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Inclusion through Diversity Tompkins County DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING & SUSTAINABILITY 121 East Court Street Ithaca, New York 14850 TOMPKINS COUNTY WATER RESOURCES COUNCIL Monday, May 15, 2017 4:15 PM Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit (TCAT, Inc.), 737 Willow Avenue, Ithaca AGENDA 1. Call to Order – Darby Kiley, Chair 4:15 2. Privilege of the Floor1 - Darby Kiley Chair 4:15 3. Agenda Review/Changes – Darby Kiley, Chair 4:20 4. Approval of Minutes – Darby Kiley, Chair 4:20 • April 17, 2017 5. SPDES MS4 Permit Annual Report, Angel Hinickle, TCSWCD 4:25 6. Projects of the Tompkins County Soil and Water Conservation District 4:35 Angel Hinickle and Mike Hall - Using compost for best management practices - Pony Hollow: I-4 project with Upper Susquehanna Coalition 7. Committee Reports – 5:05 Potential Pollutants – George Fowler Grants Education and Outreach – Lynn Leopold Watershed Rules and Regs – Chris Bordlemay Workshop to Protect Water Resources – Joan Jurkowich Monitoring Partnership – Roxy Johnston Updated Water and Sewer Study – John Andersson 8. Chair & Staff Reports 5:35 9. Announcements – Members 5:40 10. Adjournment 5:45 Agenda Packet: A) Draft April 17, 2017 B) Upper Susquehanna NFWF I-4 Project Summary Upcoming Meeting Dates: June 19 and July 17 Members: If you cannot attend a meeting, please contact Kristin McCarthy at 607-274-5560. 1 Limit of 3 minutes per person for members of the public to address the board TOMPKINS COUNTY WATER RESOURCES COUNCIL 1 Monday, April 17, 2017 2 TCAT Main Office Conference Room 3 Draft Minutes 4 Attendance 5 Member Seat Member Seat Sharon Anderson P Cooperative Extension Frank Proto P At-Large John Andersson P At-Large Elaine Quaroni E At-Large Fay Benson P Agriculture Marjory Rinaldo-Lee P Environment Chris Bordlemay P Water Purveyor Michael Thorne P At-Large Cynthia Brock P Recreation Ed Bugliosi A USGS (non-voting) Brad DeFrees A Associate Member Liz Cameron P Co. Environmental Health Kristen Hychka P Associate Member Brian Eden E Interim EMC Liaison Roxy Johnston P Associate Member George Fowler P At-Large Emelia “Mia” Jumbo P Associate Member Bill George P Municipal Government Jose Lozano P Associate Member Barry Goodrich E Watershed Organization Darren MacDougall P Associate Member Michelle Henry P At-Large John Mawdsley A Associate Member Joan Jurkowich P Co. Planning Department Todd Miller P Associate Member Dooley Kiefer P County Government Steve Penningroth A Associate Member Darby Kiley P Municipal Government Joanne Trutko P Associate Member Lynn Leopold P Municipal Government Tom Vawter E Associate Member Kristin McCarthy P Co. Planning Department Linda Wagenet P Associate Member Jon Negley E Soil & Water Cons. District 6 A quorum was present. 7 8 Guests: Bob Schindelbeck, Abbie Teeter 9 10 Call to Order – Chair Darby Kiley called the meeting to order at approximately 4:15 pm. 11 12 Demonstration: Soil Health Trailer – A. Fay Benson, Bob Schindelbeck, Abbie Teeter 13 14 WRC member A. Fay Benson, along with colleagues Bob Schindelbeck, of the Department of Crop and Soil 15 Science at Cornell, and Abbie Teeter, from Cornell Cooperative Extension, gave the Council a demonstration of 16 the New York Grazinglands Coalition Soil Health Trailer. Funded by a USDA grant, this rolling soil health lab 17 enables A. Fay Benson and his team to show farmers throughout New York State why no-till farming, cover 18 cropping, and other practices are key to maintaining soil health as they control erosion and prevent runoff. 19 20 As part of the demonstration, the team passed around samples of different soil types to the members and then 21 watered the soils to show how well they retained rainwater. 22 23 Privilege of the Floor – There were no speakers. 24 25 Agenda Review/Changes – None 26 27 Approval of March 2017 Minutes – 28 D. Kiley reminded members that a timeline of the history of Cargill’s Cayuga Salt Mine had been added to the 29 March 20th draft minutes in this month’s agenda packet. Interim Environmental Management Council (EMC) 30 liaison Brian Eden had included the timeline in his presentation, given with EMC member John Dennis, on the 31 Cayuga mine at the March meeting. WRC coordinator Joan Jurkowich thought it inappropriate to include the 32 timeline as part of the minutes because it was not something that had happened at the meeting. Some members 33 countered that it was appropriate because it had formed part of B. Eden’s presentation. Other documents regarding 34 the Cayuga mine were included in the April agenda packet as well but were not considered part of the draft March 35 minutes because B. Eden had sent them after the meeting. 36 37 Action: Cynthia Brock moved, seconded by John Andersson, to approve the minutes of March 20, 2017. The 38 Council passed the motion unanimously, except for Joan Jurkowich, who opposed. 