HomeMy WebLinkAboutCB Minutes 2019-04-04 Town of Ithaca Conservation Board
April 4, 2019
Final Minutes
Members Present: Will VanDyke, Vladimir Micic, Mike Roberts, James Hamilton, Eva Hoffmann,
Hannah George
Staff: Mike Smith, Senior Planner
Guests: Phil Munson (Town of Lansing), Rick Grossman (Town of Ithaca), Steve Lamb (Town of
Ithaca)
Meeting called to order at 5:55pm following informal introductions.
1. Persons to be heard - none.
2. Member concerns - none.
3. Chair and Coordinator Reports
a. Mike Roberts, Chair:
i. Mike Roberts will send out notes on ERC guidelines for review this
month.
ii. Food Waste talk by Tristan Stewart at Cornell coming up on Thursday
May 2, 5:30, in Call Auditorium in Kennedy Hall.
iii. Mike Roberts attended a pesticide applicator update workshop, taught by
a CCE educator from downstate NY who talk about the distribution of
Lyme disease, and showed the distribution of various tick-borne diseases.
A single deer can provide the nutrients for half a million ticks in one
season. Deer increase the overall numbers of ticks, while the proportion
with Lyme or other diseases depends on the abundance of the vector
species (i.e. mice in the case of Lyme).
b. Mike Smith, Coordinator:
i. Moyer 2-lot subdivision was simply changing a boundary line's location.
ii. NCRE did get preliminary approval. Comments from CB were noted,
including: stormwater concerns, which are being further addressed by
Town of Ithaca engineers; light pollution concerns, which will be
addressed through a modification of the lighting; and a resolution was
made to look at native plants for planting in the plan.
iii. There will be a new electric charging station for a new plug-in-hybrid
vehicle for Code Enforcement at Town Hall.
iv. Invasive species awareness week - New York State: week of July 7-13.
V. Sept 30-Oct 3: New York Invasive Species Research Institute and North
American Invasive Species Management Association is hosting an
Invasive Species conference in Saratoga Springs.
1
vi. The Town of Ithaca was awarded a grant for invasive species
management on South Hill Rec Way. Along the entirety of South Hill Rec
Way (a distance of 3.4 miles) invasives will be cleared 15 ft on each side,
followed up with planting native trees and shrubs. The State contract is in
place, and a Request for Proposals (RFP) was submitted and 2
responses received. Volunteer groups will be invited to assist at tree-
planting events, likely this fall.
vii. A certified pesticide applicator, contracted by the Town of Ithaca, was
removing non-native, invasive plant species at the preserves on Culver
Road, and accidentally crossed the Town property's boundary line and
applied pesticide on the neighbor's property, near a spring that is used for
the home's water source. The neighbor was not pleased, and the Town
may ask the Conservation Board for guidance on using pesticides near
private water sources.
viii. Deer Management:
1. 2 locations may not have been used yet; only the cemetery site
has reported activity, where a participant was out 3 times, and
took 1 deer. All neighbors were notified by letter explaining the
program and asking if they would allow participants to track deer
onto their property. Neighbors have had positive responses and
seem to be in support of the program.
2. Agriculture meeting: Farmers were unhappy that they could not
participate in the Towns Deer Management program, but a DEC
representative came to the recent Agriculture meeting to show
farmers how to apply for a Nuisance Permit on individual farms.
3. 2020 program: Mike has started talking with City representatives
about sites along 6 Mile Creek that could be a good fit for the
hunting program. 2019 sites only used properties that came with
hunters, so hunters that have previously participated in other
municipal programs were turned away.
4. There was brief discussion amongst CB members about how
publicizing deer-vehicle collision statistics can be one way to
garner additional support for the program.
4. No minutes to approve.
5. Richard B. Fischer Environmental Conservation Award: the award was given to the New
York State Hemlock Initiative (NYSHI), and a tree planting will take place this spring.
