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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTB Minutes 2020-04-27Study Session of the Ithaca Town Board Monday, April 27, 2020 AGENDA This meeting will be held by video conferencing due to the Corona -19 Virus www.zoom.us Join Meeting Meeting ID 566 489 2655 1. Consider extension of Modified Employment Policies due to COVID-19 2. Consider setting a public hearing regarding a Public Interest Order associated with the IAWWTF Capital Project 424J — Replacement Pumps and Piping 3. Discuss City Harbor Project -Town and any comments as an involved agency 4. Committee Reports a. P&O b. COC c. Planning d. Public Works e. Budget f. Ad Hoc Committees Inlet Valley Economic Development g. Other 5. Consent Agenda 6. Review of Correspondence Study Session of the Ithaca Town Board Monday, April 27, 2020 Minutes This meeting will be held by video conferencing due to the Corona -19 Virus www.zoom.us Join Meeting Meeting ID 566 489 2655 Board Members Present: Rod Howe, Supervisor; Members Eric Levine, Rich DePaolo, Bill Goodman, Tee -Ann Hunter, Pat Leary and Pamela Bleiwas Staff Present: Susan Brock, Attorney for the Town; Judy Drake, Director of Human Resources; Marty Moseley, Director of Code Enforcement; Susan Ritter, Director of Planning; Paulette Rosa, Town Clerk; Mike Solvig, Director of Finance; Rich Tenkate, Deputy Highway Superintendent and Dan Thaete, Director of Engineering 1. Consider extension of Modified Employment Policies due to COVID-19 No discussion on this item. TB Resolution 2020-065: Approval of Continued Extension of Modified Employment Policies Due to COVID -19 through May 15, 2020 Whereas, the Town Board on March 30, 2020 approved resolution 2020-056 which modified employment policies due to the Executive Order 202.4 due to COVID-19 Pandemic, which was extended through April 29, 2020 by Town Board resolution 2020-063; and Whereas, the Governor through Executive Order 202.18 extended Executive Order 202.4 that required all local governments, effective March 17, 2020, allow all non-essential personnel to work from home or take leave without charging accruals and all non-essential staff shall total no less than 50% of the entire workforce policies due to the COVID-19 Pandemic through May 15, 2020; now, therefore, be it Resolved, the Town Board of the Town of Ithaca does hereby extend the prior approved modified employment policies due to the COVID-19 Pandemic through May 15, 2020. Moved: Tee -Ann Hunter Seconded: Rich DePaolo Vote: ayes — Hunter, DePaolo, Goodman, Leary, Bleiwas, Levine and Howe 2. Consider setting a public hearing regarding a Public Interest Order associated with the IAWWTF Capital Project 424J — Replacement Pumps and Piping No discussion on this action. TB 2020-04-27 Pg. 1 TB Resolution 2020-066: Order Setting a Public Hearing Re2ardin2 a Proposed Sewer Improvement for the Town of Ithaca, Tompkins County, New York, Pursuant to Article 12- C of the Town Law, to Be Known as the Town of Ithaca Replacement Pumps and Piping for the Tertiary Treatment Phosphorus Removal System Sewer Improvement at the Ithaca Area Wastewater Treatment Facility, and Establishing the Town of Ithaca Replacement Pumps and Piping for the Tertiary Treatment Phosphorus Removal System Sewer Improvement Area Present: Rod Howe, Supervisor; Members Bill Goodman, Rich DePaolo, Tee -Ann Hunter, Eric Levine, Pat Leary and Pamela Bleiwas Moved: Rod Howe Seconded: Bill Goodman Whereas, a map, plan and report, including an estimate of cost, have been duly prepared in such manner and in such detail as has heretofore been determined by the Town Board of the Town of Ithaca, Tompkins County, New York, relating to the establishment and construction, pursuant to Article 12-C of the Town Law, of sewer system improvements to be known and identified as the Town of Ithaca Replacement Pumps and Piping for the Tertiary Treatment Phosphorus Removal System Sewer Improvement at the Ithaca Area Wastewater Treatment Facility (the "Improvement"), to provide such sewer Improvement to the present Town sewer improvement, such sewer system Improvementto be jointly constructed and jointly owned by the Town of Ithaca, City of Ithaca and Town of Dryden, all of which are co-owners of the Ithaca Area Wastewater Treatment Facility, to serve a benefitted area in said Town of Ithaca to be known as the Town of Ithaca Replacement Pumps and Piping for the Tertiary Treatment Phosphorus Removal System Sewer Improvement Area (the "Sewer Improvement Area"); and Whereas, said map, plan and report, including estimate of cost, were prepared by a competent engineer, duly licensed by the State of New York and have been filed in the office of the Town Clerk of said Town, where the same are available during regular office hours for examination by any person or persons interested