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Home My WebLink About11-08-18 EMC Final MinutesEMC Final Minutes 1 September 13, 2018 4:00 p.m. 2 Tompkins County Old Jail Conference Room, 125 E. Court St, Ithaca, NY 3 4 Attendance 5 Member Seat Member Seat Steve Bissen P Town of Dryden Jonathan Zisk P At-Large Maureen Bolton P Town of Enfield Amanda Champion P Legislative Liaison Cait Darfler P Town of Ulysses Susan Allen-Gil E Associate Member John Dennis P Village of Lansing Karen Edelstein A Associate Member Brian Eden P Village of Cayuga Heights Bill Evans A Associate Member Pegi Ficken E Town of Groton Anna Kelles A Associate Member Michelle Henry P Town of Newfield Dooley Kiefer P Associate Member Anne Klingensmith P Town of Danby Dan Klein P Associate Member James Knighton E At-Large Jose Lozano A Associate Member Vladimir Micic E Town of Ithaca Osamu Tsuda P Associate Member Steve Nicholson A Town of Caroline David Weinstein A Associate Member Susan Riley P At-Large Robert Wesley A Associate Member Tom Shelley P City of Ithaca Roger Yonkin A Associate Member Genny Shipley P At-Large Scott Doyle P Planning Staff Don Smith P At-Large Kristin McCarthy P Planning Staff Ron Szymanski P Village of Freeville Regi Teasley P At-Large Guests – Laurel Lynch, Joe Wilson, Mike Merchant 6 7 Call to Order – Chair Brian Eden called the meeting to order at 4:04 p.m. 8 Privilege of the Floor – Joe Wilson reported that a sizable group of residents, including faculty 9 and students at Cornell University, have serious concerns about the City’s SEQR review of the 10 North Campus expansion project. Joe specified that it is the details and rigor of the City’s review 11 that concern the group and not the ideas behind the project itself. 12 Agenda Review/Changes – Since guest presenter Bryan Roy was already online via Skype 13 and ready to start, his presentation was moved to the front of the agenda. 14 15 Presentation – EVTompkins: Encouraging Everyone to Drive Electric– Bryan Roy, 16 Energetics (via Skype) 17 Scott Doyle introduced Bryan, who heads the transportation group at engineering and 18 consulting firm Energetics. A PDF of his presentation can be found on the EMC website. Here 19 are highlights from Bryan’s talk, which was followed by a Q&A session with members: 20 21 • Campaign aims to grow electric vehicles (EVs) beyond their niche market status. 22 • EV Tompkins aims to provide 40 charging locations; double the inventory of EVs at 23 dealerships; educate industry partners; support and implement 10 new EV-ready community 24 strategies; increase public awareness; and double the number of EVs in the County fleet. 25 • The NYS “Drive Clean” program, which offers a $2,000 rebate at time of purchase for 26 electrical vehicles, has been hugely popular. 27 • Promotional EVTompkins collateral includes brochures, rack cards, pens, T-shirts, stickers, 28 business cards, and posters. Get Your Greenback Tompkins hosts the evtompkins.com 29 website. Facebook is main avenue for connecting with public, though program also uses 30 Instagram and Twitter and publishes an e-newsletter. 31 • Ride and Drive events at Ithaca Mall and downtown had good turnouts. 32 • EVTompkins will attend more events and target campaigns to workplaces, organizations, 33 and businesses. A test drive is scheduled for Cornell Cooperative Extension Tompkins 34 County (CCETC) employees Sept. 19th. 35 • Roughly 30,000 EVs in New York State. Number shot up this year from 2,000. Projection 36 curve is similar in Tompkins County, though EVs still represent a small percentage of total 37 vehicles sold in the state. Goal is to double the number of EVs in Tompkins from 310 to 620 38 before December 2019. Automobile dealers are cautious but trending above goal. 39 • Charging stations, aside from a few placed in outlying areas, are concentrated within Ithaca. 40 That trend continues statewide, with stations clustered around cities. 41 • New York State is focused on infrastructure, partnering with the New York Power Authority 42 to add more fast-charging stations along Thruway. 