HomeMy WebLinkAboutCB packet 2025-04-03 . TOWN OF ITHACA
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NEW YORK
DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING
215 N. Tioga Street, Ithaca NY 14850
607-273-1747
www.townithacany.gov
TO: CONSERVATION BOARD MEMBERS
FROM: MICHAEL SMITH, SENIOR PLANNER
DATE: MARCH 27, 2025
SUBJECT: UPCOMING CONSERVATION BOARD MEETING —APRIL 3, 2025
This is to confirm that the next meeting of the Conservation Board (CB) is Thursday,
April 3rd at 5:30 p.m. The agenda for this meeting is enclosed (see the back of this
memo).
The draft minutes from the March 6th meeting are attached. Please email me any
spelling, grammatical, or other minor edits you have prior to the meeting. The draft
minutes from the February 6th meeting were not available to include in the packet.
At this meeting, Caroline Marschner (Invasive Species Extension Associate, School of
Integrative Plant Science at Cornell University) will join us to discuss how conservation
goals may influence approaches to invasive plant species management.
We will also start to plan for the Fischer Award tree planting event. We will need to start
talking about potential dates in May, park or trail planting locations, and tree species.
Joe Talbut (Town Parks Maintenance Manager) has been in touch with the winner for
initial thoughts on locations and species and I will hopefully have ideas to share at the
meeting.
We will also continue the conversation on CB member recruitment ideas.
Ingrid is signed up to take minutes at the April meeting.
If you have any questions prior to the meeting or are not able to attend, please contact
me at msmith(a)townithacany.gov or 607-273-1747.
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TOWN OF ITHACA
CONSERVATION BOARD
5:30 p.m., Thursday, April 3, 2025
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Aurora Conference Room
215 N. Tioga Street
Ithaca,New York 14850
(The rear entrance is handicapped accessible)
(607)273-1747
Members of the public are welcome to attend in-person at Town Hall
or virtually via Zoom (https://zoom.us/i/6750593272).
AGENDA
1. Caroline Marschner,Invasive Species Extension Associate
Discussion of how conservation goals may influence approaches to invasive plant species
management
2. Persons to be heard
3. Members comments/concerns
4. Environmental Review Committee Update (Lori)
5. Chair and Coordinator reports
6. Approval of minutes from February 6,2025 and March 6,2025
7. Plan for the 2024 Richard B.Fischer Environmental Conservation Award tree planting
8. Discussion of Conservation Board member recruitment ideas
9. Regular reports and updates (6:30 pm)
a. Scenic Resources Committee (Eva)
b. Communications Committee (Ingrid)
C. Tompkins County EMC(Ingrid)
d. Six Mile Creek Volunteer Monitoring Program (James)
e. Cornell Botanic Gardens Natural Areas Program(James)
10. Other Business(6:50 p.m.)
11. Review 2025 Work Goals(Frank)/Discuss May Agenda
12. Adjourn(7:00 p.m.)
Conservation Board Members and Associates(*)
Lori Brewer(Chair),Frank Cantone(Vice-Chair),Lindsay Dombroskie*,
James Hamilton,Eva Hoffmann,Ingrid Zabel
Town of Ithaca Conservation Board
March 6, 2025,5:30 p.m.
(In Person at Town Hall and via Zoom Video Conference)
Draft Minutes
Members Present: Lori Brewer, James Hamilton, Eva Hoffmann, Ingrid Zabel
Staff Present: Michael Smith (Senior Planner)
Guests: Pete Loucks, interested in possibly joining the CB
1. Persons to be heard: none
2. Members comments/concerns: none
3. Environmental Review Committee Update(Lori)
a. Ithaca College track—not a lot to comment on this. Lori's e-mail shared the ERC's
thoughts.
b. Cornell Game Farm Road plastic carpet project—Town of Ithaca Planning Board
decided not to issue a positive declaration. There will be no Environmental Impact
Statement. Environmental determination will take place at the March 18, 2025
Planning Board meeting.
Relatedly,the Town Board declined our request for a moratorium on plastic carpet.
What should we do next?
Discussion concluded that we can try to draw on policies at the state level that
could apply locally. For example,our state Senator Lea Webb is on the New York
State Senate Health Committee which is working on Senate Bill S04693.This bill
"provides for a public health study by the department of health on the installation of
crumb rubber in synthetic turf."
Lori will write an email to Webb, asking for information. Mike can send the e-mail via
the Town of Ithaca CB email address so it's official. Now through June is the State
Senate's active session, so it's a good time to communicate with them.
A concern was voiced that we rely on surface water for our water supply, but Bolton
Point has no filteringfor microplastics.
We discussed communications about the proposed Game Farm Road project
through the CB's social media. We can't single out this project, but if Senator Webb
posts about bill S04693 on her social media,we can share her posts. Our
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comments, such as our memos to the Town of Ithaca Planning Board, are already in
the public record.
c. Verizon tower: the Zoning Board denied the height variance that Verizon had
requested.
d. Mirabito station/convenience store at East Hill Plaza: The Planning Board
rationalized cutting down the old trees that we had urged them to save because they
said the Norway spruces were invasive(they didn't mention the native catalpa tree).
