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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTB Minutes 2016-02-22Town Board Study Session Monday,February 22,2016 Agenda 1.Review Regular Meeting Agenda 2.Deer Management -Conservation Board 3.Conifer Easements 4. Discussand consider approval of plans,specsand bid documents for Trumansburg Road WaterTank ReplacementWaterImprovementProject 5. Committee Reports 6.Discussion Items • Continue review of draft Sign Law •Board Protocol and Procedure Manual 7.Consent Agenda a.Approval of Town Board Minutes b.Town of Ithaca Abstract Town Board Study Session Monday,February 22,2016 Minutes Board Members Present;Bill Goodman, Supervisor; Rod Howe,Pat Leary,Tee-Ann Hunter, Eric Levine,Rich DePaolo,and Pamela Blei was Staff Present: Susan Ritter, Bruce Bates, Mike Solvig, Judy Drake, Paulette Terwilliger, and Creig Hebdon,Town Engineer 1.Review Regular Meeting Agenda - Mr. Goodman noted that therewas no draft agenda to reviewdue to the AOT Meetinglast week. Mr. DePaolo noted that the PlanningCommitteewouldbe recommending movingforwardwitha discussionon setting a publichearing regardinga proposedlocallaw enacting a moratorium on building 2 family residences.Ms. Hunter asked about the Planning Department's report on zoning and what the process was going to be. Ms. Ritter responded that it was referred to the Planning Committee and Mr.DePaolo addedthatit is a large document andthe Committee plans to get into it deeper in the next few meetings. Mr. Goodmanaddedthat he also plans to have the full board talk about it at a study session after the Planning Committee looks at it. Mr. Goodman also noted that the public hearing to give the City of Ithaca the monetary gift for support of the parks will be on the regular agenda and he has asked Liz Vance to come and talk about the proposed study the City wants to contract out. 2.Deer Management -Conservation Board Members Mike Roberts started the conversation by noting that the report handed out was actually the second report provided by the Conservation Board in the past 10-12 years and the recommendations have changed somewhat but the thrust of what they are asking for is the formation of an ad hoc committee to form a deer management plan and approve a deer management reduction plan. Some new information has come out which he attached to the email detailing a recently completed study in Connecticut that strongly correlated deer populations to the prevalence of Lyme disease and how big a reduction of reported incidences of ^e disease happened when the deer herd was reduced. The study was conducted by Mr. Blossi who is also working with Lansing and Trumansburg to put together a deer management program. This isn't sport hunting but rather trained marksmen who hunt over baited traps. There are nuisance permits that allow for this and recent reports from DEC note that sport hunting does not go far enough in controlling the deer population. Mr. Roberts referred to the submitted reports and the real costs associated with over population including damage to farmer's crops, increase collisions,ornamental plantings etc. and it would need to be an ongoing effort but it is necessary. TBS 2/22/2016 pg 1 Mr. DePaolo asked what kind of numbers the committee was talking about such as an estimate on how many deer would have to be taken in a particular span of time in order to get the population under control and Mr. Roberts responded that it isn't necessarily over a given point in time but consistency to get to a certain level.Once you get the level down,it is much easier to keep it down. Mr.DePaolo asked if it would have to be indefinite then and Mr.Roberts responded that it would, but keeping it low would take less effort.The initial push will not be easy but it will get easier. Ms. Leary asked why the Conservation Board was recommending another committee to study this when it seems there is enough information out there already. Mr. Roberts responded that if the Town Board is ready to look at the information and move forward, that would be great, but given the length of time we have been dealing with this at the advisory level, 2004, he thought the board needed to form its own committee.Ms.Leary responded that the evidence is out there and Trumansburg just cut to the chase and started it, and she thinks we should too. Ms.Stewart stated that she would love to do that but there would still need to be some studying done to determine where some coordination with other municipalities might need to happen,but we could certainly move forward. Ms. Leary responded that the Village of Cayuga Heights and Cornell have already done it and can be a useful source of what works but we do committees