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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCB 2025-01-28 CB 2025-01-28 Final 1 CONSERVATION BOARD January 28, 2025 Hybrid Present: Gian Dodici (chair), Anne Clark, *Jeanne Grace, *Kate McKee, *Andrew Miller, Craig Schutt, *Naomi Cator-Szymanski (alternate) Absent: Steve Bissen, Nancy Munkenbeck, Tim Woods Liaisons: *Spring Buck (Town Board) Staff: Loren Sparling (Deputy Town Clerk) “*” indicates attendance via Zoom The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. Due to the absence of three Board members, N Cator-Szymanski was given the right to vote at tonight’s meeting. Review and Acceptance of Minutes RESOLUTION 1 (2025) – ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES FROM DECEMBER 17, 2024 C Schutt offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption: RESOLVED, that the Conservation Board of the Town of Dryden hereby accepts the meeting minutes of December 17, 2024, as written. 2nd G Dodici Roll Call Vote G Dodici Yes A Clark Yes J Grace Yes K McKee Yes A Miller Yes C Schutt Yes N Cator-Szymanski Yes Report: Agriculture Advisory Committee C Schutt reported that the Ag Committee did not meet. Report: Climate Smart Communities Task Force A Clark reported that, at their last meeting, the Climate Smart Communities Task Force reviewed their accomplishments thus far. There is uncertainty as to what can be accomplished this coming year, as funding is being pulled back or reallocated at some higher administrative levels. Report: Environmental Management Council (EMC) S Bissen distributed his report via email prior to the meeting. In it, he related that the EMC meeting that took place on 1/9/2025 was the annual organization meeting where they brainstorm ideas about what they would like the EMC to cover this coming year. In addition, the Unique Natural Areas (UNA) subcommittee is finalizing the PDF documents that it will send to municipalities that will contain the final border changes for the UNAs. Report: Town Board CB 2025-01-28 Final 2 Spring Buck informed Board members that the Town Board chose not to offer a contract to the Etna Fire Department for 2025. It was a hard decision to make, but it was hard to justify funding that department when other departments have really been doing the work. She stressed that residents would not lose service with this change. The Town Board is now taking time to assess how best to utilize the money previously budgeted for the Etna Fire Department; we need to really understand where the needs are and what the long-term vision needs to be. It was noted that the Etna Fire Department owns a training facility that was built in the floodplain of Fall Creek. A bunch of fill was brought to that location, filling in the floodplain. This action should not have been approved by the Town, if indeed permission from the Town was even sought. S Buck will bring this up for discussion with the Town Board, as this is the first environmentally related issue that she has heard concerning Etna Fire Department properties. G Dodici encouraged Town Board members (or whoever makes decisions on siting) to seriously consider removing the training facility from the floodplain, as it has no business being there. The fill should also be removed and the land restored to what it should be. New Business: Finger Lakes Land Trust (FLLT) Easement on Pinckney Road G Dodici informed Board members that, several years ago, the Conservation Board encouraged Town leadership to purchase a 14 acre tract of land (tax map #44.-1-2.323) along Fall Creek when it went up for sale. Glenn Swan ultimately purchased the property in order to protect it. The parcel is currently in the process of being put into a conservation easement through the Finger Lakes Land Trust (FLLT). As part of the process, the FLLT notified Town Supervisor Jason Leifer about its plans, stating that the “property will remain private property, on the local tax rolls, and provide a buffer for Fall Creek, which drains directly into Cayuga Lake,” and asked whether the Town had any objections to the project. Board members agreed that the conservation easement project is a better alternative to the land being purchased by the Town, given that the FLLT has a full-time management staff and that the land would remain on the tax roll. RESOLUTION 2 (2025) – SUPPORT FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A FINGER LAKES LAND TRUST (FLLT) CONSERVATION EASEMENT ON PINCKNEY ROAD G Dodici offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption: RESOLVED, that the Conservation Board of the Town of Dryden hereby supports the establishment of a conservation easement by the Finger Lakes Land Trust (FLLT) on tax parcel #44.-1-2.323. 2nd A Clark Roll Call Vote G Dodici Yes A Clark Yes J Grace Yes K McKee Yes A Miller Yes C Schutt Yes N Cator-Szymanski Yes New Business: Battery Disposal S Buck initiated the discussion by stating that Tompkins County homeowners pay fees to the County for waste management services, which includes battery disposal. Regarding rechargeable batteries, New York State legally requires that they be recycled. Tompkins County CB 2025-01-28 Final 3 may have a map of locations in the area that accept rechargeable batteries for recycling; among these locations should be the large box stores (e.g., Walmart and Best Buy). Recycling alkaline batteries is challenging. Not only is there much back-and-forth debate about the environmental benefits of recycling such batteries, but they are also extremely difficult to recycle, given that only a few places do so. Tompkins County currently advises residents to dispose of alkaline batteries in the trash. S Buck had tried to create a public drop-off location for electronics at Cornell but found that Cornell could not legally accept hazardous waste (a category that includes batteries and light bulbs) from the public due to its hospital and research facilities. If the Town were to serve as a public drop-off location, the collection and handling of batteries (especially rechargeable ones) would require significant time and labor due to the need to individually wrap them to prevent fires from starting. Regulations also exist regarding bin labeling and storage duration. That said, there are free mail-in programs for businesses (e.g., Call2Recycle), funded by the big manufacturers of industry waste, that provide battery recycling services; they would provide the supplies (bags and boxes), but Town staff would still be required to monitor the collection containers and ensure that the batteries are properly wrapped for shipment. Cornell contracts with a company in Massachusetts to recycle its alkaline batteries. This company offers a mail-in program, but it is not cheap. However, it is not required that every alkaline battery be individually wrapped; they just need to be sorted into categories (e.g., alkaline, lithium, etc.). It was recommended that