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CEA_05-28-09_Meeting_Minutes• 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 May 28, 2009 at 8:00 a.m. PRESENT: Diane Kearns, Chairman; John Gavitt; John Marker; Todd Lodge; and Gene Fisher, Board of Supervisors Liaison. ABSENT: Ritchie Wilkins, Vice - Chairman; Jim Lawrence, Treasurer; Robert Solenberger; and Cordell Watt, Planning Commission Liaison. OTHER: Emily Warner and Kelly Watkinson, Potomac Conservancy. STAFF PRESENT: Eric Lawrence, Secretary; and Bev Dellinger, Secretary III. PUBLIC MEETING: 1. Minutes. On a motion by Mr. Marker and seconded by Mr. Fisher, the April 23, 2009 minutes were approved. 2. TDR Workshop — Update. Ms. Kearns stated that Valley Farm Credit did a really good job of putting the workshop together. She saw a number of planning people there. Mr. Gavitt asked Mr. Lawrence about the status of the TDR Program. Mr. Lawrence stated that the preliminary draft of the ordinance is coming together and the target is to have it to our DRRC meeting by mid -July. If the Committee thinks it's appropriate, we start going through the normal discussion process. Mr. Lawrence committed to the Board of Supervisors that by the end of this calendar year, we would have the RA policies codified. 3. PDR Program - Update. Ms. Kearns stated that Mr. Eric Lawrence was in the process of getting everything lined up for the Snapp easement closing. Via email, Mr. Lawrence found out that the Attorney General had issued an interpretation of the intergovernmental agreement and this interpretation states that they aren't going to allow federal monies to be matching funds for a state grant. Mr. Lawrence and Ms. Kearns double- checked to make sure there were no mistakes on our end. Ms. Kearns further stated that the Office of Farmland Preservation sent out what they termed the "Initial Thoughts on State- Matching Funds" and it did not indicate there is any percentage. Ms. Kearns had a conversation with Kevin Schmidt of this office in March 2007 to double check the percentage and Mr. Schmidt stated he hadn't thought about it that way, but yes. Ms. Susan Frederick County Conservation Easement Authority - Minutes of May 28, 2009 Eddy, who previously was involved with the CEA Committee, backed up Ms. Kearns. We aren't the only ones in this situation; Clarke County is too, but they're not as deeply dedicated to using State funds to make it happen. Ms. Kearns had a conversation with Mr. Schmidt yesterday and he stated when they had the County put this in their line item so the State grant could be divvied up, they wanted it to be as positive as they could, so they allowed these things. Now when it comes right down to divvying up the money for the easement, the Attorney General has indicated that the language is "cost actually incurred" by the County, meaning after everything is done, what the County is out. Ms. Kearns asked Mr. Schmidt if he realized what this does to us, and he was apologetic without actually saying it, but he said yes, because this didn't even come out until ten days to two weeks ago. Ms. Kearns thinks what happened is everybody is in a tight budget year and they're re- interpreting this because if the money doesn't get used, it goes back into the "pot" with VADAC and gets redistributed. Ms. Kearns stated she's going to call Governor Kaine's office about this. Mr. Lawrence stated the agreement the County has with VADAC says if we elect not to spend the money or if we don't satisfy the agreement, the money goes back to VADAC so they can redistribute it to preservation programs. Mr. Lawrence pointed out that we started the program with $4,500,000 and the second year $500,000, so if they don't let us spend the money, next year they can offer $4,000,000 again. They have a history of "look at all the money we're making available ". Mr. Lawrence doesn't know if that is their intent, but that's what is happening. Ms. Watkinson asked Ms. Kearns if she has a sense on how many people are affected by this. Ms. Kearns stated that Mr. Schmidt told her there are eight or nine easements in the process that we are in. Three of them have closed; of the ones that closed, none of them have used federal matching funds. What Mr. Lawrence found in talking to Ms. Eddy is that Fauquier County, where Ms. Eddy is now employed, has a lot of private funding. The same thing is applicable to Clarke County. Ms. Kearns told Mr. Schmidt that if we can't figure something out with the funding within a week or two, she doesn't know what we're going to do because the money is not going to come from the County. Mr. Schmidt said he was going to try to think of something and he would be back in touch. Mr. Lawrence stated that Rod Williams, County Attorney, has been in the loop on all this and he's going to call Mr. Steve Jack, the representative from the Attorney General's office, because we don't think the State has the right to do this. A year after we signed a contract, we don't think they're in a position to do an interpretation of what the contract meant — both parties have to agree. Mr. Fisher asked why the interpretation was made — what brought this up. Ms. Kearns stated that either Mr. Schmidt didn't know or he wasn't at liberty to say. He was trying to say, without saying, that in our case this was the first time he'd actually seen the