Town of Rochester Environmental Conservation Commission
Meeting Minutes July 14, 2016

Facilitator: Laura
Recorder: Chris
Attendance: Laura Finestone, Rick Jones, Angela Dorris, Chris Hewitt, Judith Karpova, Tim Ganon
Guests: Larry DeWitt, Daniell DuBord, Kelli Habranek (Rochester ECC), Brian Lenon

I. Call to Order: 6pm
II. Business and Logistics
A. Minutes approved
B. Judith is our newest member, but Laura is making sure. John Messerschmidt is also a new member.
III. Reports
A. Natural Heritage Plan report/ECC participation/another member
-Laura attended the last meeting. Rick also attended a “get to know you” meeting. The next meeting is at Accord Town Hall, July 28.
B. EMC. Judith attended. They’re talking about ways to adjust the EMC. Judith will send us all notes about this. Report about Climate Smart Certification Form. Our work on solar can help our town qualify. We should have a working committee about this. Angela took a packet to review. Inland Waterway legislation is making progress. The Rondout Creek will be changing its status to an inland waterway. Judith also attended a Farm Hub meeting (On Farm Nature Walk) for ECC members, which she said was very interesting. They’re training farmers on how to work large fields and make it commercially successful.
C. Planning Board Report. Rick.
-No major projects to report about. Short discussion of solar law about what had happened at town board meeting.
D. Riverkeeper. Angela.
-All 6 sites failed for entero testing last month. Riverkeeper put out a notice about source tracking. They are also doing intensive testing every Monday through August. 9am-12pm. Rick and Judith can help with volunteering. There will be a training for everyone.
E. Creek Week. Laura.
-Rosendale will be the Hub. They want to have an open air event where they invite other ECCs to do WAVE. We’ll see if we get volunteers to go out on the boats.
F. Last Town Board meeting. Larry.
-The Natural Heritage Plan was discussed. Brian Drabkin thought that the report was very good.

IV. New Business
-Rich Schiafo came for a presentation from Hudson Valley Regional Council—. Simon Gruber works with Rich. The Hudson Valley Regional Council (HVRC) was established in 1977 as an organization of county governments comprising Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster and Westchester counties. It’s one of 650 such councils in the United States that in addition to providing a regional perspective, offer planning, education & outreach, and advocacy for the communities they serve.
“Water Policy and Laws in New York: Tools & Perspectives for Stream Protection”
Scope
to develop regionally-applicable educational materials, guidance documents and fact sheets on the legal, regulatory and policy issues pertaining to drinking water source protection, stormwater management, maintenance and restoration of streams and riparian buffer protection and restoration that help people adopt conservation best management practices. (The objective is to enhance local watershed stewardship in targeted watersheds. Outreach and education will be targeted in watersheds with watershed plans or are currently creating a watershed stewardship planning approach.)
– Refine and produce educational resources to address specific legal questions related to specific water management issues in the targeted watersheds.

Project Partners: HRWA, LHCCD
Deliverables
- Educational workshops and materials, focusing on the following:
-An introduction/overview of the existing legal framework for stream management in NY State; -an overview of DEC’s programs and authority; and
-local government authority (towns, villages and cities) to implement programs and regulations,; and
-A comprehensive approach to stream management, protecting water quality, reducing/ mitigating flooding, maintaining/ enhancing public access, protecting biodiversity and recreational uses;
-an overview of specific tools and mechanisms available to address stream management including regulatory and non-regulatory measures on resource protection.
-Local riparian buffer protection options including model laws
-An overview of the development of the Intermunicipal agreements and intermunicipal jurisdiction and “Home Rule.”
-legal mechanisms for Intermunicipal collaboration to manage streams.
– NYS Watershed rules and regulations, their current status Dept of Health oversight to protect drinking water supplies
– Drainage law in NY State
– NY Laws and rules regulating the inter-basin transfer of water in New York State and the ability of a municipality or Intermunicipal council to regulate such transfers.
– Stormwater regulations and MS4 program, including the newer parts of state regulations that focus on green infrastructure; related design principles, implementation issues and maintenance needs for stormwater systems and green infrastructure; the LHCCD’s Reviewing Stormwater Management in Site Design: A Guide for Planning Board Members. LHCCD will provide instruction on “Reviewing Stormwater Management in Site Design: A Guide for Planning Board Members”.

Other partners:
County planners, Soil and Water Conservation Districts and water quality entities in Ulster, Dutchess, and Rockland Counties; Sparkill Creek Watershed Alliance (Rockland); Wallkill River Watershed Alliance, Town of Rochester Environmental Conservation Commission; Fishkill Creek Watershed Association, New York State Floodplain and Stormwater Managers Association
Hudson Valley Regional Council Jan 2016

-Rich also shared information on Moodna Creek Watershed Intermunicipal Council. And Watershed Rules and Regulations for Protection of Drinking Water in New York.

-Discussed our relationship with Riverkeeper and other municipalities. In addition to these projects, we are focusing on riparian buffers, water quality, old septic systems, farms, flood plain easements. Simon mentioned that land trusts generally don’t like to secure small parcels, like the thin stretches required for riparian buffers. In Vermont there’s an organization that secures small pieces of land, originally for swimming holes but also riparian zones. We could try to work with a local land trust, or start a new organization specifically for this purpose. Our ECC is striving to work with RV Growers Association on riparian zone education. Quick discussion of flooding zones in Rochester and Rosendale. MS4 (Municipal Separate Storm and Sewage System) education could be good for Town of Rochester for best practices even though we don’t have municipal water or sewer. More on Riverkeeper and source tracking.

-One possibility on education is to cover the set up for municipalities that cover the different systems. Public sewers were once thought to be needed for all towns. Responsible Management Entities. Basic: municipality does education. Other extreme is that municipality ends up owning the easement over the system and holds all responsibility. The latter is how it is in Woodstock (lots of money, lawsuits involved).

-Went back to topic of water draws (taking watershed from a local source and moving it far away, e.g. NYC water supply). Discussed water companies that buy land and take water without much notice from an aquifer, unlike the highly visible Niagara Water Co. taking water from Cooper Lake.

-It’s up to our ECC what we’d like to work on with Hudson Valley Regional Council. They can support our work with education, workshops and more visits. Angela suggested that there may be some overlap on our Natural Heritage Plan work, particularly in areas that our consultants would like education. Big issues, generally, are stormwater, flood plain, flooding. Town of Rosendale loves MS4 education (each month trying to pick different topics: lawn chemicals for September) and will be having events at the Rosendale Theatre. Next steps are having a discussion about which direction to go in.

V. Adjourn: 7:50pm