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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTB Minutes 2022-08-22Meeting of the Ithaca Town Board August 22, 2022 AGENDA Town of Ithaca Public Meetings - YouTube ZOOM ID 87962750564 Ph. 929 436 2866 1. Cass Park and Youth Bureau — Liz Klohmann 2. Public hearing regarding a proposed "Local law to establish a Community Choice Aggregation (energy) Program in the Town of Ithaca a. SEQR b. Consider approval 3. Consider approval to partner with the City of Ithaca and other Tompkins County municipalities for the Federal Safe Streets and Roads for All Planning Grant opportunity 4. Consider authorization for the Supervisor to sign sewer agreements for the Town of Dryden's Peregrine Hollow and Sewer District No 1 5. Consider approval of and authorization to execute sanitary sewer easements associated with the 509 Coddington Road -Parcel B development 6. Committee Reports a. Budget b. COC c. P&O d. Planning e. Public Works £ Ad Hoc/Other Committees i. Trails, Parks & Preserves 7. Reports from Town Officials 8. Consent Agenda a. Approval of Town Board Minutes b. Town of Ithaca Abstract 9. Review of Correspondence Town of Ithaca Notice of Public Hearing The Ithaca Town Board will hold a Public Hearing on August 22, 2022 during their meeting which begins at 4:30 p.m., regarding the adoption of proposed local law: A Local Law to Establish a Community Choice Aggregation (Energy) Program in the Town of Ithaca The meeting will be via ZOOM videoconferencing platform, accessed at www. z"o"o'r c_c"m ' or by calling 929-436-2866. Meeting ID 9891 095 8241. Comments may be submitted prior to the meeting via mail to Town Clerk, 215 N Tioga St, Ithaca, or by email to c lelacs i�town.ithaca.ny.us. The meeting will also be broadcast on the Town of Ithaca YouTubeLive Channel. If you need any assistance accessing the meeting, please contact the Town Clerks office at 607-273-1721 option 3. Paulette Rosa, Town Clerk Meeting of the Ithaca Town Board August 22, 2022 MINUTES Board Members Present: Rod Howe, Supervisor; Members Eric Levine, Rich DePaolo, Bill Goodman, Pamela Bleiwas, Rob Rosen and Margaret Johnson Staff Present: Susan Brock, Attorney for the Town; Judy Drake, Director of Human Resources; Marty Moseley, Director of Code Enforcement; Susan Ritter, Director of Planning; Paulette Rosa, Town Clerk; Joe Slater, Director of Public Works; Donna Shaw, Director of Finance; and Dan Thaete, Director of Engineering Mr. Howe called the meeting to order at 4:30 p.m. 1. Cass Park and Youth Bureau — Liz Klohmann Ms. Klohmann reviewed the history of support from the Town of Ithaca for the Cass Park and Stewart Park facilities and Town resident use of them. Jim D'Alterio added that this request usually focusses on the Cass Park facilities because there is a mechanism to track users, but it also supports the waterfront facilities at Stewart Park and the parks and play and sports areas near Cass Park. Ms. Klohmann stated that they are making improvements to the park and securing grants as well as enclosing the rink which is increasing its use across the County as well as fixing a large leak in the pool and all these projects are funded through the City. We are not asking for project specific contributions to those projects, but we are hoping the Town's contribution will be increased from the $56k it currently stands at. Mr. Levine responded that the decrease in the past was due to the Town looking at its contributions we were giving and considering what other municipalities and the County were contributing. He asked if this pitch for increased funding is being made to them also and if so, with what success. Ms. Klohmann said they are not, given their small size and they have gone to the County numerous times with no success. She added that they did do a Master Plan a few years back, including going after funding, which included County Representatives, but they were not willing to make contributions to the facilities. Mr. Levine responded that our contributions to the library and TCAT were also reduced and at the time, the City said if we would keep our $100K+ we would get the discounted City price for activities offered by the Ithaca Youth Bureau but we only get that discount for those activities associated with the Rec Partnership and he asked if that could be negotiated back into the agreement if our contribution were to increase. Ms. Klohmann responded that she would have to talk to the mayor, but if you are going to be a large contributor, that makes sense. TB 2022/08/22 (Filed 12/22) Pg. 1 Mr. Rosen said he really likes Cass Park, but he also likes East Shore Park and many people across municipal lines use that park also. Mr. DePaolo reiterated what Mr. Levine said, saying, that our current contribution is correlated to usage statistics that we've been getting regularly for a period of time, and if we were to significantly increase that amount, we would have to receive some benefit to justify that and that he personally did not consider an increase for the same levels of benefits we have currently. Mr. Howe thanked Ms. Klohmann for her report. 