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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLand & Water 08-02-05 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: August 2, 2005 TIME: 10:40 a.m. LOCATION: Ag Center, Baldwin CALL TO ORDER ROLL CALL ADOPTION OF AGENDA DATE OF NEXT MEETING: August 4, 2005 (Outdoor Recreation Plan) September 6, 2005 ACTION ON PREVIOUS MINUTES PARKS DEPARTMENT NEW BUSINESS: Director's Report - Revenue report Bills /vouchers Capital Outlay plan 2006 budget - meeting date Wildwood Trail dips ( #2and #7) UNFINISHED BUSINESS: Outdoor Recreation Plan Camping refunds - proposed policy LAND & WATER CONSERVATION DEPARTMENT Agency Reports FSA NRCS DNR RC &D West Central Area NEW BUSINESS: Subdivision Review - 2:00 p.m. Vouchers DATCP - SWRM cost -share dollars /extension policy Capital Outlay plan 2006 budget - meeting date NR -115 - Shoreland Ordinance - Update Siting legislation - Update - proposed changes LWCD revenue report UNFINISHED BUSINESS: Staff Reports Priority Watershed Projects ANNOUNCEMENTS & CORRESPONDENCE POSSIBLE AGENDA ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING: ADJOURNMENT (Agenda not necessarily presented in this order) SUBMITTED BY: Robert Heise DATE: July 20, 2005 COPIES TO: COUNTY BOARD OFFICE NEWS MEDIA /NOTICE BOARD COUNTY CLERK COMMITTEE MEMBERS * ADDITIONS /CORRECTIONS /CHANGES Convened: 11:00 a.m. Recessed: 12:01 p.m. Reconvened: 12:56 p.m. Adjourned: 3:03 p.m. ST. CROIX COUNTY LAND & WATER CONSERVATION COMMITTEE Agricultural Service & Education Center, Baldwin, WI August 2, 2005 Members Present: Lois Burri, Bill Peavey, Ron Raymond, Gene Ruetz, Jan Zoerb Members Absent: None Staff Present: Director -Bob Heise, Operations Manager -Dave Larson, Secretary- Arlene Lier Others Present: Derek Tuttle -Parks Intern Adoption of Agenda: Zoerb made motion to adopt the agenda, seconded by Peavey. Carried. Action on Previous Minutes: Motion by Burri to approve the July 5, 2005 meeting minutes as presented, seconded by Peavey. Carried. Date of Next Meeting: August 4, 2005 (Outdoor Recreation Plan) August 19, 2005 (2006 Budget Review - Operations) September 5, 2005 PARKS DEPARTMENT NEW BUSINESS Director's Report Heise introduced Derek Tuttle (UW -River Falls student, one of our summer interns working at Glen Hills Park). His degree will be in land use planning. As part of his internship, Derek will be present during our Parks meeting today to be introduced to county government and local decision - making. Revenue report — Heise presented a report current to July 26. Revenues are coming in above what we received last year by this date; increase in revenues may be direct response to the warmer weather conditions this summer. LWCC requested Heise to present revenue reports quarterly. Larson gave an update on S.E.H. (Short Elliott Hendrickson, Inc.) /Homestead Parklands. They met on site and already have a few options to propose. S.E.H. will be proposing costs related to those layouts within the next two weeks. Bills/Vouchers Bills list was presented. Motion by Peavey, seconded by Burri, to approve the Parks account bills ($18,522.88). Carried. Capital Outlay Plan Heise reported that there has been no change since last month. The only item that we could probably combine with capital outlay would be costs for the Wildwood Trail (requested by Art Jacobson, County Board Vice Chairman). The County Highway Engineer gave us a rough estimate to install bridges over the two dips ( #2 and #7, $60.000 each, total $120,000). Discussion on the amount of trail usage. It was the consensus of the LWCC that the trail usage does not warrant the $120,000 cost. The money should be used where there is a greater demand. 2006 Budget — meeting date The budget review meeting will be scheduled for August 19, 1:00 p.m., UW- Extension first, LWCC last. Discussed the issue of impact fees (legality) and effect on department budgets. UNFINISHED BUSINESS Campine Refunds Heise presented a proposed camping refund policy. The policy is to reduce the amount of administrative work of issuing refunds by issuing vouchers rather than refunds. Finance has not given us the authority to use debit credit cards for refunds yet, maybe next year. Our credit card usage is increasing. The Administration cost for issuing a check is now $15.00 /check. We already retain $5.00 as part of the registration fee. This policy would also retain $15.00 for additional administration fees. The idea would be to give the park user a voucher to be used for equal night stays and get full value. The park user would have to follow all the same procedures to get a camping site when using the voucher policy. The voucher, signed in blue ink by a park official, would have to have a number and name on it so it would not be so easily copied. Zoerb made motion to approve the St. Croix County Parks Department camping refund policy with minor revisions, Peavey seconded. Carried. Outdoor Recreation Plan Discussed the scheduled special meeting to be held on August 4 to review the final version (whole document) with Ellen Denzer, County Planner. Ruetz will not be able to attend the meeting and Peavey will potentially be late. ANNOUNCEMENTS Heise stated that the Snowmobile ordinance will be on the August 16th County Board agenda. Supervisors will be receiving a memo providing a summary on the process. Recessed 12:01 p.m. Reconvened: 12:56 p.m. Adjourned: 3:03 