HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-07-30Tentative DRAFT Minutes 1
Note: Items may be added to or removed from this agenda as needs and circumstances dictate. 2
Town of Dryden Conservation Board 3
Tuesday, 30 July 2013 4
7:40 p.m. – 9:08 p.m. 5
Dryden Town Hall 6
93 East Main Street, Dryden, NY 13053 7
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1. Call to order (7:40 p.m.) – C. Smith 9
Present: Charlie Smith, Bard Prentiss, Richard Ryan, Craig Schutt, Steve Bissen, Jeremy 10
Sherman, Nancy Munkenbeck 11
Absent: Bob Beck, Milo Richmond 12
ex officio: Anna Belcher (Planning Department), Jane Nicholson (Planning Department), 13
Mary Ann Sumner (Town Supervisor) 14
liaison: Craig Anderson (Planning Board) 15
Guest: Joe Wilson, Evan Carpenter 16
17
Smith expressed his appreciation to Bob Beck for all his help and for managing things 18
while he was out of town. 19
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2. Completion of Record of Attendance by Members 21
The Record of Attendance was passed around. 22
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3. Review and approval of minutes from 30 June 2013 24
Schutt explained that, on line 30, Bruno’s name should be replaced with Jacque 25
Schickel’s name. 26
27
Sherman commented on line 71, where Jacque says that he feels that there are secrets. He 28
explained that Jacque went and got names to send out the information to the land owners 29
and when he asked Dan Kwasnowski how the return was, Dan said that they got a couple 30
letters back. Jacque thought that they actually got about thirty letters back. 31
32
Nicholson explained that they don’t know where the list that Jacque used originated from. 33
34
Sherman replied to Nicholson, saying that Jacque got that list from “you guys”. 35
36
Nicholson said that the list came from Bambi Avery’s office. She expressed that there 37
was a mix up with the lists and the list that Jacque had used was not the same list that she 38
had used. She expressed that the list was a CEA mailing list. There were two different 39
lists, causing a mix up with the addresses. 40
Anderson explained to Smith that the Dryden Republicans foiled for the list of 41
landowners and CEAs. 42
Sherman suggested making sure the two lists contain the same information. 43
44
Smith concluded that there were two lists. One mailing list originated from the Planning 45
Department and the foil request resulted in another list, which came from Bambi. 46
47
Nicholson commented that the misunderstanding was just a lack of communication. 48
49
Sherman expressed that some people feel that the CEAs don’t mean anything, which he 50
said isn’t true because the CEAs have legality. 51
52
Prentiss explained that CEAs are important, but they aren’t a regulation. 53
54
Ryan felt that there was a lot of confusion about the CEAs. 55
56
Smith commented that the CEAs invoke SEQER, but they do not know yet if they invoke 57
any action. 58
59
Sherman commented on the minutes where it says that farmers have had their ears closed 60
and just don’t want to know about the Open Space Plan. 61
62
Prentiss replied that he was upset and did not mean it in that way. 63
64
Smith recommended to leave the part that says, “Prentiss commented that these are not 65
new ideas” and to delete everything that follows. 66
67
Schutt commented that on line 139, he would like to see added that Jacque explained how 68
his family has developed a plan to keep it as Open Space. He also wanted to add Beck’s 69
response to Jacque which was that Jacque’s plan doesn’t guarantee long term Open Space 70
and the only way to do so is to have some kind of conservation easement. 71
72
Sherman made a motion to accept the minutes with the suggested changes. 73
Schutt seconded the motion. 74
All approved. 75
76
4. Additions to agenda? 77
The Board looked at the hand out that Joe Wilson provided. 78
The Board discussed about the coal fire generating plant. 79
80
Smith commented that the Board should accept the information and that they append that 81
to the minutes of this meeting, but will wait until they receive a request from the Town 82
Board to act on this information. He felt it is a Town issue right now, but may become a 83
Conservation issue. 84
85
5. Reports and Updates (briefly, 3-5 minutes, please? 86
a. Town Board – Mary Anna Sumner 87
Sumner explained that the Town Board has discussed the proposed directive to the 88
Conservation Board, but there isn’t any record of voting on it yet. They will vote on it 89
next month. 90
She talked about the quorum she attended at UCLA that was on science democracy 91
and community decision making on fracking. 92
