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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-08-19 Meeting Minutes1 | P a g e Town of Danby Second Monthly Town Board Meeting Minutes Meeting Held Monday August 19, 2024 FINAL Board Members Present: Joel Gagnon, Town Supervisor Leslie Connors Katharine Hunter Patricia Woodworth Paul Hansen Town Staff: Laura Shawley, Bookkeeper Mariah Dillon, Town Clerk Steve Cortright, CEO Keith Shipman, Highway Superintendent Greg Hutnik, Town Planner Other AĴendees: Ted Crane Garry Huddle Ronda Roaring Jim Holahan Zach Larkins Captain Charles Tilton Theresa Klinger Erin Caruth 1. Call to Order 6:03 2. Additions/Deletions to the Agenda – Added to Business 2.1. Addition, Clean Energy Communities Grant and its Uses – Jim Holahan and Chris Skawski 2.2. Addition, Agreement to Spend Highway Funds 3. Privilege of the Floor Ted Crane – In the minutes of August 5th my comments regarding the WDCA omiĴed my question as to whether an active participant in the WDCA should recuse themselves from the discussion. And of course, as the meeting progressed, Joel, you both acted as a representative of WDCA and a member of the board. I know that several of you board members aĴend Planning Board meetings, and so I assume that you, like me, have read the Planner’s notes, Planner’s statement about tomorrow's meeting in particular, in one place, one of the Planner’s notes talks about cluster subdivisions, which I think in terms of actual use, might beĴer be called scaĴer subdivisions. The note there says that the proposed application meets the leĴer of the law, but certainly not its spirit. And I think that that should be cause for the board to think about looking at the language of the subdivision regulations with regard to clusters, which currently require merely, nothing more than a five-acre lot, and then a cluster can be applied regardless of what 2 | P a g e you're actually doing. The intent was not to be parceling off a few acres at a time. The intent was to have a plan. And I wonder if the inclusion of some additional conditions beyond a single five-acre minimum, such as a plan, and perhaps a minimum number of lots that the original lot was being broken into would be wise? I think that would be basically a good thing. And finally, I noticed in the minutes, Pat Woodworth responded to my comments, so I have a further question. She stated that an organization that receives money from the town by nature should be covered in the town board news. I wonder if she would care to address the question of well, then why are you covering organizations which are not receiving money from the town? First and second, why are you not including information about all the organizations that receive money from the town? What I'm geĴing at here is that I think that that all organizations should be treated equally, and as the town board news was intended originally to talk about town business, the inclusion of, should we say, community business, is well beyond the original scope. Ronda Roaring – I too was concerned about the whole business of clusters. I did read, because I plan to be at the meeting tomorrow night, as Greg knows. And I was concerned about that whole business of clusters, and I think we need to resolve that problem, rather than sort of trying to make it work as it is. I think that we do need to work on that. I'm not sure that parceling off five acres from a large parcel like Ray has really fits into the whole business of clusters, and I do agree with Ted on his business of people or organizations that are not truly you know this. You already know this, because I've complained in the past, but these organizations that are geĴing money from the town that are not legitimate nonprofits, at least by my standards, and if they start to get some time on the town's newsleĴer, what it knows is left. You know, you're puĴing almost everything into the town's newsleĴer, because in some way or other, most of those organizations are receiving money somehow, someway from the town, and I just wanted to remind the town that I am planning to ask for the statistics on aĴendance at Jennings pond, even if I have to do it through a Freedom of Information request. So, I would like the town to remind the individuals running the whole affair to be keeping statistics, because I do want to know how many people are coming and where they're coming from. Supervisor Gagnon suggested Ronda contact Mary Ann Kozak regarding Jennings Pond statistics. Gagnon agreed to send Roaring Mary Ann’s contact information. 