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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCAC Minutes - 11_12_19Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 1 of 6 Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes of monthly meeting on Tuesday, November 12, 2019 Danby Town Hall, 1830 Danby Road, Danby, New York Council Members present: Matt Ulinski (chair), Joel Gagnon Don Schaufler, George Adams, Clare Fewtrell, Mary Woodsen, Ruth Sherman Council Members absent:, Bill Evans Others present: Rhonda Roaring (Danby resident), DeAnna DeMark (Danby resident) and Erick Palmer (Danby resident) Meeting opened at 7:08 pm Deletions or Additions to Agenda none Privilege of Floor DeAnna DeMark and Erick Palmer (donors of Conservation Easement at 127 Marsh Rd) used privilege of the floor to register their strong reaction against 4 CAC members who had walked their property on Nov 3 for annual monitoring purposes without first calling for permission. They emphasized that no one had the right to walk their property without contacting landowners first. They were very upset since this agreement had been made when they signed up for the easement (due to a mix-up of online files CAC members didn’t have contact information). Palmer said he felt disrespected and submitted a letter from his lawyer putting his concerns in writing (after-note: letter was given to town clerk and filed in his easement folder). Ulinski and other members profusely apologized for CAC and said monitoring form would be amended so that the first thing noted was to contact owner. Palmer said that when he buys more Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 2 of 6 property it would probably not go into an easement. Gagnon asked Palmer if he had ever considered joining CAC - because of his knowledge or the area (he declined) and Fewtrell said she hoped Palmer would change his mind about putting new land purchased in an easement. Palmer and DeMark left after clearly making their point. Ulinski asked Secretary to take letter to Town Clerk. Approve Minutes MOTION for Draft October 8, 2019 minutes Fewtrell moved to approve Gagnon Seconded Unanimous approval I. Reports and Updates Report on annual walks of Easements by Schaufler and Fewtrell (Woodsen said that she met with 3 parties that are considering an easement and she was happy that Gagnon was there to help her.) Balanced against the problems with the Palmer easement was the good job members had done working hard and going out of their way to get the annual monitoring done before the weather changed. Ulinski congratulated Schaufler and Fewtrell for their efforts. Schaufler said that other landowners had been pleased to see them. Sherman remarked that if they were contacted before -as Gagnon had noted - that they could have walked land with them since no one knew the land better than the landowner. It was re-emphasized how important it is to get in contact before hand and also to have people’s phone numbers and emails. Fewtrell, who had put together the new 2019 annual monitoring reports, reported back difficulties and suggestions to the group. The difficulties were going through easement write-up and picking out strategic information obscured in the legalese of original agreement or unclear in the accompanying pictures. There was some discussion on what should be checked since she felt she had been essentially laying down a base report. Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 3 of 6 Other difficulties were with discerning property and easement parcel boundaries. Ulinski thought CAC’s obligation was not to survey property but just to note changes. He thought pictures (in original easement) of property corners were sufficient. Adams wanted to see more corner survey pins. Gagnon says that some zone corners described on paper do not have matching pins on the property. Adams said he will research GPS coordinates. Gagnon noted that one easement violation being looked for is pirating of timber along boundary edges. Discussion followed on what was baseline information. Fewtrell used baseline monitoring form rather than annual monitoring form because she felt baseline was unclear. Gagnon noted that there is a schedule (appendix) in each easement write-up that is a baseline. (after-note: As Fewtrell noted at the meeting, easement documents on Laserfiche are incomplete. The Town Hall has the final signed versions and they are also on the Town Planner’s computer. Fewtrell has asked Jason Haremza to put these on Laserfiche) PoF: Roaring noted that putting up Easement Signs is good publicity as well as providing definitions of property boundaries. Finger Lakes Land Trust puts up signs, and Schaufler said some Danby easement owners were receptive to idea. Monitoring recap: It took 2- 3 hours to walk each easement. That resulted in 2 days work, morning and afternoon. Adams said he was going to do more research on boundaries looking at GPS information. Fewtrell said she had made changes in the Dryden monitoring form to make it more appropriate for Danby, and, if they were OK with the rest of group, she will also incorporate