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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCB Minutes 2016-10-06 Town of Ithaca Conservation Board 5:30 p.m.,Thursday October 6,2016 Final Minutes Members in attendance: Ellie Stewart(Chair),Jon Meigs, Eva Hoffmann,James Hamilton, Michael Roberts (Vice-Chair), Will VanDyke, and Vladimir Micic Staff: Mike Smith (Coordinator) Guest: Elizabeth Hageman (prospective member?) 1.Person to be heard: None 2.Member Concern Eva shared with Conservation Board members the brochure that contained a list of sustainable practices for saving of energy and water in households.The proposal was made to post the contents of this list on the Conservation Board's Facebook page. Eva said that she would first need to check whether that would be in breach with copyright rules. James mentioned that he went to the September 121", Town Board meeting to be there during the scheduled discussion about restructuring of the Town's water rates.James informed the board about his 5-minute speech in which he reminded Town Board that restructuring of the current water pricing scheme into three-tiered water pricing system has been one of the long-term working goals for the Conservation Board for many years. He was happy about the new low rate that will charge lower price of water to those households that consume less than 5 thousand gallons (per quarter), but James was also concerned that neither the Town nor Bolton Point were considering third pricing tier(luxury or sim tax)for consumers that consume excessive amounts of water. Considering the lack of interest on the part of Town Board or Bolton point to establish the third (luxury)water pricing tier,James suggested that the Conservation Board should consider dropping such initiative from Conservation Board's annual work goals. Ellie suggested that we should probably consider such action only after we given ourselves time to monitor changes in water usage and then determine whether we need to continue working on such initiative. Eva mentioned that one of the largest water consumer in Town was Ithaca College and that it may be prudent to check why they use this much water. 3. Chair and Coordinator Reports Chair: Ellie welcomed Elizabeth Hageman and said that she was happy that we have another potential member attending the meeting. Coordinator: Michael informed everyone that the Sleep Inn Project was on Tuesday's Planning Board agenda and that the Planning Board liked the new designs submitted by the developer. He passed around the design that received preliminary approval, but mentioned that the project still needs to go to the zoning board for requested variance change before getting a final approval. Mike said that variance review may occur on October 171"and that the developer was asking for 3 different variances relevant to building height, the total square footage of the entire site, and the setback issue relevant to one specific part of the building. He also mentioned that the approved design largely fits esthetically with what the rest of this area looks like. 4. Approval of minutes from August 4, 2016 and September 1, 2016 Minutes for the August 41" meeting, moved by James and seconded by Vladimir, approved with minimal revisions from James,Jon and Eva. Minutes from September I" meeting, moved by Mike and seconded by Will, were approved with minimal revisions from James and Jon. 5. Continue discussion of ideas for Town Bluebird box maintenance Mike Smith said that that Rich Schoch (Town of Ithaca Parks Maintenance Manager) suggested South Hill and East Ithaca Recreation Ways as areas where work on Bluebird boxes could be more manageable and easier to tackle. Mike S. also said that Rich Schoch suggested Eastern Heights Park as another good starting point since natural habitat in that area is accommodating to bluebirds. Mike Roberts suggested that the best starting point may be the East Hill Recreation Way due to the easier access to the area. William mentioned contacting Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, and Ellie added that we could even potentially offer to girl scouts and boy scouts to adopt some of the Bluebird boxes near their facilities.James warned that even though some Bluebird boxes look structurally fine their entrance holes are often gnawed out, which means that as such they are not a living space for bluebirds anymore, but are used by squirrels and other critters.Jon mentioned that there are commercially available screens for the bluebird boxes that prevent gnawing of the entrance holes and suggested that we should perhaps purchase such screens. It was concluded that Jon will do research and try to locate commercially available reinforcement screens for bluebirds.James offered to notify scouts about the possible service project opportunity that can help preservation of bluebird boxes in the area near the East Ithaca Recreation Way and surrounding parks. 