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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCB Minutes 1997-09-04.... . . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. .. . .... TOWN OF ITHACA CONSERVATION BOARD 7:30 pm, Thursday, 4 September 1997 Town Hall Board Room 126 East Seneca Street Ithaca, New York 14850 (Handicap -accessible entrance ramp on West side of building) (607) 273-1747 AGENDA **7:00 pm** ERC Meeting 7:30 pm 1. Persons to be heard 7:35 pm 2. Member Concerns 7:40 pm 3. Coordinator and Chair Reports 7:50 pm 4. Committee Reports 7:55 pm 5. Conference on the Environment - Brief Description and Sign-up 8:05 pm 6. Draft Park, Recreation and Open Space Plan Comments 8:20 pm 7. Draft Zoning Ordinance Revision Comments 8:45 pm 8. Lake Source Cooling dEIS Comments 9:00 pm 9. Coy Glen Project - Boundary Identification 9:15 pm 10. Business -- Approval of minutes from 7/17/97 and 8/7/97 9:30 pm 11. Adjournment CB Members and Associate Members: Phil Zarriello, Chair Frank Baldwin Richard Fischer Lois Levitan Barney Unsworth (File Name: c-.Wp1mNcbV9-64-97.agd) Kara Hagedorn, Vice Chair Elizabeth deProsse Eva Hoffmann Jon Meigs John Yntema OF 1p TOWN OF ITHACA ' 21 126 EAST SENECA STREET, ITHACA, N.Y. 14850 TOWN CLERK 273-1721 HIGHWAY 273-1656 PARKS 273-8035 ENGINEERING 273-1747 PLANNING 273-1747 ZONING 273-1783 FAX (607) 273-1704 TO: Mr. Lanny Joyce c/o Ms. Andrea Sherwood Cornell Utilities 131 Humphreys Service Building Ithaca, NY 14853 FROM: Geri Tierney, Planner DATE: 22 September 1997 RE: Conservation Board Meeting In response to your request, enclosed please find the draft minutes from our 9/4/97 Conservation Board meeting. These minutes have not yet been approved as the official record of this meeting. Normally, this approval takes place at our subsequent monthly meeting. Please let me know if you'd like to receive the approved version of these minutes, which should be available in early October. In order to receive a copy of the tapes for this meeting, please fill out and submit the enclosed Freedom of Information Act Form, along with $5.00 per tape. The 9/4/97 meeting is recorded on two 90 minutes tapes. You can request both for $10.00, or just the earlier or later tape for $5.00. Please contact me at 273-1747 if I can be of any further assistance. i flyOF1p W. TOWN OF ITHACA 1 126.EAST SENECA STREET, ITHACA, N.Y. 14850 TOWN CLERK 273-1721 HIGHWAY 273-1656 PARKS 273-8035 ENGINEERING 273-1747 PLANNING 273-1747 ZONING 273-1783 FAX (607) 273-1704 PUBLIC INFORMATION REQUEST LOG Requester: Address: Zip Phone: INFORMATION REQUESTED: Project/Subject - of Request Document Description of Information Requested: Date Received By: Staff Person Signature: Date: _ Number of Photocopies at $ Per Copy = Total Collected: TOWN OF ITHACA USE ONLY - For requests made under the Freedom of Information Act: APPROVED DENIED (FOR THE REASON(S) CHECKED BELOW) Confidential Disclosure Exempted by statute other than FOIL Other (specify) Part of Investigatory Files Unwarranted Invasion of Personal Privacy Department Head Signature Title Date Records Access Officer Signature Date NOTICE: Requester has the right to appeal a denial of information requests to the Records Access Officer of the Town of Ithaca, who must fully explain his/her reasons for such denial in writing 7 days from receipt of appeal. I HEREBY APPEAL: Signature Date DRAFT TOWN OF ITHACA CONSERVATION BOARD MINUTES DRAFT SEPTEMBER 4, 1997 PRESENT: Chair Phil Zarriello, Vice Chair Kara Hagedorn, Elizabeth deProsse, Lois Levitan, Jon Meigs, Barney Unsworth, John Yntema. ABSENT: Frank Baldwin, Richard Fischer, Eva Hoffmann. STAFF: Geri Tierney, Coordinator. GUESTS: Grace Allen, Lanny Joyce. Chair Zarriello opened the meeting at 7:30 p.m. PERSONS TO BE HEARD: Grace Allen stated that she is not from the Town of Ithaca, that she is from the Town of Lansing. She is here because she has spent so much time going to the Town of Lansing in regards to the draft Environmental Impact Statement (dEIS) on the Lake Source Cooling (LSC) Project. The Town of Ithaca and the City of Ithaca were raising questions as to the possible effect on water quality of the LSC project, particularly the mussel control activities. This is a subject near and dear to her heart because she takes her water from the lake. The Town of Lansing has no public water available where she lives and most of her neighbors do not have public water. She made comments on the scoping documents , and basically she feels those comments were brushed aside. Since she was so interested in the water quality, she contacted the Town of Ithaca regarding her concerns. Ms. Allen asked what was the Town of Ithaca's interest in water quality regarding this project? Chair Zarriello stated that the Town of Ithaca is interested in water quality in general. Ms. Allen mentioned the Town of Ithaca comments on the dEIS. She has concerns in connection with the lake sediments, and stability of things, and what is going to be done. She is concerned that Cornell is saying that there will be no impacts on drinking water. They are really denying that there are people that might be affected in the vicinity of the lake intake. She is approximately 4,000 feet from the proposal on the survey map. Cornell has a quotation from the director of Bolton Point operations which states that there may be some people on the 1200 block of East Shore Drive who take their water from the lake, and then they show where the possible users are located. The point is that she wants their references. They say that, in connection with the heavy metals and because of the distance from any possible users, and because they know about good management practices, they would not have any impacts on water quality. The point is that they do not really know; they have not said whether there is going to be chemical pollution and toxicity from the heavy metals. It all depends on a whole series of things: deviation, magnitude, etc. They say the impact would be non-detectable. Maybe they are right and maybe they are wrong, but they are not going to know. She and others will be affected by this. As for the pigging, it really disturbs her because they cannot reverse water flow from the outflow. They will be discharging approximately 26,000 gallons in the transmission twice a year during operations. They y said there would be no impact because of the distance from the possible water users, but she lives south- southeast of that intake and the prevailing wind is north-northwest, so anything that happens would come straight towards her. She agrees that maybe the heavy tissues and shell fragments will settle out, and neither of those would concern her because she can filter them out. It is the very fine pulverized shells that concern her because she would need to put more filters on. She normally puts the filters on twice a month or approximately three weeks apart. If she gets a really heavy wind, it will rile up the surface and then scour the bottom. Then she gets so much silt sedimentation and will need to change the filters just about everyday. While this construction is happening she can imagine doing this on a daily process. They did not say anything about constraints of weather, and very fine sedimentation will be carried at surface level. They say that the heavy sediment will settle, but the very fine stuff will go to the surface, and it is the surface water that is carried to the beach, so it will be the surface water carrying pulverized sediment that she will receive. In addition to not being able to filter the fine sediment, the other problem is with the mussels - the smell and the taste, and that is something they can do nothing about, once it is in the system. She was on Lake Erie a few weeks ago at a place called Geneva on the Lake, talking to a Motel Manager. He was furious because people are getting wells drilled so there are a lot of things coming up on the beach, and the decomposition is so different. Indeed there was a smell, and the water was so bad. Jon Meigs said that directly contributed to the lake decomposition. Ms. Allen responded, yes. She called the Sea Grant Program at SUNY, and she talked to Charles Nagle. Initially he said she was absolutely right that they should be doing some monitoring when they actually do the pigging operation. She gathered that Mr. Kauffman from Bolton Point, who has talked to him since, and he is mortified that instead what it really depends upon is how they get the mussels out. That does not help her if they get a lot out of