43 • No extensive surveying of purchases in Tompkins County. Any such feedback is usually 44 word of mouth. Locally consumers have price matched or been given good leasing deals. 45 Not all dealerships in Tompkins have all the models, so buyers go elsewhere. 46 • Municipalities can help by implementing EV-friendly community policies, such as free 47 parking, a streamlined permitting process for installing home chargers; and fees or fines for 48 non-EV drivers who park in designated charging spots. 49 • At campaign close-out, the EVTompkins team will assemble lessons learned and share 50 them with the program’s advisory group. Next step will be to identify local organizations 51 willing to take up the mantle and continue sharing information at events. 52 53 Approval of the Minutes – A motion was made by Regi Teasley, seconded by Susan Riley, to 54 approve the July 12, 2018, minutes. Motion carried. Ron Szymanski, Jonathan Zisk, and Steve 55 Bissen abstained. 56 57 Committee Reports 58 59 Climate Adaptation: Brian Eden 60 • James Knighton, former chair of the Committee, is in Germany for the fall semester. 61 • Committee plans to meet in October. Brian will send a scheduling poll. 62 • Michelle Henry and Brian participated in a Climate Smart Communities webinar on inter-63 municipal floodplain overlay districts. 64 • Scott reported on Committee’s recommendations for better data collection of flooding 65 events. The update to the Hazard Mitigation Plan, which comes out next year, will help to 66 standardize the process across the County. 67 • Tompkins has received funding from the State Environmental Protection Fund’s Smart 68 Growth Program to develop a resiliency plan for extreme weather events. 69 • Updating flood insurance maps remains a high priority action item for the County. The NYS 70 Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is tasked by FEMA with heading the 71 endeavor, so the County must defer to DEC timing on flood map updates. 72 • There is a presentation on carbon farming, “Farmers Can Help Cool the Planet,” at the 73 Tompkins County Public Library on September 26th, 7-9 p.m. The Climate Adaptation 74 Committee may focus its efforts on carbon farming next. 75 76 Environmental Review: Brian Eden 77 • The Lansing Rod & Gun Club recently began logging on its property, and nearby 78 residents pushed the Town of Lansing to issue a stop work order in compliance with 79 environmental law (no more than 1 acre of land adjacent to a regulated wetland can be 80 disturbed without a SWMPP permit). Brian facilitated a conference call with Peter Lopez, 81 Region 2 Administrator for the EPA, and 10 of his staff members to discuss the matter. 82 The Town of Lansing has written to the EPA asking them to enforce the original consent 83 order from 2016. 84 • EPA contractors are on-site at Ithaca Falls collecting soil samples in anticipation of 85 further required remediation of the site. 86 • ERC commented on the Morse Chain/Emerson Interim Remedial Measures Work Plan. 87 • Members attended a Tompkins County Supreme Court hearing to listen to the argument 88 on a motion to require Cargill to release information on 16 references cited in a 89 document its attorneys had introduced into the Article 78 proceeding that were not 90 available in the public domain. CLEAN’s lawyer had requested the documents from 91 Cargill without success. The judge denied the motion for access to the documents. The 92 next Cargill Article 78 hearing is set for 1:30 p.m. on November 26th. 93 • Tom Shelley spoke about floodplain management and other environmental issues at the 94 6-acre Cherry Street development site. 95 • The City of Ithaca adopted a Green Building Policy report in June but has yet to 96 undertake measures to codify it. 97 • Brian will advocate for a groundwater loop as part of the Green Street Garage 98 Redevelopment Project to support a geothermal energy system. 99 • Jay Egg’s Sept. 6th presentation on geothermal energy was a big success. 100 • Roughly 150 people attended the Sept. 8th No Fracked Gas Forum and Rally. 