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2013-02-26 Regular Meeting RE: 'JED PARKS & RECREATION COMMITTEE I REGULAR MEETING FEBRUARY 26, 2013 7:0 p hn. MAY - 6 2013 KODIAK ISLAND BOROUGH SCHOOL DISTRICT CONFERS CE ROOM MINUTES BOROUGH CLERK'S OFFICE titsKODIAK,ALASKA February 26, 2013 Regular Meeting 7 p.m. in the KIB School I istyict Conference Room CALL TO ORDER CHAIR SALTONSTALL called to order the February 26, 2013 Parks & Recreation regular meeting at 7 p.m. ROLL CALL Requested excusal was Pam Foreman, Mike Marion, and Jeff Huntley Committee members present were Patrick Saltonstall, Andy Schroeder, Rick Lindholm, Helm Johnson, and Michael Scalzo. Excused were Pam Foreman, Mike Marion, and Jeff Huntley. Sandra West has resigned. Ex-officio member present was Alan Schmitt. Absent ex-officio members were Jack Ransom, Aaron Griffin, and Steve Doerksen. A quorum was established. Community Development Department staff present was Duane Dvorak and Sheila Smith. COMMITTEE MEMBER LINDHOLM MOVED to excuse Pam Foreman, Mike Marion, and Jeff Huntley. VOICE VOTE ON MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY APPROVAL OF AGENDA COMMITTEE MEMBER LINDHOLM MOVED to move Old Business Item C up to A because we have a representative from Sun'aq here and approve the agenda. VOICE VOTE ON MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS COMMITTEE MEMBER JOHNSON MOVED February 12, 2013 minutes. VOICE VOTE ON MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY AUDIENCE COMMENTS AND APPEARANCE REQUESTS There were none. OLD BUSINESS C) Sun'aq Buskin Land Deal -Bob Polaski - Invited Dvorak stated the Sun'aq Tribe talked to staff almost a year ago and included are the materials they provided at that time. This material is still accurate as it was at that time as far as their intentions are. Rick Roland, Natural Resource Director for Sun'aq Tribal of Kodiak and gave his background of being originally from Afognak Island and born in Kodiak. He brought this presentation to the borough to explain what's going on with the Sun'ag Tribe in relation to what's going on with environmental issues in relation to the Coast Guard Base. The applied February 26, 2013 Page 1 of 9 P&R Minutes and received a grant allowed them to do an Environmental Capacity Building Project and that project identified a number of capacity items related to environmental issues in our area; some are or have been worked on, some are pretty significant, some are classified, and so to approach these issues certain steps have to be taken. One step is creating a relationship with the community, military, communicating with government officials to let them know there are issues that need to be addressed in the Kodiak area. The Sun'aq Tribe invited the Coast Guard to come and have an explanation of what we've identified in the Capacity Environmental Grant. Tomorrow we'll be going to the Coast Guard Base to have a Memorandum of Understanding signing event which is a significant historical thing, not only for Kodiak Sun'aq Tribe but the Coast Guard as well, it's pretty significant for Alaska in relation to the Homeland Security and Coast Guard. Regarding the information in your packet, in that process with the politicians in Washington DC; Congress and Senate we had the opportunity to talk about what happened when the military came to this tribe and history says they came here and claimed a big load of property and said you can't go there to get your customary foods anymore, it's closed off so that made a military reservation of property so as time traveled through history there were 4 or 5 different branches of service that came here and 5 or 6 different things occurred here that led to environmental issues. As a result the traditional practices were removed from the natives, the military came in and changed over time and some of the things they brought here was mass solid waste, hazardous materials, and some of it is still here in the ground. Because the military was focused on mission accomplishment they didn't pay attention to what kind of environmental issues were occurring so we had the opportunity to look at it. There were a lot of different branches of the military that came; the Army, Navy, Submarine era, Coast 0 Guard, and then the Department of Homeland Security is now in charge of the Coast Guard and took over that land. Because no one paid attention to it and we are working towards getting it cleaned up. Not only for us but for everyone in the community and the traditional customary food source items that are out there. We started a salmon enhancement project at the Buskin River, we've had meetings with the FAA about the potential paralytic shellfish poisoning or additional salmon enhancement in relation to other programs needed here in the community. Another grant we have is an Alaska Migratory Bird Co-Management Council which is a big food source item for Alaska Natives as well as non-natives. It's all related around food source items. The info in the packet it was realized that Sun'aq Tribal Kodiak was dropped off the rolls during the ANCSA settlement era so it was a clerical error that removed them from all the rolls related to recognizing Alaska Natives in this area, so after 20 years of talking they were recognized so it does a number of things; one it explains why the Sun'aq Tribe is only now stepping forward saying these kinds of things were going on and we need to take a better look and take care of these things. CHAIR SALTONSTALL stated that tribes never got blamed just ANCSA village corporations. Roland stated because it was removed