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HomeMy Public PortalAbout20051109 - Minutes - Board of Directors (BOD) Regional Open Space MIDPENINSULA REGIONAL OPEN SPACE DISTRICT Meeting 05-25 SPECIAL AND REGULAR MEETINGS BOARD OF DIRECTORS November 9, 2005 MINUTES SPECIAL MEETING I. ROLL CALL President Larry Hassett called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. Members Present: Jed Cyr, Mary Davey, Nonette Hanko, Deane Little (arrived at 6:40 p.m.), Ken Nitz, Pete Siemens and Larry Hasset t. Members Absent: None Staff Present: Craig Britton, Sue Schectman, Mike Williams, Kirk Lenington and Michael Reeves. II. CLOSED SESSION L. Hassett stated that the Board would adjourn to Closed Session to discuss Closed Session Agenda Items 1, 2 and 3. Session commenced at at 6:32 m. and the Closed Closed Session The Board recessed to Cp 6:32 p.m. The Board concluded the Closed Session at 7:30 p.m. REGULAR MEETING the Regular Meeting to or der at 7:33 .m. He announced that the Board III. L. Hassett called p g g d Closed Session Agenda Items 1 2 and 3 in Closed Session and that no had discussed , g reportable actions had taken place. Additional Staff Present: Gordon Baillie, Kerry Carlson, Anthony Correia, John Maciel, Michael Newburn, Michael Reeves, Cindy Roessler, David Sanguinetti, Sally Thielfoldt and Michael Williams. I Meeting 05-25 Page 2 IV. INTRODUCTION M. Williams introduced Michael Reeves who was recently hired as Land Protection Specialist. V. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS—There were none. VI. ADOPTION OF AGENDA Motion: J. Cyr moved that the Board adopt the agenda. P Siemens seconded and the motion passed 7 to 0. VIL ADOPTION OF CONSENT CALENDAR Staff answered questions about claims as follows: No. 3692, First Bankcard — included food and gifts for Staff Recognition Event; staff will get back to K. Nitz with more information. No. 3719, Priority I —equipment for new vehicles. Motion: J. Cyr moved that the Board adopt the Consent Calendar, including minutes of the September 28, 2005, Special and Regular Meetings; Agenda Item 4, Adoption of Resolution 05-31 Approving the Addition of One Credit Card for Network Specialist with Credit Limit of$2,000 an Increase Credit Limit of Assistant General Manager to $5,000; and Revised Claims 05-20. K. Nitz seconded the motion. The motion passed 7 to 0. N. Hanko abstained on Claims 3742 and 3743. VIII. BOARD BUSINESS A. Agenda Item No. I — Presentation by San Mateo County Parks and Recreation Foundation•. Adoption of Resolution Supporting Efforts to Draft a Measure for the 2006 San Mateo County Ballot to Increase Sales Tax by One-Eighth Cent as Dedicated Revenue for Parks and Open Space for Cities and Special Districts Within San Mateo County—(Report R-05-118). C. Britton introduced Julia Bott, Director of San Mateo County Parks and Recreation Foundation. Ms. Bott made a presentation on the latest effort to secure support for Parks for the Future. Ms. Bott said there are 20 cities and special districts in San Mateo County. C. Britton commented that he thought the District was in for a fair share of the proposed tax. N. Hanko recommended that they try for the 2006 November election. She asked if the Board could see a copy of the draft of the proposed measure before it is finalized. Ms. Bott said they had allowed time for agencies to look at it and take a position. Meeting 05-25 Page 3 Discussion followed regarding a method to prevent cities from reducing their budgets when they receive money from the tax. One approach might be an audit. Board Members agreed that it was critical that there be a way to assure that the money goes to the purpose the voters chose. They also agreed that without that assurance, the measure would have difficulty. Ms. Batt said the other two special districts in the county were Highlands and Ladera. She said the parks budget in the county is now $6.4 million, and this proposal would double that amount. Motion: N. Hanko moved that the Board adopt Resolution 05-30 Resolution of the Board of Directors of the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District to Support Efforts to Draft a Measure for the 2006 Ballot to Increase Sales Tax by One-Eighth Cent for Parks and Open Space. M. Davey seconded the motion. The motion passed 7 to 0. B. Agenda Item No. 2 - Approval for Removal of Eucalyptus Trees at Pulgas Ridge Open Space Preserve; Determine Recommended Actions are Categorically Exempt from CEQA—(Report R-05-115). C. Britton noted that the District had received a number of emails and other correspondence on this matter. Staff had provided a copy of the petition filed when the matter was discussed in 2000. C. Roessler presented the staff report and showed the location of the six trees designated for removal at this time. C. Roessler said she did not know of any fires that had occurred on this property, and N. Hanko said she did not recall any either. N. Hanko said that there are many eucalyptus trees along El Camino