HomeMy WebLinkAboutCB Minutes 2010-06-10 Town of Ithaca Conservation Board
June 10, 2010 7:30 p.m.
Final minutes
Members present: Diane Conneman,James Hamilton, Tony Ingraham, Kristine Shaw,
Larissa Smith and Nirav Patel
(Members absent: Aaron Donato,Andrew Goodell, Eva Hoffmann,Jon Meigs)
Staff: Darby Kiley
Guests: None
Persons to be heard: None
Members' Concerns: Nirav mentioned that the East Hill Recreation way on Maple Ave has
been covered with loose stone and making the trail unstable for runners and general use.
He wanted to know if Cornell is responsible for restoring the path to its original conditions.
Darby was under the impression that Cornell is supposed to repave the trail,but there have
been delays. Darby will follow up.
Nirav also mentioned that if chairs and committee members e-mail their reports to the
members of the Conservation Board it would be easier for record keeping.
Chair and Coordinator Reports:
Chair:
Diane thanked James and his wife for their help in planting the clump of serviceberry at the
East Shore Park honoring Carl Leopold. She also thanked Kristine for providing
refreshments at the R. Fisher Award Ceremony.
Diane also wanted to thank all who participated in the swallow-wort removal effort at the
water tank property in the Deer Run subdivision.
Coordinator:
Darby reported the following from recent Planning Board Meetings:
Subway received approval to move into East Hill Plaza; 15-lot subdivision on King Road
East owned by Evan Monkemyer received preliminary approval with a number of
conditions; the Circle Apartments Expansion is continuing through the approval process
but the SEQR determination was postponed until the next meeting.
Darby also handed out reports on Cornell's Energy Recovery LINAC Expansion Project to
the Environmental Review Committee. On July 201h the Town Planning Board will review a
sketch plan of the project.
Business: Minutes from 5/6/10 were approved as drafted.
Discussion and Recommendation regarding proposed amendments to Article V.
conservation zones:
Proposed changes to the Conservation Zone recommendations were presented to the
group. Tony was not clear on how this will require anyone to specifically do anything and
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James was concerned about more clear-cutting to the forests in his neighborhood,without
clear recommendations. Part E Forest Management of the recommendations is most
notably in question. We heard from Bret Chedzoy the previous month who suggested that
land owners should use a forester rather than being subject to excessive scrutiny. While
homeowners may need less scrutiny, site plans under review may need more to avoid
issues like the Wiedmaier housing subdivision.
Kristine was interested in the amount of notice time a land owner had to give before a
cutting plan. The length of time needs to be long enough to take action if interested. Also is
a plan allowed to be rejected or modified? These issues should be considered in the
conservation zone regulations. Tony mentioned that nowhere in the document does it say
anyone needs approval. That should also be added to the document. An educational piece
will be needed to inform landowners of the requirements.
Several terms such as yard and open space need to be made clear. Currently there is a lot
of room for interpretation.
Changes and updates will be made and sent out to the group once again.
Regular Reports and Updates:
Environmental Review Committee: No report
Scenic Resources Committee: No report other than that a meeting should be scheduled
in the next few weeks.
R. Fischer Award Committee:
James mentioned that Paul Schnell had taken some nice pictures,which would be a great
addition to the website. Darby will forward the pictures to the webmaster to be added to
the webpage. The Finger Lakes Land Trust also has a nice page highlighting the Sweedler
Preserve at Lick Brook,which could also be a link on the Fischer Award webpage.
Tompkins Count,:
Kristine made the clarification that the dredge spoils dewatering site is at the southwest
park, not the northeast. There was a presentation of the 2020 energy strategy of the
county, Kristine will e-mail the information. The proposed development at the Shops at
Ithaca will be reviewed by the EMC's ERC.
Six Mile Creek Volunteer Monitors:
The Six Mile Creek Volunteer Monitoring Program had a quarterly meeting on May 241h.
The next water sampling date is set for June 15111, at 13 collection sites. Macro-invertebrate
samples will be taken the first week in September. The new website has a query interface
that allows users to access more data (six years worth) on the creek.
Tony inquired if there is a Fall Creek Monitoring Program. The answer is yes,there are
several monitoring programs including Salmon Creek, Taughannock Creek, and the Inlet,
etc.James questioned if the monitoring programs were a good use of money, as the
purpose or end result seems unclear. There are also USGS silt samples taken in Six Mile
Creek so a monitoring program would still exist without this specific program. However,
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the information collected could help to provide baseline data in the event of gas drilling.
Minimal monitoring would still be done without the volunteers.
City of Ithaca Natural Areas Commission: No report
Comprehensive Plan:
The Comprehensive Plan Committee has divided the town into four areas for
area/neighborhood meetings. On June 91h 2010,the South Hill neighborhood met at
Campus Center on the Ithaca College Campus.Attendance was good with about 25 people
participating. Topics discussed included the Emerson Site which is about 2/3 in the town.
Ideas such as apartments, industry, or a power generating station for the
college/community were all discussed.Also the Town's zoning was discussed. Currently,
based on zoning, small business cannot come into neighborhoods,which would not
necessarily be a bad thing. Discussion of the possibility of mixed zoning in some areas.
Other Business:
Comments from the swallow-sort pull.
Several members of the conservation board and guests spent the morning of June 10,
pulling swallow-wort at the water tank property in the Deer Run subdivision. Larissa
believes that many of the seedlings will grow vigorously in the coming weeks now that the
canopy is open. We believe that we should follow up with both the Town and Todd Bittner.
It would be good if Todd and Rich could get together and come up with a preservation
strategy. Jessica Orkin is the Land Steward of that preserve and could also be involved.
Best case would be to have the town aggressively weed-whack and/or mow wider swaths
around the fence and Todd spray an herbicide as he has a pesticide applicators license with
the DEC. Diane and Darby will follow up with this plan.
Tony mentioned that the parks department also needs to have an action plan for invasive
species. No more procrastination. If spraying and control measures had been taken earlier,
we may have less of a problem now. The town of Ithaca also needs to have a Certified
Pesticide Applicator and make a concerted effort to protect natural areas.
The July meeting is cancelled. Meetings will resume in August.
Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 9:30 p.m.
These draft minutes generated by Larissa Smith
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