in the subject matter thereof, and Whereas, the area of said Town determined to be benefited by said Improvement consists of the entire area of said Town excepting therefrom the area contained within the Village of Cayuga Heights; and Whereas, the Improvement proposed in connection with the establishment of the Sewer Improvement Area consists of the sewer improvements set forth below, and as more particularly shown and described in said map, plan and report presently on file in the office of the Town Clerk, at an initially determined maximum estimated cost to said Sewer Improvement Area of $41,977.63, it being determined that the additional $60,707.37 of the $102,685.00 aggregate maximum cost shall be apportioned and allocated to the City of Ithaca and Town of Dryden, pursuant to the terms of the December 31, 2003 Joint Sewer Agreement among the Town of Ithaca, City of Ithaca and Town of Dryden: TB 2020-04-27 Pg. 2 The project will consist of the replacement of pumps and piping for the tertiary treatment phosphorus removal system at the Ithaca Area Wastewater Treatment Facility located at 525 Third Street in the City of Ithaca, including: A. Supply and install 2 McLanahan 3X3 Sand Pumps, a. Removal/demo of old pumps and piping. b. Provide all material and labor for the purpose of replacing and installing new pumps. B. Supply and install 2 Verder 5000 peristaltic chemical feed pumps a. Provide skid with valves, pressure dampeners and calibration column. b. Provide all PVC valves, unions, piping required to retrofit into existing process. c. Includes labor, start up and training. Municipal Allocation of Costs Municipality Percentage Project Cost City of Ithaca 57.14 $58,674.21 Town of Ithaca 40.88 $41,977.63 Town of Dryden 1.98 $2,033.16 $102,685.00 Whereas, said $41,977.63 maximum estimated cost, which is the cost of the project to be expended by the Town of Ithaca, shall be authorized to be paid, as follows: Ithaca Area Wastewater Treatment Facility co-owner City of Ithaca will issue bonds to pay for the City of Ithaca's share of the Improvement at the Facility as well as for the Town of Ithaca's share. The Town of Ithaca will not co -issue or be liable on the bonds. The Town of Ithaca will reimburse the City of Ithaca through a contract between the City of Ithaca and the Town of Ithaca. The Town of Ithaca's contractual payments to the City of Ithaca are proposed to be paid by expenditure of current revenues and surplus funds from sewer rents and charges to be assessed, levied upon and collected from the several lots and parcels of land within such Sewer Improvement Area, outside of any village, which the Town Board shall determine and specify to be especially benefited by the Improvement; and Whereas, the Improvement has been determined to be a Type II Action pursuant to the regulations of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation promulgated pursuant to the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQR), because the Improvement constitutes replacement in kind of facilities on the same site, and thus approval, construction and implementation of the Improvement are not subject to review under SEQR; and Whereas, it is now desired to call a public hearing for the purpose of considering said map, plan and report, including estimate of cost, and the providing of the Improvement, and to hear all persons interested in the subject thereof concerning the same, all in accordance with the provisions of Section 209-q of the Town Law; TB 2020-04-27 Pg. 3 Now, therefore, it is hereby ordered, by the Town Board of the Town of Ithaca, Tompkins County, New York, as follows: Section 1. A public hearing shall be held by the Town Board of the Town of Ithaca, Tompkins County, New York, at the Town Hall, 215 North Tioga Street, in Ithaca, New York, in said Town, on the l lyd day of May, 2020, at 5:30 o'clock P.M., Prevailing Time, to consider the aforesaid map, plan and report, including estimate of cost, and the question of providing the Improvement, and to hear all persons interested in the subject thereof concerning the same and to take such action thereon as is required by law. Section 2. The Town Clerk is hereby authorized and directed to publish a Notice of Public Hearing regarding the aforesaid Improvement to be published once in the official newspaper, and also to post a copy thereof on the town signboard maintained by the Town Clerk, not less than ten (10) nor more than twenty (20) days before the day designated for the hearing as aforesaid, all in accordance with the provisions of Section 209-q of the Town Law. Section 3. This Order shall take effect immediately. The question of the adoption of the foregoing Order was duly put to a vote on roll call, which resulted as follows: Rod Howe, aye; Bill Goodman, aye; Rich DePaolo, aye; Tee -Ann Hunter, aye; Eric Levine, aye; Pat Leary, aye and Pamela Bleiwas, aye. The Order was thereupon declared duly adopted. 