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HomeMy WebLinkAboutNatural Resources Feb 8 2022Whatcom County Council Natural Resources Committee COUNTY COURTHOUSE 311 Grand Avenue, Ste #105 Bellingham, WA 98225-4038 (360)778-5010 Committee Minutes - Final Tuesday, February 8, 2022 9:50 AM Virtual Meeting VIRTUAL MEETING - ADJOURNS BY 10:50 A.M. (TO PARTICIPATE, SEE INSTRUCTIONS AT www.whatcomcounty.us/joinvirtualcouncil OR CALL 360.778.5010) COUNCILMEMBERS Todd Donovan Ben Elenbaas Kaylee Galloway CLERK OF THE COUNCIL Dana Brown -Davis, C.M.C. Council Natural Resources Committee Committee Minutes - Final February 8, 2022 Clerk's note: Call To Order Roll Call Council Staff announced that the Committee of the Whole Executive Session was extended and that this meeting would start at 9:55 a.m. Committee Chair Kaylee Galloway called the meeting to order at 9:56 a.m. in a virtual meeting. Present: 3 - Todd Donovan, Ben Elenbaas, and Kaylee Galloway Absent: None Also Present: Barry Buchanan, Tyler Byrd, Carol Frazey, and Kathy Kershner Announcements Committee Discussion and Recommendation to Council AB2022.-071. Resolution affirming the Conservation Easement Program Oversight Committee ranking and authorizing Whatcom County Conservation Easement Program Administrator and Whatcom County Executive to proceed with the acquisition of conservation easements on the Vander Veen, Rethlefsen, Savage, and Moors applications Becky Snijder van Wissenkerke, Planning and Development Services Department, presented and answered whether applications go up in ranking if funding is secured or whether it is independent, whether the label on the Moors -Bonnie slide of the presentation noting "potential Harman easement" is another pending application, whether the County has a plan where we are banking or tracking the development rights and will mitigate them in the future, and whether (if we continue to take places where people can live away) we are looking at places where we can consolidate those in the future so that we can do something about the supply and affordable housing issues that we have. Donovan moved that the Committee recommends affirming the program's ranking and authorizing the Executive to proceed with the acquisition of conservation easements on the Vander Veen, Rethlefsen, Savage, and Moors applications. Snijder van Wissenkerke answered whether this program is connected or combined with the Purchase of Development Rights (PDR) Program and whether they use the same funding sources, whether this expanded the PDR Miatcom County Page 1 Council Natural Resources Committee Committee Minutes - Final February 8, 2022 Program to include forestry and ecological areas that we want to protect and not just agriculture, and whether there would be a tax shift for these properties. Donovan's motion that the Committee recommends affirming the program's ranking and authorizing the Executive to proceed with the acquisition of conservation easements on the Vander Veen, Rethlefsen, Savage, and Moors applications carried by the following vote: Aye: 3 - Donovan, Elenbaas, and Galloway Nay: 0 Absent: 0 Items Added by Revision Other Business Adiournment There were no agenda items added by revision. There was no other business. The meeting adjourned at 10:30 a.m. ATTES�,T,; � ".s WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL 4` WHATCOM COUNTY, WA Yy Kaylee Galloway -via email 2/9/2022 DanaJ3r©u%n`bavisg`Cc�vancil clerk Kaylee Galloway, Committee Chair a Kristi Felbinger, Minutes Transcription R'hatcom County Page 2