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Home My WebLink AboutCB Minutes 2016-04-07 Town of Ithaca Conservation Board April 7,2016 5:34 p.m. Final minutes Members present: James Hamilton, Eva Hoffmann,Jon Meigs, Carrie (& Elias) Simon, Ellie Stewart, Will Van Dyke Staff: Mike Smith 1. Persons to be heard: none 2. Members' concerns: Eva hopes that Cornell's development of the Maplewood Apartments will produce more sustainable housing than the last upgrade of what was once called Cornell Quarters on that site. Our ERC should push for durable housing with higher, greener standards than such cheap disposable homes.James would like to see LEED Platinum quality buildings that both Cornell and the Town could be proud of. 3. Chair and Coordinator Reports: Chair: Ellie explained that she would be absent from next month's meeting, and hoped Mike R. would be able to chair that meeting. She promised to attend the Fischer Award's tree planting ceremony, probably on May 141n Coordinator: Mike Smith said the Planning Board had received sketch plans for a new 3-story 64-room hotel on Elmira Rd, across from the volunteer fire department building.They need several variances, including for building height and set-backs. Members wondered if yet another hotel could be commercially viable,given recent hotel construction. Cornell plans to repair the mudslide on the Kite Hill slope, which has been covered by a tarp since it happened;they need to stabilize that steep area.The Chain Works District developers have submitted a draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement that's open to public review: comments can be made on the website at: chainworksdistrict.com, or submitted directly to the City's Planning Department until May 101n.Jon said he'd attended a public meeting about the Chain Works, where there was concern about the many residential units there burdening adjacent roads, and the problem of remediating toxic waste from the previous Emerson Chain factory. Mike noted that the railroad bed near Chain Works that was intended to serve as a new recreation trail had been obstructed with test wells drilled to monitor underground pollution; members hoped the trail could be diverted around that problem as development progressed. Jon had such a bad cold that he excused himself and left us at 5:53pm. 4. Minutes for the March 3rd meeting were approved (James made the motion, seconded by Ellie) after some revisions, the most important being the recipient of the Fischer Award's being Cayuga Nature's Summer Camp Program, not just the Center itself. 5. Plans for the 2015 Fischer Award tree planting ceremony were under way already.The second Saturday in May, the 141n, has been tentatively chosen at the date;we need confirmation from Elizabeth Sanders and Dayna Jorgenson, the Camp Director. Rich Schoch, our Town Parks Manager, has already chosen a site on the East Ithaca Recreation Way that needs a nice big tree by a bench just uphill of the Strawberry Hill Road development, after eradicating the invasives along that Rec Way had left it looking barren there. White Oak nursery has a good Tulip Poplar for us to plant there.James volunteered to write a blurb for a press release and award certificate, and to get a hang tag printed at Cornell 1 Plantation's Horticulture Center, which has been providing our tags gratis for 12 years now. Mike explained that a Town employee would be building a stained cherry wood addition to the Fischer Award plaque that's displayed in Town Hall's lobby; he'll get 12 more labels from the Trophy&Awards shop in Dryden Village, with one engraved for"Cayuga Nature Center's Summer Camp Program 2015." Eva volunteered to call the Lutheran Church on Honness Lane to see if people driving cars to the ceremony can park in the church's lot, not far from the tree-planting site. 6.The deer management follow-up from the Town Board Study Session involved discussion of strategies and selection of members ready to meet as an ad hoc committee which they agreed, at James' suggestion, to call the "Urgent Deer Action Committee."James wondered who was responsible for forming the committee, as the minutes from the TB Study Session indicate that Bill Goodman "would work with the Conservation Board to set up a sub-committee. . . " [Town Board Study Session Monday, February 22, 2016 Minutes, pg 3]. Ellie explained that we would have to get the sub-committee started. James suggested that the problem of deer overpopulation was so important that the whole board should participate, lest the momentum be lost in minor committee meetings. Ellie wanted a smaller, simpler group not burdened by too many people endlessly discussing ideas. She found a small committee helpful