3. Discuss City Harbor Project -Town and any comments as an involved agency Mr. DePaolo said he had a number of comments on the project but Mr. Goodman noted that the City is making their determination tomorrow night. Mr. DePaolo said there are a number of concerns, not least of which is pile driving 12' diameter pillars a 100' feet deep into the ground to support these buildings and the potential effects on the concrete infrastructure of the sewer plant should be taken into more consideration and the City gave it short thrift. There are also some assumptions, and we only have the summary documents, not the supporting materials, but there are a number of assumptions about all of the ways that traffic is going to mitigated because "we are going to reduce the need for in -commuters" and all the usual hogwash we usually get, but what is really happening is the City, while simultaneously putting more people in the waterfront district, they are also proposing to turn Route 13 into an urban boulevard. So the mitigations they propose are with an eye on keeping the pedestrian and bicyclist experience in that general area good, but everything they are proposing is going to make Route 13 an abject nightmare over time. Mr. DePaolo said he didn't know at what level the town wants to comment on that since it is a state highway. Mr. DePaolo said he is also concerned about foreclosing on access to public waterways and it wasn't clear to him from reading the document, whether any amenity that they are adding TB 2020-04-27 Pg. 4 is going to be available to the public, with the exception of the water front promenade. That is a spur of the Waterfront Trail, but all of the small craft launches and paddle park and other stuff, it is nebulous whether that is going to be accessible to the general public. That is something that should be specified and addressed. Mr. DePaolo said as far as we as an entity can formulate and submit comments in time is doubtful, but he said he was comfortable submitting them on his own behalf. Mr. DePaolo skimmed his comments for the Board: • Piledriving is a serious issue. We have some concrete/structural considerations at the Plant; • they are building the first floor 1' foot higher than the 100 -year flood elevation which seems a little risky; • Visibility — they are saying that the architectural enhancements are going to mitigate impacts on visibility, but this is going to be a monstrosity. It is going to be very prominent from Cass Park and from West Hill and any of the waterways down there. • Impacts on the two Unique Natural Areas which they say will not be impacted because they are a quarter of a mile away. Distance in and of itself is not a mitigation. There should be more detail about the species in the UNA that might be impacted by a development of this size. • Traffic concerns as mentioned • Public access as mentioned • The assumption that this is going to decrease in -commuter demand and that is BS when you consider that a lot of people that commute in now do so because they can't afford to live in the City and he doubted many would be able to afford this market -rate, waterfront project so those assumptions are just plain wrong. It has nothing to do with creating the type of housing that might decrease in -commuting and everything to do with high-end housing. • The assumption that traffic is going to be mitigated because they are adding two internal bus stops to the project, but there is no indication that TCAT has agreed to service them. • Energy — the idea of tapping into the Plant's outfall for heating and cooling — they do not get into any detail in this summary about how they are going to provide that or sourcing their electricity through renewable means. He said most of his comments have to do with the fact that as with all of these environmental statements for projects that are being fast -tracked, they all make it sound like everything is great and everything is going to be fine, but the fact is that it is going to be huge and it is going to completely change the character of the waterfront. We are talking about a 5 -story building with no step backs. They received a variance for what is normally required, so you are going to have 5 -story buildings right on the waterfront. Mr. DePaolo said he understands we are not the Lead Agency, but these are his observations. TB 2020-04-27 Pg. 5 Mr. Howe asked if Staff looked at this at all. Mr. Thaete said Engineering is involved in this and we met with City and Plant officials late last week and our particular concern with this is the 48" inch outfall for the Plant will run right through this development. We were going over the easements and what we want the developers to do because they are going to have to