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[2:52] - I'd like to call the September 16th, 2026

[2:56] meeting of the Spring Creek Watershed Commission

[2:59] to order at six 30.

[3:03] Maybe we could do a Roll Call

[3:08] and I'll go down the, the list from Beon.

[3:13] We have, John is here, right? Yep.

[3:16] - Here. - John Eaton Benner. David Robert Alternate.

[3:21] Benner Township College.

[3:24] - Gretchen Brant College. - And I see Lee's here as well.

[3:29] Ferguson, I'm here.

[3:31] And I don't know if we have folks in

[3:33] the remote.

[3:38] - Yes, we have Olivia Lapovsky from the RO is on online.

[3:43] - Okay. - Someone iPhone. That may be Doug Mason.

[3:48] Not sure. Okay. And then Jen, Don Brosky from Clearwater.

[3:52] Just joined. Okay.

[3:55] - And then Harris. Chris Morell. Chris Morell's here.

[3:59] Patton. I believe that both Susan

[4:02] and Doug will not be able to attend tonight.

[4:06] Spring Township. David or Mike?

[4:11] No. And State College. Olivia you said was online?

[4:16] - Yes. - Okay. And then anyone from

[4:21] Potter or Walker?

[4:25] - Okay. - I think that gives us a quorum, right?

[4:30] There's little old me. Oh, I'm sorry.

[4:33] - Loren now - Was half, boy, how did I miss that?

[4:37] Halfmoon Township, Copa Mepa Loren is here.

[4:42] Yes. I

[4:43] - Dunno. He said he was gonna join

[4:45] - By phone, as is our practice.

[4:49] Item three on the agenda is any Public Comment

[4:54] or written correspondence that would like to, anyone

[4:58] that would like to address the commission?

[5:04] We got one. No. Okay.

[5:08] Moving on then.

[5:10] Review and approval of the

[5:13] previous meeting minutes from July 15th.

[5:17] - I'll make that motion. Eaton,

[5:20] - I'll second.

[5:21] There's a motion and a second.

[5:23] Any comments

[5:25] or questions about the minutes from July 15?

[5:32] All right, in that case, I call the motion.

[5:35] All those in favor of adopting the July 15 minutes?

[5:40] Say aye. Aye. Aye. Those that are opposed, say aye. Okay.

[5:45] Minutes are done. New agenda items.

[5:49] Anyone that would like to propose an addition

[5:53] to the agenda, either here in the room

[5:57] or online?

[6:02] Okay. Hearing none, we will go to number six.

[6:07] Report by officers and committees.

[6:10] And the first one

[6:15] on the agenda, six A, the executive committee.

[6:19] We met what the fourth, we tried

[6:24] for the third Wednesday of August

[6:27] in the even numbered month,

[6:28] but it ended up, I believe, being the fourth.

[6:33] So that would've been August 26th.

[6:37] We met, and I believe Chris

[6:42] and Elise and David

[6:44] and I, the

[6:51] much of the meeting on the executive committee meeting was a

[6:55] follow up to our Public Hearing at SLO

[6:59] in July that was focused on the future

[7:03] of Rockview lands.

[7:05] And so we talked about the comments

[7:10] that had been made

[7:13] and reviewed the follow up memorandum that

[7:20] we had put together to kind of summarize the Public Hearing,

[7:24] we included, it included receiving

[7:27] written comments from Cliff cans who couldn't

[7:32] make the Public Hearing,

[7:34] but many of you may know, cliff, he was a regional

[7:38] and State College Borough planner for a number of years,

[7:41] and he submitted comments.

[7:46] Anything else from the executive committee, Chris

[7:49] or David that I didn't cover,

[7:54] or that won't be covered later?

[7:57] - No, I think just kind of really trying to focus on

[7:58] what we're gonna talk about in the second half

[8:00] of the meeting, which is kind of what our,

[8:02] what our focus is moving forward.

[8:04] - Okay. Yeah.

[8:08] - Yes, it, it really did continue

[8:09] to focus on the important issue of rock view

[8:12] and the possible turnover

[8:17] of, of state lands to, to whoever,

[8:19] which is sort of unknown at this point.

[8:21] So it's an effort to kind of get ahead of that a little bit.

[8:27] - And would it,

[8:29] would this be an appropriate time in your mind, David, to

[8:34] maybe cover item nine on the agenda as it relates

[8:38] to rockview?

[8:40] That's where we do a round table about watershed related

[8:44] news from member municipalities. David had a

[8:47] - Certainly yes.

[8:48] Thank you report. So I am the Benner Township

[8:53] representative, and I went to the Benner Supervisors meeting

[8:57] last week on Tuesday,

[9:00] and there was an agenda item on their meeting of,

[9:04] to discuss a possible

[9:08] conservation overlay to be placed on the rock view lands.

[9:13] And this was a letter that was sent to them from the

[9:17] Ben Township Planning Commission that recommended that.

[9:21] And a little bit of the background to

[9:25] that recommendation was to, to, to my understanding,

[9:29] representative Benninghoff had had expressed

[9:34] interest to, to have some kind of a protection of the,

[9:38] of the rock view lands.

[9:40] And this really follows

[9:44] a past effort that was made a successful effort when Rock

[9:47] View lands were divested what following the, the,

[9:51] the construction of the Interstate 95

[9:54] and where the site that's now, spring Creek Canyon

[9:58] and the Spring Creek Trail

[10:00] and so forth became, turned over

[10:04] to I think Fish and Boat Commission. There were

[10:07] - Four local partners, fish

[10:11] and Boat Commission, game Commission, Penn State

[10:15] and Banner Township.

[10:17] - So these four entities received different portions of

[10:22] that land that was, that had been previous prison land.

[10:25] It was kind of separated from them within the

[10:27] 95 construction.

[10:28] So that gave the opportunity to open up that canyon

[10:33] that had been restricted from public asset access

[10:37] for about a hundred years.

[10:39] Yeah. So that was a very positive development.

[10:42] And you know, there was a, an overlay that was put into

[10:45] that area, kind of a conservation overlay.

[10:48] And so this overlay then would help to connect

[10:53] that, that a proposed rock view overlay would help

[10:56] to connect the Spring Creek Canyon with the Rock View lands

[11:01] and then the Nittany Valley Conservation area.

[11:04] So there was discussion about that there.

[11:08] Counsel Mr. Beard

[11:13] described the proposal from the,

[11:17] from the planning Commission as to go over the entire site.

[11:21] And then that would be require,

[11:26] of course, public hearings, Public Comment.

[11:28] And that would open up a,

[11:30] a broad discussion about the Rockview property.

[11:34] So the Council for Inner Township, you know,

[11:41] explain to them that they could put a whole overlay on there

[11:46] and then come back later and modify it if need be.

[11:49] And, and, but the, the,

[11:54] the Supervisors were pretty receptive to that.

[11:58] I think that they were very open to input on that.

[12:01] They, they talked about the need for advisement, the need

[12:06] to have some technical advisement about what's there on the

[12:09] site and what areas would need to be protected.

[12:13] So that is a very forward moving idea.

[12:19] They're going to be discussing

[12:20] that further in the coming months.

[12:23] So that's pretty much where that is at right now.

[12:27] I know that there are some people in the public area

[12:31] that are also interested in having some sort

[12:36] of a conservation like that.

[12:37] So, so the commission is very open to hear from public on

[12:42] and municipalities and all partnership

[12:44] and all partners on this issue.

[12:48] - Thank you. It's not been

[12:52] that common in my memory that

[12:56] conservation, or excuse me,

[12:59] overlay zones are implemented.

[13:03] When I was on the Ferguson Township Planning Commission, oh,

[13:06] maybe 20 years ago,

[13:10] we did an overlay zone on down

[13:14] to specific parcel levels on the Tussie Ridge

[13:17] because we wanted,

[13:19] after studying development proposals, we wanted to kind

[13:24] of put it out there and make it part of the Ordinance that

[13:29] the lands associated

[13:33] on the side of the ridge were not

[13:36] always particularly stable.

[13:38] A lot of spring sinkholes, a lot

[13:40] of closed depressions, a lot of waterways.

[13:43] And so the Township put an overlay zone that

[13:49] alerted property owners that if they intended to

[13:54] bid, that there were certain suggested requirements

[13:58] that they come in and meet with the Township

[14:00] and be alerted to what

[14:04] was at play there.

[14:06] And Harris subsequently did a similar thing

[14:10] a while later, but that's very interesting to hear

[14:15] and something that I think we

[14:17] wanna talk about further.

[14:22] - Yeah, I would just would like to add that Randy Moya,

[14:25] the chair, had stated a couple times that regardless

[14:29] of whether an overlay is implemented

[14:31] or not, that in the long run there,

[14:34] he expects probably about 5,000 acres or, or more

[14:40] or thereabouts would, would need

[14:42] to be conserved no matter what.

[14:45] - So thank you - Again.

[14:50] I do, I would like to mention also, you know,

[14:51] it's not only Benner Township, that, that, that

[14:54] College Township has quite a few acres on that site as well.

[14:59] So anything that would take place would,

[15:01] would certainly weren't discussion among those two partners.

[15:06] - Right. As it splits out in the mapping that we've seen,

[15:10] it's about two thirds

[15:13] of the land lies in Better Township

[15:16] and about a third in college.

[15:19] So yes.

[15:20] - Diane, - This sounds very good to me.

[15:23] The Better Township is in the

[15:25] - Meeting.

[15:26] Would you like to come up and so everyone can hear you?

[15:33] - I'm Joanne. - Yep. Yeah, we can.

[15:37] - I'm Joanne Tosi Bey.

[15:39] I chair the NIT Valley Joint Planning Commission.

[15:42] This sounds very good to me.

[15:44] The commission is meeting tomorrow evening at six

[15:50] - Six or six 30

[15:55] - At six o'clock.

[15:57] We have not had anybody from Benner attend the

[16:00] meetings this entire year.

[16:02] Robert, could you come

[16:03] and repeat what you just said this evening at

[16:06] that tomorrow night so that,

[16:08] because we, when we have these meetings, they come up

[16:12] and people ask what's going to happen to Rockfield?

[16:14] At least having some information,

[16:16] I think will make people feel good. Yeah.

[16:18] - What, what time is the meeting?

[16:19] - Six o'clock and it's in the Banner Township six

[16:22] o'clock building. Oh,

[16:23] - Right in Banner.

[16:24] Yeah. Yes. I'll go. I'm gonna make

[16:27] - Make Great. Thank you.

[16:28] - Thank you, Joanne. Any other comments on that?

[16:33] Okay, then moving to six B on the agenda,

[16:39] the financial report

[16:41] or treasurer's report since July,

[16:45] and As it,

[16:51] I think people have come to understand that

[16:54] Clearwater Conservancy acts as the fiscal agent

[16:57] for the Watershed Commission

[17:00] and they maintain on our behalf

[17:03] two different custodial accounts.

[17:06] The primary one being a general administrative account that

[17:10] as of August 30, the balance

[17:13] was $35,090 and 61 cents.

[17:19] The second account is a phase three account that was

[17:25] re-designated back.

[17:28] It's now been three years ago, using money

[17:33] that was generated to conclude the step two

[17:38] or phase two plan of the watershed stewardship plan.

[17:42] And it was decided then that by the Watershed Commission,

[17:46] that those monies should be renamed

[17:50] the phase three account.

[17:53] And we have

[17:56] $2,150

[17:59] and 63 cents in that account with regard to approval

[18:04] to pay since our meeting

[18:09] two months ago, invoices from Elise

[18:14] as watershed coordinator for the months of July

[18:16] and August at 27 50.

[18:19] And then the legal notice

[18:22] for the July 15th meeting in public notice in the

[18:27] CDT for 180.

[18:29] I will put the

[18:35] notice for this meeting at our November meeting.

[18:41] And just a footnote, so that everybody is current as far

[18:45] as the 26 budget goes, the commission

[18:51] has over the last few years had

[18:56] 10 or 11, sometimes 10 and a half members.

[19:00] But I wanted to make clear,

[19:04] as I've done throughout the year, that we have two

[19:09] members to date

[19:11] that their contribution in 2026 is pending.

[19:16] That's Walker and Potter Townships.

[19:20] They had indicated in 25 that

[19:24] they were gonna not withdraw

[19:28] but Coast for a while.

[19:31] And leading up to this evening's meeting, we were approached

[19:35] by a gentleman from Walker Township

[19:40] and interacted with him, provided him with the agenda.

[19:44] He's interested in talking

[19:46] to Walker Township about potentially being named a

[19:51] representative from Walker.

[19:53] And I had hope that maybe he would make it tonight,

[19:56] but he's not on the remote.

[20:02] - Okay. No, Bob Igo is though.

[20:04] - Bob Igo is welcome, Bob. But that's my report.

[20:09] We're working on things with Walker

[20:12] and we'll get back to it.

[20:14] Another conversation with Potter as well. Any questions?

[20:22] - Okay.

[20:29] - Item six C.

[20:33] Elise Watershed Coordinator.

[20:35] - Yes. - So some

[20:38] of my updates are further down in the agenda,

[20:40] but things that are not in there, ag Progress days

[20:44] happened in August, so I attended that.

[20:48] I do what I like to call reverse tabling.

[20:50] Those tables are pretty expensive, so I take brochures

[20:53] around and talk to all the partners that are there

[20:55] and do some networking the other way around.

