HomeMy WebLinkAboutCB Minutes 2023-09-07 Town of Ithaca Conservation Board Meeting
September 7, 2023 5:30 pm
(In Person at Town Hall and via Zoom Video Conference)
Final Minutes
Members Present: Lori Brewer, Elise Edwards,James Hamilton, Eva Hoffmann, Mike Roberts, Ingrid Zabel
Staff Present: Michael Smith, Senior Planner
Guest: Tom Schloegel (Town resident)
1. Member comments/concerns: Ingrid received an email from a Town resident disturbed by mowing in
Tutelo Park, where milkweed and native plants were destroyed by weed whackers. Ingrid had also heard
from Mary Gilliland after a Pollinator Garden tour: Mary complained about native plants mowed in a
Swale and along the South Hill Rec Way. Members believe Joe Talbut understands the importance of
allowing native plants to grow in Town Parks and Preserves. These recent incidents highlight the need for
ongoing staff training at the Public Works Department. Residents also need to contact Joe before
planting in a Town park, so they are in an appropriate location that doesn't need to be mowed. James
remembers CB discussion of ditch maintenance resulting in sediment moving to watersheds. Public
Works does not maintain county or state road ditches. We agreed we should invite Joe to a CB meeting
to make sure native plant growth is promoted as much as possible in Town property.
2. Person to be heard: Tom Schloegel is visiting to see what we do in these meetings. He heard they were
open to the public, and as he has moved to Ithaca recently, he came today. Members encouraged him to
come again, as we need new members.
3. Environmental Review Committee Update: Lori noted that the Ithaca College plan to make its Terrace
Cafeteria accessible to the disabled involved a stone ground cover and planted evergreens. She would
prefer planting a ground cover to avoid the heating effect of stones, and preferably some native plants
more natural to the area than generic evergreens.The site is in the buffer zone of an adjacent natural
area uphill, and deserves better landscaping.This preliminary plan will come to the Planning Board on
October 3. The site plan for a Comfort Inn motel on Rt 13 adjacent to the cemetery above Cayuga Inlet
was approved some years ago but did not happen as Covid 19 interfered.Too much time lapsed with no
construction so now developers have to renew their application. Previously the plan received a variance
for 3-story tall buildings; members hope we can assure a more appropriate plan this time, with less
urban height and road-side parking. Eva complained the sketch plan did not clearly show what the
parking and tall buildings would look like from the road. ERC will submit comments by Tuesday next
week, especially noting that a new zoning overlay in this neighborhood looks to preserve the Town's
rural character and avoid unsightly urban sprawl.
4. Chair and Coordinator reports: Lori wants to have CB members attend the Town's "Lessons Learned
from the ERC"that Elise will present at the upcoming NYSACC (New York State Association of
Conservation Commissions) Conference. Lori moderates the Blue Room talks by Elise, Ben Altman, and
Stephen Henhawk from 9:00 to 9:40 Wednesday morning, Sept 20. Lori will try to get the slides from
Elise's presentation emailed to members, who can attend via Zoom if they're able. Lori also
recommended we read interesting articles on soil compaction and erosion in solar farms and forever
chemicals in fertilizer in the July/August and June issues of the Bay Journal.
Mike reported that Town IT is creating a CB email as part of setting up the CB Instagram account. He's
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also planning another public tree-planting session for East Ithaca Nature Preserve on Saturday morning,
Oct 14th, 9:00 AM,with 75 to 100 trees to plant further north than last time, near the water tank. He
asked for CB approval to use our budget to buy plants to give away to volunteer tree planters. We also
want to provide a table with CB info and recruiting materials. Ingrid and Elise will be glad to help with
the tabling. Mike would like the CB to consider arranging a deer browse study to help with the Town's
deer management plan. Could oak seedlings be planted in a Town Preserve to see if they survive deer
browse pressure? Elise knows a natural resources scientist who may be able to help with this.
