HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-06-15TB 6-15-17
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TOWN OF DRYDEN
TOWN BOARD MEETING
June 15, 2017
Present: Supervisor Jason Leifer, Cl Daniel Lamb, Cl Linda Lavine,
Cl Deborah Cipolla-Dennis, Cl Kathrin Servoss
Elected Officials: Bambi L. Avery, Town Clerk
Other Town Staff: Ray Burger, Director of Planning
Mariette Geldenhuys, Town Attorney
Supv Leifer opened the meeting at 7:08 p.m. and board members and guests recited the
pledge of allegiance.
TOWN CLERK
RESOLUTION #85 (2017) - APPROVE MINUTES
Supv Leifer offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption:
RESOLVED, that this Town Board hereby approves the meeting minutes of April 26,
May 11, May 18 and May 30, 2017.
2nd Cl Cipolla-Dennis
Roll Call Vote Cl Lavine Yes
Cl Cipolla-Dennis Yes
Cl Lamb Yes
Supv Leifer Yes
PUBLIC HEARING (continued)
CORTLAND ROAD SEWER DISTRICT RATES
Supv Leifer stated this public hearing was opened on May 30 and asked for
further comments. There were none. The hearing was closed at 7:10 p.m.
RESOLUTION #86 (2017) – APPROVE CORTLAND ROAD SEWER DISTRICT RATE
Supv Leifer offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption:
RESOLVED, that this Town Board hereby adopts the following local law and directs the
Town Clerk to file it with the NYS Department of State.
1. Section 6(b) of Local Law No. 2 of the year 2004 as amended by Local Law No. 2 of the
year 2007 and Local Law No. 3 of the year 2008 is hereby further amended by
substituting for the table of amount of water usage and rate set forth in such section,
the following table:
SEWER RATES RATE
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First 1250 gallons (minimum) 72.19
Next 13750 gallons (per thousand) 5.65
Next 25000 gallons (per thousand) 8.18
Next 20000 gallons (per thousand) 8.78
Next 40000 gallons (per thousand) 9.40
Next 100000 gallons (per thousand) 10.00
Next ALL gallons (per thousand) 10.00
2. This local law shall take effect upon filing with the Secretary of State and for all billing
periods which begin on or after July 15, 2017.
2nd Cl Cipolla-Dennis
Roll Call Vote Cl Lavine Yes
Cl Cipolla-Dennis Yes
Cl Lamb Yes
Supv Leifer Yes
PUBLIC HEARING
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT FUNDING
Supv Leifer opened the public hearing at 7:10 p.m.
Stacy Murphy, a grant writer for the town, reviewed the process and opportunities for
funding under the CDBG program. This public hearing is to gather input. She proposes to
apply for a $50,000 grant to do a community needs assessment to help determine which
program to apply for in the next round.
New York State's Office of Community Renewal (OCR) has opened its 2017 application round
for Community Development Block Grant (NYS CDBG) funding. NYS CDBG funds provide small
communities and counties in New York State with a great opportunity to undertake activities
that focus on certain community development needs.
Funding Available this Fiscal Year:
Approximately $45 million of NYS CDBG funds, in total, may be available for Program Year
2017. There is approximately $20M available through the State's Consolidated Funding
Application (CFA) for purposes listed below.
This Hearing is to identify needs and related activities that correspond to funding available
through the CFA; applications are due on or before July 28, 2017.
Eligible Activities and Possible funds available to Towns:
Each of the following activities must meet the HUD National Objective of creating activities
where at least 51% of the beneficiaries are low- and moderate-income.
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Public Infrastructure: Maximum $750,000. Joint Applicants with other municipalities:
$900,000
Examples: (but not limited to) Water source development, storage and distribution; sanitary
sewerage collection and treatment; flood control/stormwater.
Public Facilities: Maximum $300.000
Examples: (but not limited to) Structures to house or serve special needs populat ions, day care
centers, senior services; removal of architectural barriers for accessibility on such spaces;
multipurpose buildings with qualifying activities that are designed to serve primarily low to
moderate income persons.
Microenterprise: Maximum $200,000
Funding to establish a local microenterprise assistance program Planning: Maximum $50,000
Examples: Community Needs Assessments, Preliminary Engineering Reports, Existing Housing
Conditions Surveys - all activities must be designed to lead to a future application that will
directly benefit LMI persons. For example, a preliminary engineering report must be intended
to lead to a water, sewer or stormwater project. The Housing Conditions Survey must be
intended to lead to a housing rehabilitation application.
Other CDBG Funds
Economic Development and Small Business Assistance applications are accepted through open
round.
