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Minutes 05-03-07

Minutes of the
NYS Association of County Planning Directors
Board Meeting
Friday May 4, 2007
10:30 pm – 2:30 pm
Ontario County Planning Department
Canandaigua, New York

* Indicates planners in attendance at meeting

Attendance:	Member:	County:	Attendance:	Member:	County:
	Mark Fitzimmons	Albany	*	Keith Zimmerman	St. Lawrence
	H. Keir Dirlam	Allegany		Lawrence S. Benton	Saratoga
	Rita Petkash	Broome		Ray Gillen	Schenectady
	Thomas Livak	Cattaraugus	*	Terry, Alicia	Schoharie
*	Steve Lynch	Cayuga		Danielle Hautaniemi	Schuyler
	Rose Wightman	Chautauqua		Glenn Cooke	Seneca
	Randy J. Olthof	Chemung		Gregory P. Heffner	Steuben
	Donna Jones	Chenango		Thomas Isles	Suffolk
	Brown, Rodney	Clinton		William Pammer, Jr.	Sullivan
	Vosburg, Roland	Columbia	*	Elaine Jardine	Tioga
*	Dineen, Dan	Cortland	*	Edward Marx	Tompkins
	Nicole Franzese	Delaware		Jennifer Schwartz	Ulster
	Roger P. Akeley	Dutchess		Tatich, Patricia	Warren
	Drew Eszak	Erie	*	Mark Galough	Washington
	Vic Putman	Essex		Sharon Lilla	Wayne
	James N. Feeley	Franklin		Gerard Mulligan	Westchester
	James E. Mraz	Fulton		Richard Tindell	Wyoming
	James Duval	Genesee		Chris Wilson	Yates
*	Hart, Warren	Greene		Mike Kayes	NYSACPD
	William Osborne	Hamilton
*	Don Canfield	Jefferson	Guest	JasonPfofenhaur	St. Lawrence County
*	John Sorbello	Lewis	Guest	John Brennan	NYS DAM
*	David Woods	Livingston	Guest	Diane Held	American Farmland Trust
	Jack Miller	Madison
	Paul Johnson	Monroe
*	Doug Greene	Montgomery
	Patricia Bourne	Nassau
	Ferraro, Sam	Niagra
	John R. Kent	Oneida
	Karen B. Kitney	Onondaga
*	Hughes, Kris	Ontario
	David, Church	Orange
	Wayne Hale	Orleans
	Brian Frazier	Oswego
	Bliss, Terry	Otsego
	John Lynch	Putnam
	Vanderheide, Linda	Rensselaer
	James Cymore	Rockland

Call to Order and Introductions - Meeting called to order at 10:38 AM by President Hart.
Approval of Agenda – President Hart requested to remove item 4d NaCO, as Michael Kayes cannot attend today. Approved by consensus.
Approval of Minutes of January 30, 2007. 2 corrections noted on attendance section. Moved by A. Terry and Seconded by D. Dineen. Unanimously carried.
Reports, Updates, Discussion

Rural Resources Commission, Land Use Advisory Committee – K. Hughes – has not met since January

Legislative Items

Annexation and mediation bills have moved forward and are expected to pass in the fall.
Next meeting should be in the fall. Now in the identification of issues process.

President Hart inquired if changes to the Empire Zone Program had been brought as an issue by the committee since the current program does not fit the needs of many rural counties. A. Terry and K. Zimmerman pointed out that the new state administration does not look favorably on this program. Then President Hart solicited members for other issues.
A. Terry asked if LUAC could address the new NYS Uniform Fire Prevention Building Code b/c while the farm buildings have an exemption for 3 years, it is uncertain what will happen after that. Also, small businesses wanting to expand cannot afford the high cost of complying sprinkling, which usually requires hook up to municipal water. S. Lynch concurred with this as he has an identical situation in Cayuga County. K. Zimmerman stated that recreational camps will also have difficulty complying.

b. Website – President Hart stated that he received 17 proposals. Those were reduced to 9 based on budge. The Executive Committee then short-listed those to 3 based on examples and credentials. Those three will be interviewed and a consultant should be selected soon. K. Hughes stated that the website should be highly functional and useful to CPDs. It envisioned the website will contain a general information section with description, meeting agendas and minutes, CPD list, etc., a resource section and an administrative functional section for CPD use only. President Hart stated that the Executive Committee will work with the selected consultant on strategic mapping of the website structure.
T. Bliss stated that we would like to see a section resource for posting how CPDs deal with various issues organized by a subject index. It should be dynamic so CPDs can edit as needed.
D. Woods asked if the website was for the public or not. K. Hughes answered that there will be a certain element available for public consumption, but there will also be a section for internal use only.
T. Bliss also suggested there should be a profile of each county and its planning department.
President Hart stated that the trickiest part is hosting and maintenance and associated costs. That component needs the most evaluation when interviewing consultants.
D. Woods asked if we would own the project and not the consulting firm. W. Hart said yes, this requirement was written in the bidding form.
S. Ferraro asked if sponsors had been approached yet. W. Hart said there was no progress on this aspect yet. We will wait until we have a firm contract and costs. Discussion ensued on aspects to be considered when selecting a consultant.
Discussion concluded with items that should be included on the website “repository”. Suggestions included training materials such as the NYPF Train the Trainers presentations, NYMIR training courses, county planning departments’ annual work plans and reports as well as MS4 annual Stormwater reports.
NYSAC Economic Development, Environmental and Rural Affairs Committee – David Woods – no meeting since January.
NaCO and NACPD – removed
Training of Municipal Planning and Zoning Board members – President Hart asked for updates from CPDs on this issue.

