Carbon County advisory board approves program sign, plans regional open‑space workshops

The Carbon County Open Space Advisory Board voted to accept a proposed design for a program sign and discussed a schedule of regional municipal outreach and summer workshops to explain the county's new open‑space program.

Board members approved the sign by voice vote after brief discussion of vendors and pricing; no roll‑call tally was recorded. Staff described a plan to visit municipalities across five regions, hold workshops this summer and use maps from the county's draft greenway and open‑space plan to help local officials understand the program and identify lands they might want to protect.

The vote and outreach appear aimed at increasing municipal participation in a grant cycle and in workshops that staff said will be regional and scheduled by doodle poll to maximize attendance. Staff said they have already visited Banks Township, Lehigh Township and Beaver Meadows Borough and plan upcoming visits to a group identified in the transcript as "NESCO Honing's," Weatherly and Packer to complete the northwest region before moving to other regions.

Staff members Anna and Dawn described a summer schedule of workshops: Dawn will present a "conservation 101" segment and Anna will present the program and facilitate discussion with printed regional maps. Anna said the team will ask each municipality to identify a point of contact to help set up and host workshops and that staff will follow up after outreach visits with emailed fact sheets and the draft plans posted on the county planning page.

Board members discussed logistics for workshops, including preferred centralized locations to improve attendance and limiting in‑person presentations to two night meetings per week where possible. The board reviewed a five‑region rollout and discussed adapting timing and grouping depending on municipal interest and meeting schedules. Staff said they expect to begin holding workshops for a region once enough municipality visits are completed rather than waiting for outreach to every jurisdiction to finish.

In project and program updates, staff said the Reseca project has submitted a payment request and staff are aiming to close that project in mid‑May, pending completion of outstanding items. Staff also said they found "hiccups" in the payment request forms used in the pilot round and will clarify those forms so applicants supply the information the program requires.

Staff noted the program manual sets two grant‑round deadlines, March 31 and Sept. 30, and said the advisory board may discuss when to open the next application cycle at a June meeting. The board discussed adding a monthly status item to future agendas to track incoming project interest and the status of approved projects.

Separately, staff invited members to a regional climate action plan presentation organized by the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission and noted the county planning page hosts draft greenway and open‑space plans for municipalities to review and comment on ahead of workshops. A board member said those draft composite maps should be used aggressively in outreach to help municipalities that have little prior planning experience understand the program and potential local impacts.

Votes at a glance - Motion to accept the program sign design: motion made and seconded; approved by voice vote. No roll‑call tally recorded.

What was decided - The board approved the program sign design and will pursue vendor bids and placement details as needed. - Staff will continue municipal outreach and schedule regional summer workshops, starting with the northwest region and moving through five regions countywide. - Staff will follow up with municipalities by email and offer the county's draft plans and maps for review before workshops.

What remains to be set - Exact workshop dates and locations will be scheduled by doodle poll and announcements to municipalities; staff indicated a goal to complete workshops by late summer or early fall but said the timeline could shift based on municipal interest. - The next application cycle opening date and any adjustments to the program manual will be considered at future meetings. The board will also track the Reseca closing and payment‑form clarifications.

Ending The advisory board agreed to keep the outreach active and to begin workshops as regions are ready rather than waiting to complete outreach everywhere. Staff asked members to notify them if they can attend specific municipal meetings to help build local engagement. The board noted its next regular meeting schedule and a July meeting date change from July 17 to July 10 was announced in the meeting.