HomeMy WebLinkAboutCB Minutes 2020-02-06 Town of Ithaca Conservation Board
Thursday, February 6, 2020
Final Minutes
Members Present: Eva Hoffmann, Mike Roberts, James Hamilton, Hannah George, Lori
Brewer, Vladimir Micic, Lindsay Dombroskie
Staff: Mike Smith (Senior Planner)
Guests: Carolyn Lee, Tamara Kamis (Cornell Daily Sun)
Meeting called at 5:33 PM.
1. Persons to be heard: none
2. Member concerns
a. Hannah is moving in May.
b. Vladimir is inviting the Conservation Board to an event, check your email.
3. Chair and Coordinator Reports
a. Mike Roberts, Chair:
i. Cornell has added the Ringwood Pond Natural Area as a new location for
the Cornell Deer Management Program.
ii. Bernd Blossey wants to implement a deer browse study that covers a
greater area, beyond Cornell land. This could possibly involve studying
Town of Ithaca land. This type of study would involve planting oak tree
seedlings and monitor to track deer browse.
b. Mike Smith, Coordinator:
i. The Town of Ithaca's Deer Management Program is running again from
February to March, at now 6 sites this year (up from 3 sites last year).
Participants will begin visiting the sites next week, and there will likely be
more effort this year than last year.
ii. Planning Board received two applications - one for the Town of Ithaca
sign at Seven Mile Drive, and one for the demolition of the Ithaca East
Apartments.
iii. Ithaca College will soon be putting in an application for artificial turf and
lights for their stadium.
iv. The new Town Supervisor Rod Howe is encouraging the use of social
media in Town communications and created the Town's Facebook and
Twitter page.
v. There is an informal group starting to talk about the Green New Deal for
the Town of Ithaca, and they will want to work with the Conservation
Board on ideas, including tree planting. Rod Howe would like to come to a
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future Conservation Board to get more input from Conservation Board
members.
vi. New and renewing Conservation Board members were officially sworn in.
4. Minutes
a. January minutes: Mike Roberts moved to approve the minutes. Seconded by
Lori. Minutes were approved.
5. Review draft "Climate Action Checklist for the Greater Ithaca Area"
a. Discussion about moving the checklist forward, such as sharing on social media
(both Town of Ithaca and Conservation Board pages), and printing copies to
keep in the town. Members will send Hannah specific comments by February 15,
end of day. Hannah will make a formatted version and will send to Mike Smith.
Lindsay will also look into creating a Google calendar, which might also have a
convenient Task List format.
6. Regular Reports & Updates.
a. Environmental Review Committee: The demolition of the Ithaca East Apartment
Demolition application was received. Concerns include the extent to which
materials may be salvaged, rather than landfilled, the disturbance to the site,
truck traffic to and from the site (including the route they will take).
b. Scenic Resources Committee: no update.
c. Communications Committee: Two nominations for the Fischer Award have been
received - one for Primitive Pursuits, and one for a group that maintains the Dog
Park. Nominations may be received through the end of February.
d. Tompkins County Environmental Management Council: At the recent meeting,
Tom Shelley suggested that different representatives from each municipality
share an update for the rest of the county, so Vladimir will share what the
Conservation Board has been working on at their next meeting. Jose Lozano,
Director of the Wastewater Treatment Plant, spoke about improving the energy
efficiency of the facility. They have three proposed techniques to generate
energy: biodigester, effluent heating recovery, and biochar (a newer technique
that burns the solid biomass for energy). This would mean solid waste would no
longer need to be shipped to Seneca Meadows, 50 miles away, and energy
would be generated on-site.
e. Six Mile Creek Volunteer Monitoring Program: Volunteer monitors will meet soon
to pick the 4 sampling dates for the year. The Benthic Macro-Invertebrate sample
sites are getting analyzed, with the exception of the Streets Alive! event where
collected samples were mostly entertainment for children. The Slaterville site had
a very healthy community of Benthic Macro-Invertebrates. Overall, the ecological
health of Six Mile Creek is good.
f. Cornell Natural Areas Volunteers - The volunteer group visited the Fitzpatrick
Fen in McLean Bog in January multiple times to do some weeding of non-native
invasive species such as buckthorn, privet, honeysuckle, etc. On Tuesday
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February 4, the Cayuga Bird Club visited Lighthouse Point and the Jetty Woods
near Stewart Park, which is a Cornell-owned property. The volunteers used
herbicide to kill some non-native invasive buckthorn and are working to restore
the woods which are currently in a very degraded condition, but has the potential
to be extremely valuable bird habitat. They also plan to plant native plants that
are beneficial to migratory birds.
7. Other Business
a. Conservation Board members agreed that the prospective Associate Member
Karen Johnson Feltham, who was interviewed by Mike Roberts, Mike Smith,
Hannah George, Rod Howe, and Bill Goodman on Tuesday February 4 would be
a good addition to the Conservation Board.
b. Forest Management Plan: There is a proposed timber harvest on an
approximately 6-acre property in a conservation zone on Culver Road, and a
Forest Management Plan has been submitted to the Conservation Board for
review. The plan is brief and does not address all of the requirements in the
Town Code. All members will send Mike Roberts any additional comments on the
forestry plan by Feb 20.
8. Review 2020 work goals/Discuss March agenda - no discussion.
9. Meeting adjourned around 7:40pm.
Minutes drafted by Hannah George.
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