Pat, Advisory Board member, reviewed a revised 2025 timeline for Conservation Futures applications and said applications would be due at 12 p.m. on Monday, March 9, with a cursory internal review on March 11 and the full application review scheduled for April 8.
Pat told the board that the prosecuting attorney’s office will perform a simultaneous courtesy review and that the board expects a legal response by about April 1 to avoid wasted site-visit time. “I should have an answer back from legal by April 1, hopefully,” Pat said.
Enrique, staff member, described the planned site-visit window and logistics: site visits will be coordinated across a multi-day window (Thursday, Friday, Monday, Tuesday) and will require public notice as special meetings if they occur outside normal meeting locations. The board discussed doing group site visits with property owners present and publicizing those site visits in advance.
Pat and Enrique emphasized coordination with the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC). The timeline is intended to permit two commissioner meetings (one work session and one public session) before final recommendations so that staff can provide the county commissioners sufficient time to include an endorsement sentence in state grant applications before WWRP’s late-April deadline. Pat said the WWRP application deadline is April 30 and that the board aims to provide county support language in time for that submission.
On scheduling, the board voted to set its next advisory-board meeting for Nov. 12 (motion passed) and to cancel the Oct. 8 meeting (motion passed). Pat said the board will likely meet every other month through January and will finalize application wording at the next meeting.
Pat asked members to check calendars for April availability for special meetings related to BOCC consideration and said staff would coordinate dates and the legal review process in advance of site visits.