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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLand & Water 08-07-01 r X ST. CROIX COUNTY • NOTICE OF COMMITTEE MEETING TO: Tom Dorsey, Chairman St. Croix County Board FROM: Art Jensen, Chairman COMMITTEE TITLE: Land & Water Conservation/Resource & Education Committee DATE: August 7, 2001 TIME: 9:00 a.m. LOCATION: Ag Center, Baldwin CALL TO ORDER ROLL CALL ADOPTION OF AGENDA DATE OF NEXT MEETING: September 4, 2001 ACTION ON PREVIOUS MINUTES NEW BUSINESS: Teacher-Scholarship - 9:30 a.m. Subdivision Review - 10:00 a.m. Vouchers DNR - Oakridge Lake, Town of Stanton, Sections 8 & 9 Crossing on county property Budget Review UNFINISHED BUSINESS: Staff Reports: Education Activity Priority Watershed Projects Glen Hills Watershed - Relocation update Farmland Preservation - Agreement Ag Issues Cedar Creek Flume Homestead Park Agency Reports: FSA NRCS DNR RC&D West Central Area - August 15: Business meeting, Conservation awards ANNOUNCEMENTS & CORRESPONDENCE POSSIBLE AGENDA ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING: ADJOURNMENT (Agenda not necessarily presented in this order) SUBMITTED BY: Robert Heise DATE: July 25, 2001 COPIES TO: COUNTY BOARD OFFICE NEWS MEDIA/NOTICE BOARD COUNTY CLERK COMMITTEE MEMBERS * ADDITIONS/CORRECTIONS/CHANGES X' UNOFFICIAL Convened: 9:00 a.m. Adjourned: 11:35 a.m. ST. CROIX COUNTY LAND & WATER CONSERVATION/RESOURCE & EDUCATION COMMITTEE Agricultural Service & Education Center, Baldwin, WI August 7, 2001 Members Present: Leon Berenschot, Chris Bethke, Lois Burri, Jim Cody, Art Jensen, Ron Raymond Members Absent: None Staff Present: County Conservationist-Bob Heise; Land Specialists-Pete Kling, Tim Popple; Secretary- Arlene Lier Others Present: Steve Pernsteiner-NRCS; Bob Hendrickson-FSA, Larry Gruber-Pierce County LCD Meeting called to order by;Chairman Art Jensen. Raymond made motion to adopt agenda. Bethke seconded. Carried. Berenschot made motion to approve July 3, 2001 meeting minutes. Seconded by Cody. Carried. Next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, September 4, 2001 at 9:00 a.m. TEACHER-SCHOLARSiIIP Heise introduced Karen Yerto the committee. Karen attended the summer conservation course offered this summer at the U.W.R.F. for teachers. Karen talked about the summer conservation course and discussed her teaching experiences. Karel is a 6th grade science teacher for the Meyer Middle School in River Falls. Karen thanked the committee and the Sportsmen's Alliance who sponsored half of the cost of the summer conservation course she attended. OAKRIDGE LAKE, TOWN OF STANTON Heise explained that the DNR had contacted him regarding the possibility of creating improvements on county property on Oakridge Lake at DNR expense. DNR was to be present at today's meeting to explain the content of the project, but did not attend meeting. Heise presented a very general overview to the committee. Committee wants more details from DNR. No action taken. BUDGET REVIEW Heise presented budget to the committee. Presented budget package and supporting spreadsheets for explanations. Bottom line, county tax appropriations for the 2002 budget have increased from 2001 budget. Discussion. Salary step increases and special projects make up the increase in the 2002 budget. Discussed special projects. Heise presented temporary hielp requests. Discussion. Motion by Berenschot, seconded by Bethke to approve budget as presented. Carried. EDUCATION ACTIVITY Tim Popple reported that the watershed staff worked with outward bound students in River Falls conducting water quality evaluations and monitoring. In addition, watershed staff provided tours for Army Corp of Engineers staff along with adult students involved in conservation training at UW-RF. SUBDIVISION REVIEW Kling presented: Perch Lake Estates (In part of the NE1/4 of the NE1/4 and part of the NW/4 of the NE1/4 all in Section 33, T30N-R19W, Town of St. Joseph, St. Croix County, Wisconsin) - 26 acre development, 6 lots total, minimum lot size 3.0 acres. Recommended for approval. Cody made motion to recommend that the storm water and erosion control plans are acceptable and a letter be sent to the Planning & Development Committee. Burri seconded. Carried. Piney Woods (In part of the SE 1/4 of the NE 1/4 of Section 17, and in part of the SW1A of the NW1/4 of Section 16 T28N-R19W, Town of Troy, St. Croix County, Wisconsin) - 36 acre development, 16 lots total, minimum lot size 1.0 acre, average lot size 1.62 acres. Recommended for approval. Berenschot made motion to recommend that the storm water and erosion control plans are acceptable and a letter be sent to the Planning & Development Committee. Bethke seconded. Carried. FARMLAND PRESERVATION - AGREEMENT Heise gave an update of the Francis Genevieve farmland preservation agreement presented last month. Chairman signed the agreement during the month of July on the opinion of Corporation Counsel. Corporation Counsel recommended that the Chairman sign the Farmland Preservation