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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-P&DB-1995-04-04 C Approved 7/25/95 Planning and Development Board MINUTES Special Meeting April 4, 1995 Present: David Kay, Chair;Sarah Adams,Susan Blumenthal, Carolyn Peterson,John Schroeder. Staff: Herman Sieverding. 1. Review of Clough Harbour's Report on Substantive Comments Received on the DEIS Sieverding presented an overview of the structure and content of Clough Harbour's report on the substantive comments on the DEIS. The Board questioned Clough Harbour's organization of the substantive comments and why certain comments were left out and why others were included. It wasn't clear to the Board whether certain comments were not included because they were not substantive or not included because they were repetitive relative to other remarks that were made earlier. Staff will get this clarification for the Board from Clough Harbour. The Board also discussed whether there was a need for a supplemental DEIS,particularly to analyze Wal-Mart's impact on tourism and to conduct a social impact analysis. After some discussion,the Board concluded that a supplemental DEIS was not necessary but that these items should be addressed in the FEIS. The Board also reviewed a statement prepared by John Humphries regarding the hydrologic analysis requesting that additional analysis be done. The Board decided to include these statements as part of the substantive criticism of the DEIS that needs to be addressed in the FEIS. Schroeder and Adams distributed a compendium of substantive comments on the DEIS intended to supplement the similar Clough Harbour compendium. Schroeder and Adams said they believed there two compendiums together included all substantive comments that must be addressed in the FEIS. After some discussion by the Board relative to which comments ought to form the basis for an FEIS,the Board agreed with staff recommendation that the following documents mentioned most of the important substantive issues raised: written comments prepared by the Planning Board; New York State Department of Transportation; Fingerlakes State Parks; John Humphries; David Kay; Brad Dorman; Tompkins County EMC; Tompkins County Planning Department; Tompkins County Solid Waste Division; Dan Cole,the City Traffic Systems Engineer; the CAC; Clough Harbour; Brantley and Lengermann; Tompkins County Soil and Water District; Cynthia Sherman; Dwight Mengel (Clough Harbour labels this"Ithaca Tompkins Transit Center"; Town of Ithaca; and Tim Allen. These documents will be the basis for developing an initial list of technical issues requiring further analysis. Staff proposed to the Planning Board that Clough Harbour be retained to work with staff in preparing the FEIS. Staff explained that ECDC has proposed that Sear Brown provide certain technical information required for the FEIS. Clough Harbour's proposed fee for this assignment is $9,300.00,which includes $6,200.00 for actually Minutes of April 4, 1995 Meeting 2 preparing the FEIS,under the assumption that the information from Sear Brown will be provided, and$3,100.00 for preparing the Findings Statement. Sarah Adams moved that the Board authorize the contract with Clough Harbour to prepare the FEIS and the Findings Statement for review,possible modification and final approval by the Planning Board. The motion was seconded by Denise Rusoff and passed 4-1.