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HomeMy Public PortalAbout20030212 - Minutes - Board of Directors (BOD) Regionai Open Space MIDPENINSULA REGIONAL OPEN SPACE DISTRICT Meeting 03-03 SPECIAL AND REGULAR MEETINGS BOARD OF DIRECTORS February 12, 2003 MINUTES SPECIAL MEETING I. ROLL CALL President Nonette Hanko called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. Members Present: Jed Cyr, Mary Davey, Larry Hassett,Ken Nitz, Pete Siemens, Nonette Hanko, and Deane Little(arrived at 5:50 p.m.) Staff Present: Craig Britton, Sue Schectman, John Maciel, Duncan Simmons, Michael Williams and John Escobar H. CLOS ED ED SESSION N. Hanko stated that the Board would adjourn to Closed Session to discuss Closed Session Agenda Items 1, 2, and 3. The Board recessed to Closed Session at 5:36 p.m. and the Closed Session commenced at 5:36 p.m. The Board concluded the Closed Session at 7:30 p.m. REGULAR MEETING M. N. Hanko called the Regular Meeting to order at 7:32 p.m. She announced that the Board had discussed Closed Session Agenda Items 1, 2, and 3 in Closed Session and that no reportable actions had taken place. Additional Staff Present: Sally Thieifoldt, Cathy Woodbury, Matt Freeman, and Cindy Roessler IV. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS Paul Nam, 19863 Portal Plaza, Cupertino, President of ROMP, thanked M. Freeman and J. Escobar for attending their January 27 meeting. He talked about M. Freeman's presentation and said he looked forward to better things to come out of the experience. 330 Distel Circle - Los Altos, CA 94022-1404 - Phone: 650-091-1200 Fax: 050-091-0485 - E-mail: mrosdrtopenspate.org - Web site:www.openspace.org � `ti.i �FAEEsr Mmrd of Diret for Pete Siemens,Mary C. Davey, led Cyr, Deane Little,Nonette Hanko,Larry Hassett, Kenneth C. Nitz - GeneraI Manager:L.Craig Britton Meeting 03-03 Page 2 V. ADOPTION OF AGENDA Motion: J. Cyr moved that the Board adopt the agenda. P. Siemens seconded and the motion passed 7 to 0. VI. ADOPTION OF CONSENT CALENDAR Motion: J. Cyr moved that the Board adopt the Consent Calendar, including Agenda Item 3, Authorize General Manager to Enter into an Amendment to the Contract with Precise Mailing, Inc. of San Mateo for an Amount not to Exceed $5,000 for Mailing Services for the Remainder of Fiscal Year 2002-2003; Agenda Item 4, Adopt Resolution Authorizing the Issuance of District Credit Cards and Related Borrowing Funds in the Amount of $22,000 and Rescind Resolution 99-44; and Revised Claims 03-03. M. Davey seconded the motion. The motion passed 7 to 0. N. Hanko abstained on Claim#5207. VH. BOARD BUSINESS A. Agenda Item No. I —Adopt Resource Management Five-Year Strategic Plan; Determine that the Recommended Actions are Categorically Exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) as Set Out in this Report; Approve the Resource Management Five-Year Strategic Plan and Accept the Associated Worktable—(Report R-03-22). C. Roessler reviewed the report and stated that at the February 6 Use and Management Committee meeting, two main things were discussed: • Some of the concern about doing more resource management could be met by a resource planner position—Committee recommended that the Board consider that position. She noted that the position is not currently in the action plan or the budget. • Program for more early detection of new weeds that may become invasive —Committee recommended it be brought back to the full Board for discussion. C. Britton added that what the Committee was hearing from the Board was that they wanted a more aggressive resource management plan than the one planned. That is why staff recommended the resource planner position, because they could get a number of planning projects done including grasslands management. The idea of the strike team was a good one, but staff would like to come back to the Board with a program. It would be included in this year's action plan, not the five-year strategic plan. N. Hanko said there was a place under the first goal of Goal No. I to include the issues of grasslands, bringing neighbors into the program, and other issues identified by the Use and Management Committee. She thought that though the Meeting 03-03 Page 3 plan included an impact study on the existing wildlife and vegetation when considering the removal of exotics, the study should take place before years 3 and 4, as shown in the plan. She asked that the Board consider amending Goal No. 1, Goal No. 4, Implementation Actions -Prepare subject-specific resource management policies and guidelines. Under year 1, tasks under Goal 4, she asked that staff add the words, "Work with the Use and Management Committee to identify and prioritize other policies and guidelines for Board consideration and adoption." This would make it clear that all policies come to the Board for adoption. Discussion followed regarding ways of getting other Board Members' ideas to the Use and Management Committee and staff. S. Schectman