for the board’s review and chair’s signature. Healthy Rivers Fund Update and 2022 Projections – Connie Baker Ms. Baker recapped the 2021 budget and provided information on the 2021 sales tax and predictions for the 2022 budget year. The budget remains healthy even into the second year of the Covid-19 pandemic. Board Policy Statements- Review- Mr. Jochems reminded the board of a past discussion of creating a policy statement for municipal water use. The board asked Laura to investigate both the user and provider sides of municipal water policy for potential application to future board policy statements. Water reuse and water speculation were also mentioned as topics for staff to research for potential future policy statements. The board agreed that a city of Aspen staff engineer would be a good professional to invite to present to the board on Aspen’s policies. Rehearsal/Feedback-Draft Healthy Rivers Program “Road Show”– Wendy Huber gave the first trial run of the slideshow created with Back40 Stories for the program. The vision for the presentation is to take it to other municipalities, counties, river-oriented entities, and others. The PowerPoint slideshow tells the story of how the Pitkin County Healthy Rivers Program was created and highlights specific projects and accomplishments to date, all with the idea that other groups could use the program as a template for creating their own local sales tax funded program for rivers. Executive Session- CRS 24-6-402(4)(b) Upper Midnight water rights litigation, 18CW3122 & 20CW3139, Laura Makar. Ms. Neff moved to enter into executive session for discussion purposes of the Upper Midnight water rights litigation. Ms. Huber seconded the motion. The motion passed 5/0. Open Discussion Items- Whitewater Park Streamside Amenities budget supplemental to the BOCC Staff recently met with the engineering and landscape teams to begin discussions and final plans for the construction of the streamside amenities at the Whitewater Park. Discussions included increased construction costs in order to determine budget needs. These costs were received minutes before the Board meeting and were more than doubled the original construction costs. Staff sought direction and a motion from the Board on scope reductions and a budget increase, due to the timing of the Board of County Commissioner 1st quarter budget supplemental documents due on March 18th, the following day. The Board supported a reduction in landscaping and other minor changes dependent upon overall cost savings. Ms. Neff moved to recommend a $300,000 budget increase from the fund balance to the streamside amenities line item and bring a budget supplemental request to the Board of County Commissioners for authorization. Ms. Huber seconded the motion. The motion passed 5/0. It was also recommended staff seek park dedication fees the county has available to further supplement the budget. Minutes – Healthy Rivers and Streams Citizens Advisory Board Mar 17, 2022 Page 3 Mr. Jochems moved to adjourn the meeting. Mr. Lemons seconded the motion. The motion passed 5/0. The Board adjourned at approximately 7:30 pm. Approved: Attest: ______________________________________________ _________________________________________________ Chris Lemons - Chairman Lisa Tasker ___________________________________ Laura Makar, Assistant County Attorney The above signed attorney, representing the Board of County Commissioners and being present at the Executive Session, attests that the subject of the unrecorded portions of the session constituted confidential attorney-client communication.