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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSpecial Climate Action Jun 13 2023Whatcom County Council Climate Action and Natural Resources Committee COUNTY COURTHOUSE 311 Grand Avenue, Ste #105 Bellingham, WA 98225-4038 (360)778-5010 Committee Minutes - Final Tuesday, June 13, 2023 1PM Hybrid Meeting - Council Office Conference Room/Remote SPECIAL WORK SESSION - ENDS BY 2 P.M. (PARTICIPATE IN -PERSON, SEE REMOTE JOIN 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 Climate Action and Natural Committee Minutes - Final June 13, 2023 Resources Committee Call To Order Roll Call Committee Chair Kaylee Galloway called the meeting to order at 1:01 p.m. in a hybrid meeting. Present: 3 - Todd Donovan, Ben Elenbaas, and Kaylee Galloway Also Present: Tyler Byrd and Carol Frazey Announcements Committee Discussion 1. l-+B2023-393 Discussion regarding Lake Whatcom Policy Group -related items Galloway briefed the meeting attendees and gave some background. She stated the role of the Lake Whatcom Policy Group has evolved over time. Early on, the group was tasked with putting together the Lake Whatcom Management Program Work Plan and now their purpose has been more around oversight of implementation of the plan. In recent time there has been a bit of a lull in activity from the Policy Group. She asked whether we continue with the Policy Group and make it more efficient, effective and robust, where we are delivering more outcomes to the Lake Whatcom watershed, or do we just reduce the effort and just limit it to the joint council meetings where they get updates on the Lake Whatcom Management Program. Her preference is toward the first and toward trying to rethink the purpose of this group and its efforts. She posed some discussion questions. The following people discussed the questions with Councilmembers: • Gary Stoyka, Public Works Department • Laura Weiss, citizen and Water Resources Advisory Board (WRAB) member, • Cathy Craver, Public Works Department • Kraig Olason, Public Works Department • Alexander Harris, Planning Unit They discussed the purpose of the Policy Group, thinking about what other meeting bodies exist or could exist at the county level to effectively advise on Lake Whatcom Issues or that have overlap, how to better engage citizens in these conversations, what the Water Resources Advisory Board (WRAB) is, that the Policy Group was a way for information to get disseminated WJtatcom County Page I Council Climate Action and Natural Committee Minutes - Final June 13, 2023 Resources Committee more smoothly to one body as opposed to multiple bodies, rethinking whether they want to have more regular meetings with the entire County Council, whether the Policy Group has limited the number of presentations that staff has to give for the different jurisdictions, and thinking about what our current and future work and priorities are for this Policy Group. Galloway listed some possible objectives that the group might be able to pursue in four main buckets: • Development • Forest Management • Recreation • Data and Monitoring The group discussed which of the listed buckets would be good to go to the Policy Group and which might be ones for the Council, deciding which of the objectives are interjurisdictional and require coordination with the City and which are just for the County, what they would prioritize or whether it they should look at which are more feasible, involvement in the Homeowner Incentive Program (HIP) and how the Council gets looped into things that are not working with programs like HIP, whether there has been any consideration given to restricting or preventing new lawns as new properties are being developed in order to reduce lawn coverage in the watershed, the importance of outreach regarding available programs, what might be the next steps to implementing the items in the buckets, how the Council can give direction to staff, dividing the buckets into ongoing and new and emerging categories, some new and emerging issues having to do with forest lands and climate vulnerability that maybe the Policy Group should prioritize in the future, hearing what the people who live around the lake think and whether they would like more regulation, and the process of using legislation to direct County staff. This agenda item was DISCUSSED. Items Added by Revision Other Business Adiournment There were no agenda items added by revision. There was no other business. The meeting adjourned at 1:56 p.m. Whatcont County Page 2 Council Climate Action and Natural Committee Minutes - Final June 13, 2023 Resources Committee o��'ee$$iV��P9d ATTES��° �(/M WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL 41 ma. WHATCOM COUNTY, WA �A d ylee Galloway -via email 6/19/2023 Dada Bri w 'ovl f� pncil Clerk Kaylee Galloway, Committee Chair Kristi Felbinger, Minutes Transcription Whatcom County page 3