from that it didn't get to participate in all the discussions about what needed to take place in their area so they didn't have that ability. EX-OFFICIO MEMBER SCHMITT asked what about the Natives of Kodiak. Roland stated there's another part of the explanation that connects to this. Natives of Kodiak is a native corporation so a simple explanation is that a native corporation is a business that is incorporated in the State of Alaska and is governed by all the State of Alaska rules as a corporation, and then the state is a subsidiary of the Federal Government and they are governed by Acts & Bills that are passed in Congress. The explanation of the February 26,2013 Page 2 of 9 P&R Minutes native corporation is that they are a business and now you look at a tribe and the difference between a tribe and native corporation is that a tribe is federally recognized government that has jurisdiction over its tribal members and the customary traditional practices that it has been afforded to by the Federal Government so it also has the ability to communicate directly to the Federal Government so the tribe has the ability to call up the Department of Interior and say we are having this issue and here's what we think would be in the best interest for whatever the issue is and we'd like to work it out this way.A native corporation doesn't have the ability to go directly to the Federal Government and communicate in that way. EX-OFFICIO MEMBER SCHMITT said with the land rights, like Ouzinkie Native Corporation, it's the business corporation and then there's the Ouzinkie Tribal Council so the Natives of Kodiak got land selection rights and got some land at Swampy Acres. Roland said there's also Leisnoi Native Corporation in the Kodiak area, Ouzinkie Native Corporation, and Natives of Kodiak so they are all land owners but they are not a tribe they are a business incorporated under ANCSA. Historically, to answer the question is the tribal community that wasn't recognized when the Russians came here were the Sun'ag so as time changed then the rules were imposed upon the community and then the laws were created and as time went on this community of natives that are here are the Sun'aq people. When the Sun'aq people were here the military came in and said we're going to use this as a military base and as time went on then the ANCSA happened and they were on that list of recognized tribes but because someone dropped their name off the list they weren't recognized as a tribe but they did incorporate groups of different natives. Another explanation is the native corporation has individuals that had to be born by a certain date but in the tribe there are Alaska natives from here that have been members of the tribe when it began and all the children connected are not members of the corporation. Explaining whether they are in the tribe in this area, yes it would be correct but because they got dropped off the rolls they aren't connected to that ANCSA but there is the NOK in this are that made that selection. We are moving forward taking into account everything that has occurred in history, the rules and regulations of the Federal Government & State Government, and making sure the correct path is taken to where it will be the least resistance and most beneficial for the customary traditional practices and the environment so that the people that are a part of the tribe will be able to interact with that lifestyle. CHAIR SALTONSTALL said the committee's main question is there will be guaranteed access for the public. If Sun'aq gets land we would have guaranteed access because a lot of people recreate there today. Roland stated to clarify at this point we call it a land acquisition plan but the process that has to occur because there was a large amount of land taken and a lot of it has been divested, distributed out and there's only a small portion of this property left within the Coast Guard. The likelihood of this being a mass land transfer is very slim. Right now the Sun'aq Tribe doesn't have any idea which land is available to them, the only point we're at for the movement towards this land acquisition plan whether it's a grant from the Federal Government, whether it's a fee simple purchase, or whether it's a co-management lease agreement hasn't been decided yet. A lot of the maps available from the Coast Guard, they really don't have a designated location of what it is they have exactly. We went to Washington DC to communicate to Murkowski's Office to ask them for helping us to get the maps from the Coast Guard. It's a long drawn out process to where we have been February 26,2013 Page 3 of 9 P&R Minutes requesting maps from the Coast Guard for well over a year and there was no progress was from them not having the appropriate maps to be able to give us so we had to communicate with Senator Murkowski's Office to request a Senate inquiry if when we wrote to District 17 requesting the information we had a difficult time. We were able to acquire maps, and at this point we haven't had discussions with the Coast Guard about what properties are available or what ability the tribe would have to access any of that land or even have part of it but we did call this our Land Acquisition Plan because it's in the long term goal of the tribe to obtain property in the Kodiak Island Borough so that the tribe could work with developing the salmon enhancement program, and hopefully in the future build a customary traditional practice facility to where crafts and skills can be developed, educational opportunities could happen, and festivals and ceremonies could