Environmental Advisory Board - Regular Meeting

Let's do it.

Wait a second. I think your spot's over here.

You're my neighbor today.

Neither.

Called over. Today is Monday, 05/04/2026. It's 05:30. We are in Room 244. I call the environmental advisory board meeting to order. Roll call, Tim Drum.

Robin Sandicente. Megan Taylor.

Doreen German.

Casey McGowan. Jessica Ike.

Stephane Caleb, Board Liaison.

Good. Let's stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.

All

right. Has there been any public comments for the general?

There are no public comments.

Very good. All right. Moving on. Approval of minutes of the 03/02/2026 meeting. Does anybody have anything they'd like to add?

Motion to approve. Seconded.

Item B26Dash0666. That's this meeting's.

That was last meeting, last April 6.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So we now approve March. Alright. So we can approve April's minutes as well. Anybody have any comments or

Yeah. I have, on the April 6 on item six c. I made a motion to well,

actually,

what you have here on the motion, I relistened to it and it was I made a motion to continue item twenty six zero five eight five as an ongoing agenda item for continued discussion, was the actual motion that I had made. Not what it's stating here. What it's stating here is just that it's continued to this particular meeting date.

I think you can choose not to remove them again, and I can double check, I believe, that just it being continued next month, if you choose to do that again, continue it, it'll just keep being

Well, it was stated as an ongoing agenda item for continued discussion. The way it's worded here is only continued to this meeting. I can clarify with Heather tomorrow. So if you guys don't wanna approve it again this time, it's

fine. Okay.

So motion, to have you clarify the exact motion?

Seconded.

In favor?

Aye. So carried.

Okay. The other item was item 7B, which was 20 six-five 80, recurring agenda item for discussion of possible action regarding the DRC projects of environmental concern. So I understand that the minutes are a summary. They don't have to list specific. However, under this particular agenda item, there were two specific items that was discussed that are not mentioned.

And if we were to look back at these minutes, unless we listen to the videos and if we keep having to listen to videos and not relying on minutes that clearly, bring up what this matter was, we're gonna be lost. So one of the items was the, Ukrainian Baptist Church. That was a specific item that I brought up. And then we had discussions on that in the g in the Gulf Of Tortoise relocations. The other item was the light industrial to industrial on the agenda for the DRC committee.

That was a specific item that we had a lot of discussion on light industrial versus industrial on that specific parcel in the overlay zone. That really needs to be stated because there's an update on that particular item as well. And if I just look at the way the minutes are read, it doesn't even specify that at all. It's too summarized. And this is, I feel, important enough to specifically list those two items and then you can summarize the way you want.

But looking at these minutes, things are getting lost. And I don't want to have to keep referring back to a video that might be five months old because I can't look at minutes and say, oh, where did this happen? How come we haven't had a recent discussion on this item where we should have? So I would like to make a motion to amend the way that this particular agenda item is summarized in the minutes to specifically list the Ukrainian Baptist Church and the parcel that was with a specific exception from light industrial to industrial. Seconded.

All in favor?

Aye.

Aye. Any other comments for April's notes?

No. I'll add that with Heather. Thank you.

All right. Well, since we can't approve those, we'll move on to updates. Item A, 20 six-six 83, new advisory board member introduction. Has everybody introduced themselves already? I think everybody has.

I believe so. Yeah. Potentially, we were having one member who could have been here who was new. So unfortunately, she's not here today. So

we will go ahead and move on past that one. Item B, 26, next next

I'll turn it over then year.

Comes

So that was a fairly recent update. Another one, overall, we attended over six events for the month of April and engaged nearly 900 residents of Northport in various settings. Our tree donation program is one of those events where we distributed near two fifty native species of trees to our residents, free of charge. This time, we even had few trees left, which means that all people who attended received their tree. As always, a proof of residency was required and each resident took with themselves our pledge to be good stewards of the received tree.

So I view that as a success. And no really other updates that I have for the Board, but I can answer any questions regarding events or any other topics of interest.

Can you refresh us on, pardon me, how many properties are total are in that program that we think are targets?

Yes. The pool, if I recall correctly, it's close to 50 properties, and we are approaching these from the highest scored quarter strong strong of of we a 20. Depending on potential availability, And willing sellers, available funds, etcetera, then we will go down the list.

So we'll be right, I'm assuming you'll be tracking responses, right, throughout the yes, good.

Yes, sir. When there's any substantial progress within the program of any of these properties, I will be updating the board.

Great. Thank you.

Thank you.

Anyone else?

Question on the tree giveaway. I think we brought up last time that we'd like to see if at all possible you can incorporate native plants in with the tree giveaway. So it's not just about the trees, you know? I mean, we keep hearing that it's not just about the trees, but native plants that are, you know, like the fire bush and, you know, stuff like that that you can get relatively cheap that would encourage people to actually start planting native?

Yes. I think that's a great point. And we also have an opportunity to work with some various non profit groups perhaps who would be willing to donate some shrubs or underbrush or even some saplings as well. So the more potentially, the more people and parties get involved, the larger the event may turn out to be in the future. The good news, this is a quarterly planned event, so we have plenty of ways to improve. There are many ideas that we would like to incorporate. So that's one of them to consider.