Norway spruce is listed as an invasive on Tompkins County's list of invasive plants,
and the Planning Department uses that list.
In future comments from the CB to the Planning Board, we can be more clear about
invasive vs. not native. We can provide specific examples(Bradford pear was
mentioned as an invasive).
We should emphasize that they should be planting native plants. Mike: Planning
staff will review Mirabito's final planting list and check for invasives.
4. Chair Report: none
Coordinator report:
a. Deer culling is moving along. Stands &feeders were set up in early February at 8
sites, and hunters have culled 9 deer so far(compare this with 10 deer total last
year). Work will continue through the end of March. A few sites have nothing. Mike
will present results at our next meeting.
Question: does Mike hear from adjacent landowners that this work is helping?Mike:
the Town doesn't get much feedback, but occasionally they get positive responses
to the letters they send to landowners.
b. Babcock Ridge, Culver Rd.: Designs are wrapping up, and the Town expects the full
set of plans in the next few weeks. Hoping for summer or fall construction.
c. New state wetlands regulations: Mike has watched webinars to learn more.
i. There are 11 criteria for determining if a wetland is present. If you are a
landowner and you meet one of the 11 criteria, you should submit to DEC for
a determination. DEC has 90 days to respond to a landowner/applicant
about a wetland determination.
ii. DEC is not going to automatically notify the Town about determinations,
which are only shared with the landowner. The Town might have to request
information from landowners.The Town will want this information for SEQR,
Planning Board reviews, etc.
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iii. It's the landowner's responsibility to contact DEC, not the Town's.
iv. In real estate transactions, buyers might want to get determinations done so
they know what type of land they are purchasing.
5. Minutes: none to approve
6. FischerAward
Two nominees: Rich Schoch and Zero Waste Ithaca. After discussion,the majority voted for
Rich Schoch.
There was a request to make an addition on the Town of Ithaca Fischer award webpage
noting that Fischer was a longtime member of the Conservation Board.
7. Ideas for future invited speakers
a. Someone from the EMC to speak about UNAs in the Town of Ithaca (Ingrid will
contact)
b. Someone to talk about understanding the role of invasive/non-native species in
conservation decisions(Lori will contact)
c. Hilary Swartwood,Town of Ithaca Sustainability Planner,to give us an update on
sustainability efforts(Mike will contact)
d. Kristy Sullivan,talk about deer browse studies(Lori will contact)
8. Recruitment Ideas:Could be some type of collective effort with other local CB's or CAC's on
recruitment. Maybe discuss with other groups at the EMC meeting in May.
9. Reports and Updates
a. Scenic Resources(Eva): no news.
b. Communications(Ingrid):
i. Facebook stats—i n the last 28 days the CB's posts reached 74 people; 12
post engagements;3 likes.
c. EMC (Ingrid):
i. A committee of the EMC has finalized an updated inventory of unique
natural areas (UNAs). Plans are to distribute the hard copy of the inventory
to local libraries (and municipalities?)
ii. The EMC has been working with a Cornell public policy class to help develop
a strategic plan
d. The Six Mile Creek volunteers met for their annual meeting at CSI's Langmuir Lab
Feb 24th.Ten attending included 7 volunteers, 1 CSI staff,an Ithaca College
professor and her student.We planned 3 synoptic sampling dates for Six Mile this
year: 3/19, 8/27,and 11/12/25,though we will tryto catch a storm event that might
replace one of these scheduled samples. It has been several years since we caught
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a flood,which gives important sediment data, so the CSI lab might even work on a
weekend if we can catch a big storm or snowmelt. The IC professor, Cynthia Becker,
wants to start a new collaboration to study the bacteria in Six Mile,which are just as
sensitive to pollution and chemical influences as the Benthic Mac roinvertebrates
we sample once yearly. On 3/19/25,we will for the first time be collecting water
samples for bacterial microbiome analysis in Dr. Becker's lab.
e. The Cornell Natural Areas volunteers had two planned jobs cancelled by cold and
then by rain,when glyphosate couldn't be used to prevent resprouting of woody
invasive stumps freshly lopped or sawed in the Mud Creek Swamp in Freeville, also
known as Eames Bog.We were able, however, to work there two other Tuesday
afternoons, and removed a lot of Amur honeysuckle, privet, buckthorn, and
multiflora rose around mud creekwhile the bog was mostlyfrozen and thus easier
to access.The weather for proper herbicide application can't be too wet or cold.
10. Other Business: none
11. April Agenda: Continue talking about recruitment ideas and the planning for the Fischer tree
planting event.
12. Meeting adjourned at 6:56 pm
Minutes prepared by Ingrid Zabel
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