Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutNatural Resources October 12 20041 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 DISCLAIMER: This document contains the Whatcom County Council or Committee minutes, as approved. However, unless an attested signature page is attached, they are not the final approved minutes. WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL Natural Resources Committee October 12, 2004 Committee Chair Sharon Roy called the meeting to order at 9:30 a.m. in the Council Chambers, 311 Grand Avenue, Bellingham, Washington. Present: Absent: Seth Fleetwood None Laurie Caskey- Schreiber Also Present: None COMMITTEE DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATION TO COUNCIL 1. DISCUSSION REGARDING THE LAKE WHATCOM MANAGEMENT PLAN (AB2004 -017) Bruce Roll, Assistant Director, stated this is a discussion to prepare for the Lake Whatcom Management Joint Meeting on Wednesday, October 20, 2004. He handed out information (on file). Fleetwood asked how a task is an accomplishment, as shown in the handout. Erika Stroebel, Senior Planner, stated that document was handed out in March 2004, and relates to the 2002 -2004 work plan. To keep the document brief, she didn't write out each task, just referred to the task number. Roy stated this is a draft. At the meeting next Wednesday, the joint councils may or may not decide to approve the draft. Roll stated the process is different. This discussion is to gather Council input before the meeting so staff know what the joint councils want to discuss at the meeting. The public comment period will run about six weeks after the Wednesday meeting. After the public comment period, staff will present a draft that the jurisdictions may adopt. Roy asked if public comment would go to the Interjurisdictional Coordinating Team (ICT) and the councils would not be privy to the public comment. Stroebel stated they will discuss that process next week. In previous work plan updates, the public comments were compiled for the councils' consideration. Roy stated the public comment is important to have. Caskey- Schreiber stated one issue to talk about is stormwater, including how to do retrofitting, upgrades, assessing problems before the total maximum daily Natural Resources Committee, 10/12/2004, Page 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 DISCLAIMER: This document contains the Whatcom County Council or Committee minutes, as approved. However, unless an attested signature page is attached, they are not the final approved minutes. load (TMDL) study come out, and then how to pay for those things that will have to be done. Add that discussion to the agenda. Roll stated there is a lot of work going on in all three jurisdictions. This exercise is to focus on things that are cross - jurisdictional, such as stormwater. The plan doesn't prevent any of the jurisdictions from accomplishing tasks that may not be defined in the plan. Caskey- Schreiber stated that, because the County is looking at doing a volume study on Lake Louise Road and seeking money for a fix for the stormwater, the County must have a conversation with the City of Bellingham to make sure the City is aware of that study. Roy asked about the stormwater project at Cable Street. The County hasn't decided that's what it's going to do yet. Roll stated staff would propose road work in that area to the Council. The staff are working through all options and opportunities in that area. Staff will come to Council later with options. Roy stated she questions the viability of re- routing traffic in that area. Community outreach goal 4.2, water quality messages on utility bills, is excellent. She asked if they've already been doing this. Stroebel stated the City did it for two or three years. Now, the utility bills do not have a stewardship message, but the bills are being redesigned. The messages will be included again. There is not a lot of room on the bill. Stroebel stated the Council received a memo from the ICT and a list of staff recommendations in a table. She submitted an updated version (on file). She described the updates. Many tasks are similar. Staff clarified what they are doing in the program areas. A new program area is 11. Staff worked through the accomplishments of last work plan and looked at ongoing tasks. There are many administrative needs. They have been successful coordinating jurisdictions and departments. They need to continue that coordination. Roy asked if there is a budget item for the administrative needs. Roll stated there is an additional services request (ASR) that was approved in 2004. There will be another ASR for 2005 and 2006 for $100,000 of general fund money. Those ASR's will pay for activities like these such as administrative functions, meetings, educational brochures, and some of the monitoring. A large number of funds may come from other sources. It's likely a portion of Cable Street will be paid for from road funds. Staff in various departments spend time and energy in this program. Those are staff positions devoted primarily to this work plan and the efforts in the Lake Whatcom watershed. Roy stated if the Council is going to see something new in the budget for administration or if staff is continuing something that they've already been doing. Roll stated this isn't new work. Work has been going on. Staff wants the Council to be informed of deliverables. Administration is what they need to make sure the County can do on- the - ground projects. Natural Resources Committee, 10/12/2004, Page 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 DISCLAIMER: This document contains the Whatcom County Council or Committee minutes, as approved. However, unless an attested signature page is attached, they are not the final approved minutes. Stroebel