NY State will accept housing activity applications under a separate request for proposals at a
later date.
History
The Town of Dryden has received CDBG funding in the past for housing rehabilitation and
economic development activities, as well as other funding for Housing Rehabilitation Projects
through the NY State HOME program.
The Town is considering submitting a CDBG Planning application to evaluate the need for a
new, future housing rehabilitation project, and/ or an infrastructure project to extend
municipal water to an area of Town with sufficient LMI residents to qualify for CDBG funding.
The planning grant will help with getting information together to then be able to successfully
apply for and get one of the other kinds of projects later on. It is pretty competitive.
Bruno Schickel said he is very supportive rehabilitation of existing houses, particularly
in the area of energy efficiency in existing houses. It would be very, very helpful.
Supv Leifer said the last time the town did something like this is was tied in with a
small weatherization program and partnered with Tompkins Community Action. It was really
successful.
S Murphy stated this process will help identify the need and in the next round we would
apply for funding to address that need.
Cl Cipolla-Dennis said she agrees with B Schickel with respect to housing rehabilitation
and also would like to look at infrastructure. Those would be her priorities.
The public hearing was left open.
CITIZENS PRIVILEGE
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Janice Bretscher, 293 Ellis Hollow Creek Road, said she is one of the closest neighbors
to the Borger Compressor Station. She is a member of Mothers Out Front and they are very
concerned with the emissions from facility now and how that might change with the current
expansion and future possibly larger expansion. There are 225 households in the 2 kilometer
radius around the station and that adds up to a lot of people. They are concerned about how
the emissions might be affecting everyone’s health. The group is c onducting a two phase and
two part monitoring campaign in collaboration with Environmental Health Project and they are
in additional collaborating with the SUNY Albany School of Public Health for the study. They
have been disappointed because they have not been successful in recruiting the Tompkins
County Department of Health to assist in any way or give them any support. They would like
the town board to communicate with the Department of Health and perhaps persuade them to
take an interest in this. They are stunned that they are not concerned about the health issues
that could come from the expansions at this facility.
Their monitoring campaign is done in two phases and in two parts. Phase one is
happening now and is the pre-construction and during construction phase. From this phase
they will obtain baseline data for air quality and the health of the community. They will do
phase two some months after the expansion has been completed at Borger. One part of the
study is air quality monitoring which has just recently been completed. They have measured
for fine particulates in the air, for volatile organic compounds, hydrogen sulfide and
formaldehyde. All the devices that were used have been sent back to Environmental Health
Project and are waiting for funds to pay for the analysis of them.
The health study is ongoing and they have been hoping to convince 40 people in the 2
kilometer radius of the station to fill out the health surveys. It has been challenging and
difficult to do that. They need the help of the Department of Health behind them and their
support in their ability to reach out to residents and get them to participate.
As the monitoring campaign is winding down, they now need to turn the focus to fund
raising. She thanked the town for its letter of support because they know that will help them
obtain more grants. They have just been awarded a grant from the Mountain W atershed
Association and have received generous donations from community members. But they
haven’t even raised a quarter of the $9,000 they need to do the analysis of phase one of the
project. They’ll need another $9,000 for phase two. She said they would be grateful for any
help the town could provide.
CDBG Hearing –
Supv Leifer closed the public hearing on CDBG funding at 7:25 p.m.
RESOLUTION #87 (2017) – CDBG FUNDING APPLICATION
Supv Leifer offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption:
RESOLVED, that this Town Board believes it is in the best interests of the town and its
residents to move forward in the Community Development Block Grant funding process with a
planning grant application and the Town Supervisor is authorized to sign said application.
2nd Cl Lamb
Roll Call Vote Cl Lavine Yes
Cl Cipolla-Dennis Yes
Cl Lamb Yes
Supv Leifer Yes
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Citizens Privilege continued
Don Scutt said he doesn’t like paying taxes because someone else decides what to do
with your money. It should be a high priority of the town that every decision made should have
a thought process about how it affects taxes. He asks board to approve the budget and set the
tax rate prior to election. The last few years on the Thursday after the Tuesday election a
budget has been approved with double digit increases. It should be done prior to elections.
The board should also look at getting a balanced budget law in the town of Dryden.
With respect to the solar projects coming to Dryden, he is 100% in favor of solar coming
to Dryden. He is not in favor of how the projects are currently written. They seem to offend the
neighbors and he doesn’t understand why we would voluntarily do things to offend neighbors.
