HomeMy WebLinkAboutCB Minutes 2026-01-15
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Town of Ithaca Conservation Board (CB) Meeting
January 15, 2026, 5:30 p.m.
(In Person at Town Hall and via Zoom Video Conference)
Final Minutes
Members present: Lori Brewer (Chairperson), Frank Cantone (Vice Chairperson), James Hamilton, Eva
Hoffmann, and Richard Martinez.
Staff: Michael Smith, Senior Planner.
Guests: Peter Loucks, who has applied to become a board member and has been interviewed.
1. Persons to be heard: None
2. Member Comments/concerns: Frank made several comments about the Conservation Board
Orientation Guide of Jan. 8, 2026, prepared by a student intern for the Town. Mike will update this
document at the beginning of each year. The general consensus seemed to be that we should all get
familiar with it and try to use it, especially for Environmental Review Committee (ERC) work, as we
continue that. James said that we usually get an address list of our membership each year and that he
would like to get that again as our membership has been changing.
3. Environmental Review Committee Update: Lori had nothing new to report. Mike said a sketch plan
review for a solar project on Troy Road would be coming in. It is on a vacant property of open land,
which has had several residential proposals in the past, but it is hard to develop because of NYSEG
power lines crossing the property. This one would be 20 to 30 acres, the same size as the one being
developed right now on Mecklenburg Road. The developer, Nexamp, would not purchase the land,
but lease it.
4. Chairperson and Coordinator reports: Lori asked if any of us could attend the Webinar about
Emerald Ash Borers, that Mike emailed to everyone. James and Eva have heard or read about both
green and black ash trees which appear to be resistant to the borers and show promise for the future,
probably in The Cornell Chronicle.
Mike updated us about the Town’s deer management program. The town has received a permit from
the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and will set up 8 sites: 3 on Town preserves, 3
in the City’s Six Mile Creek area and 2 private ones. The season goes from February 1 through the
end of March. They have tried to assign 2 to 4 people to each site.
Mike also reminded us about the Town’s Virtual Attendance Policy. If you know you will not be able
to attend a CB meeting at Town Hall, you need to contact Lori or Mike to let them know that. With the
current membership of 7, there have to be 4 members present in person to have a quorum. If there is a
quorum, other members can also be present by Zoom and they can then also vote, but only if there are
4 other ones present in Town Hall at the same time. This new regulation came about during the Covid
period about 5 years ago.
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5. Approval of minutes from November 6 and December 4, 2025: James made a motion to approve
both sets of minutes, Frank seconded. The minutes were unanimously approved with a minor change.
6. Discussion of:
a. Town of Ithaca Conservation Board Activities & Accomplishments for 2025: Everyone
was pleased to see the list of what the CB has accomplished in 2025.
b. Conservation Board 2026 Work Goals:
i. Lori added developing a document for “standard operating procedure” to the first goal
on the list, which she stewards.
ii. Eva and James do not feel any change is needed to the second goal. They also agree
that they do not want to prepare or pay for any sign until we know that we can place it
in the location that has been chosen and publicized.
iii. For the third goal about outreach and communications, Lori asked what the
effectiveness of media outreach is. The CB already uses Facebook, Instagram and the
Town’s monthly newsletter. A discussion followed about using other media like
newspapers and radio, or additional digital media Richard asked what we would want
to get out of such outreach and communication. One response was awareness of the
existence of our board and help with recruitment of members. Richard said he could do
limited postings on our social media, but was hesitant to take on doing it regularly
iv. The rest of the goals got very few comments. Your secretary for the evening, Eva,
would like to request that lists like this get either a number, or letter, in front of each
section, instead of nothing or a “bullet”. It would make it so much easier to refer to
them when writing the minutes. Also when referring to them generally and talking
about them at a meeting.
c. Conservation Board Committees 2026: Richard agreed to join the Communications
Committee.
7. Continue discussion of ideas to support the Town’s parks, trail and preserves: Mike had
provided a nice draft information sheet with color photos for us about this project. James feels labels
under the photos would be a good idea. We will discuss this topic more at the February meeting
8. Recap of the Scenic Resources sign project. Eva requested that we postpone this presentation to
another meeting when she will have more time to describe the whole project.
9. Regular reports and updates:
a. Scenic Resources Committee (Eva): Eva had nothing new to report. Mike shared that Cornell
cannot offer any new easements at the moment and that this sign request has not been forgotten.
b. Communications Committee (James): James stated that he needs another member for this
committee, as he doesn’t have a phone for posting to Instagram nor the skills to use his computer
to post there; Facebook has lately been allowing him to use his account, but often locks him out for
not having two-factor authentication security there. ComCom’s main job is the Fischer Award.
He’ll be nominating Cornell On Fire for their environmental activism in 2025. Other members
should consider nominating someone or something else. Deadline for nominations is Feb 28th.
c. Tompkins County Environmental Management Committee (EMC): Pete has been attending
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EMC meetings already and would be available to continue doing that.
d. Six Mile Creek Volunteer Monitoring Program (James): Community Science Institute’s water
lab at Langmuir, near the airport, is holding benthic macroinvertebrate processing sessions on a
different night this year: Wednesday evenings, 6-9 pm, until all of the 2025 preserved samples
have been analyzed. Volunteers new to the science can get trained to help; experienced volunteers
are much appreciated in a bigger better lab space. Adrianna Hirtler has built a beautiful website
explaining and documenting water quality biomonitoring business
at communityscience.org/biological-monitoring-2/.
e. Cornell Botanic Gardens Natural Areas Program (James): Volunteers missed several Tuesday
afternoons of work due to holidays and bad weather, but did manage to plant a dogwood hedge by
Cascadilla Creek on campus where a new cooperative arrangement between Cornell’s Grounds
crew and Natural Areas volunteers replaced an invasive Euonymus (burning bush) hedge planted
years ago to screen a parking lot near the east end of Oak Ave. Grounds workers used a backhoe to
dig up the evil landscaping shrubs, leaving loosened soil in which volunteers transplanted a couple
dozen native red osier dogwoods (Cornus sericea), and installed a deer exclosure fence around
them. Volunteers spent another Tuesday pulling up Euonymus weeds in the Fall Creek North
Natural Area on both sides of the Cayuga Trail upstream of Flat Rocks. Wet weather makes
Euonymus easier to pull out with puller bears, weed wrenches, and Pulaski axes. Volunteers
weeded honeysuckle and buckthorn from woods around fens in McLean Bogs, a National Natural
Landmark limited to the public for educational purposes by permission only. This work followed
the “clip and drip” protocol, cutting stumps level close to the ground followed by glyphosate
treatment, which limits soil disturbance and kills more invasives in less time than pulling them up
does.
10. Other business: Discussion of potential new member. We resolved to recommend to the Town
Board that Pete Loucks be appointed a new CB member and that he be selected as the Town liaison
member to the Tompkins County EMC. All voted in favor of this.
11. Review 2026 Work Goals (Frank)/ Discuss February Agenda: Continue the discussion about the
Parks, Trails, Preserves and Scenic View Sites project and schedule the Scenic View project
presentation.
12. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 7:05 PM.
Respectfully submitted by Eva Hoffmann, January 28, 2026