and studies for so long and she would like to do something concrete. Ms.Bleiwas asked if the Committee had numbers on how big the Town's herd is and what the ideal size should be. Mr.Roberts responded that they do not have a concrete number on the current heard, but a study done on density of herds in our area done with camera traps a few years ago were 100 per square mile which has dropped to about 50-60 per square mile but he added that to put that in perspective,estimates of a sustainable population would be around 5-10 per square mile. The term sustainable is from an ecological perspective for regeneration rates for the flowers and trees. Ms. Bleiwas asked if he had the figures broken down by geographical area in the town and he responded that he could look into it. He thought there was a lot of fluidity in the movement of herds. Mr.Levine asked if there is an estimate on cost and Mr.Roberts responded that he did not, but the Trumansburg reported associated costs of around $15K but he wasn't sure what that included because there was a lot of volunteers in that area such as butchers etc.which,he added,the meat goes to local food banks so that is a good thing. Mr. Howe stated that a small part of the town was covered in the Cornell plan and he wondered what the impact of that plan was and Mr.Roberts responded that he assumes those efforts are what reduced the 100/sq mile to 50/sq mile. He added that the four doing control plans now; Lansing,Village of Cayuga Heights,Cornell and Trumansburg,it is not as effective if surrounding municipalities do not also do it.Because of the efforts going on now,there are refuges all over the place that they just move to because there is no hunting there. Mr.DePaolo stated that Trumansburg is much smaller than the town so he is assuming the cost would be proportionately larger but he also questioned the last statement regarding the deer moving to safe zones if not everyone is doing it and the town is surrounded by many TBS 2/22/2016 pg 2 municipalities that don't cull deer; Enfield, Dryden etc. and if we are going to allocate those resourcesand they are not, what are some of the characteristics of deer territoriesthat may help that?If there is food theyare going to go.Mr.Roberts responded thathe is going to speculate that there are a lot more sport hunters in Dryden and Enfield than the town of Ithaca so those pressures are going to take the place of having to cull. He did not know of any programs that Dryden had but they may not have that big of a problem as the town does. Mr. DePaolo responded thatthat augers wellforthe ideathatwedoneedtoasksome questions beforewestart doing this. Mr. Roberts responded that the deer are there and they will come to the bait, so that part of the equation is not in questionand Mr. DePaolo agreed,but what if you can't reduce the population and you are essentially inviting deer from neighboring areas as you eradicate your own population, then you have to allocatethe same resources year after year to do that and that is prohibitively expensive. Ms.Stewart stated that she does not have statistics for this area,but she knows that the rural areas do not have the same problems with the deer; the density is not the same as the closer in areas. Some of the reasons are more sport hunters and that farmerscan get nuisance permits and there is no hunting closer to thecity and thekind of foodthey reallylike is there. All the gardens and ornamentals are like dessert to them so they come from the immediate next door area. Ms. Hoffmann added that not only does the town need to cooperate with the other municipalities that are doing deer management, but this is a great opportunity to interact with those other municipalities to get the deer controlled throughout the area. Ms. Hunter stated that for her, the ecological concerns are a compelling reason while the economic reasons are not a particularly compelling reason nor is the Lyme disease; not to kill things. Mr. Stewart commented that she must not have had Lyme disease and Ms. Hunter stated that she has and so has her entire family but that is not compellingfor her to kill certain animals for. But,having said that, she would like to understand what the recommendations are in terms of numbers; what ecological systems the Committee is trying to protect and what the recommendation for the number of deer to be culled would accomplish that. They do not have a lot of natural predators and we do have some natural resource areas that they probably impacta lot and she would like that information. Ms. Stewart responded that the greatest concern is new trees because those baby plants are their favorite food. Mr. Roberts added that some deer management plan should