4. Correspondence -None 5. Announcements – West Danby Picnic is this Saturday 8/24 at 4:30 6. Reports and Presentations 6.1. Highway Superintendent Keith Shipman The Highway Department is looking to spend $174,000 out of our CHIPS fund for the paving of West Jersey Hill Road. It's a liĴle bit more expensive this time around for a mile of paving. This is a turnkey paving job, which includes all the materials that are needed to pave. There will be some sealing process before we go into winter. We are using something different than what we have used in the past. We are using a hot mix, which adheres to the hills much beĴer. A lot of times when you put cold mix on a hill, 3 | P a g e when you're rolling it out, you can get these liĴle cracks, and eventually your pavement can give out. So, we are looking to do hot mix binder on it, bringing the pavement in hot, and it has to come in relatively quickly from another plant. It's a liĴle more expensive to do, but for the longevity of the road I think it's the best thing to do as that road's been suffering for many years, and I think it would be wise to do that because of the grade of the hill. Another good thing to keep in mind is we have already hauled all of our material in for this job. All of our material is on the ground now, it’s really good that we're ahead for next year with all the material that we have. That would be a big positive thing for next year, to have paid for material on the ground already. So our budgets are doing really well. We are ready to do that hill and get it done. 6.2. Town Planner, Hutnik: Planning Board meeting 8/20/2024: - Development Review  164 Yaple Rd – minor subdivision final plat review  405 Troy Rd – minor subdivision (and conservation easement) final plat review  190 Hill Rd – standard subdivision preliminary plat review  It's actually a range of addresses, 142 to 212 Hill Road. It's a large 190-acre property owned by the Thurnheers that's going from a one lot to a three-lot subdivision proposal, where the smallest lot will be 30 some acres. It's a large piece of land, so they're just dividing it among siblings. Those three have hearings tomorrow for certain approvals on them.  100 Van de Bogart Rd – minor subdivision sketch plat review This is the Property Crane and Roaring were referencing earlier. It’s the property that has the grass-fed beef operation, and he's found a buyer who wants to continue to operate grass fed beef. He wants to subdivide the home there so that it’s separate from the farm. Supervisor Gagnon asked if it was Ray Van de Bogart’s suggestion to use the cluster subdivision provision or Hutnik’s. Hutnik replied that while there is a precedent for this, he would like to work on the subdivision ordinance to clean it up. Hutnik suggested running it by the Town AĴorney to determine if this is an appropriate application of cluster subdivision.  Begin reviewing the Comprehensive Plan to see what goals have been achieved, what goals still need to be worked on, and what goals are no longer relevant. Hutnik will bring this up with the Planning Board. Hutnik would like to have a more formalized process and will present something to the town board at the next meeting. Working on the Comprehensive Plan will take a very concerted effort from the Town Board and Planning Board, and from the whole town and Hutnik wants to ensure that the process will be very transparent and public. Hutnik is looking to receive some direction from the Town Board about how to go about reviewing the Comprehensive Plan, as we start to think about a commiĴee, and to start the conversation off with the Planning Board, as they are the keepers of the 4 | P a g e Comprehensive Plan, and have them do a liĴle homework, go through the plan and just identify things that have been done, and things that are outstanding. Board of Zoning Appeals meeting 8/27/2024 - 2687 Danby Rd – area variance for reductions in front and side setbacks to build a house. Planning conference at the Downtown Ithaca Conference Center, October 9-11 - Request for expenditure of funds at TB meeting on September 9 to cover registration fees for Hutnik, Planning Board