Open Space Advisory Board Agenda and Packet 2021 12 08

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Open Space Advisory Board Minutes November 10, 2021 Page 3 of 5 Anneliese said she was relieved to have "litter" defined by Steve. She had been imagining garbage. The board suggested maybe clarifying that the "litter" refers to natural "leaf litter." Charles said he was looking forward to seeing repeated measures on these transects. Steve added that he is looking for comparable data from other municipalities to help evaluate the health and potential of the land. He thinks this will help with planning for remediation projects. Helen asked about how these data will inform management and restoration next steps. Steve said his next steps will be to expand the transects into more of the properties of the city. He thinks that remediation and restoration goals need to be determined by discussion. Council member Fahey asked if it would be possible to take photographs of the healthiest plant communities so they can be shared with citizens. She hopes that people could better understand what would be possible with prairie restoration. 9. Action Item: Municipal Code Changes Related to Prohibited Activities. Presented by Nathan Mosley, Director of Parks, Recreation, and Open Space Department Nathan started by saying that the City Code restricts sledding in both Parks and Open Space properties. After the large snowstorm in March, rangers saw damage being done while citizens were sledding, but they did not write any tickets. Staff is looking for ways to balance the desires of the community, but also to protect the land. The new language in the packet was established with the City Attorney. The compromise was to allow sledding within Parks, "Open Space -Visitor Land," and "Open Space -Other Lands," with the caveat that activity can be stopped whenever damage is being done. Jessamine connected with staff before the meeting and determined that staff is looking for an up or down vote to relay to Council, but warned the board that language changes would be hard, as the language has been determined by the City Attorney. Charles asked for clarification about the difference between "Open Space -Other" and "Open Space -Visitor" land. Ember said that high diversity and high -quality vegetation areas were designated "Open Space -Preserve" and Open Space- Protect" and when there was a conflict between the recreation and conservation on this time of land, conservation would always be favored. She shared a map of Open Space land zoning. It was noted that the land on Coyote Run Open Space adjacent to Washington is not considered "Preserve" and "Protect." Helen asked if this classification map would be shared with the public. Nathan thought a better way of communicating it would be to have a map of places where sledding is forbidden. Nathan also shared staff's idea to have a pop-up hot chocolate kiosk to draw people to appropriate sledding locations, like below the Rec Center. Peter asked if ski touring was prohibited. Nathan said only if it is listed or if it is causing damage. Both Peter and Charles suggested that there could be some ambiguity about the term "downhill" skiing in the current language, since there are a lot of kinds of skis. Jessamine asked if the rangers were consulted about this language and how it would impact their job. Ember said the rangers thought that having the additional language gave them better latitude to approach citizens and make educational comments about