Town of Rochester Environmental Conservation Commission
Meeting Minutes June 9, 2016

Facilitator: Laura
Recorder: Chris
Attendance: Laura Finestone, Rick Jones, Angela Dorris, Chris Hewitt, Tim Ganon
Guests: John Messerschimdt, Larry DeWitt

I. Call to Order: 6:10pm
II. Business and Logistics
A. Introductions
B. Minutes approved
C. New members
III. Reports
A. Natural Heritage Plan report/ECC participation/another member
-Our ECC members can/should start participating. We will be updated on when meetings are coming up. George Gomes, an ECC member, and others are participating from Wawarsing.
B. EMC. Judith not here.
C. Planning Board Report. No meeting since last month.
D. Riverkeeper (Angela)
-did first testing last month and next one is next weekend. Although 5 out of 6 failed, it’s very close to not failing, unlike last year. Our worst site is at 78, which could sometimes have a count of 2,000 of entero, a fecal indicator. Larry asked about how much rain happened before the testing. Not much, but this seems not to be a factor. More testing will be happening at the campground (Rondout Valley Resort). When we find big issues, we work with Riverkeeper, which then talks to the DEC about it. Riverkeeper only files very strong reports with data and evidence.
E. Climate Smart Communities. Judith not here.
F. The Omelet (Tim)
-Talked about development and mitigation of problems with flooding. CARP was the presenter. Last talk of the season. Attended by over 30 people, especially DEC reps. Talked about wording that will be behind the state’s building and zoning standards, especially in light of 100-year floods and the need to adjust old numbers and expectations because of more frequent flooding. It’s an amendment to local zoning laws. To mitigate the effects of climate change. This language will be put in the background of all infrastructure changes for towns, based on new criteria.
G. Laura talked to Assemblyman Cahill about the Rondout’s designation about navigable waterways.
F. Farm Hub is having a walk on the farm about On Farm Nature Walk: Birds and Butterflies. All ECC members of the towns are invited. June 25, 10am-12pm. Email Brook Pickering-Cole for details.

IV. New Business
A. Public meeting re Solar July. July 7
a. Letter to town board re solar comments/edits. Rick and Judith put together our comments and Judith sent it to Carl via our group email. There was a discussion of decommissioning solar arrays, and a bond that would help with this. As technology gets better, more megawatts can be put in a smaller place, which means arrays can take up less space. Rick will share the letter again with Laura, and she will make sure Carl gets the final letter.
B. Creek Week Plan
-we may do some culvert hopping with Andrew Meyer this year. We did a WAVE training last year, and a Boat Brigade. This year the event is in September (usually around the 17th), and we’re looking for an ECC member to organize this. We someone to organize getting high school students to help, and gathering boats for the project. John may be interested in putting together the Boat Brigade. We may be able to work with Rosendale ECC (Kelli) to organize the event. Laura will talk to Dan Shapley from Riverkeeper to organize things, and Laura Heady. Chris will help as needed (maybe a press release and other publicity). Angela will volunteer to coordinate a training event with Ben for this year. There were 8 people trained last year, so Angela or Ben can reach out to them to see if they can help this year.
C. Other ECC Projects
• Trash Fest/ Composting and recycling-inter-municipal
• Plastic bag ban-inter-municipal
D. Discussed the new construction of the bridge at Rochester Creek and Route 209. Larry is looking for some public land to do a launch for our testing boats. We may be able to get a truck load of gravel dumped by the town to reduce all the mud at that location.

I. Old Business
-Tire removal with John and Tim in the Rondout, between Kerhonkson and Accord. John will email Tim, Larry, and the rest of the group about potential dates to do this. 9am-12pm.
II. Action Item Review
III. Adjourn: 6:50pm