Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutTB Minutes 2011-09-26oz Study Session of the Ithaca Town Board Monday, September 26, 2011 at 4:30 p.m. 215 North Tloga Street, Ithaca, NY 14850 Agenda 1. Call to Order 2. Review Draft Agenda for Regular Meeting 3. Town Official's Reports 4. Report from Committees a. Budget Committee b. Codes and Ordinances Committee c. Comprehensive Plan Committee d. Operations Committee e. Planning Committee f. Personnel Committee g. Public Works Committee h. Records Management Advisory Board (RMAB) Adhoc Committees 5. Discussion Item a. Discuss the Draft Emergency Management Plan b. Discuss the Draft Agricultural and Farmland Protection Plan 6. Consider Setting Public Hearing Regarding the Seasonal Parking on Lois and Penny Lane (see wording form August) 7. Presentation of the Tentative 2012 Budget 8. Consider Consent Agenda Items a. Town of Ithaca Abstract b. Approval of Revised August 22, 2011 Minutes and September 12, 2011 9. Review of Correspondence 10. Consider Adjournment f f t Study Sessionof the Ithaca Town Board Monday, September 26, 2011 at 4:30 p.m. 215 North Tioga Street, Ithaca, NY 14850 Minutes Board Members Present : Herb Engman, Supervisor; Pat Leary, Eric Levine, Tee-Ann Hunter and Rich DePaolo Absent – Bill Goodman and Nahmin Horwitz Call to Order Mr. Engman called the meeting to order at 4:31p.m. The draft Agricultural and Farmland Protection Plan discussion was moved to the first item. Discuss the Draft Agricultural and Farmland Protection Plan Mike Smith, Environmental Planner gave the history of the project explaining that the Plan was funded by a grant in early 2009. A steering committee was formed comprising staff and members of the Agricultural Committee and Conservation Board and they worked with Cornell Cooperative Extension to develop a questionnaire that was used to solicit comments from residents and farmers. After visiting 16 farms and going through the questionnaire in detail with the farmers, common themes were listed and a meeting was held to develop a vision statement and goals and then prioritize the goals. Mr. Smith noted that the draft has been presented to the County and the Farmland Protection Agency and having an adopted plan will help the Town in securing future grants and/or applications for protection or land acquisitions. The Plan needs to be approved by the County and the Town Board and then forwarded to the Commissioner of Agriculture and Markets for approval. Discussion followed. The Board had questions about specific parcels shown on the various maps and whether they had any authority to protect Cornell land from coming out of agricultural use. Board members suggested that captions be added to the pictures and an explanation of the barn icon on one of the graphs be made a little clearer. Mr. Smith explained the next steps in the process because a SEQR will need to be done and a public hearing scheduled and held. The Board asked if he would be ready to set the hearing at the October meeting and he responded that he would. Review Draft Agenda for Budget and Regular Meetings There were no comments from the Board. TBS 9-26-2011 Page 2 of 6 Town Official’s Reports Mr. Engman reported that the first meeting with the Teamsters was held today and another one scheduled. He also reported that he met with Ulysses along with Eric and Jim regarding their water issue and that is continuing. Mr. Engman noted that a lawsuit has been filed against the town of Dryden regarding their ban on drilling and the Town has an agreement with the towns of Dryden and Ulysses regarding legal work associated with drilling and our lawyers think we are in good shape, but Dryden may be using their local attorney to represent them and this is a really big case and may set precedent for other towns, so there is some debate on the merit of that. Discussion followed. Report from Committees Budget Committee Mr. Levine reported that they discussed the tentative budget which will be presented later tonight. Codes and Ordinances Committee Mr. Levine reported for Mr. Goodman. The stream setback law was reviewed and a presentation on green building practices was held. Comprehensive Plan Committee Mr. Engman reported that they are reviewing goals and recommendations and having some lively and productive discussions. He added that the City has begun their comprehensive plan review but eliminated the city and the town liaison. At this point theirs will be too late for us to consider in ours. Operations Committee Mr. Engman reported that they discussed the Ethics Code revisions and appeal as well as problems with the carpeting in Town Hall, the picnic tables on Buffalo St and reviewed the air quality