[20:58] So that was good to do. Had a great conversation with

[21:02] deps Small Business grant program

[21:04] for sustainability for the second year.

[21:07] So working further

[21:09] to establish our partnerships in that world.

[21:12] I also attended the Congressional Ag Summit hosted

[21:15] by Glen Thompson to just learn about some of the issues

[21:18] and resources that are available there

[21:20] and represented the watershed commission at the government

[21:22] and industry luncheon.

[21:25] Other projects that I've done a couple weeks ago,

[21:28] Clearwater Conservancy organized a day to go out

[21:32] to Tally Rand Park

[21:33] and help do some invasive management

[21:35] of the buffer that's there.

[21:37] So I attended, so did Lee Lee Ricks from the Conservation

[21:41] District and Clearwater Conservancy.

[21:44] So we helped get a handle on some

[21:46] of the loose strife that was there.

[21:47] And also Lee

[21:49] and I did kind of a joint interview with Clearwater's

[21:53] communications person, Lee about,

[21:57] or Leah, about how all of these partnerships come together

[22:01] and how all of the people that were helping the project on

[22:04] that day helped contribute to successful implementation.

[22:08] And then share some of the resources for other people

[22:10] that would want to help get a handle on their buffers

[22:14] or establish new ones.

[22:17] We've also been continuing

[22:19] with the two deck regenerative stormwater project.

[22:21] So our grant agreement

[22:23] with the Susquehanna River Basin Commission is finalized.

[22:26] Kevin, Abby and I have been working on that.

[22:28] It has been approved. I met with

[22:33] Iona Borich from the Sustainable Communities Collaborative

[22:35] to talk more about how we can work with her program.

[22:39] They filled up their classes for this fall semester,

[22:42] but if we identified a concrete project scope that we wanted

[22:46] to work with them on, we could potentially get in

[22:49] for the spring semester.

[22:50] But the watershed commissions engaged them in the past

[22:54] and they're very eager to work

[22:55] with us again any semester in the future.

[22:58] So continuing that relationship

[23:01] and also having some assistance from a guest

[23:03] that you'll meet on navigating that relationship.

[23:08] The last update I have is

[23:09] that the Watershed Cleanup Day planning committee has been

[23:12] meeting, I co-chair that committee

[23:15] with Bella Petita from Clearwater Conservancy.

[23:18] And traditionally they would start kind

[23:20] of meeting a couple months prior to the event,

[23:22] but we've changed it so

[23:23] that it can be productive year round.

[23:25] And we have bimonthly meetings to focus on

[23:29] identifying new sites, getting a handle on our outreach

[23:31] with the Public Works departments.

[23:34] I am meeting with Ty Coral

[23:37] and Mimi from the Centre County Refuse

[23:39] and Recycling this Friday.

[23:43] The county actually has a program called Keep Centre County

[23:45] Beautiful in the big spring cleanup.

[23:49] All of that reporting goes

[23:50] to keep Pennsylvania beautiful on the PennDOT level,

[23:53] but our county actually has a smaller program

[23:56] that they've been trying to expand on.

[23:58] So all of our cleanup efforts are gonna be

[24:00] counted towards that.

[24:01] And it also covers all of our trash disposal for anything

[24:05] that we do throughout the year,

[24:07] not just on the spring cleanup.

[24:09] So that committee meeting is coming up again in this

[24:12] September, but if anybody wants to get involved

[24:14] with Watershed cleanup day

[24:16] or has sites that you think need

[24:18] to be cleaned up, please let us know.

[24:19] We're really trying to overhaul our site list.

[24:22] We've broken a hundred sites

[24:24] and we've had over 800,

[24:26] almost 850 volunteers this past year.

[24:29] So it's a huge program and initiative.

[24:31] So any feedback from the commission

[24:33] or the town shifts is greatly appreciated.

[24:36] - Question, is there discussions with

[24:41] to you about doing the fall cleanup?

[24:46] - Yes, I'll briefly mention

[24:47] that under conservation and stewardship. Okay,

[24:50] - Great.

[24:51] Any questions for Elise?

[24:54] I'm sure other things will come up

[24:55] as we move through the meeting.

[25:00] Okay. Six D Atlas.

[25:03] - Our Atlas meeting will be the first one

[25:08] about three months will be

[25:11] this Thursday at Patton Township Building meeting room

[25:16] one to 3:00 PM a big part,

[25:22] you know, following on the, the second part

[25:26] of today's meeting, we're also going

[25:29] to have a discussion about how we're

[25:33] structuring atlas's efforts.

[25:35] - Okay. - From here on make sure that

[25:38] we aren't overlapping.

[25:41] - Okay. - Okay,

[25:43] - Great.

[25:44] So tomorrow at one

[25:45] - One to three.

[25:46] Okay. Patton Township meeting room.

[25:48] - Right. Okay.

[25:53] Six E, the Conservation and Stewardship Committee.

[25:57] - Yes. So our Conservation

[25:58] and Stewardship committee just met a couple weeks ago.

[26:04] One of the best things about

[26:05] that committee is the round robins that they do

[26:08] to share information.

[26:09] So we have the Centre County Conservation District,

[26:12] Penn State Extension, occasionally members

[26:16] of the Senior Environmental Corps all coming together

[26:19] to share what the conservation partners who are doing,

[26:22] doing work, what they need, what they're working on.

[26:26] So those conversations continue

[26:28] and it's really great to see the resource sharing

[26:30] and assistance that comes out of those.

[26:34] We did have a new member join our

[26:36] conservation and stewardship committee.

[26:40] It is Stacy Hall. Hall. Stacy Hall,

[26:44] - Right from Benner Township Planning Commission.

[26:47] - Yeah. So she joined

[26:48] and she is representing the State College Land Trust

[26:53] and is also a member on the Benner

[26:54] Township Planning Commission.

[26:55] So this past meeting was just a little bit

[26:57] of an introduction, but we're hoping to work closer

[27:00] with her in the future.

[27:02] - That's great. - And then the Educational Sign

[27:05] Project continues.

[27:08] So we are still working on developing educational signs

[27:12] for throughout the watershed to communicate the importance

[27:15] and relevance of different stewardship projects on the

[27:18] preservation of our water resources.

[27:21] We did a couple for Tally Ram that are finalized

[27:24] and we're just waiting for the whole bunch to get finished

[27:27] so that we can send that off to the sign company.

[27:31] Then Kevin kind of foreshadowed

[27:34] Trout Unlimited every fall they do a red count,

[27:37] which is basically counting the trout spawning areas

[27:40] throughout the stretches of Spring Creek

[27:43] for the past two years.

[27:45] We've partnered with that event to add a cleanup level to it

[27:48] so that all

[27:50] of the volunteers in the stream can help collect trash.

[27:53] And we also send some designated groups of volunteers

[27:57] to drive around to like fishing access sites.

[28:00] And some of the places along the stream that we don't hit

[28:03] either don't hit on watershed cleanup day

[28:05] or need more than once a year cleanups

[28:07] like East College Avenue.

[28:10] So last year we even had some TU volunteers

[28:12] that walked the entire stretch from Millbrook Marsh up

[28:16] to Walnut Spring, which was really cool.

[28:19] They got a lot of good stuff out of there.

[28:21] We get a couple hundred pounds with that event.

[28:25] So we're gonna have a subcommittee meeting in the next

[28:28] couple weeks to finalize our planning for that effort.

[28:32] Clearwater Conservancy,

[28:33] middle Susquehanna River Keepers Association

[28:35] and the Conservation District help us market

[28:37] that event last year.

[28:40] The number of cleanup volunteers

[28:43] actually outnumbered the number of red count volunteers.

[28:45] And so that's one of the things

[28:47] that's really important about this is that a lot

[28:49] of people wanna do cleanups

[28:51] and we make them sit through the lesson on reds

[28:54] and why it's important and why they should do that.

[28:57] Even last year they're like, can't we just get cleaning?

[29:00] And it's like, Nope, you gotta go listen to Bob Carline.

[29:03] So, yep. Yep. We're kind of,

[29:05] it's a little bit educational twist on that one

[29:07] and it's a good partnership.

[29:08] So that'll be happening again.

[29:10] I don't have a final date

[29:11] for the red count this year, but Okay.

[29:13] Typically it is the Sunday before Thanksgiving.

[29:17] - Okay. And I know that

[29:20] in the springtime following the Earth Day

[29:25] or circa Earth Day watershed cleanup, a lot of people

[29:31] on the commission had been approached by folks

[29:34] that either didn't get a chance

[29:35] or had family related conflicts.

[29:40] So what we decided then is that any

[29:44] of those folks to will direct them to Elise and Lee

[29:49] and get present that opportunity for them

[29:54] to be involved with a fall cleanup.

[29:57] So if anybody asks you about watershed cleanup,

[30:02] it's ongoing and there's another opportunity coming.

[30:05] - Yep. They've gotten over 6 million pounds

[30:08] of trash in the watershed over the years.

[30:10] - Alright. So, okay.

[30:16] Number six F the government's committee update.

[30:22] - So I met with Shane Adams,

[30:26] who's the new chair for that committee.

[30:28] Shane is the, he has a new title now,

[30:31] but he, he's the GIS Director

[30:32] with College Township, GIS Wizard.

[30:35] I like to call him. So he's been on

[30:38] that committee for a long time.

[30:41] He's a really great guy.

[30:42] We're very happy that he was able to take over

[30:45] for Kemp Baker, but I was able to sit down with Shane

[30:48] and Bella Petita from Clearwater Conservancy to talk about

[30:51] what do we really need this committee to be

[30:54] and what is his vision for it.

[30:56] And we're really gonna be using this as a platform

[31:00] to help support the partnership of

[31:04] under the MS four permits.

[31:05] Both Clearwater and the commission are an item

[31:07] to help facilitate some of the outreach.

[31:09] So we're gonna make that a good channel

[31:12] for the Township engineers to be able to collaborate

[31:16] with the conservation partners so

[31:18] that our efforts are just a little bit more aligned

[31:20] with what they want and need.

[31:22] And then also just creating more of a tone

[31:24] for sharing information

[31:25] and helping to identify projects that they need help with.

[31:30] So that'll be good. They are gonna talk about possibly

[31:35] renaming it, the engineering committee, just to kind

[31:37] of reduce some confusion on that end.

[31:41] But yeah, they canceled the last meeting,

[31:43] but they will be meeting again

[31:46] for the first time under Shane's leadership on October 15th.

[31:51] - October what? 15th. 15th. Okay.

[31:57] That's great. And then finally,

[32:02] six G, the authorities committee.

[32:05] - So similarly, I sat down with the chairs

[32:09] of the authorities committee.

[32:11] Those chairs are Ray Delina from Centre County Planning

[32:14] Office, and Pam Adams from the Centre

[32:17] Region Planning Agency.

[32:19] They co-chair that committee.

[32:21] Pam is pretty new to the committee this year

[32:24] and leading there.

[32:25] Right. Has been doing it for a few years now.

[32:29] And we sat down to just talk about

[32:30] how could we make this more beneficial

[32:33] for the water authorities that are in attendance.

[32:35] We don't wanna just talk to them and share information.

[32:38] We wanna make it, again, a more collaborative space

[32:40] for information sharing.

[32:43] So we decided that we're not gonna meet in September,

[32:48] but we're gonna meet in November on

[32:52] November 18th, kind of splitting the difference between the

[32:56] September and December meetings.

[32:58] December meetings are not historically well attended.

[33:01] So we wanted to, I'll be having another meeting with Pam

[33:05] and Ray to just strategize and think about what we wanna do.

[33:08] But we're hoping to have a discussion

[33:10] with the water authorities in presence to just see Okay.

[33:13] What they really want to get out of the committee

[33:15] and how we can help them better.

[33:17] - Good. I know that when we left the last

[33:21] committee authorities committee meeting,

[33:24] there was discussion about having

[33:30] Pam and potentially Jenna Argo come in

[33:32] and talk about the regional comprehensive plan.

[33:37] And I'm sure that's in the works

[33:40] as something that could be covered.

[33:43] - So we did discuss that.

[33:45] Pam pointed out that she's going to these water authorities

[33:48] to give that presentation.

[33:49] Okay. And she didn't want redundancy.

[33:51] So we were brainstorming with Ray

[33:54] how we could have a more specific conversation about like

[33:57] the septic systems

[33:59] or different components of the growth boundary

[34:01] that could be more of an area for discussion so

[34:04] that they're not getting a original presentation.

[34:06] - Okay. Great. - Please.

[34:12] - Well, in now since you have an engineering committee,

[34:18] I am, I'm, I'm, I'm,

[34:23] the discussion that you're gonna have

[34:24] with the authorities committee really will be dependent on

[34:28] the quality and the how current

[34:32] that engineering, you know, I, you know,

[34:36] it'd be wonderful if everybody had

[34:40] the A GIS wizard and every municipality.

[34:45] Yep. It's almost like now, you know, is this,

[34:50] is this something that we can make more of a watershed

[34:55] wide effort?

[35:02] I mean it's, we don't have any funding vehicle for it,

[35:06] but it's almost the, without the GIS mapping

[35:10] and those, and the growth boundaries

[35:12] and locating those facilities

[35:15] and the assets, you're,

[35:20] we're sort of having a roundabout discussion about where's

[35:23] my territory, where's your territory?

