12.07.21 Work Session - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Council Meeting Minutes December 7, 2021 responded that the fences are meant to be permanent but we can look at ways to be flexible. The fences are not in the conservation measures specifically, but we are to protect the riparian buffer and fences are a way of doing that. Council Member Gleason stated a lot of money has been spent on getting access points to the river, but past 11135 on the east there are no direct access points including the bridge at Cape Road. Stokes Parks is one of the few places for access. Will there be a lot of restriction downstream? Ms. Howard stated there are no plans for restrictions on the east side of 35 including no plans on fencing. Council Member Gleason asked does Edwards Aquifer (EA) charge us on front end and then reimburse us regarding pumping fees? Ms. Howard stated HCP reimbursement comes from the EA permitting fee which was raised in 2013 that is what funds this. The biggest payers into the EA is San Antonio Water Systems. San Marcos pays pumping fees regardless of the HCP. Council Member Gonzales asked if planting wild rice will occur all the way to Stokes park? Ms. Howard said yes. Council Member Gonzales expressed safety concerns with swimming with all the rice in the river. He asked what happened to the fences during floods. Ms. Howard stated some of the fence were flattened during the 2015 flood. Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Garza spoke on programming and how citizens can increase the understanding of the actions. Fencing appears to be problematic to some and she asked what type of efforts have been done to respond to those concerns. Ms. Howard spoke on what city staff does to help citizens understand the importance of the river and what we can do to protect it. That included signage, booths at city events, the conservation crew walks the banks to explain to people the unique nature of our river and why we need to protect it along with other methods to reach out to the public. Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Garza asked about the fencing and if we have received concerns before. Ms. Howard stated concerns of the fencing were initially an issue, but the concerns seem to have decreased. Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Garza expressed the importance of outreach to the citizens and inquired about the efficacy of the efforts. Ms. Howard stated the education keeps going with information being released and surveys done in the summer. Ms. Garza stated it is important to state that historic inaccessibility to outdoor and greenspaces among minority communities comes from institutionalized legislation that in many cases kept segregated people away from public lands. It is really City of San Marcos Page 6