5. The August 3, 2023 minutes were approved: James moved, Ingrid seconded, all agreed.
6. Prepare for the Conference on the Environment presentation: Members discussed Elise's Sept 20th
"Lessons Learned" presentation at the NYSACC Conference on the Environment. Mike R suggests focus
on a few particular issues, such as cleaning heavy equipment to prevent spread of invasives. Specific
problems we've dealt with should illustrate general problems with bad development.The importance of
timing in CB advice to Town boards might involve a flow chart, showing need to get advice presented
when it can be best implemented. James noted how our second chance with the Rte 13 Comfort Inn
development might allow us to prevent an inappropriate height variance, especially now that our new
zoning there values scenic resources and rural aesthetics.
7. Recap of August 19t" Pollinator Garden Tour: Ingrid reported that 19 people showed up for the August
19th Pollinator Garden Tour, to which 56 people had registered. The relaxed and manageable crowd
enjoyed the tour. From registration, Ingrid now has email addresses of 58 people interested in pollinator
gardens. Could we send these people newsletters? We don't need to repeat Pollinator Pathway business,
but a Town version could be important for our mission of replacing mowed lawns with native gardens.
Eva especially liked how the garden on Westview Ln showed how to replace a lawn with pollinator
plants. We should follow up with fall gardening advice in October: what might folks who want to stop
mowing lawns want to know?
8. Continue discussion of Indigenous Environmental Justice: Mike R reported two meetings with Steve
Henhawk, a Gayogohono representative who has agreed to meet monthly to discuss Town support of an
educational outreach program at Tutelo Park. Steve hopes to help Park visitors understand the history of
the site. A redesigned kiosk should make folks realize the park is not just a ball field, but a place where
indigenous villagers were wiped out by the Sullivan campaign.The persisting native cultural values
preserving healthy relations between people,flora and fauna need a clear strong educational message
here. Mike looks forward to further cooperation with Cayuga Nation's language and culture as we
develop a native plant trail there.
9. Regular reports and updates:
a) Scenic Resources Committee is still waiting for Cornell permission to install a view sign at the Pine
Tree/Snyder Hill Roads intersection.
b) Communications Committee notes that the Pollinator Garden Tour post-tour Aug 20 thank-you post
reached 65 Facebookers, with 4 "engagements;' only one of them a CB member. Our Facebook page has
338 "followers" now. Over the past 28 days our posts have "reached" 125, and "engaged" 17.
c)Tompkins County's EMC had no meetings in August or September, so no report.
d) Six Mile Creek Volunteers took a synoptic water sample from Six Mile on Wednesday morning, August
16. Creek was running a little above its median flow for that date, but we still haven't caught a
floodwater event yet this year. Volunteers are hoping to catch flow after a big storm some day in 2023.
On August 18 we joined a good crowd of volunteer monitors from other streams in the Cayuga
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watershed at an annual party in Camp Comstock.This party had no water science lectures or
presentations for a change; instead 2 volunteers got awards (one from our Six Mile group), and a silent
auction for donated stuff raised funds for the Community Science Institute (CSI). Volunteers took
benthic macroinvertebrate (BMI) samples from 3 riffle sites in Six Mile in the last week of September: 2
of these have been preserved for future analysis, one from below Potters Falls was analyzed live Monday
Sep 28. It showed a slight problem with too many netspinner caddisflies and not enough midges and
stoneflies. Perhaps due to too many people swimming with sunscreen and insect repellent upstream?
James and his wife helped CSI's BMI specialist with a 4-1-12O Biomonitoring Fun event at lower Buttermilk
Falls State Park Saturday Sept. 2nd afternoon, part of CSI's "Journey of Water" series of educational
outreach field trips. This show was well attended by kids and their parents.
e) Cornell Botanic Gardens Natural Area Program volunteers worked at trail maintenance and
improvement in the Allen Wetland Preserve just north of Cayuta Lake, in the Fischer Old Growth forest,
around the McLean bogs and Mud Pond, and around Beebe Lake.
10. Other Business: Our guest,Tom, said he had wanted to go on the pollinator garden tour, which he'd
heard of at the Soil Factory's Marshy Garden, but couldn't find where it was. Ingrid explained that you
needed to register and then would be sent the location information. We hope we can keep Tom
interested in CB business.
11. For October,we'll report on the NYSACC Conference, and see if we can get Joe Talbut to visit for
discussion of preserving native plants in Town Parks and Preserves.
12. We adjourned at 6:59 PM.
Minutes drafted by James Hamilton
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