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PLANNING COMMITTEE (Tompkins County Board of Representatives) FEBRUARY 5, 2003 - 2:00 P.M. COURTHOUSE CONFERENCE ROOM Staff Present: Joan Jurkowich, TCPD; Ed Marx, Commissioner, TCPD; Wendy Skinner, Public Information Officer; Kathryn Smithers, Tompkins Co. Admin.; Kathy Wilsea, Secretary, TCPD Other BOR Members Present: Barbara Blanchard, Martha Robertson Guests: Martha Armstrong, Tompkins County Area Development; Stephen Nicholson, Environmental Management Council Chair I Committee Administration A Call to Order Chair Mike Lane called the meeting to order at 2:00 PM. B Agenda Changes One additional liaison will be appointed, being for the Celebrations grant committee. C Approval of Minutes Dan Winch made a motion to accept the minutes of the 1/16/02 Planning Committee meeting, which was seconded by Dooley Kiefer. Dooley submitted some changes and the minutes were approved by a 5:0 vote. D Announcements There were no announcements. E Establish Liaisons The list of liaisons was reviewed and changes were made for the Water Resources Council, the Strategic Tourism Planning Board, and the Celebrations Grant Committee. The Commercial Center Revitalization Program (voting seat) was deferred until needed. Mike indicated an interest in serving on the CCRP committee. Since neither Frank Proto nor Martha Robertson are on PDEQ, Dooley will consider being liaison to the Ag & Farmland Protection Board. - Agriculture and Farmland Protection Board Robertson (Proto has voting seat) 3rd Wednesday, 7 PM, Coop. Ext. (Jan,Feb,Mar 11:30 AM) - Environmental Management Council Kiefer 2nd Wednesday, 7 PM, Transit Center - Fish and Wildlife Management Board Winch ea 2 months - MPO – Policy Committee Blanchard 3rd Tuesday, months 2-4-6-8-10-12 at 10 AM - MPO – Planning Committee Penniman (Kiefer alt.) 3rd Tuesday, months 1-3-5-7-9-11 at 2 PM, Transit Cntr. - Planning Advisory Board Kiefer 4th Monday, 9 AM, Coop. Ext. - Regional Forest Practice Board Winch - T C First Time Homeownership Oversight Committee Schuler (voting seat) 3rd Friday, Noon, OJCR - Soil and Water Conservation District (Totman & Blanchard have voting seats) 1st Tuesday, 8 AM, SWCD - Water Resources Council Winch (Proto is Chair) 3rd Monday, 4 PM, Transit Center - Strategic Tourism Board (ex-officio seat) Penniman (Herrera alt.) - TCAD Blanchard - Chamber of Commerce (voting seat) Joseph (Proto alt.) - Celebrations Grant Committee (voting seat) Herrera III Tompkins County Area Development Martha Armstrong was present and addressed questions about the Report on Activities that was provided with the agenda. Dooley asked if TCAD’s membership campaign was finished for the year. Martha said it was not as successful as previous campaigns, so is continuing. Barbara Blanchard said TCAD board members are following up on contacts. While the dues are not set, TCAD has a suggested range from $100 to $25,000. Following discussion on the conference center feasibility study for the Cornell University downtown office site, Martha agreed to put a copy of the consultant’s report in the County Board office. Dooley asked if outside review will be involved in updating the economic development strategy. Martha Armstrong said they will be teaming up with Planning Department staff as presentations are made to communities on the comprehensive plan. Ed Marx said this will provide the opportunity to get comment from people who don’t usually get involved with the economic development strategy. Mike Lane said the economic development strategy has recommendations for implementation, and there is a need to stay dedicated to implementation, and not just make updates to the plan. Dooley asked about the Joint Working Group, and Mike said Martha is providing some research about the effect of a livable wage on actual net income by comparing it to other government programs. Kathy Luz Herrera noted that there never was a definition for “livable wage”. Martha said her research has included working with the Department of Social Services to gather information on the impact of wage increases on various family configurations. Kathy noted that not every family group qualifies or applies for all the programs available. The Joint Working Group will report to PDEQ Committee, as it was part of Economic & Workforce Development in the past. Kathy Luz Herrera asked about the feasibility study for the Holiday Inn tax abatement application. Martha deferred this to Michael Stamm, saying she is not as completely informed on IDA projects. Mike Lane said IDA wants clarity on the need for tax abatements, as they must be key to the expansion. The applicant must show a clear funding gap. The Holiday Inn application will have a feasibility study, but Martha noted it will differ from the ones for the Gateway and Ciminelli projects in many ways. Resolution: Seeking Expansion of Empire Zones to All Counties Motion by Kathy Luz Herrera, seconded by Dooley Kiefer to adopt the resolution. Barbara Blanchard was present to voice support for this resolution. Peter Penniman noted that the discussion at NYS Association of Counties included mention that originally Empire Zones were for disadvantaged areas, but they decided geographic balance was also important. Resolution amended to include NYSAC, Senator Kuhl, Senator Seward, and Assemblywoman Lifton in distribution of copies. Passed by vote of 5:0. II Strategic Tourism Planning Board G Resolution: Budgeting Unit Reconfiguration and Fiscal Target Adjustment – Celebrations, Community Arts Partnership & Dewitt Historical Society Resolution moved by Dan, seconded by Peter. Jackie Kippola was not present