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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCB Minutes 2011-06-09 Town of Ithaca Conservation Board June 9, 2011 7:30 p.m. Final Minutes Members present: Diane Conneman, Aaron Donato, James Hamilton, Eva Hoffmann, Jon Meigs, Kristine Shaw and Ellie Stewart Staff: Michael Smith, Environmental Planner Guests: Five Ithaca High School students Persons to be heard: There was no person to be heard. Members' Concerns: James talked about his Cornell University (CU)Natural Areas work. Diane suggested that he consider giving a regular monthly report to the Conservation Board(CB) about this. Chairperson and Coordinator Reports: Chairperson: Diane stated that the Planning Board (PB)will be the lead agency for Ithaca Beer Company's expansion off Rt. 13. She passed around a brochure for The Lost Ladybug Project, from the Department of Entomology at the CU Agriculture and Life Sciences school. They are looking for volunteers to record information about ladybugs and send it to them. Diane also passed around an article about why we must learn to love weeds, by Richard Mabey, from the Sunday, June 4-5, 2011 edition of the Wall Street Journal. Diane thanked James for sharing an information sheet about wooly adelgids with CB members. She told us she has talked to Don Rakow at the CU Plantations about the lights at their new building. Forest Home resident Elizabeth Saunders still has concerns about too much light. Coordinator: Mike reported that the PB has approved the solar panels for Ecovillage's proposed TREE(Third Residential Eco-Village Experience)neighborhood. This project still needs to go to the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA). At the next PB meeting on June 21 the Ithaca Beer Company and TREE projects will be discussed. TREE has requested approval to build more units than first planned in order to meet higher expenses. Jon asked about an ash tree inventory project and Mike stated that he and Rich Schoch have requested CU students to help inventory Town parks and trails for Emerald Ash Borer. Business: a. The minutes of the May 5, 2011 CB meeting were approved after some corrections were made. The more major ones were: p.2: Business, last bullet, "penalties for usage"was changed to "higher cost for greater usage". p.3: top of page, "This was done"was changed to "We agreed to support the sign proposal". p.3: same paragraph, "S.A.C."was changed to "Supervisors Advisory Committee". p.3: Tompkins County EMC, second bullet, "adopted"was changed to "discussed". p.3: Six Mile Creek Program, "James and his team"was changed to "The volunteers". p.4: Comprehensive Plan, third bullet, "Largest percentage comes from Tioga and Courtland" was changed to "Largest percentages from outside Tompkins County come from Tioga and Cortland". 1 p.4: same paragraph, last bullet, "there is vanpool"was changed to "there is an on-line vanpool". p.4: Other Business, ", found a beetle"was changed to ", and they found adelgids". James mentioned the MEGA (Municipal Energy and Gas Alliance), the Town's supplier, on p.2 of the minutes and said that it provides cheaper, but dirtier, energy than the regular supplier. He would like to have the CB minutes available on the Town's Web site. b. There was a long and detailed discussion about rewarding water conservation in the Town. James mentioned that Florida has a method with which one can look more carefully at how much water people use. The CB may want to invite a speaker to talk about this. Herb Engman, who is on the Bolton Point Water Commission, wants to consider who to invite depending on which questions we have. For instance, if they are operational, a staff member could come. James suggested that the CB recommend to the Bolton Point Commission that the pricing structure be changed so that households which use very little water, for instance 8000 gallons or less per quarter year, pay a minimal amount. Then there could be a middle category of about 30,000 gallons per quarter which costs more and finally, a very large one for institutions like CU, and others, which cost even more. James proposed a resolution to be sent to Supervisor Engman about this and Kristine helped with the language until we all agreed on it. It stated: "WHEREAS Katie Stoner, Town Sustainability Planner, demonstrated that the greatest percentage of greenhouse gas emissions for the Town of Ithaca comes from Bolton Point operations and that these emissions can be reduced by water conservation, it is now hereby RESOLVED that the Conservation Board recommends that the Town of Ithaca encourage Bolton Point to amend the current pricing structure to reflect a cost savings to end users for conserving water and a higher cost for using more water, and further recommends that adoption of a three tier pricing structure would encourage water conservation and lessen greenhouse gas emissions." Ellie