HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-09-16 EMC Final Minutes 1
Final Minutes of the EMC 2
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Date: June 9, 2016 4
Time: 4:00 p.m. 5
Location: Old Jail Conference Room, 125 E. Court St. 6
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Attendees: 8
Name Representation
Linda Spielman P Village of Dryden
Ron Szymanski A Village of Freeville
Roger Yonkin A At-Large
Dooley Kiefer P Associate Member
Scott Doyle P EMC Coordinator
Dan Klein P Associate Member
Anna Kelles P Legislature Liaison
Pam Pariso P Planning Staff
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Guests in attendance: Fernando de Aragon, Ithaca-Tompkins County Transportation Council 17
(ITCTC), Executive Director. 18
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Call to Order– The meeting was called to order by Steve Nicholson at 4:02pm. 20
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Privilege of Floor – None 22
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Presentation: Fernando gave an update on the Ride Share program. Tompkins County had 24
funding ($18,000/year for three years) to develop a program, but that funding ended. Now, the 25
challenge is how to continue the program without that funding. One way the ITCTC seeks to 26
overcome this is to make it more regional to share the expense with neighboring counties, 27
businesses and agencies. Once new funding is in place, it will need to be publicized and 28
promoted to encourage its use again. Cheaper gas makes it easier for people to ignore ride 29
sharing, and that’s the trend now. Ithaca still has all the negatives of car dependency with 30
emissions and traffic congestion. Some 80 percent of people drive into Tompkins County alone 31
in their cars: Fernando would like to see that cut to 60 percent. 32
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The old phone app for Ride Share and the software is still there, but Enterprise now owns it. 34
Public awareness of the program faded with funding cuts. There was a discussion on the history, 35
data gathering and effectiveness. Originally it started as an app created by a Cornell student. 36
Zim-Ride was working with universities at first, but Tompkins County asked them to develop it 37
Name Representation
Steve Bissen P Town of Dryden
Kenny Christianson P At-Large
John Dennis A Village of Lansing
Brian Eden P Village of Cayuga Heights
Bill Evans P Town of Danby
Pegi Ficken P Town of Groton
John Hertzler P Town of Ulysses
Roy Luft P At-Large
Jim McGarry E At-Large
Vladimir Micic P Town of Ithaca
Steve Nicholson P Town of Caroline
Susan Riley P At-Large
Tom Shelley P Ithaca CAC
as a community portal. Now the challenge is how to continue it. Fernando explained that the 1
County bought it with the previously-available funding, and end users got it for free. Anna asked 2
what if it went to a program where people paid for the app? Fernando said the goal was always to 3
have no cost to the end user. 4
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ITCTC hopes to rekindle the program. Vladimir asked about potential incentives for people to 6
share rides, such as parking privileges or car share spots. Roy Luft suggested that perhaps the 7
new parking meters could take a code for giving parking incentives. Many innovative ideas have 8
been discussed, but it’s tough to get people to buy into the concept of ride sharing. 9
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Changes to Agenda and Approval of Minutes – Because the May 12 meeting minutes were 11
distributed to the membership today, their approval will be accomplished at the next EMC 12
meeting. 13
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Committee Reports and Member Questions: 15
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Energy – Brian spoke about his frustrations with communicating with the membership on the 17
accelerating pace of climate change and asked for suggestions on how to engage folks to take 18
action. Dan Klein said he appreciates Brian’s emails to the committee, and said perhaps the 19
committee finds the volume of information overwhelming. He suggested that he focus on a few 20
core issues where we could all work together to make an impact. Anna suggested that it would 21
help if EMC were in the subject line of committee emails. The committee also discussed making 22
the committee larger for added energy and involvement. Ten seats are vacant -- five “at-large” 23
are vacant, and five of sixteen municipalities are vacant, which are voting seats. Recruiting was 24
discussed. 25
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Brian discussed the Climate and Community Protection Act which he lobbied for in Albany. It 27
passed the Assembly but needs more Senate sponsors to pass the bill in that house. He’s hopeful 28
it will be passed. Last Monday, Brian went to Syracuse on a bus with other local folks to 29
comment on the proposed Clean Energy Standard. The NYSPSC plan considers nuclear plants to 30
qualify as clean energy because they do not emit carbon dioxide. The Maplewood 31
Redevelopment project public hearing for the EIS scoping will be held at the Town of Ithaca on 32
June 24. Ian Shapiro of Taitem is presenting on a green energy incentive proposal before the 33
Tompkins County IDA as we speak. The rollout of the 2030 District program will occur at a 34
reception at Holt Architects on June 28. 35
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Environmental Review – Since John was not in attendance, Brian reported on the NYS plastic 37
bag legislation to prohibit the charging of a fee for single-use plastic bags. Since the adoption of 38
such a fee by NYC, he said there’s been a big push-back from the plastics industry. Plastic bag 39
and shopping industry representatives argued that public sentiment used to oppose using paper 40
bags to save trees, now we oppose plastic bags. They further stated that reusable bags “present a 41
