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Home My WebLink AboutCAC Minutes - 01_11_22Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 1 of 5 Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council (CAC) Minutes of Video Conference (Zoom) Meeting on Tuesday, January 11, 2021 Danby, New York Council Members present: Clare Fewtrell (chair), Joel Gagnon, Margaret Corbit, Mary Woodsen, Jonathan Zisk, Brittany Lagaly, Don Schaufler , Katharine Hunter Council Members absent: none, Schaufler experienced technical difficulties that kept him from participating fully. Others present: Elizabeth Keokosky (secretary), Ronda Roaring (Danby resident), Brad Rauch (a prospective new CAC member), David West (Danby town planner) Zoom Meeting was officially called to order at 7:04. Deletions or Additions to Agenda: Fewtrell noted she was moving item 11 on “Zoning update and Tax Abatements” to position 4. Corbit said she didn’t need to talk about item 6. “Easement Outline” Privilege of the Floor (PoF): none Approval Minutes – delayed approval of January minutes till February meeting since one CAC member had made last moment edits. REPORTS AND UPDATES from agenda. 1. New member Katharine Hunter – welcomed by Clare Fewtrell Hunter has been a diligent attender and was a former member 2. Town email addresses – Clare Fewtrell Fewtrell expressed frustration with new town email system (Zoho) and uncertainty of who is receiving and reading email. Schaufler has problems and is in Florida so needs to be sent email to his personal address. Corbit agreed to send written directions to all members about how to forward from Zoho to personal email. End result is that Lagaly and Schaufler are Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 2 of 5 the only personal address people, and Lagaly will be changing to town email. 3. Annual Report draft – Clare Fewtrell After a brief discussion of the annual report as part of a previous email attachment it was quickly given approval to be sent to Town Board. Gagnon moved to approve that CAC Annual Report be sent to Town Board Corbit seconded Unanimous Approval 4. Zoning update & local implementation of varying easement timelines and tax abatements – Joel Gagnon Fewtrell congratulated Gagnon and West on getting the new Zoning Update Legislation package through all the work and drafts. Gagnon noted this was especially West. The CAC has been given the task of writing the enabling legislation for the Easement and Tax Abatement that had already gone through state approval. A subcommittee was formed of Fewtrell, Gagnon, and Zisk, Keokosky also volunteered. Hunter offered to work on this peripherally. Fewtrell wanted to make sure the argument for giving tax relief to land-rich people could be carefully researched and documented. Corbit said that Ted Crane had information on this, but Fewtrell wanted to dig further and work with Jay Franklin (the Director of Assessment in Tompkins County). The Impact of these decisions is not just on Danby but all of Tompkins County, yet each municipality is different since the population and percentage of taxed land to undeveloped land varies. Fewtrell thought the best way to proceed was to get the process up and running in Danby before applying it to the whole county. Another question is will school districts opt in as well? NY State approved the following ranges: Easement Commitment Percentage of Exemption Not less than 15 years but less than 30 years 50% Not less than 30 years but less than 50 years 75% Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 3 of 5 Not less than 50 years but less than 75 years 85% Perpetual 90% Danby is implementing all or less than state has approved. First meeting was agreed on for Friday at 11am. West will send a Zoom link. Keokosky was asked to take notes. 5. Status of annual easement monitoring and placing easement signs – Jonathan Zisk, Don Schaufler & Margaret Corbit Zisk reported that he had put up some signs, giving a description of types of screws and depth into wood, and holes drilled into the signs. Final reports on some monitoring properties still need to be written and some properties (Palmer and Curtis) still need to be inspected. Zisk and Fewtrell will be putting up more signs during the following week. 6. Updates on Proposed Easements: Roaring (Margaret Corbit), Ravencache/Stein (Brittany Lagaly), Woodsen (Jonathan Zisk), Hoffman/Karlsen (Joel Gagnon), any others? Corbit reported work done on Roaring easement. Roaring is confused as to why there should be delays since she felt she had written up an easement already. She did not seem to be aware that some changes in zoning descriptions and areas had already been discussed by the CAC and needed to be incorporated. She felt the residential area was as large as it could be because of the presence of the creek and topography of the land. She wanted to minimize the Residential and Active Use area Zone and have the rest of it as an Environmental Protection Zone. Discussion was centered on the eventual replacement of the septic and leach field and whether there was room to do this. Schaufler said that it was the county’s problem, not ours, to accommodate this. Gagnon reported that Guy Krogh (town lawyer) had said the fact that the property is owned by a trust should be no problem. The Ravencache (Stein/Lagaly) easement is delayed until information is redistributed into the correct documents, and Lagaly had made new maps. Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 4 of 5 Woodsen easement (reported by Zisk). He said that the property was unique and interesting because It was 70 years into succession growth. Baseline property description still needs to be written, and zones still need to be decided. Gagnon said that once the zoning update (mentioned above) was passed Hoffman/Karlsen were revisiting zones since now they now could have multiple dwelling without subdivision. The easement was waiting on them. Fewtrell reported that templates and schedules are in the process of being modified to avoid some of the confusions and complications of where information goes or is repeated. Woodsen reported on the interest of some people she encountered walking – ( one of which was Brad Rauch) 7. Status of Agricultural Presentation Series– Elizabeth Keokosky Keokosky reported speakers (Scott Doyle from Tompkins County Planning Department, Monika Roth from CCE, Molly Johnston-Heck from American Farmland Trust, and Natalie Hughes and Juliana Quaresma from Groundswell) as well as advertising were in place, but she was concerned about connecting with town clerk who usually was tech support but had Covid and had not been responding to her emails or calls. Gagnon provided her mobile phone number. Keokosky said that she tried to inspire the speakers to think outside the box. The situation with climate change is so much in flux with either more energy regulation and change, or catastrophic weather, or both, increasing the importance of preserving farm land. She encouraged members of CAC to come to the presentation. 8. Possible presentation by Tim Woods, Dryden Town Conservation Board, on bio-sequestration & best practices for topsoil and aquifer protection – Clare Fewtrell & Elizabeth Keokosky Woods approached Keokosky about giving a presentation on “Kiss the Ground” to Danby CAC. Keokosky was asked to arrange it as a talk to the general public. Time suggested was March 10 at 7pm. Keokosky was also Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 5 of 5 going to learn more about him. “Kiss the Ground” should be watched ahead of time. Links for watching it on YouTube and Netflix were given later. 10. Status of Timber Harvesting law – Jonathan Zisk & Don Schaufler Schaufler reported talking to Laura Shawley who, after a health problem, has gotten re-involved with this project. Schaufler is still trying to connect with Bruce Richards, who also has had some health problems. Various options for getting around the technical problem of opening the file he had sent were discussed. Fewtrell asked someone to chair for the February meeting (she is going to Antarctica) and Jonathan Zisk was nominated. There was no Executive session Next Meeting via Zoom is on February 8th 2022 at 7p.m. Adjournment at 8:56 _____________________________________________ Submitted by Elizabeth Keokosky (Secretary)