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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025 04 April Newsletter April 2025 Town of Danby, New York 1 Danby Town News Public Hearing Monday, April 7, 2025 at 6pm Proposed local law enacting the New York State Real Property Tax Law Section 467 - j for INHS (Ithaca Neighborhood Housing Services) Housing Trust Houses. For more information, see next page. New Town Board Member The town board appointed James Tyler Stein to serve on the town board replacing Paul Hansen for the remainder of this year. Welcome Tyler and thank you for your willingness to serve. Town of Danby Mowing Contract The Town of Danby is seeking proposals for lawn mowing for the 2024 season for the following properties: The West Danby Water District, Danby Town Hall, Jennings Pond, and the following Cemeteries: the Bald Hill Rd. Cemetery, the Peter Rd. Cemetery, the Nelson Rd. Cemetery, and the West Danby Methodist Cemetery. If interested, please contact Joel Gagnon (jgagnon@danby.ny.gov or 607 227-4440) for more complete information. Proposals must be received by April 17, 2025. Conservation Advisory Committee And Community Science Institute (CSI) Information session for residents about streams and lakes. Training session for those interested in trout stream monitoring April 2025 Town of Danby, New York 2 Notes from the Town Supervisor Joel Gagnon Partial Tax Exemption For Housing Trust Fund Houses Proposed Ithaca Neighborhood Housing Services (INHS) is a non-profit organization that began in Ithaca in 1972 and now operates in multiple counties to support affordable housing. To help with that, they created a housing trust. The way that works is that when they sell houses they have bought and fixed up, they retain ownership of the land. Purchasers agree to limit the appreciation in value to a fixed low percentage. That helps keep the housing affordable into the future. Unless we pass a local law enacting Section 467-j of Real Property Tax Law so the property is taxed based on its restricted value, though, it is nonetheless taxed at full market value. Over time, the taxes themselves can make the house unaffordable. INHS has asked us to consider passing a local law to enact that section of Real Property Tax Law. The Town Board is willing to consider this and we will hold a public hearing at 6 on April 7 so you can weigh in on it. What I described in the above paragraph is how the housing trust operated at first. Its use has expanded beyond that since. INHS does home repairs using grant money in their entire service area, which now includes much more than the City of Ithaca. Their ability and willingness to repair is limited, though, for any one property. If a house needs a lot of repairs they can access additional funds if the property participates in the housing trust program. To get the help, the property owners have to be willing to limit the future appreciation of their residence to the inflation-capped amount. Participation requires that the land be owned by the trust to enable the restriction and leased (for 99 years) at almost no cost by the homeowner. Sometimes property owners or developers, in the interest of promoting and maintaining affordability, choose to include their property in the housing trust by enrolling and donating the land or selling it at a bargain price. INHS also does developments where they retain ownership of the land and houses built are included in the housing trust. All of the variations just described add complication, but also flexibility, to a very powerful mechanism to create and maintain affordability. The town’s role, should we pass the local law, is to enhance it by limiting the taxes to the restricted value of the trust houses – as several other Tompkins County municipalities have already done. Town Hall Garden I always appreciate help planting and maintaining the town hall gardens. Recently, I received a welcome offer of a youth gardening club to help with that. See request below. Youth Garden Club Calling all plant-loving kids! Would you like to make your town hall more beautiful? We’re starting a youth gardening club and will be planting a pollinator-friendly flowers in the gardens at the town hall. The club will meet once a week starting in May to get the gardens planted and keep meeting throughout the summer to weed and water the plants. Come be part of the floral team to design, plant, and care for the gardens at the town hall. For more information and to sign up for the Danby