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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLand & Water 07-05-05 ST. CROIX COUNTY NOTICE OF COMMITTEE MEETING TO: Clarence Malick, Chairman St. Croix County Board FROM: Ron Raymond, Chairman COMMITTEE TITLE: Land & Water Conservation DATE: July 5, 2005 TIME: 10:40 a.m. LOCATION: Ag Center, Baldwin CALL TO ORDER ROLL CALL ADOPTION OF AGENDA DATE OF NEXT MEETING: August 2, 2005 ACTION ON PREVIOUS MINUTES PARKS DEPARTMENT NEW BUSINESS: Director's Report Bills /vouchers Capital Outlay plan 2006 budget UNFINISHED BUSINESS: Outdoor Recreation Plan Snowmobile ordinance RFP's - Homestead Parklands - Stairway design Camping refunds LAND & WATER CONSERVATION DEPARTMENT Agency Reports FSA NRCS DNR RC &D West Central Area NEW BUSINESS: Subdivision Review - 2:30 p.m. Vouchers EPA - Watershed Initiative Grant - Staffing DATCP - SWRM cost -share dollars /extension policy Capital Outlay plan 2006 budget UNFINISHED BUSINESS: Staff Reports Information & Education report Priority Watershed Projects ANNOUNCEMENTS & CORRESPONDENCE POSSIBLE AGENDA ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING: ADJOURNMENT (Agenda not necessarily presented in this order) SUBMITTED BY: Robert Heise DATE: June 20, 2005 COPIES TO: COUNTY BOARD OFFICE NEWS MEDIA /NOTICE BOARD COUNTY CLERK COMMITTEE MEMBERS * ADDITIONS /CORRECTIONS /CHANGES ��4 - Ua Convened: 10:59 a.m. Recessed: 12:50 p.m. Reconvened: 1:42 p.m. Adjourned: 3:52 p.m. ST. CROIX COUNTY LAND & WATER CONSERVATION COMMITTEE Agricultural Service & Education Center Baldwin, WI July 5, 2005 Members Present: Lois Burri, Bill Peavey, Ron Raymond, Gene Ruetz, Jan Zoerb Members Absent: None Staff Present: Director -Bob Heise, Secretary- Arlene Lier Others Present: Ellen Denzer - Planning, Art Jacobson -County Board Supervisor, Julie Speer -County Board Supervisor, Peggy Rode Adoption of Agenda: Ruetz made motion to adopt the agenda, seconded by Burri. Carried. Action on Previous Minutes: Motion by Peavey to approve the June 7, 2005 meeting minutes with a correction in the Land & Water Conservation Department portion to read "Members Absent: Bill Peavey (excused) ", seconded by Ruetz. Carried. Date of Next Meeting: August 2, 2005 PARKS DEPARTMENT NEW BUSINESS Director's Report: Heise reported that two weeks ago at Glen Hills Park there was a near drowning of a 3 -year old child. A friend of the mother rescued and resuscitated the child. Bills/Vouchers Bills list was presented. Motion by Burri, seconded by Ruetz, to approve the Snowmobile accounts ($42,227.38) and Parks account bills ($35,451.93). Carried. Zoerb requested Heise to provide Parks Department revenues each month. He will have that information (first half of 2005) available at the August meeting. Capital Outlay Plan Heise presented the revised capital outlay plan. He amended the plan to line up with our Outdoor Recreation Plan. He was requested to add "headings" to the columns. Both are 5 -year plans and should mesh with each other. Art Jacobson discussed the Wildwood Trail with the LWCC. He explained the need for two bridges (level structures) as a possible 2007 "capital outlay plan item" (dips #2 and #7). He suggested getting cost figures for such structures. Raymond suggested that we get some answers such as (1) Is there a need ?, (2) What is the need at each crossing ?, (3) Approximate cost? This will be an item on the August meeting agenda It is difficult to determine the usage of the trail. It is used a lot for snowmobiling (bridges not needed). Where does the trail fit into importance? Raymond stated that the township residents in the western part of the county have more interest in trails. j 2006 Budeet Heise stated that he has no information yet. Raymond and Zoerb (committee chairs) attended a recent budget meeting and stressed the "effect of impact fees ". UNFINISHED BUSINESS Outdoor Recreation Plan Denzer attended the meeting to review and discuss the "revised draft" of the County Parks Administration, Bicycle System and the Snowmobile Trail System. After discussion, the committee chose the word "direction" in the paragraph "The County Parks Administration staff oversees, develops, plans and directs the County Park system's management, operations, fiscal administration and long -range planning under the direction of the Land and Water Conservation Committee. Bicycle System — Denzer and Heise met with the Highway Commissioner on June 30* and discussed the proposed changes in the map. Denzer stated that on both systems a few items were deleted but for the most part they have stayed the same. Snowmobile Trail System — Denzer stated that for the most part the Bicycle and Snowmobile systems have stayed the same. Peavey questioned the wording "To protect trail segments, subdivision and