I think you're off to a great start.

Yeah, definitely.

So far so good. Yeah, our community, their feedback was that we need to have more trees to offer and we listened and this one was a success. Everybody got their tree.

Did the timeframe work out better? Outcome was

about the same as far as turnouts, but this time we had more trees and maybe perhaps the a maybe perhaps the group of residents who came was different as this time. The idea was to target outside of work Yeah, hours exactly. Yeah. People. So our working community could have the opportunity to receive a tree.

That brings up an interesting question in my mind. If it's going to be quarterly, can I come out once a quarter and take one every time?

So we are going to

I'm not going to.

We're going to make that determination as we are tracking the residency of each recipient. So as of right now, we don't have this rule in place. Alright. But having the data and, let's say, if we see some tendencies of people coming over and over, I don't know, maybe we'll refocus. But at this point, we have not made that choice.

Might be worth thinking about in coming up with a policy, right, and let everybody know ahead of time.

It's just, you know, now that Alice is not doing her annual event anymore, you know, the People for Trees event, she's not doing that anymore. So somehow, the city should somehow fill that gap with partnerships and relationships with nonprofits. So it's not just maybe a quarterly tree giveaway. Maybe we can eventually put it into a bigger platform where we have a real event that's coordinated with the nonprofits, with the different partnerships that we can establish and make it a big event instead of just a small two fifty trees, you know, really get nonprofits involved and other organizations involved to kinda replace what Alice used to do. Because that was a heck of an event.

Every single year was well attended. Yeah.

Big Yeah. Shoes to fill for sure.

Yeah. Very big.

At our Greenest Citizen event, which was also back in April

Yeah.

Where Alice White was nominated for the Greenest Citizen for 2025. I did have a conversation with her and we're going to sit down and discuss some potential ideas to work together and amplify the cause of planting more trees.

And native plants. And native. Okay. Because you can incorporate the Green Citizen Award at that particular event and really make it one big huge event and incorporate all the recognition that you might want to give citizens into an event because more people will show up, especially if they know they're going to get recognized for their work.

There's a challenge. Because it's such a busy event and there's so much going on. We prefer to keep them separately at this time. One celebrates Earth Day, the other celebrates National Arbor Day. Usually, they are a couple days apart, but lots of food for thought in the future.

Yeah. I'm just saying because when I ran the Springs and did the Earth Day events, we had over 1,000 people. And that's just incorporating different businesses, different partnerships with nonprofits and having them all there, well attended of over a thousand people. So it can be done.

A lot can be done. We'll we'll take that into consideration

and I know it can be done now. I'm just giving you ideas because of of what since, again, Alice ain't doing it anymore. The city somehow should try and really make it a great event that is about education. You know, you can have, like, from the school, the high school, your environmental club, you know, the science club, and have it all there because it's an educational format as well as an event.

Yeah. Just bring it up as a new item to discuss.

Just planting the seed in your little brain over there.

I am not sure how to

Just let it grow slowly.

Well, thank you, Robin. You know that as a member, that's all you can do. Can provide suggestions and you know me. They're always well received. We will discuss with staff. We have limited staffing time, limited resources. We gotta look at few more things, but overall, we appreciate the the passion and Let it grow.

Thank you. Well, that's a segue. I worked for the farmers market. We'd get Doctor. Kluse from, University of Florida, the agricultural guy, and he would put on events teaching kids how to grow from seed.

And it was all native plants, and some of them were, like, food oriented because it was at a market and stuff. So we should I it would be kind of fabulous to have just like an all Florida native, natural resources and that include everything and have it be, you know, a day or two event. You know? But but that's something for city to decide, but you gave me the idea. Yeah. So I had to speak at it.

Sounds like a good item item to bring up on the new agenda. We'll Any other comments? Any Yes. More comments or questions about the update? If not, we will move on. All right. Moving on. Presentation. Item a 26 dash zero six nine one. Presentation of environmental regulations of the city of Northport.

Alright. So, first we a question. Many potential future members who might be joining us with the EAB and we figured that going over some of the fundamentals with the Unified Land Development called the comprehensive plan and the structure of the Natural Resources Division would be beneficial for the Board. At the end, there will be an opportunity to ask your questions. Few words about us, the Natural Resources team, we want to be the stewards for the city's natural assets and to protect, manage and conserve them for current and future generations' benefit.

Our structure, strong the

progress

are

progress

pleased with a lot from tree planting efforts throughout the city to engaging with residents. Ryan has over twenty years of arborist experience and environmentally related I that the very

helpful.

Directors Board of between. As mentioned, Ryan is being involved with few tree planting projects, some grants, opportunities and a lot more. Sean and Jeremy, these are our two arborists, as I stated earlier. They get involved with site inspections, evaluating before and after conditions. What's very important that the two staff arborists now check for proper barricade installations and proper route barrier installations near infrastructure.

That by itself has been a big, I would say, improvement of previous practices where that was not necessarily verified at each and every application. Now I must say that it's the case. So they shown lots of landscaping experience, incredible background on many levels in horticulture, Jeremy, some air quality, environmental science experience as well as, of course, arborist. All these three gentlemen are ISA certified. Aaron Zimmerman, he is our environmental specialist.