[35:26] Right. So, I mean, if, if we can meld,

[35:31] I'm not saying put the two committees together,

[35:33] but make those two committees work.

[35:36] Yeah. So that they,

[35:39] they can leverage the information from each other.

[35:42] Yeah.

[35:43] - I recall that discussion with the governments committee

[35:48] and Shane had been Shane Adams.

[35:52] Now the chair had been real involved with outreach

[35:57] amongst the MS four

[36:01] partners, I believe.

[36:03] Didn't he tell us, Elise, correct me if I'm wrong, that all

[36:06] of the MS four four partners are using it.

[36:10] - Yes. - And that includes Spring Township now.

[36:15] So it is an appropriate thing to keep talking about.

[36:21] - When you say they're using it,

[36:23] - The, I'm sorry.

[36:25] The GIS

[36:26] - Oh, okay. Yeah.

[36:27] - Program that Shane worked with others,

[36:31] but to, what was the first part of it?

[36:38] - Well, to make sure that we are all right.

[36:41] Everybody has that current Yes.

[36:44] - And it's what I was struggling for the name

[36:48] of the GIS oh

[36:49] - RGIS - Well it's a, it's Art View GIS, but he updated it.

[36:55] Maybe you recall the name that he used.

[36:59] - I can give a little bit of context. I'm not quite sure.

[37:01] Yeah. But whenever the Watershed commission was working

[37:05] and is still working on their public project viewer,

[37:08] the Storm Water Work group,

[37:09] and for those who don't know,

[37:11] the public project viewer is a shared GIS map

[37:14] that HRG developed.

[37:16] And we have like the growth boundary, the

[37:19] sewer service areas, the water authorities service areas.

[37:23] We've been kind of trying

[37:24] to compile on a watershed level within the delineated

[37:27] watershed boundaries, that information,

[37:29] and then also input projects that have occurred over time so

[37:34] that it can be a bit of a project planning tool.

[37:36] And when the stormwater work group looked at that item,

[37:40] and they were very interested in understanding where

[37:44] stormwater infrastructure was,

[37:46] where outfalls are, all those things.

[37:49] So Shane came into the stormwater work group

[37:51] and gave a presentation about something he's done.

[37:55] He developed A-G-I-S-A whole workflow for it. Right.

[37:59] That all of our local MS four partners use

[38:01] to record their stormwater BMPs.

[38:04] Right. And his work was so good

[38:08] that it's actually highlighted as a case study

[38:10] by ARC GI by Esri.

[38:12] Right? Yes.

[38:14] So that is something that we don't necessarily

[38:17] get the information for, but we do know that it's happening

[38:19] and we have somebody that understands

[38:21] that work flow available.

[38:23] - Right. Yeah. I'm just saying that moving

[38:27] beyond storm water, you know, just the Right, the, the,

[38:33] the, the, the sewer and the water service Yes.

[38:37] Areas. Yes. Not only just the boundaries,

[38:39] but also where the lines might be so that we

[38:43] - Can That's a good point.

[38:44] - So that everybody can move forward smartly.

[38:48] - Yeah. - That's the,

[38:51] - Okay.

[38:52] Anything else on authorities? Okay.

[38:57] Moving to old business, we wanted to include

[39:02] reference to the July

[39:06] adoption of the budget.

[39:08] And earlier this week, I sent

[39:12] to all the watershed commission members,

[39:16] both the elected and appointed members, as well

[39:21] as to our member municipal offices, a

[39:27] budget transmittal letter,

[39:30] and then the budget that was adopted in 2027,

[39:35] or excuse me, in July.

[39:37] This is for next year's budget.

[39:39] And then also a

[39:43] questions had come up in our presentations

[39:47] for the 2026 budget.

[39:49] We also sent a

[39:54] municipal contribution spreadsheet

[39:56] and where we've been at since 2022 when we were at

[40:01] 10 cents per capita.

[40:02] And then two years, 24

[40:05] and 25 at 15 cents,

[40:08] and then 26th the current year at a quarter 25 cents.

[40:14] And the budget adopted in July kept

[40:17] that 25 cents per capita.

[40:19] So that was part of the

[40:23] information that went out.

[40:27] And I can report that last night

[40:31] I was at Ferguson to review the budget

[40:36] and get comments from them.

[40:39] So everyone, just in the context

[40:42] of the watershed commission in relation

[40:44] to our municipal members,

[40:47] we adopt our 2027 budget early,

[40:51] I think relatively speaking in July.

[40:54] So that, but at this time, as municipalities are

[41:00] starting to AMAs

[41:04] and hold work sessions to prepare

[41:08] for their 2027 budget, they have the information

[41:13] from the commission.

[41:15] And as it's been

[41:20] a practice

[41:23] that individual members from the

[41:28] watershed commission, whether elected

[41:30] or alternate appointees, will reach out

[41:35] to their municipality to say, the Watershed Commission.

[41:40] You got information about the budget, do you want

[41:43] to put it on a public meeting?

[41:45] If so, we'll come and make a presentation or talk about it.

[41:50] The idea being that

[41:54] we're trying to feed our budget information

[41:59] into the existing budget development process.

[42:05] So any questions about any of that?

[42:12] Normally what we do in the timeframe is once

[42:18] there have been from early September

[42:22] until October times to interact

[42:26] with municipal members, then we will look to

[42:32] develop invoices

[42:34] and send out municipal contribution invoices

[42:38] for the 27 budget.

[42:40] And that usually happens in quarter number four

[42:44] toward the middle of October.

[42:49] - Yeah. We, we budget season

[42:53] has just started.

[42:54] So Right. The initial

[42:58] conversations are happening.

[43:00] So it's timely to send it out at this time. So Right.

[43:04] Having just survived the first finance

[43:09] committee meeting of budget season.

[43:12] - Yes. Yes.

[43:13] Well, and Belmont Borough Council,

[43:16] you have two new members, right?

[43:18] - Yes, we do. Yeah. Yeah.

[43:20] - So there's alerting curve there for

[43:24] - Yes, yes.

[43:28] Yeah. To vests and Marissa.

[43:32] What's Mariah Kessler? Mariah Kessler. Good.

[43:36] - Yeah. - Thanks Joanne. Okay.

[43:39] - And John informed me this evening that with

[43:44] Randy Brack Bills stepping away from the Watershed

[43:48] Commission and Borough Council,

[43:50] that John is the designated rep from Borough Council.

[43:56] - Yes. And Zach Kelly will be our alternate. That's

[43:59] - Great.

[44:00] Yeah. Anything else about the budget?

[44:05] Okay. Next thing on old business

[44:09] is an update on the rock view lands

[44:12] and things that have been percolating

[44:15] since the Public Hearing.

[44:20] And I understand, Barbara, you'd like to

[44:25] share your viewpoints.

[44:27] Please come up to the,

[44:29] - Where is it that I should do - This?

[44:31] Here. I'll take care of the podium.

[44:33] I can't hear right over here. Over here. Okay.

[44:37] I have some books to give to the, okay.

[44:41] I'll take care of that. Can go talk. My name is

[44:45] - Barbara Fisher and I'm a resident of State College since

[44:51] 1965.

[44:53] - Wow. - I come

[44:55] before you this evening as a veteran of

[45:00] several major issues in our watershed.

[45:05] And the rock view issue

[45:10] has me completely spellbound.

[45:14] It is an incredible opportunity of a lifetime

[45:18] to have this many acres of open space between two

[45:24] thriving growing communities of Beon and State College.

[45:29] A cushion in between is just

[45:32] an amazing situation.

[45:37] I am hearing from people that with a sense

[45:40] of remorse from them, that the people feel

[45:46] that the land will not be honored

[45:50] and that they have no voice.

[45:54] I feel differently. I feel we have a strong case

[45:59] of making a significant difference.

[46:02] We have all the ingredients to do so,

[46:05] and the will to do so in order

[46:10] to do it, we've gotta figure out

[46:13] how can we have a strategic plan to make it happen?

[46:18] And we need to figure it out in a very,

[46:23] very serious way.

[46:26] The first step as I see it, is to have professionals

[46:32] evaluate what is on the rock view land.

[46:35] What are their assets?

[46:37] Where are their, are there very outstanding

[46:40] agricultural soils?

[46:44] Is there significant water resource in the groundwater

[46:48] that could be used for the future needs of our watershed?

[46:52] What are the threats to it?

[46:55] Is, is Interstate 99 a major impact?

[46:59] What are its vulnerabilities? Where is the level?

[47:03] Have we exceeded the level

[47:04] of recharge already in covering up our land?

[47:09] How can all this impact Spring Creek

[47:12] and our fishing tourism attraction?

[47:16] So once those assets are, are

[47:21] carefully assessed, then I also feel

[47:25] that these professionals should interpret

[47:28] what they are to the rest of us.

[47:31] And that should be our guideline in everything that we do.

[47:35] So that the land comes first and its integrity comes first.

[47:40] And by having that as our highest priority,

[47:44] then we can come to more easily

[47:48] consensus of what to do.

[47:51] The second thing is, I think we need to have a base of a,

[47:55] of a, a foundational base

[47:59] and a candidate for that could be the Department

[48:01] of Conservation and Natural Resources.

[48:04] That's their role to protect resources.

[48:08] We would need that help from the government

[48:11] to really make this work beautifully.

[48:14] And also within the Department of Natural Resources,

[48:18] conservation Natural Resources is a section for parks.

[48:24] So the third part of this would be we,

[48:28] we are missing a table in a sense of

[48:30] where we can all get together and figure this out

[48:33] and work together on this.

[48:35] And so the third part is we,

[48:38] I see an initiative starting now

[48:40] with having a work committee trying to figure out how,

[48:44] how to go about this.

[48:46] And that's, that could be the genesis of a council,

[48:48] or whatever word we want to use.

[48:51] I, it's very imperative that we have a,

[48:57] a group, a council, a group of people that,

[49:00] that are pulling together all types of interests

[49:03] and a diversity of people in a way that, that they can be

[49:08] delegated to what needs to happen.

[49:12] And if you could use the analogy of an orchestra,

[49:16] and an orchestra has a conductor, well,

[49:19] we can have the council be a group of conductors,

[49:23] but then in the orchestra we've got a section for the, the,

[49:28] the strings and another section that,

[49:30] that does the brass and so forth.

[49:33] So that's the way it is in our,

[49:35] that's why we have this terrific strength and potential.

[49:39] We have all these different categories of willing partners

[49:44] that can enter into working together on making

[49:48] rock view a dream.

[49:50] Examples of some of those categories are the agricultural

[49:54] groups such as the d the different

[49:59] people at Penn State working on

[50:04] my mind is blanking, right?

[50:06] But, okay, that's one group is the agricultural people like

[50:09] the Conservation District

[50:11] and the Ag extension is another,

[50:16] you know, those are people that could play with that.

[50:19] And then there's also groups like in in,

[50:22] in our planning commissions and,

[50:24] and our, our governmental groups could all lend a hand.

[50:28] And then there are the nonprofits

[50:31] and there's the tourism industries and so forth.

[50:34] Everybody can play their part.

[50:36] But if you could have this, the conductors tell

[50:41] specifically what tasks each group should do, it,

[50:46] it, it won't be as difficult to pull the whole thing off.

[50:51] And one of the tasks that I see that could happen would be

[50:56] to have a communications network.

[50:59] So there could be a site on the computer

[51:04] where people could, could share their ideas for rockview

[51:09] and we could collect them.

[51:10] And then, like we did

[51:12] with way back when we had the people come from all over the

[51:15] country world to help us

[51:17] with our Spring Creek watershed years ago,

[51:19] what they did is they took those, those ideas

[51:24] and they found where there was consensus

[51:26] and then they went back to the people

[51:28] and said, well, which do you rate?

[51:30] Which do you want the most?

[51:31] So this is building a chorus within your orchestra of

[51:36] who wants what we want as, as in a consensus way

[51:40] of what we wanna do.

[51:42] But it should always be tempered with the integrity

[51:45] watching out for the land itself.

[51:50] Okay. So principles in running this whole thing should be

[51:54] that no one group should be the dominant force that we all

[51:59] seek to work together as a team.

[52:02] What are some ideas of how this, this could happen?

[52:07] What, what, what are some ideas of a view?

[52:10] Well, I see as being like trifold, one would be

[52:15] a park, two would be an, an extensive use

[52:19] of the agricultural land.

[52:22] All kinds of ways.

[52:25] Pollinator gardens

[52:27] and gardens that would teach us how to,

[52:33] to work with, with organically gardens where people,

[52:37] different groups, we not, not me, can come in and,

[52:42] and have 50 acre tracks

[52:44] and grow food for the hungry gardens,

[52:46] where the prisoners could also help work on their land.

[52:50] And one of the task forces could be an economic task force

[52:54] that could show how we can actually save type taxpayers

[52:58] money by doing all these different types of things.

[53:02] So in addition to the agriculture, the third part,

[53:06] which is sort of maybe a newer part, is

[53:10] to have it be a learning ecological learning center

[53:14] where we could actually have people

[53:19] do research as well as learn how to have,

[53:23] make the best of, of their,

[53:25] their own home gardens like Doug Tmy suggests.

[53:30] And this could be a showcase for our state.

[53:32] We could bring in tourism to see

[53:34] what this learning center can show,

[53:36] because we've got all this wonderful research and, and,

[53:40] and energies at, at Penn State

[53:43] that the sustainability initiative

[53:46] and all the students we could, there's

[53:48] so much material here we have to work with.

