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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCB Minutes 2018-08-02 Town of Ithaca Conservation Board August 2,2018 5:29 p.m. Final Minutes Members present: Lindsay Dombroskie, Hannah George, Elizabeth Hageman,James Hamilton, Eva Hoffmann, Vladimir Micic, Mike Roberts, Ellie Stewart,William VanDyke Staff: Mike Smith 1.There were no persons to be heard. 2. Eva had a Member's concern, though she wanted us to realize this problem was in the earliest of draft stages, hence not very worrisome yet. At the recent Codes and Ordinances Committee (COC) meeting, Sue Ritter suggested that the stream setback laws might be too onerous for landowners, particularly in showing the requirements for 50-foot setbacks from certain streams on subdivision maps. She suggested that the recent town laws requiring bank-full creek surveys might be changed to make surveying such lands easier. Ellie suggested we should wait for specific change to be proposed. Will wants to be sure any proposed change recognizes the spirit of the law's intent to preserve healthy streams, however difficult land developers may find it to comply. Mike R wants water quality to be paramount, and to precede other concerns. Perhaps other CB members should attend COC meetings? 3. Chair and Coordinator Reports: Chair: Mike R noted that only one member of the public attended our New York Invasive Species Awareness Week(NYISAW) event, and didn't believe the plastic swag was such a good idea for conservationists. Mike S noted there was a post-ISAW event online feedback form inviting evaluation of the event and that the Partnership for Invasive Species Management(PRISM) might welcome such criticism. Coordinator: Mike S noted that the Planning Board would be addressing Cornell's north campus dormitory expansion plans for State Environmental Quality Review requirements.The next scheduled meeting would make the City the Lead Agency in a proposed development complicated by the site combining adjacent land in the Town, City, and Village of Cayuga Heights. Vlad wants us to pay closer attention to energy efficiency than we paid to the Maplewood development, as he believes that construction did not turn out to be sufficiently green. Eva hopes the Town, though not the lead agency, could influence development in more sustainable directions. Mike S notes that CU now has published well-indexed files of Cornell's proposal, so CB members can read the parts that interest them; check the Town's website for links to those files. Mike R found Vlad willing to study the parts of the proposal relevant to our energy concerns and to let us know what might require our further participation. 4. Minutes for the June 7 meeting were approved with some revisions (moved by Mike R, seconded by Vlad);the July 12 minutes had not been submitted in time for review. 5.The 2018 NY Invasive Species Awareness Week(ISAW) Event would have been much better if more people had come.The only person who came (aside from CB members,Tony Ingraham with his video camera, and the new Parks manager) had problems with swallow-wort and Japanese knotweed on his Ithaca land, although these two invasives are not yet present in Tutelo Park and were not in the list of six invasives most bothersome in that park. He was very resistant to suggestions that herbicide is now part of best management practices for the control of his own invasion. Vlad suggested we should try to tie NYISAW events to other events and audiences to increase attendance (find where groups are already 1 gathered). Will said Summer Camps meet in early afternoons, so we'd need to find times when specific groups might attend. Cayuga Nature Center's science camp, for instance, could be a good partner for increasing contact with people who matter. Will and James agreed that the Communications Committee will take care to consider such strategies for the next ISAW. 6. Regular Reports and Updates: Environmental Review Committee:Two recent subdivision proposals were both within Unique Natural Areas (UNAs). Mike R talked with Cornell's Natural Areas botanist, Robert Wesley, to be sure there were no environment qualities at risk in those UNAs. Both properties need to take care with proper stream setbacks. Lindsay wondered if developers need to know about NY Department of Environmental Conservation's list of regulated plants, to make sure invasives didn't get planted in any landscaping. Will thinks a form letter with such environmental concerns might help landowners with appropriate development. But when would this letter be needed, and to whom should it be addressed? Land sellers? Purchasers? Real estate agencies?Welcome Packets might include such info. Hannah agreed to look into the feasibility of such a letter. Scenic Resources Committee: Eva repeated her concern that she would not be a good person to contact Longview about the possibility of planting our second View Sign on their property adjacent to the NY Department of Transportation's scenic pull off parking lot. She also noted that the very idea of Scenic Resources was a public idea, and that the views this committee wants to conserve are all views from publicly accessible lands, so the sign really should go on DOT land, not Longview's. She said she would draft a letter to try again to get DOT permission to accept our view sign as a public, municipal project, and not the sort of private business sign that might merit the fees somebody at DOT seems to think may apply. Communications Committee:Will noted that a SoundCloud podcast(Mike R on WHCU "Your Turn") about our NYISAW event was added to the Facebook page. Tompkins County EMC:Vlad missed July's meeting, but noted that the EMC was interested in our Deer Management project at their June meeting. He sent them a file of our Deer Management report. A waste management committee in the EMC is looking into the reduction of plastic.Tom Shelley and Kristen McCarthy would accept comments on banning plastic bags, and would welcome more CB members at meetings. Six Mile Creek Volunteer Monitors:James reported that the group took a scheduled synoptic water sample of Six Mile on July 25, not long after a heavy rain that put Six Mile Creek filled to its banks, and flowing ten times the median flow on that date for the past 22 years. This is the second regularly scheduled sampling in a row to find the creek running so unusually high.The Community Science Institute's Benthic Macroinvertebrate (BMI) specialist, Adrianna Hirtler, is holding family picnics to train young BMI sampling volunteers. On July 31, she held one such picnic in Treman Park. Cornell Botanic Gardens Natural Areas:James reported that volunteers had worked to extirpate the relatively few remaining swallow-wort plants growing in Cornell's natural area adjacent to the Teton Court water tank in the Deer Run neighborhood. Some years ago the CB filled ten large garbage bags with that invasive. After persistent weeding, including strategic use of herbicide, a large problem has become manageable. 2 Deer Management Committee: Lindsay reported that the DMC's first meeting after the May 22nd Public Comments meeting found committee members ready to dissolve the committee so a new Deer Advisory Committee could be selected to start working on the details of a program. Some members hoped to get the City of Ithaca involved, in its Six Mile Creek watershed. A voluntary deer harvesting program might need a paid administrator to handle the complexities of such a position. Mike S noted that the Town has put$4000 in its 2019 budget for the program. 7. Other Business: Elizabeth noted that she had attended a City meeting about their recently reorganized natural areas commission, now a part of Parks, Recreation, and Natural Resources Commission.The two and a half hours included training in such Human Resource concepts as Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, but nothing particularly specific to natural conservation practice or activities was addressed. We may eventually hope to find help for deer management action in this field. Vlad wants us to get back to working towards a plastic bag ban, since this no longer seems likely at the State level. Elizabeth wants our roadside recycling program to go back to taking all the plastics it used to. The recent restriction to allowing only plastics numbered 1, 2 and 5 makes people have to travel to the recycling center to get other plastics accepted. 8. Mike R asked members to check our 2018 Work Goals to see if we've been missing anything. No particular agenda was proposed for September. We adjourned at 7:02 These draft minutes by James Hamilton 8/3/18 3