2. Public hearing regarding a proposed "Local law to establish a Community Choice Aggregation (energy) Program in the Town of Ithaca Mr. Howe gave an overview saying this is enabling legislation to allow the Town to continue taking steps toward working with Local Power and the City to put together an implementation plan for a CCA, adding that Local Power is also working with other municipalities to gauge interest and moving forward. This also allows us the flexibility to go further than a standard CCA and more innovative ways that we may want to look in to if we want to meet our energy goals. Mr. Howe opened the public hearing at 4:54 p.m. Doug Brittain spoke, saying he needed to give the Board a gentle scolding for what he felt was a waste of time, money, effort and reputation on pursuing a CCA that will accomplish essentially nothing and encourage the Board to keep moving forward on the goal but with something that is better. He said he knew we could do better and that our heart was in the right place. He said, there seems to be a common misconception that if you sign up for a CCA, that means you get green power but that is not true. The power grid works as a large, undifferentiated pool of power. The power plants add the power in wherever they are, and the consumers pull it out wherever they are, and power flows this way and that way and goes where it needs to. When you turn on the switch in your house, you get whatever power is available at the time near you, and that is usually dominated by whatever power plant you live closest to. This means you can pay for whatever power you want, but that's not what you're getting. It's not like a telephone where it goes over the wire, and makes it to the right house, the power plant can't tell the difference between houses and the power plants are not green, but that grid is getting power from all sources and so you are not getting green power. He used the example of Bolton Point and all the sources of water in the system; you can't tell where it came from, whether it be Taughannock Falls or one of the tributaries or the lake. You can say it comes from Taughannock Falls but that doesn't make it true, and you are getting the same mix of water as anyone else. Same with power. You can't say you are getting green power when the plants are pooling all types of power. Mr. Brittain said he believes the main of a CCA is to fool us, so we can fool ourselves into thinking that we're using green power, and we're not. The disadvantages of that is, If we think we are using green power, we will probably be a little less careful about wasting energy, and therefore we will use a little bit more power, and therefore we will end up creating more carbon, which I think is the opposite of what you want to do. TB 2022/08/22 (Filed 12/22) Pg. 2 Mr. Brittain suggest instead consider thinking about creating local distributed energy and instead try to conserve energy and create the bureaucracy to do it by enacting fees on energy bills and put up solar panels and use that money to do something useful and maybe in the future think about doing something that will actually help, but start with the active ingredient and get funds to put up the solar panels and produce more green energy now. Bruce Brittain spoke, saying that he agrees with some of what was just said but the Town's website says that "a CCA allows a municipality to choose where they source their energy..." and that just isn't true. As Doug just said, you choose what you pay for, you don't choose what you get. He used the analogy of scrambled eggs. If 100 eggs are scrambled and 20 of them are organic free-range, you can't pull out just those once they are scrambled together. You can pretend you are eating an organic omelet, and get that warm fuzzy feeling, even though I am charging you twice as much, but it is not. Same with electricity. We can pretend we are getting clean energy and that everyone else getting dirty energy and we are somehow better, but it doesn't change the fact that we are all getting the same energy. Mr. Bruce Brittain added that he also shares the concern about consumption going up under that assumption of cleaner energy, saying they have a neighbor who was gone all summer and the A/C was blasting the whole time, and when asked, his response was that he had signed up with NYSEG for clean energy, so it didn't matter. He isn't, and there is dirty energy going in to replace the clean energy he used up. He was afraid that concept would be common. Oh, it's clean and green so I can consume more. Mr. B Brittain said he knows the Town wants to do something to help reduce energy and emissions, but the way to do that is to increase production of green energy and continue with ways to decrease consumption. Mr. Howe closed the public hearing at 5:05 p.m. Mr. Howe stated that representatives of Local Power were available to answer questions and the idea is to develop a platform that allows for some creativity and innovation for developing local power. There is also a financing mechanism in the resolution that we need to discuss, and the implementation plan will be an opportunity to dig more deeply into some of these issues. The legislation allows us to continue working with the city. Mr. DePaolo said he would like to hear from Local Power about how contracting with a particular service provider might encourage production of renewable energy if not immediately create the mix that we ultimately want. He said he also raised the question about the composition of the grid and if people understood how this could further our goals and where our local sources are, and how does this move us down the line ... those answers may help. Mr. DePaolo said he was confident, after being involved in this process for over 8 months now, that aggregating our buying power is generally a good thing and he did not believe people would waste electricity because they would be paying for it regardless of the source and cost is a powerful disincentive for waste. He said he thought the legislation does have potentially significant benefits given locally cited energy production, but he would like to hear Local Power's responses to the issue related to the grid mix, and how aggregating might ultimately affect where the energy is coming from. TB 2022/08/22 (Filed 12/22) Pg. 3 Julia Peters, Local Power, explained the 3.0 CCA model is specifically trying to address the concerns raised by the speakers by maximizing physical decarbonization, including