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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCAC Minutes - 08_10_21Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 1 of 8 Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council (CAC) Minutes of Video Conference (Zoom) Meeting on Tuesday, August 10, 2021 Danby, New York Council Members present: Clare Fewtrell (chair), Joel Gagnon, Don Schaufler, Margaret Corbit, Mary Woodsen, Brittany Lagaly Council Members absent: Jonathan Zisk Others present: Elizabeth Keokosky (secretary), Ronda Roaring (Danby resident), Katharine Hunter (Danby resident and former CAC member) Zoom Meeting was officially called to order at 7:05. Deletions or Additions to Agenda: Agenda item 9 on native plants was deleted since Jonathan Zisk, the presenter, was absent. Privilege of the Floor (PoF): none Approval Minutes MOTION for July 13, 2021 Fewtrell moved to approve Corbit seconded Unanimous except for Zisk, who was absent, and Schaufler, who was late. REPORTS AND UPDATES from agenda. 1. Status of members whose terms are up at the end of this year: Joel Gagnon, Brittany Lagaly, Mary Woodsen, Jonathan Zisk, Clare Fewtrell All current members whose terms are expiring are expected to reapply for another 2 years, except Jonathan who is not here to affirm that. CAC continues to need people who are experienced and willing to work to fill empty member positions. Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 2 of 8 Former CAC member, Katherine Hunter, is likely to be a new Town Board member following the fall election. 2. Status of easement signs – George Adams These are ready go and just waiting for someone with a town credit card to call vendor. Janice Adelman, the town clerk, or Laura Shawley could do it. Everyone is extremely busy now. Gagnon will forward Adam’s email to Adelman. 3. Status of logging ordinance – Joel Gagnon Matt Ulinski on Town Board says the document needs to be seen by more people. Gagnon noted that one of them in particular is Jack Shawley, Deputy Highway Superintendent, in the Highway Department (since the ordinance covers damage to roads). Ulinski was on the original committee looking into this 3 or 4 years ago when it was first brought up. The people on this initial committee were Matt Ulinsky, Scott Davis, Don Schaufler, and George Adams. During this second effort of working on the ordinance Ulinski was asked to join the committee again, but he was too busy (and he is no longer on CAC). Fewtrell requested that Secretary Keokosky put together a list from Ulinski of people to ask for feedback. One person mentioned was Angel Hinickle, Resource Conservation Specialist at Tompkins County Soil and Water. Schaufler said he had an upcoming appointment with Laura and Jack Shawley. Note: See Appendix II of these minutes for section of Town Board Minutes on this topic. 4. Status of changes to easement template – Clare Fewtrell & Joel Gagnon Fewtrell asked if anyone had additions to make to the template she had emailed the group. There were none. Since it should be sent to Town Board before showing it to town lawyer, Fewtrell volunteered to send document to town board members. Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 3 of 8 5. Status of annual easement monitoring– Don Schaufler, Jonathan Zisk & Margaret Corbit Fewtrell will be sending annual monitoring reports to secretary Keokosky to keep on Lasherfiche server. She said that Ruth Sherman had sent .pdf files from monitoring easements last year. Town is moving to a digital platform called “Only Office” which is now being used for document sharing. On current easements, Wimsatt has signed their easement to be filed with county clerk, but there is not a copy yet for town records. Fewtrell will look into that. Discussion as to where Easements should be stored? There needs to be some place on the Town website. The Town Clerk is the records management official. She may have already created a CAC folder. Currently paper copies of the easements are stored in the Town Clerk’s office. They need to be digitized but this is not currently a priority. 6. Easement Variances List for Reference – Joel Gagnon Fewtrell had cut out the editing comments on the Easement Template that Gagnon had noted might be helpful in the future but which didn’t really belong in the template. These were stored in a separate file. Secretary suggested that it might be useful to give the file a more explanatory name than “Variances”. One name suggestion was “Accommodations for different Dwellings”. Though Easements are public documents, PoF:Hunter expressed concern about what else the public sees. This Easement variance file and yearly monitoring reports will not be available to general public. 7. Appoint a temporary co-chair during time Fewtrell is unavailable. Fewtrell thinks she probably will be available at next meeting (she is having surgery, but not until 20th September). Fewtrell suggested that Corbit be made co-chair and the group was in favor of it, and even suggested she be made vice-chair. Fewtrell moved that Corbit be made vice-chair of CAC Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 4 of 8 Schaufler seconded Vote was Unanimous 8. Regenerative agriculture and the role conservation organizations can play in promoting climate-resilient agriculture – Elizabeth Keokosky Keokosky talked about a Scenic Hudson Zoom meeting she had attended organized by one of their subcommittees, Ground Control, which was working with the NY State Legislature on promoting two bills (the Soil Health and Climate Resiliency Act –A5386A/S4722A), that have since passed, though not yet signed by the governor. They have also helped organize farmers in the Hudson Valley who had participated in a state pilot program on using regenerative agriculture methods. The above bill will amend the recommendations and incentives of NY State Ag and Markets and Soil and Water Conservation Districts by encouraging farmers to use methods such as no-till, cover crops, and other ways that increase the biomass in the soil. The conclusion of Scenic Hudson: Land conservation organizations are in a unique position to lead new public-private collaborations that capture the powerful climate-change solutions in agriculture." Keokosky proposed that CAC should educate itself and become more involved in farming-related conservation easements. She suggested a three part Agricultural presentation series. She mentioned 2 other things had inspired her interest in Regenerative Agriculture: a. A book she was writing with a Quaker organization called Quaker Institute of the Future that researched Regenerative Agriculture and the events of the past 70 or more years that had encouraged factory farms and corporate transnational agriculture. b. Creating an Ag Working Group with Alyssa de Villiers, a subgroup under the Danby “Planning Group.” It’s main purpose was to find people interested in farming, homesteading, gardening, etc., and get feedback to influence the current zoning discussion. Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 5 of 8 See Appendix I of these minutes for first draft of these presentations (After-note: first presentation will be Oct 21). Gagnon moved that CAC Sponsor Agricultural Presentation Series Fewtrell seconded Vote was Unanimous Corbit will mention the presentations in the Monthly article on CAC in the Danby News and Keokosky will write a more explicit article outlining the presentation content. 9. Easement updates – Clare Fewtrell Fewtrell asked for a lead to work on the easement that Ronda Roaring has requested. Roaring thought it would be a good opportunity to engage the other people who live along the creek that runs though her property and review good practices for riparian habitat. Fewtrell questioned whether the initial visit to see the property was the best time to invite people over, but these initial reservations didn’t gain traction. Schaufler volunteered to take the lead. Corbit and Woodsen volunteered to help. Fewtrell will offer assistance as needed. She is sending basic form to all. GPS mapping software helps keep track of boundaries but Roaring demurred that the property is small (1.4 acres) with a house and a creek so visual oversight may be all that is necessary. Need to s ettle on a date (offline) so Roaring can invite her neighbors. Other Easements: News on the Wimsatt easement is that Art James is no longer acquiring the property, but Irene Weiser (of Caroline; also an energy activist) may be buying it Fewtrell had assigned herself follow-up on other easements we’ve been discussing at past meetings before the complexity of the Wimsatt easement took up all the space. They are progressing slowly. Of the following CAC members who were interested in getting easements: Lagaly is still figuring out a vision for their property, but Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 6 of 8 will be going ahead later. Corbit also held up. Woodsen is still working things out with her family. 10. Easement webpage & rack cards – Margaret Corbit & Mary Woodsen Both webpage and rack cards continue to wait on other people’s time: Town Clerk’s time is needed for CAC easement webpage but her focus is still on the new town website. In the meantime, Fewtrell suggested collecting images. Corbit suggested a cycling slide show of photos – maybe a half dozen – to add interest to the site. Rack card editing still requires a full version of Acrobat, but town planner (who has the package on his computer) now has his time taken up with solar farm negotiations. 11. Planning Group Working Group reports – Joel Gagnon Gagnon reported that it was discussed in the July 21st meeting of Town Board. Gagnon noted that the Planning Group and Working Groups are not meeting until Town board meets and discusses zoning changes so far. The draft zoning ordinance was late by 3 weeks (or more) off the scheduled time line. Part of problem, according to Gagnon, is that David West committed to incorporate the changes into existing zoning ordinance. (After-note: this town board meeting is now scheduled for August 30.) There was no Executive session Next Meeting via Zoom is on September 14th at 7p.m. Adjournment at 8:48 _____________________________________________ Submitted by Elizabeth Keokosky (Secretary) Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 7 of 8 Appendix I Suggested Draft of Agricultural Presentation Series 1. Introduction Speakers: Barb Neal (Tioga CCE), Farm Bureau, farmers from Danby • Common misperceptions about farming • Farming in transition; value-added farming, organic • Farm Bureau – what it does • How is Agriculture important to our community? 2. Regenerative Agriculture – Soil Health and climate change Speakers: Graham Savio (Tompkins CCE), someone from Cornell Small Farms or NY Soil and Water, Permaculture Institute? • Methods and Philosophy • Just passed - New York Soil Health and Climate Resiliency Act • Land use – water absorption and carbon sequestration? • Implications 3. Preserving farmland and transitioning it to new farmers Amy Olney from NY Agricultural Land Trust, Samantha Levy or Tim Biello from American Farmland Trust, others? • Conservation Easements • Encouraging new farmers • Purchase of development rights • Recognizing the common good Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 8 of 8 Appendix II Copy of section of Town Board Minutes from July 21, 2021 meeting discussing logging ordinance 9. New Business 9.1. Review of Draft Logging Regulation Proposal from CAC 9.1.1. Gagnon reported that because Highway had not yet reviewed the document; he did not think they were ready to ratify the document yet but it would still be helpful to get a general sense if the proposal was in the ballpark of what we are looking for. 9.1.2. Schnabel asked for reference to what 4,000 board feet represents. Ulinski suggested that Bruce could give a sense and it was clarified that 4,000 board feet would include about an acre or less. 9.1.3. Gagnon explained the goal is to integrate new needs with the current law while ensuring the burden on small-scale harvesting of firewood or timber is not high 9.1.4. Schnabel mentioned the liability insurance was very low at $250,000 9.1.5. Ulinski reiterated the desire to not impinge on the right to make money off private land through logging, as that supports keeping the town rural. He expressed a desire to hear Bruce’s thoughts as well as other professionals (DEC or Soil and Water). Previously there was a roundtable discussion that this could go back to. Following that, should run past Guy. Ulinski said Angel Hinikle helped navigate in the past and she was great. 9.1.6. Shawley : Highway Department would like to have the loggers meet with the Highway Department as a part of the formal permitting process. These meetings/check-ins have happened in the past, the loggers have been very amendable to it. Highway would like to meet with the committee to discuss incorporating that.