there, if they are not monitoring. And what is going to happen? There is going to be no monitoring of the silt sedimentation where they say in some instances the measurement of heavy metals exceeds the New York State Guidance Values, and there is a possibility depending upon the magnitude, the deviation, and etc., that there could be some toxicity of the water. Then in the next paragraph, they jump on the safety wondering if it would effect water quality. Chair Zarriello stated that he and Lanny Joyce discussed this issue earlier today. All the dredging operations will be monitored. Ms. Allen stated that the documents do not mention that. Chair Zarriello stated that this will be added because of the residents' concerns. Lanny Joyce stated that Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) felt the control of the mussels was not adequate when dredging is done, then it would be good to have a monitoring program to institute. Chair Zarriello asked if the first check would be a visual one to see if there is anything coming out of the filtration. Mr. Joyce responded, yes. In general they will want to pay attention to what is going on, and there will probably be a camera down there during pigging to see how the whole operation works. They are not sure there will be mussels growing. During June to December; the mussels will land inside the intake pipe, and 2 they will grow very slowly from June to December because 39 degree water is not their normal climate. So whatever growth occurs in that time period will be flushed out during pigging. Chair Zarriello stated that the Zebra Mussels are not just going to be in the pipes, they are also going to be on the shorelines. Mr. Joyce stated that they would be much closer to the shore. There is a band that runs around the circumference of the lake where the mussels are already living and dying. The mussels have a five year life cycle, and they grow approximately 1/4 inch per year. Chair Zarriello stated that he is not dismissing Ms. Allen's concerns. There is a video conference on Zebra Mussels on September 10th, that people might be interested in attending. There is a $5 cover fee. If this is really a concern, he feels the contribution of the LSC project is going to be minor part of what already exists. The concern is a modification to the water intake, to run the water through a sand filter before use. Ms. Allen stated that is not the issue. She does not have an intake line - she has a V12 (??), so the water comes up and is filtered by gravity. She is concerned about is the fact the water she draws, which comes from a shallow depth, will be full of pulverized shells. She cannot filter out particles smaller than 20 microns. Chair Zarriello asked Ms. Allen if she is using cartridge filters. Ms. Allen responded, yes. She cannot filter smaller particles, and she does not know if there sill be a taste and smell attached to the pulverized shells. There is nothing here that gives her any confidence that this would not happen. Chair Zarriello stated that he does not understand Ms. Allen's well situation. If it is a beach well, she should not be getting fine particles as a result of the changes in clarity. Ms. Allen responded, yes, she would. Chair Zarriello stated that it seems like there is a direct connection to the Lake. Ms. Allen stated no, not in terms of her taking fill and tissue through the actual well. Chair Zarriello stated that if these particles get into her well, then there has to be a direct route to the water. Ms. Allen stated that she is not concerned about that. She is concerned about the water contamination, water silted with the fine pulverized material, etc. Chair Zarriello asked if even the fine particles, the clays and silts that are out there now - is she is picking those up in her well and does she have to change her filter fairly often? Ms. Allen stated yes, that is correct. Chair Zarriello stated that he is having a hard time visualizing Ms. Allen's well, because if it is a beach well and the water is being run through gravel, she should not be getting the fine particles in her well. 5 Ms. Allen stated that it does happen. There is a lot of scouring when there's water in the shallow area, and her water comes from very shallow water. The water picks up sediment and silt that comes through the well and needs to be filtered. Her well goes down to the beach instead of her garden. Chair Zarriello asked Ms. Allen if her well sits directly in the water with no gravel. Ms. Allen responded, yes. There is gravel below, but the well sits on the beach. Chair Zarriello stated that is what he is asking, because that is why she has a problem with silt. Ms. Allen stated that as anyone has with any well there is some type of silt or some kind of sediment coming in. Chair Zarriello stated that if there is direct contact with the water, sure there would be. Ms. Allen stated that she does not, because she does not have a line going out into the lake. She does not have fouling and the eroding by the tissues and shells in her well. It is the fine particles that she needs to worry about. She is just concerned about the fact that there is so little attention paid, and she knows that Mr. Joyce does not agree, she heard that secondhand. Mr. Joyce does not agree that there is little attention being paid. When she reviewed the comments that she wrote (three pages of comments) in the scoping document, her comments are summarized as just being three kinds of concerns. There is one reference to drinking the water. They know she takes her water from the Lake, and yet it comes out per Mr. Kauffman that there "may" be people using Lake water there. There are many other factors, she has messes of stuff here, and she was simply concerned because when she read the CB comments in the dEIS, drinking water concerns were purely in connection with the biofouling mechanisms. She wanted to know in particular why the Conservation Board was limiting their concerns to those chemicals. Were the CB concerns incorrectly summarized in the dEIS? Chair Zarriello responded, no. Those were responses to the Board's direct comments, but this Board had raised comments previously in regards to the modeling study and the updated phosphorus. Those issues have been addressed. What Ms. Allen was reading were responses to comments that this Board felt were completed. Ms. Allen asked if the Board feels that these are adequate responses to their comments. Chair Zarriello responded, yes. Having the video camera on the site during the first few pigging operations to see what comes out, and there should be a plan if they see large quantities of mussel material coming out that some monitoring be done as part of the pigging operations to be sure that it is not a problem. Ms. Allen asked what would happen if they do find that things are not as painted in the impact statement. Would the impact be if the effect of the pigging is different from what they expect? Mr. Meigs stated that depends on how severe it is. It might call for some corrective action. Chair Zarriello stated that pigging could be done more often so there would not be a large quantity of material. Ms. Allen asked what happens to the residential users when that happens. Chair Zarriello stated that this is all hypothetical, if it happens and if the pigging schedule was done on a semi-annual basis, it may have to be increased to every five months so there would not be large quantities building up. The evidence indicates that is not going to be the case. Ms. Allen stated that she wished she had more confidence. Chair Zarriello stated that he needs to go with what the data suggests. If the data suggested differently, he would suggest that they should be modifying their plans now. These comments are based on some hypothetical condition, but the data does not indicate it will happen. Ms. Allen stated that she is completely dependent on the Lake for water for three residential units. Chair Zarriello stated that he lives on the lake and he received the water directly from the Lake for years, and he knows the problems associated with it. If he was still getting his water from the lake he would be concerned, but the more general concern that he has is the non -point source run off. That is a quality issue far more serious than the LSC project. There have been some analyses this past summer indicating that residuals of pesticides are high in Cayuga Lake. There should be more investigations as to why that is. Ms. Allen stated that she has talked to Bolton Point quite often about that. Chair