He believes the town does not get its full potential revenue or tax base for the project. It seems
odd that that the Tompkins County IDA, a non-elected board, makes financial decisions on
what is done in Dryden. It seems this non-elected board has taken the power away from the
town to negotiate with the solar companies. The Town of Dryden used to have its own IDA and
he thinks we should look at restarting that. He doesn’t know if it would legally trump the
county IDA, but believes there is money being left on the table and that we can do better. He
encouraged the board to look at establishing an IDA in the town to possibly negotiate a better
tax rate and to publicly state whether this town board thinks the agreement done by the
Tompkins County IDA with the solar companies is fair, good and just for the town of Dryden.
Sarah Osmeloski, 2180 Dryden Road, has a suggestion for Town Board and fellow
Dryden residents. On July 5 the land once farmed by Paul Cook will be auctioned off. She
thinks it might be beneficial to Distributed Sun and/or the town to buy this acreage and move
the 2150 Dryden Road to 114 Irish Settlement Road. There are a lot of reasons for this. There
would be less impact on the residents and the surrounding community. This parcel is big
enough so you could have ten plus megawatts installed and the panels would not be stacked
on top of each other like they are currently. There are less wetlands and natural areas to
avoid. There is also no cemetery problem. While the site is prime farmland, it also mostly
right now fallow and not plowed and seeded like 2150 is. The site will be visible from Route 13,
so everyone driving by may see solar panels, but then they can say “Gee, look. Dryden is into
renewable energy” and she thinks that is a good thing. It is just about equal distance from the
Peruville substation as the 2150 site. Also there is no cell tower and its natural screening that
will shade the panels. To her it looks like the perfect piece of land to put solar panels on. She
thinks a location like this will have much less resistance from residents. And if it had been
selected in the first place, we may actually be installing solar panels right now rather than
sitting around and bickering about it. It is very reasonable to bring in alternative sites and thi s
one is a prime one. She believes it would m ake for a better Dryden.
Joe Osmeloski, 2180 Dryden Road, said his wife’s idea is a great one. That property
will probably be sold for less than what it is worth. It would be a fabulous place to put the
solar panels. He is currently reviewing the new solar application will have comments when he
has finished. With respect to the moratorium, he is disappointed that it is not on the agenda.
He was hoping that given the fact that the Ag Advisory Board and the Planning Board had
recommended the moratorium, that the board would at least maybe start the process. He isn’t
sure about the legal ramifications because a moratorium is still in place. At first he was
actually for a new moratorium, but now he has second thoughts. It is because of what
happened during the first moratorium. The board passed a moratorium in January or
February and then at the February 16 meeting, Cl Lamb opened a public hearing for
Distributed Sun to request a waiver from the moratorium. It was said it would cause them a
significant economic burden to be forced to apply for a special use permit for the two projects.
He doesn’t think when we’re at a point where we have residents maybe struggling to pay their
mortgages or taxes, that we’re at a point where a multi-million dollar can come into Dryden
and cry poverty. We have more pressing issues for people with our taxes being where they are.
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Some people are struggling to pay their taxes. Maybe not going on vacation because he wants
to feed his kids, and we have a multi-million dollar company crying poverty to get a project. So
if you’re going to pass a moratorium that has no legs, you aren’t going to stand behind it, then
I wouldn’t pass a moratorium. But I’m in favor of you passing a moratorium that you’ll stand
behind. If you’re going to stand behind a moratorium, pass it. But if you’re not going to stand
behind a moratorium and just give multi-million dollar companies waivers, then don’t bother
because it is a complete waste of time.
Brad Perkins, 4 Mill Street Dryden, and President of the Board of Directors of Willow
Glen Cemetery and a lot owner there, said in his business 50% of the time he must build
consensus amongst a small group of people. When he is done working with them after a few
days or a few weeks, it is his hope that they haven’t disturbed their family in such a way that it
is irretrievably fixable. As elected officials in the town of Dryden, the board has that same
responsibility for a town full of people. (Cl Servoss arrived.) One thing he can detect from
coming to meetings this calendar year is that we are rapidly in the process of dividing our
town. That’s why he thinks a moratorium is a good decision. It allows constituents and the
board to really take the pulse of this situation. Our town is a living, breathing thing and we
need to respond to the needs of that. By passing a moratorium you give yourselves and your
constituents time to do that. He agrees that anyone who wants to cry poverty and then call
themselves Distributed Sun probably is talking out of both sides of their mouth at the same
time. He doesn’t think it is an economic hardship for them to wait to do something to our
landscape which will never change. We’ve heard 20-25-30 years. But when they put that
much infrastructure in our town a solar panel goes bad, they aren’t going to run from Dryden.
