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TOMPKINS COUNTY ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT COUNCIL 121 East Court Street Ithaca, New York 14850 Telephone (607) 274-5560 http://www.tompkinscountyny.gov/emc EMC Final Minutes 1 May 10, 2018 4:00 p.m. 2 Ithaca ReUse Center (214 Elmira Road), Ithaca, NY 3 4 Attendance 5 Member Seat Member Seat Steve Bissen E Town of Dryden Amanda Champion P Legislative Liaison Maureen Bolton P Town of Enfield Susan Allen-Gil P Associate Member Cait Darfler P Town of Ulysses Karen Edelstein A Associate Member John Dennis A Village of Lansing Bill Evans E Associate Member Brian Eden P Village of Cayuga Heights Anna Kelles A Associate Member Pegi Ficken E Town of Groton Dooley Kiefer E Associate Member Michelle Henry P Town of Newfield Dan Klein P Associate Member Anne Klingensmith P Town of Danby Jose Lozano P Associate Member James Knighton E At-Large Osamu Tsuda A Associate Member Vladimir Micic P Town of Ithaca David Weinstein A Associate Member Steve Nicholson E Town of Caroline Robert Wesley A Associate Member Susan Riley P At-Large Roger Yonkin A Associate Member Tom Shelley P City of Ithaca Scott Doyle P EMC Coordinator Genny Shipley P At-Large Kristin McCarthy P County Staff Don Smith P At-Large Ron Syzmanski E Village of Freeville Regi Teasley A At-Large Guests – Barbara Eckstrom Tompkins County Department of Recycling and Materials 6 Management; Diane Cohen, Finger Lakes ReUse; Mike Merchant 7 8 Call to Order – Chair Brian Eden called the meeting to order at 4:03 p.m. 9 10 Agenda Review/Changes – None 11 12 Approval of the Minutes – A motion was made by Tom Shelley, seconded by Anne 13 Klingensmith, to approve the April 12, 2018, minutes. Motion carried. 14 15 16 TC County Recycling and Materials Management – Barbara Eckstrom, director 17 18 • Barb Eckstrom, director of the County’s Recycling and Materials Management 19 Department, spoke about the Department’s history, current activities, and 20 forthcoming 10-year Solid Waste Management and Diversion Plan. The plan is being 21 developed completely in-house with no consultants, and a draft will probably be 22 issued this August for review by the community and the Legislature. 23 • Barb described her professional background, which once upon a time included serving 24 as EMC coordinator for the County. She also talked about the chaos/anarchy of the early 25 days of recycling in our area and legislators like Stu Stein and Barbara Mink, who 26 advocated for sustainable waste management when it was still extremely unpopular. 27 • Much effort was undertaken to keep recycling out of the domain of garbage haulers, and 28 the decision was made to create a County recycling and waste management building 29 instead. In Barb’s opinion, the best decision the County made was not to build a local 30 landfill. Instead, Stu and Barbara helped to draft policy to use a regional landfill. 31 32 Here are a few further details from her talk: 33 34 • Recycling compliance in Tompkins County averages about 85%. The Department makes 35 a concerted effort to hold public outreach events to educate people. A new section will 36 be added to their website this summer. Their ReBusiness Partners program helps 37 businesses, schools, and organizations to reduce, reuse, recycle, and rebuy. Cayuga 38 Medical Center is one such partner. 39 • The Waste Diversion program started about seven years ago to keep scrap metal and 40 special recyclables out of the waste stream. Tompkins County pays Finger Lakes ReUse 41 to pull out valuable materials. They also have an incentive program to encourage 42 universities and other haulers to come for high-value items. That recycling revenue helps 43 with other costs. 44 • There are 13 food scraps collection sites throughout the County. They tried a curbside 45 pilot but no organization wanted to pick up the cost for the service. 46 • With funds from a $400,000 Climate Smart Community Grant, Recycling and Materials 47 Management will be releasing a bid for construction of a food waste transfer station for 48 scraps from stores, universities, etc. 49 • The Department works extensively with Cooperative Extension’s Compost education 50 program. They offer a Borrow-a-Bin service for events and have a mobile food scraps 51 vehicle. One should be opening in Newfield this summer. In addition, the County offers 52 subsidies to companies like Wegmans to compost, making it a more affordable than 53 paying to haul away food waste. 54 55 Ithaca ReUse Center: Expansion Project Update – Diane Cohen, executive director 56 57 • Diane Cohen, who heads up Finger Lakes ReUse, spoke to the group about the 58 organization’s background and plans for the future, in particular the expansion of the 59 Ithaca ReUse Center on Elmira Road. Phase I of the expansion, which involves 60 construction of an unconditioned 7,500-square-foot storage space, is slated for the 61 summer of 2018. Phase II, which is more ambitious and includes a 4-story addition to 62 the current building, is scheduled for 2019. For the latter, Finger Lakes ReUse is 63 exploring possible collaborations with housing partners to defray costs and support 64 project feasibility. 65 • The organization’s stated mission is to enhance the community, economy, and 66 environment through reuse. Diane shared some of ReUse’s initiatives that work toward 67 fulfilling that mandate, including the ReSet Job Skills training program, deconstruction 68 and salvage services, eCenter Computer Refurbishing program, and the Ithaca Fixers 69 Collective. 70 • One of many standout statistics from Diane’s talk was that it costs $85 per ton to dispose 71 of waste in Tompkins County, yet it is possible to earn $2,000 per ton through reuse. 72 • There was time for a few questions from the members, but the Council hopes to invite 73 Diane back for a more in-depth discussion. Diane’s PowerPoint presentation is available 74 on the EMC website. 