HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-PRNR-2019-08-12
PARKS, RECREATION AND
NATURAL RESOURCES
COMMISSION MINUTES
PRESENT:
Commissioners – (7) Roth (Chair), George, Hoffman, Leventry, Moeller, Sanders-Jauquet, Shelley
OTHERS PRESENT:
Common Council Liaisons – Brock, Kerslick
Financial Management Assistant – Swartz
City Forester – Grace
EXCUSED: Scott Freyburger
1. Call to order:
1.1. Statement from the Public: None
1.2. Commission Response: N/A
1.3. Agenda Review: Add discussion on Anthropocene sculpture under new business.
2. Staff Reports: N/A
3. Old Business:
3.1. Sexual Harassment training – Option to take the course online or complete it on August 19th or 26th in the
Common Council Chambers at 7 PM, 3rd Floor, City Hall with Leslie Moskowitz leading the training.
3.2. Memorial Policy – Final look before moving forward. Documents are residing in a google folder that Hannah
George shared for all to review -
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lHSHNubDMR3G7co9tTNqjfsiN1TRuas5wgZ7ABhctMA/edit?usp=sharing
Discussion: $20 was the minimum donation discussed. Ellen Leventry feels $500 is too low for a tree as the Botanic
Gardens and the Waterfront Trail are at $5,000 per tree. The City will need to create a separate designated fund that
this money will get credited to. General donations will go toward park upkeep. Natural areas for trail maintenance
can also be included in this plan. Will need to set up information that can be accessed online for the public to see
their options. Jeanne Grace is hesitant to add trees to the donation list, due to many of the parks not needing trees.
Trees are subject to disease, removal for park renovations, etc. and there are many more conflicts that can occur
with trees over other items. We could create a general tree fund that people can donate towards or donate to an
existing tree which would only require a plaque for memorialization. The plaques need to be heavy or can be
screwed into an existing older tree to avoid vandalism. Another possibility is to create a virtual tour of tree donations
online, that would require no sign or plaque at all. Jeanne Grace will talk with Melody Faraday on setting up the park
names, maps and rules on the city web site. Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources Commission’s (PRNR) role
will be to recommend the donations to the Board of Public W orks for approval, but that will be discussed when we
meet with them . The subgroup will rework the Memorial Policy to incorporate the items discussed.
3.3. Natural areas – No meeting held. Jeanne Grace would like the City to appro ve the creation of a Natural areas
manager on staff; this winter she will work on a draft job description. The PRNR Natural areas subgroup can work on
the justifications of this position.
3.4. Budget update – Jeanne Grace stated the City Cemetery received money from Cornell, so no additional funds
are needed. The signs are included in the operating budget. The Swan Pond overlook will be delayed until a better
estimate can be obtained (this could be funded by Friends of Stewart Park).
3.5. Vacancy – We have one vacancy for this committee open. We know of at least one applicant; need to check
with the City Clerk to see if there are others.
3.6. Other –
(a) PRNR received a request from Bob Congdon to recommend renaming part of the Waterfront tr ail after former
Mayor, Carolyn Peterson. There are a couple of items in the city currently with her name on them. Monika Roth
feels this person should be informed that there are already items in place honoring the former mayor.
(b) Washington Park between Court Street and Buffalo Street near 13 N is experiencing problems with people
hanging out causing neighbors to be concerned/complain - smoking marijuana, leaving garbage, etc. Ithaca Police
want people to call them with concerns, so they can follow up. Jeanne Grace will check with Tammy Baker, who
Date: August 12, 2019
Time: 6:00 PM
Location: Common Council Chambers,
3rd Floor, City Hall
Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources Commission
August 12, 2019
2
works with the Youth in Ithaca to see if she can help talk with this group. This is an area that would work well with
donated benches installed in concrete, so the benches couldn’t be moved around.
4. New Business:
4.1. Tree removal ordinance review – The Shade Tree Advisory Committee (STAC) is researching ordinances that
exist in other cities. Thus far, 13 ordinances have been reviewed. The next step will be to identify common
strategies to share with PRNR and then council members. If such an ordinance were in place, Jeanne Grace would
contact the local tree contractors in the area to let them know they will need permits in the city for tree work on
private property where trees meet the conditions that would be specified in the ordinance. Also residents could be
informed via a notice in their water & sewer bills, as well as, on the city website. Cynthia Brock suggests it read, tree
retention ordinance or some other wording, instead of removal. Jeanne Grace/STAC will continue research further
and report back in September.
