HomeMy WebLinkAboutLand & Water 12-07-04 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: December 7, 2004
TIME: 10:40 a.m.
LOCATION: Ag Center, Baldwin
CALL TO ORDER
ROLL CALL
ADOPTION OF AGENDA
DATE OF NEXT MEETING: January 4, 2005
ACTION ON PREVIOUS MINUTES
PARKS DEPARTMENT
NEW BUSINESS:
Director's Report
Bills /vouchers
Snowmobile ordinance
Site Manager position - Homestead Parklands
Job Description - Operations Manager
UNFINISHED BUSINESS:
Electrical Plan - Glen Hills - Park Improvement Grant Budget
LAND & WATER CONSERVATION DEPARTMENT
Agency Reports
FSA
NRCS
DNR
RC &D
West Central Area
NEW BUSINESS:
Subdivision Review - 1:00 p.m.
Wastewater - Receiving septage
Gravel pits
Vouchers
UNFINISHED BUSINESS:
Cost Share - Well abandonment - Legal opinion
Draft - MOU - DNR Administering NR -151
Update on WLWCA Conference
* Farmland Preservation Program - Soil & Water Conservation Standards
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: November 22, 2004; amended November 29, 2004
COPIES TO: COUNTY BOARD OFFICE NEWS MEDIA /NOTICE BOARD
COUNTY CLERK COMMITTEE MEMBERS
* ADDITIONS /CORRECTIONS /CHANGES
LAND & WATER CONSERVATION Reconvened: 12:35 p.m.
Adjourned: 3:00 p.m.
Members Present: Lois Burri, Jim Cody, Bill Peavey, Ron Raymond, Gene Ruetz, Jan Zoerb
Members Absent: None
Staff Present: Director -Bob Heise, Land Specialist -Steve Olson; Watershed Technician -Tammy
Wittmer; Secretary- Arlene Lier
Others Present: Bob Hendrickson -FSA; Steve Pernsteiner -NRCS; Julie Speer; Pete Skorseth -DNR;
Willard Moeri, John Bond - Village of Roberts
NEW BUSINESS
Wastewater — Receiving Septage
Willard Moeri- Roberts Village President and Pete Skorseth -DNR Environmental Engineer attended meeting to
discuss the issues behind the Village of Roberts acting as a receiving station, accepting septage from Private Onsite
Wastewater Treatment Systems (POWTS). Discussion. Roberts will be hosting a meeting Thursday, December
16' in which the DNR secretary is expected to be in attendance.
Subdivision Review
Heise presented for Kling:
Country View Ridge - (Located in part of the SE 1 /4 of the NE 1 /4, the NE 1 /4 of the SE 1 /4, the NW '/4 of the SE 1 /4
and the SW 1 /4 of the NE 1 /4, Section 7, Town of Richmond, St. Croix County, Wisconsin) Country View Ridge is a
52 -acre development, 23 lots in 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, Ruetz seconded. Carried.
Vouchers
Reviewed vouchers. Zoerb made motion to approve Chair Raymond's signature on the December voucher list
(total $87,569.23), seconded by Burri. Carried.
Gravel Pits
Steve Olson provided the committee an update on two Non - Metallic Mining Sites proposed by County Materials.
The first one is the Leverty site in Richmond Township and the second is the Solum site in Cylon Township.
Committee had a lengthy discussion on their involvement and responsibilities regarding the two proposed sites.
Steve provided the committee an update on Emerald Dairy digester. Construction should be complete by the end of
the year. Committee discussed going to tour the digester at the March meeting.
Informed the committee that five waste storage structures were permitted and constructed this year in the county.
Jan Zoerb left the meeting at 2:27 p.m.
FARM SERVICE AGENCY (FSA)
Robert Hendrickson reported:
• Ballots for the COC (County Office Committee) election will be counted on December 13 at 9:00 a.m.
• Staff is nearly half complete with compliance (spot checking).
• The CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) letters went out to all that were accepted.
• Staff continues to work on some remaining Conservation Reserve Program cost share agreements.
• Staff is beginning to make 2005 advance DCP (Direct and County Cyclical Program) payments.
