HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-04-11 EMC Final MinutesEMC Final Minutes 1
April 11, 2019 4:00 p.m. 2
Tompkins County Old Jail Conference Room, 125 E. Court St, Ithaca, NY 3
Attendance 4
Member Seat Member Seat
Steve Bissen A Town of Dryden Jonathan Zisk E At-Large
Maureen Bolton E Town of Enfield Amanda Champion P Legislative Liaison
Cait Darfler P Town of Ulysses Susan Allen-Gil E Associate Member
John Dennis P Village of Lansing Karen Edelstein A Associate Member
Brian Eden E Village of Cayuga Heights Bill Evans A Associate Member
Pegi Ficken E Town of Groton Anna Kelles A Associate Member
Michelle Henry P Town of Newfield Dooley Kiefer A Associate Member
Anne Klingensmith P Town of Danby Dan Klein E Associate Member
Laurel Lynch E At-Large Jose Lozano P Associate Member
Vladimir Micic A Town of Ithaca Osamu Tsuda A Associate Member
Steve Nicholson A Town of Caroline David Weinstein A Associate Member
Susan Riley P At-Large Robert Wesley A Associate Member
Tom Shelley P City of Ithaca Roger Yonkin A Associate Member
Genny Shipley A At-Large Darby Kiley P Planning Staff
Don Smith A At-Large Kristin McCarthy P Planning Staff
Regi Teasley P At-Large
Guests – Anne Koreman, Elizabeth Thomas 5
Call to Order – Vice chair Tom Shelley called the meeting to order at 4:14 p.m. 6
Privilege of the Floor – None 7
Agenda Review/Changes – None 8
Approval of the February Minutes -- The Feb. 14th minutes were not approved due to lack of a quorum. 9
Presentation: TCDPS 2019 Work Plan and 2018 Accomplishments – Darby Kiley 10
Darby Kiley provided some background context for the development of the Planning and Sustainability 11
Department’s 2019 Work Plan, which serves to fine-tune staff goals for the year. She passed around 12
copies of the work plan and highlighted a few of the top initiatives for 2019. For example, the Business 13
Energy Advisors Program, led by Andrea Aguirre, has been quite successful, and Scott Doyle is focusing 14
on the Resiliency/Hazard Mitigation Plan. He will likely present on the plan to the EMC in the coming 15
months. Tom asked for clarification on two terms found in the work plan: “results-based accountability” 16
and “Census Participant Statistical Areas Program.” The former refers to a methodology for capturing 17
more metrics to track the performance of County departments, while the latter refers to an initiative by 18
the U.S. Census Bureau to provide the department with the opportunity to supply input on boundary 19
updates for Census block groups, tracts and Census Designated Places. 20
21
Committee Reports 22
Climate Adaptation: Regi Teasley 23
Committee continues compiling information, with an eye toward producing an educational brochure of 24
use to County and municipalities. 25
26
Environmental Review: Brian Eden 27
• Tom read highlights from Brian’s committee report, which was submitted in advance of the meeting 28
via email and has been included in these minutes for the record. 29
• Amanda reported that the Planning, Energy, and Environmental Quality Committee would like to 30
task the EMC with researching and evaluating the 2007 County Forest Management Plan. The UNA 31
Committee will take the lead, but anyone else interested is encouraged to participate. Community 32
outreach might also play a part, with a public forum planned for some point during the year. The 33
end-product would be a written report prepared for the Legislature by late December. 34
• John Dennis gave an update on a few items related to the pending Article 78 lawsuit against Cargill. 35
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Executive: Brian Eden 37
Tom read highlights from Brian’s written committee report, which was submitted via email in advance of 38
the meeting and is included in this document after the minutes for the record. 39
40
Unique Natural Areas: Michelle Henry (Steve N. was absent.) 41
Michelle Henry shared that the committee discussed the Legislature’s Forest Management Plan proposal 42
for the EMC, as well as the possible impact of Freese Road Bridge construction on two nearby UNAs. 43
44
Waste Reduction: Tom Shelley 45
• At the next meeting (April 17th), Barb Eckstrom will update group on plastic bag resolution. 46
• Jose Lozano will forward the URL for a Microplastics in Cayuga Lake webpage, as well as another on 47
Emerging Contaminants, both of which feature his work with Susan Allen-Gil and colleagues at 48
Cooperative Extension. He will also send an invite to a sunset educational tour on the MVTeal. 49
50
Water Resources Council Liaison: Michelle Henry 51
• Jose and Susan gave a presentation on their microplastics and emerging contaminants study 52
(referenced in the Waste Reduction Committee report above). 53
• Elizabeth Thomas, supervisor for the Town of Ulysses, joined WRC as an At-Large member. 54
• Comments are due April 15th on the proposed revised definition of Waters of the United States. 55
• Monitoring Partnership is still awaiting word from the DEC on TMDL for Cayuga Lake. 56
• A few WRC members attended the HABs in Owasco Lake Symposium on March 9th in Auburn. 57
58
Staff Report – Darby Kiley 59
None 60
61
Debrief: Public Program on the Green New Deal 62
Susan R. gave a quick rundown of the March 12th public outreach event, sharing that the evening 63
discussion went well but the lead-up to the event, specifically finding speakers, was difficult due to the 64
broad scope of the topic. Next time, the committee will begin searching for presenters much earlier if 65
possible. For the fall outreach event, Michelle suggested highlighting the work of specific committees, 66
Susan R. thought the County Forest Management Plan could be of interest to the community, and 67
Amanda brought up the idea of including an interactive component so the audience can participate. 68