stated some of those items are in the current work plan, in different program areas. Staff was trying to describe the interaction with councils, the management committee, and members of the community. Staff is working hard to get jurisdictions together to send consistent messages to the community. Stroebel stated the joint councils talked about priority areas at the March Joint Lake Whatcom Management meeting. Two areas that are high priority are stormwater management and land preservation. There is continued recognition of the importance of community outreach. They also looked at accomplishments of the previous work plan and ongoing projects. The staff recommendation is built from those elements. Staff evaluated tasks in the previous work plan. Land preservation tasks are program area one. Stormwater management is program area two. Community outreach is program area four. Next week, all councilmembers and commissioners will review and identify the tasks on which they have questions on or want more detail. Staff will go through each program area and count the members who want to have a discussion on each task. Those tasks that have the most people who want to talk about it will have the highest priority for discussion. Today's meeting is to identify areas where there are questions or the councilmembers need further discussion. She asked for the committee's comments. Fleetwood referenced stormwater. Many in the community bark at the Council for doing smaller projects in the lake's watershed instead of larger things like stormwater. The completed tasks seem preparatory to implementation of retrofitting. He asked if they are at a point now where it's time to implement retrofits, which will cost a lot of money. Roll stated water quantity and quality models are coming from the TMDL and water resource inventory area (WRIA) efforts. Staff will use those results to prioritize the drainages where they want to focus their efforts. Staff is looking at stormwater comprehensively, which includes more than a retrofit project, such as additional pollutant controls. They need to identify how they relate to existing land use and how to enhance existing land use. They are getting close to being ready to do the expensive projects. Fleetwood asked when that will happen. Jeff Monsen, Public Works Director, stated they are starting those exercises. There are locations where they are ready to move ahead because they know they are priority areas. Cable Street is an example of how they have to deciding how big the area is and how to finance it. That will help set priorities in 2005 for other locations. Staff will balance money with priorities. Fleetwood asked if staff foresees a moment in time, maybe next year, when they can produce a list of tasks to do, even though they don't know the costs precisely, only that the cost will be large. He asked if there should be joint consideration of the funding. Monsen stated the jurisdictions need to have that kind of discussion. They will quickly get to the point where the issue of coordination comes up. Not all projects will be done jointly. There are legal Natural Resources Committee, 10/12/2004, Page 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 DISCLAIMER: This document contains the Whatcom County Council or Committee minutes, as approved. However, unless an attested signature page is attached, they are not the final approved minutes. boundaries between different revenue sources. They will coordinate efforts to identify priorities. The money available will guide the selection of the priorities. Some priorities may be impossible to finance. Caskey- Schreiber stated the TMDL study findings will show that the most polluted areas are outside the County jurisdictions. She asked if the County is acting prematurely to put resources into Cable Street without the TMDL study findings, or if this is an area the County should address. Monsen stated it is an area the County needs to address. The County has already delayed a necessary road improvement there. Staff is trying to go through the design process to create as many opportunities for dealing with stormwater as possible and to not exclude the potential for making other adjustments in the future. Roy stated the Council is often accused of only addressing small items when the real problem is the need to retrofit for stormwater control. Roll stated they are looking at these methods comprehensively and at all the tools they can apply. Caskey- Schreiber stated she agrees with Dr. Roll. Dr. Robin Matthews said sediment loading adds more to the degradation of the lake than anything. What they've done so far isn't small in any way. If people truly understood the process, they'd understand the County couldn't just address one thing. The County has to address everything. Sediment loading is the biggest problem with the lake. Roy stated she also believes a comprehensive approach is what they need to do. She supports Dr. Roll's approach. They don't have yet the data they need. They will have it soon. Roll stated the lower Nooksack River flood modeling work is something they can expect to have for Lake Whatcom. It won't answer all questions. It will provide information on what they can do and the resulting impacts. However, they won't be able to answer all questions. The models will need to be refined. People will want to know the certainty with predicted outcomes. Certainty will vary. Fleetwood stated he also agreed on a comprehensive approach. Stormwater is one of the big issues. Dr. Matthews talks about density reduction and stormwater. They know that expensive projects outside of the current budget are coming forward soon. Therefore, the jurisdictions should have a joint conversation sooner rather than later. Be prepared with funding options that may