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CEA_04-28-11_Meeting_MinutesMEETING 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 April 28, 2011 at 8:00 a.m. PRESENT: Diane Kearns, Chairman; Robert Solenberger; Elaine Cain, Treasurer; Ron Clevenger; and Gene Fisher, Board of Supervisors Liaison. ABSENT: Ritchie Wilkins, Vice - Chairman; John Marker; Todd Lodge; and Charles Triplett, Planning Commission Liaison. STAFF PRESENT: Eric R. Lawrence, CEA Secretary; and Bev Dellinger, Secretary III. OTHER: Emily Warner of Potomac Conservancy. PUBLIC MEETING: 1. February 24, 2011 Meeting Minutes Chairman Kearns pointed out that Ms. Emily Warner was referred to as "Ms. Emily Watkinson" • in the minutes and she requested the name be corrected. On a motion by Mr. Solenberger and seconded by Ms. Cain, the minutes of February 24, 2011 were approved with the correction. 2. Fundraising Efforts a. GIFT — Give $1 for Frederick's Tomorrow Chairman Kearns stated that the marketing person she had contacted in Clarke County about helping us was not so eager to help without more support from the County. She was probably thinking she would be monetarily compensated and, of course, we are not in a position to do that. Chairman Kearns asked Mr. Lawrence about putting something on the outside of the envelope when tax bills are mailed to residents. Mr. Lawrence said we have missed that window of opportunity because the Treasurer's Office bought a surplus of envelopes in January and that will probably be all they will need for this year. Mr. Lawrence will continue to speak with them so that when they do order the next batch of envelopes, the CEA will have the opportunity to print a request for a tax deductible donation. b. Establishing matching fund source Mr. Lawrence stated that the County has proffers for open space preservation and they have been used to help acquire battlefields in the Third Winchester /Red Bud Road area. Right now, the Red Bud Subdivision is really the only subdivision that's putting money into it; every time a building permit is issued, the County gets $1,000. Mr. Lawrence feels we shouldn't try to ask for that money unless we have all the other funds lined up and we could get something closed. • Chairman Kearns asked if there is any way to get the potential of other proffers if we have a Conservation Easement Authority Page - 156 - April 28, 2011 • project higher on the visibility list. Mr. Lawrence stated that proffers come with rezonings and they're voluntary. Where the proposed rezoning is located determines whether or not there is historic interest. There have been discussions over time about trying to create an open space expectation. The only two projects that come to mind are along the Route 7 corridor /Berryville Canyon corridor. There is battlefield interest and those are the ones that have offered up some money for open space and historic preservation. There hasn't been a rezoning on that corridor for a while and Mr. Lawrence doesn't anticipate additional opportunities coming up any time soon. Ultimately, if we find there is a property that might qualify and the Board of Supervisors agrees, and as the proffered funds are designated to go for open space preservation, the property could qualify if it's high enough on the list. Mr. Fisher stated it could qualify if it has specific rezoning with an impact on an area of particular interest to the Conservation Easement Authority. Then you would want to mitigate whatever that impact was. c. Hill High Farm Conservation Easement effort Chairman Kearns gave a summary of what has taken place. Hill High owners have been approved for a $260,000 preservation grant by Farm & Ranch Lands Protection Programs, which was to expire in April, 2011. FRPP actually extended that approval for one year. That means the CEA has another year to try to come up with matching funds in the amount of $130,000. 40 Mr. Lawrence stated that we have found two funding sources that we will pursue over the next couple of months. One source is VDAC, which is a local match. Another source is excited to try to help us out, but they haven't opened up their grant period yet. 3. Potomac Conservancy update — Cedar Creek Watershed effort Ms. Emily Warner of Potomac Conservancy spoke about petitioning Virginia Outdoors Foundation for special project area designations for the Cedar Creek and Passage Creek watersheds. In February, that petition was passed. That means that anyone who applies at VOF to donate an easement would have a higher ranking than someone with a similar property outside the special project area designation. Ms. Warner and Chairman Kearns met and discussed doing something to let people know about the special project area designation. In deciding who they might target, they talked about landowners who probably hold the most land — farmers, horse land owners and orchardists. They found another segment of the population who tend to be most interested in land conservation and are people who started off with vacation property here or spent summers here. They tend to have less land but a little more interest and often more money and are more able to donate easements. Ultimately, they concluded that people with the most land were who they wanted to target. They haven't yet decided on a location. Ms. Warner further stated that the general idea would be to have current easement donors host the gathering. We can write up the invitation letters but have them be from people living in the community who have already gone through the process. Those same land owners will do the introductions, explaining they have protected their land through • Conservation Easement Authority Page - 157 - April 28, 2011 • conservation easements. It should be more of a land owner talking to a land owner event. The CEA and Potomac Conservancy will be available to answer any questions. 4. Discussion: CEA Holding of Easements Chairman Kearns stated there is a County resident who is interested in donating an easement. Mr. Lawrence told members that the resident approached Potomac Conservancy for information and Ms. Warner advised that it's probably not going to meet Potomac Conservancy's criteria; however, the CEA might want to consider it. The CEA has never held an easement that's been donated. The property is located within the County's future Service & Water Service Area and is identified for future commercial and industrial use. It's approximately 60 acres and located on the east side of White Oak Road and north of Fairfax Pike — east of Sherando Park. Mr. Lawrence said this is a discussion only to see if it is something the CEA wants to pursue. Ms. Warner stated there is a lot of development around the property, which is the downside, but it has quite a lot of stream frontage. The property owner wants to leave the property as it is with existing agricultural fields to be used for farming and the forest is to be left as it is. Ms. Warner stated that the forest on the White Oak Road side is pretty scrubby, but it's pretty nice on the east side of the property. Ms. Warner feels it is a very nice farm. Mr. Lawrence added that this property is unique, because of all the stream preservation opportunity and the property owner's interest in not developing the land; we should work with her to get an easement on it. Members discussed at length whether they thought the CEA should become an easement holder. It was decided that we and /or Potomac Conservancy give the landowner as much guidance as we can provide. Ms. Warner and a representative from the CEA will go talk to the landowner and find out exactly what she wants to see happen long term. From there, we can discuss with her what we see from a planning perspective. 5. Next Meeting Date May 26, 2011 6. Other Ms. Warner talked with someone from VDOT about mitigation funds and he said they are definitely looking for credits for wetland and stream mitigation projects - more so stream mitigation projects. Restoration and protection of a stream gives more credits and would more likely get money from VDOT. Ms. Warner thinks the formula they use is one acre of credit for every 40 acres protected. By restoring steam or wetland function on a property, that generates credits to mitigate damage which has been done somewhere else; VDOT will pay for that. Also, a transportation enhancement program easement causes an 80% reimbursement of the project cost from VDOT. Twenty percent has to be matched and Ms. Warner thinks that can be some landowner donation and VDOT will accept some federal money. A minimum of 25% must be put up front for FRPP and it can't be matched with any other federal money. • Conservation Easement Authority Page - 158 - April 28, 2011 • There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 9:00 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Diane Kearns, Chairman Eric R. Lawrence, CEA Secretary • is Conservation Easement Authority Page - 159 - April 28, 2011