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CEA 04-28-11 Meeting AgendaCEA Frederick County Conservation Easement Authority MEMORANDUM TO: Conservation Easement Authority FROM: Eric R. Lawrence, CEA Secretary SUBJECT: April Meeting DATE: April 21, 2011 The Frederick County Conservation Easement Authority will be meeting on Thursday, April 28, 2011 at 8:00 a.m. in the Board of Supervisor's Executive Session Meeting Room in the County Administration Building, 107 North Kent Street, Winchester, Virginia. The Conservation Easement Authority will discuss the following agenda items: AGENDA 1. February 24, 2011 Meeting Minutes 2. Fundraising Efforts a. G1FT— Give $1 for Frederick's Tomorrow b. Establishing matching fund source c. Hill High Farm Conservation Easement effort 3. Potomac Conservancy update — Cedar Creek Watershed effort 4. Discussion: CEA Holding of Easements 5. Next meeting date 6. Other Please contact the Planning Department (540-665-5651) if you are unable to attend this meeting. C/O Frederick County Planning Department, 107 North Kent Street, Winchester, VA 22601 (540-665-5651) MEETING MINUTES OF THE FREDERICK COUNTY CONSERVATION EASEMENT AUTHORITY Held in the Executive Session Room of the Frederick County Administration Building at 107 North Kent Street in Winchester, Virginia on February 24, 2011 at 8:00 a.m. PRESENT: Diane Kearns, Chairman; Ritchie Wilkins, Vice -Chairman; Robert Solenberger; Elaine Cain; Todd Lodge; Gene Fisher, Board of Supervisors Liaison; and Charles Triplett, Planning Commission Liaison. ABSENT: Jim Lawrence, Treasurer; and John Marker. STAFF PRESENT: Eric R. Lawrence, CEA Secretary; and Bev Dellinger, Secretary III. OTHER: Ron Clevenger. PUBLIC MEETING: 1.&2. September 22, 2010 and November 18, 2010 Meeting Minutes On a motion made by Mr. Solenberger and seconded by Mr. Wilkins, both sets of minutes were approved as presented. 3. Annual Organizational Meeting: a. Election of Officers Chairman Kearns opened the floor for nominations for Chairman, Vice Chairman and Treasurer. Mr. Eric Lawrence, Planning Department Director, will act as Secretary. Mr. Solenberger made a motion to nominate Diane Kearns as Chairman, Ritchie Wilkins for Vice Chairman and Elaine Cain for Treasurer. Mr. Fisher seconded the motion and it was approved unanimously. b. Adoption of Bylaws Chairman Kearns asked members if they have any changes to the Bylaws. As no one had any changes, Mr. Solenberger made a motion to adopt the Bylaws as presented. Mr. Fisher seconded the motion and it was unanimously approved. c. Selection of Meeting Dates and Times Chairman Kearns asked members if the time of the meetings works for everyone. Everyone was agreeable with the time and date of the meetings — 8:00 a.m. on the 4'h Thursday of the month. Conservation Easement Authority Page - 152 - February 24, 2011 4. Fundraising Efforts a. GIFT — Give $1 for Frederick's Tomorrow Chairman Kearns feels this plan needs focus and direction so she contacted a woman who's a marketing and advertising person who has been helping with Clarke County's Easement Authority. Chairman Kearns stated that the woman is willing to help our CEA and she will check other websites and get back to Chairman Kearns. One topic discussed at the Potomac Conservancy meeting yesterday was, who are you trying to reach out to and how can we use this as an educational tool? Chairman Kearns believes there is a population out there that really wants to support conservation and rural areas. This group probably doesn't own land but they have no way of saying they support this. So who should be targeted? Mr. Solenberger feels for easements, landowners should be targeted. Chairman Kearns asked members what we should do with Give $1 for Frederick's Tomorrow - what is the best way to utilize that as a tool? Mr. Fisher thinks you put the onus on the marketing person and have her analyze the climate for that. Mr. Solenberger suggested putting a check box on the tax bill where for every acre of land you own, you donate $1 or whatever amount you wish to donate. Chairman Kearns thinks that is a very good idea. Mr. Lawrence said he'll have to talk to the Treasurer's Office about this idea. b. Establishing matching fund source Relating to Item #5, Chairman Kearns asked members if they want to have Mr. Jeff Everett come and talk with them and if so, do we want to invite the Board of Supervisors. Mr. Lawrence stated that Mr. Everett works, so it would need to be a night meeting in the Board Room, and we should invite the Board and Planning Commissioners. Chairman Kearns stated it might be a good idea to schedule the meeting right before a Board of Supervisors meeting. Mr. Lawrence said he'll check schedules. 