include some metric that would signal that you have reached the target number and what level would be needed to maintain that number. Ms.Hunter added that she would be uncomfortable without some sort of public notice when the sharpshooters were going to be there because that seemed to not happen in some municipalities. Ms. Leary stated that the fact that other close municipalities and Cornell do have programs and we don't makes it more important that the town participate because we are the obvious refuge for them. We surround them and we are a very important component of their effort. The other point she wanted to make is this might be an intermunicipal cooperation the Governor might like and also the health and safety issue concerns her a lot. She thought it odd that it was in the economic TBS 2/22/2016 pg3 impact only since people can die in these crashes and there was mention of animal deaths but not human deaths. She is also concerned about the Lyme disease and if it helps, it is worth doing. Ms. Bleiwas stated that she is looking for some concrete data about the extent of the problem;the report on car/deer collisions are in NYS but not this area in particular.She was reluctant to kill anything will out better numbers on the impact to our businesses and lives. Mr.Roberts responded that in 2014 the county tracked the number of dead deer on the side of the road and there were 155 with 185 in 2015.Ms.Ritter noted that the ITCTC did have some data from their transportation study and she could check with them or someone on the committee could. Ms. Hoffmann added that from a personal perspective of a resident of Snyder Hill Road, the amount of shrubbery, small trees and such being eaten and not able to grow affects many other animals such as birds and small animals.That is their habitat that is being eaten and not re- growing. Her own 3 acres has significantly changed in the past decade from the deer and all the invasive species that have flourished in the absence of what should have been there. Mr. Goodman stated that the town should find out what the city is doing because if they are not going to do anything, whatever we do will not be effective. Ms. Stewart thought they were not opposed to the idea but not actively pursuing anything.Mr.Roberts stated that the ad hoc committee could and should interface with the City. Mr. Goodman stated that in terms of an ad hoc committee, it seems there might be some questions we still need to have answers to because if we do it in a vacuum it's not going to have much of an affect. He thought the sense of the board was to move forward with getting those answers and maybe the Conservation Board could have a sub-committee that could get those answers and talk to Kate Supron,Mayor of the Village of Cayuga Heights and someone from the City. Mr. DePaolo noted that there will probably be a rather sizeable amount of people who will be opposed to this and may be traumatic to a lot of people. He stated that he doesn't take this lightly and he also has had Lyme disease twice and has family members with it, but until he is convinced that this is an absolutely silver bullet, there are a lot of unintentional consequences that go along with this so there are questions that need to be asked before just asking how much and where do we put the bait. It is not as simple as saying the deer population is a pest population and we have to kill it; as someone who has to set policy, we are going to hear from people and it is going to be a contentious issue. Mr.Roberts stated that he understands the concems but it would be best if the board could develop a list of questions they want answered because this has been going on, kicking the can down the road and answering more and more questions for the better part of 10 years. He stated that he didn't want to sideline anyone's concems, but at the same time, we need to identify at what point we are going to step over the threshold and take action. Ms. Hunter added that we have to be prepared to answer questions when people come to us and the committee couldtalk to thosewhohavedone culling programs or are doingand who might TBS 2/22/2016 pg4 be in a very good positionto anticipate the questions we are goingto get as well as gettingmore statistical information so we can answer questions. Ms. Leary stated that she agreed that we need to coordinate with other municipalities so it is effective and she thinks that the feelings being expressed tonight seem to her to be the reason the town hasn't done anything yet; there are mixed feelings on the board but she wanted the board to remember that there are human lives at stake too and this board has handled controversial issues before. Mr.Goodman asked who