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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 2021-02-04 Town of Ithaca Conservation Board 5:30pm,Thursday February 4,2021 Final Minutes Because of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), the Town of Ithaca Conservation Board Meeting was held electronically via Zoom. It was recorded. Attendance: Lori Brewer,James Hamilton, Elizabeth Hageman,Joann Kowalski, Eva Hoffmann, Carolyn Lee Associate members: Lindsay Dombroskie Staff: Mike Smith, Senior Planner 1. Persons to be heard: none 2. Member Concerns-James H. brought up the carbon footprint of storing recorded streaming/video meetings.There was a recent article he shared with the group regarding this issue. 3. Chair and Coordinator reports a. Lori - nothing to report b. Mike S- No planning board items this month. i. Two projects for planning board for March 1. Elm Street extension -One property is being divided into 3 separate properties. 2. Addition of a library at the monastery on South Hill. ii. Nick Goldsmith, the Town sustainability coordinator, is accepting comments on Town of Ithaca Energy Code Supplement. 1. Members can read and submit comments to him directly. 4. Approval of Minutes from January 7, 2021. a. James H moved to approve;Joann seconded. No changes. 5. Discussions: a. Tompkins County EMC committee- Lindsey attended the committee meeting last month. i. There is a zero waste masterplan which may of interest to our group. ii. Carolyn and Lori went to the subcommittee of the waste reduction committee in the beginning of February and plan to attend in March. iii. The board is working on trying to find a representative but there in no one on the conservation board currently who is interested. b. Work Goals-The most recent updates sent out were reviewed by the group and were agreed on to be appropriate. c. Board Membership-attendance needs to be a focus of members. i. Will VanDyke and Vladimir Micic have asked to be associate members. 1 ii. There are now two member positions open. iii. The group would like to discuss board membership next month. 6. Regular reports and update a. Environmental Review Committee- Deer Run land division was not commented on officially. Second, Woolf Lane garage addition was not commented on. b. Scenic Resources Committee- Eva is looking at reconsidering how the committee is approaching the third sign.James and Eva will discuss revamping the approach and will report to the committee in March. A new license will need to be created for the sign. A draft will be sent to the town attorney and then forwarded to Cornell by Mike S. c. Communications Committee-Joann has been granted permission to post on Facebook. There are two nominations for the Fisher Award currently: Primitive Pursuits and Finger Lakes ReUse.The Conservation Board brochure is being edited and should be completed for review soon. Please think about topics for the town's newsletter.Topics need to be submitted to Paulette Rosa. d. Waste Awareness Committee- i. Joann attended a web call on compost awareness. ii. Carolyn and Lori gave a description of the Town of Ithaca subcommittee that was recently created to the Waste Reduction subcommittee of the EMC.The goal from the Conservation Board is come up with evidence-based recommendations.The EMC subcommittee is interested in learning about initiatives in the town. iii. The symbols on plastic bottles can be misleading about what can be recycled. For example, sometimes plastic wraps need to be removed as well as the cap. e. Tompkins County EMC-See above under discussion f. Six Mile Creek Volunteers-Volunteers are still working on summer BMI samples from Six Mile Creek's 600 Road site in Slaterville Springs. Sunday we processed two subsamples of two reps, now ready for identification.Thursday evenings preregistered volunteers can help with sample analysis at Langmuir Lab, following Covid safety procedures. Also, CSI website has been updated: see www.communityscience.org if you're interested. CSI will have a free online webinar on HABs in Cayuga Lake starting 1PM Feb 271n g. Cornell Botanic Gardens Natural Area -There is still no way to submit COVID testing for volunteers, so it continues to be a barrier. Certain graduate students can get exemptions if they're rarely on campus and don't come in contact with others while there. So far, however, volunteers aren't allowed on campus. And safety procedures prohibit more than one person in a Cornell vehicle, thus limiting transportation to natural area work sites. 7. Other Business- Cornell earth bore hole project is being proposed for the campus. A recent webinar described the process including the goals for the project.They will create a sample hole to see if they can find a permeable layer of rock that would heat injected water to at least 70°C.Their webinar allowed questions to be asked.The geologist admitted that one vertical borehole couldn't prove 2 a well-pair would work, but might at least show it could be possible. Presenters were very careful to emphasize that CUBO is a small vertical well looking for data only, and nothing at all like the horizontal fracking wells extracting gas from shale. NYISRI will have webinar on Feb 25, 11AM, with Bernd Blossey explaining "When Doing Nothing is Best Invasive Plant Management Tool,"with recently published research on garlic mustard proving it kills itself if you leave it alone for about 10 years, "negative soil feedback"will cause its population to decline. Natural area managers ought to note locations of other invasives to see if they, too, might decline on their own. 8. Review 2021 Work Goals/March Agenda a. Climate Action check list- Lindsay is working on editing this with Joann. b. Joann will send notes on the compost awareness week coming up.There is time to think about the conservation board involvement. c. Fischer Award will be voted on next month. Adjourned at 7:14 pm Minutes drafted by Elizabeth Hageman 3