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Home My WebLink About12-8-16 EMC Final Minutes TOMPKINS COUNTY ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT COUNCIL 121 East Court Street Ithaca, New York 14850 Telephone (607) 274-5560 http://www.tompkinscountyny.gov/emc 1 Final Minutes 2 December 8, 2016, 4PM 3 Tompkins County Old Jail Conference Room, 125 E. Court Street, Ithaca, NY 4 5 Attendance 6 Members 7 8 Member Seat Member Seat Steve Bissen P Town of Dryden Linda Spielman E Village of Dryden Kenny Christianson A At-Large Ron Szymanski A Village of Freeville John Dennis P Village of Lansing Roger Yonkin A At-Large Brian Eden P Village of Cayuga Heights Karen Edelstein A Associate Member Bill Evans P Town of Danby Dooley Kiefer A Associate Member Pegi Ficken A Town of Groton Dan Klein A Associate Member John Hertzler A Town of Ulysses Jose Lozano P Associate Member Roy Luft P At-Large David Weinstein A Associate Member Jim McGarry A At-Large Robert Wesley A Associate Member Vladimir Micic P Town of Ithaca Anna Kelles P Legislative Liaison Steve Nicholson P Town of Caroline Scott Doyle P EMC Coordinator Susan Riley P At-Large Kristin McCarthy E Administrative Assistant Tom Shelley P Ithaca CAC 9 Guests: Susan Allen-Gil, Damian Helbling, Nidia Trejo, Michelle Henry (Newfield Representative, Pending Legislature 10 Approval) 11 12 A quorum (requires 9) was present. 13 Others – No one else was in attendance. 14 Call to Order – Chair Nicholson called the meeting to order at approximately 4:05 PM. Introduction of Michelle 15 Henry, who will soon be representing the Town of Newfield. 16 Privilege of the Floor – No speakers 17 Agenda Review/Changes – The agenda was accepted as distributed. 18 Approval of Minutes – Motion by Anna Kelles, seconded by Tom Shelley, to approve the minutes of 19 November 10, 2016, pending small changes. Motion passed 9-0. 20 Nominating Committee - Report by Tom Shelley indicated Brian Eden’s willingness to serve as chair for 2017. 21 Tom recommended nomination of Brian for chair, seconded by John Dennis. All members in attendance voted 22 in favor, Brian abstained. Steve Nicholson will conclude his service as chair, which lasted 12 years. 23 Presentation – Associate Member Dr. Jose Lozano of the City of Ithaca Wastewater Treatment Plant, Dr. Susan-24 Allen Gil of Ithaca College and Dr. Damian Helbling of Cornell University gave a talk on “Emergency Water 25 Quality Concerns: Pharmaceuticals & Microplastics.” PDFs of their presentations have been posted on the EMC 26 website for reference and review. 27 Committee Reports & Questions 28 • Energy – Brian reported on the following: The effort to organize an Energy Expo to be held this spring 29 as an important hands-on local event • CCE advancing its own solar program • Meeting with developers 30 on advancing of energy efficiency in projects, including the Old Library project, where the developer is 31 dedicated to using just electric energy • The City of Ithaca’s recent discussion of openness to 32 considering energy use in the environmental analysis of projects • Maplewood Apartments final EIS has 33 been approved by the Town of Ithaca Planning Board and is now advancing to Planned Development 34 Zone and Site Plan consideration. • A summary of the Housing Summit and his opinion that it is 35 important to include housing sustainability in addition to attainability. Anna added that she thought 36 several groups were missing from the Summit, including landlords, millennials and renters. • The 37 holiday photo planned for NYSEG in reference to the West Dryden pipeline • The Heatsmart RFP was 38 released, and public outreach for the program will occur in early 2017 • The Geothermal Tax Credit 39 advocated by the EMC was vetoed by Governor Cuomo. • NYSEG will be hiring someone to do public 40 outreach for its Energy Smart Communities effort. • The Climate Change National Carbon Fee 41 recommendation was passed by the County Legislature and currently has bipartisan federal support. • 42 The potential leadership of President-Elect Trump’s EPA nominee Scott Pruitt may have very adverse 43 impacts on the environment as he opposes virtually all environmental regulations. 44 • Environmental Review – John D. reported on the latest related to the Cargill Shaft 4 proposal: according 45 to his research, there has never been an environmental impact assessment of the salt mine operation. • 46 Mine shaft neg dec public comment concludes December 9, 2016. If Cargill is granted permit, John 47 suspects that impact could not just be limited to access but could be larger if salt removal is ever 48 advanced at this new access site. • Discussed other salt mine complications throughout region and 49 nation, including the Himrod Mine collapse. • Cayuga Watershed Network has Shaft 4 info posted. • 50 Brian also noted in other news that the Amici House proposal in the City of Ithaca was given a negative 51 declaration of environmental impact. 52 53 54 • Unique Natural Areas – Steve N. noted that the group will be meeting Monday, December 12, to review 55 final details with the hope of voting on new updates in January or February. 56 • Strategic Planning – Anna discussed concerns related to federal and state funding and the idea of having 57 a strategic event to link up people to organizations to advance positive relationships. She is advancing 58 this discussion through the organization of the Community Matchup event 59 www.communitymatchup.org, which will include a silent auction. Event is Sunday, December 11, at the 60 Space @ Greenstar. Anna has not worked on EMC strategic planning work yet but promises to shortly. 61 Hopes to have retreat in early 2017. Brian asked that for the January 12th meeting members think about 62 what projects they want to work on. 63 • Executive – No added executive committee report 64 65 Staff Report – Scott provided a brief report on sharing the 2017 Planning Department work plan with the group 66 in the early part of 2017, the potential South Hill Recway expansion, the Housing Summit, 2017 meeting 67 locations, and the availability of meeting presentations on the EMC website. 68 Municipal Reports – Vladimir updated the group on the Town of Ithaca Conservation Board report, which 69 included the Sleep Inn Hotel and the Maplewood Project, which will be reviewed by the Town of Ithaca 70 Planning Board on December 20th; Michelle noted that Newfield is considering site plan and subdivision review 71 requirements. 72 Member Items – No member items were discussed. 73 Adjournment - Chair adjourned the meeting at 5:42 PM. 74 75 Prepared by Scott Doyle, Senior Planner, Tompkins County Planning Department 76 Approved by Board: 1/12/17 77