platting review should include an evaluation of trail routes and possible easement dedication for year - around use." If development occurs, the temporary easement (agreement) should be reviewed. It is not a permanent "long term easement ". The trail could be revised to bypass the development area (so there is no trail disconnect). The special meeting to approve the final version (whole document) of the plan will be held on Thursday, August 4, 1:00 p.m. Snowmobile Ordinance Heise reported that no public written comments were received by the deadline, June 15. Zoerb made motion to approve the snowmobile ordinance with the amendments as presented and forward to County Board for their adoption on August 16, seconded by Ruetz. Carried. Zoerb requested that Corporatation Counsel review the ordinance before County Board approval. Heise stated that it is now county policy that all contracts /agreements be reviewed by Corporation Counsel. RFP's — Homestead Parklands - Stairway Design Heise stated that at the June meeting, staff was requested to work with the Management Systems Specialist to re- evaluate the proposals and interview Cedar Corporation regarding their extreme low design cost. Staff asked each vendor to give us a detailed list of cost per item in our "Request for Proposal ". As a result, SEH and Bonestroo Rosene Anderlik & Associates came back essentially the same whereas Cedar Corporation's cost estimate increased about $5,800 as a part of that evaluation. As a result, the review team went back and evaluated the technical merits and also evaluated the costs into this. Staff met with Raymond and Peavey on this proposal and decided that SEH should be awarded the bid. Raymond made motion to approve awarding the contract in the amount of $12,973.00 to Short Elliott Hendrickson, Inc., Peavey seconded. Carried. Campine Refunds Heise reported that he is working with Finance Department on the cost of issuing camping refund checks (11 were issued so far this year, averaging about $44.00 per refund). Part of the refund is retained for administrative cost. This process goes through the Finance Department. Discussed using a voucher system instead of issuing refund checks. The voucher could be issued for use the next weekend or later in the year. The voucher (letter form) could be offered in place of a refund check. Campers would be notified that "Refunds are in the form of a voucher ". Heise was directed to write up something "as policy." Recessed 12:50 p.m. 4 Reconvened: 1:42 p.m. Adjourned: 3:52 p.m. LAND & WATER CONSERVATION DEPARTMENT Members Present: Lois Burri, Jim Cody, Bill Peavey, Ron Raymond, Gene Ruetz, Jan Zoerb Members Absent: None Staff Present: Director -Bob Heise; Land Specialists —Pete Kling, Kyle Kulow; Secretary- Arlene Lier Others Present: Bob Hendrickson -FSA, Steve Pernsteiner -NRCS, Pat Carpenter - .fames R. Hill, Inc. FARM SERVICE AGENCY (FSA) Robert Hendrickson reported: • CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) — Staff has not had much time to work on the 29 CRP sign ups due to crop reporting. NRCS is nearly complete with the plans, but needs to submit plans to FSA. Annually approximately $2,000,000.00 is made in rent payments. This does not include the Cost Share payments. • Compliance - Most of the 817 -U post cards sent out for CRP compliance have been returned. They still need to be entered in. Crop Reporting should be completed by end of month. Producers need to make an appointment before July 15` Later file fees for this are $25 /farm and $10 /field for "all" farms and "all fields including hay." • DCP (Direct and County Cyclical Program) - June 0 was the deadline for signing up for 2005 DCP. We were short 75 to 100 farms from last year. A couple of them have paid the $100 late fee for sign up so far. At this point we have paid out roughly $1,020,358 in the first half of advance DCP payments and about $1,301,845 in advanced Counter Cyclical (CC) payments. The second half of the DCP payment will be paid out in October of this year. If there is a final CC payment that also will be paid out in October. • About 75% of the producers have signed up for the advance Counter Cyclical payments (first and second one) for 2004. We won't know if there is a final one until October. • We made 91 commodity Loans for around $4,021,409.97 and 1,305 LDP'S for around $2,113,368.65 this year. We also made LDP on Wool this year for about $1,054.67. • The interest rate for July Commodity Loans is 4.375% and 4.375% for Facility Loans. • There is a MILC (Milk Income Loss) payment for June @ 0.0315/ hundred weights. This means that if someone hit the maximum pounds (2.4 million pounds) that could be earned, he would earn $756. • The LDP'S (Loan Deficiency Payments) for today: .03 for corn, .00 for Barley, .00 for Soybeans, .00 