They will quietly replace it with a new one. All of us will be long past our lifetimes before these
solar panels go away. Careful, careful consideration is needed. He doesn’t think we’ve had
time to do this in our town. We just now have a completed application. We have been talking
about it for six months. He really feels the Town Board should listen to the Planning Board. It
is almost somewhat of a negligent disrespect if we don’t listen to them.
Bruno Schickel, 210 Schutt Road, said B Perkins had some very good comments and
points. With respect to the question of the moratorium, which he supports, he asked board to
consider it and vote on it. Two boards have recommended to the Town Board that the
moratorium be imposed. The moratorium is not an attempt to prevent solar from being
installed in Dryden, certainly not community solar, certainly not large industrialized size solar
(when you daisy chain these community solar 10 acre MW installations together). The
question really is when you are going to cover 50 to 100 acres with solar panels it needs to be
done with a lot of care. There seems to be places in the town where it would be very
appropriate, very easily accepted, have virtually no visual impact whatsoever, and it could be
done and welcomed by the community and it wouldn’t divide anybody. Forcing this the way
you are, in two locations that are quite precious to people, in the case of the Willow Glen
Cemetery the people who have loved ones buried there and are regularly in that cemetery, and
in the case of Turkey Hill and Dodge Road, the people that live there and pass through the area
all the time. He thinks there is a win-win for everybody. It doesn’t have to be an all or nothing
situation. He thinks there is common ground can be found if we give ourselves time to find it.
Give yourselves some time to find that common ground.
As vice-chair of the Rail Trail Task Force, he announced that on Saturday from 9 to
noon at the Dryden fire hall is a design workshop for rail trail. Everyone is invited and
encouraged to attend. It should be a good workshop with a lot of good ideas kicked around.
Laurie Konwinski, Deputy Director of Catholic Charities of Tompkins-Tioga, This is
their 20th anniversary in Tompkins County and they are visiting local governments to talk
about that. They serve thousands of people each year regardless of identity, religion, beliefs,
background, orientation etc. Since January they have served 113 Dryden households. They
are known for free clothing and free personal needs items, but they also do a lot with housing.
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They gave one security deposit to a Dryden household. They deal with people with questions
about rent, paying their utility bills, and getting transportation help, such as bus passes for
students going to TC3 who are of limited income. They have a homeless program for single
women and have a house in Ithaca that serves up to four women at a time who had been
homeless or at risk of being homeless. They’ve served about a dozen women just this year.
They help people sign up for food stamps or other services or seek employment. They have a
family program for people who are having some challenges with parenting and a special
program for dads, a fatherhood support group. They have a big immigrant service program
that helps with citizenship and integration into the community. Last fall they were designated
by the State Department as a refugee resettlement agency. They have tremendous support
from the community and have settled a family from Afghanistan and someone from China and
a household from Columbia. They are holding 20th Anniversary Open House on July 18 at
their office at 324 West Buffalo Street from 2 to 4:30 p.m.
Joe Wilson, 75 Hunt Hill Road, said with regard to the duty of care and the care given
to proposals from Distributed Sun, in the months since it was introduced the community and
the board and Distributed Sun have all worked over this proposed project to a fare thee well.
At this point he can’t imagine, with some experience in the area of SEQR and some experience
in the area of Environmental Impact Statements, any more comprehensive, thorough, detailed,
Environmental Impact Statement than has been caused Distributed Sun to file. He will be
reading the 400 page document now before this board and other boards and the citizenry with
regard to how this project has been brought to fruition. He reminded everyone again, that the
law does not allow the town board to tell a project proponent they can’t use that property and
to go somewhere else. It simply can’t be done. And one can’t force people who own land to
take a project. There must have willing partners on both sides.
HIGHWAY/DPW DEPARTMENT
No report.
RECREATION DEPARTMENT
Report emailed to board members:
Youth Programs
o Current/running
ULA
o Upcoming Summer
Art Camp – 2 registered (June 26-30) 5 registered (Aug. 21-25)
Archery Camp – 2 registered (Ages 6-8) 7 registered (Ages 9-14)
Golf Camp – 5 registered (Tuesdays and Thursdays, 7/11 – 8/3)
Dance Camp – 4 registered (Monday-Friday, 7/31 – 8/4)
o Upcoming Fall
Soccer
Football (Flag and Tackle)
Cheer
Adult Programs
o Current/running
Adult Dance (New) 16 registrations for tonight’s class
Yoga (new and FREE) gauging participation next Saturday
Softball (6th team added this year) 2 games played, 3rd tonight (6/15)
Handball (new) 3 teams registered W/ “free agent” list
Pickleball (scale back or cut)
o Upcoming Summer
WW2 History (New and FREE) begins Tuesday 6/20 @ 5:30pm
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o Upcoming Fall
Tai Chi? (later time of day)
Fit trail
o Spoke W/ Community Café board for possible partnership, awaiting reply.
