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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-06-25Final Minutes Town of Dryden Conservation Board Tuesday, 25 June 2013 7:37 – 9:30 p.m. Dryden Town Hall 93 East Main Street, Dryden, NY 13053 1. Call to order (7:37 p.m.) – B. Beck 1 Present: Bob Beck, Craig Schutt, Steven Bissen, Milo Richmond, Bard Prentiss, Nancy Munkenbeck 2 Absent: Jeremy Sherman (excused), Charles Smith (excused), Richard Ryan 3 ex officio: Jane Nicholson, Anna Belcher 4 liaison: David Weinstein (Planning Board), Linda Lavine (Town Board) 5 Guest: Jacque Schickel 6 7 2. Completion of Record of Attendance by Members 8 The Record of Attendance was passed around. 9 10 3. Review and approval of minutes from 28 May 2013 Meeting 11 Beck explained that the minutes always have to say that they are a draft copy to show that they are not 12 the final minutes. He also commented that the minutes were sent out late. 13 14 Schutt moved to approve the minutes as written. 15 Prentiss seconded the motion. 16 All approved. 17 18 4. Additions to agenda? 19 “New Jim Schugg Trail signs” was added to the agenda, under new business. 20 21 5. Reports and Updates (briefly, 3-5 minutes, please) 22 a. Town Board - L. Lavine 23 Lavine explained that there was a discussion led by Jacque Schickel. Steve Stelick voiced their 24 concern about CEAs and the Open Space Plan. He reemphasized the need for making this an 25 integrated plan of getting input from various sectors including agricultural. Lavine felt that there 26 was a misunderstanding that the CEAs were somehow going to direct the Open Space Strategic 27 Plan, which seems to her is not true; it`s just a source of information. She thought it is a 28 misunderstanding that needed to be corrected. She suggested that it should be corrected in the 29 minutes as a reflection of the misunderstanding. Jacque Schickel made a comment about how the 30 board should emphasize getting people to work through the land trust, inspiring people to do 31 conservation easements within Dryden and getting people to donate land outright. Several 32 farmers, who have large holdings or who have let hikers hike through their trail expressed that 33 they didn’t like the fact that control over their land should be taken away and if it was then they 34 would start to withhold access to the piece of the trail that goes through their land. 35 36 Jacque Schickel told the Conservation Board that they should come to the Town Board meetings. 37 At the meeting, it was expressed that they feel that it is outrageous what the Board is trying to do, 38 that there are a lot of secrets about the intentions, that Dan tells people what they want to hear, and 39 they reiterated that it is their land and they want the Board to keep their paws off of it. He said that 40 if they want to control some land then they should go buy it. 41 42 Lavine commented that it needs to be clear, in the open space plan, how important open space 43 planning is to the life of a community; ecologically, socially, spiritually and every other way. She 44 explains that a community needs green space. 45 46 Jacque said that the problem is that there is arrogance among the Board. He felt that there is an 47 attitude of “we’re going to do it and it doesn’t matter what you think”. He explained what Bruno 48 had said, which was that if you want to engage/convince people, you need to go out and convince 49 people and to think of creative solutions. He commented that the notion that all the people who 50 are standing up don’t care about green space or conservation is wrong. He believed there has to be 51 more creative solutions that don’t trample on people’s rights. He explained that people are feeling 52 forced to do things and as long as the board is trying to infringe on their property rights, they will 53 fight back. 54 55 Bissen explained that the CEAs are not a regulatory device. It’s there just to show you what areas 56 are worth preserving, but you can`t use those to say that something has to be done with the 57 property. Bissen expressed that he feels that property owners are afraid that open space planning is 58 leading to other things. 59 60 Lavine said, representing the Town Board, that the board needs to work on the transparency and 61 openness of this process and it needs to be clear that this is not about CEAs determining anything 62 and all of the above are possibilities in the Open Space Plan including; donations of land, 63 conservation easements, and that what they are doing is a very open and positive process. 64 65 Prentiss said that Jane Nicholson is possibly the only person in the room that understands what the 66 Open Space Plan is. He expressed that he doesn’t understand it and that he`s at the meeting to 67 understand and work on it. 68 69 Jacque commented that that’s why he feels that there are secrets. 70 71 Nicholson replied by explaining that there aren`t any secrets. She explained that this plan was a 72 directive of the Town Board in 2008. She wasn’t working for the town in 2008. This is a project 73 that she is just coming on. 74 75 Lavine wondered if there is something that the board should be presenting to some larger group. 76 Nicholson replied that they are trying to plan a joint board meeting between the Agricultural 77 Committee, the Conservation Board, the Planning Board, and the Recreation Commission that 78 they are going to start getting dates for tonight. 79 80 Beck felt that some people refuse to really try to understand what the board is doing and are 81 constantly going to argue and accuse the board of being secretive, dishonest and all sorts of other 82 things. He said that these accusations are absolutely not true. He thanked Jacque for his 83 comments, told him that he was glad he was there and said that he was happy to listen to him. 84 85 b. Town Planning Board - David Weinstein 86 Weinstein reported that the Planning Board approved the Site Plan for the new landscaping 87 facility that’s on route 13, called Green Scene. 88 89 c. Tompkins County EMC - Steve Bissen 90 Bissen reported that the Board talked about the Cayuga power plant and that it was going to be 91 mothballed because it’s not economically feasible to burn coal right now. The New York Public 92 Service Commission determined that the plant needed to be producing power because the stability 93 of the electrical grid was at question. They determined that they really needed it to keep the 94 stability up there and recommended converting to natural gas. Not only would it be economically 95 beneficial, but it also would have a quick start up time, meaning that when they need to bring 96 another generator online the Coal power plants take 13 hours in order to get fired up and natural 97 gas takes 10-15 minutes. They came up with a proposal that had four different options. The first 98 option was converting the coal fired plants into natural gas. Another option was firing three new 99 gas fired units. A third option is using a mixture of the two. Lastly, one option was to have two 100 gas fired units. They want to get this done by 2017, but a lot of people want them to move more 101 towards renewable sources of energy. They are hoping that one of these options will allow them to 102 get natural gas for a temporary solution. 