Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-11-2009 Regular MeetingFEAB Meeting Minutes August 11, 2009 9:00am Attendees: Jim Horner Gary Gover, Ron Heveran, Elaine Synder-Conn, and, Garland Sims, Jeanine Normand City of Fairhope Representation: Nancy Milford, Kim Burmeister City Council Members: Debbie Quinn, Honored Guests: Paulette Fedor, Jo Harold, Joe Goddard and Jackie Waverneck Jim Horner called the meeting to order at 9:00am. Introductions: Garland Sim’s made the motion the minutes be approved and Jeanine Normad seconded the motion. Minutes from July 8, 2009 meeting were approved. Ron Heveran requested board members respond to a request regarding the types of subjects the members would volunteer to teach at ESILL and the number of hours they are willing to commit to the project. Ron stated that he had told Debbie Quinn about the idea and she thought it was great. Anna Keene and Elaine Synder-Conn volunteered to teach about the Park locations. Ron said that he needs the commitment in writing from the members. He also mentioned that their was no reason that the Board can’t ask the City staff like Kim Burmeister on Code Enforcement to conduct a presentation for the course as well. Jim Horner addressed several items and loose ends of business. 1) The Winn Dixie detention pond is in limbo at the present time. There are some details to be worked on the issue of spending money on private property. 2) The FEAB has been working with Councilmember Quinn on energy audits for the City. The City of Fairhope submitted a “Pre-Application to ADECA regarding the potential for an Energy Audit Grant and several other energy projects in the past couple of months. ADECA assessed the various pre-application projects for the best types of applications for funding. The result of ADECA’s assessment was that ADECA decided that the funding would not be dedicated to energy audit projects. 3) Gary Gover is continuing to work on the “City Staff” training for environmental issues. He was setting up a meeting with City of Fairhope Administration including James Gillespie and Gregg Mims. 4) Jim discussed the concern that the City of Fairhope does not have any authority regarding school board projects and county projects. The 11-52-11 reviews go before Planning Commission, but basically are a courtesy when it comes to comments, as he understands it. Bill Wiggins is a State Inspector for construction on school board projects. ADEM is issuing enforcement on the recent project problems at the Middle School on Section Street. Jo Harold, an honored guest, attended the meeting to speak to the board members briefly about her concerns about the school board project and the resulting discharge near her house. She provided copies of photos of the suspended mudd entering the bay at the exit of the gulley. She expressed dismay and concern about the destruction being caused. She wanted anyone interested in the information about the episode and the photos to contact her and she would be glad to provide it. Jim Horner announced that the Board Members and Guests would load into caravan of cars to attend a meeting at the Highway 13 project being constructed by the Baldwin County Highway Department. The group met on the South side of Fly Creek to look at the project. Richard Johnson gave a presentation and tour of the project. He introduced the following other Baldwin County employees working on the project: John Sedlack, Construction Inspection; Walter MacKay, Bridge Inspector; John Lundy, Construction Inspection. Richard explained that Frank Lundy was not available so he was giving the tour in Frank’s absence. After looking at the south side of the project, the group moved to the north side to look at the check dams. One of the board members expressed concern with regards to the gopher tortoise and if any studies had been done on the project. The county said that concern would have been addressed in an earlier phase. There was a brief discussion about monitoring the bridge project for sediment discharge. The county said that monitoring was being conducted. They monitor for turbidity before and after the bridge. On average the results are between 7-9 NTUs, the ADEM action limit is 50 NTU’s. Richard mentioned that 1 million dollars out of the 6 million dollar project (approximately 12% of the budget) is being dedicated to erosion control They are using sod, not seed. One of the board members, Gary Gover, asked if there was a program for Cogon Grass, an invasive plant species. There was no program at this time. Gary said that the best program is to clean the movers to help reduce the spreading of the plant. Richard discussed the phasing of the project and that each had to be stabilized prior to starting the next phase. Richard discuss that a goal of the County’s Strategic Plan would be to create an access management plan for Highway 13. The county has the authority to development an access management plan for Highway 13, but has not developed the plan at this time. One of the board members asked if there was a timeline for the strategic goal of access management and the County said that any timeline they developed would be dependent upon time, money and resources. The road itself will hopefully be opening March 2010. Some of the board members mentioned that they would like to have the road accommodate a bike and pedestrian lane, especially on the bridge. Richard said that the bridge should be wide enough to accommodate a lane.