Zarriello stated that when things are balanced out, those efforts should be directed at how the City of Ithaca directs their storm drains (and perhaps even the Town of Ithaca). Ms. Allen stated that right now we are talking the LSC project. Chair Zarriello stated that, as he mentioned before, he thinks the data is sound and the evidence suggests that it is not going to be a problem. Mr. Joyce has suggested what they plan to do to monitor the situation. If there is cause to react to that, then they would be in a position to identify that to make a judgment call. Ms. Allen asked what about the sediments, chemicals, and the heavy metals. Chair Zarriello stated that is part of the dredging operations. That has been addressed in terms of the silt curtains. Ms. Allen asked what are they going to do. Chair Zarriello stated they would do a visual inspection, and if things are moving outside the curtains, have a plan to do some analysis. That is being adequately addressed as a result of the concerns of Ms. Allen and others. Ms. Allen asked how long ago did the Conservation Board write their comments on the environmental impact statement. Chair Zarriello stated that was several months ago. Ms. Allen asked why didn't the public hear about all of this. Mr. Joyce stated that there was a 30 day review period for the agencies to do an adequacy review. As an involved agency, the Town's Conservation Board had an opportunity to judge whether the entire document was adequate or not for public review. When the DEC judged the document to be adequate, then it was passed onto the public review period instead of the normal 30 day review period, it was made into a 60 day review period. The public comment period was extended to twice as long as required. Ms. Allen asked if the Conservation Board is dealing with other aspects of the project as well. Chair Zarriello responded, yes. Ms. Allen stated that she would be mailing in her comments on the Lake Source Cooling Project. Chair Zarriello stated that if there is anything that could be done to ease her concerns, she can make an effort to hand in her comments. Mr. Meigs asked Ms. Allen how many other residents along the her portion of the lake shore are there who have the same condition? Ms. Allen responded, -approximately three. It is very difficult because they never see each other. They are all down below the road level, and are widely spaced out. She knows the next house above hers takes water from the lake, because she rented that house for a year. She thinks there are two other houses that take the water from the lake. She cannot say anything more than that. She thinks the new houses that were built three or four years ago receive their water through the Village of Lansing, but there are other houses between them and her. Mr. Meigs asked if there would be any Town of Ithaca properties that would still be drawing water from the lake. Chair Zarriello stated that he thinks they all have public water now. Ms. Allen stated that on the west shore, many people have wells. Chair Zarriello stated that the properties up to the Town line have public utilities. Ms. Allen asked if the Public Health Department has any registry of lake water users. Chair Zarriello responded, no. Ms. Allen stated that they did a big survey four or five years ago. Chair Zarriello stated that the Public Health Department did a survey when they supplied the chemicals for the control. Ms. Allen responded, yes, but there has been a more recent survey. She thought it was done specifically to get a registry of lake users. Chair Zarriello asked Ms. Allen if she has talked to John Anderson at the Tompkins County Department of Health. Ms. Allen stated that she tried the other day. She left a message, but he never called back. She thanked the Board for their time and left the meeting. Z Mr. Joyce stated that he would like to say that they are open and available whenever people have questions and comments. Cornell took the comments that Ms. Allen put together very seriously, and the comments provided guidance as they responded to the scoping in March 1995. That was a very important part of what they did by responding to the questions and comments about water quality. He thought they did a thorough job in addressing those comments. They have been talking to Ms. Allen regularly, but it was only tonight that he discovered she was unhappy about the way here comments were addressed. He was surprised it was this late that he found out. He would have appreciated knowing Ms. Allen's concerns earlier to deal with them sooner. Barney Unsworth stated that he still does not understand completely what Ms. Allen is concerned about. Chair Zarriello stated that the well Ms. Allen is describing sounds to him like a well that he used to use - a submergible pump that sits on the lake bottom. Any time it rains, sediment is sucked into the pipes and clogs the filters. If he was still on that system today, it would need to be modified because of the zebra mussels. A beach well is one that is surrounded by a fair amount of gravel, and the sediment usually settles out before going through the pipes. Also, mussels are not sucked into the pipe. That is why he tried to raise that issue with Ms. Allen because it sounds like, given her concerns and the overall picture, that would be what he would want to build. Mr. Unsworth stated that the power station does a lot more pigging than people realize. Mr. Unsworth asked if there is any way to gain from their experience as to what is drained off afterwards, and how far it would travel and what effect it would have. Mr. Unsworth stated that what Cornell plans to do is being done in a many times larger scale up the lake, but somehow we never hear anything about it. Mr. Joyce stated that pigging is not used at Milliken. There are a number of different water systems that use the lake, and their main flow goes through the steam condensers in the power plant. That is a flow that is larger than what Cornell proposes to use. It is a hot flow through a large, relatively shallow pipe, so they kill the zebra mussels with heat. After the zebra mussels are dead, they gradually decay and fall off into the lake. Cornell does not have the ability to use this method because they will not be using hot water. They proposed a closed water route that has a maximum temperature of 60 degrees. The water will not reach 100 degrees - which is necessary to kill zebra mussels.. The proposed system would follow the cooling load that is heavily driven by the outside air temperature. Cornell has modeled a high flow rate, and requested a permit for this high flow rate, just to be conservative. Milliken does not use pigging, but pigging is commonly used in other locations of water intakes on the Great Lakes. It is becoming the treatment of choice where chemical treatment is not acceptable to DEC, or the other states' equivalent to DEC. DEC made it very clear to Cornell that any chemical means for controlling zebra mussels was not going to be looked upon very favorably. So this proposal is not unique, but it is different. Most of the water lines into the Great Lakes do not go much deeper than 20 to 40 feet, so they are very easy access by divers. In those cases because they are right in the zone where the zebra mussels are growing and multiplying in huge quantities each year, they attract enormous quantities of mussels. Pumps are needed to disperse the mussels. There would be more pigging done for the use of zebra mussel control. The City of Waterloo uses pigging for zebra mussel control, and Cornell has watched their process. Chair Zarriello pointed out that if the proposed pipes do accumulate mussels, they would be expelled at a depth of 250 feet, so there is less chance of that reaching the surface. 