Other News
o $500 of equipment received from Riddell from Grant
4 helmets
2 shoulder pads
o First Concert in Ellis Hollow this Saturday (6/17)
Chicken BBQ @ event
PLANNING DEPARTMENT
The board has the department’s monthly report:
Special Use Permit application for Large-Scale Solar Facilities at 2150 Dryden Road and at Turkey Hill,
Dodge and Stevenson Roads: A revised application was submitted to the Town on June 1. TG Miller is evaluating
this application for the Town. When the application is deemed complete, a date to resume the public hearing will be
scheduled. The revised application materials and public comments are posted to the town’s website under
application reviews at:
http://dryden.ny.us/departments/planning-department/permit-review-links/
Special Use Permit (SUP) application for 138 Virgil Road: The Dryden Baptist Church wants to build a 4700 sq.
ft. addition which requires a SUP. A public hearing will be held at the Town Board meeting on July 20 th.
Application materials can be found at the above website.
Planned Unit Development at 1061 Dryden Road: On May 30th the Town Board approved the Development
Plan thereby establishing the density and intensity of uses in this PUD District.
Property Maintenance Code Violations at 473 Bone Plain Road: The Planning Department issued an appearance
ticket to the owner for numerous Property Maintenance Code violations. The court held a hearing in June which
was adjourned until July.
Amendment to Local Law 1-2007 concerning code enforcement: The Town Board adopted this amendment on
May 18. The Planning Department is now preparing compliance and remediation plans for properties at 473 Bone
Plain Road and 107 Morris Road.
New Townhome project proposed at 802 Dryden Road: A proposal to build more than 30 townhomes on two
lots near the Game Farm Road intersection will be heard by the planning board.
Subdivision Reviews: A 7 lot conservation subdivision at 430 Lake Road is undergoing final plat review. A 6 lot
subdivision at 2150 Dryden Road for possible development of community solar projects is at sketch plan review
stage pending SEQR review by the Town Board.
Conservation Easement donation: The final plat for a 5 lot conservation subdivision at 1624 Ellis Hollow Road
was approved. The Town Board will hold a public hearing on July 20th to consider accepting a conservation
easement on one of the lots.
Zoning Board of Appeals to hear two variance requests: Relief from yard setbacks being sought at 13 Ringwood
Court and 542 Main Street (Etna).
Planning Department activity for TOWN -May 2017
Building permits: 28 (four single family homes, one accessory dwelling)
Zoning permits: 2
Special Use Permit Reviews: 1
Site Plan Reviews: 3
Variance reviews: 2
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Fire safety inspections: 1
Building inspections: 62
New businesses: 0
Subdivisions: 3
Violation notices: 2
Complaints: 4(property maintenance) (sent 35 warning letters about unlicensed vehicles)
Fire calls: 0
Training hours: 0
Planning Department activity for VILLAGE -May 2017
Building permits: 5
Zoning permits: 4
Special Use Permit reviews: 0
Site Plan Reviews: 3
Variance reviews: 0
Fire safety inspections: 2
Building inspections: 9
New businesses: 0
Subdivisions: 1
Violation notices: 0
Complaints: 3 (property maintenance)
Fire calls: 0
Ray Burger said there will be a proposal coming in for 802 Dryden Road, near the town
of Ithaca boundary, for a 30 plus townhome project. It will go through site plan review at the
planning board. They are taking down old structures and putting up a new townhome project.
Modern Living Rentals will be doing the project. Supv Leifer asked if they were using heat
pumps for this project and was told they are considering it again.
With respect to the solar applications, no letter has been received from the Army Corps.
That is the last thing to be completed on the May 25 punch list put together by TG Miller. The
Buffalo office has been busy dealing with Lake Ontario issues. TG Miller is in the process of
putting together their evaluation on basis that the Army Corps has not objected to similar
projects around New York. The people R Burger has spoken to have assumed it would be a
letter of non-jurisdiction, but we need to have it confirmed.
COUNTY BRIEFING
Martha Robertson said she has had some inquires about Midline Road (a county road).
It does need repair and she found out there will be work done later this summer.
There will be a meeting on June 20 on the housing strategy policy to discuss the outline
and review the draft of the full policy. It is online and the meeting will be in the legislative
chambers at 4:00 pm on Tuesday. When it is voted out of committee the legislature will have a
chance to review it and take action.
