Town of Rochester Environmental Conservation Commission
Meeting Minutes July 9, 2015
Facilitator: Laura
Recorder: Chris
Attendance: Laura, Angela, Hank, Colin, Barbara and Chris. Guest: John Messerschmidt
I. Call to Order: 6pm
II. Business and Logistics
A. Minutes review and approval from May meeting.
III. Reports
A. EMC Report – Tim. Not present. Colin is willing to also attend these meetings.
B. Rail Trail Report-Stu. Not present
C. Riverkeeper: Angela gave a summary of the Riverkeeper annual report. Rondout Creek 68% failure rate. Tributaries have 72% failure rate. Hudson River has 23% failure rate.
D. Grant Reports-Chris/Larry/Laura. Chris and Laura will meet after this meeting to discuss the Open Space Inventory RFP that went out already. We’d like to create an addendum to the RFP based on feedback from Amanda LaValle and Laura Heedy.
E. UCRRA- Angela and Barbara. The county has pulled back on the threat to close all the transfer stations down. Can’t get private haulers to do it cheaper than the RRA. If towns get closed down, private haulers can jack up their prices. Barbara did not have an update on the status of Town of Rochester specifically. There is an issue of the large metal bins getting old, and the county wants to pass the cost on to the towns. Angela called Waste Management and found out that they have to go through RRA facilities for dumping.
F. Rondout Creek Watershed Alliance. Laura and Colin met at the high school two weeks ago. We have Wawarsing, Rosendale and Rochester signed on to create a map together for drop in points in the creek. Not going to cover the entire creek, so we will do this year as a test run to get something going annually. Next meeting is next week, Wednesday, July 15 at 7pm at Rochester Town Hall. Ben will be using the WISE training to get people on the same page. There are some people in Marbletown who are doing testing, so Angela suggested that we might be able to get them on board.
G. Recycling/compost. Colin is doing research about cleaning up the waste stream by sorting types of trash that can be used for productive causes. He is looking for who we can ship items to.
IV. New Business-
A. Rotating Facilitators/Meeting Ground Rules. Angela, Colin, Chris and Hank are willing. Angela will do August.
B. Creek Week Walk-Ben. Not present. Next week’s meeting with the other towns will lead to progress on this.
C. Signs and Environmental Info in the town hall. Carl said that we can take down two photos in town hall in order for us to hang out information. We have more signs than we have space for, so maybe we can rotate the signs based on what we’re working on.
D. Greenway grant. Angela suggests that we make the Rail Trail Commission aware of this given that we would match the grant with our volunteer hours, so we would need some help from them on this.
E. Purchase John Boat/when. No update.
F. Event spaces. Discussed Crested Hen opposition in Alligerville. Environmentally speaking, any new project has to follow certain environmental rules, so that’s what we would care about. Chris thinks that this is a NIMBY issue, and he’s not sure why Crested Hen is being so vehemently opposed. Angela talked about impervious surfaces, and how if that got out of control then we would have to make a statement. Laura mentioned the nesting eagles; if there’s a problem with their habitat, then we should be aware and make a statement. Big projects, like William’s Lake in Rosendale or the saving of Minnewaska, often have rare species involved. Colin suggested that we make a checklist for new developments. Barbara suggested that we ask the Planning Board for their minutes so we can stay on top of this issue. When we request the minutes, we should thank them for their work. The DEC, board of health, and the county have the most say on these issues. Then towns have some say, particularly with the town board. Our ECC is an advisory board, and we’re all citizens who can give input. Sometimes, like with the mining issue, hundreds of people can show up to a meeting, but there can be nothing to do about it. But Riverkeeper was founded by reviewing the Clean Water Act and finding details that allowed people to have a say and an impact. Colin will attend the Planning Board meeting on Monday to learn more.
I. Old Business
II. Action Item Review
III. Adjourn: 6:55pm