for HRS Wheat. • Recons - Staff still has a few recons coming in, also working on tweaking our CRP on the GIS maps. New maps are being printed off for producers that are coming in for crop reporting. • Disaster payments are slowing down. If producers get a payment on any crop, they have to have insurance for the next two years. The payment limitation on this program is $80,000.00. No one has hit that limit yet. At this point we have paid out around $922,001, mostly for 2003. • Livestock Assistance Program (LAP). St. Croix Count qualified for this for 2003. Producers that apply for this will have to prove to us that they had a loss in 2003, cattle sold because of lack of pasture, extra hay purchased, feeding earlier than normal, etc. There are still no authorizations to make any of these payments (should be $8,000- $10,000 total). • May 31 ended the Loan and LDP period for 2004 crops. If you didn't have a loan or LDP by now you can no longer get one on the 2004 crops. • We are still looking for producers to sign up to efile their LDP and DCP for the coming year. • County Office Committee (COC) elections —FSA is now accepting County Office Committee (COC) nominations for people from Local Administrative Area (LAA) 3 (Townships of Hammond, Pleasant Valley, Rush River, Baldwin, Eau Galle, Springfield and Cady). If you know of someone that would make a good Committee member, you should nominate them. Forms can be picked up at their office. • Louise Peterson is going off our Committee in December. She has been on for over 9 years now. Any person that is elected is elected for 3 years and can serve 3 terms. NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION SERVICE (NRCS) Pernsteiner reported: NRCS is currently busy making EQIP payments for practices installed in 2005. Many acres of no -till have been planted. CSP contracts have all been submitted for 2005 payments. Jay Custer is still working ''h time in Pierce County to help them catch up with CSP and EQIP contracts. Andrea Crownhart will provide assistance until later in August. Two new Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) contracts have been signed with the help of Tammy Wittmer, LWCD doing much of the leg work. DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES (DNR) No report. RESOURCE CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT (RC &D) Ruetz had tele- conferences in place of meetings. He is chairman of the fund raising committee. Next meeting will be held at Interstate Park with the full council. WEST CENTRAL AREA Raymond reported on the tour hosted by Barron County. During the business meeting, dates were set for the 2006 meetings. There is a West Central Area meeting scheduled in August. NEW BUSINESS Vouchers Reviewed vouchers. Peavey made motion to approve Chair Raymond's signature on the July LWCD voucher list in the amount of $48,947.82, seconded by Ruetz. Carried. EPA — Watershed Initiative Grant - Staffing Heise stated that WI DNR and MN DNR wrote an EPA iniative grant for the St. Croix River Watershed. It would be a 3 -year grant. This is a multi - state, multi jurisdictional effort with the St. Croix Partner Basin team looking at the St. Croix River, with goals of 20% reduction in nutrients and phosphorus into the St. Croix River by 2020. If successful, the EPA grant would fund 75% for an individual working out of our department. We would have to pay for 25% of the cost. There are different ways (possibility of state grants) for us to cover the 25% cost. Approximately $12,000 - 13,000 would have to be built into our budget. The goals and objectives in our Land & Water resource management plan line up with this project. DATCP — Cost Share Policy Heise presented the proposed policy on cost -share agreement extensions, as requested by DATCP. The terms of the agreement are identified. If the project is not extended, a landowner must install the practices covered in the contract by December 31 of the calendar year. If the landowner decides to wait until the next year to begin work, the landowner must sign a new cost -share contract in that calendar year to be eligible for cost sharing. If the landowner starts work on the project in the next year before signing a new contract, the County/Department of Agriculture cannot provide any cost - sharing to the landowner for that project. LWCC requested that the Cost Share Contract - Landowner Agreement be reviewed by Corporation Counsel. Capital Outlay Plan Heise reported that the plan information has not changed since the June meeting. 