HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-NAC-2009-02-02 MEETING MINUTES
City of Ithaca Natural Areas Commission
(February 2,2009)
5:30-7:00 pm
City Hall, 108 E. Green St.
In attendance:
Members Wendy Wallitt (Chair pro tempore); Gerry Cox (note-taker); Joe McMahon;
Anna Stalter(CAC Liaison); Ron Herring; Jon Meigs (Town of Ithaca); Nancy Schuler
(CC Liaison)
Not attending: Todd Miner; Robert Wesley
Visitors: Alison Fromme
Announcements/changes to agenda: Henceforth, the note-taker will be responsible for
bringing copies of the draft minutes to the next meeting and will send a copy of the
approved minutes to JulieH @cityofithaca.org.
Wendy reported that she is now sitting on the committee revising the City's
comprehensive plan, adopted in 1971
Approval of last month's minutes: with some changes to descriptions, approved.
Old business:
Gerry reported on Ithaca Gun. The Community Advisory Group met on January 26 with
Gary Holmes of DEC and Frost Travis, while Pete Grevelding of O'Brien & Gere
participated via conference call. There have been no exceedances of VOC's or SVOC's
in the main building. Less lead has been found than expected,but much more barium,
which was unexpected. Its source may have been a process of making bricks. As barium
is a contaminate, materials testing over 400 ppm will be trucked off site to an appropriate
landfill.
Anna reported that all accounting procedures are now agreed-upon to pay for Robert's
forthcoming inventory of plants in the Six Mile Creek area. She also said that a Cornell
fraternity has volunteered to help in late March at Six Mile Creek, perhaps to pull garlic
mustard. They might also be able to help with building the kiosk for the upper trail.
Wendy reported on The Guidelines. When Zev Ross and Wendy met with Erik Whitney,
the Asst. Superintendant of DPW, in August, 2008, Erik said that the Guidelines would
not present a problem for DPW. They already file plans for some work with the Dept. of
Health and other agencies. He agreed that DPW could prepare a list of routine
maintenance and complete a plan of work for each type of activity as it comes up the first
time. He did ask that we specify in the Guidelines the time periods for blooming and
nesting as well as the periods of greatest wetness so that DPW can schedule routine
maintenance around them.
New Business:
After a discussion with Alison Fromme about her interests and experiences, the members
unanimously agreed to forward her name to the Mayor Peterson for membership on
NAC.
The primary focus of the next meeting of NAC will focus on The Guidelines. Wendy
asked that we come up with a response plan so that, once the Guidelines are passed and
DPW sends a plan of work to us, we shall be able to evaluate the plan and respond
appropriately within the five business days we have agreed to. To do this effectively, we
shall need people with other specific expertise who are readily available. At the March
meeting, we need to work on this response plan and begin developing a list of people
with the required areas of expertise.
Members should give thought to the priorities for this year. Those will be the next major
topic of discussion after The Guidelines.
Wendy will set the agenda for the March meeting.