W. Hart – Greene County – County Board passed resolution giving the County Planning Director the discretion to approve training for County Planning Board. Does not cover town and villages for now, but getting calls requesting training.
M. Galough – Washington County – Providing training resources on the county’s website. We provide two training sessions per year. Additionally, Saratoga County next door provides an annual all-day training that many members take advantage.
K. Hughes – Ontario County – Taking an issue driven approach to training. We also provide two 2-hour training sessions per year. Currently we are providing training on the on-line GIS system call OnCOR which we allow 1 hour of training credit. We also host an annual Ag Planning Night which was very well attended last night as it was billed to allow 2 hours of training credit.
D. Woods – Livingston County – Have been conducting evening training sessions for past 3 months, however this will come to an end and will be handed over to the towns since Planner will be going on maternity leave soon. We are keeping certification records for the municipalities as well. One village has opted out an entire board. E. Jardine stated that there was a town in Tioga County that also waived the requirement for their entire planning board.

M. Galough said he approached DOS on what the requirements are if a town board as final jurisdiction and the planning board is purely advisory. They responded that the governing board is not included in the legislation, so they are not required to get training.

New Business

Land Surveying Bill (s4396/a1927)– K. Hughes
There is concern with this proposed bill b/c the description of professional services includes development plans, land use plans, subdivision plans, environmental studies and maintenance of property lines. This would mean only a licensed surveyor could legally perform these tasks. K. Hughes did some research and found that SED is not in support of this bill and will contact the Assembly on Monday. It seems as though there is no support, but is on the table for courtesy. Regardless, it won’t come up until next year’s session. K. Zimmerman recommended that ORPS be contacted as well. K. Hughes will monitor and will discuss it at the September RRC LUAC meeting, and identify who drafted the bill.
Discussion ensued on the mechanics of intercepting proposed bills at an earlier stage. It was decided that NYSAC should play a key role in this.
Genesee/Finger Lakes Regional Vice Presidency vacancy – D. Woods resigned from this position when it was thought that another CPD in the region would take his place. That did not happen, so we still need to find someone. K. Hughes and D. Woods will continue to search for a replacement.
AICP Certification Maintenance Policy – W. Hart distributed copies. President Hart asked how many CPDs were AICP - There were 5 – S. Lynch, D. Woods, W. Hart, E. Marx and ????????. W. Hart wondered who is tracking AICP credits. K. Hughes stated that relationship building with academic institutions/community needs to take place
American Farmland Trust – Diane Held – 2 new proposed bills need the support of this Association (copies passed out).

A7232/S4455 – funding to update County Agricultural and Farmland Protection Plans that are at least 10 years old. $50,000 available per county with a 50/50 match combination. D. Held read the list of those counties eligible.
S5685 (no Assembly sponsor yet) – Senator Young sponsored – Working Farmland Tax Credit. This law would provide farmers a tax credit equal to the amount of the property tax for their farmland. The farmland must be in an Agricultural District and must be eligible for ag assessment. In exchange, the landowner must agree to keep the land in agriculture for 8 years, on a rolling basis. Cattaraugus, Livingston, Wyoming and Genesee Counties all have included this concept in their county Agricultural and Farmland Protection Plans. County Planning Departments will probably be responsible for administering the program. NY ORPS estimates that there is roughly 4 million acres of land eligible for this program which amounts to $22-23 M in tax relief. The penalty for conversion of land to non-ag use is 8 years of back taxes X 200%. The benefit also works with rental land, however the property owner receives the benefit, not the farmer. Deed covenants will document the development restrictions, but counties will be responsible to enforce the program. CPDs expressed concern about another “unfunded mandate”.
D. Woods suggested that the Commissioner of Ag & Markets should be the enforcement officer, not the counties.
K. Hughes said that we would address this as well at the next RRC LUAC meeting.
K. Zimmerman suggested that removing the cap on ag assessments would be a much better tool to preserve farmland than this proposal.
D. Held said she would be bring these concerns and suggestions back to AFT.

Municipal Agricultural Planning Grant – John Brennan – NYS DAM (copies of program description passed out)
This program is designed to aid municipalities in developing, revising or adjusting agricultural sections of their local comprehensive plans and/or land use regulations. Activities can include GIS mapping, evaluating agricultural districts, and surveying farms and citizens.
The grants are a maximum of $25,000 per municipality and require a 25% match of cash and in-kind. Applications are due by the end of July. They are 12 months in length.
S. Ferraro stated that these plans should be required to be consistent with the County’s Agricultural and Farmland Protection Plan. J. Brennan answered that while he has reviewed many County Ag and FPPlans, many of them are vague and too broad to reach consistency. However, the County Agricultural and Farmland Protection Boards are required to approve the municipal plans in order for the municipality to receive the money.
W. Hart suggested that the scoring system should somehow incorporate a link to the County Ag and Farmland Protection Plan.
In response to questions posed by K. Huges, John Brennan stated that counties are not eligible, but they can be consultants.

Organizational Issues

Treasurer’s Report – Treasurer Jardine distributed report and reported account Balances of the savings, checking and CD accounts. Some county annual dues have been paid and deposited. President Hart read the list of unpaid dues to date. Action Item: He will provide list to all CPDs for follow up phone calls. Treasurer’s report approval moved by S. Ferraro and seconded by A. Terry. Unanimously carried.
Roundtable – Since time ran out again, President Hart suggested e-mailing him a synopsis of each County Planning Department including structure, staff and functions. Action Item: He will compile them and distribute. E. Jardine said she would test forwarding or exporting the NYSACPD e-mail distribution list so all CPDs can use it.
Upcoming Meeting Schedule – In conjunction with the APA Upstate NY Conference, Sept 19 – 21 in Binghamton.

Adjournment – Adjourned at approximately 2:55PM by consensus.