them into annual report form. The baseline reports still require some additional information so when they are complete she will send them to everyone by email. Question was raised about privacy of easement owner phone numbers. Phone numbers have to be available to CAC members, but not available to public. Fewtrell suggested sending a copy of monitoring reports to property owners. Ulinski said this was a good idea, but to be careful of what you say and how you say it. He noted Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 4 of 6 that we should be transparent and present facts as we see them, but to try not to be judgmental. For pictures, Adams said that Tompkins County GIS property viewer (http://tompkinscountyny.gov/gis/maps/property ) allows you to see what Google maps won’t show you past trees. Perhaps we can keep in record for each year. Discussion continued on identifying easements and follow-up monitoring: Fewtrell suggested naming property based on originator, not subsequent owners. Ulinski suggested adding a reference with associated tax parcel number (which also may change over time). Adams pointed out that Melchen parcel numbers had already changed. The Melchen property is on both sides of Deputron Hollow Road. The road already subdivides the property into two parcels. Better time to walk properties – before hunting season! General Discussion about problems getting easement information. (After-note: paper copies in folders available in Town Clerk’s office and in town lawyer’s office. Problem was with on-line version. ) Fewtrell requested latest easement write-up on Durfee Hill Rd property so she could put baseline information in a form comparable to others. Updates on Deputron Hollow property Not available Note from Secretary – do we need to keep recorder files of minutes? Discussion followed: Town clerk had told us it was unnecessary, but referred it to a group decision. Point made by Ulinski that minutes have been written and approved, but Gagnon argued that there might be some contention over a point not explicitly covered. Ulinski made a Motion to keep audio records for a year on a thumb disk and have secretary discuss transfer methods with town clerk. Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 5 of 6 Adams Seconded Unanimous approval Open Space Planning discussion Ulinski suggested we put off this discussion and wait for new planner just hired to be part of it - Jason Haremza is coming to next meeting. Easement on Clare's property- follow-up Clare will be firming up a walking date with other members by email to inspect her property in preparation for creating a conservation easement. Membership Announcements Ulinski announced he is not going to renew his membership in CAC, and December will be his last meeting. He will complete annual report before he leaves. Sherman and Adams have another year to run before appointment ends. Matt will check dates on other people’s appointments. Schaufler will be gone in January, February, March. End of meeting discussion: Danby conservation easement template changes. Fewtrell, continuing conversation of monitoring-related problems, said that the easement template on the Danby website also needs to be updated. Woodsen asked if Gagnon would be willing to work with her on this. Gagnon said Ulinski needed to be included – his experience so far in writing easements should be incorporated. Fewtrell noted also that federal tax deductions have changed and should be changed in write-up. Gagnon remarked that Guy Krogh (Town of Danby attorney) had previously said that CAC should not be making any assurances about taxes. Gagnon brought up again the concept of “Bargain Sale,” which would enable owner to get a charitable deduction on taxes for land sold cheaply to town. Fewtrell reported that she had found a document in her home files on Town of Danby easement donations and their tax implications from 2017. It was decided that she should pass it on to new town planner, Haremza. Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 6 of 6 Adams had a couple of questions. Does Tompkins County Environmental Management Council (EMC) have a town of Danby representative? Yes, Anne Klingensmith. Adams already goes to Water Resources Council meetings but would be interested in EMC. Ulinski said he would recommend him. (After-note: The EMC is accepting applications for several at-large and municipal seats. Apply now! ). See http://tompkinscountyny.gov/emc/about/members Adams also asked when the Open Space Inventory/Planning discussion will be scheduled. Ulinski responded that it would be first month of next year. – new town planner, Haremza will be coming to next session in December and will help set the agenda. Color copies of Natural Resources Inventory, that the secretary had printed according to previous meeting’s motion, were handed out to members. Additional copies will be kept in office where Alex can loan them out as needed for other meetings. Next Meeting is on December 10 at 7p.m. Adjournment The meeting ended at 8:45 p.m. _____________________________________________ Submitted by Elizabeth Keokosky (Secretary)