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Home My WebLink AboutCAC Minutes - 04_12_22Town 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, April 12, 2022 Danby, New York Council Members present: Clare Fewtrell (chair), Joel Gagnon, Mary Woodsen, Jonathan Zisk, Don Schaufler , Katharine Hunter, Margaret Corbit, Brittany Lagaly Council Members absent: none Others present: Elizabeth Keokosky (secretary), Ronda Roaring (Danby resident) Zoom Meeting was officially called to order at 7:07. Deletions or Additions to Agenda: none Privilege of the Floor (PoF): Roaring noted that a .pdf file of agenda is easier to see on Calendar than a Zoho file and she recommended this format. She also brought up a book she thought important “Native Plants for Native Birds” by Joel Baines – a member of Cayuga Bird Club. It is out of print. She recommended CAC contribute it to Danby Library. Fewtrell has a copy that she said she would donate. (Approval Minutes MOTION for March 8, 2022 minutes was inadvertently skipped) REPORTS AND UPDATES from Agenda. 1. Status of local implementation of varying easement time lines and tax abatements subcommittee – Joel Gagnon and Clare Fewtrell There will be a meeting of the CAC tax abatement subcommittee (Clare Fewtrell, Jonathan Zisk and Joel Gagnon, plus Town Planner David West) this coming Thursday morning at 9am. To re-summarize, this year NYS passed, at Danby’s request, the following property tax exemptions for easements of various lengths and abatements, as follows: Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 2 of 6 Easement Tax abatement Not less than 15 years but less than 30 years 50% Not less than 30 years but less than 50 years 75% Not less than 50 years but less than 75 years 85% Perpetual 90% The tax abatement subcommittee have suggested reducing this to the following: • 29-year easement 50% • 49-year easement 75% • Perpetual 90% Currently Danby only offers permanent Conservation Easements. The discussion below is to pin down what CAC members think of the subcommittee’s suggested limits on temporary easements. Opinions of CAC members are: • Corbit and Hunter that they were OK with that • Keokosky and Woodsen said they liked a 15 year easement (to allow older land holders – and their children - to the get comfortable with the idea – Keokosky suggested in her email that the abatement should be even less that 50% for suggested for 15 year easement) • Lagaly doesn’t see value in short term easement. She sees it as a way to get out of taxes. Needs to know more of the rationale. (Gagnon filled her in on the problems of parents with children objecting to them taking easements), She said she thought the whole point is tying the hands of future generations. • Schaufler agreed with Lagaly and Zisk – only permanent easements make sense. • Keokosky noted that it might be a good idea to talk to some of the land owners that CAC is interested in making easements with and see how they felt about it. • Gagnon thought the issue should be brought to the town board and see what they thought about it • Keokosky responded that that might allow the town board to dictate the decision - that Gagnon should emphasize this is just Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 3 of 6 part of doing preliminary research until West talks to Orchard Park. • Zisk agreed that additional data should be accumulated and presented, such as the opinion offered by Jay Franklin (Director of Tompkins County Tax Assessor’s Office) • Fewtrell agreed that additional research makes sense before going to school board, as well as town board. • Conclusion: CAC wants to go to town board, but not until they have more information to analyze. Hunter feared CAC displays bias in its opinion rather than facts. To recap why we are considering a 15 year conservation easement, Gagnon explained that there is considerable reluctance among many people CAC has approached about easements and the main reason is that they don’t want to tie the hands of their children. Gagnon mentioned reaching out to School Districts to see if they would be willing to accommodate tax abatements similar to those above. Zisk is going to reach out to teachers in the school districts to gauge their interest in this as an environmental approach. Orchard Park has had 15 year easements for 16 years and David West will be checking with them to find out how well these have worked. 2. Status of annual easement monitoring and placing easement signs – Jonathan Zisk, Don Schaufler & Margaret Corbit There was a discussion of the annual easement inspections last year and writing up the reports. Zisk will spend more time on this now the weather is better. Schaufler needs a template of the monitoring report to fill in in Word for Google Docs. Palmer easement still needs inspection. Zisk promised oversight of fellow monitoring volunteers. 