Real that are dearly loved by people. C. Roessler said the picture of the trees was taken from Brittan Heights. C. Roessler noted that notice of the meeting was sent to adjoining property owners and those on the resource management list. In addition, it was posted on signboards at the preserve. She said they had received 28 written protests of the removal. Two hundred seventy people signed the petition in 2000. K. Nitz said they were doing a great job of removing invasives. C. Britton said staff will put the removal of the water tank in a future work plan. K. Nitz stressed that about two years ago, they had asked that the trees on the knoll be left until last. C. Roessler said their commitment was to do the removal gradually. She said the removal of the trees in this proposal would not make the water tank more visible. She said most of the Monterey Pines have been removed, and explained why they are targeted as invasive plants. Meeting 05-25 Page 4 Judy Baker, Los Altos, California, urged the Board to keep some of the most beautiful trees. She thought it would be an abuse of power to ignore public input and destroy them. She said she did not see the words "native habitat" in the mission statement. She said eucalyptus trees are part of California's heritage, and people do care. Carolyn Chaney, Emerald Hills, California, said she had been a District trail patrol volunteer since 1997. She said she loved Pulgas Ridge and the trees there. She said the stand remaining was planted in a line along the knoll. She quoted from CEQA regulations and said she could find nothing in the guidelines exempting destruction of large trees. She objected to the determination as categorically exempt. She said they need to examine the beliefs they hold regarding eucalyptus trees. She talked about the pictures she had passed out to the Board Members. She said it was hard to give up beliefs that eucalyptus trees are bad, but if they looked at these trees they might change their beliefs. She asked the Board to take removal of the trees out of the plan and to spend money on other non-natives. N. Hanko asked that a particular tree that had been described at the meeting be saved. She said they have saved some eucalyptus trees in the past. She thought they should abandon the removal of eucalyptus. C. Roessler explained why they were picking those particularly six trees. She added that there are no nests that are obvious right now. P. Siemens commented that it might not be worth their time to take out all of the trees. C. Roessler said that would not be consistent with their goal, and the remaining trees would need continual maintenance. She added that studies show that eucalyptus trees are big water consumers, but there have been no studies in California. She said they would do everything they could to save the native trees that have sprouted since they started cutting the eucalyptus trees. S. Schectman clarified which CEQA guidelines they used and why. She said there were sufficient facts before the Board to state that this project was exempt. J. Cyr said he had struggled five years ago when they came up with the plan. He said he would not change the position he took five years ago. D. Little said he thought they had the situation stabilized. He did not want them to remove trees and allow the space to be taken up by other non-natives. He was in favor of trying to promote growth of natives under the eucalyptus trees in the short and medium term, with the goal of removing them later. He wanted Resource Management to focus on serious problems and suggested that they table this and put native plants under the eucalyptus trees. Meeting 05-25 Page 5 N. Hanko said she thought they should forget about cutting trees and nurture natural growth. She said she was ready to abandon removal of eucalyptus trees. L. Hassett said he had supported the plan originally and saw no reason to change it. He had heard convincing arguments that eucalyptus trees were not beneficial to restoration of natural habitat. He thought the Board should consider taking out the tank. M. Davey talked about the mission of the District. She said she had concerns when they first considered the removal. She said change is hard but she thought this would be change for the better. K. Nitz said he would like staff to re-evaluate whether they are doing the right thing. C. Roessler said it was very clear that if they leave eucalyptus trees, they must be maintained. She said it would take time for the patches between natural shrubs to fill in with natives. N. Hanko spoke in defense of eucalyptus trees and asked if they were going to remove every non-native even if they were serving a purpose. She said eucalyptus trees were here before any of the people at the meeting. P. Siemens said they should look into in 15-20 year plan and see if oaks will grow up between eucalyptus trees. D. Little proposed a compromise. He said he would like to see a more active management plan in the open space when the six trees are