Youth Gardening Club, contact Crystal Buck at cbuck@jakethedog.net. April 2025 Town of Danby, New York 3 Notes from the Town Clerk Mariah Dillon Greetings Danby! By the time you read this, property tax season in Danby will have ended, and all remaining unpaid property tax bills (about 4% of the total property taxes) will have been sent to the county for collection. While I do love being the tax collector, I also understand that it’s not easy for most of you to pay your taxes. I want to thank all of you for being kind and patient during this process. Do you have a dog? Have you renewed your dogs’ license in the past year? Check your records (I’ll wait). Not sure? Call the Clerk’s office – we’ll get you squared away. New York State mandates that all dogs over 4 months old are to be licensed! Licensing requires that dogs have an up-to- date rabies vaccination. This will keep your dog safe! Owners who fail to license or renew their dog license can face fines and penalties. Unlicensed dogs found at large may be impounded. The Town of Danby has a local law on the books for licensing dogs, which for the most part, mimics New York State’s Law. As you may be aware, towns in New York State have authority to exercise powers of governance. (Check out NYS Home Rule Law.) Towns all have unique and interesting problems, and the State of New York wisely does not want to get involved in the minutia of running a town. Town residents and elected officials run towns! That is why it is so important to get involved with local governance. Your issues and concern are much more likely to be addressed if you bring them to a town board meeting! (Check out the calendar at www.danby.ny.gov for dates and times.) The town has had several public hearings recently on issues like the sewer system grant. It was great to see residents show up! Several residents came to a meeting recently to ask about the zombie houses. The town is looking into affordable housing – do you have an opinion on cluster developments? The people who show up at board meeting really can have sway! We hear about concerns in the clerk’s office – but I can’t bring everything we hear about to the board! (One neighbor wants to have the speed limit on 96B reduced to 30 MPH. Another neighbor wants it raised to 55 MPH.) I do hope someone comes to talk to the board about the turtle migration near Jennings Pond on Bald Hill Rd. (Please watch for turtles and turtle nests when you’re in that area in May and June.) What goings on in town do YOU care about? Bring your voice to the town! We are Danby! If you have any questions, call the Town Clerk’s Office. 607-277-4788 We’re here if you need us. Youth Scholarships – Danby Youth Commission Thank you to all the families who have applied for the annual scholarship program. The available scholarships have been awarded for 2025. We wish the youths success in their various programs. April 2025 Town of Danby, New York 4 Notes from the Planner's Desk Greg Hutnik Conceptual Neighborhood Plan for the Dobson Property About 30 people attended the open house at the Danby Food and Drink on March 5 to discuss the conceptual planning project led by Cornell’s Design Connect program to design a new neighborhood on the 54-acre “Dobson property” (1675 Danby Road). The main ideas that came out of the meeting were that Danby needs (1) more, diverse types of housing that cater to different age and income levels, (2) a community event/flex space, (3) daycare, and (4) more, diverse recreation opportunities. The students are now putting together draft designs of this neighborhood and will be presenting them on Wednesday, April 9 from 6-8pm at the Dobson property. Access to the property will be allowed from Danby Road through the gate at the north end of the property. Parking and event location will be restricted to that area of the property. If the weather is inclement, the event will be held at the Danby Town Hall. We will post on the Town’s website the day of the event if it will be moved to the Town Hall, otherwise plan for meeting on the property. Please come and provide input! Beautification Award Danby was awarded a $2100 Beautification Grant from Tompkins County Cooperative Extension. This money will be used to repaint the gazebo at the Town Hall, plant new shrubs and plantings at the Town Hall, and rehabilitate the community message board on Spencer Road in West Danby. If you are interested in helping with these projects, please contact me! Planning Board The Planning Board reviewed a sketch plan