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Home My WebLink AboutCAC Minutes - 07_23_18Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 1 of 5 Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes of monthly meeting on Monday, July 23, 2018 Danby Town Hall, 1830 Danby Road, Danby, New York. Council Members present: Matt Ulinski (chair), Joel Gagnon, Don Schaufler , Bill Evans, Clare Fewtrell, Mary Woodsen Council Members absent: Ruth Sherman Others present: Elizabeth Keokosky (secretary), C.J. Randall (Danby Town Planner), Ronda Roaring (Danby resident), Bruce Richards (Danby resident and long time employee of Wagner Lumber) Meeting opened at 7:03 pm Agenda Review (Additions or Deletions) - none added Public Comments/Privilege of the Floor (later referred to as PoF) PoF: Roaring commented that members of committees can be removed it they don’t attend. Reading and Discussion of Minutes • Reflected some email corrections and comments during month due to complexity of issues discussed Approve Minutes MOTION • Moved that CAC approves the minutes of June 25, 2018. • Moved by Gagnon, Seconded by Woodsen. The motion passed. • In Favor: Matt Ulinski (chair), Joel Gagnon, Don Schaufler , Mary Woodsen • Abstained: Bill Evans, Clare Fewtrell Reports and Updates • Town Management Plans: still waiting on information and work from committee members, Schaufler and Gagnon Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 2 of 5 • September presentations on “Alternative Income from Land”: Continued discussion but no definitive dates; deadline for newsletter article missed. PoF:Keokosky suggested a presentation on the status of NY state carbon sequestration credits from forests or soil. Schaufler mentioned that in places like California forest owners do get compensated for sequestering carbon. Cornell has worked on schemes to quantify carbon from forests but has not succeeded. Some websites might calculate an estimate at a simple level. Woodsen sending book name on expert in soil sequestration. Already sent book on permaculture and cited Steve Gabriel website (https://fingerlakespermaculture.org/tag/steve-gabriel/ ). Gagnon mentioned sequestration credit could incentivize ‘Best Practices” for managing soil. It was decided secretary Keokosky would work with Schaufler and Ulinski to help schedule and arrange presentations. Now waiting on organized list of possible topics for a series of presentations from Schaufler to Ulinski. • Permanent day-of-the-month meeting change to better facilitate C.J. working with Planning Board (they meet on 3rd Thursday) to start in September. Fewtrell can’t make the tentative date of second Wednesday of the month, or any Wednesday. Now looking at 2nd Tuesday of Month, dependent on Sherman’s availability. • Possible conservation easement with Auto Salvage of Ithaca on Hornbrook Rd. about 100 acres of their non-road front property already zoned since it is a recharge area for the aquifer. Schaufler had no additional information on this. Action Items 1) Status of logging regulation in response to Deputron Hollow Road logging this past winter and early spring. Ulinski reiterated conclusion of subcommittee {members: Scott Davis (Planning Board), Matt Ulinski (Town Board and CAC), Don Schaufler (CAC), and George Adams (Marsh Rd. resident)} focus of Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 3 of 5 reacting but not over-reacting to Santos (contractor) type of logging (though he added that Davis and Adams were not completely in agreement with this). The discussion that followed was around the general agreement that in order to protect Danby town interest some regulation “stick” is needed. Slope would be the triggering threshold, plus some indicator of quantity such as amount of board feet/acre, for such regulation. This threshold would require a Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP) in place. Still concerns on how to do it minimally, or just enough stick. • PoF: Richards is damage to road or neighbor’s property actionable? Group agreed town road is but didn’t really address neighboring property damage, though Richards reiterated later that littering was illegal. • C.J. addressed issue more specifically. Roads made only for seasonal use. Permit process for logging (initial strategy). Education and Recommendation: if you want to do logging who would you call. • Schaufler: has talked with SAF foresters who are willing to advise town on best course to take requiring best management practices • Richards (PoF): Doesn’t want Santos to happen again but also doesn’t want to increase the well meaning (such as himself) logger’s overhead • Schaufler to Randall: Does a SWPPP always need an engineer? • Randall: Tompkins County Soil and Water can do it but they might not be able to do it in a timely manner. • Fewtrell: concerned we don’t know what is going on logging- wise in Danby so we need to get more information before we regulate more than we can provide oversight for. Conclusion: Decision on what quantity triggers to use needs feedback --from DEC SAF recommendations or other expert sources. Ulinski: DEC is metting with Town (Supervisor Ric Dietrich). Schaufler assigned task of getting DEC feedback from SAF foresters who are already writing town a letter. Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 4 of 5 Keokosky (PoF) is there anything we can do to protect the rights of non-property owners who just used the area for pleasure – the many people who walked it or road bicycles, who just enjoy the beauty and serenity of the forest setting? • Adams organizing a clean-up day which may catalyze owner awareness. • Can we use Unique Natural Area (UNA) designations to help protect the land. This question became a discussion on next steps for CAC to become a board to advise on these issues. This depends on Town Board adopting Natural Resouces Index (NRI) o Randall responded NRI GIS not quite ready yet. She wants to add another layer for Agricultural Historic Resources. She is having problems with projector. Needs a dongle for her laptop to project Map on wall. C.J. will send link to GIS map so CAC members can view it on their own computers. (Mary Woodsen left at 8:25 for health reasons) Matt said his logging subcommittee would give another report next time. POF:Richard voiced concerns on future effects on industry but Ulinski reassured him that corrective steps would be one at a time to see how they work. 2) Buckeye Pipeline herbicide application concerns -- Matt took last week’s motion to town board and board decided to contact, not just Buckeye, but also other pipelines. Supervisor Ric Dietrich is contacting Dominion, Buckeye and NYSEG gas pipeline about spraying or cutting growth and notifying people of choice. He is getting methods of contacting people, which is usually by postcard. (Fewtrell said postcard sent can be confusing since property is mentioned but no address so if multiple properties are owned which one is being referred to.) This outcome was generally agreed as a successful first step. 3) Mary Wimsatt property: Land by Gift and Living Estate. Gagnon said that her situation is changing and she may be leaving house to sister. This reduces gift to the back 45 acres. It eliminates the Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 5 of 5 problems with the house but not with the legalities of town enforcing an easement against itself. Don’t need to determine the value of gift since she has no income so doesn’t need an assessment evaluation for tax credit purposes. Could possibly deed land to an intermediary who could get tax credit value and then work with town on easement. Still question of whether town is OK with acquiring property. Approve MOTION Moved that CAC goes into Executive Session • Moved by Gagnon. Seconded by Evans. The motion passed. • In Favor: Matt Ulinski (chair), Joel Gagnon, Don Schaufler , Bill Evans, Clare Fewtrell Next Meeting is on August 27, 2018 at 7p.m. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 8:58 pm _____________________________________________ Submitted by Elizabeth Keokosky (Secretary)