Him and Jim, they oversee the environmental inspections of sites. They survey areas seeking any potential listed species. Gopher tortoises, that's the usual one and they get involved with relocation, scrub jay coordination with U. S. Fish and Wildlife, Gopher tortoise efforts with Florida Fish and Wildlife and so forth.

Chanel is our environmental planner. She ensures proper development to where the needs of the environment of the environmental balance are met with the needs of the applicants. We take into account the existing site conditions and aim for context sensitive site development, which means putting the sensitive habitat first into mind and then taking into consideration what would be proposed and how we can work with the proposed project to accommodate our most precious resources. Matt Clemens, he's our floodplain administrator. He comes from the Sarasota County and has an array of experience, and he ensures that our properties before development basically get developed to where the floodplain regulations are taken into concern.

And he does a lot more work with FEMA and Florida Department of Emergency Management. Couple of words about the city's comprehensive plan. If you're curious, you can find that online. You can just go on Google, type in Northport comprehensive plan. Please be warned, it's a lengthy document, but there are several environmental objections within the conservation elements of the plan.

And these objectives and policies provide the regulatory and procedural framework towards environmental stewardship and compliance. So just to give you an example of one objective, objective three encourages the preservation of native vegetation and promote the creation of an urban forest through Phase three canopy goals. So we have the twenty twenty two-twenty twenty five strategic vision plan. It's based on a series of revisions to the city's vision, mission and organizational statements. And there are six pillars identified by the North Port Commission.

One of those pillars is the environmental resilience and sustainability. And I'll say a few words about that pillar. The goals here are to safeguard and expand our tree canopy as much as possible through development standards, codes and ordinances that balance growth with green space. This pillar is relatively tree focused. It supports policies.

One of them is a 35% citywide tree canopy standard, procuring tools to measure our canopy, providing other guidelines and directions to our natural resources team and others. And then the most important, I would say, part, the Unified Land Development Code. So this one is also easily available online. Chapter four is relative to natural resources. It speaks towards that context sensitive site design and development, which I mentioned earlier.

That, again, takes into account the natural features of a site before even development is approved. So we also have the protection of wetlands and water bodies, adequate open space requirements, tree preservation, safeguard listed and protected species and their habitats. Also, takes, as mentioned earlier, the natural topography into account and establishing and enforcing proper buffering around the sites to mitigate the impacts and to enhance aesthetics and ecological value. Now I would like to make an important point regarding the unified land development code that I wanted to make at the end, but I think it's worth mentioning now. So due to certain state rules and regulations, if parts of the unified of our renewed Unified Land Development Code are more restrictive, then they may not take effect until 07/01/2027.

And basically, the aim came from the state to assist and alleviate different entities interested in development throughout the state due to hurricane impacts. So that's one of the reasons for why these rules are in place and we still need to, of course, honor them and we can only recommend certain provisions if they are more restrictive than the original Unified Land Development Code ones. So a few words about Chapter six. This is the one that protects, conserves and manages our natural, cultural and historic resources. Key areas covered: environmental protection, archaeological and historical preservation, have of So the environmental protection 19.

Part, I will just summarize it. The intent here is to regulate activities that may impact our natural systems and these include everything from air and water quality, ecological functions and so forth. So the goal of development is to avoid and minimize environmental harm, ensures compliance with local, state and federal environmental standards and to support long lasting sustainability and resource conservation in Northport. I must say easier said than done, but nevertheless, something that's incredibly important. So regarding the archaeological and historical preservations, we have staff dedicated to coordinating with state agencies and environmental consultants requiring surveys from them to ensure that none of our archaeological precious resources are lost forever.

We are quite fortunate to have an array of archaeological sites of exceptional value. And certainly, the Unified Land Development Code is going above and beyond many other municipalities, in my opinion, to preserve those. Endangered and threatened species. This section of the code provides regulations to protect listed species and their habitat. It requires specific surveys from professionals where development may impact protected wildlife.

It establishes avoidance, minimization and mitigation within this order of various requirements. So if we are able to avoid, that would be the most desirable outcome. Next one would be minimize. And finally, it would be mitigate, which basically means for the applicant to offset the impact, in many cases, by paying a fee that then may be allocated towards serving the natural resources elsewhere. Coordinating with state and federal wildlife agencies, that's, of course, a huge one.

Many of our listed species are under the umbrella of different state or federal agencies. Most common ones, gopher tortoises would be Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, state agency, and then Scrub J would be the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Services, which is a federal entity. Flood damage prevention, our code implements standards to reduce flood risk and protect life and property, regulates development in flood prone areas, ensures compliance with FEMA and NFIP NFIP requirements, supports resilient community planning and stormwater management.

Of course, we want to develop taking the sensitivity of a certain area towards floodplain impacts. And this is, in my opinion, so crucial towards building a resilient city. We've all unfortunately seen how a one single storm event can change the life of many. And we want to ensure that future residents of Northport and future developers take these factors into best of everyone's ability. Wetland protection.

