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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021_4_21_NewHanover_Minutes 1 New Hanover Soil and Water Conservation District Board Meeting held in Wilmington, NC. FY Meeting Number #12 Date: April 21, 2021 Supervisors Present: Others Present: Bill Hart, Chairman Dru Harrison, NHSWCD Director Sue Hayes, Vice-Chairman Amy Renfranz, NHSWCD Program Coordinator Frank Meares Haley Moccia, NHSWCD Conservation Technician Matt Collogan Lilly Triolo, NHSWCD Intern Evan Folds Joshua Davis, USDA NRCS Supervisory Soil Conservationist Tom Boland Sheryl Kelly, NHC Assistant County Manager Dr. Mike Mallin Was this meeting held during a meal: No Chairman Hart called the monthly board meeting to order at 8:05 a.m. The meeting was held virtually on Zoom. CALL TO ORDER A. Approval of Agenda ➢ Motion: Approve the agenda. • Motion: Hayes • Second: Meares • Vote: Passed unanimously. Motion approved. B. Introduction of Attendees. Harrison introduced Dr. Mallin, UNCW Center for Marine Science. WATER QUALITY REPORT OF CITY WATERSHEDS PRSENTATION: DR. MIKE MALLIN A. Mallin explained that the City of Wilmington Stormwater Services works with UNCW to sample area watersheds in order to publish an annual report, “Environmental Quality of Wilmington and New Hanover County Watersheds” (see Addendum for link). B. Mallin stated that the watersheds with the most problems also have the most development. He highlighted the following areas. 1. Burnt Mill Creek: Impaired. This watershed is on the 303 (d) list. Along with fecal coliform and low dissolved oxygen, samples contained “urban pollutants” that are derived from automobiles, asphalt, mercury, and bits of tire that affect wildlife health. 2. Greenfield Lake: Impaired. Samples showed low dissolved oxygen due to algal blooms. Many issues are due to impervious surfaces, aging infrastructure, and a golf course (contributing nitrates and phosphorous) at Jumping Run and Squash Branch. Detention ponds and wetland areas at the southern end of the lake reduce pollutants. This watershed is on the 303 (d) list of impaired waters. The state receives funding from the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (319 funds) to rehabilitate the lake. The current work (Phase 1) at Jumping Run Branch is underway. 3. Hewletts Creek: Impaired. Mallin explained that the constructed wetland, JEL Wade Park, is large enough to have a positive effect on the watershed – including the reduction of pollutants. 4. Bradley Creek: Impaired. Clear Run upper watershed that feeds into Bradley Creek is 94% impervious. C. Comments from the board. 2 1. Folds stated that his concern is that mitigation projects are not large enough to have a great enough impact. He shared that he supports best management practices including tree plantings and biochar. Mallin stated that his team could possibly do experimental research on projects involving the effectiveness of biochar filters – but that funding needs to be secured and access needs to be given. He is willing to share an estimate on the cost of such a project for the purposes of seeking funding. 2. Hayes asked if Mallin would recommend a way for the district to become involved. Mallin recommended focusing on changing human behavior with education programs – specifically around the apartments at Clear Run pertaining to pet waste. CONSENT AGENDA A. Approval of Consent Agenda ➢ Motion: Move for approval of consent agenda. • Motion: Meares • Second: Hayes • Vote: Passed unanimously. Motion approved. Break was taken at 9:12 a.m. The meeting reconvened at 9:23 a.m. Hart left the meeting at 9:25 a.m. SUPERVISOR AND STAFF REPORTS A. Chairman’s Report (See Addendum for Full Report). B. NRCS Report. 1. Davis reported a summary of the last month’s working group meetings. 2. For the April 14, 2021 New Hanover County meeting, he summarized the potential projects that were discussed: a. Increased soil health information sharing and workshops b. Commercial farming in New Hanover County c. Urban farming support programs d. Composting e. Carbon sequestration f. Stormwater management and drainage management g. Developing programs to address water quality h. Greenhouse addition to EQIP practices i. Soil mapping updates j. Updated water table maps k. Creating a document/education program of appropriate plantings & soil amendments list for developers and landscape managers l. Drinking water quality programs m. Tree BMPs n. Biochar o. Manure use in rural areas p. Incentivize homeowners to increase the organic matter in their yards 3. Potential projects discussed at the April 19, 2021 Team 18 Work Group Meeting: a. Ditch maintenance and drainage issues and potential solutions such as buffer practices, critical area plantings, and easements b. Flood mitigation c. Tile drainage implementation 4. Folds requested a written report from Davis and stated that staff should develop ways to get people involved in NRCS programs and practices. 