said that in light of the Brown Act, having a workshop would be the best idea. Board Members discussed whether to have the workshop before or after the priority list goes to the Committee. D. Little expressed his opinion that the District has, in the past, under-funded the area of resource management, and it has been less of a priority than other issues. He cited the District's Mission Statement regarding protecting and restoring the natural environment and said the District spends less on that than on the other two. He talked about his frustration during the Committee meeting. He said the Committee agreed to the idea of hiring another planner, but it was with the understanding that the District staff would prioritize the idea of starting a new program now rather than later to try to detect emerging problems and address them. He thought the conclusions and recommendations in the report basically reflect staffs recommendations and not the Committee's recommendations. He said that while the District's lands are very beautiful, they do have invasive plants. He thought it was time to change policy regarding how to respond to emerging invasives. L. Hassett said that though he missed the Committee meeting, he would take pretty much the same stance on the issue as D. Little. He recommended that the Board consider the Use and Management Committee's recommendations rather than staffs. D. Little explained how the strike force would be organized. He said he would like the resource planner to have significant experience as a field biologist. C. Roessler said a resource planner would do master planning, work with the Board on undefined policies, and help develop a strategy for invasive plant control. P. Siemens said he could support there being another person, but it should be a field person. He thought the strike force idea needed another component— looking at old plants in new places as well as new plants in old places. C. Roessler described the invasive plant control taking place now and said two District-wide surveys have been done already. She talked about the Tamara Kan reports and the priorities she had set up, which staff uses in their strategy. She Meeting 03-03 Page 4 clarified that staff is working on these projects, they do have the preserves mapped, and they are working on putting the information on GIS. P. Siemens said he agreed the District needs to be more aggressive, but he did not see how hiring another office person would help. C. Roessler said it would address some other concerns of the Board such as getting the master plan done sooner and making sure that staff bring the policies to the Board to address. She thought there was more homework needed before deciding what is going to be invasive, how to set criteria, and how to create a strike team to address the issues. P. Siemens said he would prefer to see that done by a consultant, and then if the District needed to hire more staff, the new position would be in the field. L. Hassett commented that, as a member of the coastal committee, he was aware that the District has been criticized for not doing enough as far as managing lands. He suggested that the job description of the person to be hired be sent to the Use and Management Committee. D. Little reiterated that he would like to see whoever the District hires have significant field biology experience and spend a lot of time in the field. Perhaps there needed to be a planner and a consultant. He described his ideal person for the job. C. Roessler talked about what they were doing about star thistle and said it was a regional issue. P. Siemens suggested that the budget committee add the budget necessary so that staff could hire a consultant now and a staff position later. K. Nitz said Goal 5 was to update Tamara Kan's work by hiring a consultant to go out and look at the invasive problem. He suggested that could be expanded to be overall, not just on or near trails, and could be done in year one. M. Freeman provided background on staff efforts to identify non-native species. C. Britton urged the Board not to return the matter to the Use and Management Committee because every Board Member has an interest in and opinion about the program. He said he would rather have the whole Board consider these issues. He talked about the process of putting together the report and recommendations. He said he thought it was staff job to come to the Board and say how they are going to respond to this and not just drop everything and respond to it in a manner of trying to spend money. He said the Board should also consider what would drop off the list if they added projects. N. Hanko said she thought the goals stated were very good. She suggested that the plan come to the full Board in the form of a workshop with the appropriate Meeting 03-03 Page 5 consultants and speakers present. She thought that even if the Board could not agree on adding a staff position tonight, they could agree on adopting the