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HomeMy WebLinkAbout12-09-2009 Regular MeetingFEAB Meeting Minutes December 9, 2009 9:00am Attendees: Jim Horner Gary Gover, Ron Heveran, Elaine Snyder-Conn, and, Garland Sims, City of Fairhope Representation: Nancy Milford, Kim Burmeister, Ken Eslava City Council Members: Rick Kingrea. Honored Guests: Mike Odom (Fairhope Courier), Bobby Green (Tree Committee) Jim Horner called the meeting to order at 9:00am. The meeting minutes were approved. Jim Horner reported that early in the week there were two areas in which the environment has taken a hit. The first is with the sedimentation study. The funding for the Fly Creek Sedimentation Study was obtained. Kim and Jim met on site to look at the areas to be sampled. Approximately $40,000 funding has been authorized by the NEP and the Geological Survey. One of the study points is on Arthur’s property. Jim Horner discussed the study with Arthur Corte and Arthur Corte has taken the stance that he does not want anyone on his property. There is another sample point that is located behind Sandy Ford, which also on Corte family land. Word was sent through Debbie Quinn to stay off of his property also. The lack of sample points will stop the sedimentation study altogether. Elaine asked if it was possible to walk up stream in Fly Creek Elaine said that water of the US include intermittent streams. Could ADEM go with Marlin as a representative? Jim did not seem to think so. Jim explained that the second environmental hit started in September. Mr. Corte came in for approval of Phase II of Fairhope Village, which included the residential section of the development. Lonnie Mixon made a motion to include buffers and it passed. Then Mr. Corte apparently got his attorney to talk to Chris Gill. Chris presented to Planning Commission on Monday night that Mr. Corte intended to sue. The Planning and Zoning Commission prevailing opinion as expressed by Chris Gill was that the PUD was a contract because the City Council approved the PUD with setbacks, instead of buffers. FEAB tried to present the concern of why buffers are necessary. In the course of the next ten years when the site is fully developed the lack of buffers will adversely affect Fly Creek. The topic came up again about conducting sampling of Fly Creek. Jim said that Marlon Cook was pretty firm that he is not bullet proof and will not go on private property without owner authorization and support. Marlon Cook expressed that the political climate in Fairhope is not very good. He said that the political climate in Spanish Fort, Daphne, and Mablis is better and he intends to focus his energy on the D’Olive Creek project. In October 2006, toward the end of the council meeting, Bob Gentle asked Mr. Corte if he understood that if the council approved the PUD subdivision for annexation, if you start building you will have to abide by the regulations at that time. Mr. Corte agreed at the council meeting. At the recent P&Z meeting, Fran asked for a show of those who remembered Mr. Corte’s commitment about 10-12 people stood up. Lonnie then made the motion to approve with the condition of the buffers as required by the current subdivision regulations. The motion failed. So the result is there will be setbacks but no buffers. Elaine asked if the Corps of Engineers could enforce a buffer. Gary Gover added that the Planning Director, Jonathan Smith, said that if they have any future amendments they could negotiate to comply with the latest subdivision regulations. The second item on the agenda Monday night was Stone Creek Phase II. Jennifer Fidler asked about buffers. Apparently this is a similar buffer situation as the Fly Creek project. Other Announcements: Jim said that Steven Pecot was given a six million dollar grant for Cogongrass. He will give us a presentation about cogongrass in January. Tree Committee: Bobby Green, with the Tree Committee, discussed the revisions to the tree ordinance. Jim and Bobby reviewed the mission of the tree committee. Rick Kingrea said Mariah and Skip Jones have been involved in meeting on the tree ordinance. Tut Wynn got opinions of the tree ordinance. A meeting will be set up between Tut and the tree committee to discuss legal issues associated with the ordinance. Bobby said that the Tree Ordinance is actually an environmental ordinance. The old ordinance was confusing to staff. It was confusing as to when the site plan was to be reviewed. The site design was listed in various parts of the ordinance. To help the developer, the tree committee has moved the site design information to the front of the document. It will help the developer see the sequential steps to the process. They also checked to make sure that the document was consistent with the Planning Department requirements. The