cross our easement with utilities. Mr. Thaete said he suggested that if they are going to do so, they should sleeve everything to protect utilities to make it easier for us to maintain our easement. He said they also talked about vibration monitoring and drafted verbiage regarding it and this was just for the outfall piece specifically, not concerns about the Plant as a whole. Ms. Ritter said in terms of reviewing a project, when a City project is on the town boundary, we will look at it pretty closely, but in this case it wasn't so although we might have our own opinions about this project, we didn't review this with the intention of providing comments. Mr. Goodman said the City Planning Board is the Lead Agency and he is assuming they are not going to do much with any comments we submit regardless and just do what they want to do. Ms. Ritter said that it seems they are going to make a negative declaration of environmental significance. We are an involved agency only due to the Plant. Mr. DePaolo said, sarcastically, that it seems to make perfect sense that a 400K square foot mixed use development on the waterfront should be NegDec'ed. Mr. Howe said there is nothing to prevent Mr. DePaolo from commented and Mr. DePaolo responded that he may have better uses of his time since they will probably give him the same cursory "thank you" as they would the town, but there are some things that we have to think very carefully about because we do have, potentially, some leverage, in terms of granting the easement. If the easement isn't granted, that project can't happen and we have to be pretty clear that if there are any outstanding issues, they need to be addressed before approval is granted and that is only our 3 votes on an 8 -member SJC, with Jason Leifer being the other non -city representative, and if it only received 4 votes, it would fail. Mr. Goodman added that since we are one of the co-owners, the Town Board itself would have to sign off on the easement, not just the SJC; all three municipal legislative bodies will have to eventually sign off on the easement. That is our leverage to get the Plant protected and that is where he would like to spend his energy rather than the City's Economic and Planning Committee process. Ms. Hunter asked if it would behoove us to go on record as having concerns about this project; especially the structural concerns of the concrete tanks and infrastructure at the Plant. TB 2020-04-27 Pg. 6 She said she also has concerns about the character of the neighborhood and statements that don't seem to follow each other regarding visual impacts. Mr. DePaolo said he would draft a couple of paragraphs and bullet points and can state that he is a Town Board member without speaking for the Board, and if they are smart enough to recognize that I also have a vote about something they are going to need in order to continue, then maybe they will pay a little bit more attention to it. Mr. Howe added that since Mr. Thaete has already been in discussions about some concerns, he has set the stage and they should be aware that there are going to be further discussions on this. Mr. Goodman added that any of us can copy Mr. DePaolo's comments and send them in also. He said he is not that concerned with the traffic because it is in the middle of the City and is not going to affect the Town much and he is more concerned about traffic when there is development right across from the SJC entrance. He is concerned about the piledriving and the concrete and we can handle that with our easement negotiations. Ms. Leary asked how many units there are, and the response was 140 at market rate. She said that is her concern and it she would like it to be mixed -levels because how else would it affect in -commuting? Ms. Leary said she is generally in favor of increasing the housing stock, but at affordable levels. Added item — Increase funding for the Route 96B Sidewalk Project Ms. Ritter explained that this is a DOT requirement and they are asking that the Town Board revise the resolution that authorized the project in January due to the increased construction amounts and they want the revised award amount in the resolution as submitted that the Town is committing to that amount. Ms. Ritter added that in the resolution to award, the Town had agreed to the overage, but they wanted this resolution with this figure and 6 hard copies. Mr. Solvig asked about the deposit requirements and whether they are going to want proof of that, and Ms. Ritter said no, they did not ask for anything else. He said the phrase is worrisome because we have funds invested and don't have that kind of funds laying around. Ms. Ritter said she would check tomorrow, but they have not asked for anything like that. Mr. Solvig said don't bring attention to it, but if they were to ask for that, we will have to do some