HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-NAC-2013-05-13 1
Natural Areas Commission Minutes
Monday, May 13, 2013
2nd floor conference room, city hall
Members Present: Robert Wesley, Anna Stalter, Joe McMahon, Dan Hoffman, Ron
Herring
Additional Attendees: Roxy Johnston Water Department, Chris Proulx Common Council
Liaison
Visitor: Richie Berg
Designation of note‐taker: Ron Herring
1) Giles Street Property Sale:
Richie Berg talks about a potential property sale on Giles St. He described the
property and showed the commission members a map. Assessments are going up
on the land; he would like to have the property protected but wants someone to
take it off his hands for financial relief. The property abuts the recreation way. It is
roughly 2 acres in extent
The question for discussion was then: where on the list of priorities for property
acquisition might this parcel stand? Dan Hoffman passed out a map with the
properties identified as desirable for protection of 6‐mile NA from discussion in
2006.
Dan then updated the NAC on status of these properties. Tax write‐off strategies for
manipulating assessments were discussed. One idea discussed was to meet with the
Town planner to think about property protection purchases. The available resources
for purchase of lands adjoining the NA seem to be uncertain. There is a little bit of
money, but it’s not clear what strings are attached. We need to spend the money
currently available in order to get more from the Park Foundation. We also
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discussed property sales as a means of raising funds for property purchases.
Evidently the grinding of gears will take some time.
2) Reports and Announcements
Anna: Reported on Nature Journaling for Kids at Six Mile Creek, a series of
Spring workshops. The stream safari on fresh water ecology went well.
Attendance was good. Phil Koons did a good job. There were, however, a few
[not fully specified] distractions. Betsy Darlington led a good walk as well. There
was lots of concentration among the attendees. There is to be one more of these
opportunities, a tree walk, June 1, led by Ethan Dropkin.
Dan Hoffman: Report on the Ithaca Gun meeting. Much is undecided because of
a) the number of bodies with interests and responsibilities and b) questions of
the level of clean up desired. A full removal of all lead contamination, for
example, would be quite expensive, but remediation to the tolerance level of
multi‐family dwellings would be more affordable. Those are the tradeoffs. There
is a question, too, of responsibility across the city, the EPA and the DEC. The DEC
fund now available is around S1 million, but it is an investigation fund, not a
remediation fund. “Interim relief” is an intermediate category which could
provide some improvement in the polluted property. The cap is a problem that
needs a solution, but is difficult to settle: removal seems unfeasible because of
the understory of contaminated elements, but it is also hard to prevent
contamination from erosion from under the cap. As a result of these issues,
development of public access is some time off, until the dust has settled.
Joe: There was a camper that Dan noticed; Joe explained the situation. Joe told
him to move out, but had to go to police, who provided an immediate response,
removing the camper. Joe reported that on that same day, there was lots of cliff
jumping and very large crowds.
3) Change of Meeting Time
First Tuesday? Proposed by Joe. Approved unanimously.
4) Wildflower information
A map for trifold showing marked trails was distributed. General approval was
expressed.