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Home My WebLink About02-8-18 EMC Final MinutesTOMPKINS COUNTY ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT COUNCIL 121 East Court Street Ithaca, New York 14850 Telephone (607) 274-5560 http://www.tompkinscountyny.gov/emc 1 2 EMC Final Minutes February 8, 2018 4:00 p.m. Tompkins County Old Jail Conference Room, 125 E. Court St, Ithaca, NY 3 4 Attendance 5 Member Seat Member Seat Steve Bissen P Town of Dryden Amanda Champion P Legislature Liaison Cait Darfler P Town of Ulysses Susan Allen-Gil P Associate Member John Dennis P Village of Lansing Karen Edelstein A Associate member Brian Eden P Village of Cayuga Heights Bill Evans E Associate Member Pegi Ficken E Town of Groton Anna Kelles A Associate Member Michelle Henry P Town of Newfield Dooley Kiefer P Associate Member Anne Klingensmith P Town of Danby Dan Klein P Associate Member James Knighton E At-Large Jose Lozano P Associate Member Vladimir Micic A Town of Ithaca Osamu Tsuda P Associate Member Steve Nicholson P Town of Caroline David Weinstein A Associate Member Susan Riley P At-Large Robert Wesley A Associate Member Tom Shelley P Ithaca CAC Roger Yonkin A Associate Member Ron Syzmanski P Village of Freeville Scott Doyle P EMC Coordinator Kristin McCarthy P County Staff 6 Guests – Victoria Armstrong, Anna Cook, Genny Shipley, Regi Teasley 7 Call to Order – Chair Brian Eden called the meeting to order at 4:10 p.m. 8 Privilege of the Floor – None. 9 Agenda Review/Changes – Approval of the minutes was moved to later in the meeting as there 10 was not yet a quorum. 11 Approval of the Minutes – A motion was made by Michelle Henry, seconded by Susan Riley, to 12 approve the January 11, 2018, minutes. The motion carried. 13 14 15 Update on Ithaca CarShare/BikeWalk Tompkins – Anna Cook and Victoria Armstrong 16 A PowerPoint of the presentation is available on the EMC website for more details. Anna Cook 17 summarized the recent activity of Ithaca CarShare, which is noted in the posted presentation 18 materials. Highlights of her presentation included the following notes: 19 • 558 new Ithaca CarShare applicants reported that they would sell or avoid the purchase of 20 152 vehicles. 21 • The program is shifting more to hybrid vehicles to help further reduce carbon emissions 22 (they estimated that they have avoided 126 metric tons of carbon dioxide). 23 • Research indicates that 9-15 private vehicles are equivalent to 1 CarShare. Funding history 24 included initial funding from NYSERDA and Cornell, with the latter subsidizing 25 membership for employees. CarShare is now self-supported, largely based on usage. 26 • Every 6 or 7 years, the cars are retired. 27 • Also, they recently completed a project called TrueCost Tompkins, which provided 28 information to stakeholders on the true cost of housing in the County after factoring in 29 transportation expenses. 30 • They hope to support efforts by Downtown Ithaca Alliance to advance Transportation 31 Demand Management efforts by developing an Emergency Ride Home service. 32 33 Victoria Armstrong then reported for BikeWalk Tompkins. Her presentation made the following 34 points: 35 • Started out with Streets Alive, Bike to Walk day, Bike movies 36 • BikeWalk Tompkins is connected to trails network groups 37 • Recently received NYSERDA funding for a blueprint to facilitate better local biking 38 • BikeWalk Tompkins has an FAQ on its website regarding the bike-sharing program they are 39 rolling out this spring 40 41 Steve Bissen asked if BikeWalk is considering electric bikes with Bikeshare, but Vicki explained that 42 they aren’t legal in upstate New York. 43 44 John Dennis mentioned that many members of the Finger Lakes Cycling Club have onboard devices 45 to track where they go. These cyclists could feasibly provide details on where to go and not to go for 46 a safe riding experience as well as share popular routes. 47 48 Vicki was further asked what, if any, kind of pushback they’re received about the bike-sharing 49 initiative. She said that the overwhelming response has been positive. The naysayers, however, are a 50 small group but loud. She and other staff involved in the project are trying to frame the program not 51 as an “us vs. them” scenario, but as a “how can everybody benefit?” conversation. 