7 Mr. Joyce stated that the pigging would not be done at a high velocity. Water would move only at a couple feet per second. The water would not be shooting out of the pipe like a jet. Ms. deProsse stated that Ms. Allen was talking about the heavy metals and things. She was concerned about churning them up from the bottom of the lake. Mr. Joyce stated that in the area of the intake and the outfall pipes close to shore, that dredging would be done to keep the pipes submerged below boating depth. Those shallow sediments were analyzed carefully at the request of DEC. Those sediments do have concentrations of metals and pesticides. That is why Cornell is very carefully addressing the removal of the lake sediments, and containing the area that would be dredged to a small area surrounded by the silt curtains. Ms. deProsse asked what are silt curtains. Mr. Joyce stated that silt curtains are the black fabric that runs along the edge of construction sites to control sediment run off. It is not a perfect device, but it does a good job of containing the sediment as long as there is no heavy current going through. Ms. Levitan asked what does pigging mean. Mr. Joyce stated that pigging is basically putting a foam bullet through the pipe to push out anything that is inside clinging to the surface. It cleans the inside of the pipe from zebra mussels, as opposed to controlling them with chemicals. Cornell is proposing to let the mussels grow there from June until December, if they land and grow there at all From December to June there are no free floating mussel babies in the lake, because the mussels don't reproduce in water temperatures below 50 degrees. Bolton Point has a screen over their intake, and they use chlorine to kill any mussels that do foul their screen. This works because they chlorinate the water anyway, and the chlorine is not released back into the Lake. Cornell cannot chlorinate without having it all go back into the lake. Ms. Levitan stated that there was a letter in the Ithaca Times from a resident who was very concerned about the project. Ms. Levitan asked about the model that concerns this resident. Mr. Joyce stated that the resident was referring to the thermal and hydrodynamic modeling that Cornell did at the lake which actually was the state of the art based on local meteorological data that was collected at the Game Farm Road Weather Station. It was verified with data taken from the lake and calibrated to see if it was realistic. In this model, Cornell needed to make an assumption about fluoride. All along Cornell has been questioned about how hard could they run the lake source cooling? What is the limiting factor and how do we know that it was taken into consideration for the modeling of the impacts on the lake? Cornell decided to model everything 25 percent larger than what it is actually going to be built, and they also chose to model as if the plant ran 24 hours a day, seven days a week, all summer, in an attempt to represent the worst case scenario. In reality, the cooling load, and therefore, the lake source cooling will typically vary two -to -one daily, and ten -to -one seasonally. Cornell only has a three -to -one variation seasonally in the model. Cornell used very high quantities of water pumped through the system at the highest flow rates that was imaginable to go through the system, in attempt to see if the impacts are still negligible. Then they will feel better running it at a real flow rate, at which they expect to operate for the first 30 to 50 years. That is hard to explain in the dEIS. It was direct response of the community saying to us how hard could the system be run some day r%RAFY and what is the limited factor on how big of a flow could be pushed through. It turns out to be the pipe size. The pipe size could be pushed as hard as it could be done, and it was modeled that way. Ms. Tierney asked Mr. Joyce if he was talking about the correct model? The resident's article referred to a model with a four mph wind which never varies, and a current which likewise does not change speed or direction. Mr. Joyce stated that there are two different modeling efforts in the dEIS. That was a direct response of comments from the DEC, who wanted to know what the lake -wide impacts would be. In addition to the model he just described, there was a field modeling effort in the vicinity of the outfall. That is what the resident is referring to. That model is used to analyze the performance of a diffuser and an outfall in a body of water, river, or lake. Cornell made assumptions and did sensitivity work on the southern basin of the lake. Mr. Joyce stated that the model parameters were chosen conservatively to create the largest possible pool of undispersed outflow. If there was higher current and wind, the outflow would be dispersed faster. So Cornell used very low numbers to show the worst possible effect, that of a stagnant day where the water just comes up and sits there because there is no current in the southern basin. Chair Zarriello asked Mr. Joyce if he thinks they could add a plan to monitor after the pigging operation, if they detect a significant quantities of mussels. Mr. Joyce responded, yes. He thinks monitoring makes sense to see how the process works. This would help ascertain what volume is growing each year. These monitoring reports would be used over time to see what is going on with the lake. He does not think that Cayuga Lake is finished being populated by zebra mussels. Seneca Lake is radically different now than Cayuga Lake, from a water clarity standpoint. People at Seneca Lake found zebra mussels five years before they were found in Cayuga Lake. Chair Zarriello stated that some sampling of intake depth can be done before pigging and then immediately after to see the difference. Mr. Joyce stated that the biomass of zebra mussels from this project is relatively small compared to the whole lake biomass of zebra mussels that are dying all the time. There is a very small amount of zebra mussels in Cayuga Lake to worry about. Not that it couldn't have an impact, but it is just very small relatively speaking. Bolton Point mentioned that they would like to have a monitoring plan available should the dredging operation near shore prove inadequately contained by DEC standards. Monitoring at the intake is something that could be considered. Cornell feels confident that the impact of zebra mussel shells in the intake area is not a major concern. Zebra mussel shells are not in a very big quantity. But Cornell is open to suggestions there. This will be a learning process, and they will be developing a few general guidelines that Cornell could collect data on, to put the details together as it gets closer. MEMBER CONCERNS: Mr. Meigs asked about the filling behind the cemetery property. Mr. Tierney stated that this project did go through the Planning Board for approval, but that an ERC letter was not in the file. That proposal should have gone through ERC review. Mr. Meigs asked Ms. Tierney if she thinks this proposal is being handled acceptably. Ms. Tierney stated that she has not looked at the site yet. Mr. Meigs asked what does the file indicate. Ms. Tierney stated that the file indicates that the Planning Board and the Town Engineer thought there were no problems and everything was fine. She did not look into that proposal any further. Mr. Meigs stated that he heard that it might be a temporary dewatering operation, which suggested that they may be removing what is being put there. Ms. Tierney stated that she did not get that impression from looking at the file. She thought the fill was going to be permanent. Mr. Meigs stated that he would like to look into that further, and would contact the Planning Department for further information. COORDINATOR AND CHAIR REPORTS: Ms. Tierney stated that it is becoming that time of year to renew membership and recruit new members. Five Board member terms are expiring this year, and those members should consider renewing membership. The award of grant that the Conservation Board applied for will not be known until December. Director of Planning Kanter mentioned that the Conservation Board should go ahead with the project, and perhaps the Town could find another way to publish the materials if the CB did not win the grant. The first opportunity to distribute this information will be in the fall newsletter to be distributed at the beginning of October. The deadline for articles for that issue newsletter will be September 12. The Town received another letter from the Finger Lakes National Forest, regarding the new Forest Plan. They wanted to remind the Town that their meetings are ongoing and invited the Town again to attend. In addition to the conference notice that was supplied in the mailing, which is the conference specifically for the Conservation Board, there are other conferences that may interest the Board. The Conference on the Environment is on October 17 - 19, and there is money in the budget to send two or three interested members. Any interested members should contact the Planning Department within the next week. DRAFT ZONING ORDINANCE REVISION COMMENTS: Chair Zarriello stated that comments on the draft Zoning Ordinance revision are due next week. In the packet there was a cover letter from the Codes and Ordinances Committee along with an Executive Summary. The Conservation Board reviewed both the Executive Summary and the revised ordinance and discussed comments. The Conservation Board will summarize their comments for the Codes and Ordinances Committee. LAKE SOURCE COOLING DEIS COMMENTS: 10 ` bkA T Ms. Tierney stated that if the CB wished to comment on the dEIS, they should do so immediately as comments are due next Monday. Chair Zarriello adjourned the meeting at 9:30 p.m. Minutes transcribed by Debby Kelley on 9/15/97. Partially edited by JAY 09/21/97. Edited by GLT 9/22/97. 