building and connecting generation sources through microgrids to stop the export of energy and minimize the energy mix of grids. RECs or credits are financial transactions and do not reduce the physical production of carbon and 3.0 is to do that. Mr. Howe added that these types of conversations with other municipalities and Local Power with Q&As are available and he can provide those links to anyone who wants them. SEQR Determination TB Resolution 2022 -129: SEAR Re2ardin2 A Local Law To Establish A Community Choice AE2re2ation (EnerEy) Program In The Town Of Ithaca Whereas, this action is the proposed enactment of a local law to establish a Community Choice Aggregation (energy) Program in the Town of Ithaca; and Whereas, this is an Unlisted Action for which the Ithaca Town Board is the Lead Agency in an environmental review with respect to the enactment of said local law; and Whereas, the Town Board, at its meeting held on August 22, 2022, has reviewed, and accepted as adequate the Short Environmental Assessment Form (EAF), Parts 1, 2 and 3, for this action, prepared by the Town Planning staff, now, therefore, be it Resolved, that the Town of Ithaca Town Board hereby makes a negative determination of environmental significance in accordance with Article 8 of the Environmental Conservation Law, 6 NYCRR Part 617 New York State Environmental Quality Review, and Chapter 148 Environmental Quality Review of the Town of Ithaca Code for the above -referenced action as proposed, based on the information in the EAF Part 1 and for the reasons set forth in the EAF Parts 2 and 3, and, therefore, a Draft Environmental Impact Statement will not be required. Moved: Rob Rosen Seconded: Rich DePaolo Vote: ayes - Howe, DePaolo, Rosen, Goodman, Johnson, Bleiwas and Levine Mr. Goodman addressed Ms. Arm's emailed concerns regarding the 30-day window to opt out and the draft has at least 30 days. He said this law has a lot of "may"s which allow us to continue to move forward without forcing us to commit to any one thing. TB Resolution 2022 —130: Adoption of Local Law 15 of 2022: "A Local Law to Establish a Community Choice Aimrei!ation (EnerEy) Program in the Town of Ithaca" Whereas, the Town has been collaborating with the City of Ithaca, Sustainable Tompkins, and Local Power, a Community Choice Aggregation innovator, to draft legislation to enable a local Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) program, and Whereas, the CCA program is designed to be an innovative, efficient, and affordable way to engage the local population in achieving time -critical local and state goals for decarbonization and equity through the aggregated purchasing of renewable electricity and the development of regional renewable energy projects, and TB 2022/08/22 (Filed 12/22) Pg. 4 Whereas, the Planning Committee has reviewed and discussed the draft CCA local law at numerous meetings and at its June 16, 2022, meeting, the Committee voted to recommend the legislation to counsel and the Town Board for consideration of adoption, and Whereas, the Town Board set a public hearing for at its meeting on July 11, 2022, and Whereas, this is an Unlisted Action for which the Ithaca Town Board is the Lead Agency in an environmental review with respect to the enactment of this local law and Whereas, the Town Board has made a negative determination of environmental significance at its August 8, 2002, meeting; now therefore, be it Resolved that the Town Board finds it is in the best interest of the Town and its citizens to adopt the proposed local law and hereby adopts Local Law 15 of 2022, entitled "A Local Law to Establish a Community Choice Aggregation (Energy) Program in the Town of Ithaca" as submitted. Moved: Rich DePaolo Seconded: Rob Rosen Vote: ayes - Howe, DePaolo, Goodman, Rosen, Johnson, Bleiwas and Levine 3. Consider approval to partner with the City of Ithaca and other Tompkins County municipalities for the Federal Safe Streets and Roads for All Planning Grant opportunity Ms. Ritter noted that this helps us when applying for federal funds and more municipalities are interested in joining and the cost will go down a bit as more join. TB Resolution 2022 —131: Partnering with the City of Ithaca and Other Tompkins County Municipalities for the Federal Safe Streets and Roads for All Planning Grant Opportunity Whereas, in 2022, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law established the new Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) federal grant program, with up to one billion dollars appropriated in FY22, and with a local match of 20% of the project cost; and Whereas, local municipalities are eligible to apply for funding to create a detailed transportation safety "Action Plan", either individually or in collaboration with other municipalities; and Whereas, the FY22 Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), states that applications with multiple municipalities partnering to create a plan will be more competitive for funding than applications from a single municipality; and Whereas, successful creation of an Action Plan in this grant cycle would make the partnering municipalities eligible to apply for implementation grants in future years of this grant program, either individually or in collaboration again; and Whereas, the City of Ithaca has agreed to be the "Lead Applicant" on this planning grant application, with multiple neighboring municipalities expressing interest in applying as "Joint Applicants", including the following in alphabetical order: • Town of Caroline • Town of Danby • Town of Dryden TB 2022/08/22 (Filed 12/22) Pg. 5 • Town of Ithaca • Town of Lansing • Village of Cayuga Heights • Village of Lansing Whereas, the role of the City of Ithaca as Lead Applicant will be to complete the online application on behalf of all