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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-11 NewsletterTown of Ithaca Newsletter November 2020 www.town.ithaca.ny.us FB Town of Ithaca NY Twitter @IthacaTown Public Hearings and Commenting during virtual meetings We may have finally figured it out! As we continue to practice social distancing and remote meetings, it has been a struggle for us too… we miss seeing people and worry that people wanting to attend meetings or attending and wishing to speak, have not been able to do so. The Town has been using the ZOOM platform and livestreaming the business meeting of the Town Board on YouTubeLive. In Zoom, when you join a meeting, you are automatically “muted” by the host. If you wish to speak during a portion of a meeting that has a public comment period, using your computer keyboard, there is a button on the bottom ribbon “Participants” and “raise hand”; on a mobile device, click on “More” and then “raise hand”; when calling in, press *9 for the “raise hand” function. Once you click “raise hand” the host is notified that you wish to speak. Once the Chair opens the item for public comment, you will be called on by the name or number that appears on the screen. The host will then unmute you and you will receive a notification “inviting” you to unmute yourself. The host cannot finish this step, you must also unmute yourself. Before closing any public commit or hearing item, the Chair will ask if there is anyone else wishing to speak. We make every effort to monitor all attendees and watch for the “raise hand” icon and will also “unmute all” briefly to allow anyone that was missed to unmute themselves and speak. In addition, during a comment period in a meeting you can email me a comment to be read, townclerk@town.ithaca.ny.us and if all else fails, I usually attend from my desk, and you can call my direct line at 607-273-1721 ext. 110. The Voting is Over! The Town hosted primary, early and Ward 5 voting and it was quite a sight to see. Early voting was very busy, with lines sometimes going around the entire building. The longest wait I heard of was 53 minutes, so thank you poll workers! The Town will be hosting elections for the foreseeable future and we would be interested in hearing from you on how it went so we can pass those along to the Board of Elections. We did hear of a few instances of issues accessing Town Hall for Town business that we will be addressing, but again, we would like to hear from you. Town’s Bicentennial Tidbit The Art of Ithaca and another fantastic display by the Tompkins County History Center,. Look at this picture of the Ithaca-Owego Railroad from 1834 Horses were used to pull the rail cars up the hill to continue on their way! We encourage you to check out Spirit of Tompkins One of the bicentennial initiatives involves photographing town residents in places within the Town of Ithaca that are important to them. Here is the link to the Spirit of Tompkins: A celebration in portraits website: https://www.spiritoftompkins.org/. The initial focus is on Town of Ithaca residents although the goal is to eventually open it up to other Tompkins County residents in our sister towns. City residents were documented in the "We Are Ithaca" project (https://www.weareithaca.org/). If you are interested, please fill out the Sign Up form on the website. Photographer Robyn Wishna expects to take up to 30 more photographs this fall. We want to showcase the diversity of Town residents across a range of dimensions. Official Map of the Town of Ithaca updated The Map has been revised to list recently added streets and roads and clarify the correct names for them. We began this process when the County 911 Emergency Response requested clarifications to assist with emergency calls and getting help to where it was needed. Many “roads” had unofficial commonly used names, but the system said something else. One of the easiest examples is King Rd E and W. For years, these were commonly referred to as W King Rd and E King Rd., but officially, they were not. This lead to confusion with automated directions and calls for assistance which only use official names. Likewise, our college campuses had interior roads that were not officially named or listed, yet used in practice New Neighborhood Code Adopted Local laws to adopt the New Neighborhood Code (NNC) and associated changes throughout the Town of Ithaca Code were unanimously adopted on Monday, November 9th. In emerging areas of growth, the NNC will guide development to encourage compact, walkable, mixed use neighborhoods – places with a wide variety of housing choices, pedestrian-friendly streets, main streets with shops and services, and parks and gathering places close by. The NNC is easier to understand than traditional zoning regulations by using plain English and colorful graphics to help explain everything from designing a neighborhood to putting up a fence. It has a collaborative master planning process so new neighborhoods are planned as a unified whole but can still grow and evolve naturally over time. Visit http://www.town.ithaca.us/newcode or come see us at Town Hall to learn more. Short Term Rental Legislation For over three years the Town of Ithaca has been working on drafting legislation to regulate short term rentals, commonly referred to as Air B&B’s. The focus has been on establishing limits on the number of days allowed and an inspection and registration process. It is a more complicated issue than it may seem. What is a short-term rental? Most definitions throughout various legislation at all levels of government define a short-term rental as “less than 30 days.” But then you ask: Is it a business or an residential use? Un-hosted or hosted? Limit the number of days allowed? If so, how many in a year? Start a registry? With inspections or not? These are just some of the questions that start as you begin drilling down into the issue. The current draft of the Town’s legislation is available from the Town Clerks office and a public hearing will be set in the very near future. 