the members would be for the subcommittee and stated that he would work with the Conservation Board to set up a sub-committee to get the Village and City to be involvedand answer questionssuch as where,when,what costs,what is the local damagecosts, accidents numbers,etc. 3.Conifer Easements - Ms. Ritter gave an overview of the easements noting that these are associated with the Cayuga Meadows formerly known as Conifer Senior Living that has been around for a while and approved by the Town Board years ago and there are multiple easements and stormwater maintenance because some of the land is also retained by Cornell. She added that this usually doesn't come back to the Town Board but through various conditions from the PlanningBoard and the Town Board it needs board approval at this point. Mr.DePaolo asked Mr.Hebdon if he had reviewed the documents and he said he and Mr.Thaete have as well as Ms. Brock and Mr. Krogh will be. TB Resolution 2016-035:Approval of Water,Sewer and Stormwater Easements and Operation,Maintenance and Reporting Agreements Associated with the Cavuga Meadows Development (formerly known as Conifer Senior Living on West Hill)to be Located on a New Road off of West Hill Drive Whereas, in Town Board Resolution No. 2012-096, dated May 7, 2012, the Town Board accepted the concept and locations of water,sewer and stormwater easements and infrastructure for the CayugaMeadowsdevelopmenton partof Tax ParcelNo.24.-4-5.2(formerlyknown as ConiferSeniorLiving on West Hill)on a new road connectingto West HillDrive,subjectto, among other things, the Town Board's acceptance of the proposed easements, and Whereas, the Town of IthacaPlanning Board granted final subdivision and final site plan approval for the development in Planning Board Resolution No. 2013-046, dated November 19, 2013, which approval requires the water, sewer and stormwater easements and Operation, Maintenance and Reporting Agreements to be signed and filed prior to the application for any building permits to develop the site, and Whereas, Cayuga Meadows Housing Development Fund Company, Inc. will hold nominee legal and record title to the property, CV at Cayuga Meadows, LLC will own the beneficial interest in the property to develop the Cayuga Meadows project, and certain sewer and TBS 2/22/2016 pg 5 stormwater facilities that will be built as part of the development will be located on adjacent land onTaxParcelNo.24.-4-5.2 owned by Cornell University,and Whereas,the Attorney for the Town and Town Engineering and Planning staff have reviewed the proposed easements and Operation,Maintenance and Reporting Agreements for the development,now,therefore,be it Resolved,that the Town Board of the Town of Ithaca hereby approves the following documents and authorizes the Town Supervisor to execute them on behalf of the Town,subject to the conditions in the next Resolved clause: 1.Water easement among Cayuga Meadows Housing Development Fund Company,Inc., CV at Cayuga Meadows, LLC, and the Town 2.Stormwater easement among Cayuga Meadows Housing Development Fund Company, Inc., CV at Cayuga Meadows,LLC, and the Town 3.Stormwater Operation,Maintenance and Reporting Agreement among Cayuga Meadows Housing Development Fund Company,Inc.,CVat Cayuga Meadows,LLC,andthe Town 4. Sewer easement between Cornell University andthe Town 5.Stormwater easement between Cornell University andtheTown 6.Stormwater Operation,Maintenance and Reporting Agreement among Cornell University, CV at Cayuga Meadows, LLC, and the Town, and be it Further resolved,that such approval and execution are subject to the following conditions: 1.That the final forms of the easements and Operation,Maintenance and Reporting Agreementsbe acceptableto the Attorneyfor the Town,and 2. Thatthe surveyed locations and abstracts showing goodand marketable titleforthe proposed easements be submitted ina form acceptable tothe Attomey forthe Town,the Director of Public Works,and the Director of Planning. Moved:Rod Howe Seconded:Rich DePaolo Vote:Ayes-Howe,DePaolo,Hunter,Leary,Bleiwas,Levineand Goodman 4.Discuss and consider approval of plans,specs and bid documents for Trumansburg RoadWater Tank Replacement Water ImprovementProject TB Resolution 2016-036 ;Approval of contract documents and bid snecifications for the Trumansburg Water Tank Water Improvement Proiect Whereas New York Town Law Article 12-C,§209-q(7)states that after a resolution authorizing a sewer,drainage or water improvement becomes effective,contracts for the improvement may be let inthe mannerprovidedbyTownLaw§ 197,and TBS 2/22/2016 pg6 Whereas Town Law §197 requires thattheTown Board adopt definite plans,specifications, estimates andthe proposed contract(s)for sewer,drainage and