HomeMy WebLinkAboutCB Minutes 2015-11-05 Town of Ithaca Conservation Board
November 5, 2015, 5:30 p.m.
Final Minutes
Members present: James Hamilton - Vice Chairperson,Jon Meigs, Elizabeth Sanders,
Carrie Simons, Michael Roberts,Vladimir Micic.
Guests: Students from Lansing High School (Josh,Abby, Jenna) and Residents living
near the Indian Creek(Linda Grace Kovic, Roy Luft, Nancy Emerson, Dan Yokun),
and Will VanDyke (interested in CB membership).
Staff: Michael Smith, Senior Planner
Persons to be herd: Residents living near the Indian Creek were concerned about
the land surrounding the Creek because county is planning to place that land on the
open market. They described this land as 26 acres of woods and wetland that
provides precious wildlife habitat to many species. They claimed that the county
assessed the land for $320,000 and they believe that any mitigation or development
of that wetland would be extremely disrupting to the species inhabiting that land.
The citizens from the Indian Creek area also claimed that land surrounding the
creek could be a site of archeological importance and even an old Indian trail.
James claimed that town is overwhelmed with maintaining of natural areas and
Michael Roberts and Vladimir Micic recommended that citizens should contact
Environmental Management Council's (EMC) Unique Natural Area (UNA)
committee. Michael Roberts suggested that citizens should have a botanist take a
survey of the area and that they could also contact Finger Lakes Land Trust.
Chair Reports:
James reported that the City of Ithaca had installed flexi paving around the trees in
the commons.James warned that such paving needs to be maintained carefully with
a high power vacuum cleaner in order to keep the paving permeable. Mike R.
warned that sometimes the flexi surfaces require a lot of excavation prior to the
installation mainly because they require well-developed drainage system below the
surface.James also mentioned that many new plants were planted along the East
Ithaca Rec Way and that Jim Engel is also hired to remove woody invasive on the
East Ithaca Nature Preserve.
Coordinator's Report:
Mike S.talked briefly about the forthcoming project on the College Crossing,which
is located on the corner of Danby and King Road. He also mentioned that the
Planning Board will be reviewing Montessori School Entrance Drive and St.
Catherine's Church projects on December 1st. Mike warned the Board that starting
November 23,the front office area in the Town Hall is going to be remodeled and
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that renovation process may create some additional noise during the board
meetings.
Approval of minutes:
Minutes from 09/03/15 and 10/01/15 meetings were approved with minor
corrections.
Deer Management Discussion:
James proposed that Conservation Board should put forth a resolution to the Town
Board requesting from the Board that the Town Board do something to kill deer.
James will write a draft of this resolution and send it via email to the board
members for review and edits.
Sign Law Discussion:
James reviewed the law and was surprised that political campaign signs were not
listed in the law. He was wondering whether that means that they are not regulated.
Mike S. answered that political signs were reviewed carefully by the town's
attorney. He added that citizens whose properties are located in the residential zone
can have up 16 square feet of signage on their property. Mike also mentioned that
town doesn't allow any business to put the sign unless they own the property and
that illuminated signs need to be turned off if the business is not working.
Committee reports:
Environmental Review Committee: No reports
Scenic Resources Committee: The Scenic view sign on Danby road was reviewed at
the meeting. The board members edited the last sentence in the sign. Mike S.
suggested additional edits to the sign's visual characteristics more specifically the
picture of water.Jon also asked if the color of the lake water could be more blue so
that viewer could distinguish it easier from the rest of the painted landscape. Mike
R. suggested that a box should be inserted that delineates the map on the right side
of the sign and the board agreed that the sign could go into printing after the
suggested edits have been incorporated.
Communication Committee: No reports
Tompkins County EMC: Vlad reported that Katie Borgella presented a Tompkins
County Energy Roadmap at the last EMC meeting. This road map outlined renewable
resource potentials and scenarios. The Energy Road Map was presented as having 3
parts that include assessing potential for renewable energy demands, reducing
demands, and assessing the trade-offs for 80% reduction goals. The presentation
had four different scenarios,but Katie mentioned that even if we stay reliant on the
existing sources of energy in the county (the business as usual scenario) that we
could expect at 33% reduction based on CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy)
standards.
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Vlad also mentioned that EMC has debated and approved to pass the resolution
requesting from the Tompkins County Legislature to undertake specific measure to
address environmental contamination associated with Cayuga Operating Company's
coal ash landfill.
Six Mile Creek Volunteer Monitoring Program: The last test revealed that special
benthic macro invertebrates could be seen on the microscope, indicating that the
creek is reasonable healthy.
City of Ithaca Natural Areas Commission: There was a meeting yesterday,but Jon
was unable to attend.
Cornell Plantations Natural Areas Program:
James talked about the initiative to change the name of Cornell Plantations by taking
the word plantation out. Cornell Plantations will soon be called differently.
James added that Cornell is currently transplanting native species on depopulated
slopes and that this is done mostly by volunteers.
Other business:
Mike S. said that one application was received for the board membership and asked
if somebody wants to interview the candidate.James recommended that candidate
should come to the meeting and in that way vetted by everyone.
Meeting adjourned at 7:35 pm.
Meeting minutes respectfully submitted by Vladimir Micic
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