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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCAC Minutes - 04_11_23Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 1 of 10 Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council (CAC) Minutes of In-person Meeting in Town Hall Tuesday, April 11, 2023 Danby, New York Council Members present: Margaret Corbit (Acting Chair), Jonathan Zisk (via Zoom), Joel Gagnon, Katharine Hunter, Don Schaufler, Renee Owens Council Members absent: Brittany Lagaly Others present: Elizabeth Keokosky (Secretary – via Zoom), Ronda Roaring (Danby resident – via Zoom) Meeting was officially called to order at 7:11 Privilege of the Floor (PoF): Roaring elected to talk about the conservation easement rebate (item 2) when it was brought up in Reports below. Deletions or Additions to Agenda: none Approval of March 14, 2022 minutes Gagnon moved to approve
 Hunter seconded
 Approval unanimous. REPORTS AND UPDATES (from the agenda) 1. New CAC Member Search - Gagnon, Zisk Nothing new to be reported 2. Easement Tax Abatement Sub-committee report and discussion of Clare Fewtrell’s summary of the issues – Margaret Corbit Corbit explained that in their meeting several weeks ago, the subcommittee had voted unanimously to approve (with reservations officially voiced by Zisk, who felt temporary easements defeated the purpose, but who voted with the others anyway) that the temporary easement guidelines are: Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 2 of 10 29 year temporary easement receives a 50% tax abatement 49 year temporary easement receives a 75% tax abatement Permanent easement receives a 90% tax abatement Tax abatement reduction applies to Danby’s annual property tax (excluding buildings – i.e. the column for land in the assessment report). (This was as outlined in Clare Fewtrell’s email from March 12, 2022 – see March 2023 CAC minutes, Appendix). Less than 29 year easements were opted out. Discussion followed on pros and cons of shorter easements. Shorter easement do offer more flexibility that can lead into more conversations with relatives that might be affected, but they also might be misused. Roaring brought up the possibility of sending a short email to other town lawyers who had worked with temporary easements (4 other towns in NY) and find out what options they had chosen. She thought Danby’s lawyer, Guy Krogh, had discouraged certain alternatives and she felt CAC should look beyond him. However, Gagnon explained to her that Guy had neither limited Danby options for time nor abatement percentages. The question was raised whether temporary easements might increase the number of Danby easements beyond CAC’s capacity to handle them. This initiated the discussion, with Roaring, of the possibility of training volunteers to do monitoring. She noted it would be a good opportunity to get people involved who were not interested in attending meetings. Perhaps to even hire someone later to manage volunteers. It was reiterated that the tax abatement was likely to be limited to town tax at this point because attempts to include the Ithaca City School District were moving ahead at a glacial pace and Jay Franklin’s (County Assessor) opposition meant that getting Tompkins County to buy in would not be quick or easy either, but the possibility still exists for them to opt in later. Gagnon moved to approve motion to recommend proposing these new guidelines to Town Board to enable these permanent and temporary easements and related tax abatements Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 3 of 10 Corbit seconded Approval was unanimous Corbet will find original proposed tax abatement law. 3. Status of town board approval of Timber Harvesting Ordinance – Gagnon Email from David West passed on DEC comments. They indicated reservations about some features of the proposed local law. (See Appendix A for copy of DEC email) Schaufler mentioned that they had followed rules in “A Municipal Official’s Guide to Forestry in NY State.” (see https://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/lands_forests_pdf/guidetoforestry.pdf ) He said that there has been a changing of the guard at Forestry and the people that they had worked with previously were no longer there. The law had been sent in when it was worked on earlier, and there had been some warning comments but no specifics. The new email from David West was suggesting a review, but was still not saying no. It was noted that State protection of forest activities sticks to harvesting, as opposed to the kind of regulation proposed in the law. Gagnon commented that this Danby ruling is a way pared-down version of what the town of Ithaca passed years ago. End result was to propose that Planner David West and CAC member Don Schaufler request a conference between the CAC and an appropriate person in DEC. Schaufler feels that we have been responsive to DEC and their concerns have been taken into account. Schaufler is a member of the Society of American Foresters (SAF). Question was asked if DEC was only concerned with impacts of a Harvest Ordinance on State Lands and the answer was unclear. The DEC jurisdiction is just at the State Forest Level, not on private property or the Danby roads that go through the State Forest, but we need to find out what their concerns are. Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 4 of 10 Gagnon noted that Zoning is not subject to referendum, in fact it can’t go to referendum – NY State is very top down and won’t allow it. Local government gets its authority from the state. 4. Sub-committee on monitoring – Hunter and Zisk (others?) Weather now conducive to monitoring and discussion on how to make it happen. Schaufler getting more involved. 