numbers of the breakdown of what we were going to do and that was why he had just emailed Mr. Lawrence with his concerns, because prior he didn't realize that. Frederick County Conservation Easement Authority - Minutes of May 28, 2009 Mr. Lawrence stated that nothing else was ever issued beyond the initial thoughts so we're trying to find out when the mindset changed and where is the documentation that changed it. Mr. Lawrence also stated that the deeds of easement, which show what shares of money each entity is contributing, are just getting to VADAC for end of the fiscal year and they're starting to realize everybody is using matching grants and the State may not think that's appropriate. Mr. Fisher asked for a summary in writing of what exactly has taken place because he has a meeting this morning on another subject and someone from the State will be there and he would like to give her this information. Ms. Kearns feels we will work our way through this but it's a matter of getting to the right people. Mr. Gavitt feels we need to talk to our representatives and emphasize there has been absolutely no paper trail to indicate any policy change. Ms. Watkinson stated that Potomac Conservancy would like to talk to as many people as possible and try to get this resolved, if the Committee feels it's appropriate. Ms. Kearns said she feels it would be appropriate for Potomac Conservancy to talk to the representatives. Mr. Lawrence stated that the underlying thing is we're trying to get a PDR Program going in Frederick County with 198 acres identified with willing, volunteering property owners who want ® to do the easements. We're in the process of securing the funding to secure those properties, which is close to 40 housing rights that we're eliminating, and in theory with the FRPP application we're putting together now we could secure up to three quarters of a million dollars to close out these 40 development rights. It seems like everything is coming together for the promotion of farmland protection of PDRs. Mr. Lawrence said the purpose of PDRs and the purpose of the Office of Farmland Preservation is to protect and preserve farmland. It's not to encourage the County to spend money to preserve farmland. So if we're preserving farmland and figure out creative financing, why would the State care? Ms. Kearns stated we'll try to contact Ms. Vogel and Ms. Sherwood's office and Liz White at Green is very involved in the Department of Agriculture so she can talk to people there. Ms. Kearns is going to try to contact someone in Governor Kaine's office. Mr. Fisher stated that he will be able to talk to Ms. Vogel this morning at a meeting he's attending. Ms. Kearns stated that June 30 is the deadline for new applications and she hasn't heard of anyone else with an easement that's even close to complying. 4. Fundraising Event Discussion. Ms. Kearns said she hasn't really talked to Marjorie and the 7artmans yet. They need to know we will be involved. Since the Wright easement is looking positive, we might want to do • something at the Wright's place. The CEA will have some money to put in as our matching part for the Wright easement and stewardship. It's important that the County recognize there are Frederick County Conservation Easement Authority - 115 - Minutes of May 28 2009 stewardship obligations. When the Potomac Conservancy takes an easement from somebody else, there is supposedly a $5,000 to $6,000 contribution made to a stewardship fund in case enforcement is ever necessary. Mr. Gavitt stated that stewardship in terms of monitoring a property doesn't cost a lot. What costs a lot is if you get into a violation and into litigation. Mr. Gavitt sees the role of this Authority and of the County of something in agreement which guarantees that the County will go forward and assist with any litigation, rather than trying to raise a lot of money. There is a governmental body in place that is capable of doing that and Mr. Gavitt feels that is the most important thing of having an agreement. Mr. Lawrence stated that part of the agreement we're doing with Potomac Conservancy is to let them be the leader on overseeing the property. So the maintenance fund is so that they can basically pay for their staff to visit and keep track of the properties. We have an inherent ability, just because we monitor what housing may be built, that picks up most of the violations that you would see. On a day -to -day basis, the Potomac Conservancy, through our MOU, takes the lead in overseeing it. lt's an eternal easement so we want to make sure that they are funded; so with the one -time payment, it becomes their responsibility to do the annual review of the property. Ms. Kearns stated that the next MOU will probably look different. Hopefully at that point, the County will be in a more supportive position. Mr. Marker stated that Farm Bureau is having an Educational Fun Day at his farm on the second Saturday of July. There will be a lot of exhibits and free food. This may be something that CEA members might want to attend. The next meeting will be held on June 25 °i at 8:00 am. There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 8:45 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Diane Kearns, Chairman [% Secretary E Frederick County Conservation Easement Authority - 1 16 - Minutes of May 28, 2009