HomeMy WebLinkAboutCAC Minutes - 07_14_20Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 1 of 6
Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council (CAC)
Minutes of Video Conference (Zoom) Meeting on
Tuesday, July 14, 2020
Danby, New York
Council Members present: Clare Fewtrell (chair), Joel Gagnon, Don
Schaufler (late entry into Zoom), Ruth Sherman, Katharine Hunter, George
Adams, Jonathan Zisk, Mary Woodsen
Council Members absent: Bill Evans
Others present: Jason Haremza (Town Planner – attended for 10
minutes), Ronda Roaring (Danby resident and member of Planning Group)
Zoom Meeting was called to order at 7:05
Deletions or Additions to Agenda
Secretary Keokosky asked that some research she had done on availability
of grants from Community Forestry Funding in relation to sale of Aaron St.
John property be added as a report. It was added as separate item before
Planning Group and working subgroups report. Fewtrell added a DAN
article discussion as item #1.
Privilege of the Floor (PoF) - None
Approval of Minutes for May 12, 2020 still deferred until Gagnon had
an opportunity to review his report on CAC history given that
meeting.
Approve Minutes MOTION for June 9, 2020
Gagnon moved to approve
Fewtrell seconded
Unanimous approval
Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 2 of 6
REPORTS AND UPDATES
1) DAN (Danby Area News) article discussion
Fewtrell has been writing a summary of monthly CAC meetings for
submitting to the DAN. She checked in with the group to make sure
that all agreed that anyone who publishes in the DAN and speaks in
the name of CAC understands approval is first needed from the
group. She apologized for being guilty of not doing so previously,
and would make it an ongoing consideration. However, the deadline
of the DAN following so closely the date of our meetings makes this
difficult. PoF:Roaring suggested just asking editor Ted Crane to hold
the space. Gagnon suggested sending potential articles out to the
group and giving them a deadline for objecting.
2) Tax abatement discussion documented for Town Board
To document the CAC discussion of the Planning Group proposal,
“Tax abatement in exchange for conservation easement,” for the
benefit of the Town Board, Fewtrell asked if the information could
simply be copied and pasted from the relevant section of the June
minutes. Members agreed on this.
3) Easement signs
Adams led continued discussion of layout, picture, and lettering of
Danby Easement signs for posting on a Danby Easement property.
Adams asked questions: Does this have the message we want?
Does it have a nice composition? Thirdly, is it the right picture?
A new feature he added was a small QR Code that replaced a
lengthy website reference. When taking a picture with a smart phone
it will optionally take you to the webpage. The group discussed the
use of black and white vs. color, how to give the sign a clean look
without too much detail, problems of public access vs. private
property (group decided maybe two signs were needed but, for
branding recognition purposes, it was important to keep a single
image for both). CAC members voted on a monochromatic format
with black to gray shading. Adams, taking these decisions and ideas,
will go back to the drawing board and will get back to others by email
before next meeting. Remaining question: how much will this cost?
Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 3 of 6
4) Logging Ordinance –Don Schaufler and George Adams
Adams reported that he had gone through copies of logging
legislation, written from 1995 -2012, from other local towns, and they
were very similar. “They present a known formula that is
enforceable,” he said. “Since no one has struck them down we
shouldn’t be afraid to make our own law”. He noted that the advice of
Elizabeth Thomas, Trumansburg Town Supervisor, was to just to go
ahead and do it. His comment was to take simplest and least
intrusive legislation, since laws vary mostly on severity of their
penalties. At a minimum, the Town needs notification for big logging
jobs.
Schaufler reported that Scott Davis, former logging ordinance group
member, had now rejoined the committee. Gagnon commented that
Matt Ulinski wanted to be included, which was recommended for the
connection to town board he provides. Fewtrell noted that this was
the original intention.
Adams quoted Schaufler’s news that timber sales are now recorded
like land transactions. (see https://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/70906.html
Tompkins County is in DEC Region 7)
He added that this is a good source to use since loggers don’t usually
self-notify to towns - although this is required by all the legislation.