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 Specialist —Pete Kling, Lakes Cluster Technician -Tammy Wittmer, Secretary- Arlene Lier Others Present: Jim Devlin -DNR, Mary Warner -FSA, Andrea Crownhart-NRCS, Craig Lilja -Troy Development Corporation FARM SERVICE AGENCY (FSA) Mary Warner -Farm Loan Officer briefly explained all of the FSA farm loan programs. Loan funds are available for farm operating, farm ownership and youth loans. Although the programs promote loans to beginning farmers and socially disadvantaged groups, loans are available to all farmers that meet certain eligibility requirements. He also asked that if anyone knew of existing dairy facilities that may be available for rent to let him know as he does get inquiries from applicants as to the availability of farms for rent in the area. He also asked that the committee help promote the FSA farm loan programs so that deserving farmers are aware of these opportunities. We want to be sure that St. Croix County receives its share of low interest federal loan programs. Also reported for Bob Hendrickson -County Executive Director: • CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) — Staff has nearly completed the 29 sign up plans. Also working on Cost Share payments. • CRP contracts that will expire on September 30 can be extended for one year if the producer requests. All rules for that sign up would apply for another year. There are 40 contracts for about 957 acres. • Compliance — Crop reporting is nearly done. There are still about 817 -U's to load. • DCP (Direct and County Cyclical Program) — There was no final Counter Cyclical payment for wheat and oats. However, there was a .045 payment for barley, which will be issued in the near future. • We still have a few 2004 outstanding Commodity Loans that staff is working to clean up. None are delinquent at this time. • The interest rate for Commodity Loans is 4.5% and 4.0% for Facility Loans. • There is a MILC (Milk Income Loss) payment for June @ 0.0315/ hundred weights. There will be no MILC payments for July and August. • The LDP's (Loan Deficiency Payments) for today: .00 for corn, .20 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. Deadline for signing up is September 9, 2005. • Livestock Assistance Program (LAP). St. Croix County qualified for this program. Deadline is also September 9, 2005. • We are still looking for producers to sign up to efile their LDP and DCP for the coming year. It is necessary to stop in at the office and establish a profile. • 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 him or her. Forms can be picked up at our 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. • FSA had a booth at the St. Croix County fair. A few people stopped to inquire about our programs. NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION SERVICE (NRCS) Andrea Crownhart- Summer Intern reported for Steve Pernsteiner- District Conservationist: • CRP plans have been completed for the 29` signup. Waiting for a few signatures yet. We had 38 new contracts approved. • Conservation Security Program (CSP) selection has been made for 2005 participants. See news release. St. Croix County had one applicant who did not get selected due to low level of environmental practices. • Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) contracts have been completed on 18 applications for $137,000. DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES (DNR) Jim Devlin -Run -off Management Specialist reported: He is responsible for permitting and compliance of stormwater runoff and animal waste issues (NR 151 and 216 requirements) in St. Croix, Pierce, Dunn, Pepin, Eau Claire, and Chippewa Counties. Kling stated that Devlin is part of the technical work group that meets once a month to review subdivision concepts. RESOURCE CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT (RC &D) Ruetz reported that River Country RC &D (12 counties) met jointly with a Minnesota RC &D (7 counties). River Country RC &D is getting involved, quite heavily, in an initiative to reduce erosion in 4 states (Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, and Iowa) and reduce nutrients in the Mississippi River. Jackson and Trempealeau counties are quite involved with rotational grazing of beef cattle. WEST CENTRAL AREA Raymond stated that posters and conservation awards would be judged at the Area meeting scheduled for August 18 at Menomonie. Also reported that he has a WLWCA board of directors meeting on August 25. Heise reported that he, Tammy Wittmer, and Kyle Kulow would be attending a planning meeting on August 3 for the WLWCA annual conference, which will be held in Eau Claire on December 7 -9. NEW BUSINESS Vouchers Reviewed vouchers. Peavey made motion to approve Chair Raymond's signature on the August LWCD voucher list in the amount of $10,072.45, seconded by Cody. Carried. DATCP — SWRM Cost -Share dollars /extension policy Heise stated that he changed the word "agreement" to "policy" before having Greg Timmerman - Corporation Counsel review it, as requested by LWCC. Timmerman did not make any changes to the cost -share policy. Burri made motion that LWCC approves the St. Croix County LWCD Cost -Share Policy, seconded by Ruetz. Carried. Capital Outlay Plan Heise reported that there has been no change to the plan. It can be discussed at our budget review meeting on August 19. 