survey and interview forms. The Ethics Code revisions were referred back to the Committee and will be discussed at the next meeting. Planning Committee Mr. DePaolo reported that they talked about the study of West Hill and decided to verify and/or corroborate assumptions based on existing traffic data and potentially supplement them with new data if there are gaps. Planning staff is going to present some basic scenarios of the neighborhood(s) locations that are under consideration between Route 96 and 79 and work with the County planner do some traffic modeling and see what type of scenario will have what type of impact. He added that a meeting with the city was held and he felt it was productive and informative in that some misconceptions on both sides were cleared up, but he didn’t come away with any assumptions other than that another bridge over the inlet is unlikely. He felt it was a good start of a conversation and another one was scheduled for Adopted October 6, 2011 TBS 9-26-2011 Page 3 of 6 later in October. Ms. Hunter added that they seemed supportive of the East Hill development plans with some concerns expressed about Cornell student housing and the traffic impact but they seemed congenial and not restrained. Discussion followed with Mr. DePaolo asking the Board for a sense of whether or not they should continue meeting and the Board responded yes. Ms. Leary was concerned that the Town not come across as too congenial about not building in the town and keeping development in the city. Mr. DePaolo responded that he did not think they were projecting that we were going to not build and they realize all housing is not going to be kept in the city. There was a lot of focus on mass-transit from one attendee and Mr. DePaolo and Ms. Hunter felt they made it clear that we each have our areas of authority and each are going to retain that authority but we need to share information about our shared borders so we can plan communities effectively. They realize they can not accommodate all of the development that is going to happen. Discussion followed regarding some projects that are moving through the city’s processes. Personnel Committee Ms. Hunter reported that they discussed wages and recommended a 2% increase. They also discussed possible contributions for health insurance and discussed different negotiating parameters and options of where we might go. They also looked at the college course reimbursement program and recommend that that be included in the budget. They also started looking at the County’s benefit package, dental insurance, possible long-term care being made available for employees to purchase. They also talked about switching from long-term to short-term disability insurance since that seems to be used more often as well as increasing life insurance policy payouts. Public Works Committee Mr. DePaolo reported that they were given project updates and noted that the Ridgecrest tank is now in compliance but further tests are still required by the state. They also talked about using grant monies to work on the Gateway Trail in the City so we don’t lose the funds while waiting for some resolution regarding the Emerson property. Adhoc Committees Youth and Recreation Ms. Hunter reported that she and Mr. DePaolo met with the graduate students from Cortland State to discuss doing a needs assessment for the Town similar to the one they did for Dryden and they are interested. This would be a yearlong project and there would be a survey developed and sent out to residents and then recommendations from that. Discussion followed. Discussion Item Draft Emergency Management Plan Ms. Drake distributed copies and noted that the Safety Committee has revised the policy and they have met with representatives from the County. She also added that there is a requirement for Board members to complete NIMS training which can be done Adopted October 6, 2011 TBS 9-26-2011 Page 4 of 6 online and she will forward information regarding that. She would like to have this adopted at the Organizational meeting in January. Consider Setting Public Hearing Regarding the Seasonal Parking on Lois and Penny Lane TB RESOLUTION NO. 2011- 146: SET A PUBLIC HEARING REGARDING A LOCAL LAW AMENDING CHAPTER 250 OF THE TOWN OF ITHACA CODE, TITLED “VEHICLES AND TRAFFIC,” TO PROHIBIT PARKING SEASONALLY ALONG PENNY LANE AND LOIS LANE RESOLVED, that the Town Board of the Town of Ithaca will hold a public hearing at Town Hall, 215 North Tioga Street, Ithaca, New York, on the 17th day of October, 2011, at 5:45p.m. for the purpose of considering a proposed Local Law Amending Chapter 250 of the Town of Ithaca Code, Titled “Vehicles and Traffic,” to prohibit parking along Penny