• Producers can sign up for the second advance Counter Cyclical payments for 2004 plus the first one if they
haven't already.
• The interest rate for November Commodity Loans is 3.375% and 3.75% Facility Loans.
• No MILC (Milk Income Loss) payments for November at this point.
• The LDP (Loan Deficiency Payment) for today is .17 for corn, .31 for Barley, .00 for Soybeans and .00 for
HRS Wheat.
• To date, staff has paid out about $821,932.00 in Loan Deficiency Payments for soybeans, corn, oats and
barley.
NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION SERVICE (MRCS)
Steve Pernsteiner reported:
Initial 2005 EQIP allocation for St. Croix County is $98,000; additional funds may be available if needed.
Ranking sheet and list of eligible practices has been placed on the NRCS home page. Conservation tillage (chisel
and disking) is not eligible for cost sharing, no -till is eligible. Established limit of 200 acres for management
practices such as no -till, nutrient management, and pest management. Official sign up will be January 1 to
February 15, 2005.
NRCS has selected watersheds for the 2005 Conservation Security Program (CSP). Steve passed around map of
selected watersheds. They are fairly even distributed across the US, two in Wisconsin, Duck Pensaukee Creek and
Crawfish River. No land in St. Croix County is eligible. The original plan is to try to cover all the entire nations'
watersheds over eight years. Need to encourage producers to use nutrient and pest management now so they would
be eligible if their watershed is selected in future years.
RESOURCE CONSERVATION & DEVELOPMENT (RC &D)
Ruetz reported that the 7"' Annual Midwest Value Added Agriculture Conference would be held January 28 -29,
2005 at the Plaza Hotel & Suites, Eau Claire. The theme this year is "Enhancing Profit on the Farm ".
DNR
Ruetz gave the report on Forestry (for Forester Dahn Borh). He commented on the method for marking timber.
The timber sales should be ready for advertising in January.
West Central Area
No report.
Update on WLWCA Conference
Cody reported on the annual conference, which he and Burri attended at Stevens Point on December 1 -3.
The resolution #2 — REVISE WLWCA BY -LAWS TO STRENGTHEN THE ASSOCIATION — was delayed until
next year (2005).
Burri reported that the auction brought in $3,400 to be used for educational programs.
Wildlife Damage — 2004 deadline date
Heise stated the committee is to set a cut off date where the department stops accepting claim applications for
wildlife damage. The date is determined when there is 90% of the crop harvested in the county. Because of the
amount of crops that remain in the fields, staff would recommend to extend that date to December 31, 2004, the
maximum date possible. Staff will advertise in the newspapers for two consecutive weeks, informing landowners
of the deadline date. Burri made motion to approve extending the deadline date to December 31, 2004, seconded
by Cody, carried.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Cost -share well abandonment — Legal opinion
Staff met with Corporation Counsel regarding the legal obligation to entertain the request for cost - sharing the well
abandonment on Water's Edge subdivision. Opinion from legal counsel was that the well abandonment was a
condition of the plat, stated in a letter from LWCD and Zoning department, and that there should be no obligation
for the County to cost -share this practice.
DRAFT — MOU NR -151
Heise reported that he met with Corporation Counsel on the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). Much of the
content in the MOU is stated in the approved Land & Water Resource Management Plan (L)VRMP). This MOU
serves as a working agreement on how the two agencies, County and DNR, will administer the program.
Document was sent to Madison DNR for review.
Farmland Preservation Program — Soil & Water Conservation Standards
Heise reported that the State Land and Water Conservation Board approved St. Croix County's Soil and Water
Conservation Standards on November 30. In January, LWCC will discuss possible dates to hold a public hearing
on these standards.
Information & Education Report
Heise reported that the I & E report was mailed to the LWCC.
Priority Watershed Proiects
South Fork Hay River — Heise reported that theTiffany Creek project is beginning. Contractors should be
hauling rock and clearing brush next week. All agreements have been worked out.
Announcements & Correspondence
None.
Chair Raymond adjourned meeting at 3:00 p.m.
Jan Zoerb
Secretary
Arlene Lier
Recording Secretary