11 TOWN OF ITHACA CONSERVATION BOARD MINUTES FINAL SEPTEMBER 4, 1997 Approved 10/2/97 PRESENT: Chair Phil Zarriello, Vice Chair Kara Hagedorn, Elizabeth deProsse, Lois Levitan, Jon Meigs, Barney Unsworth, John Yntema. ABSENT: Frank Baldwin, Richard Fischer, Eva Hoffmann. STAFF: Geri Tierney, Coordinator. GUESTS: Grace Allen, Lanny Joyce. Chair Zarriello opened the meeting at 7:30 p.m. PERSONS TO BE HEARD: Grace Allen stated that she is not from the Town of Ithaca, that she is from the Town of Lansing. She is here because she has spent so much time going to the Town of Lansing in regards to the draft Environmental Impact Statement (dEIS) on the Lake Source Cooling (LSC) Project. The Town of Ithaca and the City of Ithaca were raising questions as to the possible effect on water quality of the LSC project, particularly the mussel control activities. This is a subject near and dear to her heart because she takes her water from the lake. The Town of Lansing has no public water available where she lives and most of her neighbors do not have public water. She made comments on the scoping documents , and basically she feels those comments were brushed aside. Since she was so interested in the water quality, she contacted the Town of Ithaca regarding her concerns. Ms. Allen asked what was the Town of Ithaca's interest in water quality regarding this project? Chair Zarriello stated that the Town of Ithaca is interested in water quality in general. Ms. Allen mentioned the Town of Ithaca comments on the dEIS. She has concerns in connection with the lake sediments, and stability of things, and what is going to be done. She is concerned that Cornell is saying that there will be no impacts on drinking water. They are really denying that there are people that might be affected in the vicinity of the lake intake. She is approximately 4,000 feet from the proposal on the survey map. Cornell has a quotation from the director of Bolton Point operations which states that there may be some people on the 1200 block of East Shore Drive who take their water from the lake, and then they show where the possible users are located. The point is that she wants their references. They say that, in connection with the heavy metals and because of the distance from any possible users, and because they know about good management practices, they would not have any impacts on water quality. The point is that they do not really know; they have not said whether there is going to be chemical pollution and toxicity from the heavy metals. It all depends on a whole series of things: deviation, magnitude, etc. They say the impact would be non-detectable. Maybe they are right and maybe they are wrong, but they are not going to know. She and others will be affected by this. As for the pigging, it really disturbs her because they cannot reverse water flow from the outflow. They will be discharging approximately 26,000 gallons of reverse flow will occur during the pigging process twice a year during operations. They said there would be no impact because of the distance from the possible water users, but she lives south-southeast of that intake and the prevailing wind is north- northwest, so anything that happens would come straight towards her. She agrees that maybe the heavy tissues and shell fragments will settle out, and neither of those would concern her because she can filter them out. It is the very fine pulverized shells that concern her because she would need to put more filters on. She normally puts the filters on twice a month or approximately three weeks apart. If she gets a really heavy wind, it will rile up the surface and then scour the bottom. Then she gets so much silt sedimentation and will need to change the filters just about everyday. While this construction is happening she can imagine doing this on a daily process. They did not say anything about constraints of weather, and very fine sedimentation will be carried at surface level. They say that the heavy sediment will settle, but the very fine stuff will go to the surface, and it is the surface water that is carried to the beach, so it will be the surface water carrying pulverized sediment that she will receive. In addition to not being able to filter the fine sediment, the other problem is with the mussels - the smell and the taste, and that is something they can do nothing about, once it is in the system. She was on Lake Erie a few weeks ago at a place called Geneva on the Lake, talking to a Motel Manager. He was furious because people are getting wells drilled so there are a lot of things coming up on the beach, and the decomposition is so different. Indeed there was a smell, and the water was so bad. Jon Meigs said that directly contributed to the lake decomposition. Ms. Allen responded, yes. She called the Sea Grant Program at SUNY, and she talked to Charles Nagle. Initially he said she was absolutely right that they should be doing some monitoring when they actually do the pigging operation. She gathered that Mr. Kauffman from Bolton Point, who has talked to him since, and he is mortified that instead what it really depends upon is how they get the mussels out. That does not help her if they get a lot out of there, if they are not monitoring. And what is going to happen? There is going to be no monitoring of the silt sedimentation where they say in some instances the measurement of heavy metals exceeds the New York State Guidance Values, and there is a possibility depending upon the magnitude, the deviation, and etc., that there could be some toxicity of the water. Then in the next paragraph, they jump on the safety wondering if it would effect water quality. Chair Zarriello stated that he and Lanny Joyce discussed this issue earlier today. All the dredging operations will be monitored. Ms. Allen stated that the documents do not mention that. Chair Zarriello stated that he thought this will be added because of the residents' concerns. Lanny Joyce stated that Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) felt the control of the mussels was not adequate when dredging is done, then it would be good to have a monitoring program to institute. Chair Zarriello asked if the first check would be a visual one to see if there is anything coming out of the filtration. Mr. Joyce responded, yes. In general they will want to pay attention to what is going on, and there will probably be a camera down there during pigging to see how the whole operation works. They are not sure there will be mussels growing. During June to December; the mussels will land inside the intake 2 pipe, and they will grow very slowly from June to December because 39 degree water is not their normal climate. So whatever growth occurs in that time period will be flushed out during pigging. Chair Zarriello stated that the Zebra Mussels are not just going to be in the pipes, they are also going to be on the shorelines. Mr. Joyce stated that they would be much closer to the shore. There is a band that runs around the circumference of the lake where the mussels are already living and dying. The mussels have a five year life cycle, and they grow approximately 1/4 inch per year. Chair Zarriello stated that he is not dismissing Ms. Allen's concerns. There is a video conference on Zebra Mussels on September 10th, that people might be interested in attending. There is a $5 cover fee. If this is really a concern, he feels the contribution of the LSC project is going to be minor part of what already exists. The concern is a modification to the water intake, to run the water through a sand filter before use. Ms. Allen stated that is not the issue. She does not have an intake line - she has a V12 (??), so the water comes up and is filtered by gravity. She is concerned about is the fact the water she draws, which comes from a shallow depth, will be full of pulverized shells. She cannot filter out particles smaller than 20 microns. Chair Zarriello asked Ms. Allen if she is using