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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-01-28CB 01/28/20 Dryden Conservation Board January 28, 2020 Members Present: Gian Dodici (Chair), Bob Beck, Peter Davies, Jeanne Grace, Nancy Munkenbeck, Craig Schutt, and Milo Richmond Absent: Tim Woods Liaisons: Craig Anderson, Planning Board Guest(s): Loren Sparling, David Weinstein, Steve Bissen G. Dodici, J. Grace, N. Munkenbeck, C. Schutt, and M. Richmond were sworn in for renewal terms (M. Richmond as alternate). Meeting was called to order at 7:07 p.m. Review and approval of minutes dated November 26, 2019 On motion made by B. Beck, seconded by C. Schutt, minutes were unanimously approved as written. Reports and Updates Tompkins County Environmental Management Council — S. Bissen See attached report. With regards to the Brighten Up Caroline program the Conservation Board members agreed that this would be a good program to have in the Town of Dryden. Not sure where the LED light bulbs came from but S. Bissen will reach out to his contact to try and find out. M. Richmond asked D. Weinstein to send this board a copy of the most updated version of the "EVALUATION OF OPTIONS FOR THE POTENTIAL MANAGEMENT OF THE TOMPKINS COUNTY OWNED FORESTS" report. Agricultural Advisory Committee — C. Schutt Reviewed final Ag District map with Monika Roth from CCE. There are a few properties Monika will reach out to in order to finalize and deletions/additions. Dryden Rail Trail — B. Beck Stated they had a meeting last night and had a good turnout. They are still waiting for DEC to get back to them regarding the renovation of the trestles at the Game Farm. We hope to have a letter (that is being sent to Jason Leifer) from Dan Bishop at the Cortland DEC office so we can hopefully move forward. We have selected our engineering company, to do the Route 13 pedestrian bridge and trail work, Erdman Anthony of Rochester. We have received the first part of their cost estimates for the bridge and trail work. We have a lot moving on multiple fronts. S. Bissen mentioned the bridge down by Home Depot "bridge to nowhere" and inquired if there had ' been any thoughts of using that bridge. B. Beck stated that bridge would be used as part of the trail Page 1 of 4 CB 01/28/20 down in that area at some point. J. Grace has heard the holdup is with getting an easement from the property owner to be able to build a trail through there. The City does have money to build a bridge across the inlet now to connect the Black Diamond Trail, so it is getting closer. There will be pressure to finish that section so you can go all the way to Buttermilk. D. Wilson stated they spent their morning with a wetland restoration expert who stated old railroad beds are a big problem, interfering with natural drainage patterns. Asked if the Rail Trail had encountered that. Discussion ensued regarding old railroad beds, drainage, and wildlife and ponds beavercause. OLD BUSINESS Restrictive Covenant Rule as it relates to protection of open space— C. Anderson The Town Board passed the 6 -month moratorium for deed restrictions on conservation subdivisions and we are waiting to hear from the attorney. She was advised of this about three months ago and she has promised that she will have something by the Planning Board's next meeting. We need to know if the Town has any recourse on the deed restrictions and what can be done about the house that was built in the easement. G. Dodici asked if everyone had received R. Burger's email with Planning Department updates. He really can't speak to the comprehensive plan update, but asked C. Anderson if there were any recommendations, he felt this board should make with regards to the Varna zoning that would affect this board at all. C. Anderson didn't know that it affects us at all. D. Weinstein stated the biggest thing to this group is that they are proposing a 100' buffer between any development on a property and the bank of Fall Creek. Information can be found on the Town of Dryden website. G. Dodici — R. Burger sent an email out this afternoon to announce the Tompkins County Route 13 corridor study is being started up for the stretch from Warren Road to the Village of Dryden's western boundary. D. Weinstein advised there is an online survey for anyone that uses Route 13 can complete to have their opinion considered. httr)s://www.survevmonkev.com/r/Y76FQXD Deer Management — G. Dodici, Tim Woods is spearheading this, but since he is not here, does anyone have anything to input? What are our goals? P. Davies believes T. Woods was working on have a deer management area at the edge of the Village of Freeville. Discussion ensued regarding the complication of deer management. J. Grace stated she is working with the Town of Ithaca and their deer management nuisance permit. They have spots in they will be setting up in February and March for a management hunt. J. Grace is willing to do some work on this topic to figure out what kind of options we would have to try and start a deer management program. G. Dodici stated T. Woods would still be involved. J. Grace will brainstorm and get some information together for the next meeting and come up with some tasks for the next few months so other members could jump in and help with this. NEW BUSINESS Mineah-Knollwood Roads Water Quality Improvement Project "WQIP" Program G. Dodici — The Town of Dryden got $705,635 under this grant for work on the Mineah/Knollwood Roads. Discussion ensued: • There are 4-5 trouble spots to fix on Mineah Road. Cornell has land on top of Mineah Road which would run down and cause flooding on Mineah Road. Cornell closed one of the tributaries and forced it over onto a west tributary that is as eroded up against