Planning Sub-Committee Meeting
March
28, 2006 – 7:30a.m.
MINUTES
Committee Present: Carol Tytler, Committee Chairperson; Danny Ross, Chairman-Legislative Ag/Planning/Environ Committee; Merwin Armstrong; John Troy
ABSENT: Kay Breed
Others Present: Dan Dineen, Director-Cortland County Planning Department; Don Chambers, Superintendent-Cortland County Highway Department; Angie Wyatt, Secretary to County Administrator; Amanda Barber, Director-Cortland County Soil and Water Conservation District; Valerie VanGorder, First Ward Alderman-City of Cortland; Susan Feiszli, Sixth Ward Alderman-City of Cortland; Eric Mulvihill, News Director-WXHC Radio; Rebecca Schneider, Storm Water Management Specialist-Cornell University
The meeting was called to order by Committee Chairperson, Carol Tytler at 7:36a.m
MOTION BY JOHN TROY TO APPROVE THE MINUTES FROM THE FEBRUARY 28, 2006 COMMITTEE
MEETING – 2ND BY MERWIN ARMSTRONG – ALL COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT
VOTING IN FAVOR – MINUTES APPROVED
Carol Tytler asked everyone to introduce himself or herself to guest speaker, Rebecca Schneider.
GUEST SPEAKER, REBECCA SCHNEIDER
Storm Water
Management Specialist
Cornell
University
Rebecca Schneider provided the Committee and guests with a PowerPoint Presentation titled “Managing Storm water Runoff and Roadside Ditches to Mitigate Floods, Droughts, and Degraded Water Quality”
Rebecca indicated that roadside ditches impacts the mechanism for increased land-water linkages, conduit for rapid runoff and an internal source of sediment and other contaminants. Recommendation would be: Reduce connections from residential runoff to roadside ditch systems; Infiltration basins/Detention ponds to capture water and allow it to recharge groundwater; and reduce ditch scrapings and never have the substrates exposed. Ditch Management Strategies would be: To reduce sediment. Challenges for Towns and Highway Departments are: Funding is scarce and insufficient to allow retrofitting; Annual workload is already heavy (i.e. potholes, paving, ditches, de-icing, snow removal); Private land taking needed for wider ditches or infiltration basins will be unwelcome and controversial; and Towns do not have resources to maintain infiltration basins.
Amanda Barber advised the Committee that hydro seeding is offered to the towns by the Cortland County Soil and Water Conservation District. Amanda indicated that very few towns take advantage of this service. More education is needed and the best way is by example of the towns that have had it done.
Don Chambers said that roadside ditches would suffer because public safety of the County roads would take precedence over the roadside ditches.
Even tough the landscape has not changed; there has been more flooding due to the high event of precipitation in the Northeast.
Since funding for any projects is limited Rebecca suggested that the County start contacting the EPA to see what is available.
It was suggested to use youth to do a study of our watershed. This can be done through the schools as science/environmental projects.
Rebecca strongly urged that the communities in the county cooperate and work as a team to find solutions to flooding issues.
UPDATE ON MARCH 30TH EDUCATIONAL WORKSHOP FOR COUNTY RESIDENTS COPING WITH FLOODING
The workshop will be held on Thursday, March 30th
from 6:00-7:00p.m. in the Auditorium at the County Office Building.
The speakers will be Paul Yaman, President of Paul Yaman Construction and
Bill Nechamen, Chief of Floodplain Management with the NYS Department of
Environmental Conservation. Mr.
Yaman will discuss managing flooding through construction techniques.
Mr. Nechamen will discuss floodplains, flood insurance coverage,
mitigation options and programs available, as well as other common sense coping
techniques.
Angie Wyatt will arrange for a PA system and to have
the workshop videotaped so it can be aired on public access television.
FUNDING POSSIBILITY FOR CREEK BANK STABILIZATION PROJECT UNDER THE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT PROGRAM.
Carol Tytler met with Bernie
Thoma and Andy Damiano regarding the County applying for a block grant for the
purpose of helping people with water issues.
Block grants have different categories such as City, County and Towns
& Villages. Carol believes that
if the County and City work together to apply for block grants that each
municipality qualifies for, they could help each other and then some of the
flooding issues could be addressed.
COMMUNITY CLEAN-UP
First Ward
Alderman, Val VanGorder announced that the City’s First Ward would be
conducting a Clean-up day on April 29th. Many of those present expressed that it would also be a good
idea for the City, Towns & Village. Merwin
Armstrong indicated that some of the towns already have a clean-up day for
litter and yard waste. Eric
Mulvihill mentioned that a river clean up is done in the spring.
Amanda briefly described “Spruce Up America” and offered to bring
materials in for the next meeting.
NEXT PLANNING SUB-COMMITTEE MEETING
The next meeting
will be held Tuesday, March 25, 2006 at 7:30a.m. in Room 302 of the County
Office Building. Bernie Thoma from
Thoma Development Consultants will be in attendance to discuss Local Waterfront
Revitalization. Amanda Barber will
have handouts and discuss the “Spruce Up America” program.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:55a.m.
Minutes Prepared by Angie Wyatt, Secretary to the County Administrator