[53:51] So I think it's extremely exciting.

[53:53] And I have a book for each of you

[53:56] from Doug Talley's latest book called

[53:59] Nature's Best Nature.

[54:01] What is the Nature's Best Promise? Nature's Best Hope. Yes.

[54:05] And he, he could, he could, he could be one

[54:09] of the projects on this learning center

[54:11] that could really take us really up at a high level.

[54:17] I just wanna share with you that today my van driver,

[54:21] I asked him, what do you,

[54:23] what do you think should happen with Rockview?

[54:25] He said, it should be environmental, that we should work

[54:29] with the land and that we should learn how to care for it.

[54:33] And then he said, I wanna walk with my son.

[54:38] I wanna hike with him, whether it is

[54:41] where it could be of real beauty.

[54:43] That was his wish.

[54:46] So I feel that you are a significant

[54:51] potential for us, you the commission in playing a very,

[54:56] very important role in bringing

[54:59] a very amazing scenario to fruition

[55:04] because you have the, the commitment

[55:08] through stewardship and you have the skills of leadership.

[55:12] I think it would be wonderful if when we

[55:18] in the future drive by Rockview

[55:22] and we see treetops not

[55:27] rooftops, we see fields of green

[55:31] that beckon to us to come

[55:35] and rekindle our love of nature. Thank you.

[55:41] - Thank you, thank you.

[55:46] - I think that at our Public Hearing at slo,

[55:51] Barbara's comments stimulated a great amount of

[55:56] thought and inspiration.

[55:59] I know that probably everyone in this room has had

[56:04] conversations with family

[56:06] or neighbors since that Public Hearing.

[56:11] I can report that.

[56:14] The letter that was sent by Clearwater

[56:17] and the 12 stakeholder groups to the governor

[56:21] and tried unlimited senate letter.

[56:23] We sent a letter conversations amongst all of those

[56:30] entities are ongoing about how to formulate

[56:35] the community

[56:40] task force that you're referencing.

[56:43] And that was included in those letters to the governor.

[56:47] So those discussions are ongoing

[56:51] and there has been meaningful progress.

[56:57] I'm not really at liberty to get too far out front on

[57:02] those discussions,

[57:04] but I think everyone should be aware that they're going on

[57:08] and that there's work underway

[57:13] to start to formulate along the lines of

[57:19] your suggestions, Barbara,

[57:21] that community task force.

[57:26] - Thank you. - Any other comments about Rockview

[57:31] or things that we should be paying attention to?

[57:35] David's comments from earlier about the discussions ongoing

[57:39] at Benner are most significant

[57:42] and Yes, Gretchen.

[57:46] - Yeah. I

[57:52] I I guess I'm, I'm wondering since I'm a rep from college

[57:57] and a third of the land is in college, I,

[58:06] I just wonder what role

[58:10] the Township can play

[58:13] and just don't want there to be an opportunity

[58:18] or opportunities where we could have done something

[58:22] that might have made a difference

[58:24] and then somehow we didn't see it in time or,

[58:27] because I mean, there's, there's

[58:32] definitely, I I can say unanimous desire amongst the council

[58:37] to good do everything, you know, that, that we can,

[58:41] to make Barbara Fisher's words come true.

[58:46] The question is, you know, for those who are

[58:51] experienced and experts in local government, how do we,

[58:55] how do we actually make this happen?

[58:57] And it's, it, it's, you know, kind of

[59:02] seen into the future

[59:04] and then seizing on those opportunities that maybe aren't

[59:09] that visible, you know,

[59:12] to, to most people.

[59:14] Right. So anyway, I I,

[59:20] I, I, because I haven't really gotten a lot of straight

[59:23] answers from people

[59:25] that I've asked about process, process, process.

[59:28] 'cause that's normally my default. Yes. Yes.

[59:32] And I, I just kind of feel like

[59:35] what I would normally do would be to follow the process.

[59:39] Yes. And usually that produces good outcome, right.

[59:44] That everybody is okay with

[59:45] because they were a part of the process.

[59:47] Right. This time with this particular instance, lots of,

[59:51] I hear lots of references to the Spring Creek Canyon project

[59:55] and there that those references were made again tonight

[59:58] about that and sort of to mimic that

[1:00:01] or di ditto that to do that again.

[1:00:03] Right. So I wasn't around for that back then,

[1:00:07] but just as, as a rep from college, I wanna say I want

[1:00:12] to do whatever I can do.

[1:00:13] Yep. In my role as a rep from college,

[1:00:17] I'm just not exactly sure Right.

[1:00:20] How to execute that. Right.

[1:00:22] But I definitely, from anybody

[1:00:24] that knows more than I do about it, would love to do that.

[1:00:31] - If I could. A good comment, if I could comment

[1:00:33] on that just a little bit.

[1:00:34] I think everybody's kind of on that, in that situation,

[1:00:38] the state as well as the municipalities don't know what

[1:00:42] to do with this because things have been done

[1:00:46] where there's been prison sites closed in the state before,

[1:00:51] and then they were given over to perhaps to the Department

[1:00:55] of Natural Conservation and natural resources

[1:00:57] or some other uses, but they were, you know,

[1:01:00] maybe 25 acre sites.

[1:01:02] This is almost a 6,000 acre site.

[1:01:04] It's a whole magnitude difference.

[1:01:07] And so that's one of the problems is, well some,

[1:01:11] something that I've heard is in discussions is a suggestions

[1:01:15] that everybody needs to come to the table.

[1:01:17] But the problem is there is no table,

[1:01:20] so the table needs to be formed.

[1:01:22] Right. And this is kind of a first step towards Right.

[1:01:26] That towards getting together at least a, you know,

[1:01:30] a local vision for so we can show a local vision.

[1:01:33] Yeah. You know, and,

[1:01:34] and you know, the, the idea

[1:01:39] of the conservation overlay that was talked about earlier,

[1:01:44] it really kind of, it, it doesn't prevent

[1:01:49] future development,

[1:01:50] but it does put kind of a little pause on it.

[1:01:53] And, and as far as the municipal wherewithal

[1:01:58] to, to do something with the lands, no,

[1:02:02] there is existing Zoning that's, that is applicable.

[1:02:05] Right. So, you know, a lot of the land is zoned

[1:02:09] for agriculture of forestry and so forth.

[1:02:12] Yes. There is some that's zoned commercial. Right.

[1:02:16] So you know that that's already in place.

[1:02:19] And so it's kind of looking forward a little bit to,

[1:02:24] you know, preventing pre, not preventing

[1:02:26] but presenting a vision, I

[1:02:28] - Think.

[1:02:29] Yes. Why

[1:02:30] - Can to the Zoning issue

[1:02:33] that has been brought up to me before,

[1:02:37] and I was speaking with Paul AKs office

[1:02:41] and they said Zoning, Zoning, Zoning.

[1:02:45] That that's, that's the key.

[1:02:47] And so I, I know that there's Zoning

[1:02:51] existing already, but Right.

[1:02:53] If the Township,

[1:02:56] and here I'm speaking as one of five, if the Township were

[1:03:01] to need to change the Zoning in order

[1:03:06] to prepare for an overlay or,

[1:03:11] or whatever would be positive

[1:03:15] to make these goals be achieved, then

[1:03:20] I would think it would be a good idea to start working on

[1:03:23] that sooner rather than later. Right.

[1:03:25] - And - I, so, and I'm not a Zoning expert Yeah.

[1:03:28] But just as a member of the commission. Yes. Okay.

[1:03:34] Anybody who knows a lot about Zoning

[1:03:38] and sustainability may, may wanna come and talk to me.

[1:03:44] - Yes. Well I can reassure, reassure both of you that

[1:03:48] in the discussions that are underway about the formulation

[1:03:52] of a community group

[1:03:57] to move forward, Benner

[1:04:00] and College Township will be active members.

[1:04:04] That is a given.

[1:04:06] And those discussions are underway now.

[1:04:10] So I think that it's

[1:04:15] not too far in the future.

[1:04:16] There will be more information about that.

[1:04:19] - Yeah. And I was also told by Paul Teaks office that

[1:04:26] That route of using Zoning

[1:04:30] to help achieve these goals is pretty solid

[1:04:35] in that, according to them, the people that I talked

[1:04:39] to in his office, the state will not go against

[1:04:43] local Zoning.

[1:04:46] They will not do that. And so,

[1:04:48] but if it's already in place Right, then it's solid.

[1:04:52] But if it's like, oh, we'll talk about that later. Right.

[1:04:55] And then I know everybody's saying it'll take years,

[1:04:58] but it's kind of like travel.

[1:04:59] Right. You know? Yeah.

[1:05:01] You rush, rush, rush, rush, rush to wait. Yeah.

[1:05:04] And so I'd rather rush, rush, rush

[1:05:07] to have something established Yes.

[1:05:11] In, in terms of Zoning than to wait until we hear, oh,

[1:05:16] this is gonna be decided in this state committee tomorrow,

[1:05:20] state legislative committee tomorrow or Right.

[1:05:22] You know, I I, right. You know,

[1:05:23] that's a hypothetical, but Right.

[1:05:25] Anyway, yeah. The, the i I know that the Zoning

[1:05:28] is really key. Yeah,

[1:05:30] - It is.

[1:05:31] It is. Anything else?

[1:05:36] - I had like to just add a little bit more clarification on

[1:05:39] the work group and that approach, the watershed commission,

[1:05:44] we have our storm water work group, which was self-organized

[1:05:48] by the Fish and Boat Commission

[1:05:50] and the Susquehanna River Basin Commission.

[1:05:52] And they operate on a work plan so

[1:05:56] that they can identify projects

[1:05:57] and kind of move more agilely than a,

[1:05:59] than a traditional committee that's not necessarily ruled

[1:06:02] by one one organization.

[1:06:05] And so we had discussion on the rock view work group at the

[1:06:09] last meeting and then it was discussed again in the

[1:06:12] executive committee meeting.

[1:06:14] And so we're going to proceed

[1:06:16] and just so the commission knows kind of the strategy,

[1:06:18] because it is a huge issue

[1:06:20] and it's easy to get really big really fast

[1:06:24] throughout the spring.

[1:06:25] We have had educational sessions throughout the community,

[1:06:30] we've had the public hearings

[1:06:32] and the primary partners that have been a part

[1:06:35] of those initiatives include Clearwater Conservancy,

[1:06:38] the Centre County Farm Bureau, College Township,

[1:06:41] Benner Township, the Chamber of Business and Industry

[1:06:44] and Mountain Knee Conservancy.

[1:06:47] And so one of the first steps

[1:06:51] to just getting this conversation off the ground

[1:06:53] and building that table for people to sit around is

[1:06:57] that we are going to organize an initial kind

[1:07:00] of kickoff meeting with those partners in those initiatives

[1:07:03] that have been sending these letters

[1:07:05] and part of the campaign to begin with.

[1:07:08] And then they can kind of think about the strategy

[1:07:11] and the work group and as one cohesive work group,

[1:07:15] we can then think about how are we going

[1:07:17] to then synthesize the community's vision,

[1:07:20] how are we gonna communicate, you know,

[1:07:22] the best practices for this situation.

[1:07:24] So that will be coming up

[1:07:26] and any input that you have into the conversation,

[1:07:30] we need any input that we can get

[1:07:32] or feedback that we could get.

[1:07:33] But that's kind of just a little bit about the strategy for

[1:07:36] how we'll get things off the ground.

[1:07:38] - Right. - Well if I can ask a, just a quick question.

[1:07:40] Are you talking about an additional work group

[1:07:42] that we're looking to form or are you talking about the work

[1:07:44] group that's existing

[1:07:46] - That's under discussion about how it would be organized

[1:07:51] and not, there's a, there is agreement

[1:07:55] that there shouldn't be one local entity that controls it

[1:07:59] and it's, which makes it

[1:08:05] a little bit more challenging to organize.

[1:08:07] But all of

[1:08:11] what Elise mentioned is at play

[1:08:16] - And, but kind of talking about the groups that are kind

[1:08:18] of loosely speaking right now.

[1:08:20] Right. Not talking about a duplicated effort. Right.

[1:08:24] - Yeah. Right. Yep.

[1:08:25] A singular effort that will mobilize folks

[1:08:29] and have a sit down so that many of the ideas

[1:08:34] that Barbara suggested suggested with

[1:08:39] experts in certain areas associated with

[1:08:44] the land, the water, the forest, the recharge, as well as

[1:08:50] governmental involvement, as well as understanding

[1:08:56] the need for a communication network, how

[1:09:00] information can be spread, all of those things are being,

[1:09:05] they're part of those discussions.

[1:09:07] Yeah. Yeah.

[1:09:09] And I can reassure you, I've been involved in a few of them

[1:09:14] with a lot of the organizations that are working

[1:09:19] to try and pull this together

[1:09:21] and the commission is one of the organizations that's

[1:09:26] urging this to come together.

[1:09:29] - Yeah. - Okay.

[1:09:35] - I just would like to thank Barbara again

[1:09:37] and when she speaks about rock view, I kind

[1:09:40] of envision this jewel and,

[1:09:42] and when Barbara describes it's a, some

[1:09:43] of the facets on the jewel, there are many facets here

[1:09:47] and we need to bring this to light.