5. Discussion: Potential Use of Discount IPAs for Easement Financing Chairman Kearns explained that the Shenandoah County Easement Authority requested Mr. Jeff Everett speak to them in December and Chairman Kearns attended the meeting. Mr. Lawrence stated that Mr. Everett works in the Planning Department in Carroll County, Maryland, and he oversees their Conservation Easement Program. Carroll County uses discounted IPA's (Installment Purchase Agreements) to purchase easements. It is a commitment that their Board of Supervisors makes to purchase an easement, typically, over a 15 year period. The County and the property owner have a contract and the County agrees to purchase the easement over a 15 year period; the County commits to making two non-taxable payments a year for that 15 year period with a pay-off at the end. The property owner is benefited by avoiding the capital tax penalties and fees incurred when selling the property outright. The advantage for the County is they're purchasing an easement at today's rates and taking 15 years to pay for it and they have kept development off the property. The way it's being funded in Carroll County is the County would purchase a zero coupon bond today and as it matures, they will use that to pay for the easement. Mr. Lawrence further stated that because it's a commitment up front, that is a challenge in Frederick County basically because of financial reasons. Carroll County is buying an Conservation Easement Authority Page - 153 - February 24, 2011 easement today at about a 60% discount. They actually created the discount component of the IPA by splitting the savings with the property owner. Carroll County recognizes, as well as Frederick County by way of our impact model exercise, that as development occurs and houses show up, it's a significant impact on the County and they're willing to make the investment up front to discourage the houses and, thereby, discouraging the impacts. Mr. Lawrence told the members that if there is interest in pursuing this, Mr. Everett has offered to meet with us. Obviously the biggest challenge is funding so one idea is possibly holding an evening work session with Mr. Everett, the CEA, Planning Commissioners and Board of Supervisors and getting educated about the process for the future. 6. Nomination for New CEA Member Chairman Kearns introduced Mr. Ron Clevenger as the nominee to replace Mr. Jim Lawrence on the Committee. Mr. Clevenger spoke of his history with Frederick County, having grown up here and graduating from James Wood High School. Mr. Clevenger has been selling real estate for the last 28 years. Mr. Solenberger made a motion to recommend Mr. Ron Clevenger to the Conservation Easement Authority. Mr. Wilkins seconded the motion and the vote was unanimous. Mr. Fisher will present Mr. Clevenger's nomination to the Board of Supervisors for their approval on March 23`d. 7. Next Meeting Date March 24, 2011 at 8:00 am 8. Other Chairman Kearns told members that she attended an Advisory Council of the Potomac Conservancy yesterday. Items of interest discussed included conservation districts and real estate transfer taxes. Chairman Kearns stated that Potomac Conservancy petitioned Virginia Outdoors Foundation to create a special area designation for Cedar Creek and Passage Creek. The area designation means that an easement coming from these designated areas would have a little higher ranking. The VOF has now designated about five of them across the State of Virginia, and Cedar Creek and Passage Creek are among them. These areas straddle Frederick and Shenandoah Counties. It seems to Chairman Kearns that because VOF recognizes this, there should be an overlay in Frederick County that recognizes this also and makes people aware of the area's distinction. It was also discussed at the Advisory Council that perhaps the Frederick County CEA, the Shenandoah County CEA and Potomac Conservancy could join forces to educate landowners and to build a bridge between what Frederick County is doing and what Shenandoah County is doing. Shenandoah County has just adopted a new Comp Plan and it's got very strong language on conservation and rural areas. Chairman Kearns asked members if they want to hold a joint meeting with Shenandoah County and Potomac Conservancy about the special area designations. The target would be the landowners in that special area designation. Chairman Kearns said she'll talk to Ms. Emily Watkinson of Potomac Conservancy and she'll bring a plan back to the next meeting. Mr. Conservation Easement Authority Page - 154 - February 24, 2011 Lawrence suggested that Ms. Watkinson come to the CEA meeting first and refresh members memories on this concept. Chairman Kearns further stated that an idea is in the works to have a Shenandoah University student work at Potomac Conservancy as an intern. It would be part-time during the school year and full-time in the summer for at least one, maybe two, students. Chairman Kearns thought that maybe Frederick County could work with that by making a student available for monitoring easements. Chairman Kearns stated that Potomac Conservancy became the land trust alliance; they are now accredited, which is a big deal. Mr. Fisher told members that he read an article in this morning's paper on the HRAB's meeting last night concerning the power lines and mitigations. The land we want to preserve is exactly the land they're targeting because there are no houses. Mr. Fisher stated that when Corridor H was built, there was a great deal of mitigation money set aside at the State level and no one really knew about it until someone with Lost River Land Trust found out. They got quite a bit of money to buy conservation easements. Mr. Fisher thinks staff should investigate this for any possibilities of mitigation money. There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 8:50 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Diane Kearns, Chairman Eric R. Lawrence, CEA Secretary Conservation Easement Authority Page - 155 - February 24, 2011