5. Davis will be meeting with Renfranz later in the afternoon on April 21, 2021 to brainstorm NRCS programs and practices that could be applied in New Hanover County. 3 Hart rejoined the meeting at 9:40 a.m. C. Staff Reports. 1. Director’s Report. • Folds inquired about Harrison’s regenerative agriculture farm tour that took place earlier in April. Harrison attended as a representative of RC & D. It has been proposed for RC & D to become the hub for regenerative agriculture programming in the east. • Harrison clarified that the NACD program mentioned in her report is accurately called the “Urban Agriculture Resource Policy Group.” 2. Program Coordinator’s Report. • Folds inquired the Mosley Outdoor Education Learning Center. • Hart and Folds were supportive of the increased rain barrel sales. 3. Technician’s Report. • Hart inquired about the number of contracts that result from the site visits and the number of projects and funding that have been approved for the year. Moccia reported that many site visits don’t result in immediate funding, but that she manages wait lists for funding. Nine rain gardens have been approved with Heal Our Waterways funding. 1 rain garden project and 1 pervious pavement project have been approved for the NHC program. In total $10,000 NHC and $30,000 HOW funding will be spent this fiscal year on BMP projects. Installations will be completed in May 2021. Hart commended Moccia for the work. D. Approval of Staff Reports ➢ Motion: Move for approval of staff reports. • Motion: Hart • Second: Hayes • Vote: Passed unanimously. Motion approved. OLD BUSINESS A. Change of Meeting Date to 1st Wednesday of Month Starting May. Harrison proposed waiting until next fiscal year to make the switch. Harrison will also be sending a calendar invite with the meeting links. ➢ Motion: Move for meetings to take place on the first Wednesday of each month beginning July 2021. • Motion: Hayes • Second: Meares • Vote: Passed unanimously. Motion approved. B. HB 431 Support Letter from District ➢ Motion: Move that the board approve the spirit of the resolution in support of 431, and authorize the chair to make any changes to the letter from the district and send to appropriate people. • Motion: Hayes • Second: Collogan • Vote: Motion approved by majority vote 4-1. C. 30 Minute Strategic Plan Review 1. Harrison led the board in a discussion of the Stormwater Management objectives within the strategic plan. She reviewed a prepared document that contained supervisor feedback, staff comments, and staff recommendations (see Addendum for full document). The board will review this document and send comments and feedback to the Director by the next meeting. Meares left the meeting at 10:37 a.m. D. Next Steps for Hydric Water Table 4 1. Hart requested ideas from the board on next steps regarding hydric soils and the water table. a. Hayes requested a water table seminar/presentation for educating the public and members of the board. b. Hayes asked what a drainage district would look like. Harrison mentioned Currituck County as a model – in which Soil & Water manages drainage districts within the county. Hart stated that most existing drainage districts in the state are associated with agricultural practices. E. Tick List. From March 17, 2021. 1. Edit and send letters regarding CCAP funding to Legislators– Bill, Sue and Dru • Complete 2. Develop process for County Commissioner meetings with supervisors – Sue, Dru and Amy • In process 3. Contact Kirste Dixon, Brunswick County Planning Director, regarding our interest in rezoning our property on Eagles Island from Industrial to open space or recreation – Dru • Harrison has reached out to Dixon to begin the process. She is waiting for a response. 