5. Ben Altman maple syruping event update. – Hunter Hunter said she found the event to be education by immersion. Henhawk was there and led ceremonies. Many people there and the traditional way of sharing was used.. Many people spoke in both the native language and in English. Indians use maple syrup as medicine and slashed the trees, but now use metal spigots and buckets. Two black iron cauldrons were used for boiling. –Some of the resultant syrup/sugar was to be given some to other nations in Canada. It was video recorded since Altman is also making an art installation. Altman has bought the land used recently. It is between Comfort Rd and Bald Hill Rd, uphill of where Wilber Lumber used to be, and the woods are off of Comfort Rd. 6. Any important updates on Easements that need input from other members. Altman easement - Zisk and Hunter and Keokosky walked the land on March 30th and Zisk and Hunter spoke with Altman’s wife, Cynthia Bowman, who is a lawyer, about the legalities of easements. They may use Bald Hill section of property for a long house Woodsen easement – Zisk hammering out details with Henry and has gotten GIS program working Andi Gladstone – Zisk is still working on it. 7. Complete the review and approval of the Hoffman/Karlsen easement Hoffman/Karlson easement – Gagnon reported some discussion about the rationale for an environmental protection zone since it is not exceptionality that suggests it, but the vulnerability of a steep slope to degradation. Corbit responded that the easement template may need another change - this time defining what conditions justify an environmental protection zone, and she volunteered to look into it. Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 5 of 10 Discussion followed on “exceptional” and “natural” values and “vulnerability”. Zisk said that vulnerability is the basis of all protection but Corbit said that it is not specifically stated as a justification for an environmental protection zone. The conclusion was that justification for an EPZ needs to be clarified. Zisk and Corbit will review it. Corbit noted that this was a red flag to note in each easement the reason why a more restrictive zone was chosen. Gagnon noted that if the purpose for easement protection is eliminated than easement can be nullified by a court. But main reason for Danby Easements is to protect open space, which will never be eliminated. Annual monitoring checks that values being protected are not being compromised. Gagnon moved to send Hoffman/Karlson Easement to Town Board for acceptance Corbit seconded Approval was unanimous 8. Report on NYSACC meeting and follow-ups – Keokosky Cait Darfler of the EMC led the meeting. Topic chosen was “What are we doing to respond to a changing climate.” The meeting included more than Conservation Advisory Councils or Boards of Tompkins County since colleges, university, and municipal representatives were also there. Darfler mentioned categories they were trying to organize. Early April and May is the main time of work to line up content. Registration opens June 21st. It is unclear if there is to be a fee. Actual events start Sept 20th and go for 3 days. They want a representative leading each group. They have Zisk listed as our representative. Hunter volunteered to see if any youth involved in town- sponsored activities might be interested. 9. Preliminary discussion of impact of the new flood map. The new flood map is very hard to navigate since it is hard to identify roads. Some residences do fall into this new flood Zone. Gagnon says many are on 96B between Gunderman and Miller on west side of road. You have to buy flood insurance if your mortgage is federally insured, and it’s expensive. West Danby doesn’t seem to be have any houses in the mapped flood zones. Talk about the enabling resolution creating the CAC – Corbit, Gagnon Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 6 of 10 Corbit said that she went through the enabling resolution with some questions about goals that it mentioned. Gagnon said that goals were in Comprehensive Plan. Gagnon said that voluntary conservation easements were to complement the regulatory nature of zoning laws. So CAC was created to enable Comp. Plan vision. Owens, a new member, said those goals should be defined. She noted that she would like to have identified the obstacles CAC has had so far. Gagnon said that fracking defense drove the main updating of comprehensive plan since its writing. So a conclusion of the group was they need to read, or re-read, and, perhaps suggest updates to the comprehensive plan. The recent zoning revision was to update zoning to be consistent with the already ten year old comprehensive plan. Secretary (Keokosky) will send the management plans for town properties to Corbit. Gagnon related that the end point of management plans several years ago was to leave these properties alone, which the Town Board voted to accept. Owens noted that she wants clarity for the web page audience. One of the goals should be to attract people to help us or apply for an easement. She wants to use the website as a marketing tool. Zisk and Owens are reviewing PowerPoints they have that could be used to help with that. There was no Executive session Next Meeting is on May 9, 2023 at 7p.m. Adjournment at 9:15pm _____________________________________________ Submitted by Elizabeth Keokosky (Secretary) Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 7 of 10 Appendix A DEC Letter to Town of Danby Planner concerning Timber Harvest Law copied below: I've received some informal comments back from Christopher Sprague at the DEC on the Timber Harvest Law Draft. Before sending this, Mr. Sprague gave me a call to provide some context which I will pass along to you. 1. He was glad to know that the Town wants to do more to educate landowners on best practices for forestry and acknowledged that despite their best efforts, the DEC and State Forest Staff aren't able to do as much educating and public awareness work as they would like. 2. He noted that they have a municipal official's guide to forestry that he thought would be helpful to the Town (it's attached). 