So we are protecting our city's wetlands within the same list of priorities, avoidance, minimization of impact and finally mitigation. At each project, especially when there's an availability as far as an area to be developed, we communicate with our owners if we find that alternatives may be presented to save wetlands. Wetlands are tremendously important. They recharge our aquifer. They filter water, so they improve water quality.

They provide exceptional habitat to many species of wildlife and plants as well. So there's so much value to them. And we are just the local reviewer for these projects, but we always like to find and recommend at this point because that's what we can do, ways to avoid or minimize wetland impacts. And finally, of course, ensuring compliance with state and federal regulations. And here's the tree protection one.

It follows the ULDC and it's guided by the comprehensive plan and the strategic vision plan. The project has the process has been refined through ongoing updates and adjustments over time. Significant revisions adopted to the ULDC have occurred in 2022 and 2024. The process is designed to provide financial incentives for developers to preserve habitat and trees, possible. And as a conclusion, the comprehensive plan sets the city's long term environmental goals.

The Unified Land Development Code or ULDC and the strong foundation for our future. Strong we There are future revisions that may be coming And to the Unified Land Development Code. And of course, through community engagement and feedback from our community, we are aiming to take those into account and protect our natural resources while we establish balanced development. I just wanted to mention, as a natural resources manager, I am part of the development services department. We understand that our city is growing, our city is changing, which is inevitable, and it's part of our city's story.

So we are embracing that. We just want to see responsible development that takes into account those first 20 strong have strong question. A I think is

the some of our guidelines are stricter than the state. Your mind, what are like one or two key parts of that?

Yeah. Some of them can be more strict than the state or we may be limited. So we may be limited in implementing if we are more restrictive than the previous version of the Unified Land Development Code. So I would say those are two separate things. Would you like me to clarify the part about

mean, like, is

it State authority.

It we're more restrictive on trees or barriers, that sort of thing.

Yes, absolutely. So let's say trees and landscape buffers. This is entirely managed by the local ordinance normally. When you have let's say if you have an area that would be illegally cleared and all the trees are removed there. For the tree impact, the state pretty much won't have much of a say.

They they will defer it to the local entity. And in this case, it would be us. So this is when a cold case will be initiated where the the violator would likely be charged on arm and a leg for

for

the impact. So, yeah, they're highly incentivized not to do anything like that. It's not in their best interest. And that's just one way to

Where would you see a gap the other way is?

So it really it really depends. Let's say for golfer tortoises, the state is preempted. And when there is a golfer tortoise violation, we cannot simply go after them. We notify we notify the state and they sort of take over. This is how they would like things to be, and this is how the state statute is formulated.

But in some cases, we're able to partner. Let's say, they are missing information of a local site development and we might be able to provide that to them. So we're always eager to work with them, but in certain cases, we cannot take over. When there's wetlands, listed species, usually that's

State.

State or federal. Yeah.

It. Thank you.

Yeah. You're welcome.

Any other questions?

I want to thank you for putting this together.

Thank you. Yeah. It's my pleasure. And if any questions come up, please let me know. You can find the Unified Land Development Code. Probably the easiest way to go on Google, type in Northport ULDC and the natural resources provisions are under Chapter six. If you need any additional clarifications or input, just let me know. Thanks so

you have any public comment in regard to the presentation?

No public

comment. Alright. Moving on to unfinished business. Twenty six dash zero six eight eight, Recurring agenda item for discussion of possible action regarding DRC projects of environmental concern.

Alright. Maybe I can say a few words, chair, if okay. And let me actually if you don't mind, let me pull up the relevant attachments to the agenda item. So this has been an ongoing item. Give me just a moment.

So we have actually this one would be the reoccurring item where member, Savi Cente, volunteered to graciously volunteered to provide feedback and bring up topics of interest to the Board.

I'm going to go revert back to the last meeting where I brought up the special exception in the overlay zone on that particular parcel where they were asking for a special exception. And on the agenda, it was worded as going from light industrial to industrial. I met with staff and rereviewed all the plans for that particular parcel. And as it turns out, and correct me if I'm wrong, Stephan, as it turns out, it was a typo on the agenda. It should not have read from light industrial to industrial, which triggered a whole bunch of unnecessary stress.

And I apologize for not catching that earlier either because my memory kind of failed me at the last discussion. But upon yet further verification, we identified that the word in light was missing in the light industrial. So I think that's part a lot of concerns with the members at the last meeting.

Yes. So we're good with that, Parsley. In reviewing the other DRC committee, there was really nothing that was of environmental concern. It was standard developments and nothing in commercial and retail. There's really nothing in any kind of sensitive area for me to even discuss it. So that's all I got on that one.

Any other comments on this item?

Alright.

Moving on to new business. 260689. Discussion of possible action regarding future utilization of the Environmental Protection Fund. You wanna mention anything or you want me to

If I may mention real quick, chair, I wanted to add that I have received input from member Ike with some points that she was interested in adding to the item for discussion. And I have uploaded this input as a separate attachment. I will have that so I will have this saved and opened so all members can familiarize themselves with both. If you give me a moment, I will save both of these and that's all I wanted to say about this item.