Tompkins County be engaged to improve battery recycling infrastructure and awareness throughout the county, given that residents are already paying for this service. Ideas like satellite drop-off locations were suggested. Although intrigued by the notion of collecting batteries alongside the composting program, S Buck thought this potentially problematic due to DEC and DOT transportation regulations (on hazardous waste transport on state roads) and highlighted this as another reason for county involvement. The sustainability of printers was then broached. Recycling options exist for inkjet cartridges, but it often requires individual effort to find and go to appropriate drop-off locations (e.g., Staples). People look as much for convenience as anything else. The impact of China’s “Green Fence” and recent news about potential freezes on new recycling plant development in the US were briefly mentioned, signifying the importance of reducing waste generation. Old Business: Tree Planting at O. D. von Engeln J Grace reported that permission has more or less been secured from the Nature Conservancy to plant trees in memory of Bob Beck. All that they need for official approval is the tree species to be planted and the desired planting location. She will be placing a tree order for the City of Ithaca in the next few weeks to get the best choice of varieties and can likely include a couple of trees in it for this project. She recommended bare root trees (estimated at $150 apiece and six feet in height) due to their ease of planting, as compared to balled and burlapped (B&B) trees. Caging would be necessary due to the heavy deer pressure in the area. Another option would be to seek a potential donation or small fee purchase from Cornell Botanic Gardens. These trees are grown from locally collected seeds and would be much smaller (around three feet tall) and containerized. In keeping with the Cornell line of thinking, CB 2025-01-28 Final 4 S Buck volunteered to contact Dan Schied, Grounds Department Director at Cornell, for advice. J Grace suggested that native species prevalent in the preserve (e.g., sugar maple, red maple, yellow birch, linden, and basswood) be selected. Long-lived species would be preferred; birches, however, are often not terribly long-lived trees. Concerns about the sugar maples’ intolerance to drought and heat was also noted, but she feels that they would probably still do okay at the preserve. Chestnuts, the “mutants” of which were of particular interest to B Beck, were also mentioned, although they would require significant protection as young saplings. Transplanting existing saplings from private property was discussed, but the success rate might be lower than planting nursery-grown trees. Planting shrubs (e.g., elderberry) alongside the trees was suggested so as to create a grove beneficial for birds, but these would require protection from the deer for a little while. A Miller commented that the Plantsmen Nursery has lots of nice native shrubs. J Grace added that the Plantsmen also has B&B and containerized trees, and almost exclusively sell native flora. For next month’s meeting, J Grace will research different options and prices for trees, get the dimensions of the potential planting site, and gather other information that may be needed for the Board to narrow down plans. Acknowledging the additional cost of several hundred dollars, A Clark raised the idea of supplementing the tree planting with a plaque or memorial stone to commemorate the planting as in memory of B Beck. Fundraising to cover the cost of both the trees and plaque would be relatively easy if collaboration with the Rail Trail Task Force was opened; Rick Young was also mentioned as a potential contact to help get things installed. Reaching out to Gwen Beck (who is a Rail Trail Task Force member) to inform her of the Board’s plans and to seek her approval was also advised. A Clark offered to undertake this. Old Business: DRYC Update C Schutt reported that the DRYC and CHA (consultant) held a kickoff meeting last week in regard to designing a proposal to put recreational fields on seven acres near Town Hall. The access road will not be considered as it falls outside the scope of this project. CHA inquired about the budget allotted for the project in order to avoid designing something unaffordable. The DRYC was unaware of the Town’s projected budget and will reach out to the Town Board for clarification. By next month, CHA plans to develop two or three conceptual designs for the DRYC to review. The consultant was informed to plan for multipurpose natural surface fields (no turf). Questions about who will maintain these fields (mowing, fertilizing, rolling) were raised. Rick Young and his team were mentioned as a possibility, but this would represent a new type of maintenance for them. As opposed to parks and trails, fields need to be mowed more frequently, rolled, and striped, consisting of many hours of work. More staff would probably be needed if DPW were to undertake field maintenance. The location and capacity of parking remain significant issues. Options like using school property and shuttling were discussed. If onsite parking is created, stormwater management plans will be necessary to mitigate runoff from these areas. The need for bathroom facilities and a building for educational/recreational workshops was communicated. CB 2025-01-28 Final 5 The project will not impact the Dryden Agricultural Fairgrounds, but DRYC members would like CHA to consider incorporating signage or interpretive elements into their design that references the nearby historic site. Once the DRYC approves a plan, a public outreach meeting will be held to gather public input. Old Business: Newsletter Submissions The Conservation Board is not currently submitting articles to the Town newsletter, which other boards and departments do regularly, so G Dodici solicited members to write short submissions on conservation-related topics. Potential topics that were expressed include updates on B Beck’s memorial grove , battery recycling information (with weblinks to county resources), seasonal conservation tips (e.g., spring planting), native plant information, and upcoming events. Article content would primarily be the responsibility of the author, though Board members were open to drafts being circulated for comment and review. Generating several article ideas in advance could also help ensure consistent contributions. Old Business: Chair Succession G Dodici is looking to step down from the chair position, expressing his belief that Board leadership needs to be reinvigorated with “fresh blood.” He encouraged Board members to consider stepping up to the chair role and to contact him if interested. There being no further business, on motion made by A Clark, seconded by G Dodici, the meeting was adjourned at 8:15 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Loren Sparling Deputy Town Clerk