HomeMy WebLinkAboutCB Minutes 2001-12-06 Town of Ithaca Conservation Board
Dec.6, 2001, 7:30pm
Final Meeting Minutes
Present: Jon Meigs, Lenore Durkee, Libby deProsse, Clifford Blizard, Elissa Wolfson,
John Yntema, Dick Fischer, Barney Unsworth, Chairman
Guests: Diane Conneman, Will Burbank, Fred Elmer
Staff: Sue Ritter, Jon Kanter
Persons to be heard: none
Members concerns: Jon Meigs expressed concern about the dumping of materials on the land at
Tutelo Park by the Town highway crew. It was explained that it is temporary storage. He also
inquired about our concerns in Southwest Park. There is nothing new on this subject. He also
inquired about fill being dumped on the Catholic Cemetery property (on the east side of Five
Mile Drive). Sue will look into this.
John Yntema inquired why his neighbor could build a garage without notifying the
neighbors. Answer is that if there no variance is involved, there is no need for a ZBA hearing,
and therefore no notification. However, building the garage (and or a fence) does require a
building permit.
Chairperson report: A new Tompkins County Planning Department publication has been
received. It is an extensive list of the Natural Resources of the County. It could be available to
anyone who wishes a copy.
Barney noted that several environmentally related programs were shown recently on local
cable T.V. and sponsored by Cooperative Extension. Unfortunately they received very little
publicity, so few had the opportunity to view them. Barney will see about borrowing the videos
to see if they are worth viewing by the entire CB.
Tonight, as we meet here, Cornell University and the Office of City and Regional
Planning are having a meeting on the topic of"Choices for the future of Tompkins County".
Minutes for the October meeting were corrected and accepted.
Minutes for the November meeting were corrected and accepted.
Year End Conservation Board Business: Lenore nominated Clifford Blizard for the
position of Chairperson. The nomination was seconded and passed. The nomination of Don Weir
for Vice Chairperson was moved, seconded, and passed. Lenore moved that we accept the
proposed CB Meeting schedule: The first Thursday of every month with the third Thursday
optional. The July meeting will be on July 18, because the first Thursday is the Fourth of July.
Clifford, Don and John will form a committee to interview prospective new Conservation
Board members.
South Hill Conservation Zone and the Ithaca College Long Range Plan: Sue presented a
map showing a revised conservation zone boundary for the South Hill area behind Ithaca College
and asked the CB to consider this. CB members received a copy of this map in their packets.
These revisions were recommended by Robert Wesley and Nancy Ostman, who had recently
been hired by the Town to perform additional biological surveys of the area. After some
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discussion CB members agreed with the recommendations, with a couple of suggestions. Don
suggested that we use the powerline along the eastern edge as a boundary line. And it was also
suggested that the boundary be moved to the outside of the Hospicare property. We await the
Wesley and Ostman report.
Town of Ithaca Revised Zoning Ordinance
Jon Kanter gave us an overview of the Codes and Ordinance Committee's draft of The
Town of Ithaca Zoning Ordinance. We have one and a half months to comment. There can be
further revisions before going public with the document. Send in your comments! Give them
feedback on the Conservation Zone.
Barney will call two meetings:
One for the Buffer Ordinance Committee next week.
One for the new member committee.
Meeting adjourned at 9:35.
Submitted by Libby deProsse (This was Libby's last meeting, and last submittal as
secretary. Thank you Libby for all your work! )
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