Very good. So I believe the I'm the one who brought this item up and my, goal and intent is just to ensure that the funds that are raised, are going towards their intended purposes of buying trees or land. So just one of my sticking points. Now that I don't mind paying city staff, these funds are raised when, trees are removed, and I think we should make sure that they go back to repopulating. And there's a, you know, kinda like a line item, to go for percentage, just my math brain, but open to discussion.

And, of course, this would just be a recommendation. We have no authority or power to enact anything.

Jerry, if I may. Here's the input from member Ike as well. So I will leave this one on the screen and then we can jump between both attachments.

I Okay. I believe we were going to table this until the budget has been kind of presented with each department, specifically the natural resources department, so that we can actually review the revenue versus the expenditures so we can get an idea in order to really look at this with an educated mind as far as what the actual breakdowns are categorically before we can make any kind of a proper recommendation for any kind The of proposal is when? They're still going through it now and it's gonna go through, I believe, until September. Right.

Yeah. A long process.

Yeah. Right. So until I just wanna point out that I there is nowhere in our original mandate or mission statement that says we have to buy trees a 100%, and that's how it should be. Wanting to change it, I think you need to say that I want to change it. Okay? Or I want to add this. I wanna change it because it is not there originally, which is what was my big fuss about in the first time around. And it's not that I don't wanna discuss the budget. It's that nowhere does it say that we have to buy trees with tree funds. It is an environmental fund.

Why do we want trees? Because they attract wildlife. Why do we want wildlife and birds? Because they grow trees and flowers and bushes that we depend on to live. They fertilize the wetlands.

Right? It's all a whole whether you like it or not, but it is all comes together and it supports human life and also gives us fresh air, say, shade, beautifies our city. It's not a concrete hellscape. You know? I just feel, strongly that we have to, encourage funding of our wildlife and our waterways and, everything that protects.

And it doesn't mean mean that that we have to buy trees for residents. I think having the tree giveaway is a good time. I like the idea of a native festival, you know, to encourage things. I think it's great to have the good giveaway, but we can do two things. You know. We can do more than one thing at a time. And I think we just need to keep our eye on, wildlife. Stefan provided me with contact with a what was Jim's position? The birding guy.

Oh, the environmental specialist. Yeah.

Environmental specialist. That's an avid birder that keeps track of birds.

And

I had written a a an email question, last week. One day, I drove all the way from Northport across the bridge, Ponta Gorda, and I counted five to 10 birds on the wires until that I saw the entire way there. You know? And you can have a clear view now that the snowbirds are gone. Gone.

And I was just, you know, driving, looking at the sky, looking at the wires, looking at utility wires. And I thought, that's really strange. I I just thought, that's weird. And he very kindly answered me back and, said that he did notice all he listed all the birds he had seen that day. And I realized when I got home, had a ton of birds in the backyard.

They're fledging and, you know, flying away and stuff. And he said it just might have been a you know, they don't show themselves sometimes. But with that being mentioned, the one bird that has absolutely disappeared from this particular environment that I have not seen, but I used to see a lot of, is a Rosie at Spoonville. And they've just gone, and the islands have gone over to the wood storks. And, you know, and then, you know, the other thing is is we have a a fellow that's moved into Punta Gorda and bought, you know, some land in the middle of the preserve and is going through a lawsuit with his neighbor to get into it.

And, he is determined to he he has taken it to court that the scrub j, it should be eliminated from protected protected species since it only occurs in Florida, and, the environment will not be ruined if it disappears. And And he he says, I'll spend ten years doing this. I'm determined to get my way. So, you know, we have these, people who, basically don't care. You know? They just want their way. And, you know, and they tend to get their way. I'm a Florida native. My father was a home builder. You know?

I bitched about it when I was 10,

and here

I am six years later

Can can bitching about it. Can I ask a question? Do not Sure. Please, I don't mean to interrupt you, but I'm trying to take everything that you're saying.

I know. It's a lot.

No. It's not a lot for me. I I get you. No. But I mean, you know, I tend to I'm just trying to figure out. We're discussing this now.

Right. I know. I think

So how are we fitting in?

I I I just what I'm saying is is that we are being pressured from all kinds of areas and people and special interests. Okay? And we're just people who, like, love nature. We don't hate other people. We like people to move in. We like meeting new people. That's fine. That's great. You know, hopefully, encourage them to respect what we have and, you know, move move forward with that.

So you are you asking us in what what you've presented here Yeah.

I'm to

incorporate not it in some fashion into what Tim has recommended? Because that's the discussion we're on. I'm just trying to understand to get it together. I

want us to discuss it. I wanna know what our people think about the things that I said. And if you agree, then we can have it as part of our, what, presentation to the budget or something. What What are

we think

just At

this point, this is this is an item that's up for discussion, and we can go through each of these points. I can read them out loud if you would like. But, ultimately, yeah, the board decides what what to do moving on. And what you can do is to if you all if you approve an item, you can make a recommendation to commission. And then what's with within this item, that's the hard part.

I personally think this is a future agenda item for a discussion.

An agenda for today.

If if I may I remember

this a long time ago.

