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Home My WebLink AboutCAC Minutes - 07_09_19Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 1 of 5 Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes of monthly meeting on Tuesday, July 9, 2019 Danby Town Hall, 1830 Danby Road, Danby, New York Council Members present: Matt Ulinski (chair), Joel Gagnon, Clare Fewtrell, Don Schaufler, George Adams Council Members absent: Bill Evans, Ruth Sherman Others present: Elizabeth Keokosky (secretary), Bill Keokosky (Danby resident) Meeting opened at 7:09 pm Agenda Review (Additions or Deletions) Add Executive Session to discuss easement Public Comments/Privilege of the Floor (later referred to as PoF) No comments Approve Minutes MOTION for Draft June 11, 2019 minutes Gagnon moved to approve Ulinski Seconded Unanimous approval Reports and Updates 1. Review of Bob Beck’s talk -- discussed to determine what can be applied to Danby’s experience of Conservation Advisory Council/Conservation Board (CAC/CB) possible transition • Responsibilities: Beck was part of the Dryden CB but not the original CAC so he didn’t enlighten us on the changes. Gagnon asked if we really want (or need) to become a CB (to be effective)? Our CAC current main priority is to do conservation easements, which might cause a time conflict with additional responsibilities of a CB. This is a worry to Fewtrell who feels we will have Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 2 of 5 difficulties accomplishing both responsibilities. (after-note: Dryden CB added conservation easements to their responsibilities after they became a CB). Ulinski thinks CB provides more protection of open space, especially if there is a town board that is pro-development. Gagnon noted that we might want to remain a CAC because of the problem of cross-board attendance. PoF:Keokosky(Bill) asked if Matt and Joel would have to resign if we became a CB. (Yes, they would). Schaufler agreed with Fewtrell’s assessment of having more on our plate than we can accomplish now. • Credentials: One of the main questions is whether being a CB provides more powerful credentials than being a CAC. Would remaining a CAC place us at a disadvantage if development conflicts arose? PoF:Keokosky(sec.) How long would it take to become a CB? Ulinski thought it would take around 6 months. The Natural Resource Inventory (NRI) is done, but the Open Space Inventory is a document that we didn’t originally understand was needed as well. Gagnon sees a working collaboration between CAC and Planning Board as important. • Open Space Inventory pre-requisite: Ulinski raised the question about how the group should accomplish an Open Space Inventory. He distributed the document: “Conservation Advisory Councils and Boards” (a Hudson River document) –to list steps. It refers CAC members to the resource https://www.dos.ny.gov/lg/publications/Local_Open_Space_Planning _Guide.pdf • Gagnon suggested this should be a collaborative effort between Planning Board and CAC, and play an important part of zoning considerations. Ulinski thought it was CAC role to say what are important conservation areas. o key questions - Gagnon: § What are the areas we want to conserve? § What are the areas we want to develop? § Among these areas were is it best to develop? o Methodology - Ulinski Do we pick a subgroup of CAC, or all of CAC at regular meetings to work on Open Space Inventory. Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 3 of 5 Do we create an independent group? Ulinski would like to see us engage with the public. It was suggested that we should solicit interest from people outside of CAC using the Danby Area Newsletter and word of mouth. Anne Klingensmith (representative on Environmental Management Committee – EMC) was suggested as a possible contributor. Steve Selin (Cidery on Sandbank Rd.) and Allen Becker were suggested as two people from the farming community. Another person might be Bruce Richards (worked in forestry and on the Planning Board). Matt will put an article in DAN. • Use of Dryden Documents: Can be used particularly for Annual Conservation Easement walk thru: Ulinski noted Danby can lift the Dryden Conservation easement check list, annual monitoring report, baseline documentation, etc, from their website, change the name, and use then almost as is for Danby for our conservation easement annual walk. Schaufler – said he would convert a Dryden document for our coming annual walk. Ulinski acknowledged an additional problem: he was looking for some easement information that the town had misplaced when C.J. left. • Trails: Gagnon said that Dryden has had some success on trails and Danby has not. Connector between FLT and some Danby sites? • Ulinski asked who is in charge of Jennings Pond Trail? Current town supervisor was suggested. Ulinski said that his daughter is a certified trail person and working as a nature educator in Danby (Jennings Pond?) this summer. She would be interested in working on trail connections. 2. Annual Walk of easements – (soon to be 5). Schaufer has offered to do them; Ulinski - should we do them collectively? Discussion on how to digitally organize them in folders on Laserfiche site. Keokosky offered to scan in paper copies of annual reports and upload them. 3. Update on Gretchen Salm, Land Conservation Support Specialist, from Finger Lakes Land Trust talking to us – Ulinski offered her some dates and she needs to get back to us. 4. Discussion of last month’s walk on Town Land in W. Danby. Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 4 of 5 Discussion on whether dying ash trees are still salvageable for lumber (Emerald ash borer, ash yellow syndrome – formerly ash die-back). Schaufler doing assessment and inventory. Still many other beautiful trees. Adams brought up whether we want to pay for treatment of ashes. Schaufler noted that ash yellow syndrome is caused by phytoplasma, and not a fungus (after-note: Phytoplasmas are bacterial parasites of plant phloem tissue and insect vectors are involved in their plant-to- plant transmission). If property is logged skid roads would have to be built and some disruption – do we want to do this? Decisions made after Schaufler’s report. Overall Management Plan – Finger Lake Land Trust land and trails surround the property. Do we want a connecting trail or picnic table to open it up to public? 5. Pipeline update on alternatives to spraying Ulinski got no information from soil and water so back to ground one. Need to contact 3 Pipeline companies: NYSEG, Buckeye, Dominion (in Ellis Hollow). PoF:Keokosky(sec.) suggested talking to most progressive one first and asking for their suggestions. After note: Buckeye pipeline map (http://www.buckeye.com/Portals/0/Maps2/CountyMap__Tompkins,%20New%20 York.pdf ) Open Space map – GPS utility easement layer for vegetation management – assigned to Adams for further investigation. 6. Prism Class for Invasive Species Management Ulinski reported that the Prism class was OK with the Highway Dept – especially since one man working there broke out with a bad rash from contact with hogweed. Ulinski is passing on the information to Sherman for her to arrange class. Executive Session: At 8: 40 went into Executive session to discuss a new conservation easement Next Meeting is on August 13 at 7p.m. Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 5 of 5 Adjournment The meeting ended at 9:03 p.m. _____________________________________________ Submitted by Elizabeth Keokosky (Secretary)