93
b. Town Planning Board- Craig Anderson 94
Anderson reported that the Town Board is working on a site plan review for the 95
Finger Lakes Library System. There are some issues with the process. 96
97
The Planning Board has begun to discuss the Comprehensive Plan. 98
99
Nicholson reported that Joe Lalley left the Board. Now there is an open chair and the 100
deadline for applying is the 8th of August. 101
102
c. Tompkins County EMC – Steve Bissen 103
No report. 104
105
d. Town Board Agriculture Advisory Committee – C. Schutt 106
Schutt reported that the Ag committee came up with a list of questions and they 107
would like to have a survey done to provide answers to these questions. It would give 108
a lot of good information about how many acres are in agriculture, how many 109
animals, what kind of crops are grown, how much land is owned, how much land is 110
leased, and so on. 111
112
Schutt distributed copies of the New York Agricultural Landowner Guide to the 113
Board. 114
115
Nicholson wondered if it would be more efficient to get an intern to go to each farm. 116
117
Schutt replied to Nicholson by saying that they can get the agricultural assessment 118
from the county and from that you can pick out what’s owned and what’s leased 119
because the farmers themselves know a lot about who leases what and where. 120
121
Joe Wilson commented that they are hoping to not only do what is farm land, but to 122
also do what land is farmable and/or has been in the past. 123
124
Smith asked if there was any way to see how much external funding is brought in to 125
the Town through farm subsidies. 126
127
Schutt replied by saying that those are things that they want to flush out as much as 128
possible. 129
130
Anderson passed out copies of New York Agricultural Landowner Guide to the Board 131
members. The pamphlet contains information about farmland conservation programs. 132
133
e. Other Town Boards and Commissions – Jane Nicholson 134
No report. 135
136
6. Old business 137
a. August meeting 138
On the 6th of September there is a possible picnic at Milo Richmond’s house. 139
140
Prentiss moved to not have a Conservation Board meeting in August. 141
Munkenbeck seconded the motion. 142
All in favor. 143
144
b. Possible dates for joint meeting with other Town boards and commissions – J. 145
Nicholson 146
Nicholson commented that they were waiting to decide upon a date after the Dryden 147
Lake Festivals. She explained that they want to hold a joint meeting, with all of the 148
Boards, to start talking about the Open Space Plan. Possible dates are September 10th, 149
11th, and 12th. 150
151
The Board discussed the possibility of extending the meeting to October or early 152
November. 153
154
7. New business 155
a. Campbell Meadow 156
Sumner added that there will be a staff gathering in Campbell Meadow sometime in 157
September. She informed the Board that they will be invited. 158
159
Smith expressed his appreciation to Nicholson for her and Jack Bush’s participation 160
in the creation of Campbell Meadow. 161
162
Schutt told the Board that he resigned from the Storm Water District. 163
Carpenter asked the Board if they would like to be notified when Debbie comes to 164
talk to their group. Debbie is from Corporate Extension and worked heavily on the 165
Lansing Survey Program. 166
167
The Conservation Board replied that they would appreciate a notification so they can 168
attend the discussion. 169
170
171
b. Guidelines for accepting gifts of open space 172
Nicholson provided the board with an example of an Open Space Plan that closely 173
resembled what they are trying to do, which was the Open Space Plan for the town of 174
Glenville, New York. She expressed that the plan should be user friendly and easy to 175
read. She feels it has a great approach and provides an excellent parallel. She also 176
displayed a fact sheet, from the University of Connecticut, that talks about putting 177
together Open Space Plans, objectives, development and process. 178
179
David Weinstein drafted General Land Categories of Interest of the Town. Within the 180
document, there is a section that discusses selection criteria for Dryden Town land 181
and conservation easement acquisitions. 182
183
Nicholson showed the Board the DRAFT Open Space Gift Sheet, which came from 184
Dan Kwasnowski and the Protection Methods Primer. She feels the documents give a 185
lot of good information and provides a good foundation. 186
187
8. Adjourn (9:08) 188
Bissen made a motion to adjourn. 189
Schutt seconded the motion. 190
All in favor. 191
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