The jail study report from CGR Associates is looking at the demographics of the county
and options for reducing jail population is almost finished. The committee should have a final
report in early July.
Supv Leifer said there have been complaints about the ditching done on Turkey Hill
Road by the County between Ellis Hollow Creek Road and Stevenson Road.
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ADVISORY BOARD UPDATES
Planning Board – Cl Cipolla-Dennis reported that at the last meeting they discussed
the Lake Road subdivision and that was moved forward. There was discussion regarding
moratorium but no change. They talked about recommendations for rezoning certain areas
and they will be looking at that in the next month or so.
Supv Leifer asked how they were coming with reviewing the permitted use table and
that has not been discussed. Joe Wilson said there is a backlog of items that have been
submitted and not been able to been addressed because they seem to follow a pretty strict two
hours once a month schedule. Cl Cipolla-Dennis suggested asking the Planning Board chair to
get that on the agenda quicker. She knows a lot of the work has been done. J Wilson said
another item that needs to be addressed is the notion that despite the fact that an agenda is
published, anything can come up on the agenda, and that makes it pretty unclear what
meaning an agenda has and when something might come up. The agenda helps the public
choose whether to be present and comment. Supv Leifer will talk with the chair about that.
Conservation Board – Craig Schutt reported at their last meeting they reviewed the
SEQR Part 2 on the solar projects. He assumed their recommendations would be sent to the
town board. It was much the same as what the planning board found with a few variations.
Recreation & Youth Commission – No report. They are meeting next week.
Ag Committee – Supv Leifer attended their meeting last night. There will be a
presentation of the Ag Protection Plan at the July 20 town board meeting. They also got some
guidance on the CAFO resolution sent by the City of Ithaca. Cl Lavine said the resolution
passed by the Ag Committee is very prejudgmental to this and she is not happy with the
wording of the resolution. She thinks CAFOs are a serious issue and she is not anti -farm. She
loves farms but also loves having good water. The Town of Ulysses had a CAFO issue that
could have caused Taughannock Park to close if it was not done properly.
Supv Leifer said the resolution sent to us was comparing human and cattle waste and
dry versus wet. Cl Lavine stated the town was being asked to sign on to an amicus curiae brief
that says the DEC should be transparent and open about CAFOs and she tends to agree with
that. The amicus curiae brief will be filed whether the town signs on or not. She said the
resolution of the Ag Committee is mudslinging that is completely out of order.
Supv Leifer said Ag Committee was asked for their opinion and he agrees with them.
The case will go forward anyway. Cl Lavine said it requires discussion and this is not a
discussion.
Rail Trail Task Force – Cl Lamb reported the booth at Dairy Day was popular and
about 60-70 people signed up for list serve to volunteer and be a part of the process. They are
looking at the consolidated funding application process discussed earlier as a source for funds.
They are looking at what segment to go after for this and looking at things like r emaining
easements for segments. He has written to the Deputy Commissioner at DEC about securing
an easement for the DEC Game Farm. This is a ten-mile long trail for mixed use pedestrian,
horses, kids, and bikes. There will be a design charrette from 9 to noon on Saturday led by
Cornell University Landscape Architect David Cutter. They are trying to get a sense of what the
community need is. He encouraged attendance and input.
B Schickel said it would be great to have a good turnout. He has been working with
Saunders Concrete for an easement and was recently told that Saunders is selling to a
company called Hanson Aggregate. So they will now be dealing with the new company for an
easement and he thinks they will be able to secure it.
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OLD BUSINESS
Community Café grant agreement – Supv Leifer said the community grants were
suspended this budget year and the Café has run into an issue with the ASCAP/BMI license. If
the town is a sponsor, they will fall under our license. He asked the board to authorize an
agreement with the Café for $50.00.
RESOLUTION #88 (2017) – AUTHORIZE AGREEMENT WITH DRYDEN
COMMUNITY CENTER CAFÉ
Supv Leifer offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption:
RESOLVED, that this Town Board hereby approves an agreement with the Dryden
Community Center Café and agrees to pay them the sum of $50.00, and authorizes to the
Town Supervisor to execute said agreement.
2nd Cl Servoss
Roll Call Vote Cl Lavine Yes
Cl Cipolla-Dennis Yes
Cl Servoss Yes
Cl Lamb Yes
Supv Leifer Yes
DOMINION/BORGER STATION PRESENTATION
Katie Quinn-Jacobs of Mother Out Front talked about the proposal they submitted with
Stu Berg entitled “Borger Station Equipment, Savings, Pubic Health and Safety Proposal”
(attached). They wanted to come up with a proposal of what the town to ask of Borger that
would save them money and help with controlling the emissions which would lead to better
public health for the Ellis Hollow Community. That is the focus. Most of the improvements
would have a payback of one to three years for Borger. There are three compressors at the
station Two are older Dresser Clark models that are more leaky than the newer one installed
in 2010 (Taurus 70). The Taurus 70 while not as leaky does not have an oxidation catalyst.