Lane and Lois Lane; and FURTHER RESOLVED, that at such time and place all persons interested in the proposed amendment may be heard concerning the same; and FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Town Clerk of the Town of Ithaca is hereby authorized and directed to publish a notice of such public hearing in the Ithaca Journal published in the City of Ithaca, Ithaca, New York, and to post a copy of same on the signboard of the Town of Ithaca, said publication and posting to occur not less than ten days before the day designated above for the public hearing. MOVED: Rich DePaolo SECONDED: Eric Levine VOTE: Ayes – DePaolo, Levine, Engman, Hunter and Leary Absent: Goodman and Horwitz Presentation of the Tentative 2012 Budget Mr. Solvig presented the budget and explained the arrangement of the sections. The bottom line is a 5.8% increase in tax levy which will mean a resident who owns a house assessed at $190K will pay $63 more in taxes. Discussion followed on where the $190K figure came from and Mr. Solvig responded that Mr. Franklin at TC Assessment provided that as the typical house in the town. There was some discussion about that and Ms. Leary asked that he include a note explaining the figure in the budget. Of note is over 4% of the increase is due to funding fire protection and getting the fund back up to a comfortable level. Ms. Leary also asked that Mr. Solvig provide a narrative for the budget to go online with it to help residents understand the numbers. Consider Consent Agenda Items th The September 12 minutes were pulled for discussion. Adopted October 6, 2011 TBS 9-26-2011 Page 5 of 6 TB RESOLUTION NO. 2011-147: Consent Agenda BE IT RESOLVED, that the Town Board of the Town of Ithaca hereby approves and/or adopts the following Consent Agenda items: a. Town of Ithaca Abstract b. Approval of Minutes of August 22, 2011 MOVED: Tee-Ann Hunter SECONDED: Pat Leary VOTE: Ayes – DePaolo, Levine, Engman, Hunter and Leary Absent: Goodman and Horwitz TB RESOLUTION NO. 2011-147a: Town of Ithaca Abstract WHEREAS , the following numbered vouchers have been presented to the Ithaca Town Board for approval of payment; and WHEREAS , the said vouchers have been audited for payment by the said Town Board; now therefore be it RESOLVED , that the governing Town Board hereby authorizes the payment of the said vouchers in total for the amounts indicated. VOUCHER NOS. 1087-1169 General Fund Town wide 48,973.15 General Fund Part Town 8,148.31 Highway Fund Part Town 23,996.27 Water Fund 15,176.42 Sewer Fund 2,534.66 Warren Road Walkway 1,936.27 East Shore Drive Water Main 15,921.22 Town Hall Roof Replacement 2,420.95 Snyder Hill Water Improvement Snyder Hill Road Reconstruction 2,766.11 Hungerford Hill Pump Station 1,118.65 Fire Protection Fund 264,792.00 Risk Retention Fund 50.99 Forest Home Lighting District 187.27 Glenside Lighting District 56.37 Renwick Heights Lighting District 78.98 Eastwood Commons Lighting District 167.55 Clover Lane Lighting District 19.99 Winner’s Circle Lighting District 60.10 Burleigh Drive Lighting District 68.23 West Haven Road Lighting District 218.21 Adopted October 6, 2011 TBS 9-26-2011 Page 6 of 6 Coddington Road Lighting District 129.38 Trust and Agency Debt Service TOTAL 388,821.08 PeruletteTerwilliger Town Clerk Adopted October 6, 2011 : \ MOVED: Tee-Ann Hunter SECONDED: Pat Leary VOTE: Ayes - DePaolo, Levine, Engman, Hunter and Leary Absent: Goodman and Horwitz Mr. DePaolo noted that the September 12^^ minutes, under Board Comments and his comments regarding the Ithaca College cooling tower noise, misstated that the College was communicating with the residents. What he said was that the College has been communicating well with town staff. Change was made and minutes approved. TB RESOLUTION NO. 2011-148: Approval of Minutes of September 12. 2011 WHEREAS, the draft minutes of the September 12, 2011 of the Town Board have been submitted for review and approval; THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the governing Town Board hereby approves the submitted minutes as the final minutes of the September 12, 2011 of the Town Board of the Town of Ithaca. ' MOVED: Rich DePaolo SECONDED: Eric Levine VOTE: Ayes - DePaolo, Levine, Engman, Hunter and Leary Absent: Goodman and Horwitz Review of Correspondence Ms. Terwilliger noted the addition of LaTourelle notice of intent to renew their liquor license which was received today and not on the listing. A high school student in attendance asked what exactly we were doing and who we were so different board members explained how a board member is elected and what the board does. Meeting was adjourned upon motion and a second at 6:30 p.m. Respectfjully submitted, n