[1:09:50] - Yeah. - Yeah.

[1:09:55] - Moving back to the agenda, I know we've got conversations

[1:10:00] for the second part of the meeting.

[1:10:04] Seven C, the county action plan,

[1:10:07] the sub-award program.

[1:10:11] - Yeah. So this is a, a grant program I, that is facilitated

[1:10:15] by the Centre County Conservation District

[1:10:18] and HRG Engineering, they have a sub-award grant program.

[1:10:22] It actually ends today.

[1:10:23] But I just wanted to give an update that Kevin Abbey

[1:10:28] and I were able to do some outreach with Ferguson Township

[1:10:30] so that they could apply for the grant program.

[1:10:33] So I know it is closing,

[1:10:35] but it's great that this conversation has resulted in

[1:10:39] help being able to help with more applications.

[1:10:42] So one of the contenders

[1:10:44] for the program will be an expansion of Lawn

[1:10:47] to Meadow conversion at Two Deck Park. Right

[1:10:51] - On the Township owned portion of two Deck Park.

[1:10:55] Yes. Yep. That's under discussion. Yep, yep.

[1:10:57] - And there's a couple other applicants where even

[1:11:00] the HRG coordinators are kind of sharing the awareness

[1:11:04] for whatever maintenance is the barrier

[1:11:07] to why people aren't applying our acres.

[1:11:09] My work crew is able to come in

[1:11:12] and help reduce that barrier

[1:11:13] through the establishment phase,

[1:11:15] which we'll talk about in a minute.

[1:11:17] - That plays right into seven DI know you wanted

[1:11:20] to make sure everyone was aware of the

[1:11:27] activities from the summer with the My Work program

[1:11:33] and Ethan is here so we want to acknowledge Ethan Baldwin.

[1:11:38] Yes, go ahead Elise.

[1:11:40] - We'll whip through this presentation quickly as a team.

[1:11:44] But the, just a refresher, we hosted a My work

[1:11:47] crew this past summer through Acres.

[1:11:50] The students get paid by the Office

[1:11:51] of Vocational Rehabilitation.

[1:11:53] We don't contribute, we just host it

[1:11:55] and develop the work plan.

[1:11:57] So this crew was able to go out

[1:11:59] and help all of the different community partners with

[1:12:02] successful implementation of watershed stewardship projects.

[1:12:06] So I'll let Ethan also introduce himself.

[1:12:10] - Hi, I'm Ethan. I am currently serving

[1:12:13] as a full-time AmeriCorps member

[1:12:14] for the Keystone Water Resources.

[1:12:16] But as at least had mentioned, I was hired

[1:12:19] as an acres job coach for this my work crew.

[1:12:22] So this slideshow here is gonna go over

[1:12:25] some of the stuff that we did this summer.

[1:12:27] That's my crew.

[1:12:29] - Yeah, we have Owen Lu. I'll go left to right. That's me.

[1:12:32] You probably know me. I'm Elise Owen Ludwig.

[1:12:35] We had Chris Aiden and then Ethan is on the right.

[1:12:38] So this was our work crew and we had a whole lot of fun.

[1:12:43] - These are the partners that we worked with

[1:12:45] for the projects over the summer,

[1:12:47] including Centre County Cap.

[1:12:54] Here are the projects that we did just very briefly,

[1:12:58] we're gonna go through these.

[1:13:01] So this is out at Calvary Church Managing Invasive Species.

[1:13:05] This is part of the CAP program maintaining the nurse crop

[1:13:10] as we tried to establish a native meadow out there by the,

[1:13:16] forget the name of it, but it's the bike park

[1:13:17] that's at Cal Church.

[1:13:19] - Yeah, I think it's the Hamer Bike.

[1:13:21] Mountain Bike Trail that's right

[1:13:22] between Calvary Church and Climb Knee. It's

[1:13:25] - Right there.

[1:13:26] - This is the Calvary Church in Harris Township. Yep. Yep.

[1:13:30] - These are trees lining the Hamer bike park.

[1:13:33] These, these little tubes at the base of the trees.

[1:13:38] We were trying it out. It's a way to effectively water them

[1:13:42] throughout basic the week.

[1:13:45] This is currently, well this photo was taken maybe two weeks

[1:13:49] ago, but this is currently what it looks like right now

[1:13:51] after the work we did this summer to establish this meadow,

[1:13:55] maintain it, make sure that it's thriving

[1:13:58] and from

[1:14:00] what we've heard people are loving the do right now.

[1:14:03] - The feedback is that it's a wonderland.

[1:14:05] And also I sit in on the Centre County Cap monthly meetings

[1:14:10] as a partner and they have multiple

[1:14:12] of these projects throughout the, the watershed

[1:14:16] and other watersheds in Centre County.

[1:14:19] The Calvary project was the only one, this was the pilot

[1:14:22] for getting our, my work crew involved

[1:14:23] in the establishment phase.

[1:14:24] And when they were through showing the status updates

[1:14:27] of the various project, they went through all of them.

[1:14:30] Some of them had some issues here or there or whatever.

[1:14:33] And they pulled up the calvary one

[1:14:35] and they said this is what an

[1:14:37] establishing meadow should look like. Yeah. So

[1:14:40] - That's great.

[1:14:41] - And then also building on the watershed cleanup day, we

[1:14:45] threw the right in the ring on like

[1:14:47] their first week of work.

[1:14:48] They helped organize and supervise 60 volunteers from St.

[1:14:53] Joe's down in Philadelphia.

[1:14:54] They were up for a Penn State camp. Wonderful.

[1:14:56] So they did some cleanups along the roads

[1:14:59] and then also helping out in Bald Eagle,

[1:15:01] which does need more attention

[1:15:07] - On West Whitehall Road.

[1:15:09] In Ferguson Township there's Windy Hill Farm,

[1:15:12] there's a riparian buffer running alongside a stream on

[1:15:16] this farm.

[1:15:18] We went out there and replaced a lot of the tree tubes

[1:15:20] that are currently closing,

[1:15:24] establishing trees in that buffer.

[1:15:27] - That one's worth mentioning. Ethan.

[1:15:30] This is a, a conserved property that sits

[1:15:36] just across Route 45 from the Musser gap.

[1:15:40] This is the home of Brandt and Cindy Pasquinelli

[1:15:44] and it's got a huge wetland area

[1:15:49] and slab cabin run flows through Windy Hill

[1:15:53] and it has been in the system.

[1:15:58] There's a beautiful spring at Windy Hill

[1:16:01] that has been monitored by

[1:16:04] the data collection in the watershed for 25,

[1:16:09] maybe even 30 years.

[1:16:11] It's immediately adjacent to, yeah. Right. Yep.

[1:16:14] At your pointer is the spring

[1:16:16] and this is immediately,

[1:16:17] this property's immediately adjacent to the greenway

[1:16:21] that goes from Musser and comes up to Whitehall Road

[1:16:26] and to the new regional park.

[1:16:28] Thank you. Yeah. So

[1:16:32] - This is the Tom Tig Monarch Butterfly Way station

[1:16:36] that our group constructed this summer.

[1:16:39] Right there it was just a patch of grass

[1:16:42] and now it is mulched over.

[1:16:44] We planted milkweed in there.

[1:16:47] Very specific kind of milkweed that monarch butterflies

[1:16:52] only go for when it's that turn for their lifecycle.

[1:16:56] It's coming along very nicely.

[1:17:01] In Ferguson Township we worked with HRG

[1:17:07] using maps that they provided with RJS.

[1:17:10] We placed these MS four storm drain medallions

[1:17:15] at, I'm gonna say just shy

[1:17:18] of 200 different drains and two work days

[1:17:23] - That the feedback on that one is

[1:17:25] the work crew always outperforms the work

[1:17:27] that they're handed and so they were blowing

[1:17:30] through placing these medallions.

[1:17:32] - That's great. They couldn't give us the maps fast enough.

[1:17:35] - No. - This is a sneer butterfly

[1:17:39] satellite garden at the U-U-F-C-C church

[1:17:44] off of West Whitehall Road.

[1:17:48] I believe it's adjacent to the yards out there. Yeah. Yeah.

[1:17:51] We cleaned up the garden, allowing them

[1:17:55] to land new stuff in there.

[1:17:58] - Our work crew also got trained in how

[1:18:00] to use dissolve oxygen meters and so they went out

[1:18:02] and did some dissolved oxygen assessments and then also

[1:18:06] provided some much needed extra feet in kicking

[1:18:08] around the stream, finding temperature loggers

[1:18:09] for Keystone Water Resources Center.

[1:18:16] - This was July?

[1:18:17] - Yeah, this was the July commission meeting tour

[1:18:20] that they attended. Yeah.

[1:18:22] - We attended a a FAC UHAA facility tour

[1:18:27] tour of the facility, learned a lot about water treatment,

[1:18:31] and I would say I was incredibly

[1:18:33] impressed with the facility.

[1:18:34] And so was Owen. He, he was pretty into it.

[1:18:39] - That's what getting through all of these different

[1:18:42] projects and getting the exposure, like, yes,

[1:18:44] it's helping successfully implement projects

[1:18:46] and it's also contributing so hugely

[1:18:49] to workforce development of underserved populations.

[1:18:53] So I'm so glad that they were able

[1:18:55] to get all this different exposure.

[1:18:56] We were able to be agile and respond to what they wanted.

[1:18:59] And I had a great time working with the crew.

[1:19:02] On one of my lunch breaks, I brought my cat

[1:19:03] to two deck park and we walked him around.

[1:19:06] So again, we had a lot of fun.

[1:19:08] - Yeah. It's much needed. Very important work.

[1:19:10] - So by the end of the summer, we ended up with building

[1:19:14] that reputation where we had a lot of different people,

[1:19:16] like be font burrow, coming to us

[1:19:18] with things that they needed help with.

[1:19:20] We even ran out of time

[1:19:21] before we could get through everything.

[1:19:23] 'cause you know, towards the end everyone was

[1:19:24] like, wait, no, we need this too.

[1:19:26] So we already have a wait list of projects

[1:19:29] for this program next summer.

[1:19:31] So if anybody else has any ideas,

[1:19:33] it's never too early to share them.

[1:19:36] - That's wonderful. Thank you Ian. Ethan, you're

[1:19:39] - Very welcome.

[1:19:40] - Yeah. The, the only question I have, the, the,

[1:19:45] the medallion that you're placing,

[1:19:49] would it be possible to make that like a regional,

[1:19:53] regional medallion at, like,

[1:19:58] when I'm out in the Pacific Northwest,

[1:20:01] it's like everything is for the salmon.

[1:20:04] So every time you see a drain

[1:20:06] or anything, the,

[1:20:07] the little medallion says protect the salmon.

[1:20:11] And, you know, yeah, there's, we come up with a cute, yeah,

[1:20:15] cute little logo for our medallion,

[1:20:19] for within the, the watershed,

[1:20:23] - It would be an item for discussion.

[1:20:24] Yeah. With these medallions, I will say they were purchased

[1:20:27] by the Township as part of the MS four permit.

[1:20:29] Right. For them to get credit for.

[1:20:31] So they are quite expensive

[1:20:33] and so they were kind of sitting in the closet

[1:20:35] and they didn't have the manpower to install 'em.

[1:20:38] So we were able to get them out

[1:20:41] of the closet and into the field. That's

[1:20:42] - Great.

[1:20:43] Okay. But now you're, now, now you're out of medallions

[1:20:46] and you got more places to go.

[1:20:47] Yeah. Yes. Okay.

[1:20:50] - Okay. - I've seen some medallions on campus

[1:20:53] and I think they key into the ches,

[1:20:55] the water scale, Chesapeake Bay.

[1:20:59] Okay. Could I ask now we've talked about the work group for,

[1:21:04] for Rockview, but I don't think we've ever,

[1:21:06] we haven't officially established it.

[1:21:08] Do we need to do that now or?

[1:21:11] - Well, the, the discussions

[1:21:13] that are underway in the community, I think,

[1:21:18] take immediate precedence.

[1:21:21] It's not something we will own.

[1:21:24] So it isn't something that we need to implement.

[1:21:28] We will be part of it.

[1:21:31] So I think that's

[1:21:34] to come up when we hear back from our partners.

[1:21:39] - So it's not one of our typical work

[1:21:41] groups. This is a different,

[1:21:43] - At the moment it's not different

[1:21:45] - Thing.

[1:21:46] Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

[1:21:47] - Interesting. I do just wanna chime in as somebody

[1:21:49] who rides up at Harvest Fields a lot, it's awesome.

[1:21:53] Like, you guys did a heck

[1:21:55] of a job up there seeing it from years past to, you know,

[1:22:00] I think two weeks ago was probably the last time I rode out

[1:22:02] there when it looked like that.

[1:22:04] It's awesome. So great work.

[1:22:07] - That's great. Okay, moving to new business,

[1:22:12] you wanted to announce our, we've selected

[1:22:16] our 26 27 AmeriCorps member,

[1:22:20] Alicia McIntyre.

[1:22:22] - Yeah. We interviewed five candidates

[1:22:24] and we're very excited

[1:22:25] to have Alicia start on the 25th of September.

[1:22:29] She will be hosted in the Ferguson Township building, so

[1:22:33] we've got the keys made up for her waiting for her arrival.

[1:22:36] Her desk will be right next

[1:22:37] to Ethan Baldwin Keystone's AmeriCorps member.