due to a scheduling conflict. Dooley said the discussion at the Community & Consumer Affairs Committee was concerning loss of identity for the Community Arts Partnership in this budget move. Kathy asked if there was a disadvantage to having no mention in the budget. Mike said CAP would be segregated, and funding would be tracked separately. Ed Marx said he spoke with Kathy Smithers about this, and it streamlines the budget process. Joan Jurkowich concurred, saying it can be a tedious to have $0 programs when budgeting. Dooley said at least if CAP has its own budget line, BOR members will see it every year. Peter said this program provides services for residents, and room tax funding is supposed to go to tourism. Joan and Dooley said CAP has other sources of revenue, too. Kathy Smithers joined the meeting to answer questions. She said CAP does receive some room tax funding; $25,000 goes to them as a grant. The PDEQ committee can still ask questions, even if there is no budget line. Joan said other components of the CAP budget are from outside grants and membership fees. Dooley didn’t want CAP left out of the budget. Peter felt it was okay to leave the resolution as is. Kathy Luz Herrera said she sees two aspects of this discussion – the administration of a zero-line budget item, and the identity component. Dooley made a motion to amend the resolution by removing the third Resolved clause, which was not seconded. Resolution as presented was adopted by vote of 4:1 (Kiefer). Mike took a moment to welcome EMC chair Steve Nicholson and BOR Member Martha Robertson. IV Planning Department I Commissioner’s Report Snowmobile Trail Signage: Ed Marx provided some background for members who had not served on the Planning Committee in 2002, noting that when TCPD agreed to be the municipal sponsor for the snowmobile club grants, it was just supposed to be a pass-through program. But in recent years, as more issues have arisen, NYS has added other requirements that take staff time. This year the grant money received from NYS was more than anticipated by about $6,000. Originally the County Highway Department had thought they could post road-crossing signs for about $6,000, but their new estimate is over $17,000. Clubs are reluctant to sign agreements that have an obligation for signage. Pete Messmer of the Highway Department told him that no policy exists for rarely installed signage, but this is on a large scale and not covered by their budget. Ed suggested going ahead and disbursing 70% of the grant money to the clubs, which is the first phase payment from NYS, address the signage issue when the 30% arrives. The clubs had expected $12,000 and have spent that amount in anticipation. The cost of the signs could be split over this year and next year. Dooley noted for new members that the grant is restricted to trail maintenance, and cannot be used for administration. She felt signage seemed a legitimate use of the grant money. Ed said we could try to get some money from the State for the project. 60% of the job cost estimate is for hardware. Peter asked what the new requirements were from the State. Ed said a SEQR review was needed for the grant resolution, and now that public comments have been received, signage became a safety issue. The Highway Department’s policy is to comply exactly with the uniform signage manual. Peter asked who pays for tractor crossing and deer crossing signs, and Ed said Highway covers them. Peter asked about having the clubs pay for the signage over a period of years, and Dan agreed with the idea of a multiple-year contract to gather money for the expenses of the Highway Department. Dan said he dislikes seeing the Highway Department give away their services for free. For clarification, Mike asked if Ed sought approval to disburse the 70% of the grant funds and authorization to negotiate an agreement to cover signage. Dooley suggested disbursing the amount the clubs originally expected from the grant, which Ed said was almost the same amount (two-thirds rather than 70%). Motion by Kathy Luz Herrera to authorize the Planning Department to disburse 70% of the snowmobile grant to the clubs and negotiate a multi-year agreement for the clubs to pay for signage. Seconded by Dan, and passed 5:0. Comprehensive Plan: Ed said TCPD staff continues to make presentations to public groups and advisory boards. They are currently determining the issues and scope of the plan. Public outreach meetings were held in the fall, and he has begun meeting with representatives of the municipalities. Efforts continue to gather other input. The Planning Advisory Board is working on identification of criteria, which will be used to select issues to address in the plan. The issues will then go through a public comment period and come to this committee. Mike asked if adoption of the comprehensive plan should be part of this committee’s goals, and Ed said they do not expect it to be ready for adoption until fall of 2004. Municipal Assistance Contracts: Ed said the Planning Department remains interested in developing long-range agreements with municipalities. Some BOR members are feeling the need to be cautious of long-term commitments, so staff availability is the crux of the matter. Current need is to move forward with agreements with the Town of Enfield and the Village of Lansing, and other municipalities are “waiting in the wings”. Some BOR members feel short-term agreements would be more flexible. The Planning Department is trying to develop long-term income to reduce over-target requests. Steve Whicher supported this idea and it was part of the budget scenario developed for the Planning