HomeMy WebLinkAbout6.4.26 CB Packet
DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING
215 N. Tioga Street, Ithaca NY 14850
607-273-1747
www.townithacany.gov
TO: CONSERVATION BOARD MEMBERS
FROM: MICHAEL SMITH, SENIOR PLANNER
DATE: MAY 28, 2026
SUBJECT: UPCOMING CONSERVATION BOARD MEETING – JUNE 4, 2026
This is to confirm that the next meeting of the Conservation Board (CB) is Thursday,
June 4th at 4:00 p.m. The agenda for this meeting is enclosed (see the back of this
memo).
The draft minutes from the May 7th meeting are attached. Please email me any spelling,
grammatical, or other minor edits you have prior to the meeting.
At this meeting, we will continue the discussion on ways to support the Town’s parks,
trails, and preserves and Eva will continue her brief recap of the scenic resources sign
project.
Eva is signed up to take minutes at the June meeting.
If you have any questions prior to the meeting or are not able to attend, please contact
me at msmith@townithacany.gov or 607-273-1747.
Conservation Board Members and Associates (*)
Lori Brewer (Chair), Frank Cantone (Vice-Chair),
James Hamilton, Eva Hoffmann, Pete Loucks, Richard Martinez
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TOWN OF ITHACA
CONSERVATION BOARD
4:00 p.m., Thursday, June 4, 2026
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Aurora Conference Room
215 N. Tioga Street
Ithaca, New York 14850
(The rear entrance is handicapped accessible)
(607) 273-1747
Members of the public are welcome to attend in-person at Town Hall
or virtually via Zoom (https://zoom.us/j/6750593272).
AGENDA
1. Persons to be heard
2. Members comments / concerns
3. Environmental Review Committee Update (Lori)
4. Chair and Coordinator reports
5. Approval of minutes from May 7, 2026
6. Continue discussion of ideas to support the Town’s parks, trails and preserves
7. Continue the recap of the scenic resources sign project (Eva)
8. Regular reports and updates (5:00 pm)
a. Scenic Resources Committee (Eva)
b. Communications Committee (James)
c. Tompkins County EMC (Pete)
d. Six Mile Creek Volunteer Monitoring Program (James)
e. Cornell Botanic Gardens Natural Areas Program (James)
9. Other Business (5:20 p.m.)
10. Review 2026 Work Goals (Frank) / Discuss July Agenda
11. Adjourn (5:30 p.m.)
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Town of Ithaca Conservation Board Meeting
May 7, 2026 4:00 pm
(In Person at Town Hall and via Zoom Video Conference)
Draft Minutes
Members Present: Lori Brewer, Frank Cantone, James Hamilton, Pete Loucks, Richard Martinez
Staff Present: Michael Smith (Senior Planner)
Guests: Terra Montayne, Alex Thornton (via Zoom)
1. Persons to be heard: Terra and Alex introduced themselves. Terra, an Ithaca High School student, is
especially interested in solar power. Alex, who will soon live in the Town, has moved here from Alaska.
He has been a marine biologist, most involved in penguin science and in public communication of water
science matters, and now works for Visit Ithaca. He hopes to join the Conservation Board once his Ithaca
Town residence is established.
2. There were no Member comments/concerns.
3. Environmental Review Committee Update: Lori shared a slide show titled “Lessons Learned from
Decades of Environmental Reviews,” that Elise Edwards, a former CB member, presented to a New York
State Association of Conservation Commissions conference on 9/20/2023. It features a helpful outline of
the procedures our ERC follows to advise the Town on proposed property developments, and will be
applicable to the current SouthWorks project titled “The Woods at SouthWorks.” The sketch plan for this
proposed construction of 130 housing units on a sloping site between buildings, where shallow soils on
bedrock will require careful storm management features, shows a need for a detailed anticipation of
problems with invasive species and stormwater runoff.
4. Chair and Coordinator reports: Lori had nothing to add to her ERC update; Mike noted that the next
stage of review for the SouthWorks and Bomber Heights large-scale ground-mounted community
photovoltaic solar energy system projects would be coming soon. There will be a Tompkins County
Environmental Management Council “Get-Together for Municipal and County Conservation Groups” on
May 14, 2026 from 4 to 6 pm in the Tompkins County Public Library Borg Warner room. Pete plans to
attend, others should consider joining him there. The Town will be applying for a grant to fund
construction of a new playground at Iacovelli Park, which now has the last old wooden playground
remaining in the Town. A new plastic playground is planned for a better, more open situation next to the
basketball court west of the current location. The three properties the Town acquired for a recreation
way connection between Buttermilk and Treman State Parks has recently been sold to the New York
State Office of Parks. This will eventually connect all sorts of rec trails to both the Black Diamond and
South Hill rec ways, extending to adjacent towns.