removed. He said he could support the recommendation, but with the understanding that staff would actively try to suppress non-native weeds, promote growth of native trees, and suppress growth of non-natives. Motion: D. Little moved that the Board determine that the recommended actions are categorically exempt from the California Environmental Quality act (CEQA) based on the findings contained in the staff report; authorize the General Manager to direct staff to remove specified eucalyptus trees; and direct staff to actively manage the open spaces that are created to promote growth of native species and suppress growth of non-native species in the area where the trees were removed. P. Siemens seconded the motion. Discussion: M. Davey commented that it seemed to her that the amendment was redundant of what staff is already doing. K. Nitz said the six trees could be taken down easily. Staff does not plant between trees. These are volunteers. C. Britton said this is an ongoing program and staff comes back to the Board at every stage. Meeting 05-25 Page 6 Vote: The motion passed 6 to 0 with Dir. Hanko dissenting. C. Agenda Item No. 3 - Annual Seasonal Trail Closures Information Report - (Report R-05-119). G. Baillie was present to answer questions. C. Britton noted that the interim closures had been discussed by the Use and Management Committee and they hope to resolve the matter soon. D. Sanguinetti said the new trail was not on the list to be closed because of its grading and the manner in which it was constructed. They were confident it would be okay not to close it. He said what was listed was what they had closed in the past. M. Newburn commented on the newly constructed trails at Pulgas, noting that one will be opened and the other was not completed. No formal Board action was required on this item. IX. INFORMATIONAL REPORTS N. Hanko: 1. P. Siemens and she have been reviewing the old lease on the Picchetti property. 2. She said the City of Palo Alto elected good council members in yesterday's election. 3. She was writing a letter of endorsement for Farmer John to serve on the State Water Control Board. 4. She talked about the Good Neighbor Policy meetings at Pescadero and Skyline. K. Nitz: 1. He had a call from Robert Zatkin who said ECDM is a year behind what the District said it would be. C. Britton noted that they are behind and he would be writing to Mr. Zatkin. 2. Regarding the November 17 meeting at Thornewood, he said he did not understand why it was not a Use and Management Committee meeting as well. C. Britton said the meeting was mainly to tell people where they District is and to gather input. L. Hassett added that now that they have clarification on the title to Dennis Martin Road, they are telling folks what is being done and what is going to be done. M. Davey said she thought the Palo Alto City Council would be delightful to work with in their new composition. P. Siemens said he had met with three members of the Santa Clara County Grand Jury earlier in the day. J. Cyr: 1. On October 27 he hiked ECDM with P. Ciesla. 2. Regarding the LFPAC meetings in Pescadero and Skyline, he was impressed with the consultants working for the District. 3. The November 2 Use & Management Committee meeting dealt with temporary closures. The action before the committee was not to change uses. 4. He went to East Bay Parks regarding the upcoming regional conference and thought everyone Meeting 05-25 Page 7 would be pleased with the conference facilities. 5. He would be hiking tomorrow at ECDM with Stan Hooper to check out the bridges. D. Little: 1. He met with two grand jury members. 2. He talked about the U&M meeting concerning interim trail closures. 3. He said he planned to attend the Thornewood workshop on the November 17. 4. He talked about the photos he shot for POST. L. Hassett: 1. He said he had worked to help solve the Dennis Martin Road issue. He said they have been waiting for the District to do something for 5-6 years and are now getting clarification. 2. He attended the first meeting of the Jasper Ridge Road committee which will meet three times a year. J. Cyr commented on the email response to Item 2 tonight. C. Britton: 1. He thanked L. Hassett for going to the Jasper Ridge meeting. 2. He had notice of Save the Bay celebration of the 40th anniversary of BCDC on December 1. 3. He had an invitation for the joint dedication of the Arastradero gateway property on November 20. 4. He talked about the contacts he had made at the Mel Lane dedication. 5. He said if any Board Member wanted to hike the Soda Gulch Trail, they could arrange to pick them up at the end of the trail and ferry them back to their car. He thought it was important for Board Members to see the trail. S. Schectman: She provided information regarding the Santa Clara County Grand Jury interviews. S. Thielfoldt said they needed to schedule an ABC meeting for budget review. X. ADJOURNMENT At 10:25 p.m., the meeting was adjourned. Roberta Wolfe Recording Secretary