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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCB Minutes 2014-12-04 Town of Ithaca Conservation Board (CB) Meeting December 4, 2014, 5:30 p.m. Final Minutes Members present: James Hamilton - Vice Chairperson, Eva Hoffmann, M. Elizabeth Sanders, Carrie Simon and Ellie Stewart- Chairperson Staff: Mike Smith, Senior Planner Guests: Five high school students; two from Ithaca High School and three from Lansing High School. 1. Persons to be heard: None 2. Members' Concerns: Our newest member, Elizabeth Sanders, asked several questions relating to a neighbor's attempt to place a solar panel in her front yard in the Forest Home area. The neighbor is required to apply for a variance from the Zoning Board of Appeals. Elizabeth wanted to know if there were regulations about this kind of thing and what suggestions there might be to help residents deal with such issues. It appears the neighbor will petition the Town about this project and Elizabeth and others will support her in doing that. 3. Chairperson and Coordinator Reports: Chairperson: No report. Coordinator: Mike passed around a sheet for members to sign up for meeting dates when they will be able to record the minutes. He reported on Planning Board(PB) activities. At the December 16th meeting the PB will discuss a Coddington Road two lot subdivision and an expansion of the interior space at the Collegetown Bagels branch at East Hill Plaza. In January, a new Bed& Breakfast business near Juniper Drive is looking for a special permit. The Town applied for a grant to inventory trees and make a forest assessment along roads, parks and other town properties. It was initially denied, but a recent email indicates that the application may still be eligible for funding. Mike will hopefully know more about this at our next meeting in January. Mike reported that it appears that Conifer Senior Housing has received its funding for their development next to the Overlook housing project across from the hospital on Trumansburg Road. They will be looking to start construction soon. The Chain Works project,jointly dealt with by the City and Town of Ithaca, is doing scoping for environmental review right now, with the City leading the effort. McGuire Motors is planning a major project involving consolidation and relocation of many of their business components to an area near Elmira Road and Seven Mile Drive. It would involve removing some hotel/motel buildings and includes a large adjacent field. A Planned Development Zone (PDZ) 1 would be required for the project. As of now there is no official application to the Planning Department. Eva mentioned she thought that Native American artifacts had been found in the nearby area where Saponi Park is now located. Mike's reports generated discussion and questions from board members. 4. Business: The minutes of the October 2, 2014 CB meeting were considered and approved with minor amendments. 5. Update on pest management policy research from other communities. Ellie stated that she has heard from Kristine and she provided a couple documents. She will forward these to the rest of the CB. Ellie would like to set up a committee to work on this topic with her. Mike suggested we include this on the January agenda when the CB talks about all the committee assignments for 2015. 6. Continue discussion of deer management efforts in the Town and County. James mentioned a deer management booklet prepared by Berndt Blossey and others, which is going to the printers tomorrow. Board members expressed interest in having it sent to Town Board(TB) members. There was a long discussion about deer management and how to do it. Trapping using clover traps was mentioned. It was suggested that the CB could host an informational meeting on this topic for the TB and other Town of Ithaca boards and committees. 7. Regular Reports and Updates: Environmental Review Committee (Ellie): Committee members went with Mike on a site visit to a Troy Road project site and found no environmental problems with the 130 unit proposal. The McGuire project will need to be studied when more information is provided. Scenic Resources Committee (Eva): The committee had a meeting today and made good progress on view sign work for the Route 96B location. Communications Committee (James): James stated that the Fischer Award page on the town's website still hasn't been updated since he sent in photos and news in May. He asked for new nomination proposals for the 2014 award before the deadline on Feb. 28th. The Community Science Institute (CSI) in Cornell University's Langmuir Lab was proposed at our last meeting: any more thoughts on that? The CB Facebook page still has only 84 likes. James asked members to try posting something there, and if you facebook, seek other friends to "like" it. James wrote Paul Curtis to ask if the Deer Management booklet was finished yet. On Oct 2 Paul thought it would be finalized by Oct 23rd. On 12/3/14 he reported that the new revised and updated draft would probably be going to the printer today, 12/4/14, and the online version should be available at wildlifecontrol.info this Friday. Tompkins County EMC (Vladimir): No report. 