tree committee would like to see the ordinance have only the tree committee and the city horticulturist have authority for tree removal. This would be for commercial not for residential property. The new ordinance will address tree pruning and other impacts on trees such as work in the critical root zone. Bobby said that many cities are giving developer booklets about working in the root tree zone. The booklet was from the National Arborist Association. Jonathan Smith is trying to develop a standard check list for who ever holds the authority so they sign off and date each step of the development process. This will help standardize the process. There will be a tree survey and a landscape plan ( which will be a separate document from the tree survey). Elaine asked about what would be the definition of merged trees when addressing “Heritage Tree” circumference. Bobby addressed the question stating that the diameter of the tree would dictate. A merged tree would have one diameter equaling the sum of all trunks. Jim Horner said the committee may want to highlight “wind resistant”(hurricane) trees. Elaine asked if they will address invasive species. Bobby said that the new document allows for removal of invasive species trees. Does Jennifer need to approve the removal of invasives. Bobby said yes but they will always be permitted. Tree credits are also addressed in the ordinance. They also plan to encourage buffers as screening tools. Jim said, in his review of the document, he changed buffer to visual buffer to clarify the difference between visual and riparian buffers. Elaine said it is best if the ordinance can say no trees cut in the buffer with the exception of invasive species. Garland Sims read an article in the paper about carbon emissions. There was a brief discussion about carbon emissions. Gary Gover asked if the ordinance addressed forested land as a category. It is important to stormwater. Bobby explained the City of Fairhope was ahead of the curve with some regulations, but was way behind in preservation of forested land. He said the height restriction in a issue affecting forested land. Elaine returned the focus of the group back to forested areas and asked if it preserving forested land and habitats could be encouraged by using credits. There was some discussion regarding conservation subdivisions. Nancy said that the Planning Department reviewed what the county had in their regulations regarding conservation subdivisions. The county is no longer using the section. The City of Fairhope Planning Department decided that the best way to address conservation subdivisions was to do it through PUD’s that allow for flexibility in design. Nancy asked if the tree committee had given any consideration to preserving certain rare species of trees. Bobby said that it was discussed but there was not enough support for it within the tree committee. Mike Odom said at the end of the Planning and Zoning meeting Monday night, Jonathan addressed the tree ordinance, but did not mention the tree committee. Could someone speak to the tree committee’s involvement. Rick said the committee addressing the tree ordinance will be separate from the tree committee. It will include some tree committee members, but the purpose of the new committee will be to review the legal and constitutionality requirements of the tree ordinance. Elaine asked if the ordinance addressed moving young trees. She is on the community gardening committee and one site they are looking at had “Centennial Trees”. Bobby said this could probably be addressed through Jennifer Fidler. Jim Horner asked about page 6 regarding the curbing. Jim said that environmentally people are moving away from curbing and moving to swales and bioretention. Bobby explained that the curbing was required because they did not want grading to occur near the trees. The tree committee is recommending language to encourage bio-retention. Jim also asked about page 8 of 16, referencing land adjacent to different highways, such as greenspace, etc. Bobby said this section was added years ago by a previous city council. Jonathan told Bobby that he has plans to include and expand this section. Jim asked if it could include route 13. Other: Garland described the award he was given and discussed the purple martin Riviera. The City and the Audubon Society seemed to think the purple martin houses attracted more than just purple martins, when the houses attracted the attention of the Mayor and Council of the City of Mandeville. Garland has been given the green light to order more martin houses. Ken Eslava stated that the Public Works Department has been directed to close the City’s C&D Landfill. There will be a moratorium from using the landfill for thirty years. The City of Fairhope will be using the McBride Landfill.