6. Deer management, update from ad hoc committee Eva mentioned that the Mayor of Cayuga Heights (Linda Woodard) was very much interested to work with the Conservation Board on the deer management issue. Mike R. encouraged everyone to send their thoughts, suggestions or questions prior to the meeting with Ms. Woodard so that more constructive conversation could develop. Ellie suggested that we should ask Ms. Woodard what Town areas would she recommend as trial areas for the deer management program. William mentioned that he may know couple of farm owners that are interested in deer management issue, and Jon added that additional allies on this initiative could be Cayuga Landscaping Company as they have nurseries on the west side of the town. Mike R. updated everyone about his meeting with Tod Bittner Director of Cornell Plantation Natural Areas mentioning that Mr. Bittner had some helpful suggestions about the items that should be placed in the original deer management report(started a while back by the Board). Mike R. also said that the Town needs to take ownership of this program and designate some staff to be part of a committee dedicated to the Deer Management and Control. Mike R. asked whether we should consider inviting only skeptical members of Town staff to a Deer Management Committee meeting.To that Mike S. answered that it is better to send a general invitation to every Town board. Eva suggested that we should create a condensed list of main points to be sent to those invited to the meeting and she also said that she will be the one scheduling the meeting with Ms. Woodard. 7. Regular reports and updates Environmental Review Committee: Ellie said that ERC will have to generate responses for both Maplewood and Sleep Inn development proposals.James suggested that committee members should pay attention to the language used in the text of the Maplewood project, as he noticed that the proposal talks a lot about sustainability, but not making any clear commitments how such sustainability is going to be achieved, using mainly non-committal language in many sections.The committee members have agreed to have a look at these elements of the proposal at the separate meeting. Scenic Resource Committee (SRC): Eva mentioned that the Public Works Committee reviewed the sign that the SRC was working on and had no objections. She said that SRC will now proceed with mostly logistical steps that are ahead of them, but she also mentioned that is unlikely that the sign is going to be installed before the end of the year. Communication Committee:James informed everyone that he attended a webinar that was led by Meg Philips, who is Invasive Species Education and Outreach Coordinator from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). He mentioned that many events took place during the Invasive species awareness week and that he also filled out an invasive species survey organized by DEC.James described this survey as one of many that DEC is using to gather more information and generate ideas about the working initiatives.James also announced that Finger Lakes PRISM Partnership for Regional Invasive Species Management and Cayuga Lake Watershed Network are organizing hydrilla hunt on October 121"and 201". On both days people are encouraged to bring something that they think may be hydrilla to either Sheldrake point or Long Point Park in Aurora to be reviewed.James said that at least a third of a mile along Aurora waterfront is now covered by hydrilla. Tompkins County EMC:Vlad mentioned that the last EMC meeting was mostly composed of regular committee updates. Vlad said that the EMC energy committee said some good things about the Maplewood Development project as the only large development project in the area that will be using geothermal technology for heat in all of its building. Vlad also updated everyone that there is a proposal to increase the amount of capacity at one of the Dominion Pipeline compressor stations. Vlad mentioned that there have been some requests to organize a formal public hearing to address the potential issues that such expansion could have on water and air quality. Six Mile Creek Volunteer Monitoring Program:James mentioned that on the very night of the Conservation Board meeting the Benthic Macro Invertebrate lab at the Community Science Institute will have an open house welcoming volunteers between 5 to 8 pm to look at critters and identify them as indicators of creeks health.James also mentioned that on October 151"Community Science Institute will have BMI lesson in Cascadilla Creek. And lastly James mentioned that 2 of the 4 sites on Six Mile Creek have been tested and the results show that population of critters isn't matching up with the ideal standard.James mentioned that this is probably caused by the catastrophic drought that the region had experienced this summer. City of Ithaca Natural Areas Commission: No report Cornell Plantation Natural Areas Program:James said that a group of 5 volunteers was weeding out woody invasives along Fall Creek and Beebe lake and planting herbaceous perennials (golden rod and asters). 8. Other business: Nothing to report Meeting was adjourned at 7:40 Minutes drafted by Vladimir Micic 11/29/16