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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-NAC-2009-07-13City of Ithaca Natural Areas Commission Meeting Minutes Monday, July 13, 2009 5:30- 7:OOpm City Hall, 108 East Green St Second Floor Conference Room In attendance Members: Ron Herring, Gerard H Cox, Jon Meigs, Alison Fromme, Joe McMahon, Anna Stalter Ex Officio: Wade Wykstra, Board of Public Works Other: Alexis Heinz, Natural Areas Ranger; Roxy Johnston, For Chief Operator City Water Plant ; Ray Benjamin, Acting Supt. Of Public Works; Erik Whitney, Asst. Superintendent for Water and Sewer; Dan Hoffman, City Attorney Absent: Wendy Wallitt, Todd Miner, Robert Wesley, Nancy Schuler Meeting Chair: Alison Fromme; Note taker: Anna Stalter Minutes of the June meeting were read and approved with minor corrections. Reports and Announcements Alexis Heinz, Natural Areas Ranger, had her first day on the job today, reviewing documents and reports from last year's Rangers. Alexis will be on the job from 10am -4pm on Monday through Friday and on Saturday 10am -8 pm. Gary Jordan, the other new ranger, will work evenings, 4pm -8pm and Sundays, 10am -8pm. Alexis provided her cell phone number to NAC members and the question arose if it could be made public. It was decided that the water treatment plant phone number be used for emergencies and Alexis agreed to post a notice to that effect in the kiosk. Mention was made that Zev's trail map had been taken from the kiosk (the lock has been broken for some months). Ray will provide Alexis with a new lock for the kiosk and Joe will contact Zev to ask if replacement maps are readily available and at what cost. Confusion over the Ithaca Journal's reference to the `Jungle' as a "natural area" has been cleared up by edit of online version of the article. Discussion of Plan of Work with Eric Whitney began with a review of the letter from NAC. (At the suggestion of BPW it was agreed to review the plan of work for activity pending at the 30 -foot dam as a trial run of the recently completed NAC guidelines for work in the Natural Area. Documents submitted by Erik Whitney were reviewed by NAC and a draft letter of response was sent to Erik prior to this meeting.) The letter was discussed item by item and Eric agreed to draft a response that would clearly address the points made and agreed upon at this meeting. 1. Block existing footpath. Dan H. recalled the history of the footpath. Formerly a driveway for emergency vehicle use, the middle (8 -10 inch width) section is hard - packed base. Steps were installed by a former NAC member. Because blocking paths has not been a successful strategy in past suggestion was to leave it be and wait to see how it's use is affected by the addition of the new access point. Erik mentioned that the raw water line runs under the steps. 2. Silt fence. Erik agrees that it would be prudent to install silt fence when the work commences rather than "if necessary ". 3. Extent of disturbance. Work activity can be constrained to 10 -12 ft. area, with little disturbance to the periphery. Asked if runoff will increase with changes in grade, Erik remarked that the as long as the surface is resistant to erosion ( "armored "), runoff will be clean, and added that the drainage area is very small. The most significant erosion is seen at the Commonland access point. CL residents would likely object to any "improvement" at that access point. 4. Restrict access to motorcycles, bikes etc. Hard to block motorcycles while allowing wheelchair accessibility. 5. Excavated soil will be trucked out of natural area. Will remove wire baskets and inspect grading. 6. Trail north of work activity will not be blocked. A concern was also voiced that the large tree at bottom of slope might hold material which could build up and eventually decrease visual access to dam. 7. Erik explained that the D3 proposed for use is best; less ground pressure of a tracked vehicle versus a wheeled vehicle. It is also neutral steer capable (one track moves forward, one track moves backward) and so job can be completed with fewer passes (1 pass with D3 versus 30 -40 passes with skidsteer). It is expected that work will commence on Monday July 20. NAC is welcome to view progress at any time. Dave Hunt is supervisor, crew is "good, responsive ". This "trial run" has proceeded smoothly, though it appears that the review process may take more than the 5 business days specified in the guidelines. Erik indicated that in most situations there will be sufficient advance notice for review and feedback. Water Supply Because it was concluded that any negative environmental impact could be mitigated with either the rebuild or purchase option, BPW has recommended rebuild; Common Council will make a final decision in the fall. Dan suggests that NAC review carefully the mitigation recommendations associated with the rebuild and provide feedback to Council. Roxy will request that the document be put online and will let NAC know when it is available. Chair of August 10 meeting will be Wendy.