Minutes
Planning, Development &
Environmental Quality Committee
Tompkins County Legislature
Regular Meeting
January 19, 2006 3:00 PM Old Jail Conference
Room
Members
Present: Martha Robertson (Chair), Jim Dennis,
Kathy Luz Herrera, Frank Proto, Tyke Randall
Staff: Katie
Borgella, TCPD
Crystal
Buck, TCPD
Fernando
de Aragon, ITCTC
Heather Filiberto, TCPD
Joan Jurkowich, TCPD
Ed Marx, Commissioner of
Planning and Public Works
Julia Mattick, Tompkins
Workforce NY
Kathy Wilsea, TCPD
Visitors: Martha
Armstrong, TCAD
Fred
Bonn, CVB
Chrys
Gardener, Cooperative Extension
Craig Schutt, SWCD
Joe
Turcotte, TCAT, Inc.
A Call
to Order – Chair Martha Robertson called the meeting to order at 3:02 PM with members
Kathy Luz Herrera and Tyke Randall present. .
B Changes
to the Agenda – Kathy Luz Herrera asked about including discussion on the
sunset of the IDA density policy, which expires in February, 2006. Martha said that will be part of the
goals discussion at the next PDEQ meeting.
Frank
Proto and Jim Dennis arrived at 3:04 PM.
C Approval
of Minutes from December 6, 7 and 20, 2005 – Kathy moved all three documents,
seconded by Frank and passed by unanimous voice vote.
D Announcements
– Martha handed out excerpts from County Corridors, a newsletter for
employees. Wendy Skinner has
suggested PDEQ examine the issue of bus passes for County employees. Martha will talk with chairs of other
legislative committees and decide which committee should address this. Frank and Kathy would also like to
examine employee parking on a larger scale.
E Appointment
of Liaisons – It was unknown when the Regional Forest Practice Board meets, and
Kathy Wilsea will pursue that and check to see if the appointment must be a
legislator. The following
appointments were made:
Ag
& Farmland Protection Board Proto
voting seat, Randall liaison
Environmental
Management Council Dennis
Fish
& Wildlife Management Board Randall
MPO
Policy Committee Kiefer
MPO
Planning Committee Herrera
Planning
Advisory Board Robertson
(Kiefer remains on committees)
T
C First Time Homeownership Randall
Soil
& Water Conservation District (Stevenson
& Proto appointed in December)
Water
Resources Council Dennis
Strategic
Tourism Planning Board Herrera
IDA (Herrera,
Joseph, Hattery, Robertson, Furman,
Cogan
& McPheeters appointed by resolution 1/17)
Celebrations
Grant Committee Herrera
Economic
Development Revolving Loan Proto
Ithaca
Downtown Partnership/BID McBean-Clairborne
F Farmland
Purchase of Development Rights Grant Application – Report on
Memorandum of Understanding with Town of Dryden – Ed Marx said TCPD is
currently involved with the implementation of a PDR grant in Lansing and an
application for PDR in Dryden.
Last year there were discussions at PDEQ about the County’s role in PDR
programs. For the Dryden
application, the County and the Town are expected to co-hold the easement, with
the town being the lead applicant. Expenses will be shared, and reimbursed from the grant. TCPD staff has gathered some expertise,
and Dryden has a staff person capable of doing the application. The County’s role may strengthen the
application in the State review process. Ed provided some background on PDR for new members, and Frank
said AFPB has been discussing it for about five years.
III Department,
Program and Agency Status Reports
G Tompkins
County Planning Department – Ed Marx provided an overview of the
department, explaining
that the work of the department is focused on implementation of the Tompkins
County Comprehensive Plan. Psaying they
believe progress is dependent upon interdepartment, and
intermunicipal, and
intergovernmental (State and Federal) cooperation. The department also strives to involve the public in all of
its projects., and the public needs to be and has a right to be
involved. The
Planning Department is responsible for taking a long-term
view, typically five or more years.
He introduced staff members and noted thatmentioned the
work program will be on the February PDEQ agenda. He reviewed the projects staff areis involved in
for the community and the County. In
answer to a question, Ed said there are 8.5 FTEs in the department; there were
11 when he first came to the county.
H Ithaca-Tompkins
County Transportation Council – Fernando de Aragon explained
that any county in the US with population over 50,000 in an urbanized areas
has a Metropolitan Planning Office.
Tompkins County qualified by the 1990 Census, and this MPO was created
in 1992. They are involved in
transportation planning, and most of their budget is federal funds that flow
through NYS. Three specific
obligations are to produce a Long Range Plan (20 years), the Transportation Improvement
Plan in conjunction with NYS DOT Region 3, and the annual Work Program for the
local office. PDEQ will
occasionally see budget transfers for ITCTC because the NYS fiscal year does
not match that of the County. He
outlined the types of projects they are typically involved in. The ITCTC has three FTEs; Fernando expects to add a
half-time employee this year.