52 53 Opening Remarks from Chair: Brian Eden 54 • Brian introduced the EMC’s new legislative liaison, Amanda Champion, who informed the 55 members on her background. She is new to the Legislature and represents District 12 (West 56 Hill). She will serve as Vice-Chair of the PDEQ Committee, which provides legislative 57 oversight to the EMC. Amanda is passionate about environmental issues. She also was 58 employed as a Park Ranger for several years. 59 •Cait Darfler was appointed the Town of Ulysses representative at Tuesday’s County60 Legislature meeting.61 •Regi Teasley’s application will be voted on by the Legislature in March.62 63 Committee Reports 64 Climate Adaptation: Osamu Tsuda (James Knighton was unable to attend the meeting.) 65 •The committee is still collecting data from the survey. They have about 32 respondents so66 far and are waiting to hear back from 15 more. There have been some technical problems67 with the survey timing out and not letting people finish it in more than one sitting. Cornell’s68 IT department will be considering the issue.69 70 Environmental Review: Brian Eden 71 •The County has a power purchase agreement with Gravity Renewables, which operates a72 hydro power plant in Waterloo utilizing flow from Seneca Lake. Lake levels affect the73 amount of power produced by the plant. When the lake levels are too low, the plant is not74 allowed to operate. The Canal Corporation adjusts those lake levels to support the capacity75 of the Barge Canal to maintain watercraft traffic.76 •The new federal solar tariff will not have as negative an impact as previously thought, but it77 will slow development of solar farms and related solar installation employment.78 •NYSDEC is conducting a hydrogeological study at Nate’s Floral Estates to assess the level79 of groundwater contamination on the site.80 •PDEQ applied and received NYS funding to replace aging, and in some cases failing, septic81 systems on Cayuga Lake. Given the limited funding, only a small number of septic systems82 were updated. Brian would like to see a feasibility study undertaken to assess extending the83 current sanitary sewer collection system further out Taughannock Boulevard to ensure that84 more lakeside homes are connected to the central wastewater treatment facility.85 •The Chain Works District Planned Unite Development rezoning project continues to be86 discussed by City of Ithaca committees. Several sites within the 90-acre area still need toxic87 contamination remediation. Brian is working to ensure no natural gas infrastructure is built88 as part of the project.89 •New York State is developing regulations to phase out coal-fired power plants and other90 “dirty energy” plants by 2020.91 •Brian and Jonathan Comstock recently wrote $600,000 in grant fund proposals on behalf of92 Solar Tompkins. The funding would cover about two and a half years’ worth of work.93 •Brian is talking to the developers of Carpenter Business Park about installing heat pumps in94 any proposed new development there.95 96 Unique Natural Areas: Steve Nicholson 97 •The scope of next year’s consultant contract is almost finalized. This year’s work will involve98 revising the boundaries of 38 UNAs. Consultant Robert Wesley wants to conduct field visits99 to seven of them.100 • The Committee updated the Invasive Species List, which will be voted on by the entire EMC 101 later in the meeting. 102 103 Water Resources Council Liaison: Michelle Henry 104 • The topic of water withdrawals has been raised at WRC meetings, and the Council is 105 considering forming a committee to address the topic. A County resident, Mara Alper, 106 concerned about the issue and policy implications in our community, brought it to the 107 WRC’s attention. Brian remarked that the State has jurisdiction over the water withdrawal 108 program but basically has provided a permit to any existing withdrawer who filed for one 109 without requiring an environmental review stating that the law made the permit issuance 110 mandatory rather than discretionary. A recent NYS Appellate Court decision successfully 111 challenged this reasoning. 112 113 Executive: Brian Eden 114 • Committee chairs need to send in their annual reports to Kristin as soon as possible. 115 • Brian staffed an EMC information table at the “Halting the West Dryden Road Pipeline” 116 celebration, which was attended by 150 people, on January 26th at The Space@Greenstar. 117 • Brian reported that Dooley Kiefer suggested the EMC might work on crafting a New York 118 State “Right to Clean Air and Water “constitutional amendment. 