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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-04-13TB 4-13-17 Page 1 of 5 TOWN OF DRYDEN TOWN BOARD MEETING April 13, 2017 Present: Supervisor Jason Leifer, Cl Daniel Lamb, Cl Linda Lavine, Cl Deborah Cipolla-Dennis, Cl Kathrin Servoss Elected Officials: Bambi L. Avery, Town Clerk Other Town Staff: Ray Burger, Director of Planning Supv Leifer opened the meeting at 7:07 p.m. RESOLUTION #58 (2017) – APPROVE ABSTRACT #4 Supv Leifer offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption: RESOLVED, that this Town Board hereby approves Abstract #4, as audited, general vouchers #190 through #270 ($213,124.55) and TA vouchers #8 and #9 ($4,002.93), totaling $217,127.48. 2nd Cl Cipolla-Dennis Roll Call Vote Cl Lavine Yes Cl Cipolla-Dennis Yes Cl Servoss Yes Cl Lamb Yes Supv Leifer Yes 2017 Youth Services Agreement – The board reviewed the 2017 agreement with Tompkins County. Under this agreement the County will reimburse the town up to $35,171 for programs provided by Cooperative Extension. RESOLUTION #59 (2017) – APPROVE YOUTH SERVICES AGREEMENT Supv Leifer offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption: RESOLVED, that this Town Board hereby approves the 2017 Agreement with Tompkins County for youth service funds and authorizes the Supervisor to execute the same. 2nd Cl Lamb Roll Call Vote Cl Lavine Yes Cl Cipolla-Dennis Yes Cl Servoss Yes Cl Lamb Yes Supv Leifer Yes BridgeNY Grant – The consultant selection committee will meet April 25th at 9:00 a.m. to evaluate the responses and choose a consultant for each bridge. Tompkins County Infrastructure Study – This involves a study of the area near NYSEG because of potential development on Route 13. There is a vacant 100 acre parcel. Ed Marx informed the town of a potential project that may involve Ithaca Neighborhood Housing TB 4-13-17 Page 2 of 5 Services and up to 250 housing units and some retail and preserving half of the property through an easement. The portion north of the rail trail would become land managed potentially by Finger Lakes Land Trust. The county would like to investigate moving the infrastructure out further on Route 13. The cost of the study ($3,500) would be split between the town and the county. Any developer would pay for the infrastructure when built out. The board will vote on this next week. Varna Community Association Funding Request – Supv Leifer will draft an agreement to reflect that there is a community playground on site. The amount they need to fence the playground is just over $4,000. They will front the money and ask for reimbursement from the town. Ross Property Update – The arson investigation is over and a notice of violation has been issued by the Planning Department. The owner has about another week to respond and then it will be turned over to the court. The department proceeded on property maintenance code violations since the updated law is not yet in place. Unsafe Buildings Law Amendment – Board members have a copy of this and next week will set a public hearing for the May meeting. This amendment repeals the old 1981 Unsafe Buildings Law. It will be superseded by an amendment that inserts language into our 2007 local law that gives the town enforcement of the fire prevention and building code. This is a more logical place and there are better enforcement mechanisms. Atty Geldenhuys and Kevin Ezell have been working on this amendment. There was discussion about personal service of notice versus service by certified mail. Supv Leifer asked that the language be consistent in all places in the proposed amendment. Next week the board will set a public hearing for May 18. 1061 Dryden Road – The board will hold a hearing next week on the development plan, which is stage two of the process. The Planning Board has had two meetings and forwarded recommendations to the Town Board. The Town Board has 60 days to take action. The Planning Department monthly report contains a link to all the documents for the project on the town’s website. Joe Wilson’s concern is that the Planning Board agreed at its last meeting at the VCA that board would put together questions or comments for the developer to respond to and the developer did not provide answers to a number of questions. He is interested in knowing if there will be something new shared with the Town Board. The community is wondering if they need to reiterate all their concerns. R Burger said he forwarded the Planning Board’s comments and concerns to the developer and encouraged them to respond prior to the Town Board meeting on the 20th but has not received any new materials. The Planning Board’s concerns include air source heat pumps vs solar panels, family friendly adaptations, and reduction of units in order to create more space. C l Lavine said she and R Burger walked the property and it’s clear that if they change the drainage to an underground form there would be lots of play space. There was also the issue of one or two driveways and the sewer line was cutting across one driveway with no permission. R Burger will contact the developer’s project team tomorrow. Cl Lavine said this is a PUD and we are doing them a