主页My WebLink关于07-14-16 EMC Final Minutes 1 Minutes of the EMC 2 3 Date: July 14, 2016 4 Time: 4:00 p.m. 5 Location: Old Jail Conference Room, 125 E. Court St. 6 7 Attendees: 8 Name Representation Linda Spielman A Village of Dryden Ron Szymanski A Village of Freeville Roger Yonkin A At-Large Dooley Kiefer P Associate Member Jose Lozano A Associate Member Scott Doyle P EMC Coordinator Dan Klein P Associate Member Anna Kelles E Legislature Liaison Pam Pariso P Planning Staff 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Guests in Attendance: Kristin Gutenberger, Cornell Real Estate; Jamie Cone, Ithaca Times. 17 18 Call to Order– The meeting was called to order by Steve Nicholson at 4:10 pm. 19 20 Privilege of Floor – Kristin Gutenberger spoke from Cornell Real Estate asked the EMC to 21 defer a vote on the Sapsucker Woods UNA until they’ve had time to review it with their 22 consultant. She indicated that they just received the materials last week, and their consultant was 23 on vacation, so they’re asking for more time to evaluate it before a vote. 24 25 Changes to the Agenda – No changes. 26 27 Approval of Minutes –May 12th Minutes were discussed. Only one change: Roy Luft was 28 present. All were in favor. June 9th Minutes were approved with no revisions. All were in favor. 29 30 Committee Reports and Member Questions: 31 32 A. Energy – Brian spoke about a variety of energy topics. Heat Smart Solar Tompkins is 33 rolling out a new program in 2016 and hopes to double its enrollment next year. • 34 Maplewood Redevelopment plans to support passive house performance standards. • 35 NYSEG issued its planning document on how they’re going to support the grid. • 36 Name Representation Steve Bissen P Town of Dryden Kenny Christianson P At-Large John Dennis E Village of Lansing Brian Eden P Village of Cayuga Heights Bill Evans P Town of Danby Pegi Ficken E Town of Groton John Hertzler P Town of Ulysses Roy Luft P At-Large Jim McGarry E At-Large Vladimir Micic A Town of Ithaca Steve Nicholson P Town of Caroline Susan Riley P At-Large Tom Shelley P Ithaca CAC NYSEG’s Energy Smart Community has several initiatives, such as advanced meter 1 systems. NYSEG is installing 12,000 smart meters, some locally. • Newfield is 2 considering an updated wind ordinance. • West Dryden pipeline alternatives are being 3 discussed. • March for Clean Energy Revolution is taking place with bussing to the event. 4 • Green energy incentive program is being presented soon at the Legislature Chambers. • 5 Ithaca is the 16th city in the nation to join the 2030 District Rollout. So far, it’s the only 6 city in NYS so far, and the smallest city in the USA to join. • Electric battery storage is 7 needed locally, like what Los Angeles, CA, is doing now. • Deep Water Wind is putting 8 in off-shore wind turbines off Montauk, Long Island. 9 10 There was a discussion on NYSEG’s smart meters. There are civil liberty privacy 11 concerns. Can you opt out or in? Are they accurate in giving credit? 12 13 B. Environmental Review – John Dennis was excused, so Brian gave the report. Bill Evans 14 was thanked for attending the Maplewood Redevelopment meeting specifically to discuss 15 the impacts of lighting on wildlife. • Brian completed the Environmental Review annual 16 report for 2015 and turned it in to Pam to be included in the EMC 2015 Annual Report. • 17 Dan Klein was asked about the Town of Danby Groundwater protection law, but he 18 reported that he’s not directly involved and a public hearing was held. 19 20 C. Unique Natural Areas – Steve N. reported that a consultant investigating Bell Station to 21 see if it qualifies as a UNA, found promising evidence on a recent hike. The consultant 22 found a large population of Jeffersonia diphylla, twinleaf or butterfly-leaf flower, which 23 is a NYS threatened species. It’s the only nat ural population in Tompkins County with 24 some 1,000 plants in pristine undisturbed habitat near a half mile of undisturbed lakefront 25 property. 26 27 D. Executive – Nothing to report. 28 29 Staff Report – Scott has been attending meetings on energy-related municipal projects, 30 including an informational solar and municipalities event held in Dryden. He emphasized the 31 importance of balancing landowner protection with the need to implement energy systems. 32 33 Boundary Revision for UNA-106: 34 Discussion: Steve Nicholson – The UNA-106 map (attached) was presented on the projector. 35 Steve N. said this boundary revision has been researched and discussed since 2012. Revisions 36 were discussed during that time. The area for this UNA revision -- the Western Lobe -- is about 37 30 acres. Wetland mapping with aerial imaging combined with GIS mapping have helped refine 38 the proposed boundary revision, along with onsite verification. 39 40 Steve N. introduced the Resolution to Amend UNA-106 Sapsucker Woods as chair of the EMC. 41 Ken Christianson seconded its introduction. 