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Home My WebLink About2017-02-22 PAB Final Minutes 1 PLANNING ADVISORY BOARD 2 Wednesday, February 22, 2017 3 SCOTT HEYMAN CONFERENCE ROOM 4 125 East Court Street 5 6 FINAL MEETING MINUTES 7 Members Attending: 8 Name Representation Kathy Schlather E Human Services Rob Steuteville A Built Environment Design Andy Zepp A Land Pres/Public Land Mgmt Dooley Kiefer A Associate Member Others Present Ed Marx P Commissioner of Planning Scott Doyle P Planner Kristin McCarthy P Administrative Assistant Katie Borgella P 10 Guests: None 11 12 A quorum was not present. 13 14 Call to Order – Chair David Kay called the meeting to order at 9:12 AM. 15 16 Privilege of the Floor – No speakers 17 18 Agenda Review/Changes & Approval of Minutes (Jan. 25, 2017) – Due to the lack of a quorum, the 19 Election of Officers and approval of the January minutes were postponed until the March meeting. 20 21 Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Planning & Deployment Update – Fernando de Aragon 22 23 They expect to complete their EV infrastructure planning project in about a month. The next step will be to 24 compile several different reports into a final document. Energetics, the company they worked with on that 25 project, received a grant on their own to deploy charging stations in two communities: Rochester and Ithaca. 26 27 Through this project, there will be funding to subsidize 11 charging stations in this community by end of 28 year, including $200,000 in marketing for electric vehicles. They are setting up a steering committee to get 29 in-kind donations. The County is working toward replacing its fleet with low-emissions and EVs, and this 30 funding could help realize that goal. They are also hoping to bring Maguire onboard. 31 32 33 34 W. Dryden Rd. Pipeline Alternative Proposal – Ed Marx, Katie Borgella, and Martha Robertson 35 36 Martha R.: She gave a follow-up report on the Energy and Economic Development Task Force, whose top 37 proposal was to work with the Public Service Commission (PSC) and NYSEG to find alternatives to the 38 Name Representation Martha Armstrong A Economic Development Joe Bowes P Housing Sue Cosentini E Business Fernando de Aragón P Transportation John Gutenberger E Education Dave Herrick E Facilities/Infrastructure Rod Howe P Historical/Cultural Resources David Kay P Local Planning (urban) Darby Kiley P Local Planning (non-urban) Gay Nicholson P At-Large Martha Robertson P Planning Committee Monika Roth A Agriculture West Dryden Road pipeline. The head of PSC met with a subgroup of the task force in July and she took the 39 findings to the rest of her staff at the Commission and the utility company. In November, they attended a 40 high -level meeting in Albany with officials from the Department of Public Service and NYSEG. 41 42 Katie: She thinks the interesting approach they took to planning the task force, for example by including a 43 diverse group of players, from climate activists to economic developers, encouraged out-of-the-box thinking 44 and seemed to strike a cord with the PSC. Another critical point was a meeting that took place after Albany 45 between the engineers from the task force and NYSEG to look at all the solutions. They came up with the gas 46 compressor idea. 47 48 Ed: The problem for existing NYSEG gas customers is low pressure at high demand times. If they lose their 49 service, it’s difficult to reinstate. The compressor would keep pressure on the lines. 50 51 NYSEG has finished a feasibility study and submitted it to PSC for review. If the Commission approves it, 52 NYSEG will move forward with developing this alternative. 53 54 NYSEG is also approaching the PSC about developing an RfP for finding energy-choice options beyond gas. 55 They are trying to find alternatives for customers that can use them and free up gas service for ones who 56 really have no other choice. 57 58 Martha: After Hurricane Sandy, the law changed to make the heads of a utility criminally liable if they 59 know about a risk to reliability of service and don’t do anything about it, so NYSEG knows the situation is 60 urgent. Also, the day after the press event announcing the compressor proposal, Governor Cuomo pledged 61 $15 million to promote heat pump development and marketing. 62 63 Gay Nicholson: When the West Dryden proposal first came up, she and colleagues came up with two 64 groups: one that was anti-pipeline and another that promoted alternatives to the pipeline (heat pumps). The 65 PSC and NYSEG heard from a lot of residents of West Dryden Road for a long time. NYSEG faced a 66 situation where eminent domain would have been necessary because of so many people refusing to give 67 easements. 68 69 Ed: NYSEG has argued that as part of the equation local communities will need to change their energy 70 codes. The pipeline is temporarily on hold. If no solutions are generated for alternatives, then it could be 71 revived. Consultants haven’t been able to find any place where a community made a conscious shift from gas 72 to electric. 73 74 75 Possible Amendment to Guidelines for Capital Reserve Fund for Natural, Scenic, and Recreational 76 Resource Protection – Ed Marx and Scott Doyle 77 78 Scott Doyle passed out existing guidelines. They have projects that might fall outside the Agriculture 79 Resource and the Natural Features Focus Areas, but the current guidelines state that to receive funding 80 projects must be based inside one of these focus areas. They would like the board to consider recommending 81 changes to guidelines that might help address this issue. 82 83 Ed: Scott has graduate students working on habitat connectivity studies. Bobcats, fishers, black bears, and 84 other species are moving back in and traveling through different focus areas. They need these linkages if they 85 are to thrive, but the focus areas only include some connectivity. Opportunity exists to create stepping stones 86 toward connectivity in places where there are gaps. Under current rules, this can’t be done. For a project like 87 that, they’d need to bring proposal to PAB and then Legislature to change rules. 88 89 Election of Officers – Ed Marx 90 91 The election was postponed until the March 22nd meeting due to lack of a quorum. 92 93 Commissioner’s Report – Ed Marx 94 95 Darby Kiley, Dave Herrick, and Andy Zepp have agreed to serve on the new Natural Infrastructure Program 96 Subcommittee. Chair David Kay approved their appointment. The Natural Environment seat is open so that 97 person might also be appointed. 98 99 County is expecting a final report from their Energy Focus Areas on energy infrastructure and feasibility of 100 all-electric buildings and energy conservation as strategies to move forward. 101 102 The Planning and Sustainability Department is working with the County Office of the Aging on universal 103 design/accessible communities to meet needs of the aging population. There is interest in doing educational 104 outreach locally, particularly for developers, architects, and officials, in using codes. They hope to involve 105 local expert Esther Greenhouse, who consults with the Ithaca College Gerontology Program. 106 107 Member Reports/Announcements – 108 109 • Gay: Sustainable Hosting will be hosting Earth Day again on April 29th. There are plans already to 110 have a workshop on tiny houses, but they could feasibly hold one on “aging in place,” per the 111 discussion that took place during Ed’s Commissioner’s Report. On April 29th, they also will be 112 hosting the sister march of the National People’s Climate March. 113 114 • Rod Howe: He is still waiting to find out if the County will approve the purchase of the Tompkins 115 Trust building for use by the History Center and several partners, including the Downtown 116 Visitors Center, as a new Heritage Education Center. 117 118 • Joe Bowes: 210 Hancock will most likely be leasing in August and selling the townhouses in 119 summer. Tompkins County Action will lease space for an Early Headstart facility on the ground 120 floor, which will also have space for a commercial tenant. 121 122 • Martha R.: She has been trying to find a meeting time for the Old Library committee. 123 124 125 Adjournment – 126 127 The meeting adjourned at 10:29 a.m. 128 129 130 131