cartridge filters. Ms. Allen responded, yes. She cannot filter smaller particles, and she does not know if there sill be a taste and smell attached to the pulverized shells. There is nothing here that gives her any confidence that this would not happen. Chair Zarriello stated that he does not understand Ms. Allen's well situation. If it is a beach well, she should not be getting fine particles as a result of the changes in clarity. Ms. Allen responded, yes, she would. Chair Zarriello stated that it seems like there is a direct connection to the Lake. Ms. Allen stated no, not in terms of her taking fill and tissue through the actual well. Chair Zarriello stated that if these particles get into her well, then there has to be a direct route to the water. Ms. Allen stated that she is not concerned about that. She is concerned about the water contamination, water silted with the fine pulverized material, etc. Chair Zarriello asked if even the fine particles, the clays and silts that are out there now - is she is picking those up in her well and does she have to change her filter fairly often? Ms. Allen stated yes, that is correct. Chair Zarriello stated that he is having a hard time visualizing Ms. Allen's well, because if it is a beach well and the water is being run through gravel, she should not be getting the fine particles in her well. Ms. Allen stated that it does happen. There is a lot of scouring when there's water in the shallow area, and her water comes from very shallow water. The water picks up sediment and silt that comes through the well and needs to be filtered. Her well goes down to the beach instead of her garden. Chair Zarriello asked Ms. Allen if her well sits directly in the water with no gravel. Ms. Allen responded, yes. There is gravel below, but the well sits on the beach. Chair Zarriello stated that is what he is asking, because that is why she has a problem with silt. Ms. Allen stated that as anyone has with any well there is some type of silt or some kind of sediment coming in. Chair Zarriello stated that if there is direct contact with the water, sure there would be. Ms. Allen stated that she does not, because she does not have a line going out into the lake. She does not have fouling and the eroding by the tissues and shells in her well. It is the fine particles that she needs to worry about. She is just concerned about the fact that there is so little attention paid, and she knows that Mr. Joyce does not agree, she heard that secondhand. Mr. Joyce does not agree that there is little attention being paid. When she reviewed the comments that she wrote (three pages of comments) in the scoping document, her comments are summarized as just being three kinds of concerns. There is one reference to drinking the water. They know she takes her water from the Lake, and yet it comes out per Mr. Kauffman that there "may" be people using Lake water there. There are many other factors, she has messes of stuff here, and she was simply concerned because when she read the CB comments in the dEIS, drinking water concerns were purely in connection with the biofouling mechanisms. She wanted to know in particular why the Conservation Board was limiting their concerns to those chemicals. Were the CB concerns incorrectly summarized in the dEIS? Chair Zarriello responded, no. Those were responses to the Board's direct comments, but this Board had raised comments previously in regards to the modeling study and the updated phosphorus. Those issues have been addressed. What Ms. Allen was reading were responses to comments that this Board felt were completed. Ms. Allen asked if the Board feels that these are adequate responses to their comments. Chair Zarriello responded, yes. Having the video camera on the site during the first few pigging operations to see what comes out, and there should be a plan if they see large quantities of mussel material coming out that some monitoring be done as part of the pigging operations to be sure that it is not a problem. Ms. Allen asked what would happen if they do find that things are not as painted in the impact statement. Would the impact be if the effect of the pigging is different from what they expect? Mr. Meigs stated that depends on how severe it is. It might call for some corrective action. Chair Zarriello stated that pigging could be done more often so there would not be a large quantity of material. 4 Ms. Allen asked what happens to the residential users when that happens. Chair Zarriello stated that this is all hypothetical, if it happens and if the pigging schedule was done on a semi-annual basis, it may have to be increased to every five months so there would not be large quantities building up. The evidence indicates that is not going to be the case. Ms. Allen stated that she wished she had more confidence. Chair Zarriello stated that he needs to go with what the data suggests. If the data suggested differently, he would suggest that they should be modifying their plans now. These comments are based on some hypothetical condition, but the data does not indicate it will happen. Ms. Allen stated that she is completely dependent on the Lake for water for three residential units. Chair Zarriello stated that he lives on the lake and he received the water directly from the Lake for years, and he knows the problems associated with it. If he was still getting his water from the lake he would be concerned, but the more general concern that he has is the non -point source run off. That is a quality issue far more serious than the LSC project. There have been some analyses this past summer indicating that residuals of pesticides are high in Cayuga Lake. There should be more investigations as to why that is. Ms. Allen stated that she has talked to Bolton Point quite often about that. Chair Zarriello stated that when things are balanced out, those efforts should be directed at how the City of Ithaca directs their storm drains (and perhaps even the Town of Ithaca). Ms. Allen stated that right now we are talking about the LSC project. Chair Zarriello stated that, as he mentioned before, he thinks the data is sound and the evidence suggests that it is not going to be a problem. Mr. Joyce has suggested what they plan to do to monitor the situation. If there is cause to react to that, then they would be in a position to identify that to make a judgment call. Ms. Allen asked what about the sediments, chemicals, and the heavy metals. Chair Zarriello stated that is part of the dredging operations. That has been addressed in terms of the silt curtains. Ms. Allen asked what are they going to do. Chair Zarriello stated they would do a visual inspection, and if things are moving outside the curtains, have a plan to do some analysis. That is being adequately addressed as a result of the concerns of Ms. Allen and others. Ms. Allen asked how long ago did the Conservation Board write their comments on the environmental impact statement. Chair Zarriello stated that was several months ago. Ms. Allen asked why didn't the public hear about all of this. Mr. Joyce stated that there was a 30 day review period for the agencies to do an adequacy review. As an involved agency, the Town's Conservation Board had an opportunity to judge whether the entire document was adequate or not for public review. When the DEC judged the document to be adequate, then it was passed onto the public review period instead of the normal 30 day review period, it was made into a 60 day review period. The public comment period was extended to twice as long as required. Ms. Allen asked if the Conservation Board is dealing with other aspects of the project as well. Chair Zarriello responded, yes. Ms. Allen stated that she would be mailing in her comments on the Lake Source Cooling Project. Chair Zarriello stated that if there is anything that could be done to ease her concerns, she can make an effort to hand in her comments. Mr. Meigs asked Ms. Allen how many other residents along the her portion of the lake shore are there who have the same condition? Ms. Allen responded, approximately three. It is very difficult because they never see each other. They are all down below the road level, and are widely spaced out. She knows the next house above hers takes water from the lake, because she rented that house for a year. She thinks there are two other houses that take the water from the lake. She cannot say anything more than that. She thinks the new houses that were built three or four years ago receive their water through the Village of Lansing, but