103 104 d. Town Board Agriculture Advisory Committee – C. Schutt 105 Schutt explained that he couldn’t attend, but from what he heard, there weren’t many people there. 106 107 e. Other Town Boards and Commissions - Jane Nicholson 108 No report. 109 110 6. Old business 111 Richmond expressed that he wants to find a resolution, which he thinks will come from positive 112 forces from the Agricultural Advisory Committee. He felt that the Agricultural Advisory Committee 113 is a real source of information and collective wisdom, but he doesn’t think it is very productive if only 114 two people show up. The board discussed that it was a good day for farmers to hay, which was why 115 only a few people were present at the meeting. 116 117 Beck commented that he would like to hear from the Ag Community for positive ideas to move 118 forward. He doesn’t want to move forward until there is agreement. 119 120 Munkenbeck explained to Beck that he is coming from a point of having thought and worked on these 121 issues for 20 years and the farmers have gotten together to try and come up with thoughts on these 122 issues for less than a year. She thinks that giving them time is a good way to go because, at this point, 123 they’re still in a phase of learning. 124 125 Schutt said that everyone needs to be more positive towards the farmers and show them how these 126 things are going to benefit the farmers. 127 128 Prentiss felt that the farmers shouldn’t look at the board like they are evil. He explained that a lot of 129 the members of the board grew up or lived in agricultural areas and they don’t have any animosity 130 towards farmers. 131 132 Beck said that he doesn’t think they should continue to argue, but instead they should work together. 133 134 Jacque expressed that he wants his land to stay the way it is now, but allow future generations to do as 135 they please. He went on to explain how his family has developed a plan to keep it as Open Space. 136 137 Beck replies that Jacque’s plan doesn’t guarantee long term Open Space and the only way to do so is 138 to have some kind of conservation easement. 139 140 Munkenbeck thought one of the things the town should look at would be ways to enhance alternative 141 ways of dealing with things. 142 143 7. New business 144 New Jim Schugg Trail signs – Bard Prentiss 145 Prentiss showed the Board the Jim Schugg Trail signs. He explained that they are going to put 146 Plexiglas over the signs to prevent rocks from scratching it and mount them on steel posts that are 147 cemented to the ground. There are a total of ten signs. Nicholson said she`s going to create a window 148 display to promote the new trail signs. 149 150 Richmond talked about taking this as a lesson. There is a complete agreement that this is a wonderful 151 thing, and no one finds fault with it. He doesn’t understand why there is so much disagreement with 152 the CEAs. 153 154 Munkenbeck commented that not everyone is going to be in complete agreement and you can`t make 155 everyone happy. 156 157 Richmond doesn’t understand why there are so many problems with recognizing the rights of people 158 who own land, their needs and wants, the values that they tend to emphasize and recognize on this 159 Conservation Advisory Board. He felt they have to identify and protect the natural resources, the 160 natural things, and the features that, if lost, may never be regained. 161 162 Open Space (gifts & methods of land conservation/protection) – Jane Nicholson 163 Nicholson explained that they are still in the beginning of the plan and deciding on how to approach 164 it. She met with Bob and Charlie and decided that looking at levels of effort wasn’t the best way to go 165 about it. Instead they think looking at methods and criteria would be a better approach. They felt the 166 best way to start is by looking at the different methods of conservation and then looking at some 167 criteria and justification. 168 169 The board discussed the Town Board’s directive and concluded that they shouldn’t even be thinking 170 about changing the directive, but instead they should just do the Open Space Plan and then see if the 171 Town Board thinks it’s acceptable. 172 173 Nicholson explained that she is in the process of trying to find another example of an Open Space 174 Plan that closely matches to what they’re doing. 175 176 Weinstein explained that is helps clarify what the values are, what you are you trying to achieve, and 177 what the meaning of having open space is, in terms of maintaining the character or community. 178 Trying to develop the criteria makes you march through those issues and understand where you stand. 179 180 Munkenbeck expressed that she would like to address identifying lands that might add to the Finger 181 Lakes trail system. She felt that they need to work out a way to coordinate with the people who do 182 work on the trail to find out where the needs are the greatest and where the trail is at risk. 183 184 Weinstein thought the focus of the Open Space Plan is being able to tell any landowner or anybody 185 who’s interested in developing so they can use this resource to prevent building in areas that would 186 mess up a view and keep more of the open space. One of the newest features is to encourage cluster 187 development so that any developer that comes in is being given information that if you put all your 188 development in a corner, you will have more open space. 189 190 Munkenbeck added that she recommends putting in some guidelines about fill. 191 192 Weinstein replied that the Planning Board is already working on that. 193 194 Nicholson explained that there any many ways to go about the Open Space Plan and that it is open for 195 discussion. She said the main focus is on lands that don’t have the highest level of protection. 196 197 Potential dates for multi-board meeting OSP (CB. Planning Board, Ag Committee, Recreation 198 Commission) – Jane Nicholson 199 Nicholson was thinking about having a multi board meeting in September. She recommended doing a 200 doodle poll to see what day works best for everyone. The Board agrees on some time during the 201 beginning of September. 202 203 The board briefly discussed plans for the August meeting. It was left undecided whether there is going 204 to be a picnic, a meeting or both. 205 206 8. Adjourn 207 Munkenbeck moves that the meeting be adjourned. 208 Richmond seconds the motion. 209 All in favor. 210