[1:22:39] So there'll be close collaboration there.

[1:22:42] But she is extremely eager.

[1:22:44] She has such a passion for this work.

[1:22:47] She's a mother and she's just ready

[1:22:49] to really get out there and make a difference. Yeah.

[1:22:52] - Good. And then finally

[1:22:58] under new business call for projects.

[1:23:00] - Yeah, I think we can kind

[1:23:02] of bundle this into the educational topic,

[1:23:05] but just to set Okay.

[1:23:06] A, I guess make a comment

[1:23:08] and feel free to pitch in when we get to the next item,

[1:23:11] but we really would like to see some input

[1:23:14] of potential projects from each municipalities.

[1:23:18] We want to create a, a list of different projects

[1:23:21] that we could have throughout the watershed.

[1:23:23] So anything that you can do as representatives

[1:23:26] of your townships or your community, if you see

[1:23:30] or identify a potential project

[1:23:32] or a potential pitfall that could use our help,

[1:23:35] we really could use your help in identifying them.

[1:23:38] - Okay. Yeah. - Any you're,

[1:23:42] - You're saying for the Spring Creek Watershed commission

[1:23:46] or are you saying for like the,

[1:23:50] with the acres students and

[1:23:54] - Both. Yeah. But

[1:23:56] - I think Okay.

[1:23:57] - Once projects come forward, we can figure out the best way

[1:24:01] to link them in.

[1:24:03] - Okay. Yeah. - Acres is one tool that we have

[1:24:05] to make it happen.

[1:24:07] - Okay. - Okay.

[1:24:09] And then number nine are around the robin about

[1:24:14] watershed related news from member municipalities.

[1:24:18] Anyone have something they'd like to share?

[1:24:23] - Yeah, I went from Benner Township.

[1:24:26] There's been, you know, a number

[1:24:28] of discussions ongoing there about some potential

[1:24:34] Zoning changes that could, you know, we impact the water.

[1:24:40] One of them is, is development of a,

[1:24:43] a data center Zoning Ordinance.

[1:24:45] And that's, that's ongoing

[1:24:47] and that is going to be probably brought up

[1:24:50] for public review and comment in the next few months.

[1:24:56] Also, there looking at an agritourism Zoning

[1:25:03] to, I'm not sure exactly, you know, what,

[1:25:08] what the overall reach of that is,

[1:25:10] but, you know, they are looking at, you know, local tourism

[1:25:15] and it would, you know, basically help

[1:25:18] to control just access and things like that and,

[1:25:22] and manage any kind of like, you know,

[1:25:25] tourist tourist festival or something.

[1:25:27] Okay. And then as we, as we already discussed, looking at

[1:25:32] potential conservation overlay map right

[1:25:37] onto the rock site.

[1:25:39] - Thanks. - Yeah. Anyone else?

[1:25:43] - I'm, I'm gonna ask Joanne,

[1:25:45] do you have anything from the planning side for Beon?

[1:25:55] - The reason John is asking me

[1:25:57] to do this is I chair the Ordinance ad hoc

[1:26:00] committee for the Borough.

[1:26:02] We just finished and have sent out proposed

[1:26:09] Ordinance updates on fees in lieu of parks so

[1:26:13] that we can help improve our park system

[1:26:16] and improving the planning for

[1:26:22] traffic impact studies.

[1:26:24] When we looked at the both of those sections,

[1:26:26] they were both one sentence long

[1:26:28] and didn't give any clear say what we were going to do

[1:26:33] or how we're going to do it.

[1:26:34] It's now about 10 pages long,

[1:26:38] but that's, they were just sent out last week

[1:26:42] for the 30 day review to the municipalities

[1:26:45] and to the NI Valley Joint Planning

[1:26:48] Commission and to the county.

[1:26:49] All three groups are looking at it right now.

[1:26:54] I wanna thank Elise for giving us

[1:26:58] coming walking around.

[1:27:01] Krause Park with us, the Spring Creek Watershed Commission,

[1:27:05] and I don't know if it's Keystone Resources

[1:27:07] or Keystone Water Resources Center.

[1:27:09] Okay. They're going,

[1:27:11] we have a Krause Park at the very end comes

[1:27:13] to a very narrow tip

[1:27:15] and we've been losing a lot of land to AR erosion.

[1:27:19] So she agreed for the next two years we're going

[1:27:22] to be actually marking to see how much land we're doing

[1:27:26] and figure out how to mitigate this problem so

[1:27:28] that we don't lose more of the park

[1:27:30] that's right into the stream.

[1:27:32] - That's wonderful. - And you spoke of data centers.

[1:27:37] The Ordinance ad hoc committee in Bellon has for the last

[1:27:42] three months or so, has just kind of a general overview

[1:27:45] of what's going on, how's this happening, what's happening?

[1:27:48] At our meeting last week,

[1:27:50] we actually started looking at model Ordinance

[1:27:53] and saying, this is what we can and can't do.

[1:27:56] Knowing that, that within each region

[1:28:01] you have to be able to have a used put somewhere.

[1:28:04] So we're looking at what Beon can do without hurting

[1:28:08] our citizens and businesses.

[1:28:10] And one of the things

[1:28:12] that the NI Valley Joint Planning Commission is tomorrow

[1:28:16] is looking at an inter municipal agreement to talk about

[1:28:21] how we share uses and have it put in official language.

[1:28:24] Right now we say we do it,

[1:28:26] but there's nothing there to, to say

[1:28:29] that we should be doing it.

[1:28:30] Right. So that's gonna be a discussion

[1:28:31] at tomorrow night's meeting.

[1:28:34] - Thank you. That's a topic of conversation at a lot

[1:28:37] of the member municipalities last evening.

[1:28:41] Ferguson is looking at

[1:28:45] following the model that college developed in terms of

[1:28:51] making data centers a

[1:28:56] conditional use so that any

[1:29:00] that were presented would have direct involvement

[1:29:04] of the decision makers as you go forward.

[1:29:07] But yeah, lots going on there

[1:29:11] and a lot of discussion for some

[1:29:15] of these things came out of the authorities committee when

[1:29:20] Cory Miller, along with Ray Linas

[1:29:23] and Pam Adams talked a lot about what's out there,

[1:29:27] what can be done, what does the NPC allow

[1:29:31] Municipal planning code in Pennsylvania.

[1:29:34] Yeah. Anything else on around the watershed?

[1:29:40] Okay. If not, let's move to item 10.

[1:29:47] And it's my understanding that rather than have

[1:29:52] a educational topic from outside,

[1:29:55] there was interest coming out of

[1:29:59] discussions at the Watershed Commission about

[1:30:04] talking a little bit about the format, the history

[1:30:08] of the commission, and where it might go in the future.

[1:30:14] I can give just a brief intro.

[1:30:17] Many people in this room know this,

[1:30:21] but if you're newer on the scene, you might not recollect

[1:30:26] or remember, but in the,

[1:30:30] the Spring Creek Watershed Commission came out of

[1:30:35] and was created by Centre County back 30 years ago.

[1:30:39] And it resulted from an international

[1:30:44] contingent of folks that came to the watershed, worked

[1:30:49] with Clearwater Conservancy, Centre County,

[1:30:53] the Conservation District,

[1:30:56] Western Pennsylvania Conservancy was involved,

[1:30:59] I think the Pennsylvania Environmental

[1:31:01] Commission was involved.

[1:31:03] And what was decided in the mid nineties was

[1:31:07] that there should be a government oriented

[1:31:13] entity, the Penn, the Spring Creek Watershed Commission,

[1:31:17] as well as a citizen group,

[1:31:20] which became the Spring Creek watershed community.

[1:31:24] And they worked hand in hand for many years.

[1:31:29] After 10 years, the county went to

[1:31:33] local government and said, this is what's been accomplished.

[1:31:38] During that first 10 years, the model Ordinance

[1:31:42] for stormwater that was known

[1:31:44] as the Spring Creek watershed Ordinance,

[1:31:47] was developed in the county

[1:31:49] and was adopted by many municipalities within the watershed.

[1:31:54] And the county went to member municipalities

[1:31:57] and said, we think this bird has fledged

[1:32:01] and it's time if it's gonna continue,

[1:32:05] that the municipalities take it on.

[1:32:08] So in 2007,

[1:32:14] there are a total of 14 municipalities

[1:32:18] that have some small large

[1:32:21] footprint in the watershed.

[1:32:24] And 12 of those 14 municipalities

[1:32:28] decided this is a good idea

[1:32:31] and created under state law

[1:32:35] the Spring Creek Watershed Commission.

[1:32:38] And it was part of the

[1:32:42] intergovernmental cooperation law that allowed

[1:32:47] municipalities to come together

[1:32:49] and formulate this group in

[1:32:53] 2007.

[1:32:55] So next year will be the 30th overall anniversary

[1:33:00] and 20th of the watershed commission made up

[1:33:04] of individual and municipalities.

[1:33:09] That has been a very useful charter document

[1:33:14] or enabling legislation, if you want to call it that.

[1:33:18] It came with, and the commission developed bylaws.

[1:33:23] Those bylaws were last reviewed

[1:33:27] and revised three years ago when it became apparent that

[1:33:32] the executive committee

[1:33:37] and leaders on the watershed community

[1:33:40] or commission should not strictly be elected officials.

[1:33:45] The first, what would've been 16 years,

[1:33:50] the person sitting in this chair

[1:33:53] and the vice chair, Chris

[1:33:55] under the bylaws had to be elected officials.

[1:33:59] And when we saw that in 23, we were looking at

[1:34:04] a situation where we didn't have elected officials that

[1:34:09] were active and prepared to do that.

[1:34:12] We revise the bylaws amongst other things to

[1:34:16] allow an alternate member of the commission to be

[1:34:22] a chair or vice chair.

[1:34:24] And Bob Igo, if he's still with us,

[1:34:29] was the first alternate from Harris that served

[1:34:32] as vice chair.

[1:34:34] And then when Randy stepped down, I stepped forward in

[1:34:40] July to be the chair.

[1:34:43] So that's sort of how we got here.

[1:34:47] And in the last

[1:34:52] few years, Milberg has stepped back

[1:34:55] and said that they don't want to be involved anymore.

[1:34:59] That left 11 Potter Township

[1:35:02] and Walker were active until Potter

[1:35:07] until 2025.

[1:35:10] They stepped away or told us that their

[1:35:15] on pause during this year

[1:35:17] and Walker also this year.

[1:35:21] But there's continuing discussions about how

[1:35:24] to reengage them.

[1:35:27] So Elise,

[1:35:30] - Yeah.

[1:35:31] So thanks Kevin

[1:35:31] for just giving us a refresher on the history.

[1:35:35] I know I've been involved with the Watershed Commission

[1:35:37] for almost maybe even four years now, so I can speak

[1:35:40] to it in recent years.

[1:35:42] And I think there's been a really massive beautiful shift

[1:35:44] that's occurred historically.

[1:35:46] There's been so much planning that's happened

[1:35:48] with the Watershed Commission.

[1:35:49] There's phase one, two,

[1:35:51] and three of these plans

[1:35:53] that you can find on our website under stewardship plan.

[1:35:56] And a lot of time, energy

[1:35:58] and money has been inspe invested into,

[1:36:01] on a watershed level looking at what are the threats

[1:36:04] to Spring Creek, what are potential solutions,

[1:36:06] what are potential strategies?

[1:36:09] And now with phase three, we're in the implementation phase

[1:36:13] of the, we need to do things phase.

[1:36:17] So that's great that we're now focusing on implementation

[1:36:21] and we have all of those experts that have pitched in on

[1:36:25] what it is that we need to implement in a, in order

[1:36:27] to protect for Creek

[1:36:29] and what are some of the threats that

[1:36:31] we should be paying attention to.

[1:36:34] One of the things that I have noticed in

[1:36:37] probably the past two years is a big tone shift

[1:36:39] with the community and the conversation.

[1:36:42] And now some of being able

[1:36:44] to bring together the partners in a watershed thinking lens

[1:36:49] where you're looking at an integrated system

[1:36:52] of the water authorities and the government and the business

[1:36:54] and you know, all of that on one cohesive level so

[1:36:58] that there's again, a shared table to be able to,

[1:37:00] to tackle these issues.

[1:37:02] Some of the management practices in the plants don't

[1:37:04] necessarily need to be things

[1:37:05] that are put in by the commission.

[1:37:07] Like Clearwater, they've got a beautiful repair buffer

[1:37:10] program, how can we support them?

[1:37:14] There's so many things we can do

[1:37:15] and even in the most recent past year, I've been seeing

[1:37:19] community members and partners start to come to us

[1:37:22] or our committees and say, you know, here's something

[1:37:25] that we need help with or here's what we're doing.

[1:37:28] And then we're able to figure out how we can,

[1:37:30] as the watershed commission working across the

[1:37:33] municipalities and across the organizations, bring

[1:37:36] that successful implementation to fruition.

[1:37:40] So those are some of the biggest things that I have noticed.

[1:37:44] There's numerous things in our plans

[1:37:46] that I feel like we have made progress towards,

[1:37:49] like assessing

[1:37:50] and collecting resources, identifying the best practice,

[1:37:53] getting out into the community and,

[1:37:55] and educating, you know,

[1:37:56] we're not a regulatory agency at all.

[1:37:59] We are volunteer municipal teamwork.