occur. It's all in a big plan and we don't have any specific examples of this is the land we will take or what the rules are related to it. CHAIR SALTONSTALL said when you were telling me about it last fall you said there would be a public community involvement, is that still going to happen. Roland said one thing we are doing is we're going to have a community advisory committee that communicates to the council. In that committee it will relate to environmental issues that connect with the military debris, water and air quality issues. That is still in the making because they are at the point of making the ordinance that will move forward in that department connecting to the Strategic Plan. The other thing connected to this is that when we have the MOU signing tomorrow and then another thing we were able to (inaudible) Tribal Response Program. We were granted the Tribal Response Program from the Environmental Protection Agency to specifically address the military debris which is over 100 years of military debris that's still in the ground. We're looking to find ways to categorize and prioritize what was done, what needs to be done, and what's on the highest priority of those items. There are mass solid waste and toxic hazardous substances. The difference between what a tribe is in Alaska and what a native corporation is and one thing afforded to a Native American Indian Tribe which Alaska natives are a part of American Indian Tribes is they have the right to determine their own self sovereignty and so a native corporation which is a business under the State of Alaska has limited business functions that they fall through but a tribe in Alaska has the same rights as a tribe in the lower 48. Fortunately for us is the Sun'aq Tribe of Kodiak has the vision of working with the whole community and not against the community to where it turns out the best for our community. There are also opportunities in the tribe that the tribe could access specific types of funding that native corporations, cities, and boroughs that aren't eligible for these specific kinds of funding. Roland said back to the information we have this was called an acquisition plan because we have a lot of things the tribe wants to do that requires having land because we have the salmon enhancement project and in order to do that we have to request permits from the Alaska Fish & Game, permits from the U.S. Coast Guard, and work closely with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to implement this tribal wildlife salmon project and then if the tribe had a place of their own they would have a reduced amount of permits they would have to apply for. If we had a spot on the river we wouldn't have to apply for a transport permit depending on what river it is. It also allowed us to communicate to the different agencies about what we are going to do. Roland went through the presentation in the packet stating we are at the MOU point tomorrow, there will be a public reading of it tomorrow at the February 26,2013 Page 4 of 9 P&R Minutes Golden Anchor at 6 pm. Connected to the MOU it will be reviewed annually and is set for a 5 year Memorandum Of Understanding, and then with the potential of moving into a Memorandum of Agreement about specific things needed. Roland basically went through the letter and presentation in the packet. What land is available and of that land what land is important to the mission and the Coast Guard mission, and of that land what land of that land is surplus and of that surplus land what on those surplus lands has environmental issues or hazards on it that need to be dealt with. Before we get to recreational use we want to get it cleaned up because there's 100 years of military debris that's out there all over and some of it is classified so we haven't got to that point of who's going to do what and where. He doesn't see it coming up for quite a while. They've done some extensive cleaning in the area and then because we are communicating so much with the environmental protection agency, the Army Corp of Engineers, Senators in Congress, the EPA gave them a grant to do a Technical Assistance Services Contractors Grant and they contracted with an environmental group that did assessments of the top 3 sites that were remediated; of those top 3 sites they didn't have enough information on those sites that are all on the Buskin River, 2 of those 3 sites haven't been cleaned to the standard to where it's still healthy for the fish and wildlife. They are doing the salmon enhancement planning project so they can do the water assessment to see if the water is healthy enough not only for the fish but what type of substances are in there. We'll be posting information online and holding public presentations about that information. We are working towards being responsible environmental stewards in the community to work to clean it up, try to find a way to make partnerships within the community, and if possible • generate revenue into the community. We titled it The Land Acquisition while talking about finding some land so we can do our traditional practices. We've been communicating with a law firm in Washington DC and moving forward with all the government agencies and we have an agency that's well known in Washington DC so we're able to make connections with a group that turned out to be the oldest law firm in Washington DC There was consensus that if there were a designated area for off road vehicles and perhaps there wouldn't be as much traffic on the other trails. Roland stated the area where the woodcutting is taking place is right past the landfill