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Home My WebLink About03-20-17 WRC Final MinutesTOMPKINS COUNTY WATER RESOURCES COUNCIL 1 Monday, March 20, 2017 2 TCAT Main Office Conference Room 3 Final Minutes 4 Attendance 5 Member Seat Member Seat Sharon Anderson P Cooperative Extension Frank Proto P At-Large John Andersson P At-Large Elaine Quaroni P At-Large Fay Benson P Agriculture Marjory Rinaldo-Lee P Environment Chris Bordlemay E Water Purveyor Michael Thorne P At-Large Cynthia Brock P Recreation Ed Bugliosi E USGS (non-voting) Brad DeFrees P Associate Member Liz Cameron E Co. Environmental Health Kristen Hychka P Associate Member Brian Eden P Interim EMC Liaison Roxy Johnston E Associate Member George Fowler E At-Large Emelia “Mia” Jumbo A Associate Member Bill George P Municipal Government Jose Lozano P Associate Member Barry Goodrich P Watershed Organization Darren MacDougall P Associate Member Michelle Henry P At-Large John Mawdsley P Associate Member Joan Jurkowich P Co. Planning Department Todd Miller E Associate Member Dooley Kiefer P County Government Steve Penningroth A Associate Member Darby Kiley P Municipal Government Joanne Trutko P Associate Member Lynn Leopold P Municipal Government Tom Vawter E Associate Member Kristin McCarthy P Co. Planning Department Linda Wagenet P Associate Member Jon Negley E Soil & Water Cons. District 6 A quorum was present. 7 8 Guest Speakers: John Dennis, EMC member; Scott Doyle, County Planning & Sustainability Department 9 10 Others: Hilary Lambert, Dale Baker, Maureen Cowen, Nicole Henry, Rob Mackenzie, Carri Koplinka-Loehr 11 12 Call to Order – Chair Darby Kiley called the meeting to order at approximately 4:17 pm. 13 14 Privilege of the Floor – None 15 16 Agenda Review/Changes – None 17 18 Approval of Minutes – 19 20 MOTION by Michelle Henry, seconded by Lynn Leopold, to approve the minutes of February 22, 2017. Motion 21 passed unanimously. 22 23 Presentation: Natural Infrastructure Program – Scott Doyle, TC Planning & Sustainability Department 24 25 Scott Doyle updated the Council on the County’s Natural Infrastructure Capital Project, which has been funded in 26 this year’s budget. In the agenda packet, the members were given a brief overview of the project’s progress. 27 28 The program focuses on investing in a few different areas of Tompkins County: the upper watershed forest and 29 wetlands, stream corridors and floodplains, and aquifer recharge areas. The chief motivations behind it involve 30 protecting and enhancing those natural systems, chiefly for mitigating intense storm events, decrease sediment 31 loads to the lake, and to safeguard the overall quality of water. Ancillary to those goals is preserving wildlife and 32 recreation activities. In addition other initiatives could include greening the infrastructure of County buildings and 33 road ditch work. 34 35 In terms of specifics, County is investing $600,000 in federal funds for flood mitigation in Lansing. Smaller 36 demonstration projects stemming from the program could encompass easements on private forests and 37 reconnection of stream bodies. A subcommittee of the Planning Advisory Board, which chair Darby Kiley is 38 serving on, will evaluate the projects and forward the ones they recommend on to PDEQ and the Legislature. 39 40 Rock Salt Mining in NYS: What Are the Risks for Cayuga Lake?–John Dennis & Brian Eden 41 42 Brian Eden and John Dennis, of the Environmental Management Council (EMC), spoke to the group about the 43 Council’s concern regarding Cargill Inc.’s Mine Shaft #4 project, which is currently under review by the 44 Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) regional office in Cortland. Brian emphasized that their aim 45 was to take a constructive approach and was not intended to be adversarial to Cargill. Given the potential 46 environmental risks to Cayuga Lake associated with deep water drilling, the EMC would like the DEC to have a 47 Draft Environmental Impact Statement submitted before granting permission for the project to move forward. 48 49 For more background on the Cargill mine, please see the attached timeline from Brian Eden. 50 51 Committee Reports 52 53 Education and Outreach – Lynn Leopold 54 55 • Lynn hoped to get copies of the new paddling brochure out to the different groups participating in Ithaca 56 Fishing Day on March 25th. Joan Jurkowich agreed to print a small batch for the event on Saturday, and 57 further along, Lynn said they will print a larger amount to distribute to the various interested groups in the 58 community. 59 60 • She has yet to hear back from the New York State Canal Corporation. Later in the meeting, Frank Proto 61 said to keep in mind that 2017 marks the 200th anniversary of the Erie Canal so staff at the Canal 62 Corporation might be swept up in preparing for that celebration. Cynthia Brock said she would follow up 63 with their contacts there. 64 65 • In closing, Lynn asked members to forward ideas for new initiatives or projects they have that might be of 66 interest to the Education and Outreach Committee. 67 68 Others As Needed 69 70 • Joan: The Workshop to Protect Water Resources Committee will meet the second Tuesday of the month 71 at 8:30 a.m. 72 73 • Jose Lozano: The Potential Pollutants Committee will hold its first meeting the following day, Tuesday, 74 March 21st. 75 76 • Fay Benson: He will connect with other Soil Health Committee members to find a good date for their 77 first meeting. A bit later in the meeting, Dooley Kiefer remarked that the theme for Coltivare’s Science 78 Cabaret Night on Tuesday, March 21st, was going to be “Soil Health and Dirty Art.” 79 80 • Dooley: She will try to organize a meeting of the High Hazard Pipeline Committee. 81 82 • Frank Proto: Nothing concrete to report on the Grants Committee. However, he wanted to remind WRC 83 members of the matrix of available funding sources that the Committee compiled and distributed for 84 everyone’s reference. 85 86 • Marjory Rinaldo-Lee: The Nominating Committee needs a chair as Jon Negley announced he would not 87 be serving again. However, they have until the fall to find someone. The Business and Industry seat 88 remains unfilled. However, Linda Wagenet will reach out to the owner of the Ithaca Beer Company about 89 the position. 90 91 Chair Report – Darby Kiley 92 93 Darby attended the Tompkins County Ag Summit on March 8th at the Ramada Inn, as did several members of the 94 WRC. Staff from the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) spoke about the proposed Cayuga 95 Lake TMDL, but their presentation yielded no new information. The DEC expects to release a draft in May and 96 asked attendees to let the department know of any upcoming public meetings where DEC staff could speak. 97 Darby recommended a 90-day public comment period but thinks the DEC will hold at least a 60-day public 98 comment period. Linda said there was consternation among attendees familiar with the project because the DEC 99 gave 2013 data when they have much more recent data available. Jose commented on the lack of a stakeholder 100 group and Darby concurred. 101 102 Staff Report – 103 104 Nothing to report. 105 106 Announcements 107 108 Frank remarked he was happy to hear Darby would be representing the WRC on the County’s Natural 109 Infrastructure Program subcommittee. Brian brought in a book he thought might interest members called 110 “Romances and Notes on the Salt Industry.” It was published in 1951 and covers the history of salt in Syracuse. 111 112 Adjournment – MOTION by Frank Proto, seconded by Darby Kiley, to adjourn. Chair Darby Kiley declared the 113 meeting adjourned at approximately 5:30 pm. 114 115 Prepared by Kristin McCarthy, Tompkins County Planning and Sustainability Department 116 Approved by Water Resources Council: 4/17/2017 117