Ma'am, if if I may, just one person at a time, maybe even raise your hand if you if you would like to speak. Just just for a

Because again discussion. Thank you. Because again, we're discussing Tim's proposal and and having a discussion about his proposal. And then I'm looking at what you had presented here, trying to understand how it fits in with this. Is this a recommendation to fit into his proposal? Yes. Or is is it is? It is. Okay.

Casey.

So I like the concept. A little I have some hesitancy around specific percentages for each category. And the reason that I have that is the land purchase project isn't going to have a rhythm like trees could be, right? Some people is going to say, yeah, you might get two or three of those in the same year, blow your budget, right? So I like the idea, but maybe it's more like you have to spend it in these buckets as opposed to each bucket is this percentage.

I would I don't think we can predict the land And purchase for

if we

could, that'd be great. But I don't think that's going to happen.

I don't see how we can apply percentages truthfully. Categorically, we can define the categories that we would like to see.

That's exactly what I'm saying.

Yeah. I would agree with you on that. I don't see how we can apply percentages.

And then my other I'm sorry. My other reservation is I can't I'm trying to get my head around the first point, which is I believe have it make the recommendation that they are funded out of the general fund as opposed to the development or trade fund. I think I'm struggling with that.

So we're here to talk about it. This was just something to throw out there to start the conversation.

Right. 100%. Right.

And I wanted to, if I may chair, ask, do all members have an understanding of the general funds and the environmental protection fund and how these work fundamentally No. Or

If I'm being completely honest, I don't understand. But is that something that like I can do more research on at home because I'd hate to take up more time when most of us understand.

So these are the Environmental Protection Fund. It's defined within the Unified Land Development Code and basically most governments most government efforts by the city are funded by the general fund. However, we have other more specialized buckets, let's say, road and drainage would go towards projects that are pertaining to road and drainage. Building would be towards our will be the fund that's financing our building department. And we also have a separate environmental protection fund, which is a pool that receives contributions from mitigation fees.

So that's when development removes trees. It also could be from inspections where our site inspectors go and visit a site. There's an inspection fee that goes towards the Environmental Protection Fund. And last but not least, code enforcement fees. That's when, let's say, an entity goes and removes some trees without a permit, then there are code enforcement fees that also go in the environmental protection fund.

And this fund funds the natural resources division and then lots of other efforts pertaining to natural resources. So just wanted to make sure everyone's on the same page.

A flowchart would be nice to see where the money has come from.

I can't hear it. A flowchart can't

hear one word you're saying.

Flowchart would be nice

to see where the money is What happened to our microphones?

She has mentioned that flow chart of seeing how the money is distributed out between the entities.

Well, for Park and Recreation does Park and Recreation get their funds from the general fund? I'm just curious. Believe Out of curiosity.

I believe they do.

Hi. Lori Barnes, deputy director of development services. Parks and Rec is funded by the general fund. Police department is funded by the general fund. Social services, communications, finance, HR.

Most of public works is funded by rodent drainage or solid waste revenue streams. However, they do have, an impact on the general fund in some areas. Building is funded by building permit fees solely. Planning and zoning, general fund. Code enforcement, general fund. Economic development, general fund. Departments. I think I covered all of our departments.

And how is the general fund funded?

The general fund is primarily funded from ad valorem tax revenues, and the general fund typically is is constrained in some manner, due to, the revenue streams and the community needs to provide, essential services through those from all of those departments, to keep a level of service that's expected by the citizenry here. So anyone who's watched the city budget process, in the past couple of years, there's been plenty of conversation about, working to minimize the impact and any increases on the general fund, due to funding constraints. And you'll see that this year that there's going to be a large conversation about reducing the general fund the impact to the general fund by approximately 5% is the current target.

Right. So any hope of being funded by the general fund is not realistic.

Mine's more philosophical than Aspirational.

And, again, this my purpose for this conversation is just Yeah. That this department is more new to the city. Correct, Stephane? So just kinda get some bumpers, so to speak, where how the money goes. I know we can't tell the city what to do with the money, but at least if we're here to protect the environment, whatnot, let's just try to cut out some part of this pie that makes sure that it does go to that.

That's really what this conversation is about. Looking at the you know, how the money comes in, goes out. I just like to see that a portion, if a percentage is not something that we like to recommend, some other way of coming up with something would be nice. Just so we can say to the citizens, as a board, we stated here the money comes in, money goes out. At least some of the money go out is what the funding says it's doing. That's all. Just I like to see what the statement is and prove that we've done it.

Right.

That's all. So I guess as far as the conversation goes, do we wanna have any more discussion or is this something we wanna keep looking at as time goes on?

I think we're I'm sorry.

I just have a question for Stefan or Lori as far as with what you just said, money coming in, where is it going? Again, budget, it's categorized. If if we look at the budget and we look at what the department puts forth as far as revenue versus expenditures, you can kinda get an idea if we look at that and then look at what your recommendation is and balance the two and see where we can amend or what. I think that's what we need to do personally. It's categorically listed already in the budget.

Casey?