for a single dwelling unit proposed for 91 Townline Road. (Single dwelling units in the Rural 1 zone district require Site Plan Review by the Planning Board.) There were few comments on the actual site planning of the home, and more so on its unique design – a 760 square foot “expandable container home.” A public hearing on the proposal is scheduled for April 15 at 7:00 pm at the Danby Town Hall. Regulatory Review Committee The Regulatory Review Committee – a committee made up of three Town Board members, three Planning Board members, and myself – continue to meet every second Thursday of the month from 2-4pm to discuss and prioritize suggested amendments to the Zoning Law (and eventually the Subdivision Regulations). These meetings are open to the public and the link to attend is available on the Town’s website. I anticipate that the first “batch” of recommended amendments will go the Town Board in the middle of this year, with a second batch towards the year’s end. Safe Streets For All Joint Safety Action Plan For the last year and a half, Danby has been working with Tompkins County and nine other municipalities to develop an action plan for road safety measures. There will be a virtual public meeting on April 30 at 6:30pm to present the recommended improvements to specific locations in each municipality. In Danby this includes the segment of Danby Road (Route 96B) from Miller Road to Michigan Hollow Road, and the intersection of Spencer Road (Route 34/96) and Station and Maple Roads. The link to the virtual meeting is here: https://tinyurl.com/TCSS4A. The project website with more information is here: https://safestreetstompkins.com/ Greg Hutnik, Fair Housing Officer, at 607-592- 0417 or planner@danby.ny.gov. April 2025 Town of Danby, New York 5 Conservation Advisory Council Presentation Ever wonder if someone is looking out for our streams and lakes? Or if there is a Harmful Algal Bloom in your favorite kayaking spot? Do you have questions about how to care for your water well? Or where to get your well water tested? The Conservation Advisory Council (Danby CAC) invites you to attend a presentation by Grascen Shidemantle, PhD, Executive Director of the Community Science Institute on Tuesday April 8th at 7 pm at the Danby Town Hall. She will talk about CSI’s mission and services; their certified water testing lab; their open database with data collected over several decades on local waters from various CSI projects; and about a new collaboration with Trout Unlimited to assess and possibly remediate and stock several headwater streams in Danby with native Brook trout. CSI is looking for volunteers to help with this project. There will be time for questions. Please join us. Conservation Advisory Council Training Session Danby will be hosting a training session for volunteer trout stream monitors on Saturday, April 12. More information here: https://communityscience.org/monitoring-partnerships/owego-creek- monitoring-project/ Conservation Advisory Council Report Margaret Corbit The Danby Conservation Advisory Council (CAC) met on Tuesday, March 11 at 7 pm. Here are some highlights from the meeting. The Council voted to send the Draft Timber Harvest Law to the Board and Town Attorney Guy Krogh for review before it can be voted into law. This project began more than five years ago and has been spearheaded by Don Schauffler with ongoing support from Jonathan Zisk and Joel Gagnon. We are grateful for the input from the Highway Department. Anne Klingensmith continues her administrative efforts for Conservation Easements and asked the members to review their assigned easements and provide needed details. Some of this information will go to Greg Hutnik to be used in creating a map of protected lands in the Town. We will post this map on the CAC web page when it’s ready. Continued on next page April 2025 Town of Danby, New York 6 Continued from previous page We think you will be pleased to see how our Town contributes to the Emerald Necklace: https://www.fllt.org/wp- content/uploads/2013/01/FLLT_EmeraldBro_2 020_Version2-with-updated-Map.pdf Margaret Corbit received input to her draft of a letter template for Council members to use when reaching out to people who have recently purchased lands under easement In order to make plans for the continued monitoring of these properties. This is just one of the resources that will be added to the new records system. We reviewed progress in two easements nearly ready for review by the Town Board. And we discussed the