HomeMy WebLinkAboutCB Minutes 2005-02-03 Conservation Board
Town of Ithaca
February 3, 2005
PRESENT: Diane Conneman, Lenore Durkee, Brent Katzmann, Larry Sallinger, Barney
Unsworth, John Yntema
STAFF: Susan Ritter
GUEST: James Hamilton
1-2. The meeting was called to order at 7:38PM. There were no persons to be heard.
3. Member concerns: Diane Conneman called the Board's attention to the support of
an open burning ban by a member of the Farm Bureau, as described in the County
Newsletter. Referring to the current resolution by the City of Ithaca to maintain the 9
monitoring stations of Cornell's Lake Source Cooling project, Barney Unsworth
questioned why there was no input from the Town of Ithaca. Sue Ritter stated that there
was a great deal of input from the Town and the Town's consultant, but very little media
attention on the topic earlier this fall. She suggested that Roger DuPuis 11, a reporter for
the Ithaca Journal, with a broad interest in Town of Ithaca issues, was not working for
the paper at the time the monitoring issue was raised. Lenore Durkee pointed out that
both Cornell and Ithaca College are investigating wind power projects, and noted that
the CB will eventually be reviewing these projects which are bound to be controversial.
4. Chair: There was no report from the Chair.
Coordinator: Sue reported various upcoming projects including a >50 lot subdivision
off Troy Road and additional fill work on the Cornell athletic fields off Game Farm Road.
The deadline for submitting an article to the Town's Spring Newsletter is March 1. A
stormwater training class is scheduled for Thursday, February 17 at noon and
Conservation Board members are urged to attend to become familiar with the new NYS
stormwater management regulations. In addition, a day-long seminar will be held on
March 15 which will focus entirely on the new NYS regulations concerning erosion and
sedimentation control. Speakers will be from the NYSDEC and the NYS Soil and Water
Conservation Committee.
Brent Katzmann suggested that it might be useful for the CB to sponsor programs for
the general public to learn about zoning, land use, erosion control, buffers, pesticide
use, building ordinances, etc. He pointed out that the current series of talks on "green"
buildings has been so successful that the meeting place has been changed to
accommodate the attendees. There certainly is an interest in the community for such
information. Barney added that we might get some cooperation on such a project from
the Watershed Network group. James Hamilton and others indicated personal
knowledge of various building code violations and poor workmanship. There is a
question of adequate enforcement of existing regulations.
Sue further reported that the Conifer project for senior apartments, located adjacent to
the Linderman Creek development, has some issues concerning wetland impacts in the
vicinity of the sewer line extension and Conifer Drive extension, and the steep grades
creating lack of usable walking areas and sidewalks. Finally, the City and The Town are
applying for a Sustainable Communities grant for trail development, including the one
over the "Bridge to Nowhere".
5. The minutes of the meeting of January 6, 2005 were approved as amended.
Unsworth moved; unanimous second.
6. There was a brief discussion about the presentation at the last meeting by Walter
Hang of Toxics Targeting. All agreed that the talk was extremely worthwhile and Brent
felt it was especially useful to learn the history behind many of the pollution problems
the area is presently experiencing. The pollution and sedimentation at the south end of
Cayuga Lake is of considerable concern and a suggestion was made of investigating
how the concept of trading "pollution credits" might be applied.
Brent would like to see more such presentations and Larry suggested that the CB might
consider planning such programs for the alternate Thursday meet-time, so as not to
interfere with the regular business of the Board.
7. The following persons will serve on the interview committee for CB candidates:
Durkee, Sallinger, Unsworth. In addition, we would like to invite a person external to the
CB (ie. Town Board member). Sue will make inquiries.
8. Regular Reports and Updates:
Fischer Award: We have received three nominations so far.
Scenic Resources Committee: Diane distributed copies of a Town of Ithaca grid map
that will be used to localize photographs.
Environmental Review Committee: the January 27th visit to the Ithaca Estates
development on E. King Road to look at a site for a Town park, was canceled because
of heavy snow cover.
Six Mile Creek Volunteer Monitoring Program: Larry reported that, in the absence of
seed money, the focus of their efforts for this year will be to obtain funding, to continue
monitoring of established sites and to expand the number of monitoring sites for at least
another year, and to monitor during storm and high water situations.
The next meeting is scheduled for February 28 with a guest speaker discussing the
process and problems of siltation.
City Natural Areas Commission: No report.
9. Diane gave a power point presentation describing contrasts between local (i.e.
Tompkins County) and national agriculture and misconceptions about the number of
farms in the area (number is increasing), farms as significant sources of pollution and
erosion (they are not), farms lagging in productivity (no) and other generally held views
that are contradicted by her data. The CB thanked Diane for the considerable efforts
she devoted to her very worthwhile discussion.
10. Other Business: Eva Hoffmann is recovering from knee replacement surgery and
may not be able to attend meetings for the immediate future.
11. The meeting adjourned at 9:35PM.
Submitted by
Lenore Durkee