2 Six Mile Creek Volunteer Monitoring Program (James): James reported that some of the quality control work on Benthic Macroinvertebrates (BMI) sampling done 9/4/14 discovered that a species had been misidentified in his kitchen. The tongues and trochantins of 22 of 246 critters misled them to think they had two more species of caddisfly than were actually there. Preservation and independent analysis proved a slightly higher impact of some sort of pollution on this site, which James feels surely was affected by a brand new asphalt road constructed the past year just upstream at the 60-foot dam. CSI is holding a Thursday night open lab for BMI samplers at Langmuir. CSI is soliciting tax deductible donations and membership at www.communityscience.org/donations City of Ithaca Natural Areas Commission (Jon): No report. Cornell Plantations Natural Areas Program (James): CPNAA workers weeded invasive English ivy, privet, honeysuckle, buckthorn, barberry, and bittersweet vine in campus Natural Areas (NAs). They also harvested native seed from zigzag and bluestem goldenrod and wood aster in Cascadilla gorge for a plant propagation project to stabilize eroding cliff banks. Todd Bittner sent them his analysis of Plantations NA pest management work on Nov 7, which James forwarded to Ellie, Kristine, and Mike R on Nov 9th. Todd sent a time analysis of percent manhours spent on NA stewardship in 2013, estimating deer management took about 15% of their stewardship efforts, and invasive management about 38%. The NA program spends about 16,300 hrs per year on NA stewardship and management, not including volunteer service. NA staff steward Zeb Strickland has hiked 3 NA trails with the "Google Trekker" so people can take a virtual hike in Cascadilla Gorge, Fall Creek Gorge, and Edwards Cliff Preserve NAs. To view the trails in your Internet browser, go to: http://tinyurl.com/ithacahikes and click on the yellow "pegman" in the bottom right corner. If you drag him to the Cascadilla Gorge Trail, for example, you can "trek" up the trail from Treman Triangle Park downtown up to the steps under Schwartz Center in Collegetown. Volunteers will be "rewarded" for their help at an annual party tomorrow at the Nevin Welcome Center. Other Business: The 2015 Meeting Schedule was approved with the January date changed from January1, which is New Year's Day, to January 8, 2015. (resolution attached) Both Ellie and James indicated that they would be willing to continue serving in their current positions on the board. The CB unanimously recommended to the TB that Ellie Stewart be appointed as Chairperson of the CB for 2015. The Board also nominated and voted unanimously to elect James Hamilton as Vice- Chairperson of the CB for 2015. (resolutions attached) 9. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 7:13 pm. Respectfully submitted by Eva Hoffmann 3 ADOPTED RESOLUTION: Town of Ithaca Conservation Board Schedule of Meetings for the Year 2015 Conservation Board Meeting, December 4, 2014 Motion by: James Hamilton Seconded by: Eva Hoffmann BE IT RESOLVED, that the Conservation Board of the Town of Ithaca adopts the following schedule of meetings for the Conservation Board for the year 2015. The Town of Ithaca Conservation Board will meet at 5.30 p.m., on the first Thursday of the month in the Aurora Conference Room in Town of Ithaca Town Hall, unless otherwise noted. The third Thursday of the month will be reserved as an optional meeting date on an as needed basis only. THE 2015 SCHEDULE IS AS FOLLOWS: January 8 February 5 March 5 April 2 May 7 June 4 July 2 August 6 September 3 October 1 November 5 December 3 A vote on the motion was as follows: Ayes: James Hamilton, Eva Hoffmann, M. Elizabeth Sanders, Carrie Simon, Ellie Stewart Nays: none Abstentions: none 4 ADOPTED RESOLUTION: Town of Ithaca Conservation Board 2015 Conservation Board Chairperson Recommendation to Town Board December 4, 2014 Motion by: James Hamilton Seconded by: Eva Hoffmann BE IT RESOLVED, that the Town of Ithaca Conservation Board recommends to the Town Board that Ellie Stewart be appointed as Chairperson of the Conservation Board for the year 2015. A vote on the motion was as follows: Ayes: James Hamilton, Eva Hoffmann, M. Elizabeth Sanders, Carrie Simon, Ellie Stewart Nays: none Abstentions: none 5 ADOPTION RESOLUTION: Town of Ithaca Conservation Board 2015 Conservation Board Vice Chairperson Nomination and Election December 4, 2014 Motion by: Ellie Stewart Seconded by: M. Elizabeth Sanders BE IT RESOLVED, that the Town of Ithaca Conservation Board does hereby nominate and elect James Hamilton as Vice Chairperson of the Conservation Board for the year 2015. A vote on the motion was as follows: Ayes: James Hamilton, Eva Hoffmann, M. Elizabeth Sanders, Carrie Simon, Ellie Stewart Nays: none Abstentions: none