Friends of Lake Apopka

Monthly Board Meeting

February 9, 2017

  1. Call to Order – Oakland Nature Preserve
  2. Board member roll call
  3. Rachel Comstock
  4. Joe Dunn
  5. Phoebe Gonsalves
  6. DrewShatzer
  7. Deborah Green
  8. Ed Aduss
  9. Jim Peterson
  10. Dennis Renfro
  11. Tim Bachmayer

Need to make sure that Rachel has good email address, phone number and US Postal Service address for all Board members

  • Attendee introductions
  1. Treasurer’s Report $3,595.02 current balance- only one invoice outstanding ($192.00- intern work)
  1. Old Business:
  2. FOLA Public Meetings January 10 & 11
  3. Lake County participation
  4. Jim Peterson is working on a name for this- will follow up on this
  5. Guest Speaker
  6. Meeting
  7. Birdapalooza - Deborah Green
  8. ~4,000 people attended Saturday event
  9. Friday/Sunday events were well received (11 trips and keynote speakers) attendees from 12 states and provinces attended
  10. Good press for FOLA on radio
  11. Update: Habitat Restoration, North Shore- Drew Shatzer
  12. April 29th planting date
  13. Planting by shoreline (pump house) and gate near front gate (Lust Road)
  14. Need to assess the plant situation for what we have homegrown and if we need to focus on one area and if we need additional plants for the area (Jim Thomas will give us some advice around this)
  15. Volunteers needed ~10-12 Volunteers
  16. Do we need to have additional work days? Drew will need to let us know.
  17. Could we get landscaping for the Port-o-Potty at the Pump House? Jim Peterson to follow up
  18. New By-laws- Rachel Comstock
  19. We need to get a Jim Thomas signed copy
  20. Rachel to post to the website
  21. T-shirts & stickers
  22. Going to move to a donation approach for stickers
  23. Going to include a FOLA sticker into “thank you” cards as well
  1. New Business
  2. Oakland Nature Preserve Open House
  3. 10-4 on Saturday; lots of family activities; walk down to lake in afternoon
  4. FOLA booth will be present as well
  5. Hull Island- developers have submitted request to develop (Hull Island is a disturbed archeological site, so the preservation value is deteriorated)
  6. Land as park; land set aside for residents; expand ONP and trails
  7. Business cards-
  8. FOLA Logo
  9. Name
  10. Mechanism to reach board members (either phone number or email address)
  11. Definition of Ecotourism is on back ?
  12. Send to Rachel if interested in obtaining cards
  13. Committee organization
  14. Send suggestions to Rachel
  15. Input needed from group on committees; what they needed; members; objectives
  16. Training sessions for volunteers
  17. Drew will lead these in upcoming months (March)
  • Harris Chain of Lakes Report
  • Information is available on Harris Chain of Lakes Restoration website
  • Science Committee still needs to provide a FOLA formal response (draft by March meeting)
  • Seaplane base
  • Zoning is currently under discussion
  • Under Orange County Review
  • Magnolia Park eco-tourism
  • Infrastructure improvements are welcome, airboats are a concern
  • Lake Apopka Restoration Center (LARC)
  • Gateway Birding Park – Deborah Green
  • Moving toward approval
  • Need Volunteers for planting (holly trees)
  • McDonald Boat Ramp will open on Feb 23; great kayak/boat access to Apopka-Beauclair Canal and to both lakes via the canal
  • Newton Park waterfront trash March 25 - Jim Peterson
  • First FOLA Bike Ride April 2– Joe Dunn
  • “FOLA 40” is the ride name
  • 7:30-8:00 start for 40 mile ride
  • Start at Winter Garden Farmers Market, goes around the lake counterclockwise and ends at Crooked Can
  • Volunteers will be needed at Start and at rest stops
  • Next Board meeting: March 9 @ 6pm
  • Other New Business
  • Getting digital form of payment? Ed and Rachel to follow up and make a determination on this.
  1. Adjourn 7:20 pm