[00:01:16]
IT'S, UH, MAY 24TH, TWO O'CLOCK, AND I'M GONNA CALL THE SOUTHERN EDWARDS PLATEAU HABITAT CONSERVATION PLAN ME COMMITTEE MEETING TO ORDER, CAN I GET A ROLL CALL, PLEASE? MS. MELISSA RAMIREZ.
MR. RU NINO, MR. HOMER GARCIA.
DO WE HAVE ANY PUBLIC COMMENT? NO.
[Briefing and Possible Action on the following items ]
THE FIRST ITEM ON THE AGENDA.THIS IS A, A BRIEFING AND POSSIBLE ACTION ON A TRANSFER OF OPERATIONS AND MANAGEMENT OF CRANE BAT CAVE.
ALRIGHT, CAN YOU ALL HEAR ME? YES.
SO, UH, START OFF JUST BY SAYING, LAST MEETING, UH, WE HAD A QUESTION, UH, FOR MR. BROCK.
HOW MANY CREDITS DO WE HAVE LEFT? OR HOW MANY ENROLLMENT ACRES DO WE HAVE LEFT? AND THE ANSWER, UH, TO THAT WAS 0.66.
SO WHAT IS ON THE AGENDA TODAY IS OUR REPLENISHMENT STRATEGY.
UH, AGAIN, THIS IS BRIEFING IMPOSSIBLE ACTION ON THE TRANSFER OF OPERATIONS AND MANAGEMENT OF THE CRANE BAT CAVE FROM THE EDWARDS AQUIFER PROTECTION PROGRAM TO THE SOUTHERN EDWARDS PLATEAU HABITAT CONSERVATION PLAN.
UH, THE E A P P UH, PURCHASED THE CRANE BAT CAVE PROPERTY IN 2020 FOR A SUM OF $2,059,144 AND 18 CENTS.
UM, WHAT WE ARE SEEKING IS TO TRANSFER CONTROL OF THAT PROPERTY FROM THEIR PROGRAM TO OURS.
UH, WE WOULD, SHOULD THAT BE APPROVED, UH, THAT WOULD APPROXIMATELY 75 ACRE PRESERVE WOULD BE ESTABLISHED.
A COUPLE MEETINGS AGO, WE HAD AN ITEM ON YOUR AGENDA, UH, TO, UH, MITIGATE THE IMPACTS THROUGH AN M O U OF A T LOOP 1604 EXPANSION.
UH, THEY PAID INTO THE SS E P PROGRAM JUST ABOUT $10.1 MILLION.
UM, OF THE 75 ACRES OF THIS CRANE BACK CAVE PROPERTY, AGAIN, SHOULD IT BE APPROVED 40 ACRES RIGHT OFF THE BAT WOULD BE SET ASIDE TO MITIGATE THE IMPACT OF THAT LOOP 1604 EXPANSION PROJECT.
HOWEVER, THE REMAINING 35 ACRES, WHICH ROUGHLY TRANSLATES TO ABOUT 358 KARST ENROLLMENT ACRES, WOULD BE SET ASIDE FOR FUTURE ENROLLMENTS, UH, IN THE PROGRAM.
UH, SO WE ARE PROPOSING D S D S E P IS PROPOSING TO REIMBURSE THE PROP ONE PROGRAM, THE FULL INITIAL INVESTMENT, $2.059 MILLION IN EXCHANGE FOR, UH, CONTROL OF THE CRANE BAT CAVE PROPERTY.
UH, THIS IS A LITTLE DIFFERENT THAN WHAT THE CURRENT ORDINANCE CALLS FOR.
WHEN THE PROGRAM WAS CREATED, WE SAID THAT IF WE WERE GOING TO MITIGATE PROJECTS USING, UH, CREDITS FROM PROP ONE PROGRAM THAT WE WOULD REVENUE SHARE, SO IF WE COLLECTED A FEE, HALF OF THAT FEE WOULD GO TO THE E A P P, HALF OF IT WOULD GO TO S C P.
UH, WE FEEL THIS IS A BETTER APPROACH.
NUMBER ONE, IT GIVES THE E A P P MORE FUNDING TO GO OUT AND PRESERVE MORE LAND.
UH, WE ACCEPT THAT THE TRANSFER OF CRANE, UH, BAT CAVE TO SS E P WILL HAVE A, A CONSERVATION EASEMENT PLACED ON IT.