There are possible sites on East Ithaca Rec Way, between Honness and Mitchell. Mike
R. will email Mark Whitmore (of NYSHI) about his preference of tree that is planted in
honor of NYSHI. A Doodle poll will be sent out by Will for a planting date.
6. Earth Day: It does not appear to be any local Earth Day event this year to participate at.
There will be a Cornell hike in honor of Tom Reimers at the CTC on Freese Road on
2
April 21. Streets Alive is April 28 (1 —5pm). Will will email Bike/Walk Tompkins about
tabling opportunities at their Streets Alive event and will contact all CB members to see
who is available to assist at a table.
7. Regular Reports & Updates
a. ERC: Moyer 2-lot subdivision & merging: no issues.
b. Scenic Resources Committee (Eva): Town Highway Department is ready to put
up the sign on South Hill after getting the necessary NYSDOT permits. Eva has
an appointment with Joe Talbut, Town Parks Manager, on Monday the 15th, to
clarify the exact location of the sign and bench. She will also go to Pine Tree &
Snyder Hill Road to see the site of the future sign. Eva may put together a
slideshow of a view that was previously able to see from along Snyder Hill Road,
prior to the construction of several low, but disruptive buildings along Pine Tree
Road.
c. Communications Committee. 800 people were reached in the recent Facebook
post about looking for new members, and there were another 5 or 6 "likes" during
this time. There is also a way to invite local Ithaca friends to like the Facebook
page, which furthers engagement and increases reach of TOI CB posts, so all
members are encouraged to do so. Will has found a way to embed high-quality
photos of the most scenic views in Ithaca. This would also be a good way to
profile invasive species as part of a series, to help residents identify plants in
their yards. Another idea is to display a series of bird box photos, or Fischer
Award Trees. Will also would like to get the Fischer Award press release to the
Ithaca Journal/other local print media.
d. Tompkins County EMC: presentation notes are available for the Ups and Downs
of Cayuga Lake, on the EMC webpage. Hannah brought up the idea that a
county-level parks department would be of use to assist the Town & City of
Ithaca with management of resources that benefit the county and beyond. Ithaca
CB resolved to support county level parks department. There was a brief
discussion about East Shore Park on East Shore Drive, which is a Town of
Ithaca Park that is actually situated on Cornell land, and leased from Cornell.
e. Six Mile Creek Volunteer Monitoring Program: The first water sample of the year
was mostly frozen, but prevailed nonetheless.
f. Cornell Botanic Gardens Natural Areas Program. Looked for Hemlock Wooly
Adelgid (HWA) infestations at Ringwood Pond, Monkey Run, and other locations,
but hardly found any infested trees. Infested HWA tree branches are essential for
supporting the NYSHI biocontrol research-- the biocontrol beetles they are
raising need a constant food source, and though the population of HWA may be
lower currently due to cold winter temperatures, the HWA population can
rebound very quickly due to short generations and large numbers of eggs that
can be laid by a single HWA.
8. Other Business
3
a. A plastic bag ban was approved by New York State, and the expected rollout will
be March 1, 2020.
9. Review 2019 work goals
a. Promoting invasive species awareness: Will has made some posts about
Invasive Species. We may still need paper handouts that have information about
invasive plants and native alternatives to give out at events. Phil suggested
checking with Cornell Cooperative Extension about similar materials that we can
use. Finger Lakes Native Plant Society is also a great resource.
b. Water usage: Check in with Town.
c. Non-Automobile Infrastructure: no update.
d. Compost: Lindsay reached out to students at IC who supplied contact for student
leaders. Good idea to identify barriers to IC composting, maybe will be required
by New York State law to compost. Any establishment that generates >2 tons per
week waste must sort and divert to a organics recycling.
e. Lindsay suggested that CB could provide strategies to promote native plants at
an Earth Day event.
f. Bluebirds - no update.
Meeting adjourned at 7:23pm
Minutes drafted by Hannah George.
4