2006 Budget — meeting date The meeting date was set for August 19. Heise stated that the South Fork/Hay River Watershed project will terminate at the end of this year, as a result there would be less money coming in for staff and cost -share dollars to administer that program. We have no information yet on the EPA grant that DNR submitted for the Willow River Program. The grant is for a targeted area on the Willow River watershed. That is part of a larger St. Croix County Basin study. They targeted the Willow River because that is identified as the main source of nutrients and sediments coming into the St. Croix River. If that would be approved, it would bring in almost the same amount of dollars back into the program. Those dollars will be in the budget as "pending." NR -115 — Shoreland Ordinance — Update Heise stated that NR -115 is a Shoreland Ordinance that is being proposed. We want to give you some information, at least from the Land & Water Conservation's perspective, of some comments to the ordinance. You also may receive some comments from the Zoning staff on this same ordinance. Our goal would be to compile our comments together in one letter with a joint signature from both committee chairs and send off. A special meeting could be held on the day of, after, or before our county board meeting on August 16. Tammy Wittmer presented LWCD's comments regarding the proposed DNR NR -115, Shoreland Zoning Ordinance changes. Both the Land & Water Conservation staff and the Zoning staff are working together and will be presenting a final letter to both committees for approval. Zoerb made a motion authorizing the LWCC chair to sign a joint (LWCC/Planning & Zoning Committee) letter, which will be developed by staff, seconded by Burri. Carried. Sitine le islation — Update — Proposed changes Olson gave an update on the proposed changes to NR -243 and livestock siting legislation. LWCD Revenue Report Heise presented a revenue report which indicated $92,402 estimated revenue, $49,376.76 received to date. Much of that revenue received is off setting costs for contracted services to the Zoning department. Subdivision Review Kling presented: Rolling Waters — (Located in part of the W '/z of the NE '/ of Section 5, T31N -R19W, Town of Somerset, St.Croix County, Wisconsin) — 69.6 acres, 20 lots total. All storm water and erosion control issues have been resolved and the plans conform to the St. Croix County Subdivision Ordinance. The storm water and erosion control plans are acceptable for this subdivision. Peavey made motion to recommend that the plans for this subdivision are acceptable and a letter be sent to the Planning & Zoning Committee, seconded by Cody. Carried. Pond View Acres — (Located in part of the NW '/4 of the SE '/4 and in part of the NE ' / 4 of the SE ' / 4, Section 10, T28N -R15W, Town of Cady, St. Croix County, Wisconsin) — 64.5 acres, 28 lots total. All storm water and erosion control issues have been resolved and the plans conform to the St. Croix County Subdivision Ordinance. The storm water and erosion control plans are acceptable for this subdivision. Cody made motion to recommend that the plans for this subdivision are acceptable and a letter be sent to the Planning & Zoning Committee, seconded by Peavey. Carried. Kling reported that there were two other subdivisions that were submitted which had items that were unresolved: (1) Hills of Troy, Sec. 10 and 11, Town of Troy, (2) Roettgers Ridge, Sec. 5, Town of St. Joseph. Craig Lilja- Developer, Hills of Troy, attended the meeting and referred to an outdated document (request for land subdivision plat review — check list), which he had received from St. Croix County. They thought they would get comments at this August meeting. The document indicated that they would have time to respond to those comments and get information back at least 10 days prior to the next Planning & Zoning meeting. They are requesting their subdivision plans be reviewed at the September 6 (LWCC) and September 13 (Planning & Zoning) meetings. UNFINISHED BUSINESS Priority Watershed Proiects Tammy Wittmer reported: The Kinnickinnic Watershed Steering Committee will be meeting Thursday, August 4` at 7:30 p.m. in River Falls. They will be discussing the proposed student center on the UW -RF campus. The LWCD plans on commenting on the storm water and erosion control components. The Lakes Cluster Advisory Committee will be meeting Wednesday, August 10, at Homestead Parklands. They will be discussing all boat landings, aeration and pumping systems on the respective lakes. It was identified at our last meeting that we need to get some answers and identify if there would be any problems 20 years from now. Lakes Cluster Bass Lake - Tammy reported that in her last conversations with the Engelharts that they have come to an agreement with the township regarding 132 "d ' They are looking at removing and restoring 132 Avenue. ANNOUNCEMENTS & CORRESPONDENCE Heise announced an invitation to the Star Prairie Preservation Land Trust dedication of the McMurtrie preserve property on Tuesday, August 16. Later on that day at the River Island Park in the village of Star Prairie, the Land Trust will make a presentation to acknowledge the person who donated the property. Heise invited all committee members to attend. Discussion on the Conservation Farmer Award winner for 2005. Landowner wishes not to be recognized. Chair Raymond adjourned meeting at 3:03 p.m. Jan Zoerb Secretary Arlene Lier Recording Secretary