public health risk” because they contaminate food and surfaces in the store. The legislation has 42
passed the Senate but is still in committee in the Assembly 43
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Brian thanked Susan for collecting data for the environmental review annual report. Comments 45
are due on the newly promulgated NYSDEC solid waste regulations by July 15. 46
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Unique Natural Areas – Linda Spielman and Steve Bissen mentioned that the UNA Committee 2
will meet next week to finalize the boundaries for the proposed Sapsucker Woods UNA changes. 3
• The committee then reported on the Lake Street foreclosure parcels in the City of Ithaca and the 4
many community members in addition to the EMC that gave input to support the demolition of 5
the abandoned house there. The motion carried to demolish the house at the base of Ithaca Falls 6
and to add it to the City’s Natural Area. 7
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Executive Committee – Steve Nicholson apologized for missing so many meetings due to 9
family obligations. Brian reported that he, Steve Bissen, Pam and Scott met about updating the 10
website. Much needs to be updated and restructured. The County used to have a full time person 11
covering all committees, now Pam’s a half-time employee. The Annual Report also needs to be 12
updated. 13
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Legislation Liaison Report – Anna Kelles reported on a recent PDEQ meeting to discuss the 15
state’s scrutiny in taking back renewable energy credits (RECs). Two resolutions came from that 16
meeting. First, the committee resolved to urge the State to reject steps to take back REC credits 17
from entities that had received NYSERDA incentives for their renewable energy projects. A 18
second resolution was proposed but not passed, which suggested that the County contribute 19
funding for a lawyer to research and lobby against this proposal. Much discussion followed, and 20
it was suggested that this would be a great future presentation topic. 21
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Staff Report – Scott Doyle reported five County Planning Department updates: 23
1. Annual Report will be drafted as soon as the ERC reports are provided. 24
2. Green Infrastructure program currently being drafted – would like to discuss more with 25
EMC in the future. 26
3. Update on recommendations for the 2016 Foreclosure auction including parcels with 27
UNAs. 28
4. Two grants currently being worked on: 1) Flood mitigation for Lansing / Ludlowville 29
2) Agricultural easement for a Lounsberry farm in Caroline. 30
5. Boat tour event coming up June 21-22. Floating classroom trip on water quality/ 31
microplastics. 32
6. Greensprings Natural Cemetery recently put out a request for volunteers for maintenance 33
and burials. 34
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By-Law Revision Committee – Members are needed for the By-Law Revision Committee. 36
Steve Nicholson said the By-Laws used to state the EMC can receive property. Scott said that’s 37
section still remains. Brian said the 1996 By-Law version on the EMC website were not 38
modified after 1999 local law passed by the legislature. If interested in serving on this 39
committee, please let Brian know. Dooley and Tom volunteered. 40
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Presentation – Bill Evans gave a presentation on artificial outdoor lighting and its effect on 42
birds. He’s an ornithologist who specializes in nocturnal bird life. When TV towers went up in 43
the 1940s, they had red lights for aviation obstruction which killed thousands of birds, including 44
songbirds. In the 1980s, there was a shift in consciousness where some long-term bird studies 45
reported a reduction in songbird population, and sentiment shifted to determine the man-made 1
hazards that caused this and rectify the situation. 2
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Bill did personal research from his Danby home on what lights bothered birds – red, blue, white 4
and flashing or continuous. He showed the results of his study including the spectrum of lights 5
and how they affected nocturnal birds. He gave an overview of what research is showing today 6
on how different lights affect bird migration patterns and navigation. He also discovered, 7
anecdotally, how night lights affect local moths. Locally we have about 1,000 different species 8
of moths, and bright night lights affect them too. Light spectrum, wavelength and direction all 9
affect bird and moths. 10
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Bill showed a photo of Ithaca lit up at night. The Ithaca City Code contains no language limiting 12
the spectrum of lights, and perhaps there should be some recommendations from the EMC 13
committee based on Bill’s findings. He discussed how Flagstaff, Arizona, has done research and 14
set precedents that perhaps Ithaca could follow. For example, if there’s a push to go to LED 15
street lights, they should have a short wave length in order to save bird and moth life. Down-16
shielding of light is known, but light spectrum is mostly unknown bird species. Bill said if Ithaca 17
switches to LED lights, which is the new trend, it could make Ithaca six times brighter at night in 18
some areas. This could negatively affect the local bird and moth population. This may be a good 19
subcommittee and project for the EMC. 20
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Member Items – None 22
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Adjournment -- The meeting adjourned at 5:55 PM. 24
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Respectfully submitted, 26
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Pamela Pariso, Administrative Assistant 28
Tompkins County Planning Department 29
Approved by Council on July 14, 2016 30