Louisville/Jefferson County Environmental Trust

August 15, 2008

Oversight Board Members In Attendance:
Kurt Mason - Chairman
Noel Rueff – Vice Chairman
Lisa Hite for Mike Heitz
Phyllis Croce for H. Schardein
James F. Braun for Ted Pullen
Bob Schindler

Oversight Board Members Not Present:
Reba Doutrick
Dudley Saunders

Alternates in Attendance:
Richard Jett for Charles Cash
Carl Suk

Advisory Committee Members In Attendance:
Frannie Aprile

Staff in Attendance:
Lee Wells
Theresa Senninger
Chris Cestaro (minutes)

Guests:
None.

Minutes
No minutes were presented for the July 18, 2008 meeting.

Land Conservation Activity

Renaissance Zone CE, 2730 Outer Loop [Docket No. 22-2006-02] / Division of Water
Theresa Senninger said that the proposed deed restrictions she reviewed seemed all right. She said there was nothing new coming up regarding this issue. She said there is another status conference scheduled for September 2, 2008.

Monitoring / Baseline Activity

Trinity Adjacent to 1860 & 2230 Outer Loop [22-2000-02] [MSD easements]
Before Lee Wells gave a Power Point presentation on this easement, Carl Suk gave a report on a species of plant that has been found (Phragmites Australis.) He showed a map from Redwing Engineering showing an aerial view of the property and pointed out the areas where he had identified the plant. He explained why this plant can be a problem in wetland areas (the native species is not very aggressive; the European species is very invasive and aggressive.) He said Redwing knew about this five years ago – it has since spread. It is located in the wetlands mitigation area near the landfill and the Renaissance area. Mr. Suk said the best way to control it was by cutting off the seedheads and pouring “Round-up” into the hollow stalks.

Options were discussed – can LJCET compel properties to control it? Lisa Hite suggested offering guidance and/or technical assistance to the property owner. She also suggested drafting a letter to Trinity from both LJCET and MSD alerting them to this problem. She reminded board members that LJCET has no legal interest in this property yet. Ms. Senninger said a letter could be drafted and signed by Kurt Mason can sign on behalf of LJCET and Phyllis Croce could sign on behalf of MSD. A suggestion was made to include ideas in the letter about how to get rid of this plant.

In response to a question from another board member, Mr. Suk said the overall state of the rest of the property looked good from what they could see.

Kurt Mason suggested that maybe community groups could help with getting rid of this. There is a Boy Scout trail somewhere on this property – maybe they could be enlisted to help manage this problem.

There was a discussion about whether Redwing and/or the Army Corps of Engineers still have monitoring responsibilities on this property.

Lisa Hite pointed out that the permit holder is not the Trinity High School Foundation – it is Flynn Brothers Construction Co. This is the Army Corps of Engineers’ permit, and the Kentucky Division of Water’s permit; the permit holder has Redwing on contract until November. Another board said that if the permit holder/s hired Redwing, then it would seem like its Redwing’s responsibility to let them know that the plant is on site. Ms. Hite said that Redwing probably did a plant list and LJCET may have that in the files. Lee Wells said he could go back and see if he could find it. Ms. Hite said she would be interested to hear what Patty Grace-Jarrett (from the Army Corps of Engineers) has to say about this. She said this plant has taken over “hundreds of acres” of wetlands.

Mr. Mason said that, on private land, if a plant is on the “noxious weed” list, the landowner is required by the State to control it, because it cannot be allowed to migrate onto a neighbor’s property.

Regarding the proposed letter to Trinity, it was agreed to alert the Army Corps of Engineers and the landowner to the problem, and provide a protocol to them for getting rid of this plant. She suggested including an offer of technical assistance in the letter. Noelle Rueff said Economic Development should be aware of this also, since it involves the Renaissance Zone.

Donoho / Van Tillburg – 9207 James Hill Rd. [22-2001-01]
Ms. Hite said the monitoring for this property is completed. It was pointed out that there is a development on Third Street Road that has a wildlife/WPA easement that touches the Donoho property. It was suggested that the adjacent property owners be contacted to see if they might be interested in their own conservation easement. Ms. Hite said it would be a good idea to document this and include it in the file.

Duncan Conservation Easement, 404 Mockingbird Valley Road [22-2004-01]
Theresa Senninger said there had been a contract for sale of the property; however, there is another potential buyer. Theresa will update the Board as more information becomes available.

Culbertson Conservation Easement, Dawson Hill Road [22-2003-01]
Lee Wells said he had monitored the property, and Kurt Mason helped spot-check. Ms. Rueff suggested a kind of chart that could summarize the main issues of a monitor visit. Some suggestions about format for this summary were discussed.

Floyds Fork
Carl Suk has a visit scheduled out in this area. Mr. Suk explained exactly where this site is for the benefit of those who may not be familiar with it. Ms. Hite explained a bit about the property’s history (owned by five different property owners; etc.) The easement was required by the Planning Commission about 15 years ago, when the nearby subdivision was approved. A trail was required to be built at that time. If the trail was not built within 15 years, the easement would cease to exist. She briefly explained about the financial history of the trail project. Mr. Suk presented a report with photos of the area (he said he had walked the whole trail and all looked well.) Ms. Hite said the trail will be paved, due to its being in the floodplain (a gravel trail would be washed away.) Mr. Braun said his department is experimenting with pervious paving.

Also, the acquisition by the Parks Department of a walnut farm was discussed. Ms. Hite said the Parks Department and the Division of Forestry will be involved with maintaining the trees. A smokehouse is located on the property.

Land Trust Meeting, August 28, 2008, and Miscellaneous
Plans for attending the Land Trust meeting in Shelbyville on August 28, 2008 were discussed. A van has been obtained, and so far about eight people are planning to attend. Lisa Hite discussed a newspaper article which mentioned that that the Kentucky Conservation Committee annual meeting will take place at Blackacre on September 20, 2008 from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. It also mentions that a Land Stewardship and Conservation Task Force may be starting up again. Jim Braun pointed out that the article states that the Governor is looking to appoint four people to this “blue-ribbon panel” – he suggested that someone from LJCET should be on this task force, since LJET does much work with conservation easements.

The meeting adjourned at 2:30 p.m.