exist. Having that conversation should be a priority task for 2005. Develop some funding mechanism above and beyond what currently exists to pay for retrofits. Roy stated people in the community feel strongly about the herbicide and pesticide issue. That issue may be included in community outreach. Look at their options. When they get the TMDL study results, they'll know what the impacts are and if education and outreach is doing the job. Roll stated a fact sheet describes the pesticide issue in Lake Whatcom. They will get that out soon. Natural Resources Committee, 10/12/2004, Page 4 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 DISCLAIMER: This document contains the Whatcom County Council or Committee minutes, as approved. However, unless an attested signature page is attached, they are not the final approved minutes. Roy stated staff has captured the issues very well. She appreciates having the products included on the table of program areas. Caskey- Schreiber referenced task 1.4. The Comprehensive Plan says Sudden Valley achieved 75 percent of its density reduction program. She asked if the meeting next week could include Sudden Valley Community Association General Manager Steve Greiser and figure out if both City and County councils would like Sudden Valley to continue that program and how to work together to accomplish more density reduction. She asked how many lots are still undeveloped. Determine a realistic continuation of the density reduction program. Stroebel stated including Mr. Greiser is a good idea to talk about how Sudden Valley is approaching its density reduction. The Sudden Valley community has been discussing where it wants to go from here. Task 1.4 is to continue building those partnerships, understand how the restrictive covenants contribute to green space and protection of the tributaries and lake, and to identify areas where additional work can be done. Roll stated Mr. Greiser has been attending the monthly meetings for several months. Caskey- Schreiber stated she is very concerned about the two thousand undeveloped lots and the impacts they would have on the lake if developed. The impacts may be very detrimental to basin three. Roy stated the issues of funding, herbicide and pesticide, and Sudden Valley density reduction are three issues that they'd like to discuss further next week. Roll asked if those are topics on which they'd like to have joint discussions with the other jurisdictions. Fleetwood stated those are the topics. Caskey- Schreiber stated the City of Bellingham participated in buyouts to help the Sudden Valley density reduction program. Continue that partnership and let them know the County is willing to support the Sudden Valley Community Association any way it can. Figure out what their next density reduction goal will be. Roll stated the next discussion is with Water District 10 and what it means to their revenue streams because of density reduction. Stroebel asked the councilmembers to look through this table and identify tasks on which they have questions before the next meeting. Roll stated they're looking for guidance on the priorities during the next couple of years. He asked the Council to also provide input on things that the County doesn't need to accomplish in the next couple of years. All of these tasks take resources. Natural Resources Committee, 10/12/2004, Page 5 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 DISCLAIMER: This document contains the Whatcom County Council or Committee minutes, as approved. However, unless an attested signature page is attached, they are not the final approved minutes. Caskey- Schreiber stated they eliminated some things at the last joint meeting. She asked if those eliminated tasks have been taken out of this list. Stroebel stated she will review her notes to make sure that's been taken care of. Fleetwood stated he would like to know what staff would consider removing. Roll stated they've done enough on mercury for awhile. (Clerk's Note: End of tape one, side A.) Roy asked for information on the outcome of the education component. She suspects those who are educated are already right- minded. She asked if the education work is really changing the behavior of the people whose behavior they want to change. Roll stated a grant will enhance the existing lake friendly gardening series and allow them to do surveys that get to the issue of whether they are effective. They do evaluate these things annually. Staff is constantly reevaluating the different ways to get to the community. Roy stated couple education with activity. Social pressure eventually takes over. Many education programs to change behavior may feel good but don't really change anything. Caskey- Schreiber stated they could ask Bakerview Nursery staff to educate customers about phosphorus -free materials. Stroebel stated there has been a workshop at Bakerview Nursery this year. Cooperative Extension is working on a program to educate retailers and landscapers. They've already reached the easy, target audiences. Now they are taking steps toward these other groups. Caskey- Schreiber stated they could also educate the realtors. Roll stated part of the grant would deal with training for realtors. OTHER BUSINESS There was no other business. ADJOURN The meeting adjourned at 10:21 a.m. Jill Nixon, Minutes Transcription ATTEST: WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL WHATCOM COUNTY, WASHINGTON Natural Resources Committee, 10/12/2004, Page 6 1 2 3 4 5 DISCLAIMER: This document contains the Whatcom County Council or Committee minutes, as approved. However, unless an attested signature page is attached, they are not the final approved minutes. Dana Brown - Davis, Council Clerk Sharon Roy, Committee Chair Natural Resources Committee, 10/12/2004, Page 7