39 40 Committee Reports 41 42 Cayuga Lake Monitoring Partnership (CLMP) – Roxy Johnston 43 44 The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) is looking into ways to better 45 monitor Cayuga Lake once the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) is in place. Last spring or summer, the 46 CLMP explored joining the Citizens Statewide lake Assessment Program (CSLAP) because at the time the 47 NYSDEC said it planned to rely on five-year monitoring data to track the health of the lake and that seemed 48 insufficient. However, CSLAP was still quite limited in scope, so the Cayuga Lake Watershed Network, 49 Community Science Institute, and Cayuga Lake Floating Classroom investigated other monitoring efforts. The 50 NYSDEC is now looking to fund an enhanced CLSAP-type model and is having meetings with different groups 51 around the watershed about the TMDL. There have been no big announcements or forward momentum in regards 52 to that. They still plan to release the draft TMDL in May, with a 30-day comment period, but groups work to 53 extend that time. D. Kiley added the NYSDEC plans to put two monitoring stations on each Finger Lake, not just 54 Cayuga and Owasco. 55 56 Education and Outreach – Lynn Leopold 57 58 The new Paddling Southern Cayuga Lake and Cayuga Inlet brochure is in demand. The area U.S. Coast Guard 59 Auxiliary has several events coming up where they’d like to have the brochure on hand to pass out to attendees. 60 The first event takes place Friday, April 28th. Kristin McCarthy, with the Tompkins County Department of 61 Planning and Sustainability, will take care of printing 1,000 copies of the brochure, per the committee’s request. 62 Members are compiling a list of places to distribute the brochure and asked members to forward them other 63 suggestions. Work on the boating safety brochure will come next. 64 65 The Canal Corporation does not have funding to co-produce the proposed brochure covering Cayuga and Seneca 66 Lakes, so the committee is considering putting together a boating map and information piece for just Tompkins 67 County and our section of the lake. C. Brock noted that in working on the project the group discovered that all the 68 maps put out by the Canal Corporation and/or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) 69 use outdated 50-year-old road data. As a result, the committee will need to see if they can get newer data from the 70 County to overlay on top of the NOAA maps. 71 72 Lynn Leopold will be out of town for the next Education and Outreach Committee meeting. 73 74 On June 24th, there will be an Ithaca Reggae Fest in Stewart Park to benefit Cayuga Lake, and the organizers 75 asked if the WRC would like to have a table under the Education Tent or just provide brochures. If the Council 76 opts to have a table, there will need to be volunteers to staff it. 77 78 Watershed Rules and Regulations – Chris Bordlemay 79 80 The members have met intermittently. Chris Bordlemay continues to do a lot of research and other work on 81 Cornell’s Watershed Rules and Regulations, and Roxy Johnston is revising the City of Ithaca’s version. They will 82 then compare notes and prepare a similar document for the committee to review and edit. Following that, they 83 will bring it to other institutions that might find it of interest. 84 In March, the committee met with Eileen O’Connor, director of the Department of Environmental Health for 85 Cayuga County. She is in charge of updating watershed rules and regulations for that County. 86 87 Liz Cameron remarked that when watershed rules and regulations first came out, there were not a lot of 88 environmental regulations in place. However, that has changed tremendously over the years so now the focus 89 should be finding and covering areas not protected by current environmental regulations. 90 91 Workshop to Protect Water Resources – Joan Jurkowich 92 93 Committee will meet with the Tompkins County Council of Governments in May to discuss what topics would be 94 of most interest to municipal officials. 95 96 They hope to hold a training session in September or October of this year. 97 98 Updated Water and Sewer Study – John Andersson 99 100 The committee, whose members include John Andersson, Frank Proto, Michelle Henry, and Liz Cameron, met 101 once and came up with two main goals for the year: 102 103 • Advise the County on updating the water and sewer study produced in 2010 104 105 • Explore how municipalities look at the capacity of water and sewer systems when reviewing development 106 projects 107 108 The turnaround time for responding to the County Planning and Sustainability Department on the study was very 109 short, so the members compiled comments by email and sent them to Scott Doyle on April 4th. He responded 110 positively by April 5th. 111 112 Members will meet the third Wednesday of every month at 1 p.m. at the Tompkins County Health Department. 