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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-CAC-2013-06-10City of Ithaca Conservation Advisory Council Minutes June 10, 2013 ADOPTED 7:30 – 9pm, Third Floor Conference Room, City Hall, 108 East Green Street meeting called to order at 7:31 p.m. by Chair Rima Shamieh Present: Rima Shamieh, Jesse Hill, Michael Culotta, C.J. Randall, Tom Shelley Absent: None Visitors: Ed Swayze; Matt Yarrow; Noah Demarest; Nina Bassuk, Chair of STAC; Maureen Bolton; Laurene Gilbert, STAC member Motion to approve May meeting minutes made by R. Shamieh, seconded by M. Culotta; motion passed 5-0. Parking Design Guidelines – J. Hill and STAC members J. Hill update on STAC meeting, parking design controls to promote healthy trees and canopy growth. Existing Southwest Design Guidelines are outdated. Trying to create guidelines for what trees should be planted where to minimize heat island effect, minimize erosion and sedimentation. STAC members said that trees are not planted well in existing parking lots. The southwest area calls for one tree for every ten spaces. Since guidelines were developed, there have developments in better ways to plant trees in parking lots. See Porous asphalt and CU-Structural Soil ® and CU-Structural Soil in the Urban Environment handouts from the Urban Horticulture Institute at Cornell. There are 23 different installations of these in existence throughout Ithaca. This method uses less material, costs approximately the same as standard asphalt. And, a larger parking lot doesn’t need a totally porous surface; they simply need an apron around it to drain water to the reservoir for the trees to access. There are two licensed producers of this patented structural soil in Ithaca. The structural soil traps and filters pollutants as well. The trees at the Home Depot lot died because the trees were improperly planted. STAC chair N. Bassuk will share model ordinance from Sacramento, CA. J. Hill will attend the next STAC meeting and collaborate with that committee and others to draft design standards for the city. This is getting to the point where the Common Council Planning and Economic Development Committee and the Planning Department should be engaged on this topic. 130 Clinton Street Review Part III of the FEAF was reviewed. It says everything CAC wants to say. CAC comments for this month should focus on alternative scenarios that should be included in the EIS. Will an economic hardship analysis be in the scoping document? R. Shamieh and J. Hill asked to find the subdivision documents and deed information for the parcel, which is likely in City Building Department or County Records Office, to see what intention for this parcel is. CAC concurs with FEAF Part III Positive Declaration recommendation. C.J. Randall gave a report on the Planning Board. Meeting adjourned, 9:07 p.m.