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Home My WebLink AboutCAC Minutes - 10_24_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, October 24, 2023 (rescheduled from October 10, 2023) Danby, New York Council Members present: Margaret Corbit (Zoom), Jonathan Zisk (Meeting chair), Joel Gagnon, Don Schaufler, Renee Owens, Katharine Hunter Council Members absent: Brittany Stein (formerly Lagaly) Others present: Elizabeth Keokosky (Secretary) Meeting was officially called to order at 7:22 Deletions or Additions to Agenda: None Privilege of the Floor (PoF): Keokosky (secretary) noted that September’s minutes had no audio recording (since type of video recording used could not separate out audio file) and the written minutes were just from memory and notes. She was told the October recording currently being made for today’s meeting would not have this problem, and an MP4 file was being created. She also asked if the Danby policy is still to save recordings, since she is keeping them on a thumb drive. Gagnon told her Janice, the town clerk, was in charge of this. As far as he knew, Danby was keeping videos for 6 months, and audio recordings indefinitely. Approval of September 11, 2023 minutes (including some last-minute edits and an afternote, not yet added to current draft) Gagnon moved to approve  Owens seconded  Approved by all present, except for Corbit (logged in on Zoom so ineligible to vote). REPORTS AND UPDATES (from the agenda) Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 2 of 4 1. Status of DEC meeting on Timber Harvesting law – Schaufler group This subgroup has not yet been convened. Corbit asked what was the next step when the changes from DEC recommendations where incorporated. Gagnon said it would then come back to the whole CAC group. And, when approved, go on to the Town Board. Owens, a new member, asked for a summary of the history of the Timber Harvesting Bill so far. Zisk told her of the back and forth over the last three years and the effort to affect only the minimum number of people, especially to bypass the casual firewood user, by employing a trigger that would select only a major logging event that did not include an experienced forester. Part of the reported public discontent was that regulations were perceived as being put into place because of one bad actor on Deputron Hollow Rd. He happened to be the catalyst, but this view neglected to take into account other instances of clear cutting and logging that in the past had affected, either or all, of adjacent roads, streams, and neighbors. (Afternote: Also, CAC had been advised that the absence of any sort of regulation gave the town no recourse to correct future bad situations, should they arise) Zisk and Gagnon noted that two main goals were: • To avoid logging damage to town roads and roadside ditches, which was focus of Danby Highway Department concern (Afternote: initial complication was that Agriculture was exempted from current town road usage rules and, though it has since been discovered that this is not true of the NY DEC, which kept silviculture separate, but still true of NY Ag and Markets). • To avoid degradation of the land, especially slopes and streams. 2. Update on Conservation Easement Tax Abatement; Criteria for acceptance – Gagnon, Zisk Gagnon reported a new problem: town lawyer said existing easements will be unable to get tax abatement, according to the way temporary easement and tax abatement law is written. Only new easements are eligible. The group agreed this was unfair and bad politics. Conversation continued on Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 3 of 4 ways to find a work-around on these unfortunate limitations. Few towns are taking advantage of these temporary easement options, providing few precedents. One conclusion was that the burden was on CAC to get the conservation message out, over and over again, but members are still conflicted on whether to emphasize the environmental or economic motivation. 3. Easement monitoring: Recruiting easement monitors and developing a support packet - Corbit and Zisk Corbit reported that she felt the annual monitoring situation was at a crisis point. She described an easement packet that she thought of sending to each easement holder for a self-monitoring option involving owner - asking for self-reporting on what changes, if any, he/she had made on their land. . Gagnon suggested using new technology (such as good aerial photography in Google Maps) to augment either in-person or owner-reported monitoring. Owens volunteered to help. Corbit will write up monitoring packet and asked Owens and Hunter to edit heavily. Gagnon noted that what we are missing is someone cracking the whip. A coordinator is needed to make sure everything was happening and being recorded in finished monitor reports. Gagnon asked Corbit to write up her ideas and give everyone a copy. Secretary Keokosky suggested contacting Anne Klingensmith and another person who had volunteered to help with monitoring. 4. Updates on on-going easements – from leads on each easement Andi Goldsmith – Zisk – nothing to report Ben Altman- Zisk – nothing to report Brian Caldwell and wife, Twinkle Griggs – Corbit reported she and Gagnon had walked the property with Caldwell. She said it is an important property, both as a preserve - adjacent to Lindsey-Parsons Preserve and Town of Danby Conservation Advisory Council Minutes Page 4 of 4 Thatcher's Pinnacles - and as agriculture – approximately 25 acres of nut and fruit trees. She has started creating a file for the baseline easement and had checked on a local invasive – Japanese stiltgrass. Butje – Gagnon reported they are hesitating until property is divided 5. Report on status of checklist to trigger CAC involvement in town planning/land use discussions – Zisk Zisk has a rough draft of a checklist which he will send again. Corbit made comments and he will incorporate these before sending. 6. Status of Newsletter/webpage interactions – Owens, Corbit Corbit reported on status of new website technology. Zoho has been renewed for a year but applications are being replaced by Microsoft Office 365 with Outlook from a company running Exchange on a server through the cloud. There will be a workstation setup at townhall to work and practice on it. Remaining time 7. Continuing session on revisioning of CAC mission and message for CAC web page. Owens said that the newsletter was CAC’s number one communications tool, but was told that the current timeline for technical changes depends on Nov 7 election results. There is also work needing to be done on improving basic level of organization of town structure, committees, departments, etc. Also needed is paid webhost. There was no Executive session Next Meeting is on November 14, 2023 at 7p.m. Adjournment at 9:05 pm _____________________________________________ Submitted by Elizabeth Keokosky (Secretary)