asked if this could be done just for the Town or if it would have to include other municipalities as well. Eva stated that her family has a well for water, but had a water meter installed many years ago to measure sewer usage, after feeling that their billing was for more usage than they had. The meter showed that they used quite a bit less than the flat rate they were previously billed for. Jon suggested providing the resolution to Herb as a draft, so he will be able to make comments about it. Kristine will circulate the resolution text to all CB members for additional comments by e-mail. We had a consensus to continue working on these ideas. c. Diane announced that Larissa will be leaving CU and the CB soon. There was Swallow-wort visible at the Westhaven Preserve when the CB had the Fischer Award Ceremony there. James talked about ways to deal with it in the most efficient way by working with it twice over a growing season. Treatment with Roundup is one of the stages. Jon asked "Why bother?". We do things which go against the natural order of things. Why not step back a little and think about whether these treatments are worth the time and the expense. Why not let it be? Aaron responded that Swallow-wort crowds out other valuable plants. He added that research seems to show that if there is a lot of a certain invasive plant, like garlic mustard, it controls itself. Kristine said that we can provide some educational support if local residents (for instance at Eco Village)who may walk in Westhaven Preserve are willing to do some volunteer 2 work on removing it. Mike added that Rich Schoch said that Town crews are willing to pick up bags of weeds collected by volunteers. Regular Reports and Updates: Environmental Review Committee (ERC): A date will be set up for the ERC to meet to discuss the Ithaca Beer Company relocation and expansion project. Kristine mentioned that the County Environmental Management Council (EMC) will have a tour of this project on Friday and the Town ERC may want to join them. Scenic Resources Committee (SRC): The TB will consider the sign the SRC has proposed for East Shore Park at their meeting on Monday, June 13. Diane mentioned that$1,207.16 would be available from the CB budget to cover the cost of getting the sign installed at the park, if nobody wants to go to conferences. R. Fischer Award Committee: James reported that the residents near the Westhaven Preserve were represented at the award and tree planting ceremony and party there on May 14. Photos are available on the Town's Web site. He thanked Kristine for the excellent snacks provided and she thanked Mike for his thoughtfulness in bringing various things to help make the event happen. Tompkins County EMC: Kristine said that the EMC will look at the Ithaca Beer Company proposal. There will be a list of invasive species prepared, which can be used by all the municipalities in the county. CU Plantations also has a list which is updated every two years. Six Mile Creek Volunteer Monitoring Program: James reported there has been another quarterly meeting with seven volunteers. The next water sampling will be done on June 26. The Web site, www.communityscience.org, is again being revised to use the Google map system. The group has been considering whether its volunteers need to be certified to do water sampling. Having a base-line record for each creek is a good idea, but if the volunteers are not certified, the laboratory's work may not hold up in court. Kristine said that whatever the group has is still some evidence and it should not be diminished completely. Cornell Natural Areas: James stated that most weeds at the Cornell Caldwell Road Weed Garden are considered agricultural problems. Japanese Knot Weed can be killed with stem injections. Most of them are clones propagated by rhizomes. They are often spread by road crews. They can't be composted because small pieces of plant material roots too easily. City of Ithaca Natural Areas Commission: No report. Comprehensive Plan: Diane stated that their last meeting had been devoted to discussing the concept of Smart Code. She handed out papers with maps and text(Town oflthaca Smart Code, building a town of neighborhoods, from the Town's Planning Department, dated 26 May 2011), illustrating the ideas behind this concept. Smart Code would allow mixtures of uses to create pleasant places to live. These ideas would not apply to areas which are already developed, so it would probably only be used in existing open areas. Staff member Dan Tasman has experience with using this system. It has only been used in two other places in New York State. Other Business: The next meeting will be on July 7, 2011. Tony is scheduled to take minutes at that meeting and Kristine is signed up to do it at the August meeting. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 9:15 p. m. These draft Minutes were written by Eva Hoffmann 3