101 • The Kingdom Farm in Lansing was recently sold to a dairy farmer from Cayuga County 102 who has received a NYS grant to build an agricultural waste storage facility and hopes to 103 site it on the Lansing property. 104 Water Resources Council Liaison: Michelle Henry/HABs Action Plan Update 105 • Good HABs discussion; CSLAP and HABs sampling continue. 106 • One HABs sample with high toxins was confirmed on July 26th just south of Yawger Creek’s 107 mouth and north of Fire Lane 18. While there have been other blooms, thus far it is the only 108 location to have multiple blooms confirmed with high toxins. 109 • A recent rash of potential HAB samples was sent to a New York State laboratory for testing. 110 • HABs will be added as a topic area in the updated Tompkins County Water Quality Strategy. 111 • No chemical treatment for hydrilla will be performed on the southern end of Cayuga Lake. 112 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has taken over hydrilla treatment for the entire lake. 113 • Planning and Sustainability submitted an over target request for the 2019 budget for the 114 design and production of a clean boating educational brochure/keepsake map of the lake. 115 • The WRC will sponsor a Roadside Ditch Management Training workshop for municipalities 116 October 3-4 at CCETC. 117 Tom commented that the City of Ithaca has finally started using a current SEQR form. The City 118 had been using an outdated form since 2015, which could have affected proper regulation of 119 area waterways. 120 Waste Minimization Committee Update on Plastic Bag Ban Resolution 121 • Members discussed merits of including a fee for paper bags. 122 • Committee will present waste reduction resolution at the Sept. 24th PDEQ meeting for 123 informational purposes, with a formal vote hopefully taken at the November meeting. 124 125 Action: Regi Teasley moved to approve Environmental Management Council Resolution 02-126 2018 Recommending that the Tompkins County Legislature Enact a Local Law to Protect and 127 Enhance Its Natural Environment by Banning the Distribution of Single-use Carry-out Plastic 128 Bags in Retail Stores in principle with minor editorial changes. Tom Shelley seconded the 129 motion. Motion carried, with the stipulation that the resolution be brought back to the EMC for a 130 second vote if major changes to the text are proposed. 131 Action: Anne Klingensmith made a motion to approve the EMC Plastic Bag Ban Proposal 132 educational factsheet created by the Waste Minimization Committee and students from Ithaca 133 College. Tom Shelley seconded approval of the factsheet. Motion carried, with minor editorial 134 changes. Jonathan Zisk abstained. 135 136 Unique Natural Areas: Brian Eden 137 • Brian attended the Expanded Budget Committee session on September 11th but was not 138 called upon to speak about the UNA Program budget item. 139 • Karen Edelstein is finishing the delineation of batch 4 boundaries. Robert Wesley has 140 completed his site surveys. 141 • Scott will resend permission form to landowners of UNA-016, Sanguisorba Swamp, 142 requesting access to property for the consultants. 143 144 Executive: Brian Eden 145 • Members should send suggestions for guest speakers and presentation topics. 146 • Member attendance at community events is important. They present a great opportunity to 147 reach possible collaborators for EMC initiatives. 148 149 Staff Report: Scott Doyle 150 • County staff met with legislative clerks to discuss revisions to the EMC By-laws. 151 Fall Outreach Program Update 152 • The program will take place Thursday, Oct. 18th, 5-7 p.m., at TCPL. 153 • Amanda Champion will contact Barbara Eckstrom about presenting on changes to the 154 County recycling program. 155 156 Municipal Reports and Member Announcements 157 • The Town of Ulysses has hired a new environmental planner, John Zepko. 158 • Tom may be appointed the City’s liaison to the new Town of Ithaca Deer Management 159 Committee. The City Parks, Recreation, and Natural Resources Commission is also 160 instituting a deer management program, in conjunction with the Town. 161 162 Chair Brian Eden adjourned the meeting at 5:45 p.m. 163