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Home My WebLink AboutAg Committee Meeting packet 7.28.26 Agriculture Committee Members and Associates (*) A.J. Teeter Farm (Matthew Stalker, Chair), Der Rosenmeister Nursery (Lee Ginenthal), Forest Family Farm (Claire Forest), Indian Creek Farm / Cummins Nursery (Steve Cummins), Ithaca Equestrian Center (Russ Wedemeyer), Laughing Goat Fiber Farm (Lisa Ferguson), Steep Hollow Farm (Christianne White, Vice-Chair) TOWN OF ITHACA AGRICULTURE COMMITTEE 7:00 p.m., Tuesday, July 28, 2026 Aurora Conference Room 215 N. Tioga Street Ithaca, NY 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 7:00 pm 1. Farmers Round Robin – What’s happening on your farm? How the season is going/went? Issues/concerns? Announcements? 7:30 pm 2. Persons to be heard 7:35 pm 3. Chair (Matthew) and Coordinator (Mike) reports / updates 7:45 pm 4. Ithaca Town Board (Diana) report / update 7:55 pm 5. Approval of minutes – March 28, 2026 8:00 pm 6. Discuss ideas for the next Town Board Farm Tour – Fall 2026 8:15 pm 7. Other Business - Recommendation of Chair and Vice-Chair for 2026 - Approval of the 2026 Meeting Schedule - Training / Educational Opportunities 8:30 pm 8. Adjourn Please call (607-273-1747) or email (msmith@townithacany.gov) if you cannot attend 1 Town of Ithaca Agriculture Committee Meeting Tuesday, March 31, 2026, 6:00 pm In Person at Ithaca Town Hall (Aurora Conference Rm) and via Zoom Video Conference Draft Minutes Members Present: Christianne White (Steep Hollow Farm), Acting Chair, Lisa Ferguson of (Laughing Goat farm) and Claire Forest (Forest Family Farm) via Zoom. Debbie & Alan Teeter (AJ Teeter Farm) in person. Town Representatives: Mike Smith (Senior Planner). Diana Sinton (Town Board Member) via Zoom. Guests: none 1. Farmers Round Robin – What’s happening on your farm? How is the season going/went? Issues/concerns? Announcements? Debbie reported that both kids live on or near the farm now with their families. The calving season is underway. A rare event of twin calves was born, and both are doing well. Thousands of seedlings have started and are growing for the plant sale. Christianne reported that Steep Hollow Farm summer leasing of crop land is anticipated to continue and is an asset however access to the land is difficult and could present a hardship if a different farmer were to lease. A solar information packet was received in the mail; initial general phone communication took place. The developer is interested in developing land for small scale solar, 30-40 acres. She noted an upcoming webinar she plans to attend that is related to agriculture and data centers. Mike mentioned hearing about an article about utilizing the heat emitted from data centers to heat greenhouses for growing plants. Lisa of Laughing Goat farm reported being a person down with an injury that her husband sustained. A mishap with the male and female separation of the goats resulted in an unexpected off-season pregnancy that did not end well. Additional grant funds from TC Soil and Water are anticipated for more fencing and tree planting. She attended the Ag Summit; the main focus was transition along with the tools available to assist farmers. The agenda for the summit will be shared for reference. The farm won a grant from the NYS Grown and Certified Program to update the farm website. She encouraged other members to consider being part of the NYS Grown Certified Program. Claire from Forest Family Farm noted she has had interest from solar developers and is not in favor as well as interest from general developers. She also noted she invited the Colbert Family to come to this meeting as well to join the committee, they are a large active farm on West King Road. 2. Persons to be heard- none. 2 3. Coordinator (Mike) reports / updates: Mike reported that the deer program concluded that day. A total of 16 deer were reported to be harvested from 8 different sites in the town and there is a short time to report any additional harvests from the last day. Some sites had more activity and some sites had none. Inquiries have been made by property owners for potential new sites in 2027 and hopefully there are adequate numbers of hunters participating or interested in the program for the future. 4. Ithaca Town Board (Diana) report: Diana introduced herself to the committee members she had not previously met. She reported the following and offered to be open to any questions the committee has: Change in Attorney for the Town after a long term consistent individual attorney for many years. The draft subdivision ordinance is being revised by the COC. A seat on the town board was open, and the successful candidate will fill the seat for the remainder of the year. Data centers, bans in neighboring municipalities and existing Town of Ithaca Zoning limit the use of that type of development. The initial T-GEN public information meeting took place and helped explain the potential alternate energy supplier program in the town. More public outreach and meetings will occur and once in place, all properties in the town will be opted into the program automatically with the same or lower rates as previous suppliers. A further step of the program is related to local energy source production. A FAQ is being developed to help the public understand the T-GEN program on a simpler level as well as a FAQ for questions related to the cameras (not Flock cameras) that the town public works department uses for live weather conditions access. Christianne mentioned that small scale solar is something that is asked about frequently along with geo-thermal. 5. Acceptance of minutes: The January 27, 2026 minutes were accepted as presented. 6. Other Business-no quorum for formal approval. Resolution-Recommendation of Chair and Vice Chair for 2026. Debbie will check in with Matt to see if he is interested in continuing Chair in the new year for 2027. Resolution-Approval of the 2026 Meeting Schedule. July 28, 2026, at 7:00 p.m. was agreed to be the next meeting when the remainder of the schedule and recommendation of chair and vice chair will be presented again in anticipation of a quorum of committee members. 3 Training/Educational Opportunities- Mike continues to forward the training and educational opportunities to the committee as they come. There are town funds available for training if anyone is interested. Debbie reported attending a meeting with a Cortland County dairy farmer regarding solar panels and requirements and issues in other municipalities such as requesting soil testing prior to installation and over time to check for ground contamination from the panels. Requiring roof mounted or ground mount on brownfields when possible are preferred in Cortland County. She is interested in a local sponsored information meeting and has contacted Farm Bureau, Cornell Cooperative Extension and will follow up with the County Ag and Farmland Protection Board (note- Grahm Savio is leaving CCE). Solar over parking lots was also mentioned as viable potential for locating solar panels. 7. Adjourn. Claire made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 7:01 p.m., Lisa seconded. Minutes were drafted by Planning Admin Staff Abby Homer PROPOSED RESOLUTION: Town of Ithaca Agriculture Committee Schedule of Meetings for the Year 2026 Agriculture Committee Meeting July 28, 2026 Motion by: Seconded by: . BE IT RESOLVED, that the Agriculture Committee of the Town of Ithaca adopts the following schedule of meetings for the Agriculture Committee for the year 2026. The Town of Ithaca Agriculture Committee will meet on dates and times listed below, in the Aurora Conference Room in the Town of Ithaca Town Hall. THE 2026 SCHEDULE IS AS FOLLOWS: July 28 (7:00 p.m.) November 24 (6:00 p.m.) A vote on the motion was as follows: Ayes: Nays: Abstentions: PROPOSED RESOLUTION: Town of Ithaca Agriculture Committee 2026 Agriculture Committee Chair and Vice-Chair Recommendation to Ithaca Town Board July 28, 2026 Motion by: Seconded by: . BE IT RESOLVED, that the Town of Ithaca Agriculture Committee recommends to the Town Board that ______ be appointed as Chair of the Agriculture Committee for the year 2026, and AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Town of Ithaca Agriculture Committee recommends to the Town Board that be appointed as Vice- Chair of the Agriculture Committee for the year 2026. A vote on the motion was as follows: Ayes: Nays: Abstentions: