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Home My WebLink AboutCAC Minutes - 04_23_18Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 1 of 4 Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes of monthly meeting on Monday, April 23, 2018 Danby Town Hall, 1830 Danby Road, Danby, New York. Attending: • Council Members present: Matt Ulinski (chair), Joel Gagnon, Clare Fewtrell, Don Schaufler , Ruth Sherman • Council Members absent: Bill Evans, Mary Woodsen • Non-Members present: Elizabeth Keokosky (secretary), Ronda Roaring (Danby resident), Ted Crane (Danby Resident), Deanna Demark and Erick Palmer (Marsh Rd neighborhood - concerned with logging), Anne Klingensmith (EMC Tompkins County), Leslie Connors (Town Board member), Scott Davis (Planning Board member), Jonathan Fisk (Danby Resident) Meeting opened at 7:05 pm Agenda Review (Additions or Deletions) None Public Comments/Privilege of the Floor (later referred to as PoF (Except for logging issues on Deputron Hollow which are discussed separately below) Ted had some comments. Draft March 2018 minutes approval, with Joel’s spelling correction and date typo fixed Joel moved to approve, Seconded Unanimous approval Action Items 1) Condition of Deputron Hollow Rd and Logging Discussion centered around Deanna Demark and Erick Palmer’s repeated concerns that extreme rutting and disturbance of public road by contractor was making entry to their property and others impassible, although they defended the rights of the property owner and contractor to do as they wished on their own land. Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 2 of 4 Matt acting as Chair said that that CAC would take the lead on this problem working with the Planning Board (Scott volunteered to help on this). In debating the town’s authority over private property if was noted that municipal laws can be more strict than state laws. (“Home Rule” in the state constitution empowers local government to make its own laws regarding property and activities such as logging as long as they are not inconsistent with the state constitution.) NY State would work with us to amend laws, and examples of more restrictive logging codes from Ithaca and other municipalities were referred to. Matt said local control is now hampered by current Danby laws that exclude logging and farming. He noted the easiest change is to make logging on roads a seasonal activity (which addresses the destruction of muddy roads by heavy equipment). He also said that luckily the Highway Department had been planning work on Deputron Hollow Rd. for this summer. Tompkins County Soil and Water and the DEC had checked damage and cited the contractor but the short term effects were still unfolding. Also the contractor is said to consider fines part of doing business. It was brought up that Ag District Laws include “timber operations” and some discussion followed on the advantages and disadvantages that inclusion in an Ag District afforded the town. Ag Districts protect farm operations from what they call “unreasonably restrictive local regulations unless it can be shown that public health or safety is threatened.” Also, since Ag District recertification happens every eight years, the town needs to know where we are on their cycle to make changes. There are 2 ag districts in Danby, with the town roughly divided down the middle. Revisions are staggered, with the two districts being 4 years apart in their scheduling for revision so Danby is never more than4 years away from an ag district recertification. Anne asked how unique environmental areas could be buffered to help protect places of beauty and esthetic value. Immediate priorities are to prevent further damage and to monitor the situation. Amending the law is not quick enough for this situation. Don’s talk in September could also be used to educate land owners on good logging practices. In addition, Marsh Road home owners present had some complaints about an individual that, while collecting information and pictures of logging operations, trespassed on their property without consent and blocked vehicles with his car. 2) Discussion of Acquisition of Land by Gift/Living Estate - Joel Joel, Matt, and Ruth walked the Mary Wimsatt property talked about in last month’s CAC meeting as a potential conservation easement property. The discussion with her includes into the possibility of gifting the land to Danby and Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 3 of 4 retaining the ability to live there. Mary is OK with the process being recorded in the minutes, being a strong proponent of transparency in government. That said, she also doesn’t want to be “spammed” as she put it and so would like active publicity to be held off until late in the process. Mary has lived on this property around 25 years and has worked on making the house habitable and low maintenance. Various options for the town might be: • Town retains ownership of most of the land (which totals around 45 acres) with or without a conservation easement on it, and sells the house (but the legality of putting a town easement on a property, which easement the town would then be responsible for enforcing, is a little iffy- talk to Lawyer). • Put an easement on the whole property and then sell it. Problems/Questions this raises: • Town doesn’t currently have money in the budget to maintain properties, which would be needed if the ownership were to come to the town. We would need to insure and maintain both house and outbuildings once we own them • Could sell and make money but whether and how much depends on how long Mary stays in the house since taxes would be foregone until the eventual sale. If Danby owns property then it is tax exempt • Talk to adjoining property owners to explore whether they might be interested in easements as well in order to extend the protected area General discussion on exempted property: The hope is that this situation could set a precedent for other landowners to donate land and the goal is to explore a solution that can be generally applied. Media coverage could make other people more aware of the possibility. • According to Joel’s analysis a few years ago, exempting all undeveloped land in Danby would cause only an 8% increase in taxes on the remaining tax base. • One idea is the possibility of reducing open space land assessment value to postpone development in a way similar to agricultural land, which is decreased assessment over a scale (number of acres x soil fertility value category). It has been shown that other land values increase when development will not occur nearby. Those present were of the opinion that it is likely that the town could only exempt property from town tax, but even that would be a help. Matt asked how we move forward? Joel recommended that • we identify issues to be addressed • we make our goals clear and work with Guy Krogh, the town attorney to draw up some contracts, which is what Mary has requested Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 4 of 4 • we approach neighbors - after Mary makes decision - and have a celebratory occasion to draw in them in as well. Joel agreed to contact Guy and work with him to develop contracts for Mary to review. Report updates • Town Management Plans – still working on these • Matt had new rack cards printed and distributed some to the group to hand out if given the opportunity. • Excellent CAC 3 panel display from Earth Day Celebration at Jennings Pond was displayed. Good reports of activities there (snail and slug, mosses walks and talks) – but choosing a time for the CAC display at the end of the day unfortunately yielded a smaller audience. • Bill Evans not available for Neighborhood Get Together that he suggested (or some near-future CAC meetings) since his work requires his presence in Buffalo consulting about wind turbines. • Bird and Tree walk -- we missed an announcement in the May DAN so we will try for a June date while birds are still plentiful and singing. Next CAC meeting would occur on Memorial Day, May 28th, so Matt is going to send a Doodle poll for new date. (this has been decided as Tuesday, May 22) Still trying to decide on a permanent day-of-the-month change to better facilitate working with Planning Board Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 8:30 pm _____________________________________________ Submitted by Elizabeth Keokosky (Secretary)