3. Updates on Proposed Easements: Ravencache/Stein (Brittany Lagaly), Woodsen (Jonathan Zisk), Hoffman/Karlsen (Joel Gagnon), any others? Lagaly is still working on active use zone problems. Gagnon has proposed changes to the active use zone in the easement template to remove limitations on building size and number as long as dwelling units are not added. Lagaly needs to double her house size and add bedrooms to house her new twins. Fewtrell asked Gagnon to email both Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 4 of 6 copies of template - before and after changes -so the CAC could discuss it at its next meeting. Zisk has sent out a copy of a rough draft of the Wooden Easement via email. (For instance, metes and bounds were from surveyor’s map. Gagnon said it must match the deed.) Zisk was still working on getting info together in right places. (i.e. baseline, schedules, etc.) Hoffman/Karlsen easement is still in Planner’s arena. 4. Report on March 10th Timothy Woods talk on a “A Paradigm Shift to Bio-Sequestration & Regenerative Agriculture” - Elizabeth Keokosky Keokosky gave some feedback on Woods talk. There were mixed reviews but for the most part favorable. 5. Report of February 10th Native Plants talk – Brittany Lagaly In the initial “Privilege of the Floor”, Roaring said that most of plants recommended were perennial flowers in Lagaly’s talk. Since she estimated that we could have 71,000 dead ash trees in Danby State Forest and Norway spruce and ash were the source of a lot of dead and dying trees, she recommended a second talk on native trees to replace those. Lagaly said that she was going to move to a regular Zoom format from a webinar, since it allowed more feedback. Gagnon said he thought the presentation was excellent. The suggestion that there be more on trees was more for an additional presentation than a criticism. Keokosky asked about the Facebook group Lagaly had proposed to share purchase of bare root native plants. Others also had difficulty finding it so Lagaly was going to send the link. Fewtrell asked her to write an article for Danby News. This led to a discussion of where to send monthly CAC update. Initially it was suggested to send article to both, this led to some opposing views and a vote. MOTION for Sending CAC update only to official town publication Gagnon moved to approve Zisk seconded Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 5 of 6 Majority voted to go with motion, except for Woodsen and Fewtrell, who abstained 6. Status of Timber Harvesting law – Jonathan Zisk & Don Schaufler This writing was at a standstill because Schaufler continues to have problems with Zoho, the new mail and web operating system. Zisk thinks it is user operating system sensitive – too many bells and whistles. Some other people in group are also having trouble with Zoho. Fewtrell later gave her other email address since she was still having problems receiving mail with Zoho. 7. Update on Proposed Solar Panel Farm – Joel Gagnon Gagnon reported on status of the Wetland Report prepared for the CAC by Zisk & Corbit (this was in last month’s CAC minutes appendix). The Town Board was happy with it and, David West, Planner, said it could be used as a wetland guide for the Planning Board during site plan approval for solar farms. Thus the Town Board is sending it on to Planning Board, which Zisk and Corbit said had been their intent. Gagnon said the final combined wetland delineation report from the two site consultants was supposed to happen this coming week. That would allow the Town Board to go on with their SEQR review (New York State’s Environmental Quality Review Act), and, if successful, then the Town Board can approve the site for a solar farm. Afterward, it would go on to Planning Board. Unfortunately, because of the delays, the option on the property will expire and has to be renewed, and other expenses are occurring. But he is optimistic. Corbit reported that she felt the report was something that she enjoyed doing , that she was good at it, and saw it as a good contribution. Gagnon agreed as did the Town Board, saying that this was the kind of expertise the CAC needed to give. The meeting ended with more discussion of easements. Hunter was concerned about her part in the new conservation easement being started for Ruth Sherman and her husband Jim Lassoie. Lagaly had been encouraged, using her experience with her own easement, to work on this, as the lead person, mentoring Hunter. Gagnon promised to help Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 6 of 6 them both if they needed it. Zisk and Fewtrell said they would walk the property with them. There was no Executive session Next Meeting via Zoom is on May 10th 2022 at 7p.m. Adjournment at 8:56pm _____________________________________________ Submitted by Elizabeth Keokosky (Secretary)