I Soil
& Water Conservation District – Craig Schutt provided
handouts with background, and reviewed some projects. The agency brings in a lot of grant money, which goes to
landowners for implementation of best management practices. Three of their target projects are
providing technical assistance to landowners, municipalities, and contractors for
implementation of the new stormwater regulations; working with citizen groups
on water quality monitoring; and providing hydroseeder services.
J Tompkins
Workforce New York – Julia Mattick said she currently serves
as Interim Director of the Workforce Investment Board (reports to the
Legislature and Steve Whicher) and Director of the Office of Employment and
Training (reports to the County Personnel Department). WIB has 37 members, and must have 51%
or more of its members from the private sector. Other partners are from workforce development agencies. She outlined some of their priorities,
such as working with TCAD to make sure resources are available to meet
community needs, upgrading skills of the workforce, and attracting businesses
that match our existing workforce.
Most funding comes from the federal Workforce Investment Act through
grant rounds. She is planning an
orientation at the One-Stop Center and provided more information in handouts.
K Tompkins
County Area Development and
Industrial Development Agency – Martha Armstrong is the Vice
President of this not-for-profit agency, which is essentially the
County’s designated economic
development agency. Most of their
income is from donations from members and IDA fees. They have three areas of work: business services, economic development leadership, and
marketing. Business services
include work with businesses who “export”, or sell their services outside of
Tompkins County; key not-for-profit agencies like Kendall, Special Children’s Center the Racker
Centers and Cayuga Medical Center; and revitalization through IDA tax
abatements on commercial properties. Economic development leadership means being a catalyst
for ED initiatives, such as the Cayuga Venture Fund, Workforce Investment Board,
and Air Services Task Force. They
also produce an Economic Development Strategy and foster cooperation of other
agencies through a quarterly luncheon meetings. Marketing functions include business/employment recruitment, some of
which are targeted for technology links with Cornell University. TCAD has more than 100 members and a
staff of five people.
L TCAT,
Inc. – Joe Turcotte distributed a list of current
projects. He is very proud of his
staff’s accomplishments in 2005, which was a year of business consolidation,
contract negotiations, and increased record ridership. Next week he expects to announce the
filling of the Communications Manager job, which includes advertising and
marketing. Martha Robertson
informed him that legislators will be examining the county’s
policy on bus passes for employees.
Kathy Luz Herrera said new vehicles with combination fuel systems are a
very exciting development for TCAT.
N Proposal
for Change to
Community Beautification Grants Guidelines – Chrys Gardener
had provided background for proposed changes with the agenda. She said STPB discussed the proposal
yesterday and approved it. It
provides for selection of three key areastowns
per year and giving grants to the municipalities, serving all
the towns over three years.
STPB also asked how much it would cost to give funds to all towns for
one year, or over two years. The
proposal under review would continue the matching grants aspect, and the
municipal contribution can continue to be in-kind services. The creating resolution did not specify
how the individual projects were handled, but the advisory committee would
still review all applications.
Although information will be gathered to respond to STPB’s questions of
yesterday, the proposal outlined in Chrys’s materials is the only one workable
within the current budget.
Kathy
Luz Herrera moved to support the proposal as outlined, which was seconded by
Frank. PDEQ members encouraged
Chrys to seek more rural members for the advisory board and bring information
to PDEQ on the concepts raised by STPB yesterday. Expression of support passed by unanimous voice vote. Chrys encouraged members to visit the
Cooperative Extension website (www.cce.cornell.edu/tompkins)
and view the photos of past projects.
She will contact the Clerk of the Legislature about doing a slide show
at a meeting.
III Department, Program and
Agency Status Reports
(Continued)
M Convention
& Visitors Bureau – Fred Bonn quickly provided
a slide show on CVB, which is the destination marketing organization for
Tompkins County. He reported there is a direct dollar-for-dollar that for
every $5 received in room tax, there are $4 of sales tax generated.match of the room tax income to sales tax income
for the County. The total
economic impact of tourism in 2004 was $148 million. They CVB are is a
division of the Chamber of Commerce, and much of their promotion activities are
in cooperation with the Finger Lakes Tourism Alliance. The Finger Lakes is the only region in
NY that showed tourism growth in 2005.
He and Jackie Kippola are planning a more informative presentation on
room tax programs for a future meeting.
V Adjournment
– Martha
will develop a calendar for proposed agenda items and draft Committee goals for
the February meeting. The meeting
was adjourned at 5:28 PM.
Respectfully
submitted,
Kathy
Wilsea, Secretary
Tompkins County Planning Dept.