partnering municipalities for FY22 funding, with an application due date of September 15, 2022; and Whereas, the City of Ithaca is presenting a resolution to its Common Council on September 7th, requesting a budget to fund the study in whole at $750,000, to be eventually reimbursed 80% by the grant, with individual municipalities reimbursing the City of Ithaca for its share of the 20% local match; and Whereas, the distribution share of the 20% local match is based on population size, with the Town of Ithaca's share currently estimated at approximately 20%, given the makeup of anticipated partnering municipalities: now, therefore, be it Resolved, that the Town Board hereby agrees to partner with the City of Ithaca and other neighboring municipalities to jointly apply for the SS4A planning grant opportunity to create an Action Plan that uncovers both regional and municipality -specific transportation safety problems, as well as presents detailed regional and municipality -specific solutions; and Resolved, that if the grant is successfully awarded, the Town of Ithaca Town Board agrees to reimburse the City of Ithaca for its share of the 20% local match ($150,000 total local match for a $750,000 total project cost), specifically that the Town of Ithaca will reimburse the City of Ithaca for an amount not to exceed $30,000. Moved: Pamela Bleiwas Seconded: Margaret Johnson Vote: ayes — Bleiwas, Johnson, Rosen, Howe, Goodman, Levine and DePaolo 4. Consider authorization for the Supervisor to sign sewer agreements for the Town of Dryden's Peregrine Hollow and Sewer District No 1 Mr. DePaolo asked about the reference to the metered water usage, and whether there were any sewer usages that do not have water metering and what is the mechanism for that. Mr. Slater responded that Dryden has told them that there are no private water with public sewer in that area. Some cluttered language was cleared and clarifying that it is the Town Board that would give "mutual consent." Mr. Howe noted that Mr. Slater has gone through these and because there have not been any issues, the proposal is to extend it to 5-year periods. TB Resolution 2022 -132: Authorization for Supervisor to sign sewer agreements for the Town of Dryden's Peregrine Hollow and Sewer District No 1 TB 2022/08/22 (Filed 12/22) Pg. 6 Resolved that the Town Board authorizes the Town Supervisor to sign on behalf of the Town for sewer service agreements entitled Peregrine Hollow and Sewer District No 1 with the Town of Dryden as submitted. Moved: Bill Goodman Seconded: Rod Howe Vote: ayes — Howe, DePaolo, Goodman, Johnson, Bleiwas, Levine and Rosen 5. Consider approval of and authorization to execute sanitary sewer easements associated with the 509 Coddington Road -Parcel B development Mr. DePaolo asked why the lateral needed to cross the road. Mr. Slater explained that our sewer main is existing and for a new development/subdivision and counsel has suggested we get easements because the road use is prescriptive. TB Resolution 2022 — 133: Approval of and authorization to execute sanitary sewer easements associated with the 509 Coddin0on Road -Parcel B development proiect Whereas, the development of the parcel requires the installation of a sewer lateral beneath Coddington Road for the purpose of constructing a single-family residential home at 509 Coddington Road (Parcel B), previously being a portion of tax parcel number 51.-1-1. The project applicants, Raymond H. Terepka and Nancy B. Stewart, will construct a new sanitary sewer lateral within the right-of-way of Coddington Road to serve the new residence. The lateral extension will occur on properties currently owned by Raymond H. Terepka & Nancy B. Stewart and Cole and Krystina Iacovelli, and Whereas, the sewer lateral and associated easements are shown on the drawing titled "Town of Ithaca, 509 Parcel B & 522 Coddington Rd., Proposed Sanitary Easements to Town" sheet V101, dated 6/15/2022, prepared by Town of Ithaca, and Whereas, the Engineering Department has reviewed the plans for the above improvement that is proposed to be dedicated to the Town, and have found them generally acceptable, and requested the easements be considered for approval by the Town Board, now therefore be it Resolved, that the Ithaca Town Board hereby approves the Permanent Sewer Easement(s) and Right -of Way(s) from Raymond H. Terepka and Nancy B. Stewart, and from Cole & Krystina Iacovelli, and authorizes the Town Supervisor to execute the easements, subject to the following conditions: 1. The approval of the easements are subject to the approval of the Attorney for the Town, and 2. The specific surveyed and/or mapped locations, deeds, and abstracts showing good and marketable title for the proposed improvements and for the easements are submitted in a form acceptable to the Attorney for the Town and the Director of Engineering. Moved: Rod Howe Seconded: Eric Levine Vote: ayes — Howe, DePaolo, Goodman, Levine, Bleiwas, Johnson and Rosen 6. Consider Authorization to Apply for Funding through the 2022 Tompkins County Tourism Capital Grant Program for Preliminary Design and Construction Cost Estimates TB 2022/08/22 (Filed 12/22) Pg. 7 (Feasibility Study) for the Potential Expansion of the South Hill Recreation Way — Burns Road to Banks Road No comments or questions. TB Resolution 2022 -134: Authorization to Apply for Funding through the 2022 Tompkins County Tourism Capital Grant Program for Preliminary Design and Construction Cost Estimates (Feasibility Study) for the Potential Expansion of the South Hill Recreation Way — Burns Road to Banks Road Whereas, the Tompkins County Tourism Program has announced the availability of funding under the 2022 Tourism Capital Grant program, which lists feasibility studies (concept level design and determination of cost estimates) as