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Home My WebLink About10-13-16 EMC MinutesTOMPKINS COUNTY ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT COUNCIL 121 East Court Street Ithaca, New York 14850 Telephone (607) 274-5560 http://www.tompkinscountyny.gov/emc 1 2 3 Final Minutes October 13, 2016, 4PM Tompkins County Old Jail Conference Room, 125 E. Court Street, Ithaca, NY 4 5 Attendance 6 Members 7 Name Representation Linda Spielman P Village of Dryden Ron Szymanski A Village of Freeville Roger Yonkin E At-Large Dooley Kiefer P Associate Member Jose Lozano P Associate Member Dan Klein P Associate Member Anna Kelles P Legislature Liaison Scott Doyle P Tompkins County Planning Senior Planner Kristin McCarthy P Tompkins County Planning Administrative Assistant 8 9 10 11 A quorum (requires 9) was present. 12 13 Others: No one else was in attendance. 14 15 Call to Order – Chair Nicholson called the meeting to order at approximately 4:02 PM. 16 17 Privilege of the Floor – No speakers. 18 19 Agenda Review/Changes – The agenda was accepted as distributed. 20 21 Approval of Minutes – Motion by Jim McGarry, seconded by Linda Spielman, to approve the minutes of July 14, 2016, 22 with minor changes to the Environmental Review Committee Report. Draft minutes corrected as shown in final minutes. 23 Motion passed 10-0. 24 Motion by Anna Kelles, seconded by Steve Bissen, to approve the minutes of September 8, 2016, as distributed. Motion 25 passed 10-0. 26 Name Representation Steve Bissen P Town of Dryden Kenny Christianson A At-Large John Dennis P 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 P At-Large Vladimir Micic P Town of Ithaca Steve Nicholson P Town of Caroline Susan Riley P At-Large Tom Shelley P Ithaca CAC 27 Committee Reports The following committees gave reports: 28 • Energy Committee – Brian Eden: report included the notice of the beginning of the Heatsmart II program and job 29 announcement for program coordinator • City and Town of Ithaca undertaking green building study • City of 30 Ithaca rejection of added sustainability work by not increasing funding for a part-time sustainability planner 31 position • Maplewood public hearing is set for Tuesday, October 18th • West Dryden pipeline update – only 32 about 30% of right of way necessary for pipeline has been leased to date • Cayuga Riesling case update – unclear 33 as to its current operating status • State ground source heat pump tax credit support effort continues • Planning a 34 meeting with Cayuga Med regarding its potential Community Corners project and energy needs • Anna Kelles 35 discussed proposed bipartisan tax on fossil fuel production, which would capture the costs associated with 36 methane leakage and the emissions associated with them. The City of Ithaca has already provided a letter of 37 support for this federal legislation. County support is also being sought. • Brian finished the report by 38 summarizing the NYS building code net zero effort, which is being sought by 2028. 39 • Environmental Review – Brian Eden: report included an update on lead contamination at the Lansing Rod and 40 Gun Club and ERC involvement in the public hearing process • Signage now posted in and around the City of 41 Ithaca’s lake-front parks clarifying illegal hunting within city limits on Cayuga Lake • Coal ash lagoon 42 regulation, specifically the impact of the recent hurricane (Matthew) on North Carolina’s lagoons • Proposal in 43 Ulysses, where a parcel including a UNA was considered for consolidation. 44 • Unique Natural Areas – Steve Nicholson: report included meeting with Cornell Real Estate in late September. 45 Topics discussed included questions about the definition of “locally scarce” species, more detail on the 2016 46 47 48 Nick Hollingshead wetland data, and information added to the full UNA Inventory document. The UNA Committee has yet to meet to discuss next steps in update process. Steve indicates updated boundary consideration for the next 32 UNAs in November. Some discussion also included the third-party evaluation of UNA updates. 49 • Executive Committee: Committee discussed future meeting schedule, including presentations by Katherine 50 McComas in November and Jose Lozano in December. There was also added discussion from Jose regarding his 51 interest in sharing information of phase 2 of the NY Prize district energy microgrid proposal. January may make 52 sense for this discussion. Dan suggested potentially securing a larger venue given the strong interest in this topic. 