HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-06-11 CAC Minutes (draft)Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 1 of 4
Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council (CAC)
Draft
Minutes of In-person Meeting in Town Hall, and via videoconferencing
Tuesday, June 11, 2024
Council Members present: Jonathan Zisk (Meeting chair), Joel Gagnon, Anne
Klingensmith, Don Schaufler, Katharine Hunter, Renee Owens
Council Members absent: Margaret Corbit, Brittany Stein
Others present: Betsy Keokosky (Secretary) Ronda Roaring (Danby resident)
Meeting was officially called to order at 7:12
Deletions or Additions to Agenda:
Klingensmith wanted to add approval of pre-monitoring easement letter. It was
added to item 3.
Privilege of the Floor (PoF):
Roaring brought up some questions about conservation easements.
Keokosky, at her last meeting as secretary, took the opportunity to recommend
what she considered, three important things for CAC.
• CAC should have more contact with town planner, Greg Hutnik, to support
and ground the committee in Danby town planning needs.
• CAC needs better oversight and time monitoring by meeting chair to stick
to agenda, limit discussion, and insure an action plan for next meeting.
• She agrees with Owens, the existing limit on writing additional articles in
town newsletter very much interferes with CAC’s ability to communicate
with the public.
Approval of March 12, 2024, April 9, 2024, and May 14, 2024 minutes
Gagnon moved to approve all three months
Zisk seconded
Approved by all present
Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 2 of 4
REPORTS AND UPDATES (from the agenda and additions)
1. Determining status of CAC Members in transition to new Danby mail and
operating systems –
Gagnon announced that Danby was trying to reduce use of town email.
Others voiced concerns about using personal emails that might result in
loss of their personal computers in case of legal suits. They felt this was
putting volunteers in jeopardy. Gagnon announced that there might be
different levels of accessibility to the new system. For instance, he and
Katherine (who were on boards) might have more permissions. He said it
cost $22/person/month for the town to supply email.
2. Status Report: Conservation Easement Tax Abatement and CAC letter to
town board – Gagnon, Klingensmith
Gagnon reported town board was not receptive to extending tax
abatement to all easements (other than Danby Conservation Easements).
Gagnon felt they all equally protected land from development in Tompkins
County, but after some discussion, other CAC members continued to feel
that it was not in CAC purview to extend tax abatement to other types of
easements (i.e. such as Finger Lakes Land Trust or farm easements, etc).
The conclusion was to limit expanding tax abatements to just
grandfathering in the old Danby easements.
3. Status Report: Easement monitoring – Owens, Klingensmith
Owens expresses frustration, and resigned from the job of managing other
members of CAC to coordinate with monitoring. It was noted that the file
organization and people organization that she is trying to do, is again made
more difficult by the transition from Zoho to Microsoft Office.
Klingensmith had volunteered to put together a monitoring form-letter to
announce the annual visit to conservation owners, which she had adapted
it from Hunter’s model. She read it and explained that It could be used to
alert easement owners of a CAC monitor coming, as well as let monitors set
and hold to a schedule. It was enthusiastically approved by group.
Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 3 of 4
She also said that even old monitoring notes that had yet to be typed up
into a report could be loaded as a scanned photo, just to move forward on
getting all the information in one place.
Hunter suggested a check list to let monitors know what to look for.
4. Status of Timber Harvesting law – Schaufler, Zisk
Schaufler reported that he had asked Danby Code Enforcement officer,
Steve Cortright, and Danby Highway Department the question “How do
they want what they do incorporated into Timber Harvesting Law.”
No special instructions are to be added for Bird Migration – just compliance
with NYS Division of Fish and Wildlife rules and recommendations
5. Updates on on-going easements – from leads on each easement
Andi Gladstone – Zisk - almost done
Ben Altman – Zisk reported that Altman wants native buildings to be
allowed on easement, which is going to require some rethinking of
easement language
Brian Caldwell – Gagnon – Caldwell family needs time for family discussion
Adam Cartman (405 Troy Rd) - Group organized to initially walk land
Ruth Sherman – Hunter and Stein -Stein absent and Hunter unaware of
status
6. Status of checklist to “trigger CAC involvement in town planning of land
use”– Zisk
NA
7. Discussion of researching a possibly new position in Danby involved in
agriculture and homesteading food production.
Keokosky, , brought up, what she considered the importance of having an
Agricultural Committee in Danby, similar to the one active in our
neighboring town, Caroline. This generated some discussion. Keokosky
brought up the interest in in Tompkins County for farmland protection and
local food production (Tompkins Food Future Plan), and federal money in
the USDA available for such purposes. Keokosky volunteered to find out
who was leading Caroline’s committee and explore what they were doing.
Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 4 of 4
There was no Executive session
Next Meeting is on July 9, 2024, at 7p.m.
Adjournment at 9:15 pm
_____________________________________________
Submitted by Elizabeth Keokosky (Secretary) using recording