in getting Conservation Zoning for the land near Coy Glen. She, Eva, and Will volunteered to form the sub-committee, which would meet soon, seeking public help for a political solution to too many years of inaction. Ellie will contact Mike R. to see if he is interested in participating also. Carrie wants to help, too, though she may be too busy to join full-time, but could help with research.They might recommend action similar to that taken by Fayetteville last month, where NY DEC sharpshooters killed 89 deer in six hunts over bait at night.The sub-committee needs to suggest a place now serving as refuge for deer, without too many adjacent neighbors who might oppose herd reduction. The process of getting nuisance permits and help from DEC needs to begin. Mike recently attended a meeting of the Town's Agriculture Committee, where several farmers already permit hunting on their property and others wanted help from the Town to reduce the nuisance of too many deer on their land. As permits for killing deer are easier to establish on large simple lots with fewer neighbors apt to resist responsible deer management, agricultural areas may be the best place to start effective herd reduction. It was suggested that the sub-committee could look into how other communities started their programs (Lansing,Trumansburg, etc.) and cost figures. 7. Regular Reports and Updates: Environmental Review Committee: Ellie reported they'd asked Cornell to recycle material during the demolition phase of the Maplewood Apartment project. Will volunteered to join the ERC. Ellie thinks they will soon have more work to do, and noted that Conifer has been doing good development jobs in the Town. Scenic Resources Committee: Eva had no news. She needed to confer with Mike over the complicated situation at the site of their Danby Rd pull-off view sign next to Longview. Communications Committee:Though Elizabeth was absent, it looks like the Fischer Award Ceremony plans will be ready for the next tree-planting party, in which all members are urged to participate. Tompkins County EMC:Vlad absent, no report. Six Mile Creek Volunteer Monitors:James reported that the bacterial analyses of a February 25th stormwater flood sample had been posted on CSI's website, and the scheduled March 16th regular 2 water sample had been cancelled. Volunteers and the public were invited to attend Community Science Institute's annual symposium, held in The Space @ Greenstar from 11:30 to 2:30 on April 30, a Saturday. The theme this year would be phosphorus & nitrogen pollution. He explained to Will, new to our board, why the Six Mile Creek monitoring program was supported by Town funds, and why James was liaison to that group, which has now become one of many water monitoring volunteer groups working with CSI. City of Ithaca Natural Areas Commission:Jon, now absent, could report no news. Cornell Plantations Natural Areas:James explained that volunteers had helped check the hemlocks in Eames Bog around Mud Creek in Freeville and in the Ringwood Preserve on the southeast slope of Mt Pleasant.Two visits to the bog found no Hemlock Wooly Adelgids. One visit to Ringwood found just two HWA nests on fallen hemlock branches, though none in any trees.The volunteers at this week's stewardship activity pulled up woody invasives in the Fall Creek South natural area,just downhill from the east side of the Arboretum. In thawing snow, herbicide could not be used to prevent stumps from sprouting, so volunteers pulled up buckthorn, honeysuckle, multiflora rose,Japanese barberry and Oriental bittersweet, hanging these plants on shrubs and trees so their roots would dry and not get reestablished. 8. Other Business:Will wondered what policies there were on mountain biking on trails in the area. Though the Town doesn't have separate bike trails, an area in the Shindagan Hollow State Forest southeast of here is famous for mountain biking, which needs dedicated maintenance of tracks to cope with problems of trail erosion.The Finger Lakes Trail prohibits mountain bikes because that trail's surface is too fragile.The Black Diamond Trail is not officially opened yet, as ADA compliance requires a stone dust surface suitable for wheel-chair access.The trail is, however, in good enough shape for mountain biking from Cass Park to Taughannock, though a culvert just south of Glenwood Heights Rd that blew out in a downpour a few years ago is again clogged with debris that might destroy the trail there again. 9. March Agenda: Fischer Award Planning; Rich Schoch will come to explain what the Parks Department has been doing about managing invasives and planting natives. We adjourned at 7:15 pm These draft minutes written by James Hamilton 4/9/2016 3