69
Resolution in Support of NYS Enacting an Environmental Bill of Rights 70
As there was no quorum, members could not vote on this resolution, which seeks to support a 71
concurrent resolution of both the NYS Senate and Assembly to make clean water, air, and a healthful 72
environment a protected right in the state's Bill of Rights under Article I of the New York 73
State Constitution. Tom is also working with a couple of City of Ithaca councilpersons to pass a similar 74
resolution, and Amanda said she would share the draft EMC resolution with her colleagues on the 75
County Legislature. In addition, guest Elizabeth Thomas, supervisor for the Town of Ulysses, offered to 76
bring the draft resolution to the Tompkins County Council of Governments for review. 77
78
Motion to Approve Sponsorship of the Film “A Plastic Ocean” 79
This initiative is on hold due to lack of funding. 80
81
Municipal Reports and Member Announcements 82
83
• The Old Jail conference room will be closed for renovations effective May 1st. Starting with the May 84
9th meeting, the EMC will be meeting at TCAT for the foreseeable future. 85
• Next Tuesday, April 16th, the County Legislature will vote on whether to purchase the Sears and 86
Tioga Streets property. 87
88
Vice chair Tom Shelley adjourned the meeting at 5:10 p.m. 89
90
Environmental Review Committee Report (April 2019) 91
1. Information on LED Lighting Recommendations were presented to both the Village of Cayuga 92
Heights and the Town of Ithaca Planning Boards for use in their site plan reviews. 93
2. Lead samples are being collected by the Town of Lansing from soils in the vicinity of Salmon 94
Creek near the Rod & Gun Club. The Committee hopes to draft a resolution for next month’s 95
meeting encouraging a pollution prevention approach to the discharge of lead ammunition into 96
environmentally sensitive areas such as streams and wetlands. 97
3. It is anticipated that the NYSEG Rate Case will be submitted to the Department of Public Service 98
by mid-May 99
4. Interested parties continue to collect information from relevant State and Federal agencies to 100
prepare for public comment on the Freese Rd. Bridge Replacement project environmental 101
review. 102
5. The County will announce soon if it intends to construct a new administration building. We shall 103
advocate that it adheres to the highest building energy performance standards. 104
6. A data review is in progress to better characterize the issues of coal ash contamination at the 105
Cayuga Power Plant. 106
7. The EPA has proposed the repeal of the Clean Waters of the U.S. Rule (2015). There is some 107
interest in expanding the protections currently provided wetlands by NYS law. 108
8. The Article 78 proceeding on the lack of an EIS for the construction of Cargill’s Shaft #4 was 109
argued more than 4 months ago. Decisions are generally expected to be rendered within 60 110
days. 111
9. A FOIL Denial Appeal for documents from Cargill; Motion for Dismissal was argued in the County 112
Supreme Court on March 22. 7 out of town lawyers appeared to support the dismissal motion. 113
The decision was reserved. 114
10. PFOA and PFOS are 2 hazardous substances found in most fire-fighting foams They are highly 115
toxic and difficult to identify once released into the environment. The local fire training center is 116
located adjacent to Fall Creek near Stewart Park. This is an issue for which we need to gather 117
further information. 118
119
Executive Committee Report (April 2019) 120
1. Deborah Dawson, Chair of the Legislature’s Planning, Energy, and Environmental Quality 121
Committee has requested that the EMC make broad recommendations as to what the County's 122
goals with respect to its forest lands should be. (This may impact both the goals stated in the 123
Forest Management Plan, and the goals stated in County Law, Article 5, Section 219.) Even 124
assuming that the County’s goal is the development of old growth hardwoods forest, EMC will 125
make a recommendation as to whether and to what extent achieving that goal will require 126
active management by the County. The Recommendations are due for discussion at the 127
December meeting of the PEEQ. Committee. 128
David Weinstein, as the EMC’s most qualified person in this field, will serve as our lead and the 129
UNA Committee will provide support. Any EMC member not on the UNA Committee may 130
participate in this project. I anticipate that the Committee will organize some listening sessions 131
to receive input from the public. We’ll discuss how best to proceed at the next UNA meeting. 132
2. It appears that we shall not have the Old Jail space to meet in May and thereafter. Kristin has 133
reserved the Conference Room at the TCAT building. If anyone has a better option, please let us 134
know. The upside is that there is adequate free parking. 135
3. Both Kristin and I have been too busy to complete the Annual Report. We’ll provide you with a 136
draft prior to the next EMC meeting. 137
4. We are a co-sponsor of the Climate Wise Garden Fair on April 27. Please circulate the poster to 138
your list servs. Thank you. 139
5. Please support the resolution urging NYS to Enact an Environmental Bill of Rights. Most other 140
states acknowledge the importance of these inalienable rights. Recently City of Toledo OH 141
residents passed the “Lake Erie Bill of Rights” in a special election, with 61 percent voting yes on 142
a ballot measure that could allow citizens to sue polluters on behalf of the Lake. The ballot 143
measure will amend the city’s charter to establish that Lake Erie has the right to “exist, flourish, 144
and naturally evolve”. 145
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