plan. J. Cyr said he thought the basic pieces are in place and it was clear to him what staff was proposing in the five-year plan. D. Little disagreed with the idea of approving the plan as is. He said it did not reflect the view of the Committee and is a status-quo approach. He said no one was proposing throwing money at the problems randomly. He felt that it would not take a year to plan an experiment. He was concerned about putting it off for another year. If the Board approved the plan tonight, he would like to see it amended to strengthen it. However, he would prefer that it either go back to the Committee or to a Board workshop. C. Britton said he was suggesting that if the Board wanted to look at the plan and accelerate some projects, that can be done as part of the work plan. He suggested tabling this item for a few minutes because someone in the audience was there for Item 2. Motion: J. Cyr moved to table Agenda Item I temporarily and consider Agenda Item 2. P. Siemens seconded the motion. The motion passed 7 to 0. B. Agenda Item No. 2- Adopt Resolution Authorizing Purchase of the Thompson et al Property; Determine that the Recommended Actions are Categorically rically Exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CAA) as Set Out in this Report; Tentatively Adopt the Preliminary Use and Management Plan Recommendations Contained in this Report, including Naming the Property as an Addition to Saratoga Gap Open Space Preserve—(Report R-03-20). M. Williams presented the staff report and showed the location of the property on a map. He showed photos of the property. He said there were no below-ground tanks on the property. C. Britton answered questions regarding Section 6 of the resolution. He said it was a standard part of all resolutions regarding purchase of property. Discussion followed regarding changing the wording so that it would be more easily understood. Motion: M. Davey moved that the Board determine that the recommended actions are categorically exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) as set out in the staff report; adopt Resolution No. 03-04, Resolution of the Board of Directors of the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District Authorizing Acceptance of the Purchase Agreement, Authorizing Officer to Execute Certificate of Acceptance of Grant to District and authorizing General Manager to Execute Any and All Other Documents Necessary or Appropriate to Closing of the Transaction Meeting 03-03 Page 6 (Saratoga Gap Open Space Preserve—Lands of Thompson et. al.); tentatively adopt the Preliminary Use and Management Plan recommendation contained in the report, including naming the property as an addition to Saratoga Gap Open Space Preserve; and indicate their intention to withhold the property from dedication as public open space. P. Siemens seconded the motion. The motion passed 7 to 0. N. Hanko returned the to Agenda Item 1. Motion- J. Cyr moved that the Board determine that the recommended actions are categorically exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act(CEQA) as set out in the staff report; approve the Resource Management Five-Year Strategic Plan and accept the associated worktable; and approve inclusion of the new Job Classification of Resource Planner in the Planning Department's 2003-2004 Action Plan Budget contingent upon the State budget process resulting in no additional loss of property tax revenue to the District. N. Hanko seconded the motion. Discussion. D. Little suggested that when the District is hiring resource planning staff they try to find employees with significant field biology experience. He said he thought it was important for the five-year plan that it reflects the Use and Management Committee desires. He suggested that the District hire a consultant immediately this year and probably on a recurring basis, maybe every few years or every couple of years, to identify emerging resource problems and opportunities such as invasive plants, endangered species, plant pathogens, and naturally resistant populations of native species. Project planning to begin this task should be prioritized as soon as possible and remedial actions suggested by the consultant to address emerging problems should be undertaken promptly by staff and volunteers so that this consultant would be hired for the purpose of identifying the problems here and now, 2003, on our lands. N. Hanko asked the General Manager if he felt that this is an issue that he would be supportive of if the Board approved the recommendations tonight, or did he need time to talk to the staff and work out their priorities and then get back to the Board on it. C. Britton said he would rather see some way staff could integrate the plan into something that they are already doing, such as the Tamara Kan study, rather than just hire a consultant to go out and look around. He said staff s recommendation, which is the one they would put in the action plan, was for