113 The one exception to this schedule is the April meeting, which will be held the fourth Wednesday, April 26th. 114 115 Potential Pollutants – George Fowler 116 117 George Fowler is the new chair of the committee. The first meeting was held March 21st, and the group started 118 fleshing out their work plan for the coming year. 119 120 They began compiling a laundry list of emerging pollutants of concern, such as endocrine disruptors, persistent 121 organics, and microplastics. They will also look at the sources of these pollutants, including illicit connections to 122 our stormwater system, landfills, and groundwater/surface flow, and explore strategies for decreasing their 123 presence in the County water supply. 124 125 The committee might invite Angel Hinickle from the County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) to 126 present at a committee meeting on illicit discharge connections into the stormwater system and Scott Gibson from 127 the City of Ithaca who works on stormwater management. 128 129 Other goals include investigating existing federal, state, and local regulations of these compounds and what’s 130 already out there in terms of research for devising best management practices. 131 132 Soil Health – Mia Jumbo 133 134 Pat Barry from the Natural Resources Conservation Service came to talk to the committee about their current 135 outreach initiatives with farmers and cover crops. They also spoke with Paul Gier of the SWCD about cover crops 136 and the new equipment coming out, such as the interseeder, which lets farmers sow cover crops when a standing 137 row crop is still growing. However, this piece of equipment is pricey so committee will focus on identifying 138 sources of funding for farmers. 139 140 The members also talked about holding an educational event for urban homeowners on improving stormwater 141 infiltration. Dooley Kiefer asked Mia to bring up the topic of drainage tiles with Fay Benson at the next meeting. 142 143 High Hazard Pipeline 144 145 There was no news to report. 146 147 Chair Report – Darby Kiley 148 149 D. Kiley brought up for a vote the Letter of Support requested by Jose Lozano and Susan Allen-Gil to the Park 150 Foundation for a proposal on microplastics in Cayuga Lake. 151 Action: Frank Proto moved, and Cynthia Brock seconded, to endorse the Letter of Support to the Park 152 Foundation. The motion passed unanimously with no abstentions. 153 154 Next on the agenda was discussion of the Letter of Concern submitted for the Council’s endorsement by EMC 155 liaison Brian Eden to the NYSDEC regarding Cargill’s proposed Mine Shaft #4 project. Addressed to NYSDEC 156 Commissioner Basil Seggos, the letter recommends that permission for this project be withheld until a Draft 157 Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) has been completed and a full, open public discussion has taken place on 158 the project’s risks and benefits. 159 160 The letter was a topic of much debate at the meeting. D. Kiley inquired whether members want to sign off on the 161 letter as a group or send individual letters per their own discretion. F. Proto suggested giving representatives from 162 Cargill the opportunity to address the group before making a decision one way or the other. D. Kiefer commented 163 that the letter only asks for a DEIS to be submitted before the project is approved. It does not make a statement 164 either in support of or against Cargill’s proposal. The members continued to discuss various issues and concerns 165 raised by the letter. 166 167 Action: Cynthia Brock moved, and Bill George seconded, to approve the Letter of Concern to the NYSDEC on 168 Cargill’s Mine Shaft #4 project. Joan Jurkowich remarked that TCAD, or IDA, (she wasn’t sure which) had 169 already been approached about receiving tax breaks for the project and had signed off on the negative declaration 170 for the project. Moreover, she was fairly certain that report has been sent to the County Planning, Development, 171 and Environmental Quality committee. Liz Cameron said she was not present at the April WRC meeting, so she 172 did not have a comprehensive knowledge of the preceding discussion, but she did think that signing off on the 173 letter when the NYSDEC has already issued a neg dec would amount to taking sides. Discussion continued for 174 quite some time with members bringing up various questions and concerns. 175 176 177 Action: Frank Proto proposed that Cynthia’s motion be postponed indefinitely until such time as the Council is 178 able to review more information on the project and the reasons behind the neg dec issued by the NYSDEC. Joan 179 Jurkowich seconded F. Proto’s motion. F. Proto stated that a motion to postpone cannot be debated. The motion 180 carried with 11 in favor and 4 opposed (M Henry, C Brock, B George, D Kiefer). 