HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-09-12 CAC MinutesTown of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 1 of 4
Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council (CAC)
Minutes of In-person Meeting in Town Hall and via videoconferencing
Tuesday, September 12, 2023
Danby, New York
Council Members present: Margaret Corbit (Meeting Chair), Jonathan Zisk, Joel
Gagnon, Don Schaufler, Renee Owens, Katharine Hunter
Council Members absent: Brittany Stein (formerly Lagaly)
Others present: Elizabeth Keokosky (Secretary), Ronda Roaring (Danby resident –
via Zoom), Anne Klingensmith (Danby resident perhaps interested in becoming a
CAC member)
Meeting was officially called to order at 7:07
Deletions or Additions to Agenda: None
Privilege of the Floor (PoF): Roaring suggested that use the old brochure on.
easements (which Gagnon had fortuitiously just found) and do some Spring event
with tabling,. Another suggestion was an easement walk for the public.
Approval of August 8, 2023 minutes
Corbit moved to approve
Gagnon seconded
Approved by all present, except for Zisk who abstained.
REPORTS AND UPDATES (from the agenda)
1. Status of redraft Timber Harvesting law after DEC meeting– Schaufler
group
Schaufler reported on the August 23 evening meeting he had scheduled
with DEC. Zisk, Gagnon, and Hunter also attended. The DEC people made
an important clarification on what had been assumed so far by Danby town
laws. They said that timber harvesting is separate from agriculture. They
refer to it as silviculture, which includes the health and management of the
forest, not as agriculture, so it is does not carry the same exemption from
Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 2 of 4
some Danby highway department rulings. DEC oversees silviculture, not
agriculture. (AfterNote: this still might need to be further clarified with NY
Ag and Markets).
They also emailed Schaufler - among other documents - a copy of the Town
of German’s (in Chenango County) Road Law, which they thought had some
uselful ideas that Danby could perhaps use, such as a Storm Water
Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP). (Afternote: clarification by Schaufler- he
had mistakenly noted SWPPP plan in Town of German document.)
A group was formed to redraft Danby Harvest law with these changes in
mind (Gagnon, Zisk, Schaufler, Hunter) - they will email others.
2. Update on Conservation Easement Tax Abatement; Criteria for
acceptance – Gagnon, Zisk
Corbit reported that assessment of land in Danby is now at $2K per acre so
a property of 100 acres is now assessed at $200K just for land. People with
such properties really do need tax relief.
Since county writes up tax bills that are sent to property owners, Danby
would need to work with Jay Franklin, Director of Tompkins County
Department of Assessment to determine a time line for implementation of
easement abatement.
Discussion followed on defining a participation policy, especially for
temporary 15 year easements, where acreage and quality may not
sufficiently justify overhead needed to create and monitor an easement. It
would need a very special place. PoF:Klingensmith asked if there could be
exceptions for multiply neighbors doing properties together? Answer was
that it would require separate easements for each property so there is no
real savings..
Zisk volunteered to take lead in
a. Criteria for participation
b. Meeting with Franklin for abatement discussion (could be by Zoom)
Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 3 of 4
3. Easement monitoring: Recruiting easement monitors and developing a
support packet - Corbit and Zisk
Hunter had previously emailed two sample letters from the Deleware
Highlands Conservancy with which her family had an easement in
Pennsylvania. They were for pre and post-monitoring visits. She suggested
that Danby could use the same wording. Corbit agreed. The letters also
eliminated the need to negotiate the visit time since owner need not be
present. Hunter reported that she had spoken to Anne Stork, who teaches
environmental biology at IC, abour getting her college students involved in
monitoring.
Some kind of identification for monitors was discussed: a badge, a hat, a
magnate on car? Decided on monogramed orange hats, which also
protected against hunters.
4. Updates on on-going easements – from leads on each easement
Ben Altman – nothing new to report
Andi Gladstone – nothing new to report
Mary Woodsen – nothing new to report
Brian Caldwell – Zisk volunteered (later realized he didn’t have the time,
and Corbit and Gagnon volunteered to take over)
Judy Abrams – Makarainen Road – Hunter says Abrams wants to protect
her property, but it is currently land-locked, though she does have a
neighbor who is very cooperative about giving access for an easement.
Hunter and Zisk will check it out.
5. Report on status of checklist to trigger CAC involvement in town
planning/land use discussions – Zisk
Nothing to report on this topic
6. Status of Bear presentation/webpage changes - Owens
Owens reported that the bear article was originally just a way to get public
involved in what CAC was doing and interest them to CAC web page. But
the bottleneck problem is a limit on Danby newsletter pages, which leaves
no room for non-municiple public information. Current editor is Pat
Woodward who is volunteering her time.
Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 4 of 4
Discussion on possible solutions to this followed. End result was that
Corbit volunteered to put together a letter to the town board explaining
why this space was important to CAC for communicating with public and
encouraging them to increase the budget to allow for the extra pages,
personnel, and technical expertise for this..
Remaining time
7. Continuing session on revisioning of CAC mission and message for CAC
web page.
Some continued discussion on ways CAC can better do its job.
There was no Executive session
Next Meeting is on October 10, 2023 at 7p.m.
Adjournment at 9:05 pm
_____________________________________________
Submitted by Elizabeth Keokosky (Secretary)