HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-08-03 CAC Minutes
CONSERVATION ADVISORY COUNCIL
Zoom videoconference
Thursday, August 3, 2023
6:30 PM via Zoom
MEETING NOTES
1. Call Meeting to Order
Present: Ed Dubovi., Carrie Koplinka-Loehr, John Fleming., David Wolfe, Karen Edelstein, and quick
appearance by Gabby Desnoes. Katie Darcy and John Steinmetz from Bergmann
Absent: Adam Buck, Todd Walter, Robyn Bailey
2. Review minutes of July meeting
David asked whether there has been any followup regarding the Code Amendments Ch. 7 and the Ag
Cmte being under wing of the CAC and no one had an update.
3. Discussion of working draft of the OSI and Conservation Plan with emphasis on implementation
plan
General impression of draft OSI was highly favorable. John S gave Katie credit for pulling this all
together. Katie walked through the document and with a focus on last few pages of the draft
being the implementation plan.
Committee comments on draft narrative:
Will the OSI have an executive summary? YES
Photo credits? Katie wiil add photo credits for those who took them on the Acknowledgements page
Suggestion by John S.: A “Deep thoughts by committee member” at beginning might be helpful/nice
(mention fondness for the community)
Specify open space for agriculture on the chart under Economic Benefits
Emphasize increased property values (e.g., house on lake)
Switch Social and Environmental benefits pages
Wildlife habitat map doesn’t have much on it; looks depleted, but limited data available to add more
“meat” to the map. Katie will explore use of ebird data.
Karen likes the color palate; doesn’t quite work with steep slopes map; Katie can fix that
Legend text & color in the bedrock map should match the heading color (Ithaca…)
Useful of viewsheds map questioned. May simple present map with the points of reference rather
than the “views’.
On Ag map, pull Ag District into inset or create separate map (too much information)
Protected lands: combine with Parks but specify private/public, but delete specific addresses from
table.
Add here or to the Implementation section: CAC becoming a CB and integrally involved in conservation
work
Use the beautiful circular graphics from project goals as swag by creating stickers!
Score of each parcel will be in the appendix.
Implementation Strategy Table
- “Level” should be “Priority Level”
- Suggest timeframe ranking of strategies as short- medium- and long-term.
John S. and Katie will take a stab at the short-med-long column and then CAC could discuss it
- Cost could be represented by $ $$ $$$ icons (hard to put actual $ on it)
--Reference climate impact mitigation/ areas vulnerable to excessive rainfall impacts? John S. thinks
that’s more of a resiliency plan
- Move FLLT from Funding to Acquisition table?
- Change Acquisition to Conservation
- Change “Land Use Regulation” to something like “Land Use Guidelines for Development”
- Delete “Municipal” under purchase of land
CAC should go thru this version with fine toothed comb and provide comments to Katie
Add ideas like Forest Conservation Prog and NRCS
Sept 7 CAC Meeting: Katie and John S. will attend and we’ll hash out the Implementation Chart with
them, after they send it to us by the end of next week. Comments on entire document welcome
also. Map revisions and others will take a bit more time for them to deliver.
4. Other Business
NYSACC Conference on the Environment 2023, September 20-22. Please register and share the
word.
5. Departmental and Committee Reports
-- Town Board Liaison: Ruth will be meeting with John Zepko
-- Agriculture and Farmland Protection, will meet Aug. 15, get to the bottom of the Code
Amendments Ch. 7 stating that Ag Cmte will be a subset of CAC; they will also compare their
zoning recommendations for RA/Ag with what was adopted.