HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-NAC-2009-01-12 (2)MEETING MINUTES
City of Ithaca Natural Areas Commission
(1 =12 -09)
5:30 -7 :00 pm
City Hall, 108 E. Green St.
In attendance:
Members Wendy Wallitt (Vice Chair), Gerard Cox, Joe McMahon,
Anna Stalter (CAC Liaison), Ron Herring, F. Robert Wesley (CU Natural
Areas), Jon Meigs (Town of Ithaca), Zev Ross (Outgoing Chair)
Ex- Officio Andy Hillman (City Forester)
Guest: Roxy Johnston (Watershed Coordinator in lieu of Chief
Operator of Water Filtration Plant); Dan Hoffman (City Attorney)
Not present:
Todd Miner, Wade Wykstra (BPW Liaison), Nancy Schuler (CC
Liaison), Chuck Baker (Chief Operator of Water Filtration Plant),
JoAnn Cornish (Acting Planning and Development Director), Erik
Whitney (Ass't. Superintendent of Public Works)
Minutes of December 8 2008 approved with minor revisions; to be revised
and submitted to City Clerk by R Herring.
Brief reports and announcements:
Wendy reported that a visiting pre - college student from abroad will be
available for volunteer work March to May 2009. Her interest is in
landscape architecture. She is looking for structure into which she can plug
her volunteer work. Might there be ways to use volunteer labor on Robert's
survey? Robert thought perhaps this could work out.
Ithaca Gun facility: Gerry noted that the clean -up is beginning. The new
question of barium has been raised, but with no clear resolution in terms of
clean up. The citizens' group is not meeting; there is "not much going on."
We do not get air - monitoring reports.
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Dan Hoffman said the city has received the deed on land being
transferred at this site; once the contamination is cleared up, public access
will be offered in the future. NAC remains interested in trail connections
from the Falls to the lake.
Stewart Park: Roxy reported on a meeting with Rick Manning, at which the
main topic was again swimming — by far the greatest public interest in the
rehabilitation of Stewart Park. A report from the rehabilitation groups is
forthcoming. Jon wondered what our interests as NAC are in the park. Ron
answered that there are implications of the most ambitious plans for Stewart
Park for Fuertes Natural Area and the Fall Creek Natural Area. Second, we
had proposed at an earlier meeting linking rehabilitated trails in Fuertes to
trails up to newly acquired land abutting Ithaca Falls.
NAC Chair Discussion: Zev explained that beyond what the Chair decides
to take on of her/his own initiative, there is not a lot to do. There is
coordination to be done, agendas to work up, but not a heavy work load; he
gets very few letters or requests for doing specific tasks. No one seemed
eager, nevertheless, to throw a hat into the ring. There was a discussion of
whether or not there must be a chair at all. Evidently, NAC has a statutory
obligation to have a Chair. Then the question of the desirability of a rotating
chair was raised. The question was raised: might there not be slippage in
priorities, a lack of continuity? In any event, through May 2009, a rotating
chair system will be tried. After some too -ing and fro -ing, Joe agreed to be
the coordinator and mail drop, with the explicit understanding that he would
not be responsible for agenda setting or running the meetings. Wendy agreed
to be Vice Chair,
Formal Appreciation of Out -going Chair: Presentation of gifts and a
certificate to Zev Ross for effective leadership and generous service to the
NAC. General merriment ensued.
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