5. The April 2, 2026 minutes were approved, with Lori so moving, Richard seconding, all in favor.
6. The 2025 Fischer Award tree planting party is planned for Tuesday evening, May 19, 2026 from 6 to 7
pm, at the Culver Road Preserve’s upper field. Construction work on parking lots will mean cars have to
park on the shoulder of Culver Road near the upper entrance and be careful walking in. Town Parks’
manager Joe Talbut has been asked to get a hole mechanically augured for Robert Wesley’s white oak
tree, as previous tree planting in that field proved the clay and rocks were very difficult for digging with
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hand tools. The hang tag, award certificate, engraved plaque for the Town Hall lobby, and planting party
invitation have all been arranged by now. Mike posted an invitation to the party on the CB Facebook
page May 5th.
7. Discussion of Parks, Trails, etc.: Mike brought 6 more laminated posters for members to attach to the
Town’s brown trailhead kiosks. Alex is especially interested in this promotion project. Mike noted that a
plan for a new park and open space report intends to create individual web pages for each of the Town’s
parks, preserves, and trails. Alex has worked with a chamber of commerce project that allows people to
“check in” with photos and comments about recreational sites they enjoy visiting. These people can get
a patch to reward their participation in this activity. Richard wants to have a place on the Town’s website
where we can develop a map identifying the places we put the promotion posters. We could also partner
with the Cayuga Trails Club, or with IthacaTrails.org, to get our natural areas mapped and accessible
online. The Farmers Market ought to provide another such opportunity for public outreach. The posters
are also recruiting viewers to “help us protect these wonderful resources by joining the Town of Ithaca
Conservation Board!”
8. Regular reports and updates:
a) Scenic Resources Committee: Mike wanted us to know that the Town’s Public Works Department
has been renewing a license agreement every April with the New York State Department of
Transportation for our View Sign next to Longview on the Danby Road.
b) Communications Committee: James, Pete, and Lori will be attending the Fischer Tree party on
5/19/26, 6:00 to 7:00 pm. It looks like we’re ready for the third tree party in the upper field of Culver
Road Preserve.
c) Tompkins County’s EMC: Unfortunately, the EMC working committees were scheduled at the exact
same time this week as ours. Pete attended an EMC table on the Commons on Earth Day, where people
were asked to fill out a questionnaire asking them what they wanted from their municipal environmental
managers’ council.
d 1) Six Mile Creek’s volunteer monitors have been taking a new kind of water sample recently. Dr.
Cynthia Becker and her student James Preston at Ithaca College shared their results of a 2025 synoptic
microbiome sampling of 14 sites on Six Mile. They found bacterial diversity decreased at sites further
downstream. Microbial diversity correlated significantly with pH, turbidity, and nutrient concentration as
determined by chemical analysis. The closer to Cayuga Lake, the less diverse the microbiome at
downstream sites. They will conduct the same sort of analysis of the synoptic sample volunteers took on
March 25, 2026. James invited members to check out the poster that summarizes their first microbiome
sample’s results.
d 2) Volunteers involved in Benthic Macroinvertebrate Sampling will meet with Adrianna Hirtler
Monday night (5/18/26) at the CSI lab in Langmuir to party a little and to discuss ideas for future
biological sampling. The results from the 2025 BMI samples have been published on CSI’s website.
Members were invited to check out that poster, too. “EPT Richness” is a measure of the abundance of
mayflies, stoneflies, and caddisflies in the sampled population.
d 3) CSI’s first Harmful Algal Bloom was reported south of Harris Park in the Village of Cayuga on April
23, 2026. This is the earliest ever HAB, identified as Microcystis at the Langmuir lab. Last year the first
reported HAB was July 5, 2025. CSI hasn’t even set up its lakeside HAB monitoring program yet, but a
seasoned monitor happened to come across the extremely early bloom after an April heatwave.
e) Cornell Botanic Gardens Natural Areas volunteers up-potted native trees and shrubs into larger
containers for NA restoration transplanting. Nearly half the young trees growing at the Plant Production
Facility near Flat Rock were killed over winter by meadow voles, who were not sufficiently controlled by
new supposedly humane nontoxic CO2-pressurized rodent exterminators. Even the surviving plants
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showed many partly girdled stems. The NA program may need to go back to poisoned bait. On three
different days, volunteers weeded woody invasives from the south bank of Fall Creek, twice north of
Forest Home Drive, once south of the road and just below the Arboretum. The early warm spell made
native honeysuckle in this area blossom before the invasive honeysuckle flowered, making it easier to
tell the difference between the two. On April 28th we took the usual annual census of American
globeflowers at the Salt Road Fen. Blooms were slightly damaged by early flowering followed by a hard
frost and snow, but the plants themselves are surviving ok.
8. Other Business: none.
9. For June’s Agenda, we’ll again discuss the Parks, Trails etc. promotion program. Eva should be back to
continue on the Scenic Resources Committee’s view sign project.
10. We adjourned at 5:22 PM.
Draft minutes by James Hamilton