ဟံၣ်My WebLinkဘၣ်ဃးဒီး2019-04-11 EMC Final MinutesEMC Final Minutes 1 April 11, 2019 4:00 p.m. 2 Tompkins County Old Jail Conference Room, 125 E. Court St, Ithaca, NY 3 Attendance 4 Member Seat Member Seat Steve Bissen A Town of Dryden Jonathan Zisk E At-Large Maureen Bolton E Town of Enfield Amanda Champion P Legislative Liaison Cait Darfler P Town of Ulysses Susan Allen-Gil E Associate Member John Dennis P Village of Lansing Karen Edelstein A Associate Member Brian Eden E Village of Cayuga Heights Bill Evans A Associate Member Pegi Ficken E Town of Groton Anna Kelles A Associate Member Michelle Henry P Town of Newfield Dooley Kiefer A Associate Member Anne Klingensmith P Town of Danby Dan Klein E Associate Member Laurel Lynch E At-Large Jose Lozano P Associate Member Vladimir Micic A Town of Ithaca Osamu Tsuda A Associate Member Steve Nicholson A Town of Caroline David Weinstein A Associate Member Susan Riley P At-Large Robert Wesley A Associate Member Tom Shelley P City of Ithaca Roger Yonkin A Associate Member Genny Shipley A At-Large Darby Kiley P Planning Staff Don Smith A At-Large Kristin McCarthy P Planning Staff Regi Teasley P At-Large Guests – Anne Koreman, Elizabeth Thomas 5 Call to Order – Vice chair Tom Shelley called the meeting to order at 4:14 p.m. 6 Privilege of the Floor – None 7 Agenda Review/Changes – None 8 Approval of the February Minutes -- The Feb. 14th minutes were not approved due to lack of a quorum. 9 Presentation: TCDPS 2019 Work Plan and 2018 Accomplishments – Darby Kiley 10 Darby Kiley provided some background context for the development of the Planning and Sustainability 11 Department’s 2019 Work Plan, which serves to fine-tune staff goals for the year. She passed around 12 copies of the work plan and highlighted a few of the top initiatives for 2019. For example, the Business 13 Energy Advisors Program, led by Andrea Aguirre, has been quite successful, and Scott Doyle is focusing 14 on the Resiliency/Hazard Mitigation Plan. He will likely present on the plan to the EMC in the coming 15 months. Tom asked for clarification on two terms found in the work plan: “results-based accountability” 16 and “Census Participant Statistical Areas Program.” The former refers to a methodology for capturing 17 more metrics to track the performance of County departments, while the latter refers to an initiative by 18 the U.S. Census Bureau to provide the department with the opportunity to supply input on boundary 19 updates for Census block groups, tracts and Census Designated Places. 20 21 Committee Reports 22 Climate Adaptation: Regi Teasley 23 Committee continues compiling information, with an eye toward producing an educational brochure of 24 use to County and municipalities. 25 26 Environmental Review: Brian Eden 27 • Tom read highlights from Brian’s committee report, which was submitted in advance of the meeting 28 via email and has been included in these minutes for the record. 29 • Amanda reported that the Planning, Energy, and Environmental Quality Committee would like to 30 task the EMC with researching and evaluating the 2007 County Forest Management Plan. The UNA 31 Committee will take the lead, but anyone else interested is encouraged to participate. Community 32 outreach might also play a part, with a public forum planned for some point during the year. The 33 end-product would be a written report prepared for the Legislature by late December. 34 • John Dennis gave an update on a few items related to the pending Article 78 lawsuit against Cargill. 35 36 Executive: Brian Eden 37 Tom read highlights from Brian’s written committee report, which was submitted via email in advance of 38 the meeting and is included in this document after the minutes for the record. 39 40 Unique Natural Areas: Michelle Henry (Steve N. was absent.) 41 Michelle Henry shared that the committee discussed the Legislature’s Forest Management Plan proposal 42 for the EMC, as well as the possible impact of Freese Road Bridge construction on two nearby UNAs. 43 44 Waste Reduction: Tom Shelley 45 • At the next meeting (April 17th), Barb Eckstrom will update group on plastic bag resolution. 46 • Jose Lozano will forward the URL for a Microplastics in Cayuga Lake webpage, as well as another on 47 Emerging Contaminants, both of which feature his work with Susan Allen-Gil and colleagues at 48 Cooperative Extension. He will also send an invite to a sunset educational tour on the MVTeal. 49 50 Water Resources Council Liaison: Michelle Henry 51 • Jose and Susan gave a presentation on their microplastics and emerging contaminants study 52 (referenced in the Waste Reduction Committee report above). 53 • Elizabeth Thomas, supervisor for the Town of Ulysses, joined WRC as an At-Large member. 54 • Comments are due April 15th on the proposed revised definition of Waters of the United States. 55 • Monitoring Partnership is still awaiting word from the DEC on TMDL for Cayuga Lake. 56 • A few WRC members attended the HABs in Owasco Lake Symposium on March 9th in Auburn. 57 58 Staff Report – Darby Kiley 59 None 60 61 Debrief: Public Program on the Green New Deal 62 Susan R. gave a quick rundown of the March 12th public outreach event, sharing that the evening 63 discussion went well but the lead-up to the event, specifically finding speakers, was difficult due to the 64 broad scope of the topic. Next time, the committee will begin searching for presenters much earlier if 65 possible. For the fall outreach event, Michelle suggested highlighting the work of specific committees, 66 Susan R. thought the County Forest Management Plan could be of interest to the community, and 67 Amanda brought up the idea of including an interactive component so the audience can participate. 