The Town of Rochester Town Board held a Public Hearing on the Natural Heritage Plan on May 3, 2018 at 7:00pm at the Town of Rochester Town Hall.
PRESENT:
Councilman Drabkin Councilwoman Fornino Councilwoman Haugen-Depuy
Councilman Hewitt Supervisor Baden Town Clerk Gundberg
Attorney Christiana
Supervisor Baden opened the meeting and led in the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
Maren Lindstrom read aloud the comments made by the Town of Rochester Planning Board;
We are epecially excited by and support the following items in the plan;
1. That the plan is a joint effort with Wawarsing, thus it represents a consensus of purpose with respect to our two Town’s shared Natural Heritage.
2. That the plan strongly encourages that the six primary components of the Town of Rochester’s character be enhanced and preserved; and that actions be taken to ensure that those that follow in our footsteps enjoy the fruits of these components as we have.
The components include:
a. The Agricultural and Agro-Related cultural resources of the area.
b. The Ecological Resources of the Town
c. The Hydrological Resources and aquatic habitats of the Town.
d. The Recreational Resources and the need to enhance our Recreational Resources, particulary the Rondout River as a Recreational Resource.
e. The Scenic Resources as an economic engine as well as an aesthetic opportunity, and
f. The Historical and Cultural Resources as needing preservation and education to draw attention to the same.
3. Lastly, that the plan includes proposed legislative verbiage and/ or actions that the Town Board could adopt, change,discuss,hold for public hearing and move forward to implement in the effort to enhance these six defining components of out town.
The Planning Board notes, and draws the attention of the Town Board to, the fact that none of the recommendation of this plan become ‘active law’ until the plan is adopted by the Board. Even then, nothing becomes ‘law’ until each of the suggested component of the Natural Heritage Plan can be separtely considered by this Town Board and the citizens of the Town.
Adoption is only a first step. The Planning Board urges the Town Board to take the first step. The Planning Board pledges its assistance, if desired by the Town Board, increafting the necessary actions to follow on the recommendations made by this plan.
A great deal of energy went into this plan and we are excited to be part of the possible impletemention of actions that would strenghten the Natural Heritage plan of the Town of Rochester. The Planning Baord is particulary excited about and supports the following:
1. The recommendation to create an agricultural Advisory Board. Rochester has, and hopefully will continue to have, beautiful productive farms serving the areas’ residents and beyond; providing jobs and attractive places for tourism; and driving economic vitality. We are very supportive of this recommended action.
2. The recommendation to consider creating the ECC and Conservation Board. Further discussion and refinement is needed here. But, having a Board of experts who can give studied input to the Town Board, Planning Baord, and citizens of our Town on matters involving the environment would enhance th e beauty and sustainability of Rochester.
3. The recommendation to designate the pacama Vly and the portion of the Colony Farm-Shawangunk-Catskill ‘Flyway’ as Critical Environment areas. This is very important to the ecology and biodiversity of the area. Additionally in the case of the Pacama Vly, the area is crucial to the hydrological health of this area.
4. The recommendation tor easearch ways to preserve the quality of our water resources including the holding capacity of streams and rivers.
5. The recommendation to expand our outreach for grants, particularly grants to support the evaluation of (1) economy enhancement and development of the area;(2) the scenic advantages of the area; and (3) the biodiversity resources of the area.
The aforementioned five plan recommendations are important to and of great interest to the Planning Board. There are other elements of the plan of equal importance and we cite these as examples only. Again, we support the adoption of the Natural Heritage Plan and look forward to collaborating with the Town Baord to discuss the details of each suggestion and move forward pm these items.
Supervisor Baden stated that he wanted to recognize Laura Finestone who gave her heart and soul to this project, Rick Jones, John Michaelson who has done an amazing job with the mapping, Larry Dewitt for writing the grant and Carl Chipman.
CONTINUATION OF PUBLIC HEARING:
Resolution # 137-2018:
A Motion was made by Supervisor Baden to continue the public hearing on June 7, 2018 at 7pm.
Second: Councilman Drabkin
Discussion:
Aye: 5 nay: 0 abstain: 0 5-0aye, motion carried