Adams said he sent letters to 60 Loggers (concerning another
problem) and got phone calls back from 6 of them. Reputable
loggers will have insurance already and put everything back to rights
and had actually even written some of the ordinances. The need is to
make rules applicable, but not too onerous. Important to choose a
reportable job filter based on job area size or board feet (or other
quantifiables – such as minimum bid?) to select only jobs that require
further town and/or professional forester oversight.
Fewtrell affirmed this is what committee should be looking into.
Schaufler wanted to do more research. He asked that all CAC
questions be sent to either him or Adams. Adams will bring a
progress report to next meeting that includes a matrix of options.
Both wanted feedback at the next meeting.
Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 4 of 6
5) Management Plans for Town-owned Lands
Zisk reported on his progress with Management plans. He said that
NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service – USDA) has a
template. He had no prior management plan for Deputron Hollow but
he folded in all the information summarized by previous draft plans so
far and pulled out headings from Sherman’s paper. Considering
conservation vs. preservation aspects, he noted that a fair amount of
work has been put into a plan for the Sylvan Lane property.
However, he decided to work on Deputron Hollow property first since
the general format would apply to both.
Continuing disagreement was voiced by Roaring on her part, access,
and contribution to the plans. Gagnon said that CAC should be
allowed some internal discussion before plans are put before the
public – though Roaring felt she was not “the public” due to previous
involvement. Zisk reported that he would be closer to final draft by
next meeting.
6) PoF: Keokosy(secretary) reported on the Community Forestry Grant
program monies available in the next several years from USDA and
DEC for municipalities to buy forest property. There is a delay in the
availability of both of them. DEC requested money for funding but
reduced NY State money available, due to Covid 19, made their
budget passing questionable, and, in addition, it might take a year to
implement. USDA pays a matching grant of 50% if basic
requirements are met but it has a timetable each year. Still they were
worth pursuing. Further contact information is attached to these
minutes in Appendix A.
Discussion followed on the controversial question of whether the
Town should try to purchase Aaron St. John properties on Deputron
Hollow Rd. The 3 parcels of around 33 acres are now up for sale on
NY Land Quest for $54,900. The road is seasonal and so far has
remained undeveloped, but Gagnon re-iterated the problems voiced
by the town lawyer of using a seasonal road to protect property. To
comments that land purchased requires too much oversight, Zisk
responded that conservation also required stewardship and CAC
needs to spend time checking maintenance of either type of property.
Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 5 of 6
Gagnon said the question was whether the Town wants to or ought to
acquire land. This question had made him hesitate to follow through
when Roaring first acted as intermediary earlier in the year. There
were mixed responses. Some people felt it was rewarding a bad
actor to pay St. John now after he has decimated the timber on the
land. Other people felt that it was important to buy the land for future
generations while we could, since it would only become more of a
premium resource. Because Deputron Hollow is a unique natural
area (UNA) within a proposed protected open space, near other
easements it was generally felt worth considering. But people were
concerned it would lose the town tax money and increase CAC
overhead to buy them. Ideally, the idea was to buy the parcels, put
easements on them, and then resell them.
As a first step, CAC members agreed that Gagnon should approach
St. John about a “bargain sale,” which allows the owner to sell more
cheaply and gain immediate tax deductions, and feel out how
amenable he is to sale to the town.
7) Fewtrell Easement – next steps
This discussion was skipped for lack of time.
Instead there was some discussion about items on agenda for next
meeting
There was no Executive session
Next Meeting through Zoom is on August 14 at 7p.m.
Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 8:54 p.m.
_____________________________________________
Submitted by Elizabeth Keokosky (Secretary)
Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 6 of 6
Appendix A: Funds for town buying land
Contact in DEC (Community Forestry Grant Program in proposed budget)
Peter Innes
NYS DEC - Division of Lands and Forests
Broadway, 5th Floor
Albany, NY 12233-4250
Phone: (518) 402-9405
E-mail: Peter.Innes@dec.ny.gov
Contact in US Forest Service
Neal Bungard
Natural Resource Program Leader
Forest Service
State and Private Forestry
Eastern Region
p: 603-868-7719
c: 603-833-3287 – Primary number for now
neal.bungard@usda.gov
271 Mast Road
Durham, NH 03824
www.fs.fed.us
Community Forestry Grant Program
Matching 50% grant for half of land price
requirements: more than 5 acres, 75% forested, public access, actively
managed