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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-11-24 11/24/2020 Conservation Board 11/24/2020 Members Present: Gian Dodici (Chair), Bob Beck, Anne Clark, David Wilson, Peter Davies, Nancy Munkenbeck, Craig Schutt Absent: Tim Woods, Jeanne Grace Liaisons: Simon St. Laurent (Planning Board) Guest(s): Nita Irby, Andrew Miller, Rueben Camp, Shannon Divers, Eveline Ferretti The meeting was called to order at 7:04 PM. Review and approval of minutes dated October 27th, 2020 On motion made by C. Schutt, seconded by A. Clark, minutes were unanimously approved as written. Town Board Update: There was a plan to have online sessions about the Comprehensive Plan on December 8th and 9th but they have gotten postponed until mid to late January to give the board more time to promote it. Rail Trail Update: B Beck: We continue to meet with Erdmann Anthony, engineers from Rochester, on the Route 13 bridge. We reviewed different alignments and selected Alternate 5x which crosses Route 13 where the trains crossed rather than changing the alignment. That requires two different parcels on the east side of Route 13. We prepared a resolution for the Town Board. They modified it slightly then approved it last Thursday at the Town Board meeting. The Board agreed to select that particular alignment and also to request the DOT office in Syracuse to proceed with the acquisition of portions of the properties to the east side of Route 13. The bridge will curve slightly to the south to minimize the impact of the private residents that are to the north. DOT has offered to do the work in acquiring whatever we need. We’ll know about the actual cost of this in the near future. We will get additional information soon from Erdmann Anthony. Dryden Lake Dam: The DEC inspected the dam this summer at request of Rick Young, Highway Superintendent. They sent back a letter saying the dam needs to be repaired, replaced, or removed. The dam is down on West Lake Road just passed the entrance to the park. It was originally built to power a sawmill. The DEC contacted the Town Supervisor, Jason Leifer, and he asked the Conservation Board and the Planning Board for input. 11/24/2020 C Schutt: I contacted Scott Prindle from the DEC who originally wrote the letter to the town and have spoken with him twice on the phone. He sent me the dam safety information. He said the DEC engineers are in the process of working on a replacement plan and cost estimates. They probably won’t be ready until the first of the year, but he promised to forward that on once it is available. He says that it’s not a slam dunk either way because they are waiting to hear back from the town to know how everyone feels about it. I don’t think they realized how often the lake is used. He seems to think it is very minimally used. I told him to come down here in the summer to see people kayaking, fishing, birdwatching, walking, etc. He appreciated me telling him how much it is used. I talked to Mike Lane, county representative from Dryden and he is working on a resolution to present to the county legislature because he is in favor of keeping the lake. The historical society is working on a resolution to send to the Town Board because they are also in favor of keeping the lake the way it is. Nita Irby has been living on Dryden Lake for over 10 years. She spends a fair amount of time looking at the lake and says the lake is very heavily used by not just people, but animals too. It is a spot where bald eagles nest, and even an osprey that was sighted just recently for the first time in 10 years. C Schutt believes that the DEC offered the town to buy the lake, but R Young didn’t want the responsibility. Eveline Ferretti wants to know why anyone would be in favor of removing the dam. G Dodici: Other than the cost, to restore aquatic connectivity. It’s hard to say what was there before this dam because it was put in such a long time ago, but there is a tributary that comes down from the south and flows into the reservoir and out the outlet. There was also a river that ran through there at some point. Comments: • This is a valuable community asset. • This is a low hazard dam. • It’s not going to fail anytime soon. • Be prepared to give public comments to the DEC. • If this goes away it would be a real loss for the town. • The board is going to work on a resolution to present next month. Hazard Mitigation Plan: N Munkenbeck: Dave Sprout and I are representing the Town of Dryden for the group that is coming up with the Hazard Mitigation Plan for the county. There’s a worksheet that we’ve been doing for months now. Tetratech, the company we’ve been doing this for, wants to have this plan finished so it can be approved. They mention potential hazards in the county then they can list how serious the hazard is. Serious hazards are classified as disease, flooding, winter storms, etc. We had to list the kinds of hazards that could be created and how the town plans on dealing with them. And lastly, what do we need to be able to achieve our mitigation. My understanding is, since having created the format, there will be money available to mitigate the hazards. On the flooding, one of the things we’ve come up with is the ditches being so deep and getting blocks [rocks] in to slow the flow. Another mitigation is in terms of flooding or storming. If we have to evacuate people, one evacuations site that we have is the Dryden School and we will probably put in for a generator. We discussed that the armory could also be an 11/24/2020 evacuation center along with the Bethel Grove Church. The big thing for this group would be doing those blocks [to flow] in the ditch. The other thing we were thinking is to try and improve cell phone connection. If we have a major storm and the power goes out, it’ll be hard to alert people. I don’t know if this is likely every 10 years or 20 years. This will get sent to the Town Board once it is done. Comments: • P Davies suggests that they add ice storms to their list. • We could insist that hedges, acting as snow fences, be installed in areas that are known for snow drifts. • Turkey Hill Road has a long stretch that is known for drifting. • Where it drifts on Turkey Hill Road [the land] is owned by Cornell so we could petition to them to put trees there. • We should talk to Cornell sustainability club. • Natural Resources Conservation service had a voluntary living snow fence program but it’s hard to get anyone out here. Invasive Species: Spotted lanternflies have been moving north. It has been problematic to orchards in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. There was a case reported in Fall Creek recently. This is a major pest for agriculture in forests and orchards because with climate change, invasive species have been moving north. Earth worms are also a problem around here. P Davies read an article that Ithaca got a lot of volunteers to remove invasive species and replant native plants. He thinks it would be valuable to recruit a group of volunteers to map the invasives just like Ithaca did. Andrew Miller mentioned that when times are more normal, there’s a Green Club associated with Dryden Central School District with kids that would eagerly go out and pull up invasive species. P Davies applauded Andrew for thinking outside the box. Next summer he is going to meet with the Green Club to map out the community. Respectfully submitted, Emily Banwell