4. Explore opportunities for development of 4th grade curriculum – Amy, Lilly & Evan • In process 5. Initiate discussion with Bryan Evans regarding Washington State DENR for future of water quality issues – Bill • In process 6. Coordinate with Bryan Evans to send district information to the Pew Charitable Trust – Dru • In process 7. Contact Hunter Freeman (Dru) and Mike Randall (Bill) regarding LID designs for new county schools – Dru and Bill • Updated. Hart reported that he had sent two emails to Randall asking for his interest in participating in stormwater designs for the two proposed schools. Harrison and Bill will contact the school board to determine their level of interest and ability before reaching out to Freeman and Randall. Harrison will also reach out to Durham staff to get information on funding and implementation of LID at local schools. On-Going projects: 8. Develop database of New Hanover farmers and identify list of farmers for EQIP program – Josh and Evan • Updated. The district will develop a list to share with Josh. 9. Propose edits to county tree ordinances – Bill 10. Develop process for use of trees for stormwater management as a District BMP – Dru 11. Develop Water table management seminar – Bill, Evan and staff 12. Develop priority list of projects for grant proposals and identify grant-writing assistance - supervisors and staff 13. Develop process to influence design of new county buildings and grounds – supervisors and staff • In process NEW BUSINESS A. Publicity for District through Supervisors: Blog, Newspaper Columns, Other Venues 1. Folds recommended a video project in partnership with BootScrap. 2. Hayes recommended finding ways to publicize programs and projects instead of the district itself. 3. Collogan shared 2021 EMGVA Grant announcement as a potential funder for a video project to highlight the district’s activities and programs. The board informally decided to apply for funding to publicize the CCAP program. Harrison stated that she would do research on this and other potential sources/partners for a publicity campaign and communicate to the board. 5 B. 21/22 Strategy Plan Preparation for Division 1. Hayes requested Harrison’s recommendations for next year. Harrison agreed to send within the next 5 days. Folds left the meeting at 11:43 a.m. UPCOMING EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS A. Tidal Creek Farmers Market RB Sales and Education, April 24th at 7am B. Stormwater Series Presentation via Zoom, April 27th at 12pm C. Walker Golder was named the new Executive Director of the Coastal Land Trust. He is formerly with Audubon. D. Upcoming meetings. The next two regular board meetings will be held on Zoom. In-person meetings will resume in July. ADJOURNMENT • Motion: Without objection, the meeting was adjourned. ➢ Adjourned at 11:46 am. The next regular board meeting is set for May 19, 2021 at 8 a.m. on Zoom. Recorded By: Amy Renfranz Approved By: ____________________________________________________________ ADDENDUM CHAIRMAN’S REPORT I assume everyone has sent a personal letter to the three legislators representing New Hanover County. Mine was on my letterhead and for Ted and Deb was personal, e.g., the Bradley Creek visit for Ted and the hour long briefing for Deb. It would be helpful to have information in the Division’s report out earlier or in some other form. For example, Dru did a session on April 7, the Implementing Long Range Planning session took place on April 14, equipment purchasing requests were due April 7. Given the time I already commit to the district, I have trouble doing regular checks on the division or association web sites. Dr. James Gregory and I met via ZOOM for more than an hour with Ben Schactman, the news director of radio station WHQR, on the matter of perched wetlands in the north and east of the county. Jim had excellent slides of Hofmann Forest, the soils of the northeast, and the extent of current development. All the things we have talked about were evident: holes and ditches excavated for fill to raise building elevations above the water table with no coherent scheme to manage the elevation of the water table during or after development. We made our pitch for a drainage district. (Note: both the provisions of H 341 and the Association’s position on drainage include maintaining and enlarging the number of drainage districts in the State). The three of us concluded that this story is very difficult to make understandable and desirable to the public at large. Ben was going to give it a go; we have not heard from him since. While it seems that actions by the Board and the Superintendent of New Hanover County Schools with respect to the two new school designs, we considered in our last meeting is some time away, it is not too early to begin taking action to achieve Low Impact Development objectives. Specifically, the Durham Soil and Water Conservation District secured sufficient grant funding to install a complete rainwater system for a Durham County high school: capture the rainwater from impervious surfaces, impound it for treatment and reuse – William J. Hart (Jun 10, 2021 16:42 EDT) William J. Hart 6 including irrigating the football field. Should we now begin the process of finding an amenable funding source so the district can offer to the schools a proposal to finance similar facilities at the two proposed schools