quick shuffling of funds. We hadn't planned on depositing that kind of money into an account. Mr. Goodman said there is a section on the second page about deposits and we did put "zero" there. Mr. Solvig said we have put $300K in that fund, but this would be another $1.2M. TB 2020-04-27 Pg. 7 Mr. DePaolo asked about the title and 3rd whereas where it says we are making "a commitment of 100% of the non-federal share of costs...." And he asked about our agreement with Ithaca College and is that a side agreement that doesn't need to be mentioned here to have it on record? Ms. Ritter responded that we are the sponsor and through all the agreements there has only been one sponsor, us. She said there were places that we mentioned Ithaca College was contributing and that might have been mostly in the public notices but nothing formalized. Mr. Goodman responded that NYS DOT has their own way of doing things so we shouldn't change their resolution, but if Ithaca College tries to renege on any of the promises they made, he would push the sidewalk district and collect money through fees. TB Resolution 2020 — 067: Revised Authorization of the Implementation, and Funding in the First Instance 100% of the Federal -aid Proiect, and Appropriating Funds Therefore (Route 96B/ Danby Road Sidewalk Proiect ROW Acquisition and Construction) Whereas, resolution TB 2020-024, approved on January 27, 2020, requires revision of the funding sum, to be allocated from town fund A9950,927, to reflect updated numbers as updated by NYS Department of Transportation in the attached Schedule A — Description of Project Phase, Funding and Deposit Requirements, and as amended in the third resolved clause below; and Whereas, a Project for the Route 96B (Danby Road) Sidewalk Project, P.I.N. 395062 is eligible for funding under Title 23 U.S. Code, as amended, that calls for the apportionment of the costs such program to be borne at the ration of 80% Federal funds and 20% non-federal funds; and Whereas, the Town of Ithaca desires to advance the Project by making a commitment of 100% of the non-federal share of the costs of ROW acquisition and construction, now, therefore, the Town Board, duly convened does hereby Resolve, that the Town Board hereby approves the above -subject project; and it is hereby further Resolved, that the Town Board hereby authorizes the Supervisor of Town of Ithaca to pay in the first instance 100% of the federal and non-federal share of the cost of ROW acquisition and construction for the Project or portions thereof, and it is further Resolved, that the sum of $1,557,028.00 (identified originally as $1,300,200 in TB 2020-24) is hereby appropriated from town fund A9950.927 and made available to cover the cost of participation in the above phase of the Project; and it is further Resolved, that in the event the full federal and non-federal share costs of the project exceeds the amount appropriated above, the Town of Ithaca shall convene as soon as possible to appropriate said excess amount immediately upon the notification by the NYSDOT thereof, and it is further TB 2020-04-27 Pg. 8 Resolved, that the Supervisor of the Town of Ithaca be and is hereby authorized to execute all necessary Agreements, certifications or reimbursement requests for Federal Aid on behalf of the Town of Ithaca with the New York State Department of Transportation in connection with the advancement or approval of the Project and providing for the administration of the Project and the municipality's first instance funding of project costs and permanent funding of the local share of federal -aid and state -aid eligible Project costs and all Project costs within appropriations therefore that are not eligible, and it is further Resolved, that a certified copy of the resolution be filed with the New York State Commissioner of Transportation by attaching it to any necessary Agreement in connection with the Project, and it is further Resolved, this Resolution shall take effect immediately Moved: Tee -Ann Hunter Seconded: Rich DePaolo Vote: ayes — Hunter, DePaolo, Howe, Goodman, Bleiwas, Levine and Leary 4. Committee Reports a. P&O — Ms. Bleiwas reported that the committee completed the revised Network Specialist Job Description; possible scenarios for an early retirement incentive program; a No Tobacco policy for our parks and trails and reviewing the Emergency Response Policy b. COC — Mr. Goodman reported that they did not meet but are meeting tomorrow to continue looking at the telecommunications law revision and small cell technology coming that is coming our way as well as changes to the Town Code to reference legislation that allows Codes to enforce the NYS Fire Prevention and Building Codes. c. Planning — Mr. DePaolo reported that they did not meet but Historical Preservation will be discussed soon. d. Public Works — Ms. Hunter