The Taurus 70 at the Brookman Corners site does have an oxidation catalyst that added after
the installation and they want the same thing at Ellis Hollow. The e xpansion will increase the
volume of gas going through the station and consequently more emissions. DEC has said there
is greater than 12 thousand tons of pollutants coming out of Borger into the air every year.
That will be a significant increase. In terms of the 200 mile long pipeline, the total horsepower
at Ellis Hollow is actually double what compressor stations are along the rest of the line. They
are adding coolers that will allow more gas to go through, but are not changing compressors.
MOF want the compressors upgraded.
There are three proposals. First are the oxidation catalysts that should be on all of the
compressors. Second, they suggest replacement of the old Dresser Clark turbines with either
one Taurus 70 (12,000 HP) or replace the two Dresser Clarks with the smaller Centaur 50
turbine. New compressors will address a lot of the issues listed. Third, they would like the
board to explain whether the improvements are part of the Natural Gas STAR program.
As a starting point to get the changes to happen they need to exert some public
pressure and that is where Mothers Out Front and other organizations and the town board can
help. Quarterly meetings with Dominion in the future would be helpful. They would like to
meet with the plant manager to get a greater sense of what is already have in place; a one-on-
one meeting to establish rapport and get an assessment of what they have.
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K Quinn-Jacobs said there is an excellent article in the Ithaca Times. Don Houser is
quoted as saying Dominion doesn’t intend to make any changes until after the expansion is
complete. She interprets it as though it is a negotiating stance. Cl Lamb disagrees and said
they are permitted to do certain things in this project by the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission (for piping) and by the DEC (emissions). They are not allowed in the New Market
initiative to go into ad hoc additions to the projects because they are so regulated. But because
we brought it up to them and feel it isn’t the end of the discussion once New Market is done,
can we do this later. He said it can’t be piggybacked on New Market. They might consider
upgrades at another time. D Lamb doesn’t think they are being evasive and there is a window
to work with them.
K Quinn-Jacobs said a recommendation for future could be if there is a second
expansion this is one of the things the town should keep track of. Cl Lamb said because of
segmentation, they could do an individual project at Borger later, regardless of a systemic
upgrade.
K Quinn-Jacobs said this would be a good practical follow-up to the May 1 meeting and
a step forward in starting to address this. Air quality is a concern of the community despite
what the permitting says about no new emissions. Borger would save money and maintenance
with the suggested newer equipment.
Supv Leifer said he found out from the Varna Fire Dept that there is an odorant station
owned by NYSEG on Genung Road. He contacted Bob Pass to find out where the others are
and he is looking into it because people have been complaining of a smell. There used to be
one on Pinckney Road and it was shut down because of complaints from neighbors. K Quinn-
Jacobs said there is no odor in what is going through the Borger plant. Supv Leifer noted that
both NYSEG and Borger contribute to training of local volunteer fire departments and have
indicated they will do more if necessary.
Teamsters Contract – Supv Leifer said this is a three year agreement backdated to
January 1, 2016, and has it hasn’t been a contentious negotiation. The point of keeping a
three year agreement is that January 1, 2019, if we do not have a new agreement signed
already, all of union employees will contribute toward health care which is not the case now.
Pay increases will be retroactive to 2016 and bookkeeping staff have indicated that will not be
an issue. There was a question about the stores to be used for the clothing allowance. Those
are the stores chosen by the union.
RESOLUTION #89 (2017) – ACCEPT TERMS OF TEAMSTERS CONTRACT
Supv Leifer offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption:
RESOLVED, that this Town Board hereby accepts the terms of the Labor Agreement
between Teamster Local 317 and the Town of Dryden effective January 1, 2016 through
December 31, 2018, and agrees that it be forwarded to the labor organization for approval.
2nd Cl Lamb
Roll Call Vote Cl Lavine Abstain
Cl Cipolla-Dennis Yes
Cl Servoss Yes
Cl Lamb Yes
Supv Leifer Yes
NEW BUSINESS
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Resolution in Support of Paris Climate Accord – will be on next month’s agenda.