SO IT FULFILLS THE PROP ONE PROGRAM INITIATIVES.
AND THE S E P PROGRAM, UH, IS A LOT MORE RESTRICTIVE THAN E A P P ANYWAY.
UM, BUT IT'S A LOT MORE ADMINISTRATIVELY EFFICIENT.
SO RATHER THAN PROCESSING HUNDREDS OF LITTLE TRANSACTIONS BETWEEN E A P P AND S E P, WE REIMBURSE THE FULL INITIAL INVESTMENT
[00:05:01]
TAKE CONTROL AND THE E A P P CAN MOVE ON TO FIND ADDITIONAL, UH, PROPERTIES.UH, THE TIMELINE, OF COURSE, YOU KNOW, SS C P TODAY, UH, FOR A RECOMMENDATION ON THIS TOMORROW WE WILL BE, UH, SAME THING BRIEFING AND POSSIBLE ACTION BEFORE THE CONSERVATION ADVISORY BOARD.
UH, AND WE ARE LOOKING AT BY SEPTEMBER, UH, GETTING A CONSIDERATION OF THIS ITEM BEFORE BOTH A CITY COUNCIL SUBCOMMITTEE AND THE FULL CITY COUNCIL BODY, UH, JULY.
THEY, THE CITY COUNCIL DOESN'T MEET.
THEY GO THROUGH BUDGET WORKSHOPS.
SO THAT ADDS A LITTLE BIT OF TIME TO OUR TIMELINE.
UH, BUT THAT IS GENERALLY WHAT WE ARE LOOKING AT, UH, AND STAFF DOES RECOMMEND APPROVAL.
LOGAN, DO I HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ON THIS ITEM?
I I HAVE A QUESTION REAL QUICK.
UM, HAS THERE BEEN A THOROUGH LEGAL REVIEW? CAN WE DO THIS LEGALLY? YEAH.
SO WE, WE HAD, UH, MEETINGS VERY EARLY ON WITH OUR, UH, ATTORNEYS, ATTORNEYS WITH THE PARKS DEPARTMENT OR THAT, THAT WORK WITH THE PARKS DEPARTMENT.
AND CLEARLY THERE IS AN ORDINANCE WITH ESSENTIALLY A FUNDING STRATEGY IN PLACE TODAY.
BUT WHAT WE WERE TOLD AFTER THEIR REVIEW WAS, AS LONG AS CITY COUNCIL APPROVES AN ALTERNATIVE, THEN THAT IS FINE.
SO AGAIN, THIS WILL BE REQUIRED TO GO TO CITY COUNCIL.
WE WILL HAVE TO HAVE MEETINGS WITH CITY COUNCIL PERSONS SO THEY'RE AWARE OF, YOU KNOW, WHAT THE PROGRAM IS, HOW IT CURRENTLY IS DESIGNED, AND WHAT THIS PROPOSED ALTERNATIVE IS.
BUT AGAIN, WE, WE SEE THIS AS REALLY A, A WIN-WIN.
YOU KNOW, WE GOT A LOT OF FUNDING WITH THAT TDOT ENROLLMENT.
UH, THIS ENABLES THE SS E P PROGRAM TO GENERATE CREDITS SO WE CAN CONTINUE TO ENROLL MORE DEVELOPMENTS AND IT FULLY REIMBURSES THE AQUIFER PROTECTION, UH, GROUP SO THAT THEY CAN GO OUT AND CONSERVE EVEN MORE LAND.
JOSEPH, DID YOU HAVE ANYTHING ELSE TO ADD? JUST, UH, JUST A LITTLE BIT TO ADD.
AND AGAIN, THE, THE CITY AND THE COUNTY ARE, ARE PERMITEES THROUGH US FISH AND WILDLIFE.
AND SO US FISH AND WILDLIFE IS ALSO, UH, INVOLVED.
AND SO THAT'S, THAT'S OUR PRIMARY CONCERN IS TO MAINTAIN THE PERMIT AND, AND, YOU KNOW, THAT'LL BE DONE.
ANY OTHER QUESTIONS WE HAVE? JENNY, THIS IS JENNY BLAIR.
UM, KEN, JUST TO EXPAND ON YOUR QUESTION A LITTLE BIT MORE.