members, BZA members, and Town Board members - Supervisor Gagnon asked about a pass so that several people can aĴend various parts of the conference. Hutnik will look into it. 6.3. Clean Energy Communities Grant and its Uses – Jim Holahan and Chris Skawski. Holahan spoke about helping to bring energy related grants into the Town. He mentioned that Town may be eligible for a $60k grant, $10k for benchmarking and $50k for when the town achieves a certain point level. Both grants have been applied for. He spoke about other energy projects, possibly installing heat pumps or geothermal, or working on the Town Hall from the energy improvements from the energy audit. Holahan introduced Chris Skawski, Clean Energy Communities Coordinator from Cornell Extension, who had a brief slide show of CEC Grants Fund Presentation. Skawski noted that there is new funding to reward past participation. “When we get the notice of eligibility, we'll have 90 days from the date of that email. Hopefully it gets released in the next week or two. So that's why, but likely November is when it's going to come due in November or at 90 days. We just have to have a project. We don't need to have a contractor selected.” It's going to be better to get that in sooner rather than later. This is a first come first serve program. By tracking our energy use for 2022 and 2023, the town is eligible for a free energy audit. 5 | P a g e Skawski noted that the Town is eligible for many energy projects. Hanson mentioned insulation. Woodworth said it would be good to have an audit to determine the best course of action. Resolution 195 of 2024 To Approve to Spend Grant Money for an Energy Audit and Spend up to $60k for Upgrades Based on the Audit Recommendations Discussion centered on EV Stations and solar energy being involved in the audit. Moved by Woodworth Seconded by Hansen Vote: Connors Yes Hansen Yes Hunter Yes Woodworth Yes Gagnon Yes Resolution 195 of 2024 passed on August 19, 2024 Skawski offered to come out again and provide the Town with updates. 7. Meeting Minutes Resolution 196 of 2024 To Accept the Town Board Meeting Minutes of August 5, 2024 Moved by Connors Seconded by Gagnon Vote: Connors Yes Hansen Yes Hunter Yes Woodworth Yes Gagnon Yes Resolution 196 of 2024 passed on August 19, 2024 8. Warrant Abstract 15 of 2024 Resolution 197 of 2024 To Approve General Fund Vouchers 248 - 266 for $15,667.75 Moved by Connors Seconded by Woodworth Vote: Connors Yes Hansen Yes Hunter Yes 6 | P a g e Woodworth Yes Gagnon Yes Resolution 197 of 2024 passed on August 19, 2024 Resolution 198 of 2024 To Approve Highway Fund Vouchers 138 - 148 for $37,883.00 Moved by Connors Seconded by Woodworth Vote: Connors Yes Hansen Yes Hunter Yes Woodworth Yes Gagnon Yes Resolution 198 of 2024 passed on August 19, 2024 *Resolution 199 was skipped. 9. Business 9.1. CAC Secretary Candidate Interviews was canceled. Questions for the interviewees were discussed. Supervisor Gagnon asked if the enabling resolution was shared with the applicants so they would know what the charter was. This was answered in the affirmative. Hunter suggested that the questions for these applicants be adopted for most applicants. It was generally agreed that the questions were very good. 9.2. DePutron Hollow Road Renumbering Resolution Resolution 200 of 2024 To Approve Readdressing of DePutron Hollow Road Discussion ensued regarding how the Town of Caroline and the Town of Danby together created the resolution for renumbering DePutron Hollow. A note of concern was proposed regarding the fact that the postmaster has a go live date of September 1, while the county has the new addresses to start on October 1. WHEREAS properties on DePutron Hollow Road in the towns of Caroline and Danby are numbered nonsequentially and without allowance for future subdivision of lots, and WHEREAS this is a source of confusion for visitors and service providers and is especially serious for emergency responders, and WHEREAS the solution is a comprehensive readdressing of the residences on DePutron Hollow Road, which the Towns of Danby and Caroline have developed based on address assignments for each 50-ft of road frontage, now therefore be it RESOLVED that the Danby Town Board hereby approves the addressing changes listed below and mutually approved by the Caroline Town Board, and be it further RESOLVED that the Danby Town Board requests that the Town Clerk send a certified copy of this resolution to the Town of Caroline and upon receipt of same from the Town of Caroline authorizes the Danby Code Enforcement Officer to submit address changes for the Danby residences to Tompkins County. 