HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016-06-08DAAC
June 8, 2016
Page 1 of 3
Dryden Agriculture Advisory Committee
June 8, 2016
Members present: Kim LaMotte (Vice-Chair), Brian Magee, Joe Osmeloski, Steve
Foote and Evan Carpenter (at 8:30PM)
Guests: Debbie Teeter, Cornell Cooperative Extension
Liaisons: John Kiefer (Planning Board), Craig Schutt (Conservation Board) and Dan
Lamb and Jason Leifer (Town Board)
The meeting was called to order at 7:40PM.
D. Teeter was pleased with the presentation to the Planning Board in May. She
appreciated the feedback and questions the presentation generated.
Dryden Ag Profile:
- The Ag Committee reviewed the document with Ms. Teeter
- Under development pressure, the statement about the price of farm land
created discussion. The price of land is so high that the smaller farmers are
unable to afford more land. Is it the price of land that is squeezing out the
middle size farms? Or is it the price of commodities being produced? Crop
farmers, that tend to rent the land versus owning the land, may be facing the
biggest challenge since they won’t be able to pay the rental fees compared to
what the bigger farms can pay.
- D. Teeter believes the issue is education. The farmers and land owners need to
make educated decisions when deciding to rent or sell or buy land.
- The Committee generated a couple more names for the farmer list.
Zoning Analysis:
Mr. Frantz sent a written document that reflects the suggestions that he covered with
the Committee last month.
Active ag land should not be in a conservation district. It should be in rural ag.
Goals and Strategies:
D. Teeter took all of the responses from the farmers and the landowners and weighted
the rankings making the higher priority items more obvious.
High priority = 3 points, medium priority = 2 points, low priority = 1 point
She also added whether the goals were long term, on-going or short term goals and
listed the groups/organizations that can work on each goal.
The concerns of farmers consistently ranked higher than the concerns of the
landowners with the exception of goals that are on-going efforts by farmers – for
example- pond maintenance.
- One of the issues of discussion was Goal 1-b real estate property disclosure.
DAAC
June 8, 2016
Page 2 of 3
o The Committee was concerned that the disclosure usually takes place at
the purchase closing and is one of many papers that the buyer has to
sign. That means that the buyers might not be actually getting the
information.
- Another point of discussion was the proposed signage indicated that Dryden is
a “right to farm” town. The Ag Committee recommendation is that the signs be
placed along-side or below the “Welcome to Dryden” signs that cover most of the
roads entering the Town.
- A couple of the local schools are starting Ag curriculums. Dryden is not yet on
board.
- Codes:
o TODHD – Town of Dryden highway department
o DCSD – Dryden Central School District
o TOD AC – Town of Dryden Ag Committee
o FB – Farm Bureau
o TC AFPB – Tompkins County Ag and Farmland Protection Board
o NYSAM – New York State Ag and Markets
- C. Schutt recommended adding Town promotion of the Agriculture
Environmental Management Program through Tompkins County Soil and Water
in the category “Protect and Promote the Best Farmland and Encourage
Environmental Stewardship”
o Through the AEMP, the farmers are kept up-to-date regarding grants and
new programming that exists.
o A lot of farmers are already participating.
- PDR (Purchase of Development Rights) – there are a couple of qualifying farms
in the Town but the Town was not ready to move forward with the applications.
It has been suggested that the Town create a fund to support PDR-type ag
protection.
D. Barton pointed out that the school tax exemption plan has changed. In order to
qualify, a farmer has to have 2/3 of their property in tillable acreage. Farmers like Mr.
Barton have a greater percentage in wood lots which don’t qualify.
- Ms. Teeter added New York State Farmers Tax to goal 4d – increase amount of forest
acreage eligible for ag assessment.
- She also indicated that this is an ideal issue for Farm Bureau to work on.
Review and approval of minutes from April 13, 2016:
D. Barton moved to approve the minutes as presented, K. LaMotte seconded the
motion and the minutes were unanimously approved.
Rail Trail Task Force: E. Carpenter
- E. Carpenter attended the last Rail Trail Task Force meeting but he will be
unable to continue to serve on that committee
DAAC
June 8, 2016
Page 3 of 3
- Steve Foote volunteered to represent the Ag Committee and he was
unanimously approved.
Open Discussion:
- The Planning Board will be meeting at the TC3 Solar Farm before their next
monthly meeting on June 23. They will meet at 6PM and move to the Town Hall
at 7PM
- E. Carpenter expressed his concern about the tax situation after the solar
panels are removed. The land will be assessed as light industrial and when the
land goes back into ag, the farmer will be forced to pay the higher (non–ag
assessed) tax rate. He did find out that even by taking part of the land out of ag
for purposes of solar farms, the rest of the land that the farmer owns will stay
in ag assessment.
- D. Teeter indicated that Chris Denton might have some insight and they are
working on getting together with him. C. Anderson indicated that the Dryden
Fire Hall has already been reserved for the 28th after 6 PM. D. Teeter is checking
with Mr. Denton to verify his attendance. The Planning Board is hosting the
event. More information will be shared with the volunteer boards as soon as the
event is formally scheduled.
- C. Schutt encouraged folks to fill out the survey on the Town’s website
regarding the source water assessment.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9:15PM.
Respectfully Submitted,
Erin A. Bieber