someone's garage and caused a 6'-7' deep ditch. Page 2 of 4 CB 01/28/20 • That creek follows Rt 13 and then goes under Rt 13, then under Kirk Road, around the mobile home park and floods the park. • That one stream has an amazing volume of water flow. • There will be damage to homes if this isn't taken care of. • Soils in that area are prone to flooding. Conservation Board would like to be involved before decisions are made. C. Anderson and D. Weinstein recommended this board put together a resolution to the Town Board asking for the Conservation Board to be involved. G. Dodici will bring a resolution to the next meeting for the Conservation Board to vote on. Comprehensive Plan Update — C. Anderson The Town has a website now: www.drvden2045.orq that you can log in/register and get updates on the plan is going. They are working on creating a stakeholder list of residents of the Town of Dryden. Each committee/board of the Town will have a presentation done for them so the committee/board will be able to weigh in as a group. There will be informational meetings for the public and there will be a survey available (either online or by mail) at some point in the future. The presentation will take a little under an hour and there will be some participation. If you belong to any other non -town groups and would like to have a presentation, please notify C. Anderson or D. Weinstein. This presentation is on the process of the comprehensive plan re -write. C. Anderson recommended the board go online and read the current comprehensive plan prior to the presentation. This is the foundation of the enabling laws in the State of New York. The Conservation Board will plan on the presentation on February 25th in the board/court room. B. Beck stated the Conservation Board should recommend to the Town Board that it would be helpful to have a wall -mounted, flat screen tv/monitor in the Barbara Caldwell Room for power point presentations, etc. Other boards/committees that use the room may feel the same way. RESOLUTION #1 (2020) from the Town of Dryden Conservation Board to the Dryden Town Board asking for authorization to purchase a wall -mounted tv/monitor for the Barbara Caldwell Room WHEREAS, the Barbara Caldwell Room is being regularly used by multiple committees and boards of the Town of Dryden, WHEREAS, there is currently no way to have a power point presentation or view internet documents or maps in that room that can be easily viewed by the people occupying the room, WHEREAS, the board/court room is not available to any boards or committees on Monday or Wednesday of each week due to the court schedule, The Conservation Board asked that the Town approve the purchase of a monitor/tv to wall mount in the Barbara Caldwell Room with necessary cables to facilitate presentations and information sharing in an amount not to exceed $750.00. 2"d C. Schutt, unanimously passed. Page 3 of 4 CB 01/28/20 Ditch Management- G. Dodici The ditch management discussion started last year involving Rebecca Schneider and getting her involved with the town and doing test spots. D. Weinstein stated she is waiting for us to identify a place, or a series of places where things like absorption mattresses can be placed. Where the ditches need to be disconnected. Somebody must identify that. This group needs to meet with Rick Young to find out where we have problems. If we provide R. Schneider with places, she would be more than happy to come out and see if there are things they can do on a test basis. M. Richmond suggested we put together a grant request to try and obtain the finances to pay for this. C. Anderson that he would suggest that as we get into Spring that everyone start making a list of where you are seeing issues and then try to figure out what to do. G. Dodici stated the first step is to sit down with Rick Young to see if they are even on board. We can come up with a plan, but if they need to be on board. J. Grace stated we need to bring them in from the beginning and ask them what their priorities are and pick some of their priorities and some of ours and work together. We need to be able to show the Highway Dept. that these ideas will work. G Dodici will set up a meeting with Rick Young. J. Grace, M. Richmond, C. Schutt and G. Dodici will plan to participate in the meeting with R. Young. Can discuss the Mineah/Knollwood project and a few areas that we found that representative of the ditching issues. Buffers— G. Dodici Might be too much to try to tackle both ditch management and buffers at one time. D. Weinstein — There is momentum in the county now towards this. The County held a meeting to discuss the buffer program. G. Dodici stated his problem is the 90% of flow is not going into the rivers over lands that would be buffered, it's all going down through these ditches. Everything is being shunted through ditches. Buffering ditches would be money better spent then buffering Fall Creek. We aren't farming right up to the stream edges, for the most part, in this town. The big issue that I see is these ditches. We are farming right up to the edge of ditches, we're digging ditches deeper, draining fields into ditches and it's all heading down into the rivers. J. Grace — issue is to have space to hold water to avoid the runoff, the town doesn't own big areas where they can dump the water. B. Beck — the highway guys will tell us they have a schedule for ditching along the roads in the town and they must do more than should be done so it doesn't have to be done again too soon. There being no further business, under motion made by M. Richmond, seconded by C. Schutt, the meeting was adjourned at 9:01 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Chrystle Terwilliger Deputy Town Clerk Page 4 of 4