HomeMy WebLinkAboutCFE minutes 081318Attachment 1
Orange County Commission for the Environment
Meeting Summary
August 13, 2018
Southern Human Services Center, 2501 Homestead Road, Chapel Hill
Present: Bradley Saul (Chair), Alan Parry, Carrie Fletcher, Will Stanley, Lynne
Gronback, Bill Kaiser (Vice Chair), Kim Piracci, Matt Crook, Jeremy
Marzuola, Bill Newby
Absent: Bill Ward, Jody Eimers, Jim Eichel, Laura Doherty, Emily Mixon
Staff: Tom Davis, Kim Livingston
I. Call to Order – B. Saul called the meeting to order at 7:33.
II. Additions or Changes to Agenda – No additions or changes to the menu were
requested.
III. Approval of Draft Minutes from May 14th and June 11th, 2018 – Both sets of
minutes were approved unanimously following the discussion of a few minor
edits to the May meeting minutes.
IV. Roadside Wildflower Conservation
Kim L. gave a brief PowerPoint presentation concerning the history of the CFE’s efforts
to assist with the preservation of native wildflowers along the road sides of Orange
County, including a 2006 memo that was provided to the BOCC, a 2008 CFE signed
resolution, and a 2012 resolution that was adopted by the BOCC.
The CFE was asked to resurrect the effort to conserve roadside wildflowers in Orange
County. Various possibilities for how to proceed were discussed by the CFE, including
the review and consideration of a recent draft resolution requesting local stakeholders
“plan, implement, and study roadside and rights-of-way management practices that
enhance habitat for native wildflowers and pollinators”. J. Marzuola made a motion to
approve the draft resolution, which was seconded by M. Crook and adopted
unanimously by the members present.
V. Committee Meetings
Following a brief presentation on the 2019 State of the Environment (SOE) process,
CFE members broke out into their various committees.
Attachment 1
CFE members discussed planning for the 2019 SOE including reviewing the list of
possible indicators generated by the UNC students the CFE worked with in the spring.
The committees reported:
Land Resources Committee:
B. Saul indicated that the committee had discussed information concerning a request for
a “No Net Loss of Trees Policy” for county-owned lands. The group also went through
their list of candidate indicators and eliminated some of them.
Water Resources Committee:
The members present think it is important to make some decisions concerning the
format of the report as the format will impact the indicators that are used in the report.
The group also discussed eliminating some indicators for various reasons.
Air and Energy Committee:
A. Parry reported that the committee sorted their candidate indicators and discussed the
fact that the software that B. Bouma received from the Global Covenant of Mayors and
Chairs may be helpful with choosing indicators as well as the presentation of air quality
data. There was also discussion of the value of comparing Orange County data with
similar data from other counties in North Carolina with similar metrics.
VI. Updates and Information Items
A link to the DEAPR 2018 Photo Contest Winners
A link to the TJCOG presentation regarding the Town of Hillsborough’s
Clean Energy Resolution.
VII. Adjournment – Saul adjourned the meeting at 9:10 following the unanimous
approval of a motion to adjourn the meeting which was offered by A. Parry and
seconded by M. Crook.