5G The Codes and Ordinances Committee has been discussing this for almost a year and researching what the State and Federal governments allow towns to control. The Town is working with other municipalities and seeking out the advice of experts in the field regarding this controversial topic. If you have attended any of the recent Town Board meetings or read the minutes, you will see that many people are providing feedback on the rollout of 5G. The Town is listening and you are welcome to send your thoughts and comments, whatever your opinion is, to the Town Clerk at townclerk@town.ithaca.ny.us to be distributed to the full board and key staff and permanently saved in correspondence. Public Works Facility Project Update The renovation of the Public Works Facility is in the home stretch. Access to brush, leaf and compost is now open to the public. Staff continues to work remotely using email, phone and video conferencing. If you must meet in person, arrangements can be made directly with the person you need to see by contacting them, or Laura Pastore, Administrative Assistant, LPastore@town.ithaca.ny.us We would like to take this time to thank all our residents for their patience during this process, as it did disrupt some services for a short period of time. LED Streetlight Project Advances The Town is making progress with its LED streetlight upgrade, which will reduce electricity and maintenance costs, GHG emissions, and improve lighting quality. The Town is currently working toward purchasing approximately 270 streetlights we currently lease from NYSEG. At the same time, like several municipalities in our county, we are working with New York Power Authority to implement the design, purchase, and replacement of the streetlights. The project is scheduled for completion in 2021. There will be an opportunity for the public to learn more and provide feedback at the next two Public Works Committee meetings, which begin at 9a.m. https://zoom.us/j/2920307941 Tuesday, November 17th will feature a short presentation and project update. December 15th will feature a discussion and decision whether to recommend and forward the streetlight system design to the Town Board. Additional information can be found here: http://www.town.ithaca.ny.us/public-works-committee. South Hill Recreation Way Native Tree & Shrub Planting On October 8, 2020, several board members and staff helped plant trees and shrubs along the South Hill Recreation Way as part of a larger project to remove invasive woody plants and plant native trees and shrubs along the entire trail. Thanks to funding from the 2018 Urban and Community Forestry Grants Program, this past year a specialist cut down all the woody invasive plants and treated the stumps with herbicide. The area is being replanted with approximately 900 native trees and shrubs to help prevent the invasive plants from returning. The Town is undertaking this project because invasive species have become well established along most of the trail and have altered the native ecosystem in the area. Replacing the invasive species with native trees and shrubs promotes biodiversity, provides shelter and food (nectar, pollen, seeds, nuts, leaves, etc.) for wildlife, and supports pollinators. Tompkins County Corner Reimagining Public Safety Collaborative Updates, Announcing Series of Community Voices Public Forums, Additional Input Opportunities A series of community engagement opportunities seeking the public’s input to help reimagine public safety have been scheduled. Members of the Ithaca and Tompkins County community are encouraged to review public forums and presentations and provide input. Forums will occur weekly on Fridays through December 4, 2020 at 4:30pm, with the exception of November 27. Additional opportunities for community input are available here online. Rotary Club Workmanship Award – Kevin Markwardt Kevin lives in the Ellis Hollow area and is Head Coach of IC Men’s Swimming as well as manager of the Ithaca Swim Club and the Ellis Hollow pool. With the advent of closures due to COVID- 19, Kevin worked tirelessly to keep these important physical and social interactions open. Working with the County and the lifeguard staff, he designed and developed a plan to use a reservation system, tracing, plexiglass barriers where needed and extended and staggered hours of operation that allowed these recreational activities to continue for our community. Reed Dewey, who nominated Kevin, said, in part, “Families had very few options to pursue social health and physical wellness. Kevin stepped-up to provide an incredible resource for hundreds of people in our community.” and “This was an amazing feat of determination and effort entered into for the benefit of our community members. It would not have been successful without the steadfast, creative efforts of one person: Kevin Markwardt. I sincerely hope you will publicly recognize Kevin for his service to our community.” The award will be presented by the Rotary on Wednesday, November 18th at noon. https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81278294847?pwd=bzBqeVNJdUNGdnN5cTJvYlVhV3Bqdz09 From the Clerks’ office We are working to develop a Google Groups for an easier and more efficient listserv management for our newsletter delivery. We hope to have this worked out by the next newsletter. A “welcome to the Town Newsletter” email will be automatically generated and sent, but don’t be alarmed. We have also triple checked that no one will have access to the email addresses used, with the benefit of you being able to “unsubscribe” whenever you would like. As always, comments and/or suggestions may be directed to the Town Clerk at townclerk@town.ithaca.ny.us. Thank you.