68 69 Resolution in Support of NYS Enacting an Environmental Bill of Rights 70 As there was no quorum, members could not vote on this resolution, which seeks to support a 71 concurrent resolution of both the NYS Senate and Assembly to make clean water, air, and a healthful 72 environment a protected right in the state's Bill of Rights under Article I of the New York 73 State Constitution. Tom is also working with a couple of City of Ithaca councilpersons to pass a similar 74 resolution, and Amanda said she would share the draft EMC resolution with her colleagues on the 75 County Legislature. In addition, guest Elizabeth Thomas, supervisor for the Town of Ulysses, offered to 76 bring the draft resolution to the Tompkins County Council of Governments for review. 77 78 Motion to Approve Sponsorship of the Film “A Plastic Ocean” 79 This initiative is on hold due to lack of funding. 80 81 Municipal Reports and Member Announcements 82 83 • The Old Jail conference room will be closed for renovations effective May 1st. Starting with the May 84 9th meeting, the EMC will be meeting at TCAT for the foreseeable future. 85 • Next Tuesday, April 16th, the County Legislature will vote on whether to purchase the Sears and 86 Tioga Streets property. 87 88 Vice chair Tom Shelley adjourned the meeting at 5:10 p.m. 89 90 Environmental Review Committee Report (April 2019) 91 1. Information on LED Lighting Recommendations were presented to both the Village of Cayuga 92 Heights and the Town of Ithaca Planning Boards for use in their site plan reviews. 93 2. Lead samples are being collected by the Town of Lansing from soils in the vicinity of Salmon 94 Creek near the Rod & Gun Club. The Committee hopes to draft a resolution for next month’s 95 meeting encouraging a pollution prevention approach to the discharge of lead ammunition into 96 environmentally sensitive areas such as streams and wetlands. 97 3. It is anticipated that the NYSEG Rate Case will be submitted to the Department of Public Service 98 by mid-May 99 4. Interested parties continue to collect information from relevant State and Federal agencies to 100 prepare for public comment on the Freese Rd. Bridge Replacement project environmental 101 review. 102 5. The County will announce soon if it intends to construct a new administration building. We shall 103 advocate that it adheres to the highest building energy performance standards. 104 6. A data review is in progress to better characterize the issues of coal ash contamination at the 105 Cayuga Power Plant. 106 7. The EPA has proposed the repeal of the Clean Waters of the U.S. Rule (2015). There is some 107 interest in expanding the protections currently provided wetlands by NYS law. 108 8. The Article 78 proceeding on the lack of an EIS for the construction of Cargill’s Shaft #4 was 109 argued more than 4 months ago. Decisions are generally expected to be rendered within 60 110 days. 111 9. A FOIL Denial Appeal for documents from Cargill; Motion for Dismissal was argued in the County 112 Supreme Court on March 22. 7 out of town lawyers appeared to support the dismissal motion. 113 The decision was reserved. 114 10. PFOA and PFOS are 2 hazardous substances found in most fire-fighting foams They are highly 115 toxic and difficult to identify once released into the environment. The local fire training center is 116 located adjacent to Fall Creek near Stewart Park. This is an issue for which we need to gather 117 further information. 118 119 Executive Committee Report (April 2019) 120 1. Deborah Dawson, Chair of the Legislature’s Planning, Energy, and Environmental Quality 121 Committee has requested that the EMC make broad recommendations as to what the County's 122 goals with respect to its forest lands should be. (This may impact both the goals stated in the 123 Forest Management Plan, and the goals stated in County Law, Article 5, Section 219.) Even 124 assuming that the County’s goal is the development of old growth hardwoods forest, EMC will 125 make a recommendation as to whether and to what extent achieving that goal will require 126 active management by the County. The Recommendations are due for discussion at the 127 December meeting of the PEEQ. Committee. 128 David Weinstein, as the EMC’s most qualified person in this field, will serve as our lead and the 129 UNA Committee will provide support. Any EMC member not on the UNA Committee may 130 participate in this project. I anticipate that the Committee will organize some listening sessions 131 to receive input from the public. We’ll discuss how best to proceed at the next UNA meeting. 132 2. It appears that we shall not have the Old Jail space to meet in May and thereafter. Kristin has 133 reserved the Conference Room at the TCAT building. If anyone has a better option, please let us 134 know. The upside is that there is adequate free parking. 135 3. Both Kristin and I have been too busy to complete the Annual Report. We’ll provide you with a 136 draft prior to the next EMC meeting. 137 4. We are a co-sponsor of the Climate Wise Garden Fair on April 27. Please circulate the poster to 138 your list servs. Thank you. 139 5. Please support the resolution urging NYS to Enact an Environmental Bill of Rights. Most other 140 states acknowledge the importance of these inalienable rights. Recently City of Toledo OH 141 residents passed the “Lake Erie Bill of Rights” in a special election, with 61 percent voting yes on 142 a ballot measure that could allow citizens to sue polluters on behalf of the Lake. The ballot 143 measure will amend the city’s charter to establish that Lake Erie has the right to “exist, flourish, 144 and naturally evolve”. 145 146