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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-09-2809/28/2021 CONSERVATION BOARD 1 09/28/2021 2 Via Zoom 3 4 5 Members Present: Gian Dodici (Chair), Bob Beck, Anne Clark, Craig Schutt, Andrew Miller, Nancy 6 Munkenbeck 7 Absent: David Wilson, Tim Woods 8 Liaisons: Loren Sparling (Town Board) 9 Guest(s): 10 The meeting was called to order at 7:04 PM. 11 Review and approval of minutes dated June 29, 2021 12 On motion made by G Dodici, seconded by A Clark, minutes were unanimously approved as 13 amended. 14 15 Rail Trail Update 16 The Rail Trail Task Force received a second grant from the Triad Foundation of $15k that 17 will be put towards resurfacing the trail between Monkey Run and Route 13. The first Triad grant 18 was used to complete the work at the Game Farm. The work on both the trustle and the trail 19 resurfacing at the Game Farm was completed at the end of last month. That trail is ready to be 20 opened. 21 John Lampman, retired county highway engineer, has completed his plan for Game Farm 22 Road crossing. The Rail Trail submitted the plan to Jeff Smith at County Highway. They are now 23 waiting for his response. After approval our highway folks will install the safety features. 24 A Miller asked if there is a similar safety plan at Stevenson Road. B Beck said yes there 25 will be signs and road stripes without needing county approval because it’s a town road. 26 B Beck says around January we should be getting the design plan for the Route 13 27 Pedestrian Bridge from the engineers. After we get it back, it will go to DOT to sign off on the 28 design plan. 29 Ag Committee Update 30 Craig Schutt emailed Scott Prindle for updates and said he didn’t know anything more but 31 did know the regional DEC director had a conversation with Jason but didn’t know what was 32 discussed. C Schutt emailed J Leifer to find out that the dam will be replaced but funding would 33 be in the capital budget and not listed as a separate line item. Replacement may not occur until 34 09/28/2021 2023. They are doing a new risk assessment so in event of high waters, the dam will be able to 35 handle it. 36 Planning Board Update The Planning Board Comprehensive Plan Subcommittee is working on revising draft #2. 37 They are expecting draft #3 to be given to the boards for review by late October. They will then 38 have 2 weeks to review it for comment. The public will have a draft hopefully by Thanksgiving. 39 Drinking Water Source Protection Program Plan 40 The board reviewed the plan at the June meeting and provided feedback. G Dodici 41 doesn’t think it made it back to the author because many comments were not incorporated. 42 Comments: 43 • We are still part of the upper Susquehanna drainage and that is not mentioned in the 44 report. 45 • Although our recommendations didn’t make it in, there’s a lot of information in the plan. 46 • L Sparling will have a talk with Ray about the process because he believes the board 47 deserves a reason for why the comments were not incorporated. 48 • It was suggested the town get involved in reviewing new wells. 49 • L Sparling said he would pass along the Conservations Board’s approval of this plan. 50 NYSACC Conference 51 There’s a 4 day conference from the 21st until the 24th of October. Members who would 52 like to attend have to register by Friday, 10/1/2021. 53 B Beck said when he was active with the Environmental Management Council in the 80’s 54 and 90’s he was involved twice with these meetings. Each time, 10 years apart, the Tompkins 55 County Unique Natural Areas Inventory received the statewide award. He believes it’s a good 56 conference with a lot of good information. He does not plan to participate this year but believes 57 anyone who does will find it worthwhile. 58 G Dodici encourages the board members to sign up if they have time for it. It can then be 59 discussed at the October meeting. 60 G Dodici asked if it would be worth asking the town to approve the $70 membership fee 61 to become a paying member of this organization. L Sparling said if the board feels this could be 62 used as a resource or could benefit professional development from it, he will back up the board 63 and form a resolution. This will be decided on at the next meeting. 64 Ditching 65 G Dodici was riding his bike on the Rail Trail in Freeville and noticed ditching in the 66 wetland adjacent to the DRT between Union Street and Freeville Depot Road in Freeville. From 67 what he can tell it may or may not have been in the regulated wetland, it was definitely in the 68 09/28/2021 buffer of the regulated wetland. The ECO’s are responsible for going out to find violations then 69 taking action. Apparently, they are hesitant to cite people for working in buffers. He believes it 70 might not actually affect flooding and residents yards were just flooding because it was a wet 71 year. Ditching a wetland might make flooding worse downstream. 72 J Grace agreed with G Dodici and suggested the Conservation Board write a letter to the 73 mayor and the board of trustees for the village explaining why ditching a wetland is never a good 74 idea. G Dodici is going to draft a letter and send it to all DPW’s as a reminder for best 75 management practices. 76 The DEC will come out when there are problems. They did that with A Clark because the 77 town was upset about the possibility of Hile School Road flooding because of beavers. A Clark 78 said she spent a nice afternoon with them looking at beavers and dams and they were really 79 helpful. 80 The village has their own Planning Board, so it sounds like they basically allowed the 81 development on Factory Street in the wetland. 82 83 On motion made by G Dodici, seconded by A Clark, the meeting was adjourned at 8:10PM. 84 85 Respectfully submitted, 86 87 Emily Banwell 88 Deputy Town Clerk 89 90 91 92 93