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Home My WebLink About2010-01-18 Danby Town Board Special Meeting Minutes January 18, 2010 Present: Supervisor: Ric Dietrich Councilpersons: Leslie Connors, Dan Klein, Kathy Halton, Dylan Race Others Present: Pamela Goddard Town Clerk Susan Beeners Code Enforcement Officer Members of the Public: Joel Gagnon, Ted Crane, Ronda Roaring, Liz Owens Call to Order Supervisor Dietrich called the meeting to order at 7:00pm Resolution No. 23 of 2010 -APPROVAL OF MINUTES Resolved,That the Town Board of the Town of Danby approve minutes of Town Board meetings from 12/7/2009, 12/14/2009, 12/28/2009 and 1/4/2010 with the following amendments: 12/7/2009: Correct the spelling of Nancy Medsker in two places(bottom page one and twice page two). Page two; move the last two sentences, regarding Stormwater laws, in the section on CSEA contract to the following paragraph on proposed Local Laws. On page two: replace the word"bungling"with the word "bundling." On page two, replace"send her letter"with "send the Task Force Letter." 12/14/2009: Correct the spelling of Fredric Dietrich's name in the first line. In the section Privilege of the Floor add"and that Kim Rothman is about to become a partner" in the section on Attorney contracts. 12/28/2010: add the word "possibly may not be held"to the section on when TB meetings will be held. 1/4/2010: no changes Moved by Klein, Second by Halton. The motion passed. In Favor: Connors, Halton, Klein, Race, Dietrich Business: The following topics were discussed in relation to setting priorities for 2010: • Planning Board and Board of Zoning Appeals vacancies: The Town Board reviewed the lists of current PB and BZA members with their terms, and the applications from four persons interested in being appointed to Planning Board. Susan Hautala's BZA term expired 2009. She will be Page 1 of 3 contacted to see whether she is interested in serving another term on the BZA. Eric Banford is already appointed to the EMC. He should be contacted regarding his interest in the Planning Board. Dan Klein volunteered to make these contacts. The Town Board anticipated that there would be some discussion of appointments of Secretary and Chair to the Planning Board during an upcoming joint meeting on Jan. 21. New Planning Board members may want to have a say in appointing Chair. The Town Board wants to have a better sense of issues the Planning Board will handle during the next year, and discuss how the two boards can work most effectively together. It was suggested that Pamela Goddard attend the joint Planning Board and Town Board meeting and take notes as a matter of redundancy. • Interviewing applicants to the Planning Board: These will be conducted prior to the Town Board agenda meeting on Monday, February 1 at 6:30 pm. • Road Testing: The Town Board considers this an important issue and wants to learn more about this process. The need to test road conditions for a base-line understanding of current conditions in the face of future heavy truck use and industrial operations is a complicated question as to costs, responsibilities, and the proper contractors. The Town Board is interested in SPECTRA doing a presentation through the Highway Department and Supervisor's office. Road Laws are being drafted at the same time that the need for road testing is being explored. • Noise and Light Legislative Program: Members of the Town Board consider this an equally important issue and want to keep them on the table. Noise and light impacts from industrial activity, such as Marcellus Gas Drilling, could have a major impact on Danby residents. The Supervisor expressed concern about the amount of money Danby is spending on attorney fees for related local laws. He would like to see more shared costs between municipalities and Town and County governments. It was suggested that the Gas Drilling Task Force continues exploring "nuisance laws" with the assistance of students from the Cornell Law School. • Zoning Ordinance and Subdivision updates: The task of updating the language of local Regulations, so that the regulations reflect changes enacted in recent Local Laws and Ordinances, should fall under the Town Clerk's tasks. This will require a temporary assistant to the Town Clerk and possible input from the Attorneys for the Town. While this is not a pressing issue, it will become increasingly complex with the passage of new Local Laws over the next year. This may be a good project for a Records Management grant or intern program through a Cornell Work Study position or money through the Danby Community Council. • State Mandated Training for Planning Board and BZA: Members of these Boards, and the Town Board, need to keep up with State Mandated levels of training. The coordination of training sessions could be delegated to a member of the Planning Board. These might also be coordinated through the Tompkins County Council of Governments. Reminders should be sent to members of these boards that a certain number of training hours are required. Leslie Connors volunteered to remain the Town Board liaison with the Planning Board, and follow up with these needs. • Gas Drilling Task Force: Kathy Halton will remain the Town Board representative on the GDTF. The GDTF will focus on researching Noise, Light, and Pipeline ordinances. The Task Force is also coordinating a"Listening Project" in order to better understand the attitudes and concerns of Danby residents. Members of the Task Force are going for training, and will recruit members of the community to take part in this project. Listening sessions may be held with community groups and at neighborhood gatherings. Page 2 of 3 • Emergency Preparedness: A County level workshop, Everything You've Ever Wanted to Know About Emergency Preparedness, for all elected officials is being organized for sometime in March. (March 30?) The Supervisor encouraged all members of Town Government to take advantage of on- line courses through the National Emergency Management System. Concerns regard continuity of service in the event of an emergency. There have been joint meetings of the Fire Department, Town Hall, and Highway Depai went. Interdepartment meetings may resume. While the Town is a"lead agency"Danby is only a link in a much larger chain. • Hamlet Planning initiatives: Discussion touched on the direction and goals of the Hamlet Plan. Aspects of the Hamlet Plan might best be tackled by sub-committees of the Planning Board.As an example, there is a potential grant through Sheen Housing to do work on housing rehab in the Danby Hamlet area,with $20,000 improvement on some houses. This would be income-based in a targeted area. Previously, this type of work fell was handled by the Code Enforcement Officer. $6-10,000 is budgeted in the Comprehensive Plan budget for assistance for a project such as affordable housing initiatives. CEO Beeners advises that an ambitious zoning program not be undertaken without first getting the pulse of the Town's residents and providing education for existing programs. The Town Board should provide direction to the Planning Board by developing a list of what it would like the PB to work on in the next year. Some items in the Hamlet Plan are likely candidates. There was a discussion about providing educational forums for sustainable community and responding to residents'very real concerns about being able to afford to maintain their land. • Comprehensive Planning Task Force: There was a short discussion about revisiting directions and goals from the 2005 Comprehensive Plan and reviving the CPTF. The Town Board would like to see this Task Force re-established and it's work continue. Resolution No. 24 of 2010 - SPECIAL TOWN BOARD MEETING Resolved,That the Town Board of the Town of Danby will hold an additional special meeting at 7:00pm on February 22,2010 to continue working on the`Rough Work Lists." Moved by Klein, Second by Connors. The motion passed. In Favor: Connors, Halton, Klein, Race, Dietrich The meeting ended with brief updates on the Town Clerk audit (not finished yet), the SPCA Contract(there is discussion of a Countywide review board), Records Management(there is a February 1 deadline for 2010 grants through the State Archives. First priority is some sort of inventory grant), Health Care Consortium(Supervisor Dietrich is optimistic that this will pull together by the end of February), and the on-going Broadband Initiative. Adjournment A motion to adjourn the Special Meeting was made at 9:20 pm. Pamela S. Goddard,Town Clerk Page 3 of 3