an eligible activity, and Whereas, the Town of Ithaca, with support from the Towns of Dryden, Danby, and Caroline, is seeking to obtain preliminary designs and construction cost estimates for the potential expansion of the South Hill Recreation Way from Burns Road to Banks Road, and Whereas, the Town of Ithaca estimates the total cost of this project to be approximately $80,000, based on cost estimates provided by several qualified engineering and landscape architect consultants, and Whereas, the four towns plan to contribute a total of $4,000 to provide a 5% contribution towards this project, and Whereas, grant applications are due by September 12, 2022; now, therefore, be it Resolved, that the Supervisor of the Town of Ithaca, or designated representative, is hereby authorized and directed to file an application for preliminary designs and construction cost estimates (feasibility study) for the potential expansion of the South Hill Recreation Way from Burns Road to Banks Road under the Tompkins County Tourism Capital Grants program in an amount not to exceed $80,000 (including a $1,000 Town of Ithaca contribution), and upon approval of said request to enter into and execute a project agreement with Tompkins County for such financial assistance to the Town of Ithaca. Moved: Bill Goodman Seconded: Rich DePaolo Vote: ayes — Howe, Goodman, DePaolo, Johnson, Levine, Bleiwas and Rosen 7. Committee Reports a. Budget — Mr. Levine reported they discussed draft 2023 Budget. The increase is about $3M or about 12% but of that, $2M is attributable to capital projects and as we grow, we are investing in our infrastructure. The property tax increase is about 1.9% and well within the tax cap, which will be a decrease of approximately $70 because home inventory and assessed values have gone up. He added that there is a summary of highlights available. b. COC — Mr. Goodman reported they did not meet and will be meeting next week to continue discussion on telecommunications. TB 2022/08/22 (Filed 12/22) Pg. 8 c. P&O — Ms. Bleiwas reported they reviewed staffing plans and a proposed Acting Director of Public Works, and personnel policies to finalize revisions to forward to the Board. d. Planning — Mr. DePaolo reported they discussed some topics addressed already and the main focus was the RaNic property and the revised PDZ draft. The proposal has moved to more into the Town rather than the Village due to some obstacles with the Village. There are still some questions about where the hotel is planned for and the site plan materials have not been submitted. Ms. Ritter added that there will be a site visit eventually. Continued revisions on our Limited Historic Commercial District and our Solar law e. Public Works — Mr. Howe reported they discussed the fuel station replacement project and have a new recommendation to stay with the current location and have that evaluated. Discussed possibly acquiring additional land from Mr. Sheldrake for the grounds. Discussed potential cell tower on town land. I&I issues were briefly discussed as the consultant continues its study. L Ad Hoc/Other Committees i. Trails, Parks & Preserves — Mr. Goodman gave an update on the South Hill Trail Extension, saying they did receive the proposed changes to the easement language from NYSEG, so it is moving along again and we are also looking at grant opportunities to look at how to handle comments from the public that have been using the easements as private land. ii. CWIO — Ms. Johnson reported that they authorized the hiring of a Watershed Manager who will help with projects and identifying grant opportunities. They are also planning some advocacy efforts with State representatives and toward that effort, they have sent out a questionnaire to all municipalities asking for what they want to see CWIO focus efforts on. Mr. Howe added that Ms. Hunter continues to work very hard on closing out the grant and we are very close. Thanks to Ms. Hunter for continuing after retirement. 8. Reports from Town Officials Mr. DePaolo reported that it has come to our attention that a cooperative has been incorporated on properties on the lake and given that cooperatives are exempt from our STR regulations, this may be a loophole that is being exploited and could be exploited in the future, and we will be looking into that and any changes that may be needed sooner rather than later. Mr. Howe reported that he and Mr. DePaolo met with City and Fire Department Officials regarding the incident where the East Hill Station was not staffed. We will be continuing conversations with them. Saunders Park Ribbon Cutting September 6th at 2pm Ribbon Cutting for Forest Home Walkway August 29rh at noon Ag & Food sculpture ideas for Tutelo Park TCOOG Energy Committee webinars related to solar development, dates and times to come. TB 2022/08/22 (Filed 12/22) Pg. 9 Short Tenn Rental Monitoring company interviews and selection are close. Boardroom equipment is tentatively set for the first week of September with an in person meeting on September 12"' if all goes well. Mr. Moseley reported that Open Gov has gone live and working to get used to the system and making adjustments. Ms. Rosa reported that the content feed form has been active with questions through the site instead of having to wait for business hours and they are very appreciative of the easy access. 9. Consent Agenda TB Resolution 2022 - 135: Town of Ithaca Abstract No. 16 for FY-2022 Resolved that the governing Town Board hereby authorizes the payment of the audited vouchers in total for the amounts indicated below: General Fund Town Wide . . .... . ...... -- 101,571.71 General Fund Part -Town ... . .......... _...qiy,h Fund Town Wide DA ­­­­­­­ . . .. ............... - .................... ................... . .......... ­.- . . ...... - ............ . .. . 2,878.78 Hihw Fund Part Town DB 7,638.52 . .. .............. ... ...... . ...... ..... --Water Fund 496,261.10 Sewer -Fund -.- 712,888,04 , " Trust and, A ncy 82.25 ............ ................. !_s323,841,70 .... .... .......... Moved: Rich DePaolo Seconded- Pamela Bleiwas Vote: ayes --- Howe, DePaolo, Goodman, Johnson, Bleiwas, Levine and Rosen 10. Review of Correspondence —None TB 2022/08/22 (Filed 12/22) Pg. 10 NEW TOWN OF ITHACA ; DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING 215 N. Tioga St 14850 607.273.1747 www:_t o wn_ : i th a cg.n.y u s Memorandum To: Town of Ithaca Town Board Date: August 16, 2022 Re: Partnering on Federal Safe Streets and Roads for All Planning Grant Opportunity This Spring, the federal government announced a new grant opportunity called Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A). This grant program will provide $1 billion of total funding for municipalities and other eligible groups to apply for either money to create a transportation safety "Action Plan", or to apply for money to implement safety -related transportation projects. Importantly, in order to apply for implementation grant funding, a municipality must first have an Action Plan (or similar) that includes all of the components listed in Table 1 on p. 4 of the Notice of Funding Opportunity, available here: tt .:: :.9r a.ts.:.9c�y/ /g ats i .:: .K� rtcr . tY:. trr2l.' ?.K�Icf= 0 Ithaca -Tompkins County Transportation Council (ITCTC) has recently led meetings bringing together our local municipalities to discuss this grant opportunity. As none of the municipalities in Tompkins County have an Action Plan that meets the requirements for applying for implementation funding under this grant, and as all of the local municipalities have transportation safety issues to solve, we have discussed creating a joint application for SS4A planning grant funding. The City of Ithaca has agreed to take the lead by being the "Lead Applicant" in the grant application. Other interested municipalities in Tompkins County would be "Joint Applicants". Being an official "joint applicant" on the planning grant, assuming the grant is awarded and the Action Plan is created, would allow joint applicant municipalities to apply for SS4A implementation grant funding in future years of the grant, either alone or in partnership with other municipalities. As Lead Applicant, the City of Ithaca will request approval from its Common Council to apply for the SS4A grant and to provide the funding for the entire Action Plan (it is currently estimated that the project cost will be approximately $750,000 to create an Action Plan that meets all the requirements for implementation funding, and which would provide analysis and solutions for both the region and for individual municipalities.) The grant would reimburse the City of Ithaca for 80% of the project cost; the local match is 20%. The 20% local match will be split between the City of Ithaca and all joint applicants, including the Towns of Caroline, Danby, Dryden, Lansing, and Villages of Cayuga Heights and Lansing. The distribution for the local match is proposed to be based on population size, resulting in the Town of Ithaca's contribution share being $30,000 (based on pop. Of 16,158 (ACS Census 2019) with total partnering municipalities pop. of 81,030), to be reimbursed to the City of Ithaca upon project completion. The grant application due date is September 15, 2022. CITY OF ITHACA 310 West Green Street Ithaca, New York 14850-5497 OFFICE OF THE FIRE CHIEF Telephone: 607/272-1234 Fax: 607/272-2793 To: Acting Mayor Laura Lewis City of Ithaca Common Council Ithaca Town Board From: Tom Parsons, Fire Chief Date: August 4, 2022 Re: Fire Chiefs Mid -Year Report ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISION Administration 1) Career Personnel Report PERSONNEL STAFFING LEVELS 1 Chief 1 Deputy Chief 5 Assistant Chiefs 10 Lieutenants 47 Fire Fighters 64 Uniform Personnel 1 Administrative Coordinator Total employees as of July 1, 2022 — 66 a) Current and Future Vacancies • I will be retiring on August 28, 2022. The City will be performing an outside and internal search for my replacement. Deputy Chief Robert Covert will be the Acting Chief upon my retirement. b) Retirements and Separation from Service: • One of our recruit firefighters hired in August of 2021 resigned on January 3, 2022. Page 2 of 6 - Fire Chief s Mid Year Report August 4th, 2022 • Fire Lieutenant Scott Eaton retired on March 6, 2022. • Firefighter Robert Doner is retired on May 21, 2022. c) Hiring/Promotions in 2022 • On March 6, Firefighter Nicholas Raponi was promoted to Fire Lieutenant. • Three firefighters were hired on July 11, 2022. They entered the NYS Fire Academy Recruit Training Program on August 1, 2022. The firefighters will complete their training at the NYS Fire Academy on November 11, 2022 d) Firefighters on Injury Leave or Light Duty • There is one fire lieutenant who is on long-term injury leave. • There is one firefighter who is on maternity, but we expect the firefighter to return to full duty in August or September of 2022. 2) Budget Report a) 2022 Budget: Budget Summary is attached to this memo 4) Grants and Donations a) In 2021, we applied for two FEMA Assistance to Firefighting Grants. The first grant application is requesting funding to replace our 31-year-old Heavy Rescue, and the second grant application is requesting funding to replace 63 Portable Radios. FEMA began announcing awards on July 29, 2022. Awards will be notified through September 30, 2022. We have not received notice if we will be awarded a grant. 