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Home My WebLink AboutCAC Minutes - 08_08_23Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 1 of 4 Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council (CAC) Minutes of In-person Meeting in Town Hall and via videoconferencing Tuesday, August 8, 2023 Danby, New York Council Members present: Margaret Corbit (Meeting Chair), Jonathan Zisk, Joel Gagnon, Don Schaufler, Brittany Stein (formerly Lagaly) Council Members absent: Renee Owens, Katharine Hunter Others present: Elizabeth Keokosky (Secretary), Ronda Roaring (Danby resident – via Zoom), Anne Klingensmith (Danby resident perhaps interested in becoming a CAC member) Meeting was officially called to order at 7:10 Deletions or Additions to Agenda: None Privilege of the Floor (PoF): Roaring suggested, as a continuing attempt to raise interest in what CAC is doing, that CAC suggests to residents (a contest?) to give names to as yet unnamed creeks, hills, and other important features, or to highlight the history of road names. Klingensmith related that she had recently removed several bushels of the invasive aquatic plant, Trapa natans, from Jennings Pond with her friend, Anne Stork. Jennings Pond, off Bald Hill Rd., is part of Buttermilk Falls State Park. There was some discussion about talking to James Brophy, Park Manager (Regional Office and Park Police: 607-387-7041) about needing a permit, or just informing him in order to coordinate cleanup. Klingensmith is going to talk to him. Approval of July 11, 2023 minutes Joel moved to approve  Schaufler seconded  Approval unanimous for those present. Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 2 of 4 REPORTS AND UPDATES (from the agenda) 1. Update on new Danby planner search – Gagnon Gagnon reported that a new planner had been hired, Greg Hutnik, who lives in Enfield. David West, our departing Planner, is coordinating with Greg during the transition until Greg can begin full-time. Both, David West and Greg Hutnik will be at a reception to thank West and welcome Hutnik at the Danby Town Hall on August 16 at 5pm. Bringing some horsd’ouvrers type food was suggested. (I have something about Lune or Loon Hollow in Appalacin NY – not sure what it refers to). Anyone remember? 2. Update on Conservation Easement Tax Abatement; Criteria for acceptance – Gagnon, Zisk To facilitate the Danby Town Board approved Conservation Easement Tax abatement changes, Gagnon will be talking to Jay Franklin of the Tompkins County Assessment Office to understand what his office needs to help make this happen. Criteria for the acceptance of Temporary Easement applications continued to be discussed. Corbit is going to try to calculate the costs of the annual monitoring of conservation easements if the town hires a monitoring manager to organize volunteers, and what size, if any, fee could cover this. Also, she has concerns about insurance and property owner liability. Brian Caldwell in West Danby was the first land owner expressing interest in an easement after tax abatements was announced. He has around 90 acres. 3. Status of DEC meeting on Timber Harvesting law – Schaufler Schaufler arranged having a meeting with Christopher Sprague, a DEC Forester who said that the DEC people were interested in coming to Danby and talking to us. 3 dates were suggested by CAC members to avoid conflict with other meetings: 7pm on August 21, 23, or 30th. It was also suggested to invite the Highway Department (and later – perhaps new planner). Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 3 of 4 4. Easement monitoring: Recruiting easement monitors and developing a support packet - Corbit and Zisk Discussion on how to support monitors – detailed documentation and other options. Concern about ticks has become part of the issue of monitoring. This was considered a more serious problem by some than others. Klingensmith volunteered to be a monitor. 5. Updates on on-going easements – from leads on each easement Hoffman and Stein: Gagnon reported that the filing with the County Clerk was held up because of an accompanying form that needed to be filled out, but that was now complete and the filing is imminent if it hasn’t already happened. Mary Woodsen: Zisk working with Woodsen to get past pile of shards found on property and worries of liability. Gagnon is to check with insurers about coverage for volunteers and property owners. Andi Gladstone: Zisk reported that she is now happy with zones. But she is concerned about maintaining a meadow in an environmental protection zone. The answer is that the easement can allow mowing but not require it of future owners. She is also using agriculture areas as an animal refuge, not really agriculture, but Zisk was assured by Gagnon this is not a problem. Ben Altman: No progress yet. Butje: Still need to find where Planner West left off. Gagnon will talk to him at reception. Sherman: Brittany still trying to reach Sherman. Zisk and Klingensmith volunteered to go with her for the initial site visit. 6. Report on status of checklist to trigger CAC involvement in town planning/land use discussions – Zisk Zisk working on this. Some other projects are holding it up. 7. Status of NYSACC conference follow-ups – Keokosky Keokosky reported that one of Cait Darfler’s (organizer) concerns was finding sponsors but group could think of none offhand, though Corbit said she would donate some money herself. Question was asked what money was needed for? Also some expressed disappointment that talks were all Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 4 of 4 online and speakers would not be available for face-to-face followup. Participation by other CAC groups around the state seemed limited. 8. Status of Bear presentation/webpage changes - Owens This discussion was skipped since Owens was absent If remaining time allows 9. Group discussion continued on Enabling Legislation for CAC and goals of Danby Comprehensive Plan. Continuing session on revisioning of CAC mission and message for CAC web page. Brittany Stein brought up an idea to get around the limited pagespace available in Danby Newsletter. She would bring up topics like “the plant of the month” (with pictures, etc) for the newsletter and for the SouthHill/Danby Facebook page and link to an article on the Danby website CAC page. Discussion focused on possible ways to utilize the website and how to get people to look up information there. Discussion continued on new web platform and new tech people hired to manage it. There was no Executive session Next Meeting is on September 12, 2023 at 7p.m. Adjournment at 8:43 pm _____________________________________________ Submitted by Elizabeth Keokosky (Secretary)