HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009-11-24 -Ag and Farmland Ulysses Agriculture and Farmland Protection Plan Steering Committee
Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2009
Present : John Wertis, chair, George Holmes, Chuck Houghton, Ann Filley, Bob
Weatherby, Chaw Chang, Bob Howarth, Liz Thomas , Kevin Kelley, Monika Roth
Meeting called to order at 7 : 05 PM.
Minutes reviewed for the record .
Map review continued from last meeting.
Updates provided by Kevin Kelley as per input from last meeting :
1 -a large copy of map 1 revised included owned and leased ag lands overlayed to include
land use/land cover parcels revealed a total of 4,021 additional acres of ag land that were
either not identified as agriculture by County Assessment and that are not receiving
agricultural assessment — this points to the need to educate land owners about agricultural
assessment; and that these lands might be available for farmers looking for additional
land to rent. Next table 1 provided to reflect the new map (page 2) .
2- Question about ag land lost indicated in Table 5 — what was it lost to? A new map was
provided that showed the parcels lost to agriculture between ` 95 - ` 07 . Most in attendance
felt these ag parcels were residential lots but also some larger lots included are :
Grasssroots parking and hunting preserve land. Suggestion made to show this map to
Alex Rachun for his opinion about changes in land use. New map could be compared to
Land use/Land cover Map 4 .
Continued review from page 11 on . . . Development pressure .
Map 10 — Housing — year built. After reviewing this map there was a feeling that some
data may be incorrect. Shows trend that once you have one subdivision, others will
follow. Bob H . noted that in some cases, property owners are forced to subdivide in
order to get a mortgage.
Map 11 — Water service. Most of the water infrastructure has been extended in the past 5
years . Where there is water, housing will follow. Much of the land is in an agriculture
district so hook-up may be limited to existing dwellings (Monika will check on whether
this is the case) . There has been some talk about a waterline down Wilkins Rd to the
Racker Center.
Page 14 — Existing Land Use Policies .
Question about AG Resource Focus Area designation by County. Discussed whether this
should be a priority area for agriculture protection. Chaw mentioned that another way to
look at it . . . is that areas under most pressure from development should be considered high
priority for protection measures such as PDR, etc . Kevin reminded everyone that we had
discussed the idea of 3 character areas in the town . . . from the south east corner, center
and the west side of the town. These areas could be profiled in terms of development
pressure and then measures to protect agriculture in each area would be described.
Map 13 — Zoning — an audit of current zoning provisions should be completed in terms of
their implications on agriculture. John provided a short summary of existing land use
policies that support agriculture (ag friendly) including : State policies — ag assessment,
PDR, farmers school tax relief, etc . Tompkins County: CCETC, SWCD, AFPB , Ag
Districts, Ag Assessment, and County Comp Plan. Town of Ulysses : Zoning law 5 . 2
and 5 . 3 , Ag 1 is the largest zone in the town, ag is an allowable use in 3 out of 10 zones,
town comp plan.
Text comment on Page 18 — second and third paragraph and next to last paragraph have
recommendations that should be reserved to the final sections of the plan (strategies) .
Discussed minimum lot size of 2 acres — this could lead to more development than if lot
size is larger for example a 20 acre minimum . Kevin mentioned that American Farmland
Trust studies document the trend for more development with smaller lots sizes in ag
areas .
Future Land Use Map — vision for the town that is different than what exists in zoning
and current conditions . Why is the zoning map not consistent with future vision? Are
there plans to change zoning?
Additional resources : tax maps were distributed to members who can review parcels and
identify those that they know are farmed.
All map changes are desired by Kevin by the end of December.
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Vision Statement Review — Monika provided the updated statement based on input from
last meeting. Bob H . suggested inserting renewable energy into the mix of enterprises or
as part of self-sufficiency. Biomass energy is mentioned in broader definition of what is
meant by a diverse mix of enterprises that can be found on page 2 .
Everyone felt that renewable energy production should be inserted into the vision but
could not find the best place to insert it . Monika will work on where it fits best.
Motion made by John Wertis, second by Chaw Chang to adopt the vision statement
as written with renewable energy inserted where it fits best in the text. No further
discussion, all in favor.
Goals and Strategies — copies were made from October meeting package.
Action step : everyone should review this list.
Some of these goals and strategies might apply across the town and the Land Use Policies
should be divided into both general and by the 3 character areas mentioned above.
Some discussion that recommendations may be too broad and should also be broken
down to be more enterprise specific . For example, slaughter facility is a need of
livestock producers, not all farmers . . . how many livestock producers are there and how
many are interested in a slaughter facility . . . this could be sorted out during farmer
interviews .
Ag awareness seems to be a general goal common to all .
Monika indicated she would try to find some examples of ag strategy formats so that we
could organize them better and prioritize .
There was common consensus that the strategies should be broken down as follows :
-General recommendations
-Enterprise specific recommendations
-Land use — area specific recommendations
-Zoning specific recommendations if changes are desired
Additional resources provided : Monika had provided information about what the NYS
Dept. of Agriculture & Markets considers as unreasonably restrictive local laws in ag
districts . This info could be useful in reviewing zoning regs .
John also asked Monika to provide the Farm Friendly Town criteria developed by
CCETC and used some years ago to help educate towns about ways they could be
supportive of agriculture. (Monika will provide for next meeting) .
Timeline Review —
Dec . 17 — next meeting — complete review of section 2 — Current conditions . Monika will
write up ag characteristics section and try to get it out in advance.
Dec . 31 — deadline for map revisions .
Farmer interviews — December and January
Jan. meeting (21 ) — Draft Strategies review
Feb . 18 — Public meeting to go over strategies proposed
March — Final strategies, Implementation plan draft
April — Public hearing
May — Plan adoption
Given the above timeline, John asked for a motion to request a 6 month no cost
extension to the Agriculture & Markets Contract. Motion made by Ann to request
a 6 month no-cost expansion on the grant, second by Bob Howarth , all in favor.
Note : This would result in a new end date of August 26, 2010 which is ample time given
the above timeline.
Next meeting : Dec. 17, 7 PM, Town Hall .
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11 /24/2009
Review- Existing Conditions, description of agriculture in the town (Monika will draft)
Final maps — any further input
Final vision statement
Strategies — input on list and format options (Monika will provide options)
Farm Friendly Town criteria (Monika include with mailing)
If