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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-05-31CONSERVATION BOARD 5/31/2022 Hybrid Members Present: Gian Dodici (Chair), Bob Beck, Anne Clark, Craig Schutt, Nancy Munkenbeck, Steve Bissen, J Grace Absent: Tim Woods, Andrew Miller Liaisons: Loren Sparling (Town Board), Simon St Laurent (Planning Board), Craig Anderson (Planning Board) Guest(s): David Weinstein The meeting was called to order at 7:05 PM. Review and approval of minutes dated March 29, 2022 On motion made by G Dodici, seconded by B Beck, minutes were unanimously approved as amended. Old Business Rail Trail- US Senator Kristen Gillibrand came to the Dryden Rail Trail to announce the Senate’s contribution of $700,000 towards phase two of the trail project. Ag Committee- Did not meet. EMC- Sent via email from S Bissen: The April meeting had a presentation from Herb Engman from Greensprings Natural Cemetery about Green Burials. Greensprings was the first natural cemetery in New York State. The purpose of the cemetery is to not only be a cemetery but also a nature preserve with an emphasis on grassland birds and pollinator habitat. Green burials consist of minimal eco-friendly caskets, limited or no concrete grave liners, eco-friendly preservative chemicals (i.e. no formaldehyde). You can read more here: Which Disposition is the “Eco-Friendliest?” and Funeral Consumers Alliance of Central New York. The May meeting had a presentation from Scott Doyle from Tompkins County (TC) Planning And Sustainability about the TC Resiliency And Recovery Plan. The parts of the plan include: Hazard Mitigation Plan, Water Supply Drought Assessment, Critical Asset Flood Inventory, County Debris Management Plan, Community Rating System (CRS) Impact Analysis, and the Community Economic Recovery Plan. He went over the 4 phases of Emergency Management - Preparing and Preventing, Responding, Recovery, and Mitigation. The Town of Dryden has 6 Hazard Mitigation Projects currently. A video presentation of this plan is available here: Resilient Tompkins County Virtual Meeting: May 18, 2022. Slides of the presentation can be found here: Tompkins County Resiliency and Recovery Plan. Climate Smart- Added two new members to the Task Force; both members are still in Dryden high school. Town Board- There will be a public hearing on the comprehensive plan starting June 16. That will be the final stretch. It will be left open for a month for public comment and a decision will be made in July. Planning Board- The Planning Board passed the comprehensive plan to the Town Board in April. S St Laurent encouraged the Conservation Board members to take a close look at it during this second round. Paul Simonet from Park Outdoor came and talked about electronic billboards. The Planning Board passed a resolution 4 to 3 to allow these in the commercial districts of the town and limit the numbers. These billboards would be used for advertisement. The Town Board would still have to approve this. They also passed a resolution to make the current comprehensive plan an amendment to the existing 2005 comprehensive plan. Stormwater The Planning Board seems to be equally as concerned about stormwater as the Conservation Board is. The Town of Dryden has a stormwater law but it is not being enforced. Simple SWPPP’s especially are not being enforced because the Planning Department is not making people fill out the forms. C Anderson would like to change the name of the simple SWPPP but that would mean changing the law. Simple SWPPP’s are unique to the Town of Dryden. Questions/Comments: • There’s no real direction on what a simple SWPPP is. • Simple SWPPP’s look scary to a builder or homeowner. They should be called a different name so people don’t freak out. • When’s the last time someone has had to fill out a simple SWPPP? • Who is supposed to go out and check these things? Dave Sprout is the only stormwater officer for the town. • Staffing is a problem. • They are hoping the new hire can help with stormwater issues. • Almost all residential houses are supposed to fill out a simple SWPPP application. • MS4 communities have to hire their own stormwater officers. • The stormwater officer must be a town employee or Town Board member. There’s 4 Dryden boards. C Anderson asked if anyone on the Conservation Board would be interested in this job. • It would be inappropriate for the Town Board members or Planning Board members to volunteer because they vote on it. That’s a conflict of interest. • This would help take pressure off of Dave. • There are several properties in the town that should have had a simple SWPPP but, for some reason were not required to by Planning/Code Enforcement. • The Town Board should be making them enforce the laws that are on the books. The laws are there for a reason. • The Planning Board is going to start enforcing this, but more clarity is needed for a simple SWPPP. • The new planner won’t make the department completely functional. • It all goes full circle with the ditches. • This is an important issue that needs to be addressed. • Storm events are getting to be more extreme so these laws need to be followed or there’s going to be a lot of erosion and similar problems if these are not enforced. • When stormwater isn’t be enacted and things similar, it looks like the town is playing favorites. Ditching G Dodici had a brief meeting with R Young, but not much discussion was had about ditching. G Dodici is going to follow up with him. The board members would like to set up a test area to help the highway staff better understand that they don’t need to dig the ditches so deep, and to leave alone the ditches that don’t need it. An ideal area would be one that has steep slopes and is connected to aquatic resources, so G Dodici thinks the headwater of 6 Mile Creek would be a great spot to start. The board decided that it would be more effective to ask them to try implementing these practices in one spot and come back in a few years to look at the benefits of it, rather than showing them what they’re doing wrong. New Business In Memory of Bard & Gena Prentice B Beck would like to name the wetland behind the Dryden fire house in memory of Bard and Gena Prentice. Bard loved that wetland which was near his backyard, and they were both well known for their service and commitment to the community. This is still in the works, but the Conservation Board members are in favor of this idea. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9:10 PM. Respectfully submitted, Emily Banwell