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Home My WebLink AboutCB Minutes 2020-10-01 TOWN OF ITHACA CONSERVATION BOARD 5:30 p.m., Thursday, October 1, 2020 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 Conservation Board Members: Lori Brewer, Elizabeth Hageman, James Hamilton, Eva Hoffmann, Carolyn Lee, Michael Roberts (chair) Conservation Board Associates: Lindsay Dombroskie Staff: Michael Smith, Senior Planner Guest: Joann Kowalski 1. Persons to be heard - None 2. Members concerns Availability of Conservation Board Minutes James - our minutes don't seem to be on Public Records Portal http://www.town.ithaca.ny.us/tsserr Mike S - our older minutes will be there eventually and our current year minutes are on public website https:Hsites.google.com/a/town.ithaca.nv.us/prototype/meeting-minutes ERC Guidance Lindsey - Do we want to revisit the ERC guidance document? Mike R- We should revisit periodically, possibly annually. Carolyn - Can we circulate and add as a discussion item to our next meeting? Mike R. - Yes see below in regular reports 3. Chair and Coordinator reports Mike R. - Is not able to give the chair the time it deserves so he will be stepping down at the end of the term year. He would be happy to continue as a non-chair member. He encourages us to think about who can take on the role. Contact him if you would like to discuss. Mike S - Nothing has been submitted to the Planning Board so Oct meetings are canceled. Two farmers have contacted the town regarding putting in ponds so those applications will be coming in at some point. See his email for details on South Hill Recreation Way native tree and shrub planting initiative on Thursday, October 8 at 11:00 a.m. Please RSVP by the end of the day on Mon, Oct 5th. 1 See another email he sent about Cornell Cooperative Extension's virtual In-Service. An Invasive Species Track will present at 1-2pm on November 4-6. 4. Approval of minutes from August 6, 2020 and September 3, 2020 Lindsey - suggested a minor edit to make it clear she is an associate member. Mike R. moves to approve September 3rd minutes. James provides second. 5. Recap of the 2020 Richard B. Fischer Environmental Conservation Award tree planting at Salem Park Mike R. - Event went well and thank you to all who attended. James - Hopes the trees are getting water and noted the "bird people" were happy with being engaged in the planting, we have planted Serviceberry for a few other award years. Mike S. - Shared that the Facebook post created about the event reached 438 people. Elizabeth - Noted that it was nice that so many people could be engaged in the planting of the 12 trees, as in past years sometime the event was more watching than doing. 6. Update on research of compostable/biodegradable take out containers Lori- Still looking forward to Barb Eckstrom letting us know when we might be able to meet to learn more about the ReBusiness Partner Program. Did find some media items shared here and will send via email to members. NPR September 11, 2020 How Big Oil Misled The Public Into Believing Plastic Would Be Recycled https://www.npr.org/transcripts/897692090 Waste Land https://www.npr.org/transcripts/912150085 Washington Post September 14, 2020 All my takeout has delivered a mountain of trash https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/voraciously/wp/2020/09/14/aI1-my-takeout-has- delivered-a-mountain-of-trash-so-i-asked-experts-how-to-m inim ize-it/ Upstream (https://www.upstreamsolutions.org/) is helping businesses, communities, and individuals save money and resources while protecting public health and the environment. There is a better way than throw-away. James adds to this list the "Story of Stuff' post lots of interesting news about the Evils of Plastics on Facebook.https://www.facebook.com/storyofstuff/ and website. www.storyofstuff.org James also proposes as he did last month that this group is made official. Lori asks if there is a broader topic area it could encompass. Eva notes it started with considering composting so 2 worth be certain it is inclusive of this topic. Suggested group names Sustainable Resource & Composting Committee (James) or Waste Awareness Committee (Carolyn). James motions to establish the Waste Awareness Committee as a regular sub-group. Mike R. calls a vote and it is unanimous to establish a regular committee. Lori will be chair with Eva and Carolyn as members. The committee needs to establish and provide to the whole committee details on mission, goals, plan of work. 7. Regular reports and updates A. Environmental Review Committee (Mike) Nothing to review. Mike R will initiate review of the criteria as raised in member concerns. Lindsey will locate what we had previously established and Mike will circulate to whole group. B. Scenic Resources Committee (Eva) Eva shares that there is ongoing work discussing the sign and bench for East Hill. Mike S. - is investigating if there is an agreement the town has with Cornell for the walkway that might allow for a sign like this. Mike R - Offers Kristin Gutenberger Grossman, Associate Director, Real Estate as a person who would likely be able help address. James and Eva have been continuing to work on wording and note they need to include where to get information on all the spots. C. Communications Committee (Will) Mike R. thanked Mike S for keeping up our social media presence. D. Tompkins County EMC (Vladimir) Need a replacement liaison for Vladimir. Lindsey investigated and learned she cannot be the person because the person needs to be a US citizen. Mike R. encourages others to consider. E. Six Mile Creek Volunteer Monitoring Program (James) Community Science Institute in partnership with Cooperative Extension has created water quality report cards which are available online as well as at Science Center, PRI, CSI. He also noted that we were at a near record breaking drought prior to recent rain events. F. Cornell Botanic Gardens Natural Areas Program (James) James attended a webinar about biocontrol for Knotweed by Cornell expert Bernd Blossey. Conclusion: As of yet biocontrol for knotweed is not working anywhere for anybody. Mlke R. - mentioned an approach used in Europe that places a mesh grid on ground prior to emergence that leads to knotweed strangling itself when it does emerge. He is not certain it eradicates but might offer some control. James also attended another webinar about Swallow-wort biocontrol using moth Hypena opulenta. This moth defoliates the plant. The moth was approved for release 2013. In the lab settings success has been observed but uncertain if it can be replicated success in the field including ability for the moth to overwinter. 8. Other Business The board has received a member application from Joann Kowalski. Mike S. and Mike R are setting up an interview sometime in coming weeks and Lori will join. 3 Mike R. - The compostable/biodegradable take out containers subgroup shared via google a document for members to review and offer input but is this the preferred approach? Several offered their perspective and it was concluded that if small groups/ committees wish to gather input from the board it is best to email everyone and respond back to the committee via email. Carolyn asked if there was a shared folder location for the committee. Mike S mentioned that staff members use One Drive and he will investigate further as a possible location for Board internal documents. If we pursue, we should consider a tutorial so all members are comfortable accessing the system. 9. Review 2020 Work Goals / Discuss November Agenda - None 10. Adjourn at 6.41 pm Minutes by Lori Brewer 4