119 • Brian reminded everyone that the March 15th public outreach event at TCPL will replace the 120 usual monthly meeting. Members are required to attend unless they are excused. 121 • The April meeting will feature an update on the Earth Source Heat project at Cornell, and in 122 May, Barbara Eckstrom, director of the County’s Department of Recycling and Materials 123 Management, and Diane Cohen, executive director of Finger Lakes ReUse, will speak about 124 solid waste issues in Tompkins County. 125 • An EMC e-distribution list for sharing meeting announcements and other EMC-related 126 news is being compiled as a possible avenue for generating more interest in the Council’s 127 activities. 128 129 ACTION: Brian Eden called for a vote to appoint Cait Darfler a vice chair of the EMC. 130 Anne Klingensmith seconded the motion. Motion carried. 131 132 Staff Report: Scott Doyle 133 • Scott circulated a copy of the 2017 Annual Report for the County Tourism Program. 134 • He said a priority of his for 2018 is to share more information on the Planning and 135 Sustainability Department’s various initiatives, as well as to share the EMC’s activities with 136 his office colleagues. 137 138 Vote to Approve Resolution 01-2018 in Support of a Statewide Ban on Single-Use Plastic Bags 139 • Amanda reported that she and PDEQ Chair Anna Kelles have discussed their desires that 140 the Committee focus this year on the subject of minimal waste (formerly known as zero 141 waste). She encouraged the EMC to bring ideas and feedback to them on this topic. 142 • Scott shared that Barbara Eckstrom thinks the single-use plastic bag issue is more powerfully 143 addressed at a statewide level. Scott thinks state funding for the initiative should be discussed 144 as it is not part of Cuomo’s budget at the moment. He also reported that the resolution 145 before the members contains recommended language from the New York State Association 146 for Reduction, Reuse, and Recycling. 147 •Michelle reported that the Cayuga Lake Watershed Network is meeting tomorrow to talk148 about the Plastic Tides event and to organize a clean-up event on Earth Day. 149 •Dan Klein asked the group to clarify if the resolution seeks to have the County support the150 state-led effort to ban single-use plastic bags or to enact a similar ordinance within the 151 County itself. 152 •Jose Lozano thinks that the resolution isn’t expansive enough because it doesn’t address153 other forms of plastic contamination: e.g. plastic films, microfibers, etc. Amanda seconded 154 that opinion. 155 •Amanda relayed that New York State just released its Plastic Bag Task Force Report. The156 report, which can be found online, offers eight different options for solutions. 157 •Steve Nicholson said the EMC resolution should stipulate that the Council recommends the158 “hybrid” option put forth by the state’s plastic bag report. 159 160 ACTION: Steve Nicholson moved, and Michelle Henry seconded, to approve Resolution 01-2018 161 to Support a Statewide Ban on Single-Use Plastic Bags. Ron Szymanski abstained. Motion carried. 162 •Dan Klein asked for a vote requesting that the Tompkins County Legislature pass a similar163 resolution.164 ACTION: Tom Shelley moved, and Anne Klingensmith seconded, a recommendation that the 165 Tompkins County Legislature pass a similar resolution banning single-use plastic bags in the County. 166 Ron Szymanski abstained. Motion carried. 167 ACTION: Approve Revised EMC Invasive Species List 168 Steve Nicholson moved, and Steve Bissen seconded, approval of the Revised EMC Invasive Species 169 List. Motion carried. More extensive questions or recommendations regarding the list should be 170 directed to the UNA Committee. 171 EMC Public Event on March 15: Planning 172 •Susan Riley went over the agenda for the evening.173 •A promotional blurb will be forthcoming for members to share with friends and colleagues174 who might be interested in attending.175 •Brian is seeking suggestions for livelier names for the discussion topics to include in the176 meeting notice.177 Adjournment 178 Action: Chair Brian Eden adjourned the meeting at 5:40 p.m. 179 180 181 These draft minutes will be formally considered by the EMC at its next monthly meeting, and 182 corrections or notations will be incorporated at that time. 183 Prepared by Kristin McCarthy, Tompkins County Planning and Sustainability Department 184 Approved by EMC: April 12, 2018