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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCB 2024-03-26CB 2024-03-26 Approved Page 1 of 5 CONSERVATION BOARD March 26, 2024 Hybrid Approved on May 28, 2024 Present: Gian Dodici (chair), Bob Beck, *Steve Bissen, Anne Clark, *Jeanne Grace (arrived 7:06 p.m.), *Kate McKee (alternate), *Andrew Miller, Nancy Munkenbeck, Craig Schutt, *Tim Woods Absent: Spring Buck (Town Board liaison) Town Staff: Loren Sparling (Deputy Town Clerk) “*” denotes attendance via Zoom The meeting was called to order at 7:01 p.m. Review and Approval of Minutes from January 30, 2024, and February 27, 2024 On motion made by C Schutt, seconded by G Dodici, the minutes of January 30, 2024, were approved by the Board as written. B Beck abstained from this vote due to his absence from the January meeting. A Clark and N Munkenbeck provided comments on the February minutes to L Sparling via email; these were incorporated into a second draft of the minutes, which was circulated to Board members. On motion made by G Dodici, seconded by N Munkenbeck, the minutes of February 27, 2024, were unanimously approved by the Board as written in the second draft. Update: Agriculture Advisory Committee C Schutt reported via email that the Agriculture Advisory Committee met in March. Much of their discussion was concerned with regenerative agriculture. They agreed that should any farmer wish to embrace that production method, they would, as a Committee, support that decision. They do not see it as their right, however, to promote any particular method of farming over another. They view their role as an advocate for all agriculture in the Town and to support whatever production system that a producer feels fits their personal circumstance. N Munkenbeck noted that the phrase “regenerative agriculture” initially pertained to the working of land in order to mitigate washouts and other obvious problems. Now it has become a buzzword and taken on a life of its own. She is not convinced that the term “regenerative agriculture” should apply to the soil-building nature of mycorrhizae, but that is how many people use it now. Mycorrhizae do not necessarily regenerate what had been, but instead create something that is good. A Clark thought that “sustainable agriculture” might be a more apropos phrase, given the current hope of sustaining the soils to the point that they become self-sustaining, as, for instance, on a prairie. In an effort to keep the meeting moving forward, G Dodici stated that “regenerative agriculture” has been used in its current state for at least the past 20 years. He feels the meaning of the phrase has become more encompassing since its initial development. A Clark suggested that a resource page be developed for material that has been circulated among Board members, akin to the Google Drive folder she uses as a document repository for her students to access. G Dodici wondered if the Town could host this on its website, to which L Sparling responded that a resource page could indeed be created. A Clark envisioned that farmers who are interested in, for instance, regenerative farming would utilize these resources to develop their practice. CB 2024-03-26 Approved Page 2 of 5 N Munkenbeck stated that a previous incarnation of the Town website had provided a listing of all the farms in Dryden and what they offered because a lot of farms offered on-farm sales or participated in farmers markets. Due to the fact that there is no specific timeline in place, L Sparling will work on developing an online resource page for the Conservation Board after the new website for the Town is rolled out. T Woods returned to the discussion on regenerative agriculture, rebutting N Munkenbeck. He explained that “regenerative” is a term that is used with “restorative agriculture.” “Regenerative” specifically relates to regenerating the mycorrhizal horizon in the agricultural soil, so that topsoil is built up instead of diminished through oxidation (releasing even more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere). This is accomplished through using low-till, no-till, cover crops, and/or mulching to begin the process of regeneration and keep it going. Slash and burn, used mainly in the tropics, is a process more destructive than regenerative. You can only grow on land that has been slashed-and-burned for one or two seasons, after which you have to move on because all the soil nutrients have been washed away by the torrential tropical rains. Thus, slash-and-burn is not included in regenerative agriculture. T Woods already has a list of websites that could be used as resources. One of the most well-known of these websites is Kiss the Ground (https://kisstheground.com/). The USDA has also created some new websites to increase the knowledge base of farmers about what is happening to the topsoil and how farms are contributing to the carbon dioxide buildup in the atmosphere instead of helping to get rid of it. T Woods hopes to have ongoing conversations with the Groton FFA and other organizations interested in teaching the next generation of farmers about the difference between the non-sustainable industrial agriculture that is primarily being taught in our land grant colleges (including Cornell) and regenerative agriculture, which Cornell and the local extension service have recently gotten into. There is now a three-person staff at the extension service that deals primarily with helping farmers understand what regenerative ag is and helping them source money in order to get into that business. Update: EMC S Bissen reported that the EMC met on 3/14/2024. Their main talk was from Kristen Hychka (kch235@cornell.edu), who is affiliated with the NYS Water Resources Institute (NYSWRI) at Cornell (https://cals.cornell.edu/water-resources-institute). NYSWRI provides grants and funding for research projects involving the Great Lakes, Hudson River, and Mohawk River watersheds. They also support research in invasive aquatic species, water quality (especially involving emerging contaminants [e.g., PFAS], water infrastructure (including roadside ditching practices), and climate resilience. Another talk was from Brad Will, an EMC member, who provided a brief overview of the 2024 NYS Green Building Conference (https://www.esf.edu/open-academy/professional- development/green-building/) at SUNY-ESF in Syracuse. He said it was a very interesting conference about different building techniques, green energy incorporation, water infrastructure, etc., and provided a PDF of slides from the conference (toxicstargeting.net/tti_website_overflow/steve/ESF-GBC-Seminars-Abridged.pdf). S Bissen also mentioned that the EMC was sponsoring a get-together for municipal and county conservation groups on Thursday, May 9 from 4:00-5:30 p.m. at Stewart Park, and invited Board members to the event. It is an opportunity to talk with other Conservation Boards in Tompkins County to see what they have been doing and to establish contacts. CB 2024-03-26 Approved Page 3 of 5 Update: Town Board There was no update from the Town Board due to the absence of S Buck. Update: Rail Trail Task Force B Beck reported that the Rail Trail Task Force remains in a holding pattern, waiting for certain things to happen. The last word on the Route 13 bridge project was that the back-and- forth between lawyers is almost complete. The surveys for both the Cornell easement on the west side of Route 13 and the Knickerbocker donation on the east took longer than expected but are now complete and properly signed. They have been sent to DOT in Syracuse, who will authorize the go-ahead for the project going out to bid. We hope it is not too late to hire a construction company to do the work this year. B Beck also gave Amanda Anderson, the Town’s bookkeeper, enormous credit for her work with Amanda Marsh, the New York State Parks Grants Administrator for the Southern Tier Region. He stated that the material submitted to Albany that the Task Force thought complete was, in fact, not. Dillon Shults, our Town Planner, created new maps, with each parcel delineated; B Beck compiled further information (e.g., photographs of signs at road crossings) and synced them with these new maps in a 30 MB PDF that was again sent to Albany. About a week ago, the breakthrough came when Albany sent word that the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation had finally accepted and approved our EPF map package (i.e., our detailed response to their requests). Now, hopefully, we can move forward in getting reimbursements for the Town’s expenses from 2017 and 2018, the first two years of this grant. We hope that most of the money that’s actually been spent by the Town will be reimbursed by the State. Our first significant grant was for $187,000, and that much we should get back if we have the match, which we easily do. The big money item will come from the big grants we received for the Route 13 bridge. The Board then deliberated on the removal of certain trees in the Route 13 bridge project area to eliminate potential habitat for the Northern long-eared bat, with a deadline for this action set for the end of March before the bats return. They advised, based on the recommendation of the Fish & Wildlife biologist who scoped out the trees last year, that any trees in the project area that could provide habitat should be preemptively cut down, so as not to stall the bridge project for another year and so that the bats may find a better place to roost. B Beck further mentioned another area of the trail, below Nick Bellisario’s building on Hall Rd, where he identified about six small trees (one of which could potentially be bat habitat) that needed to be cut. He brought this to Rick Young’s attention a few months ago, but nothing had been done. Yesterday, R Young informed B Beck that someone from his department would be taking down those trees that day. Update: Climate Smart Task Force A Clark briefly reported that Dryden High School is taking on the question of installing a pollinator pathway. In addition, the Village of Dryden has adopted a climate smart resolution; currently, they are deliberating whether to establish an entity separate from the Town’s or for the two to be merged. Regardless, everybody is very enthusiastic and wants to work together. Lastly, the Task Force will have a table for Earth Day on the Ithaca Commons. N Munkenbeck suggested to T Woods that Earth Day on the Commons would be a very good time for him to connect with the public about regenerative agriculture. CB 2024-03-26 Approved Page 4 of 5 New Business: Delineation of Wetlands on Town Lands The memorandum associated with Barton & Loguidice’s wetland delineation was emailed to Board members. G Dodici stated that their map confirms that a large percentage of the property is designated as wetland, so it will have some sort of protection. The consultants deemed it a regulated wetland, which is helpful if you don’t want to see development in a wetland. Between the delineated wetland itself and the buffers, there is a very small percentage of developable land. The Board then analyzed Barton & Loguidice’s map from their memorandum entitled “Figure 5: Delineated Wetlands.” Board members derived from the memorandum and maps that there is not a whole lot of developable land behind Town Hall. There is not a lot of opportunity to put in ballfields without impacting the wetland and then having to mitigate. G Dodici reiterated that the Town should set an example and protect the wetlands, rather than give itself variances in order to circumvent regulatory