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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCAC Minutes - August 28, 2017Page 1 of 4 Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes_August 28, 2017 Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes of Meeting The regular monthly meeting of the Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council (CAC) was held at 7:00pm on Monday August 28, 2017 at Danby Town Hall, 1830 Danby Road, Town of Danby, New York. Council Members Present: Matt Ulinski (Chair), Joel Gagnon, Don Schaufler, Mary Woodsen and Dan Klein. Absent: Ruth Sherman and Bill Evans Non-Members Present: Jack Miller (Town Councilperson – CAC Liaison), C.J. Randall (Town Planner), Matt Hobart (Secretary), and Ronda Roaring. Call to Order – 7:04pm by Ulinski. Agenda Review – • No additions from the CAC. Ronda Roaring requested to add the goals of the CAC to the agenda. Ulinski recommended moving the discussion to Privilege of the Floor. Privilege of the Floor – • Ronda Roaring stated that she has provided lists of suggested goals to the CAC, including goals for fundraising, and that they have been ignored. • Ulinski stated that the goals of the CAC are those outlined in Town of Dandy Resolution No. 82 of 2010. • Hobart mentioned that a copy of the resolution was provided to the CAC and the public at the beginning of the meeting. • Klein agreed that the goals of the CAC are those tasks which are laid out in the resolution by the town board and so that the CAC should stay focused on that work. • Rhonda Roaring told the CAC that she has been using a company called WIX to produce a personal website and that if the CAC planned to create a website she recommended not to using WIX. Approval of the Minutes – Approval of the minutes of the June 26, 2017 CAC meeting were postponed until the September 25, 2017 meeting to give the members more time to review the draft. Planning and Zoning Report – • Randall gave a summary of the Code Report which was presented at the most recent Town Board meeting. Page 2 of 4 Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes_August 28, 2017 Reports and Updates – Natural Resources Inventory (NRI) Sub-Committee Update • Randall provided a DRAFT outline of the NRI and an updated DRAFT Preliminary Data Inventory (PDI) and requested comments from the CAC by September 15. 2017. • Gagnon requested a reminder to who was on the sub-committee. The sub-committee is made up of Bill Evans and Ruth Sherman with technical support provided by Randall. • The PDI is a comprehensive list of all the currently available data sets. The inventory is organized by base map layer and includes a description of the layer. Randall is waiting on a few more datasets from Tompkins County GIS and the Community Science Institute. Tompkins County Soil and Water Conservation District just released their aquatic barriers data and that will be added as well. The PDI layers will be an appendix to the NRI. • Public education will be a component of the NRI most likely in the 1st and 2nd quarter of 2018 similar to how the town is conducting “public hearings” on the Planned Development Zones. • Randall explained the Report on Rare Animals, Rare Plants, and Significant Natural Communities that was completed by the New York Natural Heritage Program (NYNHP) for the Town of Danby dated August, 2017 and provided to the CAC and the public at the beginning of the meeting. • Discussion took place related to determining the specific GPS location of these sightings and the Northern Harrier was used as an example. Randall stated that the NYNHP specifically does not release the data of specific locations publicly as to protect the rare plants, etc. As for birds it is important to think about habitat vs. individual bird sightings. Randall would try to work with the NYNHP to get the internal data perhaps under some kind of cooperating agreement that would protect specific locations of rare plants, etc. • Randall stated that the CAC can make recommendations related to concerns of development on critical habitat areas and what should be done to preserve those areas but that the responsibility of adopting the NRI will be the town boards. • Ulinski asked about what other groups have already done conservation easements in the town. Randall stated that these other groups and the work already done are part of the PDI. • Schaufler asked when the next NRI Sub-Committee meeting was scheduled. Randall said that information would be forthcoming. Page 3 of 4 Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes_August 28, 2017 Privilege of the Floor – o Ronda Roaring asked what happened to the lists of easements located in the town that she provided to the CAC. This include Humane Society of the United States held easement(s). She said the source for the information came from a Tompkins County data file. Randall said she had not received anything but that she would gladly take a look at what Rhonda found if she wanted to provide it to her directly. Action Items – Easement Template • Gagnon still needs the Town Attorney to walk through his comments from the review of the easement template language. Ulinski has agreed to take over this task. Easement/CAC Promotion • Presentations/Outreach o Ulinski stated that there are no new updates on presentations at this time. o Ulinski and Klein are still working on a piece for the Danby News. • Marketing o Woodsen provided additional rack cards to the CAC. Rack cards were placed in the community room. • Ulinski suggested the creation of a Promotion Sub-Committee that could work on ideas for presentations, etc. Mary volunteered to be on the sub-committee. An email will be forthcoming to the members of the CAC to identify volunteers to attend at a time and place in the future. Privilege of the Floor – o Ronda Roaring recommended to promote to the Pirates Hunting Club. She suggested that they maybe have members or the club itself may be interested in easements. Management Plans • Schaufler will continue to work on draft management plans for the two owner properties that would be considered to have conservation value. He will send these to Ulinski for review. Vision or Mission Statement • Continued discussion on the need for a mission statement took place. If a mission statement is created it should be done so using the resolution as a guide. A mission statement would simplify how the public is informed of the purpose of the CAC. • Woodsen stated that the example she provided previously was a bad example of a mission statement. Page 4 of 4 Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes_August 28, 2017 Plans for the Future • Natural Resources Protection Plan & Non-Regulatory Policy Suggestions o Discussion took place that the CAC should continue working on the NRI as this would help influence the “plans for the future”. o Discussion took place on how the CAC sets itself out from other organizations like the Finger Lakes Land Trust. o The question was asked by Woodsen if income disparity is a concern when it comes to people who are interested in and donate easements. Does the CAC/Town of Danby fill a need for folks that may not have lots of wealth? o Gagnon reiterated that funding could be sought to help fund easements and other land protection efforts. The town could purchase bonds to protect critical areas. The town could purchase the development rights in addition to landowners gifting their development rights as part of an easement. Trade lands could be another way to protect conservation lands. Misc. – • Woodsen informed the CAC that she is becoming too busy to give 100% to the CAC. She will commit to attending the next two meetings but that after that she may need to step back and reconsider serving on the CAC. Adjournment – The meeting was adjourned at 8:04pm. Executive Session – The CAC then went into Executive Session until 8:30pm to discuss on-going negotiations with a specific landowner interested in donation of an easement to the Town of Danby according to NYS Public Officers Law, Article 7, Section 105(h). No action was taken by formal vote. Next meeting is September 25, 2017 at 7:00pm ____________________________ Submitted by Matthew Hobart, Secretary