4.2. Green space policies research – Tom Shelley, Scott Freyburger and Monika Roth met with Megan Wilson in the
Planning Department to discuss whether there are any such ordinances in place requiring developers to provide
green spaces within a developed property. Currently the only zone that has a requirement is Collegetown and there
are some ways in which developers are getting around the requirement. Megan has suggested that there needs to
be an amount of contiguous green space. Public green space is a subcategory of Urban open space. Tom & Scott
will continue to review options for requiring green space in development proposals.
4.3. Response letter to City regarding Green New Deal to inform the subcommittee working on this of the benefits
that trees and green spaces provide to climate change mitigation. Looking for a volunteer to draft a letter and send
to the committee working on the Green New Deal. The Green Building Policy is on the Planning & Economic
Development Committee Agenda for this Wednesdays meeting 8/14/19 for approval to circulate (this is different from
the Green New Deal). Suggestion made to invite Nick Goldsmith to a PRNR meeting.
4.4. Anthropocene sculpture – A Cornell art group has requested the opportunity to locate this sculpture in a city
park. Tom Shelley explained that these are sculptures made of crushed car parts intended for teaching purposes.
Concerns were raised about the public climbing on this piece and getting injured. Tom suggested this go to the
Community Life Commission for review. We will wait to see if the Community Life Commission supports this and if
they do, we will discuss further about its placement. Jeanne Grace suggested maybe the inside of a traffic circle, so
it would be less likely to be climbed on.
5. Environmental review subcommittee report:
5.1. Waterfront Plan input / comments
The City Harbor Project – includes the Johnson Boatyard and the Haunt next to the City golf course. They want to
make use of 2.76 acres of City owned land for public parking for the restaurant and the golf course (the area in
questions is already used as golf course parking). The plans for this area also includes a new golf club house and
boating resource center. Dan Hoffman is questioning the public parking use made out of current park land. Paul
Fairbanks, Friends of Newman, have met with the developers and are in favor of the plan. Monika Roth will ask the
developers to come to our next meeting to present their plan.
5.2. Other projects
(a) See attached for Tom Shelley’s comments on the Project Review Committee meeting on 7/16/19. This Thursday
8/15/19 is the next Planning & Development Project Review Committee meeting.
(b) Cynthia Brock would like to request that once a quarter this commission get an update on Hazard clean-up
projects in the City (Nels Bohn as a starting point for information). Additional testing is being conducted at Nate’s
Floral Estates in areas where they found contamination in soil and ground water. They will be re-evaluating the
protocol for the homeowner with breaks in the water line. Every time there is a water line break it has to be sanitized,
flushed and certified to be clean. There are a half dozen breaks a year. Cynthia Brock suggested the city help assist
to address the mediation with this issue. Per Hannah George the DEC has a web site that lists hazards on a map:
decinfolocator.com
6. Minutes – Review and approve 7/8/19:
Dan Hoffman made minor changes. Mickie Sanders-Jauquet made a motion to approve and Tom Shelley second.
All in favor.
7. Member Announcements: N/A
8. Next meeting is September 9, 2019. Tom Shelley volunteered to chair the meeting as Monika Roth and Dan
Hoffman will both be unavailable.
Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources Commission
August 12, 2019
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9. Adjournment:
On a motion the meeting was adjourned at 8:11 PM.
Debbie Swartz
Financial Management Assistant
Monika Roth
Chair - Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources Commission
Comments on Project Review Committee meeting of July 16, 2019
Immaculate Conception Redevelopment—Noah Demarest is architect. Will be all-electric and
probably built to Green Building Policy standards. INHS will probably apply for a Planned Unit
Development to get around existing R-2b zoning.
Visions Federal Credit Union—Out parcel in front of Home Depot/Kohls. They are planning to heat
with gas but I encouraged them to look at heat pumps instead pointing out that there are incentives and
economies for commercial development to convert to electric heating. They are considering solar on
the roof. They are planning on an amphitheater on site for public performances—music, theater, etc.
Chair Works Phase 1 is up for review. Two buildings (#21, #24) to be renovated/reconstructed as
mostly residential. The trail along the north side of the property is supposed to be fixed up with this
first phase as well.
232 Dryden Rd. 4stories, 8 units. Todd Fox/VISUM project is third of three buildings on this site.
Noah Demarest said it will be built to Green Building Policy standards and all-electric.
815 S. Aurora St. Another large (3 buildings, 66 units) Noah Demarest project for IC students. All -
electric, built to high efficiency standards—concrete with foam on both sides.
As of this meeting the Arthaus project was still on hold because the air quality test results were still not
available.