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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-BPW-2007-10-03BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS PROCEEDINGS CITY OF ITHACA, NEW YORK Committee of the Whole Meeting 4:55 p.m. October 3, 2007 PRESENT: Mayor Peterson Commissioners (4) - Dotson, Schlather, Tripp, Wykstra OTHERS PRESENT: City Attorney - Hoffman Deputy City Controller - Andrew Superintendent of Public Works - Gray Assistant Superintendent of Streets and Facilities - Ferrel Assistant Superintendent of Water and Sewer – Whitney Common Council Liaison – Coles DAC Liaison – Roberts Superintendent of Public Work Intern –Myers Deputy Director of Planning and Development – Cornish EXCUSED: Commissioners – Chapman, Jenkins Water Plant Scoping Document – Power to Act Rick Gell and Steve Eckler from O’Brien and Gere were present at the meeting, along with Deputy Director of Planning & Development Cornish to participate in the discussion and finalize the scoping document. Gell explained to the Board that the revised document took care of all flagged items and feedback from the last discussion. Commission Schlather expressed concern that certain areas of the document lacked language uniformity and proposed changes to the document that would eliminate inconsistencies. He further expressed concern over the location of legal protection of the watershed within the scoping document. Discussion occurred regarding the inclusion of legal protection, control and governance, carbon foot print, and economics of the decisions, whether the items should be included within the scoping document and if so where they should be listed. Cornish explained that there are many important factors that will go into the final decision but it is not appropriate to include all of them in the scooping document. She further stated that any items included in the scoping document would need to be fully addressed and some of the items mentioned would be very time consuming to fully address and that should be a consideration in what to include. The Board agreed that there were many important factors for consideration but not all of them needed to be a part of the scoping process. Staff will bring a resolution to the Board at a later date, which will include those items that have been determined important to the final decision about the water plant but were left out of the scooping document. Resolution By Commissioner Schlather; Seconded by Commissioner Wykstra WHEREAS, on April 11, 2007, the Board of Public Works of the City of Ithaca, acting as Lead Agency, determined that the proposal to upgrade or replace the current water supply of the City of Ithaca may have a significant impact on the environment, and that a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (“DEIS”) must be prepared for that action, and WHEREAS, on May 25, 2007, the Board of Public Works approved a draft Scoping Document for the DEIS (which draft was distributed, as revised, on June 22, 2007), and WHEREAS, on July 26, 2007, the Board of Public Works held both an Agency Scoping Session and a Public Scoping Session to help it identify issues to be analyzed in the DEIS for the proposed action, and WHEREAS, the Board of Public Works duly advertised a 45-day public comment period on the draft Scoping Document, which period closed on August 8, 2007, and WHEREAS, the Board of Public Works, with the assistance of its consultant, O’Brien & Gere Engineers, Inc., classified and analyzed each of the substantive public comments (approximately 28) received regarding the draft Scoping Document, and incorporated the suggestions contained therein into the final Scoping Document, whenever warranted; now, therefore be it RESOLVED, That after considering both the draft Scoping Document (for the DEIS for the proposal to upgrade or replace the current water supply of the City of Ithaca) and the comments made thereon during the public comment period, the Board of Public Works hereby adopts, as the final Scoping Document for the DEIS, the version dated September 28, 2007, as revised by action of this Board on October 3, 2007. Carried Unanimously Natural Areas Commission – Proposed Guidelines for Work in the Natural Areas Natural Areas Commissioners Wendy Wallitt, Zev Ross, Ron Herring and John Meigs were present at the meeting to participate in the discussion on the proposed guidelines for work in the Natural Areas. Wallit stated that the Natural Areas Commission (NAC) developed the proposed guidelines and permitting process as directed by the City Code. She further stated that the purpose of the proposed guidelines is to minimize the damage to the Natural Areas, provide the City and the Commission with knowledge of what work is being done and by whom. She stated that the NAC believes the proposed process to be helpful. Supt. Gray stated that while he believed that the NAC and the Department of Public Works have common goals the proposed process for approval of work in the Natural Areas is unreasonable and would place undue hardship on the City crews in their efforts to maintain the City. The Board agreed that a compromise would need to be reached so that the guidelines would meet the goals of the NAC and the DPW before approval. Disability Advisory Council Liaison Roberts left the meeting at 6:40. Inlet Island Parking Alderperson Coles reported that she has received many complaints about the parking situation on Inlet Island and that she would appreciate having more information to give to complainants. Supt. Gray stated that the Board’s input was needed on the parking issue and suggested that the Board think of the current solution as a short term one until a better solution can be devised. The Board agreed that signage should be put up immediately limiting a majority of the parking spaces to 2 hour and some to 24 hour. The Board further agreed that they wanted to go to metered parking or pay station parking when possible as a more permanent solution. ADJOURNMENT On a motion the meeting adjourned at 6:50 p.m. Jessica Myers Carolyn K. Peterson Superintendent of Public Works Intern Mayor