7 | P a g e Deputron Hollow Road Readdressing Plan Parcel Current Address # New Address # TOWN OF CAROLINE 25.-1-1.23 99 15 25.-1-1.21 1 23 25.-1-1.42 3 35 25.-1-1.41 5 49 25.-1-1.5 7 61 25.-1-1.3 none 73 TOWN OF DANBY 12.-1-29.3 none 81 12.-1-29.2 7 85 12.-1-27 8 104 12.-1-25.3 9 119 12.-1-25.1 11 127 12.-1-25.21 13 135 12.-1-25.23 140 146 12.-1-26 18 155 12.-1-25.22 16 166 12.-1-13.2 12 171 Moved by Gagnon Seconded by Hansen Vote: Connors Yes Hansen Yes Hunter Yes Woodworth Yes Gagnon Yes Resolution 200 of 2024 passed on August 19, 2024 9.3. Review and Approve List of Roads to be SubmiĴed for Speed Limit Reduction The Board reviewed the list from 2016 and agreed it was outdated. Shipman said the State will tell the Town of any approved reductions. Shipman clarified that the Town Clerk should send any resolution to the County Highway Superintendent. Resolution 201 of 2024 to Approve the Next Batch of Speed Reduction Requests Moved by Connors Seconded by Hansen It was agreed that the following requests would be made to the County:  East Miller Road “Short-cut” route  West Miller Road “Short-cut” route  West King Road  West Jersy Road 8 | P a g e  Move Southbound 96B 40MPH sign to the north of the Miller Road intersection Vote: Connors Yes Hansen Yes Hunter Yes Woodworth Yes Gagnon Yes Resolution 201 of 2024 passed on August 19, 2024 9.4. Special Event PermiĴing Proposal Hansen stated that he would like to increase fines for someone who creates an event without geĴing permits. Hutnik noted that this item was not aĴached to the agenda. Discussion ensued regarding the appropriateness of discussing this item without linking it to the agenda. Item was postponed until the public has the documents. 9.5. ARPA Fund Commitment Update, Including Review of Solar Array Acquisition Discussion ensued regarding the costs and benefits of purchasing the solar array. It was determined the Board needs insurance, maintenance costs and equipment analysis to determine if purchasing the array would be a good investment. Resolution 202 of 2024 To Extend the meeting by 15 minutes Moved by Gagnon Seconded by Woodworth Vote: Connors Yes Hansen Yes Hunter Yes Woodworth Yes Gagnon Yes Resolution 202 of 2024 passed on August 19, 2024 9.6. Mid-year Budget Review and Adjustments L Shawley reported that unallocated insurance is over budget by $9,000. She asked for a Budget Transfer of $5,000 from a contingent account and $4,475 from the garage contractual account. The Town is also $175 over budget on the cemetery lawn mowing account. L Shawley suggests taking $175 from the worker compensation line and transferring it to the cemetery lawn mowing account. Town Hall postage is over budget by $332. L Shawley suggests we transfer $332 from the Town Hall purchasing line. Shawley will get budget and expense reports out to the group before they vote on transfers. 9 | P a g e 9.7. AGREEMENT TO SPEND TOWN HIGHWAY FUNDS – REQUEST #2 - 2024 Pursuant to the provisions of Section 284 of the Highway Law, we agree moneys levied and collected for the repair and improvements of highways, and received from the state for repair and improvement of highways shall be expended as follows: General Repairs 1. A sum not to exceed $179,000 shall be spent on West Jersey Hill Road from West King Road to Town Line Road. $168,080 is the cost to contract the job to Seneca Stone and will include all aggregate, machinery use, personnel and hot mix pave. The amount of $5,920 will be spent on shoulder repair materials. The amount of $5,000 will be spent on fog sealing for protection during the winter months. Funding of $174,000 for this project will be spent out of the CHIPS program amount allocated to the Town of Danby. The amount of $5,000 will be spent out of the DA5110.400 road repair line. Resolution 203 of 2024 To Agree to Spend Town Highway Funds not to exceed $179,000. for West Jersey Hill Moved by Gagnon Seconded by Woodworth Vote: Connors Yes Hansen Yes Hunter Yes Woodworth Yes Gagnon Yes Resolution 203 of 2024 passed on August 19, 2024 10. Discussion of Next Meeting Agenda 11. Adjourn