SO IT WAS DETERMINED IT WAS A BETTER REVENUE WISE FOR BOTH, UH, THE EP TWO, UM, FULLY REIMBURSE, UH, THE PROP PROGRAM FOR THIS BECAUSE ULTIMATELY, IF THIS WOULD'VE BEEN APPROVED AT THE 50 50 COST SHARE, THEY ONLY WOULD'VE GOT HALF OF THE TOTAL AMOUNT THAT COULD'VE BEEN REVENUE GENERATED, WHICH WOULD'VE BEEN LESS THAN $500,000.
AND SO THAT'S WHERE WE STARTED LOOKING AT THE ALTERNATIVE STRATEGIES OF, YOU KNOW, CAN WE FULLY RE, YOU KNOW, IS THERE A WAY, AND WITH TECH STOCK COMING IN, THERE WAS A WAY TO FULLY REIMBURSE, UM, THE E A P P, WHICH WAS A BETTER CONSERVATION, UM, AND, AND FINANCIAL ARRANGEMENT FOR ALL PARTIES, I THINK.
SO I JUST WANTED TO KIND OF GIVE YOU THE, THE OTHER SIDE AND JUST TO KNOW HOW THE, IT WOULD'VE WORKED IN THE ORIGINAL, UM, UH, ORDINANCE.
THANK YOU FOR THAT CLARIFICATION.
ANY OTHER QUESTIONS? WELL, I GUESS I FINALLY FIGURED OUT HOW TO ASK THE QUESTION THAT WAS RUNNING IN MY HEAD.
UM, SO I GUESS IN THE PRELIMINARY DISCUSSIONS OF THIS, HAS THERE BEEN ANY, UH, I FORGOT WHAT I WAS GONNA SAY.
ANY, WELL, HAS THERE BEEN ANY SIGNS THAT THERE'D BE ANY NEGATIVE IMPLICATIONS OF, OF DOING THIS? SO, SO, YOU KNOW, OR WITHIN THE LAST MONTH, WE HAVE MET WITH SOME OF THE FOLKS THAT WERE PRETTY INTEGRAL TO CREATING THE EXISTING FUNDING ARRANGEMENT, 50 50 REVENUE SHARING.
AND, UH, THE, THE TWO FOLKS WE'VE MET WITH HAVE BEEN PRETTY ENTHUSIASTIC FOR THIS ALTERNATIVE APPROACH.
UM, YOU KNOW, THE, THE CONCERN BACK IN THE DAY WAS, IS IT, IS IT REASONABLE OR IS IT A GOOD POLICY DECISION TO ALLOW FOR THE SALE OF CREDITS OFF OF PROPERTY THAT'S ALREADY PRESERVED? SO THAT'S WHERE THE COMPROMISE WAS MADE, THAT IF WE'RE GOING TO DO THAT, IF THE LAND IS ALREADY PRESERVED BY E A P P AND WE'RE GONNA GENERATE THE SALE OF, OF CREDITS OR ENROLLMENT ACRES OFF OF IT, GIVE US HALF THE MONEY.
YOU KNOW, BACK THEN, I DON'T THINK ANYONE REASONABLY ENVISIONED THAT THE PROGRAM WOULD BE IN A POSITION TO SAY, IF WE'RE GONNA DO THAT, WE'LL JUST REIMBURSE YOU EVERYTHING.
UH, SO THEY, THEY WERE PRETTY ENTHUSIASTIC ABOUT IT.
SO WE HAVE NOT HEARD OF OPPOSITION OR CONCERN TO THIS FUNDING STRATEGY.
AND AGAIN, TO, TO JENNY'S POINT, WE'RE LOOKING AT FOUR TO FIVE TIMES THE MONEY BACK TO THE PROGRAM THAN WHAT WAS ORIGINALLY ENVISIONED.
ANY OTHER QUESTIONS? DO I HAVE A MOTION ON THIS ITEM?
[00:10:05]
YEAH, I'LL, I'LL MOTION TO APPROVE.I HAVE A MOTION TO APPROVE BY GLARY AND A SECOND BY FLORES.
[Approval of Minutes ]
ITEM NUMBER TWO I BELIEVE IS OUR APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES.ANY CHANGES, RECOMMENDED CHANGES OR A MOTION FOR APPROVAL? I MOVE TO APPROVE.
I HAVE A MOTION TO APPROVE BY BOB BROCK.
UM, ALL THOSE IN FAVOR SAY AYE.
AND IT IS 2 0 9, UH, THAT OUR MEETING IS ADJOURNED.