staff to come up with a plan for them to deal with a basic plan for an outbreak survey of some kind. He asked for clarification from D. Little on whether he Meeting 03-03 Page 7 was actually talking about an amendment to the resource management plan or the action plan. D. Little said it did not matter where it happened. It would direct the staff to identify a consultant and hire a consultant with the charge of identifying emerging problems and opportunities, and coming up with a quick action plan for addressing them. C. Britton recommended putting it in the action plan so that staff could go back to the Administration and Budget Committee with the recommendation. Board Members discussed wording for the amendment. C. Britton said C. Woodbury had informed him that in the open space planning department action plan, in the planning and geographic information, there is already a key project number 4 which has to do with a regional information inventory. He said staff could add a bullet point in there and make sure more money was budgeted there. Following further discussion, J. Escobar offered some historical perspective on the matter and told why he thought it illustrated the need for a resource planner. He said the District has lagged behind in the planning end of things, and that is where there is a need to catch up D. Little repeated his suggested amendment. C. Britton said the job specification for the resource planner had not yet been written. If the Board approved the position, staff would put it in the budget and then it would come back to the Board. After further discussion, D. Little said he was proposing that as an amendment to recommendation 4. He added that, with regard to recommendation 2, he did not feel that 15 percent annual growth was really a sufficiently aggressive strategy towards resource management considering the problems they face. He thought it was time that the District goes beyond the experimental stage and either hire contractors or hire staff to more aggressively attack the problems. He said he would like to see perhaps a minimum of 15 percent, but would personally like to see them grow 50 percent for the next couple of years and then 15 percent. Amendment: D. Little moved that wording in the five-year plan is changed to say a minimum of 15 percent. P. Siemens seconded the amendment. The motion to amend passed 7 to 0. Meeting 03-03 Page 8 Vote on motion: The motion passed 7 to 0. C. Britton clarified that the resource planner recommendation was in the first report from the Committee, and he had pulled it out. J. Escobar said that staff committees met on the resource management plan over three years ago, and within the first three or four meetings they were discussing this position. Motion: J. Cyr moved that the Board approve inclusion of the new Job Classification of Resource Planner in the Planner Department's 2003-2004 Action Plan and Budget, contingent upon the State budget process resulting in no additional loss of property tax revenue to the District. L. Hassett seconded the motion. The motion passed 7 to 0. Motion: D. Little moved that the Board direct that the District should hire a consultant immediately and on a recurring basis to survey district lands to identify emerging resource problems and opportunities and to develop a priority list for staff action. P. Siemens seconded the motion. Following discussion, D. Little reworded his motion. Reworded Motion: D. Little moved that the Board shall direct the staff, in this year's action plan, to propose hiring a consultant to identify emerging resource problems and opportunities and to develop a priority list for action on those problems and continue the project annually. The motion was previously seconded by P. Siemens. The motion passed 7 to 0. C. Roessler said that annually they review and report on what they accomplish, then prepare the action plan. Feedback from the Board would be included. N. Hanko suggested that Board members ask the Use and Management Committee to come up with the ideas they think should be explored with the staff, then bring those ideas back to the full Board to decide whether to have a workshop or just give direction to staff. C. Britton suggested that Board members forward their ideas in writing to him. J. Escobar said staff would not have a job description for the Resource Planner position until closer to the time they would hire that person, probably in the fall. N. Hanko asked D. Little, as chair of the Use and Management Committee, to follow up on the concerns expressed by the Board at this meeting, and repeated her interest in grasslands management. Meeting 03-03 Page 9 VIIII. INFORMATIONAL REPORTS M. Davey: 1. She attended the State of the District meeting last week and said it was an exhilarating afternoon. She thanked staff. 