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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-01-14January 14, 2015 Page 1 of 6 Town of Dryden Agriculture Advisory Committee January 14, 2015 Members Present: Evan Carpenter, Chair, Joe Osmeloski, Kim LaMotte, and Doug Barton Town Hall Representative: David Sprout, CEO Liaisons: Jason Leifer, John Kiefer and Craig Schutt Guests: Monika Roth and Debbie Teeter, Cooperative Extension, Craig Anderson Review and approval of minutes from November 2014: J. Osmeloski moved to accept the minutes as presented. K. LaMotte seconded the motion and the minutes were unanimously approved. J. Leifer shared information regarding the New York Rural Water Association. Steve Winkley from the Water Association is collecting data and helping towns prepare local source water protection plans. J. Leifer believes that the information will be valuable during the Comprehensive Plan update. See attached document for more information. J. Leifer is asking a couple of members from various boards to serve on a committee to support and assist Mr. Winkley. Joe Osmeloski from the Ag Committee, Craig Schutt from the Conservation Board and John Kiefer from the Planning Board agreed to represent their volunteer boards. Monika Roth has drafted an agreement between the Town and Cooperative Extension. She will get it to Supr. Sumner soon. She has three different models for producing the plan: one is for an outside consultant (She did not recommend this option), one is based on the Town staff doing the work and the third option is for Monika and Debbie writing the plan. The agreement states that Cooperative Extension will provide “general project services” such as arranging meetings with the committee, the farmers, etc., and will ensure the Committee sticks to a time line. Ms. Roth wants to look at what other towns are doing and what their plans encompass. They will look to ensure that the plan encompasses the State requirements and that it gets the proper reviews and approvals. They will start with an Inventory Analysis in which they review what has already been done, what data exists, where is the protected farmland, what else do the farmers want to know and then creating a summary. From that they can develop some trends and projection. The State is interested in two areas, farmland protection and the development of agriculture. Ms. Roth also mentioned the greener/cleaner plan with strategies pertaining to rural areas and agriculture. It is a potential funding source. The Timeline (see attached): January 14, 2015 Page 2 of 6 The group decided that they will work as a committee on the farmland protection plan instead of forming a subcommittee. Ms. Teeter said that the survey the Ag Committee has generated is fairly good. She is going to touch it up and rephrase some of the questions. The group is sending separate surveys to the farmers and the landowners. Ms. Roth said that most of the information gathering should be done in the next couple of months so that during the summer, while the farmers are not available, they can start summarizing and writing the first summary of the ag situation in the Town. They will be looking at maps and getting all the background documents together that go into a plan. Once they get through the inventory analysis, then we start talking about strategies to protect Ag in the plan. Farmer input will be important. The group should be looking ahead to what recommendations folks might have in regard to what they want to see in a plan. Supr. Sumner asked whether the two questions on the back side of the Ag Committee’s survey that are related to Open Space are still relevant to the current discussion since Open Space has sort of dropped off in Town priorities. The Ag Committee feels that those questions should stay; the questions are still relevant. Some of the questions need to be adjusted to make more sense. Ms. Teeter doesn’t feel the current survey will pinpoint some of the issues the farmers are facing. She will adjust some of the questions to get information she feels is relevant for the plan. C. Anderson asked how many farms they believe are in Dryden. K. LaMotte asked how Debbie and Monika are defining “farms”? Ms. Teeter said she starts with those that get Ag Assessment and then she looks through lists of people that are market growers or equine operations. Her list isn’t as comprehensive as the Census of Agriculture. J. Kiefer asked what level of participation they expect to get. Ms. Roth feels it will be a high percentage, 70 – 80%. And those that don’t respond, Debbie and Monika will track them down. K. LaMotte asked about the small homestead with a cow, a couple chickens, etc. Will they be counted? It was decided that they need to have a commercial interest. If it is just a homestead farm, they won’t make the list. Tree farmers will fall into the farm category but forestry by itself probably won’t make it into the plan, except in the manner it affects the farms. The group discussed the fact that they have not officially been given the grant money but Ms. Roth said that since the State has already acknowledged the grant, and indicated that the Town will get the money, they can start working on some of the steps. She asked the Committee to review the information they have already gathered, for example – why they wanted to pursue the Ag Protection Plan in the first place. January 14, 2015 Page 3 of 6 Ms. Roth suggested that a farmer meeting be held in March at which time additional questions can be asked and those that have not completed the surveys, can be encouraged to fill them out. J. Kiefer pointed out that part of the zoning and the comprehensive plan are not consistent with the rules set forth by Ag and Markets. Collectively the group wants to make sure that those inconsistencies are dealt with. K. LaMotte shared a letter from Ag and Markets in which they outlined the inconsistencies in the zoning plan. The Committee discussed when to meet with the farmers in March. Should it be in the morning –a breakfast situation – or the afternoon or evening. If it was during the day, the number of farmers able to attend might be lower. The decision was for Wednesday, the 11th of March in the evening at the Dryden Fire Station. The meeting in February will be used to review the survey and make sure the group is comfortable with the questions. The survey, along with an invitation to the farmer meeting, will be mailed shortly thereafter. Ms. Roth said that some farmers are unlikely to respond to questions dealing with finances. Many farmers will respond that it is no one else’s business. However, it is interesting to know things like the cost of hired help, the taxes that are being paid, etc. Supr. Sumner asked if there was a way to determine how much the farmers are spending locally? Ms. Teeter responded that there are questions regarding capital investments which will help. E. Carpenter pointed out that we want information that is Town of Dryden specific. He used the Sherman farm as an example – they have land holdings out of the Town of Dryden. Ms. Teeter has a list that shows how much land is owned in Dryden and how much is owned in surrounding towns. She said that the group doesn’t need to ask how much land a farmer owns or rents because they have a list of that information. K. LaMotte and E. Carpenter disagreed with Ms. Teeter’s assessment because they both know folks that are renting their land to farmers that don’t have ag assessment. C. Schutt asked how the equine list is? Ms. Teeter said that she has a list of businesses; she tried to avoid adding people that have horses for pets. Ms. Roth said another question she would put out is ‘what is needed to grow agriculture’. She also believes we need to explain what the group is asking when they ask if the Town is farmer friendly. Ms. Teeter suggested that maybe the question could be ‘what issues have you had with the Town’? or ‘is there a specific area you would like changed’?, etc. Another question that Ms. Roth feels should be included relates to the development pressure farmers might face. January 14, 2015 Page 4 of 6 Ms. Roth said that at the February meeting, we need to determine how we are going to structure the farmer meeting in March. It can be a large group discussion or small groups with a leader at each table to keep the farmers on topic. Otherwise, the farmers tend to discuss everything rather than remaining focused to get the information that we want. Ms. Teeter said that they are not hosting an ag summit this year because they want to hold a couple of meetings about the County Ag Plan. There will be one at the Fire Station in Dryden. Ms. Roth wants to meet with the farmers again to get a more information regarding their thoughts about the goals for the plan. In Lansing, they wrote a vision statement. She asked the group to consider what their goals are so that Ms. Teeter and Ms. Roth have a better idea of which direction to push the plan. Ms. Teeter shared the fact that she is impressed with the Right to Farm law that the Town of Dryden has. Every time a person buys a house or gets a building permit in the Town, they are provided with the right to farm law and required to sign it. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9:05 PM. Respectfully Submitted Erin A. Bieber Deputy Town Clerk January 14, 2015 Page 5 of 6 Timeline for Dryden Ag Plan Development January 2015  Draft consultant agreement – send to Town for final review/approval and signatures  Dryden Ag committee input on timeline, plan goals, etc. Jan. 14 meeting  Subcommittee appointed – decide on meeting schedule  Review past ag committee notes pertaining to ag planning interests  Review town documents (comp plan, zoning, town ag plan, etc.) February  Subcommittee meeting  Farmer lists – review  draft survey/interview questions  mail survey & meeting notice  draft agenda/format for farmer meeting March  Host farmer meeting  Compile farmer surveys and conduct key farm interviews  Subcommittee meeting April  Summarize input May  Write Town ag profile draft June  Review development activities and impacts  Prepare relevant Maps  Subcommittee meeting July  Review Town Ag Plans from other towns – summarize potential recommendations/actions for subcommittee review August  Complete inventory analysis  Write summary September  Subcommittee meeting – reviews documents to date  Update based on input October  Plan farmer meeting November  Farmer meeting – get input on profile (verify)  Focus on economic development, farmland protection strategy development December  Subcommittee reviews strategies, final list January 14, 2015 Page 6 of 6