hurdles, because a wetland mitigation is never the same as the wetland you lost. Talk then turned to alternative locations for the placement of the recreation fields: on Mott Rd, near Dryden Central School District’s bus garage; and on the parcel upon which Ezra Village will be situated. T Woods remembered that the vacant Dryden Dollar Store on Freeville Rd had once been proposed as a site for a recreational center due to its proximity to the high school and middle school. He added that part of Ezra Village’s development plan is to put in a recreational area near that site. For T Woods, this would be ideal for recreational facilities and fields, given its accessibility to schools and residential neighborhoods. K McKee conveyed that the biggest impetus for situating the fields behind Town Hall is proximity to Town Hall, but that might not be a possibility now due to the wetland delineation. G Dodici was hopeful the results of the delineation would protect the wetlands but felt that development there was not necessarily off the table until such time as the Conservation Board gets some kind of commitment from the Town Board that the wetlands would be protected. B Beck inquired if the Board should draft a resolution to the Town Board. G Dodici responded that the Board had already sent a pretty strong letter to the Town Board conveying their support of the delineation. We could follow up with a letter that states our appreciation of them doing the delineation and that the evidence shows that there is not much room to develop in there, so you should not be building there. N Munkenbeck said that the Board has rejected the options presented to them but has not provided any suitable alternatives. She recommended that the Board seek out locations that would be agreeable to everyone. G Dodici understood her overall intent but raised the time constraint of the issue at hand. We need to send a letter to the Town Board stating that the wetlands need to be protected and urging them to look somewhere else. A Clark suggested adding that the Board would be happy to help look for alternative locations. The Board resolved to draft a letter to the Town Board advocating for the protection of the wetlands and indicating their willingness to help search for other locales for the placement of recreational fields. S Bissen thought that it would be helpful to have a list of all Town-owned parcels of land in the Town. The Planning Department could undertake this, though members do not feel the Town owns many parcels. Old Business: Dryden Lake Property C Schutt transitioned to the triangular property near Dryden Lake, stating that its owner has been digging big ditches in it. It would seem that this work is having the effect of draining the wetland in the park across the road, which is a known location for spring peepers. CB 2024-03-26 Approved Page 5 of 5 The property owner claims that, some decades ago, a hurricane deposited a huge amount of fill that buried the culverts; his present work seeks to uncover these culverts in order to restore the parcel to its pre-hurricane condition. He has to dig deep so as to open up the culverts and let them drain; however, what this is draining is the wetland across the road. G Dodici suggested that the culvert be plugged and the road be used as a berm. You can’t tell someone that they can’t dig up their own property. The wetland is also not regulated; if it were, something could possibly be done, but it’s not. C Schutt remembers that the site has always been a wetland and that it was never used as agricultural land, as the property owner claims. Board members resigned themselves to inaction, calling the actions of the property owner a shame. Jim Schug Trail Signage L Sparling reported that he, as Town Historian, was approached by Chris Clauson, who related that Peter Schug was interested in restoring the signage along the Jim Schug Trail. P Schug has offered to pay for the project. Some of the signs are getting really bad. Two pertain to historic sites, but the remainder are environmental in nature. He asked if the Board would have an interest in updating the text of the latter signs. He also envisioned adding a QR code to each sign that would link to a page on the Town’s website, where additional information might be provided. B Beck added that it is really nice that the DPW has replaced or restored the benches along the length of the Jim Schug Trail, because the wood on the original benches was falling apart. An upgrade to the signs would be a great next step. Bard Prentiss was very involved in getting the information together for and designing the signs. He was surprised when plexiglass was put atop them; that wasn’t part of the plan, and it was a mistake because the plexiglass eventually got cloudy underneath. B Prentiss deserves major credit for getting the signs in place. L Sparling will send around current images of the signs and have the Board weigh in on their update. A Clark especially liked the idea of adding QR codes to the signs, as they have been a major breakthrough for zoos in the dissemination of information. Malloryville Preserve Field Trip B Beck is hoping to arrange a field trip to the O.D. von Engeln Preserve at Malloryville in the next few months for the Conservation Board, Town Board, and other boards. He also mentioned that his book, The Journey at Malloryville Bog: Commitment, Teamwork and Tenacity in Defense of Land and Nature, is finally available in hardcover after eleven years. It’s a good story about how the preserve got established that is also part of our town story. There being no further business, on motion made by N Munkenbeck and seconded by G Dodici, the meeting was adjourned at 8:32 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Loren Sparling Deputy Town Clerk