5) Apparatus a) A new Pumper Truck has been ordered in 2021 and will be delivered in the spring of 2023. It is replacing a 2001 Pumper Truck 6) Facilities a) An option agreement has been approved by Common Council to sell the East Hill Fire Station at 309 College Avenue in the City of Ithaca. In exchange, the City of Ithaca will acquire property at 403 Elmwood Avenue and 408 Dryden Road to relocate the fire station to a new location. In addition, a payment of $5.1 million Page 3 of 6 - Fire Chief s Mid Year Report August 4th, 2022 will be made to the City as part of the sale of the 309 College Ave Property. Over the next several months, the Common Council and the City Planning Board will review the agreement and the design for a new Fire Station before deciding to execute its option on the sale of the existing Fire Station. b) Common Council approved a capital project to determine the renovation needs for the Central Fire Station, the West Hill Fire Station, the South Hill Fire Station, and the replacement of the Fire Training Center. The City will be contracting with a design professional to study the needs and options for those facilities. LIFE SAFETY DIVISION Fire Prevention Bureau 1) Code Enforcement Division: The following is a list of Activities for the June 30, 2022: Complaints Received: 148 Referred to the City Building Division 83 Referred to the Town of Ithaca 12 Investigated by the Fire Prevention Bureau 53 Inspections: 656 City Fire Safety & Property Maintenance 192 City - Permit Required City Fire Safety 287 Town Fire Safety & Property 63 City - Sprinkler Inspections 40 City - Alternative Fire Protection Systems 6 City - Fire Alarm Inspection 52 City — Standpipe Hydrostatic Test 1 City - Standpipe Flow Test 6 City — Fire Pump Flow Test 1 City — Elevator 8 Permits or Certificates: 467 Operating Permit - Install/Alter Fire Protection 40 Operating Permit - Assembly Occupancy 93 Operating Permit - Large Assembly Occupancy 30 Operating Permit - Elevator 171 Operating Permit - Food Truck 8 Operating Permit - Hazardous Occupancy 5 Page 4 of 6 - Fire Chief s Mid Year Report August 4th, 2022 Operating Permit - Lumberyard 1 Operating Permit - Parking Garage 6 Operating Permit - Discharge Fireworks - Outdoors 0 Certificate of Compliance - Alternative Suppression 6 Certificate of Compliance - Commercial Inspection 71 Certificate of Compliance - Educational Occupancy 0 Certificate of Compliance - Emergency Responder Radio 0 Certificate of Compliance - Fire Alarm System 20 Certificate of Compliance - Fire Pump 1 Certificate of Compliance - Fire Sprinkler System 7 Certificate of Compliance - Fire Standpipe 7 Occupancy Postings 7 Plan Reviews: 37 Alternative Fire Protection System Plan Review 1 Fire Alarm System Plan Review 13 Water -Based Fire Protection System Plan Review 23 2) Fire Investigation Unit: The Fire Investigation Team investigated fifteen fires in the first half of 2022. Fourteen fires were in the City of Ithaca, and one fire was in the Town of Ithaca 3) Public Education and Special Events (Due to COVID, in -person activities are limited in 2022): Public Education Events: 2 Fire Drills Witnessed: 0 4) Inspection fees increase from $58 per hour to $60 per hour in January of 2022. Permit fees will remain the same as they were in 2021. The last change in fire prevention inspection fees was in 2020. Page 5 of 6 - Fire Chief s Mid Year Report August 4th, 2022 OPERATIONS DIVISION 1) Emergency Response: 2022 Responses as of June 30, 2022 - 2355 Incidents City of Ithaca: 1818 Incidents (77.20%) Fires: 78 Overpressure/Rupture 4 EMS/Rescue: 615 Hazardous Conditions: 102 Service Calls: 118 Good Intent: 346 Alarms/No Fires: 555 Severe Weather: 0 Other: 0 Town of Ithaca: 528 Incidents 22.42%) Fires: 11 Overpressure/Rupture: 0 EMS/Rescue: 277 Hazardous Conditions: 27 Service Calls: 29 Good Intent: 74 Alarms/No Alarm: 107 Severe Weather: 3 Other: 0 Mutual Aid: 9 Incidents (0.38%) Fires: 2 Overpressure/Rupture: 0 EMS/Rescue: 2 Hazardous Conditions: 2 Service Calls: 0 Good Intent: 3 Alarms/No Fires: 0 Severe Weather: 0 Other: 0 Simultaneous Incidents: 355 Incidents (15.07%) Page 6 of 6 - Fire Chief s Mid Year Report August 4th, 2022 Volunteer Recruitment and Retention 1) Summaries of Service Hours: Annual Report 2) There are currently 11 Active Volunteer Fire Police. • N 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ) j 0 0 0 0 M O 0 0 0 0 M f t O O m LC) M 0 0 0 N (0 LC) 'T dO' f i T O O O M N( it •s > LO M O O 0 0 0 N � ) - O CO O O N f O N M s ) CO N CD CD CO N M CD CD N co Lo N 00 ) 1 f d' O O O cc O O O O et L f t d' O O O O O O N � d d dCL p p O O L a O L• aV o L. 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(D .� \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 O O O O O O O O O O O O CY) 00 Il- CO LO d M 04 ZO ZO im Ithaca FD IFD - Incident Type Period Comparisons Alarm Date Between {O1/01/2022} and f03/31/2022) Incident Type 100 Fire, Other III Building fire 112 Fires in structure other than in a building 113 Cooking fire, confined to container 114 Chimney or flue fire, confined to chimney or 116 Fuel burner/boiler malfunction, fire confined 117 Commercial Compactor fire, confined to rubbish 118 Trash or rubbish fire, contained 130 Mobile property (vehicle) fire, Other 131 Passenger vehicle fire 140 Natural vegetation fire, Other 142 Brush or brush -and -grass mixture fire 150 Outside rubbish fire, Other 151 Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 154 Dumpster or other outside trash receptacle fire 160 Special outside fire, Other 251 Excessive heat, scorch burns with no ignition 300 Rescue, EMS incident, other 3002Gorge Rescue, EMS incident, Low Angle Rope 311 Medical assist, assist EMS crew 320 Emergency medical service, other 321 EMS call, excluding vehicle accident with injur 322 Motor vehicle accident with injuries 323 Motor vehicle/pedestrian accident (MV Ped) 324 Motor Vehicle Accident with no injuries 331 Lock -in (if lock out . use 511 ) 331ILock-in Knox Box Access Required 