recommendations made for the landscaping of the Norbut solar farm installation. The discussion focused on identifying the best trees and shrubs to install for visual screening and the most straightforward solutions for protecting the new plantings. Hutnik will be passing our recommendations to the company, along with a suggestion that they consider installing bird nesting boxes. Danby Volunteer Fire Company – Thanks you The members of Danby Volunteer Fire Company wish to extend their deepest gratitude for the awesome and humbling show of support for our pancake breakfasts this season. Thanks to the enthusiasm from our amazing community members, we have raised enough funds to purchase much needed replacement for our medical rescue basket (Stokes Basket). Stay tuned for public demonstrations of the new rescue equipment this summer! More amazing than your generous support for life-saving equipment is the community spirit on display inside our little station and out in the drive thru. The Danby Fire Pancake Breakfast has brought together both old friends and new faces for community building during the cold days of winter. As we move into spring and summer, we look forward to providing exceptional service and safety to our community throughout the year. As always, please feel free to join us any Monday night at 7pm to see how we train/learn/grow. We welcome anyone to visit or join regardless of background or experience Thank You too!!! A big thank you to the Danby Volunteer Fire Company from your loyal pancake (and French toast, scrambled eggs, home fries and sausage) eaters. Those breakfasts tasted good - especially on cold Sunday mornings. We are glad for an opportunity for good food and to support our fire company. Looking forward to more breakfasts next winter. And another big thank you to the West Danby Fire Department for their delicious pancake breakfast last month. April 2025 Town of Danby, New York 7 Danby Library News Cindy Parlett Danby Community Library turns 35! In 1989 the Bookmobile services to Danby had come to an end; Frank Proto, the County Representative, discussed organizing a reading center with Donna Decker. Donna agreed and the subsequent Reading Center became her son, Matthew's Eagle Scout Project. In November 1989, the Town Board approved the request for a Reading Center and decided that it would be housed in the Town Hall and would be maintained by community volunteers. $400 was allotted for financing the bookshelves along with County Funding through the Finger Lakes Library System (FLLS) for the initial collection of books. Matthew met with the Director of the FLLS for contracts, guidelines and services concerning the requirements and was tasked with building shelves for approximately 1500 books. His next step was to plan for the shelves by measuring the dimensions in the room, drawing up a floor plan, listing and ordering all his materials as well as organizing assistance with cutting, sanding and assembling the shelves.With the help of his family and friends from his scout troop the shelving units were completed and installed. The shelves were stocked and the grand opening of the Reading Center took place on April 7, 1990. Unfortunately, Matthew was unable to attend the opening ceremony. A picture of Frank Proto and Donna Decker at the Grand Opening was found in our Town Historian's files. We continue to be supported by the Town of Danby and the FLLS. The library would not have been successful without the help of community volunteers throughout the last 35 years! We can now boast over 2500 items; and many more shelves have been added to the space, along with the original shelves made by Matthew Decker. Come in to see all that we have to offer. Danby Seniors Pat Phelps The next meeting of the Danby seniors will be Thursday, April 3. It will be a dish to pass luncheon at the Danby Community Church beginning at noon. Please bring a generous dish to pass, your own table service and a utensil for serving your food. Sign-ups for the 2025 Danby Seniors bus trips will be available at that meeting. Entertainment is still TBA. The May meeting will be Thursday, May 1. April 2025 Town of Danby, New York 8 Danby Community Groups Danby Community Library Contact: Cindy Parlett library@danby.ny.gov Open Tue 1-3pm, Thu & Sat 10am-12pm Danby Food Pantry Danby Community Church Contact: Joan Barber Open: 3rd Thur 4-6 pm Danby Food Scraps Pickup Every Sat 9am – noon behind Town Hall Danby Community And Park (DCAP) Website: dotsonpark.org