and is the city's designated area for removing wood. Discussion of the side trails and mud pits, creating certain trails or areas and channel people in there and options. Nick Beheler stated the motorized users are going to feel slighted in regards to walkers and bikers can use their trails but then they can't use the walker's trail so it seems like the non- motorized users are getting the best end of the deal. Maya Daurio stated you have already identified within the TMO's some areas that are more appropriate for ATV use and she showed one on the map. Kamai said they work closely with the Code Enforcement Officer with a lot of issues in which we have a mutual interest. A) Russian Ridge Wrap Up with January 22, 2013 & April 24, 2012 Comments & Minutes from Both Trail Summits B) Current TMO's -Both Items Discussed Together February 26,2013 Page 5 of 9 P&R Minutes Dvorak stated this is a draft recommendation from the items you discussed from the last meeting where you adopted the TMO's with a couple of amendments. He was trying to connect some dots between the Trails Plan so when people look at the TMO's they have a context of where this whole process came from. These Trail Summit meetings are a place to engage all the users and user groups to keep them engaged and if there are new conflicts to dialog on these things to work out solutions, educate the public, and change the culture. He was trying to set a tone for the future that each time it comes out it will go to the Planning and Zoning on its way to the Assembly and would probably be approved kind of like the lake rules where we have the assembly's approval as a policy matter. Take it home to look at it and send him an email with suggested changes. COMMITTEE MEMBER SCHROEDER MOVED to approve Russian Ridge TMO's Al through A13 as amended. VOICE VOTE ON MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. They came up with an outline of user conflicts: user conflicts, portion of that problem that the non-motorized user their trail experience is getting degraded; the best solution is to create a culture where the groups are more accommodating to each other, a hiking trail around Beaver Lake with bridges, hardening of the main ridge trail, signage, enforcement, education, woodcutting, areas that need improvement like Beaver Lake, hardening on the main ridge trail, ATV park to divert some of the activity. Nick Beheler stated that with an ATV park it's kind of like a rat in a cage on a wheel. Dvorak stated looking at these issues was back when there was a lot of trail activity at White Sands Beach and most of the trail degradation was occurring within a couple hundred yards of the trail head and the trails we were observing were attracted to the steepest slopes to challenge themselves and he thinks the take away was some of these users are performance riders, that is the thrill is to jump and high mark and go fast over bumpy roots and rocks and things. There are a lot of people who ride for recreation, fishing, or going from point A to point B. COMMITTEE MEMBER SCHROEDER stated Swampy Acres would be perfect, there's hardened road beds there, it has a winter use and we're already maintaining the corridor and there's a lot of trail back there mileage wise. The Coast Guard has shown with a strong community involvement they would be open to opening up some of those areas. Dvorak said if you see something in the Trails Plan that you want to capture let him know. Email any comments to Dvorak if you think of anything so he can get a draft done before the next meeting. NEW BUSINESS A) KIB Parks Memo CHAIR SALTONSTALL stated this is the one from Bells Flats from Briana Peterson. Dvorak stated it appears that Breanna Peterson may have made this initial contact that resulted in this memo being put out by Engineering & Facilities. The bulk of it talks about the need for a Parks Plan, not just the Bells Flats Park, but maybe an inventory of all parks and some sort of rational plan arrived at to promote Capital Projects or Capital Improvements that would bring these parks up to a minimum standard of acceptability. At your last meeting's discussion about the memo that came from Woody Koning sparked a February 26,2013 Page 6 of 9 P&R Minutes discussion about suggesting or recommending that there be a park plan before they start making park improvements in Womens Bay. The borough has received $100,000 grant specifically for Womens Bay parks, there's 2 parks designated, Sargent Creek Park and Panamaroff Creek Park and he thinks Panamaroff Creek Park has some improvements and playground equipment but he thinks Sargent Creek Park has nothing. Koning doesn't have any idea of what the community's needs are out there so he's not sure how it should be spent. Dvorak looked at the grant which is good until 2017. If we put together a planning process and have some Womens Bay community meetings Koning could detail Bob Tucker with playground equipment catalogs and let people design the park and put numbers with it then put it out for contract for ordering and installing the equipment. He also found a letter from 2011 where the borough Parks & Rec Committee had a joint meeting with the City Parks & Rec Committee and put out a letter recommending a Joint City/Borough Parks Master Plan and gave a copy to Cassidy and recommended money be put into next year's budget for a Master Plan and a copy to the City Manager. Dvorak contacted a planner who stepped him through a process that he could develop a cost estimate from it. He came up with a cost estimate of$50,000 for a relatively basic City/Borough Parks