Acceptance of Conservation Easement –
RESOLUTION #90 (2017) - SCHEDULING A PUBLIC HEARING ON APPROVING A
CONSERVATION EASEMENT ON PROPERTY LOCATED ON TOWN OF DRYDEN TAX
PARCEL NUMBER 66.-1-12.1 AND AUTHORIZING EXECUTION OF THE DEED OF
CONSERVATION EASEMENT TO THE TOWN OF DRYDEN
Supv Leifer offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption:
WHEREAS, the Town of Dryden Planning Board by resolution adopted on April 27 ,
2017 granted final subdivision plat approval for a five-lot subdivision (“the Project”) of a parcel
of real estate located on Town of Dryden Tax Parcel Number 66.-1-12.1 (“the Property”) and
owned by Tiny Timber, LLC (“Tiny Timber”), and granted site plan approval for the Project by
resolution adopted on January 26, 2017; and
WHEREAS, as a condition of site plan approval, Tiny Timber is required to preserve a
portion of the subdivision as open space by means of a conservation easement; and
WHEREAS, a proposed Deed of Conservation Easement (“the Easement”) grants the
Town a conservation easement on the portion of the Property described in the Easement; and
WHEREAS, the Town has the authority to acquire an interest in land (including an
easement) for the purpose of preserving open space, pursuant to General Municipal Law
(“GML”) §247, and may acquire such interest by gift, subject to a public hearing and due
notice; and
WHEREAS, §247(3) of the General Municipal Law provides that the acquisition of
interests or rights in real property, includin g easements, for the preservation of open spaces is
a public purpose and that such acquisition (whether by purchase, gift or other means) requires
a public hearing subject to due notice;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT
RESOLVED that a public hearing shall be held at the Town Board meeting on July 20,
2017 at 7:00 p.m. in the Town Hall, 93 East Main Street, Dryden, NY 13053, to give members
of the public the opportunity to comment on the proposed grant of the Conservation Easement
to the Town and the Town’s acceptan ce thereof; and be it further
RESOLVED that notice of such public hearing shall be published and posted at least
five days before the date thereof.
2nd Cl Lamb
Roll Call Vote Cl Lavine Yes
Cl Cipolla-Dennis Yes
Cl Servoss Yes
Cl Lamb Yes
Supv Leifer Yes
138 Virgil Road, Special Use Permit Application – This application is for a 4700
square foot expansion for the Baptist Church. It was an allowed use in the prior zoning and is
TB 6-15-17
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now in a rural residential and allowed by special use permit. The board set the public hearing
for this matter for July 20 at 7:05 p.m.
Budget Modification – The budget mod is for unplanned revenue for the Rec
Department from the Dryden Hotel for $1,000 for music in Montgomery Park and to increase
the budget line for community music to cover ASCAP/BMI license from the master plan to the
community music line.
RESOLUTION #91 (2017) – APPROVE BUDGET MODIFICATION
Supv Leifer offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption:
RESOLVED, that this Town Board hereby approves the following budget modifications:
To A2006 Rec Fund Raising - Revenue Act To A7989.402 Community Music 1,000.00
From A7020.404 Rec Master Plan To A7989.402 Community Music 100.00
2nd Cl Lamb
Roll Call Vote Cl Lavine Yes
Cl Cipolla-Dennis Yes
Cl Servoss Yes
Cl Lamb Yes
Supv Leifer Yes
Payment outside the abstract – for a VISA bill for $9.98.
RESOLUTION #92 (2017) – APPROVE PAYMENT OUTSIDE THE ABSTRACT
Supv Leifer offered the following resolution an d asked for its adoption:
RESOLVED, that this Town Board hereby approves a payment outside the abstract in
the amount of $9.98 to VISA.
2nd Cl Lamb
Roll Call Vote Cl Lavine Yes
Cl Cipolla-Dennis Yes
Cl Servoss Yes
Cl Lamb Yes
Supv Leifer Yes
Cl Servoss announced there is a vigil for Josie Berrios at the Bernie Milton Pavilion on
the Commons in Ithaca on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. Cl Cipolla-Dennis added there will also be a
memorial service and celebration of life service on Tuesday at the Range at 9:00 p.m. Josie
Berrios was killed in college town on Tuesday morning. She is a transgender woman of color
and it appears at this time that it may have been a hate crime and the federal authorities will
be involved in the case. There has been one arrest made.
Cl Lavine asked that the issue of the salt mine be added to discussion at the agenda
meeting.
There was a fire at the Reed Farm last night. Cl Servoss asked that anyone having
information on how to help the family please share that with he r.
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There being no further business, on motion made, seconded and unanimously carried,
the meeting was adjourned at 8:45 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Bambi L. Avery
Town Clerk