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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLand & Water 06-06-06 NOTICE OF MEETING AND AGENDA ST. CROIX COUNTY LAND & WATER CONSERVATION COMMITTEE June 6, 2006 —10:40 a.m. Agricultural Service & Education Center 19608 1h Avenue, Baldwin, WI CALL TO ORDER ROLL CALL APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING ADOPTION OF AGENDA DATE OF NEXT MEETING PARKS DEPARTMENT NEW BUSINESS: Director's Report Bills /vouchers Letter — Friends of Perch Lake Review Capital Outlay Plan Pine Lake Resolution * Mission — Business responsibilities * Glen Hills fishing pier — budget request OLD BUSINESS: County Board Goal Setting - Assignments LAND & WATER CONSERVATION DEPARTMENT A2ency reports FSA NRCS DNR RC &D West Central Area *NEW BUSINESS: Subdivision update Vouchers • Farmland Preservation Program - Resolution Agreements — Daryl & Lurene Bahnsen, Sheldon & Ruth Simonson Trust Sportsmen's Alliance — County farm Review Capital Outlay Plan Conservation Awards Ag Center — Security • Mission — Business responsibilities • Public hearing — Twin Lakes OLD BUSINESS: County Board Goal Setting - Assignments Staff reports Priority Watershed Projects ADJOURN SUBMITTED BY: Robert Heise DATE: May 24, 2006; amended May 30, 2006 COPIES TO: COUNTY BOARD OFFICE NEWS MEDIA /NOTICE BOARD COUNTY CLERK COMMITTEE MEMBERS (Items may be taken in different order) *Additions /Changes /Corrections UNOFFICAL Convened: 11:00 a.m. Recessed: 12:05 p.m. Reconvened: 1:05 p.m. Adjourned: 3:35 p.m. ST. CROIX COUNTY LAND & WATER CONSERVATION COMMITTEE Agricultural Service & Education Center, Baldwin, WI June 6, 2006 Members Present: Lois Burri, Sharon Norton - Bauman, Bill Peavey, Ron Raymond, Gene Ruetz Members Absent: None Staff Present: Director -Bob Heise, Operations Manager -Dave Larson, Lakes Cluster Technician-Tammy Wittmer, Administrative Assistant - Arlene Lier Others Present: Bill Crammer- County Board Supervisor -Dist. 22 Adoption of Agenda: Peavey made motion to adopt the agenda, seconded by Burri. Carried. Action on Previous Minutes: Motion by Peavey, seconded by Burri, to approve the May 2, 2006 meeting minutes as printed. Carried. Motion by Raymond, seconded by Burn, to approve the May 11, 2006 meeting minutes. Carried. Date of Next Meeting: July 6, 2006 (Thursday) PARKS DEPARTMENT NEW BUSINESS Director's Report Heise reported: • Highway Department will be at Glen Hills today chip - sealing the park roads from where we stopped last year on our milled area, outside of registration area on day use side, down to group area. Next year we will propose to chip seal loops and eventually work into camp grounds. • Park map — 15,000 maps (5,000 more than last year) are being printed. • Pine Lake Park — Shoreline restoration project is complete. The area was rip -raped in winter. Areas have been seeded and mulched. Two stairways (8 foot) have been installed to provide more shoreline fishing. • Glen Hills fishing pier — The concrete handicap walkway has been constructed. Bank stabilization needs to be completed before the fishing pier is delivered. • Non - motorized trail plan — Staff has been working with our procurement officer on the Request for Proposal (RFP). Larson reported: Troy Beach guard rails — We have been working with the Board of Adjustment. Town of Troy has their own zoning with six steps to go through. He has to go to the Board of Appeals. This project can be bid out once all permits are received. Bills/Vouchers The June bills list was presented. Motion by Burri, seconded by Peavey, to approve the Snowmobile account bills ($7,340.20) and Parks account bills ($17,524.75). Carried. Letter — Friends of Perch Lake Discussed the letter from the Friends of Perch Lake requesting the committee to consider a couple of proposals for Homestead Parklands. Heise explained the proposals for consideration. (1) Reserve the shelter for school groups or educational purposes. There is only one shelter available at the park. The policy has been to not reserve the shelter but it can be used on a first -come first -serve basis. (2) Increase parking by constructing an additional parking lot in the proposed Learning and Reception center area. The master plan for the park has a maximum of 56 parking stalls. The parking stalls were limited, based on the carrying capacity of the park. There would be periods of time throughout the summer that Park staff would have to inform park users that the park is full and that we would have to turn away use. Staff has made accommodations during high use to allow the public to park in the maintenance parking lot. This lot can accommodate up to 16 vehicles including staff's personal vehicles. The current number of stalls can increase to 60 stalls, minus the 4 staff vehicles (or 56), essentially the number originally outlined in the master plan. Shelter reservation — Suggestion was made that another shelter be built (FOPL project) so one of the two shelters could be reservable. Parking lot — Heise does not feel we have to increase parking stalls because we do have 60 stalls (4 being for staff). LWCC agreed that we do not have to increase parking based on the preliminary review of data available. It is the opinion that we will not increase the number of parking stalls. We need more information from staff on how often is the park full and the need to turn people away. Heise will respond to the FOPL letter. Review Capital Outlay Plan Heise explained the Capital Outlay Plan. Reviewed the items on the plan and requested the committee to focus their attention on the 2007 plan for the Parks Department and the improvements that were delayed from 2006. This will be an ongoing agenda item throughout the budget process. Pine Lake Resolution Wittmer gave a brief presentation regarding the proposed renovation of the existing boat launching facilities on Pine Lake. Plans are to abandon and reclaim the existing boat ramp area while creating a new boat ramp with a safer, more user friendly approach. Heise presented the "Resolution Authorizing Application for Grant Funds to Replace Boat Landing at Pine Lake County Park". Parks Department has budgeted $44,000 for this project for 2006, showing $22,000 being paid with grant funds; completion of project in 2009. Four townships are being asked for letters of support and contributions ($500.00 each) for the project. Burri made motion to approve the resolution Authorizing Application for Grant Funds to Replace Boat Landing at Pine Lake County Park and forward to County Board, Ruetz seconded. Carried. Mission and Business Responsibilities Heise stated that each department was requested by Administration to review and update their mission and business responsibilities as part of the annual budget process. He asked the committee to review the revised copy (based on the approved 2006 Outdoor Recreation Plan) and share their comments next month. Glen Hills Fishing pier — budget request Heise stated the concrete handicap walkway has been installed. The present design had proposed an established cut slope, from the walkway to the parking lot at a 1:1 slope. Reviewing the present site conditions, staff is uncertain if the designed slope will be able to be stabilized with the current soil conditions and proposed stabilization methods. Staff requested approval to use budget dollars from various accounts and object codes to cover the costs of the retaining block, should this be an acceptable resolution with our permitting agencies. Raymond made motion to authorize Parks staff up to $5,000 of budget to be reprogrammed from other areas, reviewed by the Committee Chairman, to be applied to litigating the steep slope problem which has been found to exist on the boat landing at Glen Hills (with proper permitting), seconded by Burri. Carried. OLD BUSINESS County Board Goal Setting — Assi¢nments Item will be discussed during Land & Water Conservation session. MISCELLANEOUS Chair Raymond reported that he received a complaint from Steve Jacobs. He wanted to make a camping reservation for 2 nights and was told he had to reserve 3 nights because of the July 4` holiday. Steve questioned the idea of 3 nights with the holiday on Tuesday. If the holiday fell on a Monday, you would want reservations for Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Steve was dismayed that the holiday was on Tuesday and we were invoking some kind of holiday 3 -day policy on reservations. He has been a regular user of the park. Steve questioned the legitimacy of a holiday policy where the holidays are not contiguous to the weekend (Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday). The policy does not specify if the holiday falls on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. Another complaint from Jacobs was that all the campsites are now all reservable. Larson stated that this is the first year that all 61 campsites are reservable. The overflow (group) area is strictly first -come, first -serve and they have the option to go there. It was offered to everybody. Committee feels the policy is accurate and that the park user had other options to camp at Glen Hills Park and chose not to. Recessed: 12:05 p.m. Reconvened: 1:05 p.m. LAND & WATER CONSERVATION DEPARTMENT Members Present: Lois Burri, Jim Cody, Sharon Norton - Bauman, Bill Peavey, Ron Raymond, Gene Ruetz Members Absent: None Staff Present: Director -Bob Heise, Land Specialist -Kyle Kulow, Lakes Cluster Technician -Tammy Wittmer, County Technician -Jeff Lueck, Administrative Assistant - Arlene Lier Others Present: Pam Quinn - Planning & Zoning, Bob Hendrickson -FSA, Steve Pernsteiner -NRCS, Pete Skorseth -DNR, John Bond - Roberts Sewer Plant, Bill Crammer- County Board Supervisor -Dist. 22 FARM SERVICE AGENCY (FSA) Robert Hendrickson - County Executive Director reported: • Kevin Cooley began the REX (Re- enrollment/Extension) CRP