Master Plan. The Trails Plan could tie into that. He's seen several references to a joint city approach to park planning. COMMITTEE MEMBER JOHNSON stated we the City doesn't have a Parks & Recreation Director, and day before yesterday we just had our first meeting since September. We can't have a meeting without a director, and there's not one in the foreseeable future. During discussion CHAIR SALTONSTALL stated Ian Fulp used to talk to us about playing 0 fields. COMMITTEE MEMBER SCHROEDER talked about the lack of and the need of playing fields. Nick Beheler stated there are National Standards for playgrounds and there are certified people who come out to inspect playgrounds and tell you exactly what's wrong with it. It's a concept made up by the National Recreation Parks Association that has a check list they go down that tells you exactly how parks should be built depending on age groups, location, and what not. He's been out to Panamaroff Park and couldn't believe his eyes because it should be closed off and dug up because it's a danger to every kid that sets foot on that playground. There was consensus to get catalogs and lot sizes, have one community meeting with the Womens Bay Service District and the community for their input to find out what they want in the 2 parks. Dvorak said he will bring the backup material to the next meeting along with lot sizes. Dvorak said he sat in on an assembly meeting where Alan Austerman and Gary Stevens were there, and with the changing times they were discouraging smaller projects, long lists and discouraging non-essentials which would probably include most Parks & Recreation projects. The Assembly went back to revise their CIP List. Dvorak said we are in the budget process now and he'll see if some contractual money can be made available from general fund money to do some kind of park plan. Dvorak will talk to the city and maybe be able to come back with some kind of proposal. B) P&Z Public Hearings Dvorak said there was discussion about what P&R wanted to see from P&Z. We included Alan Schmitt's email discussing the timing issues of bringing P&R comments forward to February 26,2013 Page 7 of 9 P&R Minutes P&Z. P&R wants to see everything so Dvorak included the P&R code that sets up the P&R's duties and responsibilities of the committee. He stated we'll give you the full agenda so you can see all the cases but the things that we would go into detail is subdivisions and land disposals and things that have a recreational component. There are things that the committee doesn't have any reason to comment on so he'd prefer not to give a much detail on everything but give what is relevant to the committee. There are 3 subdivisions here and a couple of land disposal reviews. Dvorak sent an email to COMMITTEE MEMBER SCHROEDER because there was this unusual pedestrian access easement running along between these lots and even though it may not be relevant to this case someone would have to go in there to make improvements because he doesn't think anyone has used it. The reason they are replatting is because they're putting boundaries on an anadromous water body that would probably need a bridge or a fjord to put this in service. They're looking to vacate the utility easement that's between the property lines but this pedestrian access easement is going to stay. As far as the other cases he doesn't see any relevancy for recreational potential. Dvorak updated them on the land disposals that are surplus. COMMUNICATIONS A) Discussion of P&R Comments to the P&Z COMMITTEE MEMBER SCHROEDER MOVED to accept communications from February 26, 2013 meeting. VOICE VOTE ON MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY REPORTS Meeting Schedule: • March 12, 2013 Parks & Recreation Committee meeting at 7:00 p.m. in the KIB School District Conference Room • March 26, 2013 Parks & Recreation Committee meeting at 7:00 p.m. in the KIB School District Conference Room COMMITTEE MEMBER SCHROEDER MOVED to accept reports. VOICE VOTE ON MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY AUDIENCE COMMENTS Phillip Tschersich spoke about the Sun'aq land deal. He's familiar with Fish & Game operations along the road system and he's speaking as a private individual. The gentlemen mentioned discussed a pie chart and what a small sliver of that pie chart is represented by: subsistence and personal use, and in overall Alaska in fisheries context that is the case but included in the non-subsistence, non-sport that was probably all Bering Sea Fisheries; Pollock, mid water, trawling, pot fisheries, there's hundreds of thousands of seafood collected around the state every year and relative to that is subsistence for personal use is a tiny, tiny, fraction of that. The State of Alaska Department of Fish & Game does require subsistence permits to be used and it's not to limit anyone to access resources because those have a priority according to the State Constitution. He gave more of an update on the fisheries, weirs, subsistence fishing, stocking lakes, and other trails. February 26,2013 Page 8 of 9 P&R Minutes COMMITTEE MEMBER'S COMMENTS Rick Lindholm stated we should invite 'IT Kamai and he's an avid 4 wheeler and would understand what's going on up there. ADJOURNMENT COMMITTEE MEMBER SCHROEDER MOVED to adjourn. CHAIR SALTONSTALL adjourned the meeting at 9:10 p.m. / (--\KODIAVISLAND BOROUGH • P R & RECRI£ATION COMMITTEE By: l , LA, C; - •-• Patrick Saltonstall, Chair ATTEST v��n,ST� C By: Sheila Smith, Secretary Community Development Department APPROVED: April 23, 2013 0 0 February 26, 2013 Page 9 of 9 P&R Minutes