[1:38:02] And so being able to get out

[1:38:05] and kind of educate on the issues of Spring Creek

[1:38:07] and spark those conversations

[1:38:09] is something that's been ongoing.

[1:38:11] And then also, I know that the watershed commission's

[1:38:14] looking towards, you know, gradually increasing capacity so

[1:38:17] that we can have time to look at more

[1:38:18] of these things more holistically.

[1:38:20] So those are some

[1:38:21] of my observations from the past couple years

[1:38:24] of the Watershed Commission and,

[1:38:25] and where we've been at in transitioning from all

[1:38:29] of this planning into successful implementation.

[1:38:32] And I think that we have such a great group

[1:38:35] of resources at the table now,

[1:38:37] and now, you know, Chris agrees it's a good time

[1:38:40] to have a discussion about where we get to go from here.

[1:38:44] 'cause it's not, you know,

[1:38:45] us just saying, here's what we should do.

[1:38:46] It's, it's a, it's an ongoing collaborative conversation.

[1:38:52] - Yeah. So I'll chime in here with kind of my view

[1:38:57] of it having just joined the commission in January

[1:39:02] to kind of, you know, bouncing off some of the things

[1:39:06] that Kevin said where, you know,

[1:39:07] over the past few years we're starting to lose some

[1:39:11] of our members looking at what the,

[1:39:14] what makes this organization vital?

[1:39:17] Like, you know, if we're losing members,

[1:39:19] I think there's a lack of vitality

[1:39:21] that we show the public in what we do.

[1:39:24] And I think that's, you know, maybe just kind

[1:39:27] of the public facing of it.

[1:39:29] You know, the baseline, what we have,

[1:39:30] the Atlas is a fantastic project.

[1:39:32] The monitoring that we do is a fantastic project.

[1:39:35] And I think one of the things that we're starting

[1:39:36] to do a lot better is fostering partnerships really

[1:39:41] for the good of the watershed.

[1:39:42] And what I see as being an opportunity right now is for us

[1:39:46] to really get together

[1:39:49] and focus on what it is we do,

[1:39:52] why we do it, and how we do it.

[1:39:54] And I feel like this is something that was really kind

[1:39:57] of missing when I came in

[1:39:58] and through the discussions with executive committee,

[1:40:01] you know, really trying to figure out,

[1:40:04] you know, what is our focus?

[1:40:05] And I think it's to really preserve, protect

[1:40:09] and promote very specifically the Spring Creek watershed

[1:40:12] and to be a partner for the municipalities to come

[1:40:16] to with their ideas.

[1:40:18] I think at no point should we ever necessarily dictate,

[1:40:20] but I wanna be a trusted partner.

[1:40:22] I wanna make sure that, you know, kind of

[1:40:24] what Elise was saying, you know, calling for projects

[1:40:26] for from municipalities, ways that, you know,

[1:40:29] if we have the expertise, if we have,

[1:40:32] if we can connect the dots.

[1:40:33] And I know there's a lot of other organizations

[1:40:35] that are doing that same work as well,

[1:40:37] but I think if our focus is very specifically the Spring

[1:40:40] Creek watershed, letting that be where we spend our effort,

[1:40:44] where we spend our time, I think there's really a lot

[1:40:48] of opportunity there for us to grow.

[1:40:50] And you know, another thing

[1:40:51] that really got me very specifically

[1:40:54] interested in this conversation is looking at our budget

[1:40:57] for next year where we do have a shortfall

[1:40:59] and we're looking at, you know, I think

[1:41:02] as an elected official, I don't think you can keep tapping,

[1:41:06] you know, more per capita, you know,

[1:41:12] I don't wanna say donations, that's not what it is,

[1:41:14] but we can't keep asking

[1:41:15] for more from the member municipalities.

[1:41:19] I think what we do need to do is really start to invest in,

[1:41:24] you know, a list of projects that we have kind of ready

[1:41:26] and on hand looking at grants, looking at capacity grants so

[1:41:29] that we can actually fund Elisa's work, which would free up

[1:41:34] the money that we get from municipalities

[1:41:36] to do work specifically within the municipalities.

[1:41:38] Looking at upstream, downstream, looking at some

[1:41:42] of the municipalities that have dropped recently

[1:41:44] and showing them, you know, we have projects that we can do

[1:41:48] that are in your region.

[1:41:51] This is how we become a vital partner.

[1:41:53] And, you know, really looking at the momentum we have

[1:41:56] with the stormwater work group in identifying, you know,

[1:42:01] really kind of, I don't wanna say easier projects,

[1:42:03] but projects that are doable by a smaller organization

[1:42:08] and really starting to stack those wins as we, you know,

[1:42:12] get the capacity to take more on, we can start

[1:42:15] to match grants that come in.

[1:42:17] We can start to really make a difference across the

[1:42:20] entirety of the watershed.

[1:42:22] And I mean, for me, I think that's, that's the kind

[1:42:25] of organization I would like

[1:42:27] to see the watershed commission be like all serving

[1:42:31] specifically the health of the Spring Creek watershed.

[1:42:34] So again, that's kind of just what I've

[1:42:37] synthesized over the past nine months or so.

[1:42:41] And I'd be interested to hear from people that have been

[1:42:43] around here longer

[1:42:45] or you know, even the, the newer members, you know, kind of

[1:42:48] what you've seen, what you see

[1:42:51] or you know, just that's me kind of spouting

[1:42:53] what I see moving forward.

[1:42:56] So

[1:42:57] - If I might, just, in our founding documents,

[1:43:01] it was anticipated that as the commission started

[1:43:06] to do projects that they,

[1:43:10] the commission would define a

[1:43:15] project or a program

[1:43:17] and communicate to the municipalities where

[1:43:23] the question would become, are you interested in this?

[1:43:26] Is this one that you might like to participate in?

[1:43:29] And the, it speaks to the fact that municipalities would,

[1:43:34] you know, raise a hand and say, yeah, well

[1:43:36] that sounds interesting, give us more.

[1:43:39] And then the format is that

[1:43:44] the commission would then formulate a specific budget

[1:43:48] that would cover the cost of doing

[1:43:51] that program or that project.

[1:43:54] And for the, let's say three

[1:43:57] or five municipalities that were interested there would,

[1:44:02] they'd be presented with a budget

[1:44:06] where the commission would propose, here's the partnership,

[1:44:10] here's the project, this is how it could work, this is

[1:44:13] how it would get funded.

[1:44:14] And then go back to those municipalities to,

[1:44:20] apart from their administrative contribution,

[1:44:23] look at a specific project and decide yay or nay.

[1:44:29] My share of let's say $5,000, 10,000,

[1:44:35] fill in the blank suits our municipality

[1:44:40] and we'd like to go forward.

[1:44:41] So that was laid out in the documents 20 years ago.

[1:44:46] And it was used in the development of the

[1:44:51] developing the phase two plan.

[1:44:56] The, after the initial phase one was done in 2003,

[1:45:01] then we went back out to the commission, went

[1:45:04] to municipalities and said, phase two is gonna cost this.

[1:45:08] Are you interested in participating?

[1:45:11] There were private sector participants, some

[1:45:15] of the municipal authorities threw in money

[1:45:19] and I'd be hard pressed to remember the number,

[1:45:23] but the account that gets reported

[1:45:28] every two months at now that it has $2,100,

[1:45:33] that's the remnant from doing the phase two plan.

[1:45:37] So to your point, it was

[1:45:42] envisioned that the commission would do this,

[1:45:45] and here's kind of the protocol.

[1:45:49] Yeah.

[1:45:50] - When I kind of see the moment that we're at right now,

[1:45:53] it's, it's time to do it.

[1:45:56] Yeah. And you know, again, seeing the, you know,

[1:45:59] us going a little bit over budget next year,

[1:46:01] like it's Right, I see freeing up the funds to start

[1:46:04] to do the projects, to get us back to a, you know,

[1:46:08] really a, at least a break even.

[1:46:10] Yes. If not, you know, starting to stockpile a little more

[1:46:14] so that if we do find a project where we need to draw funds,

[1:46:18] we can support that.

[1:46:21] - And one other thing, just as a footnote, the

[1:46:25] watershed commission, with the exception of doing that,

[1:46:29] to my knowledge, with the exception

[1:46:31] of doing the phase two plan, has always been all volunteer

[1:46:36] until we started to bring in an AmeriCorps

[1:46:41] with Elise and others to have help.

[1:46:46] So, and you know, our,

[1:46:52] we've been very frugal

[1:46:54] and while we have a small budget, I think your,

[1:47:00] your point's well taken that it's a good time to

[1:47:05] start looking to do more.

[1:47:06] - Well yeah. And especially having asked, you know,

[1:47:09] raise the municipal share from 10 cents over, what,

[1:47:11] four years ago to,

[1:47:13] - It was - 25 now. Six, six

[1:47:16] - Years.

[1:47:17] 2022. It was

[1:47:17] - 2022. Yeah.

[1:47:18] - Yeah. It was 10. Yeah. - So four years ago,

[1:47:22] - That's five.

[1:47:23] - Is it, it's 2026 right now. - Right? 22, 23, 24, 25.

[1:47:27] - In any case, in any case, you have to come here knowing,

[1:47:31] knowing that we can go back to the municipalities

[1:47:33] and say, this is what you're getting

[1:47:34] for your increased chair.

[1:47:35] Right. I think that's, that's really a position of strength

[1:47:38] where we can come in

[1:47:40] and really again, prove that we're vital.

[1:47:41] Maybe invite some of the lapsed members back in. Yes.

[1:47:46] - Yeah. And the budget letter that I sent out tried to

[1:47:52] characterize what's been going on in 2026,

[1:47:56] because when we went through the budget process last year,

[1:48:02] a number of municipalities, college, Benner, Ferguson,

[1:48:07] all said, make sure you keep us up

[1:48:10] to date on what you're doing.

[1:48:13] And so that's in there.

[1:48:14] - Yeah. And it's a good letter, so I appreciate that. Yep.

[1:48:19] - Yeah. If I may speak a little bit about the history.

[1:48:22] So, you know, that international group that came in,

[1:48:26] you know, it also involved the Chesapeake Bay Foundation

[1:48:29] and, you know, there were scientists that came from Europe

[1:48:32] that came from different states, came from Maryland

[1:48:35] and so forth, all came here to study this

[1:48:37] because they, they, they recognized the significance

[1:48:42] of this watershed and they found that,

[1:48:48] that there was a need for a commission

[1:48:50] because there's such development going on.

[1:48:54] And that was kind of the push that,

[1:48:58] that needed somebody to be looking at the watershed

[1:49:01] and keeping an eye on things.

[1:49:04] And so, like I say, out of that came plan development,

[1:49:09] you know, there's these different documents.

[1:49:11] We have the phase one plan, phase two plan that have,

[1:49:14] have established goals, metrics, you know,

[1:49:19] that we can't lose sight of either, you know, and,

[1:49:22] and a lot of that has already identified these threats that,

[1:49:26] that need that we need to keep our eyes on.

[1:49:29] So, you know, one thing that we can do is kind of revisit

[1:49:32] that a little bit and refresh ourselves on some of

[1:49:35] that basic, you know, it was a lot of hard work.

[1:49:39] I was on one of the technical committees that was looking at

[1:49:45] did we have enough data

[1:49:47] or do we have gaps that we need to fill and so forth.

[1:49:50] Well, there were some gaps,

[1:49:52] but overall, you know, this is a very,

[1:49:55] very well studied watershed, so there's no lack of expertise

[1:50:00] and the commission has that role to bring

[1:50:02] that expertise together.

[1:50:04] And I think that there was some struggling to do that

[1:50:10] until we finally hired some staff, you know,

[1:50:13] because up until that point it was all volunteer

[1:50:17] and that's difficult.

[1:50:18] You know, you have municipal members who have their,

[1:50:20] their duties, you have private citizens, you know,

[1:50:23] we're just trying to contribute their time.

[1:50:25] So that was really the shift in the whole drive

[1:50:30] of this commission when,

[1:50:31] when finally started hiring some help.

[1:50:34] Yeah. And you know, that's our watershed coordinator,

[1:50:37] that's our AmeriCorps member.

[1:50:39] And you know, we,

[1:50:42] we do now we are facing some budget shortfalls

[1:50:45] because of that need.

[1:50:47] And we do have the cushion to allow this to continue.

[1:50:51] And we need that staff to help build

[1:51:00] grant request and,

[1:51:01] and look at, you know, money streams and so forth.

[1:51:04] So it's not something we can just do as volunteers.

[1:51:08] So I guess, you know,

[1:51:12] I I, I've seen the change in the commission

[1:51:15] and I, I think it's, it's, it's a, it very good direction

[1:51:19] and continuing this direction, I think

[1:51:21] that we can really help protect the watershed as,

[1:51:25] as Chris is saying, should be our goal.

[1:51:28] - Yeah. I think, I think it's just very important

[1:51:30] to really stress that this is an opportune time to strike.

[1:51:33] I think, you know, the work that Elise does is incredible,

[1:51:35] and I think it's going to allow us

[1:51:36] to do much more than we've done in the past.

[1:51:40] And I don't want to be like, you know,

[1:51:41] I'm sounding the alarm, oh my God, we need

[1:51:43] to get our budget in line.

[1:51:44] I think we can sustain a few years of this to make sure

[1:51:47] that this is something we can do.