181 In closing, D. Kiley informed members that there may be an At-Large vacant seat on the WRC now that Michelle 182 Henry is the EMC liaison and that Ed Bugliosi is retiring so the Council will need to recruit a new representative 183 from the U.S. Geological Survey. 184 185 Staff Report – Joan Jurkowich 186 187 There was no staff report because of time constraints. 188 189 Announcements 190 191 Roxy Johnston reported that her office would be moving into the new Ithaca Water Treatment plant. 192 193 Adjournment – 194 195 Chair Darby Kiley declared the meeting adjourned at approximately 6:05 pm. 196 197 Prepared by Kristin McCarthy, Tompkins County Planning and Sustainability Department 198 Approved by Water Resources Council: DRAFT 199 Upper Susquehanna Coalition - NFWF I-4 PROJECT - #49592 – Project Summary 1 Upper Susquehanna Coalition - NFWF I-4 PROJECT - #49592 Objective 1 - information-investigation-implementation Community decision makers and project funders can identify and implement cost effective floodplain and stream channel improvements that would have a positive impact on flooding and flooding impact reductions Goal 1-1 – Identify Watersheds Identify all priority flood impacted watersheds in the participating NY & PA counties based on historic, current and projected needs • Soil & Water Conservation District/Conservation District nominated and supported • Small, manageable size – 12 to 16 digit HUC code • Predominately non-urban watersheds • Watershed municipalities’ buy-in and support (assured by SWCD/CD) • Documentable support from volunteer groups, watershed associations, colleges, etc. • Watersheds that may have any special designations or related studies • Watersheds with identified resource needs (i.e. flooding, erosion, habitat improvement) • Potential for in-kind match (funding, volunteer labor, etc.) Goal 1-2 – watershed assessments – information & investigation Assessments will include identifying cost effective practices that can be implemented to reduce flood and channel corridor impacts • Compile background reports of existing watershed information • GIS modeling • Visual evaluations • Geomorphic stability INTEGRATION IMPLEMANTATION INVESTIGATION Upper Susquehanna Coalition - NFWF I-4 PROJECT - #49592 – Project Summary 2 • Channel connectivity to floodplains • Floodplain encroachments • Stream crossings • Flooding history • Compile report • Review with municipalities Goal 1-3 – develop preliminary designs Preparation for potential implementation funding and conduct cost/benefit analysis for identified practices • Develop practice cost tables • Conduct cost benefit analysis for ecological and functional valu es appropriate to level of practice implementation • Solicit approval of landowners for proposed projects • Select several projects from each priority watershed • Survey • Preliminary design Goal 1-4 – implementation of pilot practices Select Practices for implementation in each watershed • Work with each watershed Community to select practices to implement • Develop final designs and approval • Research and secure funding • Contract and build • Conduct educational efforts in concert with projects construction to demonstrate value Objective 2 – integration Community and Emergency Responders are knowledgeable of and utilize a stream clearance protocol for restoring stream transport of water and sediment after major storm events Goal 2-1 – training – integration Train 50% of individuals responsible for emergency stream intervention in the use of NYS ESI methodology • Solicit sites in priority watersheds • Evaluate sites and select • Hold 5 workshops Upper Susquehanna Coalition - NFWF I-4 PROJECT - #49592 – Project Summary 3 Objective 3 – integration Create Watershed Communities that are knowledgeable of the functions of floodplains and makes land use and development decisions based on available information, science and socio- economic impacts Goal 3-1 – Community Awareness & understanding Create Awareness and Understanding of causes of flooding and stream instability • Edit 90 minute “Stream Dynamics and Flooding Causes” presentation • Conduct presentation in 50% of priority watershed communities Goal 3-2- floodplain management Conduct educational (non-compliance visit with each municipality to review and explain purpose and function of locally adopted floodplain management ordinances • Train individuals to conduct visits • Schedule visits • Conduct visits Goal 3-3 – Community open house Create understanding in Communities of actions that can be taken to minimize flooding impacts to their homes and businesses • Develop and distribute watershed specific educational materials • Hold “open house”, workshops and other appropriately identified outreach efforts Goal 3-4 – community specific education Community specific education and outreach customized based on identified needs to enhance resiliency within communities • Identify educational and outreach needs based on assessments • Develop and distribute appropriate materials, workshops, trainings, demonstrations, etc.