3. He noted that there is a state protection of forestry activities and that his office was required to do a formal review before a final version is adopted by the Town Board and that his office serves a similar role to Ag and Markets in protecting landowners from unfair regulations by municipalities. This review is not that review and if the Town were to proceed with this draft he believed that it would be likely that there would be additional comments and that at least some parts would be considered overly restrictive. 4. He noted that the DEC doesn't particularly recommend that Towns adopt this sort of law, that they're often duplicative and create confusion or overstep authority. That said, he would be happy to have a staff person attend a meeting with the board and/or the CAC to clarify any DEC positions, additional resources available, processes, etc. All the best, David West, LEED AP Town Planner Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 8 of 10 Appendix A Section 1: Purpose and Authority from Enabling Legislation for Conservation Advisory Council As provided for in section 239-x, it shall advise in the development, management and protection of the Town's natural resources. The Council shall direct itself toward accomplishing the following tasks: (a) conducting researches into the land area of the Town of Danby; (b) seeking to coordinate the activities of unofficial bodies organized for similar purposes and to cooperate with other official municipal bodies active in the area of community planning for the Town; (c) advertising, preparing, printing, and distributing publications (Including, but not limited to, books, maps, charts, plans, pamphlets, and digital materials) that it deems necessary for the accomplishment of its goals; (d) keeping a required inventory and map, as defined in section 239-y of the General Municipal Law, of all open areas within the Town with the plan of obtaining information pertinent to proper utilization of such open lands, including lands owned by the state, any other municipality within the state, or by the Town of Danby itself; (e) keeping a required inventory and map of all open marsh lands, swamps, and all other wet lands in a like manner, and recommending, when it deems it appropriate, to the Town Board a program for ecologically suitable utilization of all such areas; (f) keeping required accurate records of its meetings and actions and filing a required annual report with the Town Board on or before the thirty-first day of December of each and every year [Once approved by the Town Board, a copy is required to be forwarded to the NY State Commissioner of Environmental Conservation]. Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 9 of 10 In addition, authorization is explicitly given by this resolution for the Council to: (g) focus its preservation efforts on land it deems to be at risk of development located in areas zoned for low density or conservation; (h) develop a list of scenic or historic sites to protect as opportunities allow; (i) lobby on issues relating to the council's duties and goals; (j) actively support open space protection by facilitating the transfer of land from sellers to buyers sympathetic to open space preservation; (k) accept by gift, grant, bequest, or otherwise, money or other personal property in the name of the Town of Danby, for its use in furtherance of the objectives of this resolution; (l) propose, subject to Town Board action, the acceptance by gift, conditional or unconditional, grant, devise or otherwise, the fee or any lesser interest, development right, easement, covenant or other contractual right, including conveyance with limitations or reversions, land, in furtherance of natural resource protection within the Town of Danby; (m) recommend acquisition by the Town Board by purchase in fee or any lesser interest, development right, easement, covenant or other contractual right, including conveyance with limitations or reversions, by negotiation or condemnation, such real or personal property as may be needed in furtherance of the purposes of the Council; (n) pursuant to (l) and (m), administer a conservation easement program on behalf of the Town, to include the crafting, acquisition, and monitoring of easements, both purchased and donated, with the acquisition being subject to Town Board approval of each proposed Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 10 of 10 easement. (o) develop and implement management plans for Town-owned conservation land. At a minimum, the plan for each parcel or group of contiguous parcels shall identify and set forth the features of the property to be preserved and/or enhanced, the features that can be compatibly exploited for public benefit, and the actions needed or desired in order to do so, complete with a schedule of steps to be taken. For conservation properties owned by the Town at the time of creation of the Council, the Council shall create management plans within three years. For newly-acquired properties, the Council shall create management plans within two years. For each management unit, an opportunity for public comment shall precede adoption of the unit’s management plan by the Town Board, with adoption required before implementation by the CAC. The management plans for every management unit, once adopted by the Town Board, shall be reviewed by the council every five years. Progress, via the specified implementation steps, toward the adopted goals, shall be carefully scrutinized. The public, particularly the neighbors of the management unit, should be encouraged to participate in the review. The Council may propose changes to a management plan, subsequent to its periodic review; these changes must be approved by the Town Board before the Council can implement them. (p) for land acquired by the Town for conservation not protected by conservation easement at the time of acquisition, prepare an easement for Town Board review and possible adoption.