HomeMy WebLinkAboutCB Minutes 2022-12-01 Town of Ithaca Conservation Board (CB) Meeting
December 1, 2022, 5:30 pm
(In Person at Town Hall and via Zoom Video Conference)
Final Minutes
Members Present: Lori Brewer(Chair), Lindsay Dombroskie, Elise Edwards,James Hamilton, Eva
Hoffmann,Joann Kowalski (Vice-Chair), Michael Roberts, Ingrid Zabel
Staff: Mike Smith, Senior Planner
Guests: Frank Cantone
1. Persons to be heard (5:30 pm)
a. None
2. Members comments/concerns
a. James- NYSACC pay dues. Does our Board pay dues to the NYSACC?
i. Mike S.—yes, we do.
b. The South Hill Cider parking issue was brought up by a concerned resident (Sue Perry). It
is not so much a concern the Conservation Board needs to concern itself with.
c. Mike R. offered tidbits on the Cornell University Deer Management Program. That
program is expanding Deer Damage Permit activities to South Hill Swamp for the coming
nuisance deer management season (February 1—April 30).
3. Environmental Review Committee Update (Lori)
a. Chairwoman Brewer offered Mr. Cantone an overview of what the Conservation Board
does,focusing on the main charge of the Board: reviewing plans for development within
the Town with a focus on environmental issues.
4. Chair and Coordinator reports
a. Chairwoman Brewer
i. NYSACC has an ordinance library that Commissions or Boards could turn to for
help protecting local resources
1. It looks like they may be missing an ordinance on protecting scenic
resources.
ii. Lori had contacted Mr. Cantone to invite him to tonight's meeting. She also
reached out to one Claire Nichols with the same invitation.
b. Coordinator
i. Town's deer program has confirmed 6 sites so far and would like another 3
ii. The Town has a new phone system. It's all online,so staff members can be
reached wherever their computers might be.All numbers and extensions are
the same.
iii. The stipend for full Board members will be issued in December.The stipend will
be issued once a year and be based on the number of meetings members make
at a rate of$40/meeting.
5. Approval of minutes from November 3, 2022
a. No minutes to approve yet as Eva has yet to submit them from last month.
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6. Continue discussion of a 2023 initiative related to:Your Yard Could Be a Wildlife Sanctuary
a. Joann has been doing more research and would like to pursue a public awareness
campaign over a demonstration/project-oriented program. "It's a tough sell", she says.
She will be posting to our Facebook page, publishing items in the Town newsletter, and
would like to use the Conservations Board's webpages to advertise the initiative.
i. Chairwoman Brewer asked if we would be able to collect contact information
from people who express interest in the program.
ii. Brandon Becker-Hoak(Busy Bee Ecological Designs) has some sites that we
could visit if we wished.
1. Ingrid suggested leveraging Mr. Becker-Hoak's work to provide tours to
interested members of the public.
iii. Joann will update the Board in January on her efforts.
7. Discuss proposed revisions to Section 270-219.1 (Solar Energy Systems)of the Town Zoning
a. James—on page eight the code mentions "mature woods" but there is no good
definition of what one might be. Not all mature stands of trees are equally valuable.
Some stands are plantations of non-native trees(e.g. Norway Spruce),which are not
great habitat for many local flora or fauna. Any good definition of this term would take
into account the variety of mature woods which might be found on a property.
b. Ingrid—There may be services that forests, even if they aren't native, provide, like
sequestering carbon. It's a complex issue and some more nuance needs to be fleshed
out
c. Mike S.—The main change is allowing the largest installation of solar panels to be 35
acres as opposed to 10 the code permits currently.
8. Regular reports and updates
a. Scenic Resources Committee (Eva)
i. Joann provided very useful comments on the text of the current sign being
produced.
ii. On 11/14/22 James uploaded to CB's OneDrive folder a new draft view-sign for
the Snyder Hill/Pine Tree corner with 20%fewer words in the text than the last
draft. Check out the 156-word version to see if it's still too wordy. URL
is: https://townithaca-
my.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/msmith town ithaca ny us/Ep1NCRuEZuV
Mjk8Bck7Jle8ByZ85x69RCQrBPsQkwgY6sQ?e=Pw2V5h
b. Communications Committee (James)
i. No update
c. Tompkins County EMC
i. No update
d. Six Mile Creek Volunteer Monitoring Program (James)
i. Six Mile Creek volunteers took a synoptic water sample on 11/9/22;the
headwaters at Yellowbarn &Spur Creek were too dry to sample! Creek in Town
was very low, clear, about 9 cfs (lowest in past 27 years was 8.94 cfs in 2016;
median is 27 cfs; highest was 688 cfs in 1997). CSI held a Water Quality
Database Workshop Tues, November 29 at 6pm in TCPL downtown.Adrianna
Hirtler is inviting volunteers to help ID preserved BMI samples Thursday
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evenings: 5:30 pm-8:30 pm (except Thanksgiving),till summer samples have all
been sorted and identified.
e. Cornell Botanic Gardens Natural Areas Program (James)
i. Volunteers planted 24 trees on Beebe Lake's north shore, where several large
oaks&ashes fell over recently.They planted oaks, maples & pines on upper
edge of Fall Creek gorge below Chi Psi &trimmed trail downhill of Johnson Art
Museum's Morgan Garden (Tiger Glen: see https://youtu.be/-hgR2lc6N6w).
They also trimmed fence around Fall Creek gorge between Horseshoe Falls and
Triphammer Falls, clearing out invasives along the chainlink fence there.
9. Other Business (6:50 p.m.)-Approval of the 2023 Meeting Schedule- Recommendation of a
Chair for 2023 - Nomination and Election of a Vice-Chair for 2023
a. Joann moves to approve and Ingrid seconds—all approve the 2023 meeting schedule
b. James moves that Lori remain as Chairwoman of the Board, Mike R. seconds—all
approve and recommend Lori Brewer to the Town Board for the position of Chair of the
Town of Ithaca Conservation Board for 2023.
i. Lori nominates Joann as Vice-Chair, Mike R. seconds—all approve. So passed.
c. Mike R. brought up indigenous rights and conservation. More conversations to come.
10. Review 2022 Work Goals/Discuss January Agenda
a. James—we should put the Fischer Award on the agenda for January.
11. Adjourn at 7:07 pm.
Meeting minutes respectfully submitted by Mike Roberts.
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