reported that the committee looked at a sewer exemption for a lot at 311 Bostwick Rd and focused on whether conditions could be added to restrict development or subdivision of the property and whether we can put conditions on the approval. Mr. Thaete responded that Ms. Brock did confirm that the town can put conditions on this type of exemption. He added that we don't have the request yet, so once we do, we can discuss any conditions the Board would like. Mr. Howe said that this did bring up the broader topic of establishing guidelines and thresholds for these exemptions. Ms. Ritter added that the question is when they have to come to the Town board. When is it obvious that it is too much trouble to get sewer to your house. There isn't much language in the Code and she thought that was needed and staff should start thinking this through and propose something to go to a committee level(s). TB 2020-04-27 Pg. 9 Talked about the drainage complaints associated with the Gateway Trail project near Home Depot and Mr. Thaete is getting together some quotes for box culverts of different sizes and costs. Talked about the S curve on Forest Home Dr. and a guard rail and Mr. Howe stated that we did get a quote for about $8,250 for the guard rail and the plan is to move forward from a safety aspect to place the guard rail. No further action is needed. Had a brief discussion regarding reopening the Community Garden and the garden was reopened with new rules and guidelines. Project updates e. Budget — Mr. Solvig reported that they talked about projections on future sales tax and we are projecting a $600K deficit in sales tax revenue; audit is almost done and went well Also revisited the idea of bonding for the Public Works Facility. The General Fund is not in bad shape but paying for the project will bring it below 10% and the it along with the overages on the sidewalk project makes that Fund have a bit of a hit. The committee is recommending that we do issue bonds and the rates are about 2% and so it could be a good time to do this and hedge our bets given the times we are in. Investments are still doing well. Mr. Howe added that Mr. Coggin from the City has called him a number of times and we know that they are being hit hard and furloughing staff and we will be meeting with him about Nick Goldsmith and there is some potential regarding laying off firefighters and possibly closing one of the stations, but no decisions have been made. L Ad Hoc Committees Inlet Valley Economic Development — Mr. Howe reported that they met and reviewed the most recent draft of guidelines and sent several questions back to the consultants. 5. Consent Agenda TB Resolution 2020 -068: Town of Ithaca Abstract No. 8 for FY -2020 Whereas the following numbered vouchers have been presented to the Ithaca Town Board for approval of payment; and Whereas the said vouchers have been audited for payment by the said Town Board; now therefore be it TB 2020-04-27 Pg. 10 Resolved that the governing Town Board hereby authorizes the payment of the said vouchers in total for the amounts indicated. VOUCHER NOS. 463-499 General Fund Town Wide 54,315.94 General Fund Part -Town 20,802.11 Highway Fund Town Wide DA 14.42 Highway Fund Part Town DB 2,074.93 Water Fund 16,454.22 Sewer Fund 2,183.13 State Route 96b Sidewalk — H7 8,640.41 Fire Protection Fund 280,000.00 Forest Home Lighting District 155.74 Glenside Lighting District 64.22 Renwick Heights Lighting District 73.92 Eastwood Commons Lighting District 164.53 Clover Lane Lighting District 18.85 Winner's Circle Lighting District 66.11 Burleigh Drive Lighting District 63.99 West Haven Road Lighting District 188.58 Coddin ton Road Lighting District 112.72 TOTAL 385,393.82 Moved: Bill Goodman Seconded: Rich DePaolo Vote: Ayes — Goodman, DePaolo, Hunter, Howe, Leary, Levine and Bleiwas 6. Review of Correspondence — None Mr. DePaolo stated that he had a recent experience on the South Hill Trail where a woman was coughing horribly with no mask and no distancing which made him think about the basketball hoops where he has seen small groups playing and wondered if there is something we want to do about that. Mr. Howe responded that Mr. Talbut will be removing the hoops from our recreation areas. Ms. Leary said it would be helpful if we put the message out regarding the Governor's Order in all of our newsletter and updates. Mr. Howe added that we are providing all staff with masks and we have some if anyone needs one. Mr. DePaolo stated that he did get an email from a resident regarding the leftover brush from the invasive species control that went on near the South Hill Trail and Mr. Tenkate responded that he will talk with Mr. Talbut about that. TB 2020-04-27 Pg. 11 Meeting was adjourned at 5:45 p.m. upon a motion by Ms. Hunter, seconded by Mr. Levine; unanimous. TB 2020-04-27 Pg. 12