and eliminate the stormwater ponds? I have mentioned in the past several features of the current CCAP statute that might be beneficially improved. Lifting the per project dollar cap is one that comes to mind. To begin the process, we should put our ideas in the form of a resolution for submission to the Area 6 Fall Meeting so they can be considered by the Association in the 2022 Annual Meeting. It is also probably a good time to review the Memorandum of Understanding between the District and New Hanover County. We haven’t had a good re-read since its execution. NH Soil & Water Conservation District: 2018-2022 Strategic Plan Updates Stormwater Management (column 1) Objective: Improve Water Quality Desired Outcomes: 1) Reduce miles/acres of impaired water in target watersheds. Staff Comment: No way to measure this outcome as the miles/acres of impaired water data is not available. 2) Fewer temporary waterway closures Staff Comment: This outcome is measurable; however, we are not currently installing enough BMPs or large enough BMPs to have a significant impact. Target: Establish 15 new BMPs per year that address quality Staff Comment: Currently we have enough funds to complete approximately 10 BMPs per year with City & County Funding. Need more money and greater participation in CCAP to meet this goal. Notes from 3/21/2021: Supervisor Feedback Staff Comments Staff Recommendations 1. CCAP: Increase CCAP Applications by improving awareness in appropriate watersheds (flyers & cooperation from City of Wilmington) City of Wilmington will not promote other organizations programs unless they are involved. We have tried to get CCAP info in their newsletters in the past with no success. Flyers and information about CCAP are distributed at each outreach event. Move to Education Section of Strategic Plan to better align with targets Consider other options to improve awareness 2. Develop larger CCAP projects More funding at the state level will be needed to complete this task. Supervisors continue to advocate for greater funds at State Level 3. Partner with other organizations for larger projects This has been very successful in the past with NC Coastal Federation; however, NCCF is at capacity with projects they can assist with at this time. Identify other organizations that have capacity Supervisor Feedback Staff Comments Staff Recommendations 4. Consider Partnership with NCCF/consult with See above See above 7 NCCF on ideas for CCAP projects 5. Obtain technical funding More funding at the state level will be needed to complete this task. Supervisors continue to advocate for greater funds at State Level 6. Introduce District BMP for funding…. A project that is innovative that is not existing BMP lists for the state program Supervisors and staff to Identify options 7. County NHC – WQIP Program should pay for 100% of installation cost instead of 50% Will be spending all these funds in 20/21 for the first time. Supervisors and staff advocate at county level for elimination of cost-share 8. Obtain funding for regional CCAP Project More funding at the state level will be needed to complete this task. Supervisors continue to advocate for greater funds at State Level 9. Focus on organic matter increases in soil as a matter of policy. 1% increase per acre = 25,000 gallons of water. Increase is 60’x40’ poor 4’ deep. / Research and promote how stormwater BMPs/CCAP eligible projects that use compost/organic diversity mycelium to improve water quality and reduce volume. Need a way to “monitor/check” organic matter BMP annual to prove practice is still in place and working correctly Supervisors and staff to explore options for monitoring 10. Develop biochar as BMP, create test application to improve concept. Can reduce miles of impaired water, how do we do this? Need scientific peer reviewed data and a way to measure success just like increasing organic matter. Supervisors to provide staff with peer reviewed articles/other sources to obtain information about application WEB LINKS SHARED IN THE MEETING Environmental Quality of Wilmington and New Hanover County Watersheds, 2020 by Mallin, et al. https://www.wilmingtonnc.gov/home/showpublisheddocument?id=13259 NCSU Engineering Department Stormwater Filter https://stormwater.bae.ncsu.edu/pond-improvements/ Wilmington Earth Day 2021 Festival https://www.wilmingtonearthday.com/festival Stormwater Series: Nature-Based Solutions on Urban Areas on April 27, 2021 Registration: https://forms.gle/tsVqaFRkLUQMm23p6 8 Currituck County Drainage Districts https://co.currituck.nc.us/stormwater-survey/ 2021 EMGVA Grants https://arboretum.nhcgov.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/2021-EMGV-Grant-Appl.pdf