water improvements,and Whereas plans,specifications,estimates and the proposed contract(s)forthe Trumansburg Water Improvement Project are on file in the Town Clerk's office and have been available for review by theTown Board since February22,2016,now thereforebe it Resolved thattheTown Board does hereby approve andadoptthe plans,specifications,estimates and proposed contract(s)forthe Coddington RoadWaterMainWater Improvement Area Improvements Projecton file intheTownClerk's office,datedFebruary 22,2016,and authorizes theTownClerkto advertise the request forbidsforthe project. Moved:Rod Howe Seconded:RichDePaolo Vote: Ayes - Howe, DePaolo, Goodman, Leary, Levine, Hunter and Bleiwas •Discussion Item Continue review of draft Sign Law Planning Board Comments 1.Outdoor projected lighting and whether this would be a sign. - This new technology uses laser to project snowflakes, Santa, etc. onto a house. Mr. Goodman thought that they are more like a mural which is being handled separately. Mr. DePaolo responded that this is probably not going to be limited to holidays in the future and could be a backdoor to project anything and so it should be thought about and addressed. Ms. Leary thought it fell in the same category as holiday lights and decorations but that would be based on content and Ms. Brock might need to look at this. Mr. Goodman stated that the mural law will probably not allow words and Ms. Ritter thought the lighting law might cover some concerns. Mr.Goodman added that this did not come up at the committee level and COC will need to look at this. 2.Graphics and symbols on awning should be addressed,not just text. - Ms.Hunter stated that it is interesting because text is being regulated by size and color but graphics can be a language in and of themselves. Some discussion followed on the language in the draft law in the different zones but it does seem to say that awnings can only have words on them in a single line and Ms.Ritter wasn't sure that was what was intended.The Board seemed to feel symbols and graphics should be allowed. 3.Freestanding signs in commercial zones in yards other than just the front yard. -The Board did not understand what was driving that comment because commercial with dual frontage is covered elsewhere.Mr.Goodman stated the COC will look at that one again. 4.Nonconforming section is contradictory and confusing;COC will look at that. ZBA Comments and Conservation Board -They seem supportive with no specific comments. Ag Committee - Mr.Goodman noted that the Ag Committee has been concerned with the sign law for some time and they believe that some restrictions should not be applicable to the Ag zone TBS 2/22/2016 pg 7 such as the 500 feet from the road. But their major concern is freestanding signs and seasonal signs. The issue is that farms cannot be treated differently than other businesses;law has to be content neutral. You can't say the farmer can put up a sign, but the car dealer can't.COC addressed some concerns by allowing taller signs where speed limits were higher. Mr.DePaolo thought that allowing larger signs could distract from rural areas. He thought the seasonal signs open the door to anybody else and although he sees the advantage, the opportunities for others to abuse it is too big. With the frontage signs, he used the seed signs that are popular in areas and that seems a lot but maybe if someone has a very large parcel there could be some kind of reasonable use of signs. Off-premises signs could be a good idea, but since we can't regulate content, we aren't capable of allowing those without allowing any kind of advertisement.Ms. Leary thought that if we just allowed them in an Ag district that would be ok, but Mr. Goodman responded that someone could open any kind of business in an Ag zone. The question is how afraid are we that someone can take advantage of that in an Ag zone. Mr. Howe stated that he would be in favor of allowing the seasonal and special events even though it does open up a chance of others taking advantage of it. Mr.Goodman stated that the COC tried to use an overall limitation rather than the timeframesuch as temporaryor seasonal. Ag zoneshave 24 sqft aggregatetotal so people could have temporary signs within that overall amount but it sounds like they would like more and if we wanted to go that way, we would have to go back and word it carefully and geared toward seasonal. We are allowed to regulate by zone, but not content and that might be a way. Mr. DePaolo talked to the aggregate sizes and thought 24 sqft was not a lot, in fact, it is aboutthe size of the table in the AuroraRoom. He thoughtthe size shouldbe bigger if the goal is to limit variances and appearances. Mr.Goodman agreed, using