[1:51:48] But I felt that it was important

[1:51:50] that we have this discussion.

[1:51:52] So that's actually front of mind for everybody

[1:51:55] that's on this commission, that we are really trying

[1:51:57] to pivot right now to a project

[1:52:02] and grant funded organization.

[1:52:06] So really starting to find the projects

[1:52:09] that we can work on across the watershed.

[1:52:11] And I will say, you know, with development being, you know,

[1:52:14] really the major threat

[1:52:16] and with stormwater runoff being a major threat, looking at

[1:52:19] that as being kind of a, a focus right now

[1:52:22] because we do have the stormwater work group, knowing that

[1:52:25] that's a problem that needs to be solved across the entirety

[1:52:29] of the watershed, and finding projects

[1:52:31] where we can really make

[1:52:34] differences one location at a time.

[1:52:37] I, I do think it's an opportunity to again, show

[1:52:40] that we are a vital member of the,

[1:52:43] of the conservation community.

[1:52:46] - And one of, I'm sorry, one of the things that,

[1:52:49] that Elise talked about was that pub, what was it?

[1:52:53] The public, public project viewer.

[1:52:56] So that's a, you know, helps to

[1:53:00] put us in the spotlight a little bit, you know, show

[1:53:03] what we're doing and all.

[1:53:04] But, you know, Barbara had made the suggestion in her when,

[1:53:09] when she addressed the, the commission here that

[1:53:14] we need to really involve the public a lot and,

[1:53:17] and perhaps, you know, have more of a a,

[1:53:23] some of these projects and so forth shown on the website.

[1:53:27] I believe that. That's right.

[1:53:32] So anyway, enough

[1:53:36] - Want, again, kind of get looking at the projects

[1:53:38] and the call for projects specifically

[1:53:39] that Elise, you are looking for.

[1:53:41] You know, can the elected officials on this board

[1:53:46] just get something out in your community newsletters?

[1:53:50] I know like Harris does send out the newsletter,

[1:53:51] just put out a call for Yes.

[1:53:53] You know, do you, what do you see in the watershed?

[1:53:56] Put it out to every citizen that receives an e update. Yep.

[1:54:00] You know, like we're looking,

[1:54:00] that's a really good suggestion.

[1:54:01] We're looking for, we're looking for projects

[1:54:04] and you know, don't just go to the electeds

[1:54:07] or go to the planning, like put it out to the public,

[1:54:09] say like, we are looking, we're looking for work.

[1:54:13] And as we can amass, you know, a list, then we can start

[1:54:17] to match, you know, find a grant, say this project,

[1:54:21] this project, this project.

[1:54:23] And it kind of gives us a little bit of momentum

[1:54:26] to start, you know, moving forward. Yeah.

[1:54:28] - Ethan, - Building on top of that,

[1:54:33] - I, - I think in the role that I serve

[1:54:37] as an AmeriCorps member with the Keystone Water Resources,

[1:54:40] I, in a very small capacity, could potentially help you

[1:54:46] find new projects

[1:54:47] and add to that list of projects that you want to do

[1:54:49] that concerns the health

[1:54:50] and the integrity, integrity of the Spring Creek watershed.

[1:54:55] So more specifically, just for contact's sake,

[1:55:00] it's gonna be my responsibility to carry out the Water

[1:55:05] resource monitoring project that Keystone executes

[1:55:08] by going out into the watershed, going into streams,

[1:55:12] collecting water samples, accumulating data, processing

[1:55:15] that data and publishing it.

[1:55:17] But while I'm out there in the actual physical watershed,

[1:55:20] I am the eyes

[1:55:22] and ears on the ground taking note of

[1:55:27] the health of the waters in the streams itself.

[1:55:30] If I noticed an impaired

[1:55:33] or eroding stream bank, such as the one in Tally Park,

[1:55:38] I can be there to take note of that, document it

[1:55:41] and, sorry, I believe she brought it up and bring that up

[1:55:45] and make it aware to the attention of the commission

[1:55:49] as was mentioned before, I'm gonna be

[1:55:51] in the next desk right.

[1:55:53] Over from the Commission's AmeriCorps member. Right.

[1:55:56] You know, I'll be working very, very closely. Yeah.

[1:55:59] And it's a, it can be a collaborative thing, while

[1:56:03] the things I'll be noticing will be

[1:56:06] directly from the streams.

[1:56:08] You may want a larger scope of different projects.

[1:56:12] That's just one area that I can be of help to.

[1:56:15] So I just wanna put that out there.

[1:56:17] - Thank you. That's fantastic. That's great.

[1:56:20] Everybody pitching in. Yep.

[1:56:23] - I mean the, the information

[1:56:32] Township Supervisors and Borough councils are like waves

[1:56:39] and so what, how, how, how,

[1:56:45] how they balance and how they think

[1:56:48] can change every two to four years.

[1:56:50] - Sure. Yeah. Yeah.

[1:56:52] - And so, you know,

[1:56:57] the, the collecting the information

[1:57:01] and thinking about

[1:57:05] those possible projects is also one of those things.

[1:57:10] So you have to wait for the time

[1:57:11] that you have the receptive audience

[1:57:14] - Correct.

[1:57:16] - And the given community.

[1:57:20] So it is, I-I-I-I-I,

[1:57:26] I do like your idea of making the observations

[1:57:32] and then coming back to

[1:57:36] the commission and we have been having the opportunity

[1:57:42] at that, at that point Yeah.

[1:57:45] To say, do we think we, we have a program

[1:57:50] and do we think that we have the interested communities?

[1:57:55] Because that's, as I say, it's always a wave

[1:58:01] and that sometimes that that project is going

[1:58:06] to go and maybe sometimes you're gonna have to wait for two

[1:58:09] to four years Yep.

[1:58:11] When that project does go. Yeah.

[1:58:14] - Well I think that starting that dialogue was part of what

[1:58:20] Elise brought to me was that

[1:58:26] it's a process and we need to start talking about it now

[1:58:29] and working toward it so that

[1:58:33] we can start putting projects on the table that we

[1:58:37] put a call for projects in the agenda.

[1:58:40] I think the committee meetings

[1:58:42] that go forward are gonna have that implementation focus so

[1:58:47] that while we can talk about

[1:58:51] other things, the idea of partners coming forward

[1:58:56] and pitching in to move projects forward

[1:58:59] is at the base of everything.

[1:59:02] Yeah.

[1:59:05] - I would just like to add, you know,

[1:59:07] there's been talk about, you know, a lot about storm water.

[1:59:12] One of the biggest concerns of mine is base flow

[1:59:16] and, you know, base flow, you know,

[1:59:21] it needs protected as well.

[1:59:23] And they do go somewhat hand in hand

[1:59:25] because, you know, storm water flashing is generated from

[1:59:29] impious surfaces and impious surfaces reduced base flow.

[1:59:33] So a lot of it is just focusing on reduction

[1:59:37] or control of impervious surfaces.

[1:59:39] So we are way beyond the tipping point.

[1:59:43] The normal tipping point for a watershed like ours

[1:59:47] and our base flow is what has saved us up to this point.

[1:59:54] - My favorite statistic, not, not that it's a great thing,

[1:59:56] but most trout populations crash over

[2:00:00] after nine to 11% impervious surface.

[2:00:03] And our watershed has exceeded that since 1995.

[2:00:07] And so it's just that, that steady stream of,

[2:00:10] of groundwater coming outta the ground,

[2:00:12] but it's still declining, like base flow's declining.

[2:00:15] And one of the things mentioned in our watershed planning

[2:00:18] eras is identifying the recharge areas.

[2:00:22] And I do think one of the great things

[2:00:24] that we've done is working

[2:00:25] with the Susquehanna River Basin Commission,

[2:00:27] bringing Graham Markowitz in talking

[2:00:29] with the Centre Region Planning Agency,

[2:00:31] and making sure that those blue zones of critical

[2:00:34] recharge areas are identified and protected.

[2:00:37] And I know that's something we've been really pushing into

[2:00:39] the rock view conversation as well.

[2:00:42] - And it's been a nice connection with Clearwater as well,

[2:00:44] because it fits right into how they look at properties

[2:00:48] that they should be trying to help

[2:00:52] owners conserve.

[2:00:54] - Yep. - Yeah. But is there, okay, I'm, I'm, I'm gonna,

[2:00:58] I'm gonna put on my little understanding

[2:01:00] or probably go in the, on the edge

[2:01:04] of what's really knowledge,

[2:01:07] but is the rock,

[2:01:08] is the rock view property really the recharge area

[2:01:12] as opposed to what's out beyond Ferguson, Patton

[2:01:17] and Half Moon Township?

[2:01:19] - There's several throughout the watershed.

[2:01:22] So the Scotia Barons is a big one.

[2:01:26] The forested canopy is one of the things that contributes,

[2:01:28] there's a lot of different things that go into that layer.

[2:01:31] One of it is, does it have trees

[2:01:33] and you know, is it already forested?

[2:01:35] And so that makes it one of those blue zones.

[2:01:38] It's not gonna say like, once it's been developed on,

[2:01:41] those maps aren't gonna show it as a recharge area anymore.

[2:01:44] Even if it was one of them, you'd have

[2:01:46] to dive down deeper into the layers of it.

[2:01:48] But Rockview does have critical recharge areas on it.

[2:01:52] - Yep. Okay. Alright.

[2:01:54] Yeah, I mean I'm just being from Mont, you know,

[2:01:57] we always look at what comes out of the big spring, so.

[2:02:00] - Understood. It's important. Yeah.

[2:02:05] Anything else that we haven't covered?

[2:02:07] Anyone from the audience that wants to contribute?

[2:02:11] Thank you Ethan. Appreciate you being here.

[2:02:14] Welcome as an AmeriCorps,

[2:02:16] we look forward to working with you.

[2:02:18] - Thanks for having me. - Yeah.

[2:02:20] - We didn't even ask you, where are you from?

[2:02:22] Ethan? Rhode Island.

[2:02:24] - Rhode Island, - Okay. Okay.

[2:02:28] Very nice. Yeah. Hope you didn't like the sea.

[2:02:33] - It's, it's Been

[2:02:38] an exciting time At Ferguson Township.

[2:02:42] We have a new manager and a new public works director.

[2:02:47] And so having the AmeriCorps members

[2:02:50] in building six at

[2:02:53] Ferguson has been pretty exciting.

[2:02:56] So, well, if there's nothing else, I guess we have

[2:03:02] a couple matters of, let me get back to my agenda here.

[2:03:07] I didn't mean to put it away, but matters of record.

[2:03:11] Thank you. Always.

[2:03:15] Our event calendar, we try to maintain that.

[2:03:19] Item 11, our next regular meeting will be our last

[2:03:24] regular business meeting of the year.

[2:03:26] That's November 16th.

[2:03:28] And our friends from Penns Valley Conservation Association

[2:03:34] are gonna come and present.

[2:03:37] As John indicated earlier, Atlas meets

[2:03:42] tomorrow at from one to three at Patton.

[2:03:46] And then again October 15th.

[2:03:49] - That was just old habit Atlas is now meeting bimonthly.

[2:03:53] Okay. So they're only gonna be meeting

[2:03:56] in September, like tomorrow.

[2:03:57] Okay. And then, so basically they're every Thursday

[2:04:00] after watershed commission

[2:04:01] - Meetings.

[2:04:02] So it would be September 17th

[2:04:03] and then November 17th. Correct.

[2:04:05] - Okay. - At Patton one to three. Yeah.

[2:04:09] Government committee.

[2:04:10] October 15th is going to be here in College Township 11

[2:04:15] to noon conservation and stewardship committee.

[2:04:19] November 10, three to four 30.

[2:04:22] And they do that at the Willowbank building room

[2:04:24] 1 44 in Bellmont.

[2:04:28] And then the authorities committee

[2:04:31] is November 18th from one 30 to two 30.

[2:04:35] That's in the be font Borough offices.

[2:04:40] And the, is there a, give me the update.

[2:04:45] What do I call the former armory as compared

[2:04:50] to the, what was always the Beon Borough building?

[2:04:56] - I'm, I'm gonna defer to Joanne. Joanne

[2:04:59] - Is - I always,

[2:05:00] - What should I call it?

[2:05:01] Armory building. Which one are you talking about?

[2:05:03] The The former armory

[2:05:05] that we had two of 'em, that's why I'm asking.

[2:05:07] Oh, okay. The one on Spring Street right across from

[2:05:10] where you have your meetings.

[2:05:11] It's called the Borough Building. The Borough Building now.

[2:05:14] Okay. Thank you. And that meeting is one 30

[2:05:17] to two 30 in the oak room on the second level.

[2:05:22] That's the first floor. Okay. First floor.

[2:05:26] That's also a debate that's being settled. Yeah.

[2:05:29] Depends which ready you go in. Yes. Anything else?

[2:05:34] - And if you go to Bellon

[2:05:35] and ask somebody where the Borough building is,

[2:05:37] you're better off saying The armor rebuilding.

[2:05:39] - Understood. Yeah. It's 3 0 1 North Spring Street.

[2:05:43] Everybody a motion to Adjourn?

[2:05:48] - I'll make that motion. - Second Chris? Yeah. Okay.

[2:05:52] Alright. All in favor? And we're adjourned. Thank you.

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9/16/26 Spring Creek Watershed Commission

Agenda

Transcript