3312Lock-in Force Entry Required 340 Search for lost person, other 342 Search for person in water 350 Extrication, rescue, Other 352 Extrication of victim(s) from vehicle 353 Removal of victim(s) from stalled elevator 362 Ice rescue 381 Rescue or EMS standby 400 Hazardous condition, Other 410 Combustible/flammable gas/liquid condition, 411 Gasoline or other flammable liquid spill 412 Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 413 Oil or other combustible liquid spill 421 Chemical hazard (no spill or leak) 422 Chemical spill or leak 424 Carbon monoxide incident 01/01/2022 01/01/2021 01/01/2020 01/01/2019 to to to to 03/31/2022 03/31/2021 03/31/2020 03/31/2019 4 1 2 2 8 3 5 12 0 1 0 0 5 8 8 3 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 1 2 0 1 0 0 0 3 3 6 4 3 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 5 5 1 0 6 3 0 0 1 2 1 0 0 2 2 0 1 2 4 1 1 2 1 1 0 0 1 0 8 7 9 5 7 10 72 7 y 381 322 380 521 10 15 13 15 2 1 6 1 6 0 8 12 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 4 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 6 2 4 4 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 10 7 13 12 2 3 2 1 3 2 2 3 21 20 5 11 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 1 0 14 9 5 7 04/05/2022 17:04 Page 1 Ithaca FD IFD - Incident Type Period Comparisons Alarm Date Between {O1/01/2022} and f03/31/2022) Incident Type 440 Electrical wiring/equipment problem, Other 441 Heat from short circuit (wiring), defective/wor 442 Overheated motor 444 Power line down 445 Arcing, shorted electrical equipment 461 Building or structure weakened or collapsed 463 Vehicle accident, general cleanup 500 Service Call, other 510 Person in distress, Other 511 Lock -out 520 Water problem, Other 521 Water evacuation 522 Water or steam leak 531 Smoke or odor removal 541 Animal problem 542 Animal rescue 550 Public service assistance, Other 551 Assist police or other governmental agency 552 Police matter 553 Public service 554 Assist invalid 555 Defective elevator, no occupants 561 Unauthorized burning 571 Cover assignment, standby, moveup 600 Good intent call, Other 611 Dispatched & cancelled en route 6110Dispatched & cancelled - Per Policy 611IDispatched & cancelled en route - By Dispatcher 6112Dispatched & cancelled en route - By Bangs 6113Dispatched & cancelled en route - By CUEMS 6114Dispatched & cancelled en route - By CU EH&S 6115Dispatched & cancelled en route - By IC Safety 6117Dispatched & cancelled en route - By MA Dept 6118Dispatched & cancelled en route - By IPD 6119Dispatched & cancelled en route - By Other 621 Wrong location 622 No Incident found on arrival at dispatch addres 631 Authorized controlled burning 641 Vicinity alarm (incident in other location) 650 Steam, Other gas mistaken for smoke, Other 651 Smoke scare, odor of smoke 652 Steam, vapor, fog or dust thought to be smoke 661 EMS call, party transported by non -fire agency 01/01/2022 01/01/2021 01/01/2020 01/01/2019 to to to to 03/31/2022 03/31/2021 03/31/2020 03/31/2019 6 2 1 4 n 2 2 2 1 5 5 3 6 4 4 4 6 5 1 6 2 1 0 1 0 2 2 2 1 35 37 30 35 1 4 3 1 0 0 1 4 4 1 0 2 5 0 1 0 10 4 4 6 5 4 0 2 0 0 1 1 2 0 0 3 3 2 1 2 7 5 5 9 0 1 0 0 2 0 3 5 0 2 0 2 1 2 0 0 0 2 3 1 2 0 0 1 20 11 14 21 3 1 0 1 0 0 56 0 8 2 4 2 81 54 70 65 21 10 13 7 30 27 54 57 8 12 18 14 0 1 1 4 2 4 9 1 2 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 s 25 13 7 13 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 0 0 0 1 1 6 2 1 2 3 1 1 0 0 0 04/05/2022 17:04 Page 2 Ithaca FD IFD - Incident Type Period Comparisons Alarm Date Between {O1/01/2022} and f03/31/2022) Incident Type 671 HazMat release investigation w/no HazMat 700 False alarm or false call, Other 7001False alarm or false call, Other - Medical Alar 710 Malicious, mischievous false call, Other 711 Municipal alarm system, malicious false alarm 714 Central station, malicious false alarm 715 Local alarm system, malicious false alarm 721 Bomb scare - no bomb 730 System malfunction, Other 731 Sprinkler activation due to malfunction 733 Smoke detector activation due to malfunction 734 Heat detector activation due to malfunction 735 Alarm system sounded due to malfunction 736 CO detector activation due to malfunction 740 Unintentional transmission of alarm, Other 741 Sprinkler activation, no fire - unintentional 743 Smoke detector activation, no fire - 744 Detector activation, no fire - unintentional 745 Alarm system activation, no fire - unintentiona 746 Carbon monoxide detector activation, no CO 812 Flood assessment Totals 01/01/2022 01/01/2021 01/01/2020 01/01/2019 to to to to 03/31/2022 03/31/2021 03/31/2020 03/31/2019 9 7 19 10 1 1 0 2 m 11 15 14 15 3 1 2 7 1 0 3 1 5 4 2 7 1 3 2 1 0 0 1 0 4 5 0 7 28 4 2 8 26 18 19 17 2 2 2 0 17 10 20 15 3 4 4 6 9 5 16 22 11 4 5 8 157 147 141 153 24 19 7 10 1 76 11 18 24 0 1 2 0 2 0 1 0 1221 920 1164 1224 04/05/2022 17:04 Page 3 Ithaca FD Volunteer Hours Report (Summary) Date Between 101/01/20221 And (06/30/2022) Staff Id Alt Id Name Total 4602 Adams, Andrew J 17.98 3258 Baker, Lyman E 4.00 3617 Bordoni, Gary 12.86 3883 Cornelius, Dave 20.39 4188 Gilligan, William 25.25 4301 Gould, Jack 23.64 4153 Longo, Robert 12.64 4620 Onah, Joy 22.24 4621 Powers, John 27.16 3793 Rogers, James 26.95 4623 Sedlock, Stephen M 6.50 4617 Williams, Steve 16.99 216.60 0 8 / 0 5 / 2 0 2 2 19:43 Page 1 I I W' 12) 07 10 (q Ix.), 1 11 N m ,3 W) d rW� l,,l lT 6A m In W, a 6R 0', wa 1', o "4 6,Q C4 g I.° -,o N . m tg "1 g 6 0, tz 11) v" (1 a BUJUIDLUON a',' n I" cY 1) 0 M o CI 0 N M 0 0, co Inn c:, "D C4 I M popuadx3 11) cori ,I� '0 o c 04 co w OSCZ L C4 LA nDeing bulujoil C4 OOCZL juawaBDUDW AouaBjaw3 11 W IC -I C) — q ( V 1% 1 I, o In OSZZL 10 V:urT co uopeS poddns ol CI In ao I v Ln OOZZL I cr (I� 14P i uolloaS asuodsom a C4 ON L?; L W) U01joes Ajolos �42 �n I'D Q. 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