75 76 Committee Reports 77 78 Climate Adaptation: Brian Eden 79 80 The Committee is working on the Flooding Hazard and Risk Survey Report. They hope to share 81 a draft with everyone prior to the next meeting. 82 83 Environmental Review: Brian Eden 84 85 • Some residents of Nate’s Floral Estates have reported experiencing health problems. 86 The Committee would like to ask residents to fill out a health questionnaire to explore 87 whether a connection exists between the reported illnesses and Nate’s location. (It was 88 built on top of a former landfill.) However, members have been unable to get on the 89 privately owned property to inquire. Results from the NYSDEC’s soil and water testing at 90 Nates are not yet available for evaluation. 91 • The remediation plan for the Chain Works District was recently changed to “expedited.” 92 A public information meeting has been scheduled by the NYSDEC for June 7, 5:00- 93 7:00pm, at South Hill Elementary. 94 • The Court of Appeals in Albany ruled that the NYSDEC’s general permit for CAFO 95 pollution control does not fully comply with the federal Clean Water Act. 96 • The Article 78 hearing against Cargill will be heard by the Tompkins County Supreme 97 Court tomorrow morning (May 11th). 98 • The ERC is working with members of the Lansing Rod & Gun Club to find an amicable 99 way to get them to stop using lead shot on the property. 100 • At a recent TCCPI meeting, heating and cooling of the planned North Campus 101 dormitories came up as a topic of discussion. Brian asked Susan Riley if they could 102 confer about scheduling a conversation between Cornell and other community 103 stakeholders concerned with sustainable development. 104 • There is a bill in the NYS Legislature to further regulate solid waste incinerators in New 105 York State. 106 107 Unique Natural Areas: Steve Nicholson 108 109 • The Committee will meet Monday (May 14th). Members hope to plan the new boundary 110 revisions for Batch 5 in their multiple year review process. 111 • Contracts for the consultants have been finalized. 112 • Proposed construction of the Freese Road bridge in Varna could possibly affect a UNA in 113 the area. 114 115 Waste Reduction: Tom Shelley 116 117 • Members fine-tuned the Committee’s mission statement and discussed possible short- 118 and long-term goals. 119 • Long-term goals included reducing the use of plastic products in general, as well as food 120 and fabric waste, and promoting the reuse/recycling of fabrics. Emerging contaminants 121 of concern were discussed as well. 122 • The first short-term goal is to research existing bans on single-use shopping bags and 123 develop a resolution to go to the Legislature by the end of the year. 124 • EMC table at Earth Day celebration had quite a few visitors. Brian thanked Maureen 125 Bolton, Tom Shelley, and Cait Darfler for volunteering their time to staff it. 126 127 Water Resources Council Liaison: Michelle Henry 128 129 • Postdoctoral fellow Shannan Sweet gave a presentation on her work examining the 130 long-term effects on agriculture and water resources from the 2016 drought in New York 131 State. Shannan works in the NatureNet program under soil ecologist David Wolfe at 132 Cornell. 133 • The study took a three-pronged perspective: historical data, surveys and interviews with 134 farmers, and agricultural crop irrigation modeling. Low snowpack and low streamflow led 135 to drought. 136 Executive: Brian Eden 137 • Today (May 10th) marks the 47th birthday of the Tompkins County EMC. 138 • The Climate Solutions Summit takes place Saturday, May 19th, in Syracuse. 139 • Volunteers are needed to help carpool guests to the O.D. von Engeln Preserve for the 140 May 12th UNA field trip. 141 • Susan Riley reported that Cornell is hosting its public forum on the Earth Source Heat 142 geothermal program at The Space at GreenStar on May 17th at 5:30 pm. 143 Staff Report – Scott Doyle 144 145 • He and Kristin McCarthy will coordinate with Brian on revising and compiling the new 146 member packet. 147 • Scott distributed the EMC Communication Guidelines to everyone as a refresher on the 148 Council’s policy. 149 150 Authorization for Standing Committee Status: Waste Reduction 151 • Michelle Henry moved to authorize formation of the Waste Reduction Standing 152 Committee. Cait Darfler seconded the motion, which was approved unanimously by the 153 members present. 154 • On Susan Allen-Gil’s suggestion, Tom Shelley read aloud the Committee’s mission 155 statement. 156 157 Cayuga Lake HABs Plan Update 158 • The Cayuga Lake Watershed Network has new CSLAP sites; they will also be 159 monitoring for emerging contaminants, such as microplastics. 160 • They still need volunteers to take water samples on the north end of the lake. 161 • The hydrilla website is being updated. 162 163 Bylaws Revision Discussion 164 • No report. Dooley Kiefer wasn’t feeling well and couldn’t attend the meeting. 165 166 Municipal Reports and Member Announcements 167 • Michelle relayed that construction of the Millard Hill solar project in Newfield is 168 under way. 169 • The Dryden Solar Project was challenged by another Article 78 lawsuit against 170 the Town Planning Board last week; Brian attended. 171 • Vlad Micic said two new sidewalks, one along Danby Road from the Ithaca City 172 line to Ithaca College, and another on Trumansburg Road, will be paved 173 sometime in the next year. 174 • Don Smith is taking a class on mapping invasive species and wondered which 175 committee could benefit from that knowledge. Members suggested he check out 176 either the UNA or Environmental Review Committee. Scott recommended that he 177 attend a meeting of each to determine which is more to his liking. 178 179 Adjournment 180 Action: Chair Brian Eden adjourned the meeting at 6:00 p.m. 181 182 These draft minutes will be formally considered by the EMC at its next monthly meeting, and 183 corrections or notations will be incorporated at that time. 184 Prepared by Kristin McCarthy, Tompkins County Planning and Sustainability Department. 185 Approved by EMC: 06/14/2018. 186 187