compliance checks. He has found some contracts that need work. • Staff will look at the 2007 CRP contracts first, followed by the 2008 -2010 contracts. • So far only 19% (79 contracts) of the 2008 -2010 contracts want to extend. Deadline is June 30. • Approximately 11 new contracts may be accepted of the 33 that were submitted for sign up. If so, we would have 247.4 acres going in, average rental rate of $68.23 /acre. • We ended up with 1,700 plus contracts for DCP (Direct and Cyclical Program). It would be less than last year but they can still late file if they wish to. Cost is $100.00 per contract. • Crop reporting is in full swing. Appointment should be made if they have not received one in the mail. Late file fees are $25.00 per farm and $10.00 per field. All fields must be reported! • No more loans or Loan Deficiency Payments can be made for 2005. Last day to apply was May 31. • The interest rate for April Commodity Loans is 6.0 and facility loans are 5.0. • The LDP's (Loan Deficiency Payments) for corn today is .00, Barley .19, Soybeans .00, HRS Wheat .00. So far this year we hit a high of .48 cents for corn. • The MILCX (Milk Income Loss Contract Program) is up and running. The first sign up ended May 17 For those producers that will hit over 2.5 million pounds of milk in a month, can sign up at anytime between now and August 30, 2007. • MILCX payment rates known to date are: Oct. 5 0i -.00, Nov. 5 0 ' -. 00, Dec. 5 0 ' -. 04 cents, Jan. 5 0 ' -. 10 cents, Feb. 5 - . 10 cents, March O h - . 4080 cents, and April 6 0 ' - . 8398 cents. May is .9248, June is .9996. NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION SERVICE (MRCS) Steve Pernsteiner - District Conservationist reported: NRCS is busy processing payments for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). Many producers are reporting their no -till. It appears that we should see an increase in acres planted to no -till this year. Some waterway and dam construction has started. A Local Work Group meeting is scheduled for June 10 at 8:30. This meeting is a chance to get stakeholder input on next year's EQIP program. The ranking system has been standardized statewide. No -till cost - sharing will again be available. NRCS is looking to set many cost -share rates to a Flat Rate system. Karen Langfeldt, NRCS state specialist, will be leaving in July. NRCS budget will not support any summer help this year. DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES (DNR) Pete Skorseth - Environmental Engineer reported: He does wastewater work (municipal and industrial) and city water supply work in counties of St. Croix, Pierce, Pepin and Buffalo. Operating permits have recently been issued for St. Croix Meadows mobile home park, Hammond, Roberts, Star Prairie and Lakeside Foods -New Richmond. Within the next few months we will have Somerset, Hudson and River Falls. These are normally five -year permits. Baldwin has a (draft) facility plan and will be submitting their final facility plan in the next few months. They will propose to continue discharging into Baldwin Creek. After they get approval, they will stage their construction and see how current development is going. John Bond, Roberts wastewater facility manager, commented that the new plant that was designed is far better than the existing one. Roberts had to do something with its wastewater facility. The new permit will have tighter restrictions than we have now. There will be far less discharge of pollutants at this new site. The new facility is under full construction; hopefully it will be completed by August. If a discharge permit is not re- issued by that time, hopefully the DNR will allow the new plant to go on line and stay under existing permit. If not, the new plant will sit there and we will continue to operate the old plant. Public Hearing - Twin Lakes - The issue of Twin Lakes discharge and the purpose of the public hearing was discussed by Skorseth. Discussion by Committee. The committee consensus was that their current position on the Robert's wastewater facility is justified and decided that no other action is necessary at this time. RESOURCE CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT (RC &D) Ruetz reported that he was appointed to serve on the RC &D Conservation Committee. Ed Weber is the new president, Dale Fern - Treasurer. There will be 4 meetings per year rather than currently 6 meetings per year. WEST CENTRAL AREA Heise reported that Buffalo County is hosting the summer conservation tour on June 15. The van will leave from the Ag Center at 7:45 a.m. Burri, Cody, Raymond, and Ruetz plan to attend. Raymond (President) and Heise (Secretary/Treasurer) will continue to serve as Area officers, if they are nominated. NEW BUSINESS A2 Center Security Heise met with Kristen Ziliak -Risk Manager and Dave Best of Building Services Department to evaluate the severe weather locations and evacuation routes for our building. During office hours the severe weather locations established in the Ag Center is adequate for the public and staff; however the public that uses our building during evening hours have a less safe location, should severe weather occur. The county could provide a safer location during severe weather for the public but would require some retrofitting of locks leading to the basement. The lock was taken off the door which goes down stairs to the basement; with the lock removed, the stairwell would be a much safer area for the public. By removing that lock, it leaves some issues with locking the bottom door leading to the garage. The public would have access to public records, vehicles, etc. Possible remedy would be to install some type of punch code lock system. After discussion, LWCC supported a request to be sent to the Building Services Department requesting installation of a lock system in the basement door, bottom of stairwell. Subdivision Update Pam Quinn (Planning & Zoning) updated the LWCC on process involved in reviewing the erosion control plans. Follow up is implemented during the construction phase. The "summary of land division submittals listing status of major and minor land development" was reviewed. LWCC requested a one -sheet summary report of subdivision activity during that month. Farmland Presentation Program Heise presented a resolution for two new Farmland Preservation Agreements (Daryl & Lurene Bahnsen, Sheldon & Ruth Simonson Trust). LWCC recommended approval and signed the resolution. Resolution and the two agreement applications will be presented for approval at the June 20 County Board meeting. Sportsmen's Alliance — County Farm Kulow reported that the St. Croix County Sportsmen's Alliance, airport, and City of New Richmond are exploring the possibility of utilizing some of the County's property (near the Human Services building) to initiate a controlled goose hunt. This discussion is in its infancy. The renter has not been contacted to discuss this possibility nor has the Health and Human Services Department. We are exploring this idea because of a letter that was received by the airport requesting cooperation and that we had been aware that the airport and City have had problems with geese the past few years. At this point, it is only being discussed and specifics to how the hunt would be carried out are absent. Our next step is to talk with the current renter and discuss this possibility. Vouchers Reviewed vouchers. Ruetz made motion, seconded by Burri, to approve Chair Raymond's signature on the June LWCD voucher list in the total amount of $10,556.52. Carried. Conservation Awards Heise presented the offering of conservation award recipients. LWCC selected the following: Conservation Farmer — Bomaz Farms -Bob and Greg Zwald Conservation Leadership — Owls (Willow River) Conservation Teacher — Sandee Blakley (4 Grade - Greenfield Elementary School, Baldwin) Review Capital Outlay Plan Heise reported that we are considering one new vehicle for 2007 and upgrading some computers. County Board Goal Setting — Assimments Heise referred to Internal Goal #4 (Item 1) — Identify land parcels - Help identify parcels that the county owns and try to figure out what we are going to do with these parcels. The committee has reviewed the conservation parcels and made recommendations to the Finance committee. The Finance committee minutes directed this back to LWCC. We will discuss with DNR or others as appropriate and forward to Finance for approval. Internal Goal #6 — page 3 — Research Technologies by Department Heads - We should all be doing on a regular basis to keep ourselves up in technology. External Goal #1 - page 4 — Parks Department — ongoing. External Goal #4 (Item 3) — page 5 - Park walking, biking, jogging trails — LWCD/Parks Department/Committee. Continued land regulation to encourage growth — LWCD. Goal #3 — Item #1— Continue implementation by Planning & Zoning — We have always had that coordination and working relationship on various ordinances, etc. Heise will forward this information to Chuck Whiting- Administrative Coordinator. OLD BUSINESS Priority Watersheds Kulow reported: Kinnickinnic — The Kinni Steering Committee will meet this Thursday, June 8 at the R.D.I. building parking lot on the campus of UW -RF. The intent is to hold a short tour of ongoing projects in the watershed. Two sites we will look at are the stream restoration on the south fork of the Kinni and possibly the new student center on the campus. We will meet at 6:30 and the tour may last an hour or more. ANNOUNCEMENTS & CORRESPONDENCE Heise stated that a letter was received regarding "Public Notice — Town of Somerset — Regarding petition to Discontinue Road ". LWCC has no objection to abandonment of the road as proposed by Michael L. Rivard, Rivard Stone, Inc. Chair Raymond adjourned the meeting at 3:35 p.m. Gene Ruetz Secretary Arlene Lier Recording Secretary I