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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-09-24Final Minutes Town of Dryden Conservation Board Tuesday, 24 September 2013 7:30 - 9:00 p.m. Dryden Town Hall 93 East Main Street, Dryden, NY 13053 1. Call to order (7:30 p.m.) – C. Smith Present: Charlie Smith, Bard Prentiss, Richard Ryan, Craig Schutt, Steve Bissen, Jeremy Sherman, Bob Beck, Milo Richmond Absent: Nancy Munkenbeck ex officio: Jane Nicholson (Planning Department), Anna Belcher (Planning Department), Mary Ann Sumner (Town Supervisor) liaison: David Weinstein (Planning Board), Linda Lavine (Town Board) Observer: Bruno Schickel, Bette Minarski, Craig Anderson 2. Completion of Record of Attendance by Members The record of attendance was passed around. 3. Review and approval of minutes from 30 July 2013 Meeting Smith changed the title from “Tentative DRAFT Agenda” to “Final Minutes” and the note under the title should be changed to “Approval 24 September 2013”. He also would like to see “Recorded and submitted by Anna Belcher, Planning Department Intern” added to the end of the minutes. Beck commented that on line 71, “the only way to do so” should be changed to “one way to do so”. Weinstein commented that on like 180, the sentence; “David Weinstein drafted General Land Categories of Interest of the Town” should be changed to “David Weinstein distributed General Land Categories of Interest to the Town”. Ryan commented that on line 122, “Joe Wilson” should be changed to “Evan Carpenter”. Beck commented that on line 12, “Absent” should be changed to “Excused Absences”. Schutt commented that on line 163, “Storm Water District” should be changed to “Soil and Water Conservation District”. He also commented that on like 165, “Debbie is from Corporate Extension” should be changed to “Debbie is from Cornell Cooperative Extension”. Sumner commented that Jacques name has an s on the end of it. She also commented that on line 91, “quorum’ should be changed to “forum”. Schutt moved to approve the minutes as amended. Beck seconded the motion. All approved. 4. Additions to agenda? Nicholson commented that a discussion of appointments that are up at the end of the year should be added. Prentiss recommended adding meeting time to the agenda, to determine the starting time of the Conservation Board meetings. Bruno Schickel expresses that he is happy to hear that Charlie has changed the rules of the Board, to allow comment and participation from the public. Smith replies that the Board has always had the meetings open to observers and the extent of participation is undefined. Lavine comments that she thought the Board had a discussion in which they said it made sense to let people have some limited amount of time to talk at the beginning and end of the meeting. Schutt explained that he thought that privilege of the floor would be on the agenda. Smith granted Schickel privilege of the floor for 3 minutes. Schickel explained that he thinks it would be a good idea to allow the public to comment when there’s a discussion being held. He doesn’t understand why the Board would be afraid of the public comment. He commended Mary Ann Sumner for allowing the public a lot of latitude to speak, which he feels improves the understanding of the Town Board. He encourages the Conservation Board to do the same. 5. Reports and Updates (briefly, 3-5 minutes, please) a. Town Board – Linda Lavine Sumner explained that Dan Kwasnowski has resigned. Lavine comments that the job needs to be filled and some networking needs to be done to find the right candidate. b. Town Planning Board – David Weinstein Weinstein comments that the Board has been engaged in preparing the whole process for revising the Comprehensive Plan. He explained that the Board will be studying the plan for the rest of this year before they will decide if revisions are even necessary. c. Tompkins County EMC – Steve Bissen Bissen reported the EMC met on September 12th. The energy subcommittee discussed the solarized South East, which is the incentive to help promote solar power in the town. They were expecting 15-20 new solar installations and they got 130. Because it was such a success, they are considering doing this countywide. He reported that there is going to be a meeting September 25th at five o’clock for the plastic bag use reduction. He also reported that EMC discussed remote net metering. The Ithaca Community Garden’s lease is going to be up and someone is interested in those lands so they might lose those gardens. The EMC is trying to come up with some kind of deer management planning forum for the county. d. Town Board Agricultural Advisory Committee – C. Schutt Schutt reported that the Agricultural Committee met on September 11th. At the meeting, they received petitions signed by many Ag land owners requesting the Town Board to resend the three CEAs that are in affect and to drop action on the others. There were nearly one hundred signatures on the petition. He reported that, to his understanding, in October, the Town Board is going to consider setting a date for a public hearing on the resend of the three CEAs The committee also worked on a list of questions that they want to see sent out to land owners, farmers, and other Ag land owners to help develop the Ag plan. e. Other Town Board and Commissions – Jane Nicholson Nicholson reported that they received an award for Excellence in Planning for Best Practices for the Varna Plan from The American Planning Association. 6. Old Business a. Picnic/dish-to-pass in October? The Board discussed having a picnic and decided to hold off until next summer. b. Possible dates for joint meeting with other Town boards and commissions – J. Nicholson Nicholson reported that a joint meeting might occur during the beginning of next year. c. Campbell Meadow Sumner commented that since October 4th is national visit a park day, she suggested that the board go to Campbell Meadow. d. Guidelines for accepting gifts of open space Smith recommended to the Board members that they should review the Draft Open Space Gift Evaluation Guideline Sheet sometime before the next meeting. 7. New Business a. Charge from Town Board for Open Space Plan Smith told the Board to take a look at the charge and they can discuss and questions or details at the next meeting. b. Discussion of procedures and timeline for developing Open Space Plan Nicholson commented that she thinks that coming up with a detailed procedure will be helpful. Smith commented that maybe the Board can devote time, during the next meeting, to nailing down the guidelines for accepting gifts of Open Space and then begin the discussion of procedures and timeline for developing Open Space. c. Appointments Smith commented that the four members that are reapplying for the Conservation Board must fill out an application, as well as any new members. The applications will need to be reviewed in November. d. Start meeting time Smith entertains a proposal to have the December meeting on December 10th. Smith entertains a proposal to have the November meeting on the November 12th. Beck proposes a motion that the Board changes the date of the November meeting to the 12th of November and the date of the December meeting to the 10th of December. Schutt seconds the motion. One opposed. Smith changed the Board meeting time to 7:00 p.m. 8. Adjourn (9:30 p.m.) Richmond entertained a motion to adjourn the meeting. Prentiss seconded the motion. All in favor.