there are other houses between them and her. Mr. Meigs asked if there would be any Town of Ithaca properties that would still be drawing water from the lake. Chair Zarriello stated that he thinks they all have public water now. Ms. Allen stated that on the west shore, many people have wells. Chair Zarriello stated that the properties up to the Town line have public utilities. Ms. Allen asked if the Public Health Department has any registry of lake water users. Chair Zarriello responded, no. Ms. Allen stated that they did a big survey four or five years ago. Chair Zarriello stated that the Public Health Department did a survey when they supplied the chemicals for lamprey control. Ms. Allen responded, yes, but there has been a more recent survey. She thought it was done specifically to get a registry of lake users. Chair Zarriello asked Ms. Allen if she has talked to John Anderson at the Tompkins County Department of Health. Ms. Allen stated that she tried the other day. She left a message, but he never called back. She thanked the Board for their time and left the meeting. Mr. Joyce stated that he would like to say that they are open and available whenever people have questions and comments. Cornell took the comments that Ms. Allen put together very seriously, and the comments provided guidance as they responded to the scoping in March 1995. That was a very important part of what they did by responding to the questions and comments about water quality. He thought they did a thorough job in addressing those comments. They have been talking to Ms. Allen regularly, but it was only tonight that he discovered she was unhappy about the way here comments were addressed. He was surprised it was this late that he found out. He would have appreciated knowing Ms. Allen's concerns earlier to deal with them sooner. Barney Unsworth stated that he still does not understand completely what Ms. Allen is concerned about. Chair Zarriello stated that the well Ms. Allen is describing sounds to him like a well that he used to use - a submergible pump that sits on the lake bottom. Any time it rains, sediment is sucked into the pipes and clogs the filters. If he was still on that system today, it would need to be modified because of the zebra mussels. A beach well is one that is surrounded by a fair amount of gravel, and the sediment usually settles out before going through the pipes. Also, mussels are not sucked into the pipe. That is why he tried to raise that issue with Ms. Allen because it sounds like, given her concerns and the overall picture, that would be what he would want to build. Mr. Unsworth stated that the power station does a lot more pigging than people realize. Mr. Unsworth asked if there is any way to gain from their experience as to what is drained off afterwards, and how far it would travel and what effect it would have. Mr. Unsworth stated that what Cornell plans to do is being done in a many times larger scale up the lake, but somehow we never hear anything about it. Mr. Joyce stated that pigging is not used at Milliken. There are a number of different water systems that use the lake, and their main flow goes through the steam condensers in the power plant. That is a flow that is larger than what Cornell proposes to use. It is a hot flow through a large, relatively shallow pipe, so they kill the zebra mussels with heat. After the zebra mussels are dead, they gradually decay and fall off into the lake. Cornell does not have the ability to use this method because they will not be using hot water. They proposed a closed water route that has a maximum temperature of 60 degrees. The water will not reach 100 degrees - which is necessary to kill zebra mussels.. The proposed system would follow the cooling load that is heavily driven by the outside air temperature. Cornell has modeled a high flow rate, and requested a permit for this high flow rate, just to be conservative. Milliken does not use pigging, but pigging is commonly used in other locations of water intakes on the Great Lakes. It is becoming the treatment of choice where chemical treatment is not acceptable to DEC, or the other states' equivalent to DEC. DEC made it very clear to Cornell that any chemical means for controlling zebra mussels was not going to be looked upon very favorably. So this proposal is not unique, but it is different. Most of the water lines into the Great Lakes do not go much deeper than 20 to 40 feet, so they are very easy access by divers. In those cases because they are right in the zone where the zebra mussels are growing and multiplying in huge quantities each year, they attract enormous quantities of mussels. 7 Pumps are needed to disperse the mussels. There would be more pigging done for the use of zebra mussel control. The City of Waterloo uses pigging for zebra mussel control, and Cornell has watched their process. Chair Zarriello pointed out that if the proposed pipes do accumulate mussels, they would be expelled at a depth of 250 feet, so there is less chance of that reaching the surface. Mr. Joyce stated that the pigging would not be done at a high velocity. Water would move only at a couple feet per second. The water would not be shooting out of the pipe like a jet. Ms. deProsse stated that Ms. Allen was talking about the heavy metals and things. She was concerned about churning them up from the bottom of the lake. Mr. Joyce stated that in the area of the intake and the outfall pipes close to shore, that dredging would be done to keep the pipes submerged below boating depth. Those shallow sediments were analyzed carefully at the request of DEC. Those sediments do have concentrations of metals and pesticides. That is why Cornell is very carefully addressing the removal of the lake sediments, and containing the area that would be dredged to a small area surrounded by the silt curtains. Ms. deProsse asked what are silt curtains. Mr. Joyce stated that silt curtains are the black fabric that runs along the edge of construction sites to control sediment run off. It is not a perfect device, but it does a good job of containing the sediment as long as there is no heavy current going through. Ms. Levitan asked what does pigging mean. Mr. Joyce stated that pigging is basically putting a foam bullet through the pipe to push out anything that is inside clinging to the surface. It cleans the inside of the pipe from zebra mussels, as opposed to controlling them with chemicals. Cornell is proposing to let the mussels grow there from June until December, if they land and grow there at all From December to June there are no free floating mussel babies in the lake, because the mussels don't reproduce in water temperatures below 50 degrees. Bolton Point has a screen over their intake, and they use chlorine to kill any mussels that do foul their screen. This works because they chlorinate the water anyway, and the chlorine is not released back into the Lake. Cornell cannot chlorinate without having it all go back into the lake. Ms. Levitan stated that there was a letter in the Ithaca Times from a resident who was very concerned about the project. Ms. Levitan asked about the model that concerns this resident. Mr. Joyce stated that the resident was referring to the thermal and hydrodynamic modeling that Cornell did at the lake which actually was the state of the art based on local meteorological data that was collected at the Game Farm Road Weather Station. It was verified with data taken from the lake and calibrated to see if it was realistic. In this model, Cornell needed to make an assumption about fluoride. All along Cornell has been questioned about how hard could they run the lake source cooling? What is the limiting factor and how do we know that it was taken into consideration for the modeling of the impacts on the lake? Cornell decided to model everything 25 percent larger than what it is actually going to be built, and they also chose to model as if the plant ran 24 hours a day, seven days a week, all summer, in an attempt to represent the worst case scenario. In reality, the cooling load, and therefore, the lake source cooling will typically vary two -to -one daily, and ten -to -one seasonally. Cornell only has a three -to -one variation seasonally in the model. Cornell used very high quantities of water pumped through the system at the highest flow rates that was imaginable to go through the system, in attempt to see if the impacts are still negligible. Then they will feel better running it at a real flow rate, at which they expect to operate for