Yeah. That's kind of what I was thinking when I mentioned buckets earlier. Maybe what we do is go back, think about what are the appropriate buckets that we'd like to see this money spent, right? Not necessarily put a percentage on it, but trees, land purchase, whatever that is. And the reason to do it may be that way is, again, you can't predict the land purchase part of it. So maybe everybody goes back, think through, right, here's the buckets that we ought to be thinking about that we want the money spent on, right? And we discuss that next week.

And does the city track that habitat restoration? That's a big one. We're we're constantly having to restore what we've already destroyed, okay, through whatever practices whenever that happen. So we're at the restoration stage and at the protection stage. So if we were to say one of the categories is habitat restoration, how would we track that as a city?

Or could we track it as a city? Through what, CIP projects? Or I mean, how would we be able to do a check system on that? If we were to assign categories, how would we check that

How going would we track it financially or how would we

track it? Would we ensure that if we're gonna if we let's

I'm say assuming that we're right. When you spend money in the city, there's like

It's a vigorous tracking process.

Oh, yeah.

And there are lots of steps and each of those steps is a public record. Unless it's a sensitive part of the procurement process, Everything's public record and any res anyone can get access to it. The city may not be the fastest at times with with these projects, but in my opinion, accountable. There's there's a vigorous tracking for Ctrip, I've

tracked it through the finances and all the FTP downloads and all that where you can actually see the actual dollar amount.

Yeah. Yeah.

So I I do that. I'm just trying to make it easier for us to look at at Tim's proposal and then categorize what we as a board determine to be important to track. And then once we do that, is it feasible then for the city to track it in a way that's sufficient for us to say, hey, what about this? What happened to that? Because I think that's what you're trying to write checks and balances. Yeah.

It'd be something great that we could put on our scorecard that x amount percent went to tree tree tree and plants, you know

Would that be tracked through the scorecard system or could it be?

Not originally. The scorecard we've designed more towards the the actual projects and other tangible assets. Right. And there's also finance is tracking these projects as well. So it depends exactly of what's the objective to track here.

Right. If you would be a project progress, we have our, you know, projects assigned. There's a usually a project project number. Finance keeps track of track of those. Capital improvement, those are usually higher value projects, but each project usually has an assigned number. It is technically correct.

The source data, right, if they can't track this, we got a different set of issues. Right? Because we're talking about expenses. Right? So they're tracking it. I guarantee you they're tracking it. Oh, yeah. If they're not, we'll find it. Yep. Right? So and then they just assign it to a bucket. This is like accounting one zero one. Mhmm. So If we recommend the buckets, right, if they're reasonable buckets, right, mash up with the expense system, this should be duck soup.

Stefan? Yeah. Just wanted to say that the each division, they have their performance tracking metrics. These are also available to the public. And for the natural resources, you put things to trees, certain projects, but it's perhaps that could be something that we can look into for the performance dashboard where the environmental scorecard is. It's more of, I would say, it's different types of metrics, not project specific. But it's more summarized. Right.

We're we're looking to categorize and what we've deemed categorically should be tracked to ensure where the money's going.

100%.

That's what we're trying to do. That's hence the proposal fits right in there. So maybe that's our next discussion. What categories do we want to see?

Yeah. Right? I'm in filing agreement with you because I've said this a couple of times.

Made a

note to that future agenda item, and that is, when we categorize things, are we going to have a discussion about each category? Are we gonna vote yes or no on spending so much money in that category? What is the purpose of our categorization other than an overlook?

I think if we can and this is an ongoing agenda item. So I think as an ongoing agenda item, at each meeting, we can discuss different categories one at a time, two at a time, and then have a discussion if the Board likes this particular category since it's an ongoing agenda item. And until we narrow it down as a Board, we can then make that recommendation to the city, to the commission, and say, hey, this is what we are looking at. You know, is it feasible? Because this is our recommendation.

This is what we'd like to see as a board. Okay. That's great. I have a question for chair. Are we going to spend all of our meetings talking about the budget, or are we going to talk about more forward looking positive items to add to our mission such as, we already talked about the tree giveaway. And, I would like to propose that we, maybe in the future talk about what I said about a festival, all things

native. So

item you got a window.

Under future agenda items.

Yeah. That's what I just said.

Yeah. But I we're not we're not in that. There's the the item at the very end, ma'am. So you can you can bring all all these. Yeah. You. But I have

a question for chairs. I So might wanna my mind wandered. Yeah. No worries. But I mean, is that

I'd say step one is let's figure out the categories, and then as we figure out the categories as a board that we'd like to make sure are discussed, then we can figure out fine tuning how we however the board would like to do that. So I don't have a Is that all

we're gonna talk about?

And that mean, do you have do you have any yeah.

I

mean there's gonna be room for another discussion at a time, please. Yeah. But for that item, I don't expect this to take up all meeting. It's one of the items Alright. To discuss. No.

Thank you.

I would like to do more do the more than just that one item if that's what you're asking me. Yes, ma'am. So I guess no real motion. This is just an ongoing item. And then I believe the next item kind of rolls into this as well, 26 dash zero six nine two, discussion of possible recommendations on allocation of environmental protection funds. I believe that's the same thing.

Yeah. So

that's moving forward for future items. Okay? Future agenda items.