2006 Budget Heise indicated that no budget information has been received yet. Subdivision Review Kling presented: Cornerstone Ridge — (Located in part of the SW ' / 4 of the SE ' / 4 and in part of the SE ' / 4 of the SE ' / 4, Section 8, T29N,R17W, Town of Hammond, St. Croix County, Wisconsin) — 39.6 acres, 18 lots total. All storm water and erosion control issues have been resolved and the plans conform to the St. Croix County Subdivision Ordinance. Staff recommended that the storm water and erosion control plans be approved by the Planning & Zoning Committee with the condition that DNR floodplain engineer certifies floodplain analysis. Peavey made motion to recommend that the plans for this subdivision are acceptable with the condition stated per staff recommendation, and a letter be sent to the Planning & Zoning Committee, seconded by Ruetz. Carried. Sunset Landings — (Located in part of Government Lot 3, Government Lot 4, Part of the SW '/ of the SE %4 and in part of the SE ' /4 of the SE %4 of Sec. 1, T29N -R20W, Town of St. Joseph, St. Croix County, Wisconsin) — 49.9 acres, 9 lots total. Last month the committee recommended conditionally accepting the stormwater and erosion control plan with several conditions. Kling provided written correspondence and reference material. He and the engineer (Pat Carpenter -JRH, Inc.) were to explore alternatives to the proposed river access trail including a walking trail and a mechanical lift. JRH, Inc. has submitted two access trail alternatives (6 -foot wide space with a 10 -foot wide passing area and an 8 -foot wide trail). No lift design criteria have been submitted. On June 28, 2005 the Planning & Zoning Committee conditionally approved Sunset Landings preliminary plat citing nine specific conditions. The Board of Adjustments decision on September 30, 2004 allows for the construction of the river access trail as submitted (Sienna Corporation can fill portions of the ravine to provide lot owners access to the river). Kling used photos of the property to better explain the area of the proposed trail. Pat Carpenter -JRH, Inc., LWCD staff, and the committee extensively discussed the environmental issues related to the river access trail and the 9 -space turnaround. Raymond made motion to recommend refusing the turn around area to accommodate one golf cart vehicle /per home (provided it is approved by the appropriate zoning authority), the 8 foot trail with terra -cell top, vehicle size (5 feet or less) being restricted by permanent obstructions at the trail head, the channels alongside the trail having artificial (turf reinforcement) erosion protection along with rip rapping, mimicking existing conditions as much as possible, shade tolerant seed mix agreed to by LWCD and DNR, all of the May 23` items noted in Kling's letter have been incorporated into the plans, except those amended by this motion, seconded by Peavey. Carried. UNFINISHED BUSINESS Priority Watershed Protects Kulow reported: South Fork Hay River - Kyle gave a power point presentation on the Tiffany Creek stream restoration work being completed at the fairgrounds. The DNR work crew has finished and will move off site on Wednesday, July 6 The only item not completed is the walkway which will be constructed next week. All bills are in and have been sent to Madison for reimbursement. The project included the placement of 261unker structures and 5 grade control features. These were. utilized to improve stream habitat. The Master Gardeners plan on giving periodic tours of the restoration during the County Fair and Land & Water Conservation will have a display at the fair to address any questions that may come as a result of the work. Kinnickinnic - We will meet with DNR, the Kinni Land Trust, Regional Field Office personnel, and Pierce County staff on Thursday, July 7 to begin the planning process for stream restoration work on the South Fork of the Kinni. The project will be similar to the work done at the fairgrounds, however there will be more work done in the headlands due to a heavy sediment load depositing in the stream. The Land Trust will seek conservation easements along the stream. DNR and LWCD will work together to implement best management practices. The Land Trust has received an initial grant for the project from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation in the amount of $30,000.00. This can be used as a 30% match to Watershed funds. ANNOUNCEMENTS & CORRESPONDENCE Heise announced that the "Rain as a Resource" conference, sponsored by the UW- Extension, St. Croix Basin Team and RC &D, will be held on August 4 at UW -River Falls. There are two different bus tours scheduled (August 18th and September 15 to look at different sites within the county and across the river. The tour will look at low impact stormwater management practices and how sites or new development can infiltrate and keep stormwater onsite. August 4` is the same date as our Outdoor Recreation Plan meeting. Chair Raymond adjourned meeting at 3:52 p.m. Jan Zoerb Secretary Arlene Lier Recording Secretary