the first 30 to 50 years. That is hard to explain in the dEIS. It was direct response of the community saying to us how hard could the system be run some day and what is the limited factor on how big of a flow could be pushed through. It turns out to be the pipe size. The pipe size could be pushed as hard as it could be done, and it was modeled that way. Ms. Tierney asked Mr. Joyce if he was talking about the correct model? The resident's article referred to a model with a four mph wind which never varies, and a current which likewise does not change speed or direction. Mr. Joyce stated that there are two different modeling efforts in the dEIS. That was a direct response of comments from the DEC, who wanted to know what the lake -wide impacts would be. In addition to the model he just described, there was a field modeling effort in the vicinity of the outfall. That is what the resident is referring to. That model is used to analyze the performance of a diffuser and an outfall in a body of water, river, or lake. Cornell made assumptions and did sensitivity work on the southern basin of the lake. Mr. Joyce stated that the model parameters were chosen conservatively to create the largest possible pool of undispersed outflow. If there was higher current and wind, the outflow would be dispersed faster. So Cornell used very low numbers to show the worst possible effect, that of a stagnant day where the water just comes up and sits there because there is no current in the southern basin. Chair Zarriello asked Mr. Joyce if he thinks they could add a plan to monitor after the pigging operation, if they detect a significant quantities of mussels. Mr. Joyce responded, yes. He thinks monitoring makes sense to see how the process works. This would help ascertain what volume is growing each year. These monitoring reports would be used over time to see what is going on with the lake. He does not think that Cayuga Lake is finished being populated by zebra mussels. Seneca Lake is radically different now than Cayuga Lake, from a water clarity standpoint. People at Seneca Lake found zebra mussels five years before they were found in Cayuga Lake. Chair Zarriello stated that some sampling of intake depth can be done before pigging and then immediately after to see the difference. Mr. Joyce stated that the biomass of zebra mussels from this project is relatively small compared to the whole lake biomass of zebra mussels that are dying all the time. There is a very small amount of zebra mussels in Cayuga Lake to worry about. Not that it couldn't have an impact, but it is just very small, relatively speaking. Bolton Point mentioned that they would like to have a monitoring plan available should the dredging operation near shore prove inadequately contained by DEC standards. Monitoring at the intake is something that could be considered. Cornell feels confident that the impact of zebra mussel shells in the intake area is not a major concern. Zebra mussel shells are not in a very big quantity. But Cornell is open to suggestions. This will be a learning process, and they will be developing a few general guidelines that Cornell could collect data on, to put the details together as it gets closer. MEMBER CONCERNS: 9 Mr. Meigs asked about the filling behind the cemetery property. Mr. Tierney stated that this project did go through the Planning Board for approval, but that an ERC letter was not in the file. That proposal should have gone through ERC review. Mr. Meigs asked Ms. Tierney if she thinks this proposal is being handled acceptably. Ms. Tierney stated that she has not looked at the site yet. Mr. Meigs asked what does the file indicate. Ms. Tierney stated that the file indicates that the Planning Board and the Town Engineer thought there were no problems and everything was fine. She did not look into that proposal any further. Mr. Meigs stated that he heard that it might be a temporary dewatering operation, which suggested that they may be removing what is being put there. Ms. Tierney stated that she did not get that impression from looking at the file. She thought the fill was going to be permanent. Mr. Meigs stated that he would like to look into that further, and would contact the Planning Department for further information. COORDINATOR AND CHAIR REPORTS: Ms. Tierney stated that it is becoming that time of year to renew membership and recruit new members. Five Board member terms are expiring this year, and those members should consider renewing membership. The award of grant that the Conservation Board applied for will not be known until December. Director of Planning Kanter mentioned that the Conservation Board should go ahead with the project, and perhaps the Town could find another way to publish the materials if the CB did not win the grant. The first opportunity to distribute this information will be in the fall newsletter to be distributed at the beginning of October. The deadline for articles for that issue newsletter will be September 12. The Town received another letter from the Finger Lakes National Forest, regarding the new Forest Plan. They wanted to remind the Town that their meetings are ongoing and invited the Town again to attend. In addition to the conference notice that was supplied in the mailing, which is the conference specifically for the Conservation Board, there are other conferences that may interest the Board. The Conference on the Environment is on October 17 - 19, and there is money in the budget to send two or three interested members. Any interested members should contact the Planning Department within the next week. DRAFT ZONING ORDINANCE REVISION COMMENTS: Chair Zarriello stated that comments on the draft Zoning Ordinance revision are due next week. In the packet there was a cover letter from the Codes and Ordinances Committee along with an Executive Summary. 10 The Conservation Board reviewed both the Executive Summary and the revised ordinance and discussed comments. The Conservation Board will summarize their comments for the Codes and Ordinances Committee. LAKE SOURCE COOLING DEIS COMMENTS: Ms. Tierney stated that if the CB wished to comment on the dEIS, they should do so immediately as comments are due next Monday. Chair Zarriello adjourned the meeting at 9:30 p.m. Minutes transcribed by Debby Kelley on 9/15/97. Partially edited by JAY 09/21/97. Edited by GLT 9/22/97. 11 TOWN OF ITHACA 126 EAST SENECA STREET, ITHACA, N.Y. 14850 TOWN CLERK 273-1721 HIGHWAY 273-1656 PARKS 273-8035 ENGINEERING 273-1747 PLANNING 273-1747 ZONING 273-1783 FAX (607) 273-1704 TO: Conservation Board Members FROM: Geri Tierney, CB Coordinator DATE: 28 August 1997 RE: Our next meeting.- September 4, 1997 Greetings. Enclosed, please find the agenda and materials for our September 4th meeting. Please note that the ERC will be meeting at 7 PM on this date, just before the CB meeting. They will discuss the Mecklenburg Heights Affordable Housing proposal, and perhaps the Walker 3 -lot and Lick Brook 2 -lot subdivisions. I've enclosed a flyer describing the 1997 Conference on the Environment - to be held Friday October 17 to Sunday October 19 in Port Jefferson on Long Island, NY. This conference is sponsored by the New York State Association of Conservation Commissions and Environmental Management Councils. The goal of the conference is to educate and provide networking opportunities for CB and EMC members. We have funds to send two, or possibly three, members to this conference. Please ask Lois or myself if you'd like to hear about last year's conference.. We'll try to decide at this meeting who will attend the conference. At this meeting we will finalize our written comments on the 3/10/97 draft of the Park, Recreation and Open Space Plan, so please bring your copy of this draft and your own written comments. Additionally, we will discuss our written comments to the draft -Zoning Ordinance Revisions, which you received in the mail last month under separate cover. Please bring this document and your own written comments. As you requested at our last meeting, I sent to you the staff comments on the Lake Source Cooling dEIS to you a few weeks ago. You may adopt any of these concerns as your own, or draft additional comments. Also, it's time to start planning the Fall edition of the Town Newsletter which will be distributed in late September or early October. Please let me know if you have any ideas for articles or announcements from the Conservation Board.. As always, please call me at 273-1747 if you have any questions. See you on September 4th.