Agreement because the property meets the requirements and inte»t of the Farmland Preservation program. Discussion. VOUCHERS Reviewed vouchers. Motion by Berenschot, seconded by Bethke, to approve vouchers. Carried. PRIORITY WATERSHED PROJECTS Popple reported: Kinnickinnic - Several projects are in the construction phase and several others will begin this fall Lakes Cluster - A barnyard project is beginning construction, and the Shoreland Friends project is being implemented. South Fork of the HE River - The budget is pending approval in the state budget to be approved sometime in late summer. GLEN HILLS WATERSHED Heise reported that the county has purchased the Brettingen property and that the deed is filed. October 1 st is the date for the landowner to vacate the property. Heise is requesting 50% reimbursement from NRCS for costs incurred on this project thus far. F 1 AGRICULTURAL ISSUES -UPDATE Heise commented that the Animal Waste ordinance is moving ahead. Sander has been working with the Zoning and Planning offices to coordinate ordinance structure and other Land Use ordinance language into the Animal Waste Ordinance to provide unity and consistency between county ordinances. The next Citizens Advisory Committee meeting is scheduled for September 27th, 2001. CEDAR CREEK FLUME The impoundment has been drawn down and we were able to have the DATCP engineer from Eau Claire inspect the internal conduit of the pipe. The engineer is in the process of working on a design for this structure repair. HOMESTEAD PARK Raymond made some general comments on the progress of the park. May not be able to complete as much work on the park this construction season as had previously expected. The opening date of the park could be delayed due to the delays in construction activities. FARM SERVICE AGEPNCY Bob Hendrickson reported that his office is busy with the following: ➢ Making final PFC(Production Flexibility Contracts) payments. ➢ Paid out 2,182 LDP(Loan Deficiency Payments) for $3,004,007.80 for the crop year 2000. ➢ Finished the Farm Record changes that were supposed to be done by July 31St. Thanks to Pete Kling for his help on this. ➢ Compliance activities will be starting soon. ➢ COC (County Office Committee) elections are gearing up and Suzette Sontag is up for re-election. NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION SERVICE Steve Pernsteiner reported: Steve reported that St. Croix received two Soil and Water Conservation Program (SWCA) applications. One was approved for $50,000 to do nutrient management system. The office now has a GPS unit to do land descriptions for various programs. This will be helpful when doing Conservation Reserve Enhancement Contracts (CREP). Lance Duey, summer intern, spent all of July contacting landowners regarding stream buffers. Received 12 requests through his cont4cts. CREP training to be held August 8 in Eau Claire. This will involve some time for county staff to record easements. DNR No report. RC&D Berenschot reported: He attended a Wisconsin Counties Association meeting where "industrial hemp" was discussed. It is now being f i imported from Canada. It is illegal to grow in the U.S. Feel it should be legalized as it is environmentally safe. He attended a state RC&D meeting at Stevens Point on July 26. Planning is being done for the State RC&D convention to be held at Minocqua this fall. Prairie seed will be offered to the entire state. WEST CENTRAL AREA Raymond reported on the area tour which was held July 25 in Eau Claire County. Heise commented that the West Central Area will be sponsoring a fall speaking contest, however the majority of the state will be on the spong speaking contest schedule. We are in a transition year, will probably hear more details on August 15t". Heise asked Jensen to sign the award nomination forms of the candidates to be submitted to the West Central Area Conservation Awards program. ANNOUNCEMENTS CORRESPONDENCE Heise reported on the status of the Minnesota-Wisconsin Boundary Area Commission, which was recently eliminated by the State Legislature. Governor would have to veto this out of the budget, reinstate the commission into the budget and define a funding source to fund the commission. Heise handed out a resolution on behalf of the county to Gsupport the reinstatement of the commission. Discussion. Committee requested Heise write a letter for Jensen signature to be forwarded to the Governor to support the MWBAC on behalf of the Land and Water Conservation Department. Committee also requested Heise to work with Corporation Counsel on this resolution to have it be brought forward to County Board in August. Heise discussed with the committee the recent problems and delays on obtaining permits from the DNR on project work. Landowners are expressing their discontent and are very upset with the process and delays. We lose an entire construction season because of these delays in obtaining the required permits. Discussion. Chair Jensen adjourned the meeting at 11:35 a.m. Jim Cody Secretary