2. She talked about the Planning Commission meeting on February 6 regarding proposed open space for Stanford land. Action was postponed until March 6. N. Hanko said she would attend that meeting. M. Davey gave a list of four major points the Stanford Strategy Committee wanted to make to C. Britton and said she hoped the District would comment on them. D. Little said that while hiking on Rhus Ridge Road he was startled by a bobcat in a tree. He was struck by how calm this wild animal was in the presence of humans and felt this was one of the gifts that the District gives to the animals that live on its preserves. L. Hassett talked to Mary Zvirblis who lives on Old La Honda Road and has been instrumental in fostering Thornewood Open Space Preserve issues. She brought to his attention that there is a tendency for dog sitters(private companies that take care of dogs) to use the preserve, and often in groups of five or six at a time, sometimes more. He suggested that perhaps there should be a limit to the number of dogs one person could bring at one time. He said he saw a that a trend that some local cities are taking in banning dogs in certain parks is creating tremendous pressure on the District's preserves. C. Britton said staff would look at this issue. L. Hassett suggested that signs or brochures telling users why certain rules were in effect would be a good idea. P. Siemens: 1. He and his wife had hiked to the tafoni formations and were impressed with the location and quality of the work done on the observation area. 2. He and Mr. Schwarderer took some pictures from Mt. Umunhum. He described the views. N. Hanko reported that she is now in the Internet and told them her email address. C. Britton: 1. He reminded Board and staff members about the"sneeze" button on the microphones. 2. PCL will hold their annual legislative symposium on April 26 at Sonoma State University. 3. It was mentioned in FYIs that the Bay Area Open Space Council has given the easement stewardship award to Wilson and Sue Cooper who are District volunteers. The award will be given at their annual conference in September. 4. J. Maciel provided a synopsis of a court case concerning citation of a bicyclist and it was included in the FYIs. He said he thought staff did a great job. 5. He mentioned that in these tight budget times, agencies are starting to talk about who might manage what. He said when they had the opportunity to manage Rancho San Antonio County Park, it created quite a discussion on the Boards part. He will meet with N. Hanko to consider whether there should be an hoc committee that they can fill in on what staff is discussing. S. Thielfoldt provided an update on training which had included trainings in risk transfer, making PowerPoint presentations, and ergonomics. S. Schectman: 1. When the Board was considering the legislative program at the last meeting they got some comments from staff about the police jurisdiction issue. Board members asked her to talk to legal counsel from East Bay. She did so, and their legal Meeting 03-03 Page 10 counsel was fully supportive of the proposed legislation and saw no problem with it. 2. She talked about a positive California Supreme Court decision on antiquated subdivisions. 3. She asked if the Board was interested in a workshop regarding the Brown Act. Board Members expressed interest. N. Hanko said they need policies that cover email. J. Escobar: 1. He said he had talked to the chief of public safety for East Bay Regional Park and he concurs that there is no problem with the proposed legislation. 2. He talked about the discussions that took place at the Cuesta la Honda Guild Homeowners Association meeting he had attended. He talked to people about the annexation and heard there was a campaign going on to oppose it. He is working with the chair of the HOA to set up an informational meeting about the annexation. He said he thought there was a lot of misinformation being distributed. 3. He and Paul McKowan will be attending the California Parks and Recreation Society District IV awards dinner next week. One of the District's volunteers will be receiving an award. J. Maciel: 1. He reported that Richard Carlson and John Lloyd, new District rangers, will soon be graduating from Santa Rosa academy. 2. Two more candidates for ranger will be moving through the process. 3. Interviews for maintenance construction supervisor for Foothills took place today. 4. The Rancho handball courts are down and the tree is doing well. The contractor is now laying out the trail alignment. Staff is taking bids for an arborist who will do some corrective pruning under the guidance of a horticulture specialist on site. nexcellent at the annual workshop of the M. Davey: 3. C. Britton made a p Ba Area Rid a Trail and will make another one at a seminar tomorrow regarding multi- use g Y g use trails. C. Britton clarified that the seminar was on stewardship of public lands and competing priorities for open space. J. Cyr reported that his eighth grandchild was born two days ago. IX. ADJOURNMENT At 9:56 p.m., the meeting was adjourned. Roberta Wolfe Recording Secretary