53 54 Staff Report – Scott Doyle reported that the Finger Lakes Land Trust recently announced an initiative to advance 55 10 conservation priorities for the Finger Lakes. Scott further recommended that FLLT executive director Andy 56 Zepp be invited to give a presentation on this initiative in the new year. He also reported on his participation in 57 the Rust2Green Living with Water Flood Resiliency Summit in Binghamton. 58 59 Strategic Planning – Anna Kelles discussed interest in strategic planning and the EMC. She indicated that a great 60 deal of valuable information is being shared at meetings, but she sometimes finds it unclear which action steps the 61 committee should take moving forward. She suggested holding a retreat or strategic planning effort in the next 62 few months to set priorities and measures for work in the approaching year. She specifically noted that such an 63 initiative could help the EMC to sharpen its focus while also setting up speakers to help align with that focus. 64 Anna asked if there would be interest in such an event and whether other members would attend. Steve noted that 65 the first meeting of the year typically fulfills this role. It was noted that a more informal setting may help to 66 advance this type of discussion. Starting an email thread was suggested as a first step. The full group expressed 67 opinion of this event. Jose, Pegi, John, Vlad, and Anna expressed interest in structuring a strategic planning event. 68 69 Using Social Media for Outreach to New Members – Brian Eden brought up for discussion the group’s strong 70 interest in attracting younger people to the EMC but said the group needs to find other ways of doing so. He then 71 called for suggestions on how to reach out to people more effectively. Anna proposed targeting outreach 72 specifically to students, as area campuses have engaged environmental organizations whose members may be 73 interested. John Hertzler brought up the group’s outdated image problem and wondered if there could be a 74 “Coffee with the EMC” radio program or something to that effect. Susan wondered if a flexible membership 75 opportunity could be offered to appeal to students. Associate membership was discussed as one of those options. 76 Anna also brought up the idea of an internship. Pegi noted a strategic plan may help to refine potential student 77 need and committee structures. Dooley noted, however, that she would not want to lose committees like 78 Environmental Review, given its flexibility to be involved with current developing issues. John D., in turn, 79 advised publicly recruiting for a potential panel of advisors as a way to engage individuals. Others suggested 80 creating a map of municipalities not represented on the EMC to help pinpoint and advance outreach efforts. 81 82 Resolution: Requesting County Legislature Urge the NYSDEC to Require Cargill Deicing Technology to Prepare an 83 Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on the Construction of the Proposed Mine Shaft #4 – 84 Brian Eden introduced the topic and outlined the rationale for why the proposed mine shaft in Lansing requires a more 85 detailed environmental review. John Dennis then continued the discussion and provided background on the Cayuga mine 86 and its history. Issues John D. mentioned included concerns over unmined sections that Cargill has under lease, the fact 87 that Seneca County and the Town of Ulysses have not been notified of this proposal, the back reaming process of mine 88 shaft development and potential fracturing of the aquifer, as well as the potential for mine collapse and contamination of 89 related aquifers. The EMC then made minor changes throughout the resolution and formal action was taken by the board: 90 “Motion by Brian Eden, seconded by Pegi Ficken, to approve the resolution as modified. The motion passed 13-0.” It 91 was decided that the EMC would request that the county legislature urge NYSDEC to require Cargill to prepare an EIS 92 for its new proposed mine shaft. 93 94 Municipal Reports – There were no municipal reports. 95 96 Member Items – Tom Shelley announced there would be an October 18th public hearing on Emerson and an October 19th 97 Ithaca Landmark Preservation meeting on another reiteration of the Old Library proposal. 98 99 Adjournment - Chair adjourned the meeting at 5:30 PM. 100 101 Prepared by Scott Doyle, Senior Planner, and Kristin McCarthy, Tompkins County Planning Department 102 Approved by Board: ______ 103