one of the farms on Rte 13 and Calkins Road which talks to both dual frontage and the size. Ms. Hunter asked if he was talking to the individualsize or the aggregate and Mr. Goodman responded both. Ms.Drakestatedthatthe sizesbeingdiscussedwouldbe smallerthanmostdairyfarm's singular signs stating their name and whetherthey are a "dairy of distinction" and if they wanted to do somethingelse it sounds like that wouldn't be allowed. Mr. Goodman responded that the current limit is 12 sqft and the committee doubled it, but we mayhave to look at increasing that.Mr. DePaolo statedthatmany businesses haveotherwaysof identifying themselves suchas shapeof building,color scheme andthelikebut farmers donot. Youhavenoideaifa farmisopento the public or whattheir business is iftheycan't havegood signage andtheyneedit morethan many types of businesses. Mr.Goodman summed it upby saying it sounded likethe board wasin favor of trying to change theAgzone restrictions which might be changing the limit.He would liketo get some pictures of dairy farms to figure out a limit. TBS 2/22/2016 pg 8 Resident Comments Rob Rosen (ZBA Chair but submitting as a residentO Mr. Goodman noted his concerns, saying he talks about the possibility of lighted signs in residential areas; the exclusionof signs placed in windows in the aggregatearea and possibility of the exemption of murals. Lighted signs - did not think they should be allowed in residential zones unless there is an approved non-residential use. Mr. Goodman stated they are allowed in the draft law subject to the lighting law and turned off when a business is closed or event is over. The board did not feel there was a lot of concern for residents to want lightedsigns. Ms. Bleiwasthoughtsome of his concerns might be from the particularneighborhoodhe lives in which has some pretty offensive signs. The board was in favor of night sky preservation and Mr.Goodman noted that the law can't differentiate between home businesses and homes because that would get into content. Mr. DePaolo thought since we are starting the new zoning and mixed uses, we need to be careful to not limit the opportunities for that. Signs placed in windows ~ Mr. DePaolo asked what the logic of the committee was in exempting them because it seems a big loop hole. The committee members at the meeting tried to recall but it seems the board would like to regulate that in residential areas. The draft will need to go back to COC and the town board would like to talk about the draft law itself and their comments. 5.Committee Reports •Board Protocol and Procedure Manual 6.Consent Agenda TB Resolution 2016 -037:Adopt Consent Agenda Resolved,that the Town Board of the Town of Ithaca hereby approves and/or adopts the following Consent Agenda items: a.Approval of Town Board Meeting Minutes b.Approval of Town of Ithaca Abstract Moved:Rod Howe Seconded:Rich DePaolo Vote:Ayes -Howe,DePaolo,Goodman,Leary,Levine ,Hunter and Bleiwas TB Resolution 2016 -037a:Approval of Minutes of February 8,2016 Whereas, the draft Minutes of the February 8, 2016 meetings of the Town Board have been submitted for review and approval,now therefore be it Resolved,that the Town Board hereby approves the submitted minutes as the final minutes of the meeting February 8,2016 of the Town Board of the Town of Ithaca. TBS 2/22/2016 pg 9 TB Resolution 2016 -037b:Town of Ithaca Abstract Whereas the following numberedvouchershavebeenpresentedtothe IthacaTown Board for approval of payment; and Whereas the said vouchers havebeenauditedfor paymentby the saidTown Board;now therefore be it Resolved thatthe governing TownBoardhereby authorizes the payment of thesaid vouchers in total for the amounts indicated. VOUCHER NOS.169 -251 General Fund Town wide 90,208.59 General Fund Part Town 24,163.30 Highway Fund Part Town 9,688.60 Water Fund 8,716.63 Sewer Fund 291,035.07 Sapsucker Water Tank Replace 90,833.87 Risk Retention Fund 193.25 Fire Protection Fund 147,288.76 Forest Home Lighting District 1,679.03 Glenside Lighting District 45.36 Renwick Heights Lighting District 78.86 Eastwood Commons Lighting District 105.99 Clover Lane Lighting District 14.10 Winner's Circle Lighting District 21.16 Burleigh Drive Lighting District 49.37 West Haven Road Lighting District 195.84 Coddington Road Lighting District 113.92 TOTAL 664,431.70 Other Mr.Goodman noted thathe hasbeen talking to staffto try and figure out real coststo the town for the Maplewood development in terms of review,inspections and also our fire contribution will goup because of the increase in town valuations and it will need a bigger tank than we had planned to provide adequate service. Meeting adjou^d at7:00 p.m. Submitt erwilliger.Town Clerk TBS 2/22/2016 pg 10