favor and they should be trying to accommodate the town. The board would like answers to the questions prior to the hearing next week. Verizon Tower, 2150 Dryden Road – This hearing will continue next week. NYS Historic Preservation Office has given the go ahead on the project. The board will review the materials on the website. TB 4-13-17 Page 3 of 5 R Burger said requests for rezoning have been received regarding Cricket Lane and further up Route 38 and said the Planning Board could review this area for possible rezoning. The Board agrees the Planning Board should do this and R Burger will take the directive to them. Dominion Project/Borger Station – TG Miller has responded to Walter Hang’s comments. TG Miller stands by the first analysis. There is a slight variation in the wetland portrayals, but it does not affect the outcome of the SWPPP. There is another data dispute about a staging area south of Ellis Hollow Creek Road. It is part of the plan and is part of the SWPPP, but is not an area where soil is being disturbed. There are no stormwater implications from use of the site as a staging area. The bottom line is no work will be conducted in the wetland areas. There is a wetland near the staging area and a DEC documented history of spills there. There are allegations that they have not been closed out properly. The town can ask DEC to check whether any previous spill sites might be affected or impacted by this activity. Dominion will hold a public information meeting on May 1 at the VCA. Solar applications – R Burger reported that revised applications have been received and will be added to the website. An announcement will be sent to those who have commented. The Town Board will hold a special meeting April 26 at Neptune Fire Hall. R Burger will look into getting microphones for that meeting. They are very robust revised applications with visual and biological assessments. R Burger will try to have town analysis of SEQR done prior to April 26. A sequence of meetings needs to follow the special meeting. The SEQR determination will trigger Planning Board actions. The Planning Board can review the applications and make a recommendation and the Planning Board has to deal with subdivision of the property at 2150 Dryden Road. They will do a sketch plan on the 27th, then a public hearing on the plat and then the final plat is reviewed in June. The Town Board needs to have subsequent meetings after Planning Board input and will hold the special use permit hearing for the project on May 11. Town Board approval can be contingent on the Planning Board’s subdivision approval. The board discussed placing copies of the applications at the library and the community centers. South Hill Rec Way – R Burger reported the Caroline and Danby town board meetings were attended by huge crowds and neither board took action. Coddington Stewards group sent notification to the Ithaca Town Board to let them know what the other towns did. Supv Leifer said until the title issue is resolved he sees no need for the board to discuss this. Dryden Lake Park MOU – should be ready by next week and the draft will be posted on the website. Supv Leifer said it is basically a renewal of what we’ve been operating under with the addition of the Village’s use for the well and for a longer term. Dominion/Borger Station – Katie Quinn-Jacobs explained what Mothers Out Front (MOF) is proposing/planning to do with respect to air quality monitoring (attached and p osted on the website so people can download). MOF got some funding and are working with researchers on Phase I. They are looking for funds to complete Phase I and are looking to get grants for Phase II. Some equipment has been loaned to them and they have volunteer labor. They are doing health studies of people living within a 2 kilometer radius. At the end they will have reports of individual sites as well as aggregated data for a community report. They are looking for sources of funding and support from the town as well as a letter of support to help with grant applications. Supv Leifer said the board can vote next week, but starting with a letter now makes sense so they can get their grant applications out. The board agrees. TB 4-13-17 Page 4 of 5 Supv Leifer will forward questions to D Houser in advance of the May 1 meeting. It was suggested that the Community Science Institute may help with water monitoring and/or have data available for Cascadilla Creek already. MOF is trying to get a base line for air quality. Cl Cipolla-Dennis suggested talking with Dominion about help with funding some of this work. K Quinn-Jacobs would like Dominion to do studies and make the results available to the public. Montgomery Park Basketball Courts – Supv Leifer was contacted by Mike Hattery and the village needs another $10,000 to finish the basketball courts. They are looking for the town to contribute another $2,000 to $5,000 out of the reserve fund. The Village under - estimated the expense. Cl Lamb will talk with M Hattery about the styles and materials for the backstops before next week. Supv Leifer will check with the bookkeeper about what has been paid out of what was previously authorized. Rec Reserve Fund Resolution – Cl Servoss said the DRYC was looking for clarification on the intent of the resolution that established the reserve fund. It seems the wording implies that the facilities, fields, parks, etc need to be owned by the town and they would like to know the intent. The reserve was established when there was a plan to develop a park and facilities behind the new town hall. Supv Leifer will check the opinions of the State Comptroller. Electronic Distribution of Local Laws – Atty Geldenhuys has prepared a proposed local law that will be introduced next week. Charge to Conservation Board – Supv Leifer said next week the board will charge the Conservation Board to find source water protection grant opportunities. This stems from a meeting with Andy Zepp and Ed Marx about finding funds for conservation easements or establishing areas of new wetlands that can absorb some ditch runoff. There is $100,000 of grant funds available for source water protection. There are tax benefits to property owners. An informational meeting is being organized by Finger Lakes Land Trust. The Tompkins County IDA has voted to move the Dryden solar projects to a public hearing on a PILOT proposal, but a date has not been set yet. Cl Lamb said the IDA wanted a letter of support from us in favor of going together on this IDA sponsored PILOT. H e and Supv Leifer attempted to negotiate a larger portion of that for the Town. Martha Robertson and a few other legislators thought it was a good idea, but it didn’t go over well at the IDA meeting. Our position was that the Town had to do all the work in application review, public hearings and such. What the town proposed was that the town receives about $15,000 more than the county, but that was not well received. The town is helping the county reach its climate goals with these projects. Cl Lamb shared that Jay Franklin of Tompkins County Assessment had made him aware of a tax offset that a number of municipalities in Tompkins County use. It is a mechanism that was put in place to get the full tax value of state forest lands within municipalities. The town of Dryden has 6.5 million dollars worth of state forest land that we could tax at a higher rate if we entered into an arrangement with the County where the County maintains the sales tax collected. The town would have to raise its tax rate to tax the state properties at a higher rate, but the County would lower their property tax rate for Dryden residents. So a Dryden taxpayer would actually come out ahead. The town would end up getting $15,000 more a year based on calculations done today. It was suggested meeting with some community leaders to discuss the idea before taking any steps and that we take a look at the budget, where we have traditionally allocated sales tax, and the impacts. Jay Franklin has offered to discuss this option with the board. TB 4-13-17 Page 5 of 5 R Burger reported that the person who owns the property behind town hall would like to do a residential development. Currently his access to the property is through the wetland at the edge of the property and he would like to investigate doing a land swap with the town. R Burger will discuss it with the property owner and keep the board advised. Channel 3 will be at town hall tomorrow at noon. They are doing a story on hoarding and wanted to talk about the Bone Plain Road property . Cl Lavine said she understands there are places that solar arrays will not be placed because they are wetlands, and asked if that was optional. R Burger explained it depends which jurisdiction declared the wetland. If it is a Corp of Engineers wetlan d, you can develop up to the border. If it is a DEC wetland, there is a buffer. Bharath Srinivasan further explained there are three types of wetlands and you can build on certain ones. Cl Lavine wondered if there were areas that could be used to help offset the impact to neighbors under current plans. B Srinivasan explained they have stayed away from shrub land and the forested wetlands because of town regulations. It is possible in a few places if the town’s Planning Department approves it, and they are looking into it. Cl Lavine asked about moving some of the arrays on the Cornell property, and was told that sites that Cornell is retaining are more valuable from an agricultural perspective than the ones on Dodge Road. She asked if the two homes most clearly impacted can be reimbursed in some way, and was told no. Distributed Sun has purchased some property in New York rather than leasing it. Cl Lamb has been working with a student group on the town’s revolving loan fund and they are making great progress. Next week he will have surveys for people to fill out. He would like them to make a presentation in May and have the program running in June. The presentation will be on May 11. Cl Lavine asked about an application she and Dave Weinstein prepared to have Design Connect do some work for the Planning Board. Using our current modeling (zoning) they would determine what the town would look like in twenty years. The board agrees the application should be submitted. The only financial commitment by the town would come if the application was successful and would be about $500.00. There being no further business, on motion made, seconded and unanimously carried, the meeting was adjourned at 9:08 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Bambi L. Avery Town Clerk Prepared by K. Quinn-Jacobs March, 2017 Borger Safety & Equipment Upgrades Requests Given the scale of the facility at Borger Station, local residents would like Dominion Energy to provide the following: 1. Cleanup of legacy toxic waste areas to state standards 2. Public Notification System: o An expanded neighbor notification system (2km radius minimum) for annual blowdowns and emergency blowdowns o An emergency response plan communicated to the public, which includes pipeline ruptures or malfunctions 3. Equipment Upgrades: o Oxidation catalysts to control CO, VOC and HAP air emissions o Vapor recovery units (VRU)/Vent gas recovery units o Dry gas seals on turbines/compressors o Electric drive starting motors, no pilot flames o Implementation of compressed air pneumatic controls where appropriate for valve operation and all gas-driven pneumatic devices of a "low bleed" or "intermittent bleed" design o Guarantee that emissions at all temperatures above 0° F will meet New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) emission limits o Compliance with the leak detection and repair (LDAR) requirements of NSPS Subpart OOOOa o An emergency generator equipped with a NSCR (non-selective catalytic reduction) catalyst 4. Enforced use of the cleaner (newer) turbine 5. Upgrades or replacements of the two older turbines Prepared by K. Quinn-Jacobs April 10, 2017 Page 1 of 1 Dominion New Market Project Ellis Hollow Monitoring Budget: Phase 1 (pre-Expansion) ITEM Test Method Equipment Cost/Unit FTEs No. of Units Subtotal NOTES Fine Particulate Matter Speck Monitors 200.00$ 16 0 No cost. On loan from Otsego 2000. Formaldehyde Badges 80.00$ 4 320 [Note] Hydrogen sulfide Badges 100.00$ 4 400 [Note] VOCs Summa Canisters 200.00$ 4 800 [Note] Noise*Casella CEL-24X Meters 1,500.00$ 0 0 [Note] Surface Water*19 Parameters 1,040.00$ 0 0 Cascadilla upstream, downstream & wetland. Home Water*17 Parameters 2,008.00$ 0 0 Individual household wells/springs Health Studies EHP Questionnaire -$ 40 0 Printing and mailing costs Printing & Mailing 400.00$ 1 400 Devices & printed questionnaires will be mailed. Analysis EHP 7,500.00$ 1 7500 Management, analysis, interpretation and reports of Specks, VOCs, H2S, Formaldehyde, Health Questionnaires Total 9420 *Water & noise testing costs estimates based on Madison County Phase 1 Prepared by K. Quinn-Jacobs: 041017 Prepared by Sandy Podulka January, 2017 Technical Questions about the Borger Compressor Station Ramp-Up Answers to the following questions would help local officials and residents learn important information that is critical to understanding the scope of the New Market Project expansion at Borger Station in Ellis Hollow. Mothers Out Front has been unable to ascertain the answers to these questions, despite many hours pouring through FERC and Dominion documents, and a number of emails and phone calls to DEC and Dominion personnel. We are sure that local town and county officials deserve and would like to know this information too, as it will help us all to understand what the percent increase over current operations the ramp-up in the Borger Station will be as a result of the New Market Project. Thus, we can get some idea of the increases in air pollution, noise, and health effects to be expected, as well as the increased potential for pipeline accidents. (1) How much gas total, in terms of cubic feet, is moving through Borger now each year? By what percent will that increase due to the New Market Project? (2) How much gas, in terms of cubic feet/day, is moving through Borger now on a peak day? By what percent will that increase due to the New Market Project? (3) How many months of the year are the compressors at Borger running now? [Is it really just late Nov through late March? We have conflicting information on this—someone from DEC said 6 months, and the FERC certificate says late Nov through late March.] How many (and which) months of the year will the compressors run once the New Market Project is in-service? (4) How many hours per year do the compressors currently run? If that will change under the New Market Project, what is the percent increase in the number of hours of operation annually? (5) At what percent of their capacity are the compressors at Borger running now, on average, when they are actually running? By how much will that increase due to the New Market Project? (6) What percent of the total operating time are each of the 3 turbines running? (In other words, does Unit 2 do 25% of the work, Unit 3 do 60%, and Unit 4 do 15%, for example?) How will this change due to the New Market Project? (7) We understand that the pressure in the Dominion pipeline ranges from 525 to 900 psig currently. What is the average pressure near Borger when is it operation now? How will that average change due to the New Market Project? (We realize that the MAOP of 900 will not change.) (8) Will the cooler fans at Borger run at times when the compressors are not running? If so, how much of the time?