Committee. Ed said the Department will seek funding for half of a staff person’s salary from the contracts, but needs assurance of keeping the staff person once hired. Peter commented that this was predicting the person would be first to go if the budget were cut, and Ed concurred. Peter felt the BOR would protect any contracts that were in place. Ed asked for a resolution of support to voice their intent. He felt there was lack of support, which makes him uncomfortable selling this idea to municipalities. Mike commented that the towns are doing better than the County, and asked if municipalities had projects that would take two to three years. Ed said long-range agreements would be more effective, and yield better follow-through and implementation for the ideas. The agreements would make municipalities aware of the need for long-term planning, and be cost effective for them. Joan pointed out the staff person would be full time, and contracts would bring in half of the salary. Dan said small municipalities need attention and benefit from a slow process. Martha Robertson commented that she felt the last budget cut of $20,000 imposed on the Planning Department made Ed cautious about having this concept work. If the $20,000 were restored to the Planning Department budget, would Ed be confident about proceeding? Ed said he wasn’t really looking for the money for this year, but he wants Board support about following through to develop this strategy over a three-year period. Mike asked if Ed wanted the Board to say the position won’t be cut. Ed said the Planning Department is at the beginning of the hiring process, and he would find it difficult to be positive with applicants without some kind of indication of support. Martha Robertson pointed out Betty Falcao’s comment at the Planning Advisory Board that she was surprised that the BOR did not recognize the responsibility to support these kinds of efforts, at least in part, with the county staffing level. Martha also speculated on using part of the Aquifer Study funds, as the studies are currently delayed. Kathy said she would support a resolution articulating the intent of getting this funding from contracts with municipalities. She felt it is part of the synergy with municipalities. Ed said Planning Department staff will craft a resolution. Kathy Luz Herrera left at 3:45 PM. Hazard Mitigation: TCPD was approached to work on a joint plan with some of the municipalities. A pre-disaster plan must be in place by November, 2004 in order to apply for disaster mitigation grants. The County share of the effort would be staff time to prepare the application and hire a consultant. There would be no cash outlay for Tompkins County. They will also coordinate with the municipalities that have done individual plans (Town of Dryden, Town of Newfield & City of Ithaca). Assistance to Administration: Ed reported that he is working with Steve Whicher in providing a liaison for Administration to this committee, Consumer & Community Affairs, Facilities & Infrastructure, and Space Needs & Location. Dan asked what is not being done at TCPD as a result of this arrangement. Ed said his dedication to finishing the comprehensive plan and establishing municipal assistance will definitely continue. Some issues have been delegated to staff, and some projects have been shifted from senior staff to others to free up senior staff time. Dooley said it is great that he and staff have been working this out, but in the worst case scenario this would take 40% of Ed’s time. She agreed with Martha Robertson’s comment in the past that this is equivalent to a cut in support for the department, and that’s not fair. Mike said he has discussed this with Ed, and Ed will inform him if the situation becomes too demanding. Ed said staff have some concerns, but are energized to consider new interaction with Administration and the committees. This will integrate activities with other departments. Dan said he sees a financial contribution of tapping Ed’s skills for Administration. He expressed concern about burning out the other Planning staff, too. Dooley felt cabinet level work is preferable to having Ed devote 40% of his time to Administration. Downtown Development: Ed said T C Planning Department staff will be meeting with City of Ithaca Planning Department staff next Monday. This is a staff-level meeting only. Lake Source Cooling: Dooley asked if Ed had any news on the discussion about Lake Source Cooling reducing the number of monitoring sites. She wondered if the County can still comment to DEC. Ed said he will check with Kate Hackett. J Budget Adjustment Request – Homeownership 5 & 6 Joan said this adjustment was necessary because amounts had been unknown at the time the budget was drawn up. Motion by Dan to approve, seconded by Dooley. Passed 4:0. V Establish Committee Goals K Discussion Mike asked each member to submit a prioritized list of five goals to Kathy Wilsea. Ideas will be distributed to all committee members and discussed at the March meeting. These may or may not match the TCPD work plan. Mike mentioned looking at Route 13 again. Dooley listed items that would need to be dealt with this year, including the draft Comprehensive Plan, jet ski regulations, aquifer studies, and IDA & County SEQR policies. She suggested revisiting density incentives policy, PAR, and Common Good Coalition goals. VI Appointment L Appointment: Fish & Wildlife Management Board Motion by Dan to appoint Gregory Johnson to FWMB (sportsman seat), seconded by Peter. Passed 4:0. VII Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 4:05 PM.
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