I have one.

Casey.

I'd like to provide the board with a framework at our next meeting on how to measure natural resources economic impact. I think it's important to think about budget, right? You want to be in a defensible position. This is why we should be having these expenses against this. So I'd like to but the ultimate goal is, right, if we like it, great. We can figure out a way to make a recommendation to the commission about that. And if not, that's fine. But I'll put together a framework and you guys can see what you think.

I believe I brought that up a few meetings ago about measuring the economic impact on not just protected species, although that was one of the concerns. But that goes to my point about in the minutes, if we were to look and have a list of future agenda items so it doesn't get lost in in paperwork and we don't have to always listen to videos, we could actually look and see a list of future agenda items. So we can look at it and say, oh, we need to discuss that. We haven't discussed this. Because it keeps coming up, in my mind, the same stuff we've already talked about and we're not doing any anything on them.

Okay. Great. I would like I'm committing to bringing a framework back.

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah. So that's Ma'am, do

you mind restating the item? Because I also have a list of few on Could my future agenda item as

you supply us like in your updates or can it be incorporated into the minutes of what our future agenda items are to be that Absolutely. That don't get on a specific agenda for a meeting, but it still has a future agenda item. It's an it's something I don't wanna get lost and we get sidetracked on something else.

I can include an attachment in there

with As future, the yeah.

With the items. And just so you know, we have five as of right now. I can read them to you if you would like.

Yes, sir. Okay.

I'll be quick. Discussion and possible action regarding ideas to enhance the city's natural resources and improve Northport's attractiveness to residents and visitors brought up by member Ike on February 2. Discussion and possible action regarding the review of the environmental advisory board's powers and duties according to the city code brought up by member San Vicente, February 2. Discussion and possible action regarding wildlife species and wildlife surveying in Northport, member Ike, April 6. Discussion and possible action regarding wildflower habitat to support pollinators and wildlife.

Member, San Vicente, April 6. Discussion and possible action regarding recycling procedures in Northport High School and other properties brought up by member Taylor.

Okay. And I don't see and I didn't hear the economic impact on protected species, which was my first meeting that I brought that up. And that's exactly what I'm talking about. Things are getting lost because we talk about a lot of things. But if it's not listed, we can't keep up with it and we can't keep track of it. I would just really like to see it listed.

So do you mind reminding me, was this regarding tracking their economic impact within the environmental scorecard or just an item to discuss? What was the idea of the item there?

So it's actually on what it's one of the topics that we have for our meeting with the commissioners actually.

But that's based upon our annual report, right?

No. It's what we were gonna it's part of what our goal is for

this year. Yeah. That's true.

Right?

Yeah. So I

So I

do have

that on the annual

report. Okay.

Yeah. It's all this. Okay.

Yeah. Yeah. So That's why I thought I'd put together a framework, right? We can make But

it's also a future agenda item. So when we go before the commission, we know what we're talking about. If there's questions that are going to be coming our way, we need to have answers.

That's right.

I'll bring it up. Thank you. Thank you.

And that meeting with the commissioners is in next month? Yep.

Yeah, June 3, I wanna say.

Or

second. I mean, I I can handle that if nobody else can.

Okay. Alright. And then additional future agenda items I would like to add, miss Ike. I believe you had some that you'd like to bring up.

Ma'am, would you like to bring up any other future agenda items?

Do I need to make a motion to incorporate the items in my email into the chairs?

Then

items, they're included in the in that agenda for for this item. So those those are included. So no no action there. But if you would like to add any future agenda items, topics, I believe you mentioned one earlier, now's the time to bring it up?

Like, the script, Jay? I sent you a news article in your email.

I cannot hear one word you're saying. Okay. Sorry. It's because I'm

trying to decide what to say. I wanna talk about the Scrub J protections being stripped. There's a lawsuit going on. And, I just think that we we can't do anything about a lawsuit, but we need to be aware and maybe, get some very firm ideas that if it's if an animal or a bird is native to only one place in the country, like the scrub jay, like that, stripping protections of one species. And in effect, it's a domino effect on everything else.

People don't like to use that term anymore because they think about, you know, Vietnam and war countries and stuff. But it it does. You know? It it affects other species when one just disappears completely. So I think we, need to do some reading and research and find find out exactly.

I know all about that lawsuit.

I can I can include it for discussion and, yep, we're going in chronological order? Eventually, it's gonna be on the agenda.

Okay. Yeah. Alright. Thank you.

Thank you.

Any other future agenda items?

I'd like to see Nona Springs on the future agenda item. What? Nona Springs.

I don't know where those are. I know you've talked about them before. Hence, it needs to be on a future

agenda item if you don't know about Nona Springs.

No. You you talked about it, but I just I know where Little Salt Springs are and Yep. One Mineral Springs, but the other one where is it?

I think when we discuss this, it's running. We'll we'll tackle it then.

Yeah.

Alright. Any other agendas, items that we'd like?

So Nuna Springs and Scrub Jay. Alright. You have anything?

No. That's awesome.

Alright. Is there any, public comment?

There's no public comments.

Alright. With that, I adjourn the meeting. Thank you all. Thank you.