dotsonpark@gmail.com Thu 12/7 at 7pm Danby Rural Cemetery Contact: Sharon Boda Sharonboda@gmail.com West Danby Community Association (WDCA) Contact: Pat Curran pc21@cornell.edu Danby Seniors Contact: Pat Phelps patriciaphelps2.0@ gmail.com Luncheons: 1st Thur at noon Danby Tosspot (Open Alcoholics Anonymous Meeting) Wed 7pm - virtua Danby Summer Swimming Jennings Pond will open for swimming this summer! Our beautiful Jennings Pond Recreational Area offers fishing, canoeing, kayaking, hiking trails and scenic views. Jennings Pond is at the headwaters of the Buttermilk Falls watershed and is part of Buttermilk State Park. The Town of Danby funds the Jennings Pond Swim program every summer so town residents can enjoy free swimming! We have a lifeguard this summer! But we also are willing to hire more lifeguards! The Jennings Pond Swim Program will reimburse prospective lifeguards for any expenses incurred for lifeguard training. For more information, call or text Mary Ann Kozak at 607-342-7969. Danby Youth Commission Update Our Danby Youth Commission meets monthly sharing guidance to implement and evaluate the Danby Youth Program with partners -Tompkins County Rural Youth Services, and Cornell Cooperative Extension 4H Leaders. Interviews for our next program educator have begun. We have viable candidates, and once accepted the educator will begin onboarding and training. We continue to welcome parents, caregivers, family members, community members, and educators to apply to join with us in this valuable and rewarding endeavor. Applications are available on our Town website Danby.NY.gov in the application section. or contact Katharine Hunter or Kate Shanks-Booth kshanks@tompkins-co.org Danby Pond Mary Ann Kozak April 2025 Town of Danby, New York 9 Monthly Meeting Schedule At-A-Glance Group Day Date Time Call-in by Phone Meeting ID Town Board* Mon 4/7 6:00pm 1-929-205-6099 882 2697 6101 905098 WDWD Wed 4/2 5:00pm In person West Danby Fire station CAC* Tue 4/8 7:00pm 1-929-205-6099 835 4940 5296 879507 FD Tue 4/8 6:30pm In person Danby Fire Station DYC Thur 4/10 7:00pm Online- contact youth@danby.ny.gov Town Board* Thurs 4/21 6:00pm 1-929-205-6099 847 9505 5187 308958 PB* Tue 4/15 7:00pm 1-646-876-9923 893 3897 1114 956288 BZA* Tue 4/22 7:00pm TBD 817 1432 4705 398041 FD Tue 4/22 6:30pm In person at the Danby Fire Station See the Danby calendar for the final, most up-to-date details. (Acronyms in the above schedule are identified below.) *These meetings are hybrid (i.e. both online and in-person at the Town Hall) Boards & Committees Planning Board (PB) Chair: Kelly Maher planningboard@danby.ny.gov Meets: 3rd Tuesday at 7pm Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) Chair: Earl Hicks bza@danby.ny.gov Meets: 4th Tuesday, as needed Conservation Advisory Council (CAC) CoChairs: Anne Klingensmith, Jonathan Zisk cac@danby.ny.gov Meets: 2nd Tuesday at 7pm Danby Youth Commission (DYC) Contact: Kate Shanks-Booth kshanks@tompkins-co.org Meets: 2nd Thursday at 7pm Fire District (FD) Secretary: Sharon Gaden, secretary@danbyfiredistrict.org danby.ny.gov/depts/danby-fire-district Meets: 2nd & 4th Tuesdays at 7pm Danby Volunteer Fire Company (DVFC) Chief: John Gaden, jgaden@danbyfiredistrict.org danbyfiredept.org West Danby Fire Department (WDFD) Chief: Robert McCray rmccray@danbyfiredistrict.org westdanbyfire.com West Danby Water DIstrict (WDWD) Contact: Scott Wendt, swendt@danby.ny.gov Meets: 1st Wednesday at 5pm April 2025 Town of Danby, New York 10 Town Officials Town Supervisor Joel Gagnon supervisor@danby.ny.gov Town Board Meets 1st Mon and 3rd Mon Leslie Connors H Katharine Hunter Tyler Stein Pat Woodworth townboard@danby.ny.gov Town Clerk Deputy Town Clerk Hours: Mon–Fri 11am–4pm Mariah Dillon Cindy Katz clerkoffice@danby.ny.gov Highway Superintendent Deputy Highway Superintendent Hours: Mon–Thu 6am–4:30pm Keith Shipman highway@danby.ny.gov Jack Shawley jshawley@danby.ny.gov Town Justices Court Clerk Hours: Mon-Wed 8am-11am Garry Huddle Theresa Klinger Diane Gair dgair@nycourts.gov Town Planner Hours: Mon–Fri by appointment Greg Hutnik planner@danby.ny.gov Code Enforcement Hours: Mon-Fri by appointment Steve Cortright code@danby.ny.gov Documents/ Historian Mary Ann Barr mbarr@danby.ny.gov Bookkeeper Laura Shawley lshawley@danby.ny.gov Danby, New York From: 1830 Danby Road Ithaca, NY 14850 PRST STD U.S. Postage Paid Permit No.428 Ithaca, NY 14850 Phone: 607-277-4788 https://danby.ny.gov Welcome to the Danby Town News! Questions? Email us at townnews@danby.ny.gov