42 43 There was a discussion about the boundary revisions. Looking at the map, the original boundary 44 was the green line, and the yellow line is the new proposed line. Scott stated that it was the 45 position of the Tompkins County Planning Department that the EMC should wait on voting on 46 this revision as a professional courtesy to Cornell University to allow them adequate time to 1 review the proposed change. 2 3 Guest Kristin Gutenberger from Cornell Real Estate again addressed the group. She said Cornell 4 is requesting more time to review the decision regarding the 2010 boundary west. Anything east 5 of that boundary is not under question. Anything west of that boundary is zoned business and 6 technology and they are interested in at some point developing it for that purpose. 7 8 Steve N. reminded the EMC that the UNA committee is appointed by the County to make 9 environmental decisions regardless of landowners’ future plans. UNAs and their boundaries are 10 based solely on the science of environmental protection. Brian said the UNA committee has 11 worked long and hard on a shoestring for this UNA revision, and he’d like to see a resolution 12 soon, as investigating this has consumed considerable time and resources. 13 14 Steve B. made a motion to table the vote until the September 8 meeting. Bill Evans seconded. No 15 further discussion. Eight voted yes. Steve N. voted no. Brian abstained. 16 17 Presentation – Tompkins County Natural Infrastructure Capital Program 18 Scott Doyle gave a presentation on the Tompkins County Natural Infrastructure Program, which 19 is a cost-effective approach to protecting water quality and flood resilience while enhancing and 20 protecting natural systems. Scott reviewed flood damage costs associated with parts of the 21 county like Ludlowville and outlined sediment reduction strategies, with a focus on water quality 22 and natural system protection. 23 The Green Infrastructure Program is a proposed comprehensive program to mitigate flood 24 hazards and help preserve watershed conservation. Its focus is on protecting and enhancing upper 25 watershed areas, stream corridors, floodplains and aquifer recharge areas. This five-year program 26 will run from 2017-2021 and cost $200K year for a total of $1 million. 27 Types of projects that might be eligible for funding with this program: 28 • Conservation easements on private forest lands wetlands, and stream corridors, 29 • Reconnecting third- and fourth-order streams to their natural floodplains, 30 • Restoration of stream banks and establishing stream buffers to hold sediment, 31 • Demonstration of innovative road ditch management techniques to County highway 32 employees. 33 If the legislature approves this project, funding guidelines and project selection criteria will need 34 to be established, and the EMC will be included in future discussions. 35 There was a discussion about how to best spend county money on flood prevention. Steve N. 36 suggested encouraging landowners to allow beaver ponds to come back instead of considering 37 them a nuisance. Dooley Kiefer wondered how the County’s Stream Corridor Restoration and 38 Flood Hazard Mitigation Program would be affected by this proposed program. Scott indicated 39 that this program would absorb the Stream program. Dan Klein asked who’s responsible for 40 conservation easements and their enforcement. Scott said it has yet to be determined how 41 easements would be monitoring that may be obtained through this program, though its an item 42 the County would look into a range of options. Roy Luft asked if the Indian Creek Woods 43 wetlands be considered for project funding. 44 Municipal Reports – 1 • John Hertzler asked if we will have involvement in the review of a dock proposed at 2 Taughannock Park. Steve N. said yes, that’s something this Council would likely have 3 involvement with. 4 • Tom Shelley gave an update on plans for the City of Ithaca’s Old Library and a recent 5 public hearing that sent developers back for added revisions. 6 • Steve N. reported the Town of Caroline is looking into extending South Hill Recreational 7 Trail to Burns Road. There’s a question on who now owns land the railroad abandoned. 8 • Steve B. said Dryden is going through a similar situation with the Varna Rail Trail. 9 10 Member Items – 11 • Steve Bissen mentioned that Dominion Pipeline compressor station wants to increase the 12 amount or capacity of pressure in its pipeline, which could increase leaks. Scott said 13 there’s a proposed Town moratorium on utility development which will be considered by 14 the Town of Dryden next week. 15 • Dooley asked if anyone saw the France v. Portugal soccer finals. Event organizers left the 16 stadium lights on overnight and moths were everywhere the next day at the game. 17 • Dan told a joke. Q. What is a wind turbine’s favorite music? A. They’re BIG FANS of 18 heavy metal. 19 20 No meeting in August. Next meeting is September 8. 21 22 Adjournment -- The meeting adjourned at 5:40 PM. 23 24 Respectfully submitted, 25 26 Pamela Pariso, Administrative Assistant 27 Tompkins County Planning Department 28 Approved by Council on October 13, 2016 29