Advisory Committee Meeting Summary 5-17-13 - Orange County ...

Quassaick Creek Watershed Plan Advisory Committee
May 17th, 2013 - 2:00 pm – City of Newburgh Council Chambers, Newburgh NY
In attendance: Kelly Dobbins, Chad Wade and David Church (OC Planning); Peter Smith
and John Gebhards (Quassaick Creek Watershed Alliance); Tom Wilkin (Town of
Plattekill); Burt Samuelson (UC Planning); Laura McLean (HDR, Inc.); Tracy O’Malley
(NYSDOS); Emily Vail (NYSDEC’s HREP); Raymond Squires (Orange Lake Civic
Association); Ted Kohlman (Winona Lake Homeowners Association); Chris Kenyon
(OCSWCD); Case Wise (AmeriCorps Vista); Animal Hughes (OCMPF) and Simon
Gruber (HV Regional Council)
Meeting highlights:
Status of Watershed Planning Project:
o Peter Smith reported that the City of Newburgh is approximately 1/3 of the
way through the rezoning process. The current topics include review of the
cities open space and how to utilize, balancing preservation of resources and
development.
o Chris Kenyon provided a brief overview of what Scenic Hudson has done at
Illinois Mountain in the Town of Lloyd. Working with the Town, Wallkill
Valley Land Trust and a local bike group, trail easements were developed and
the bike group has developed trails. These trails shall be maintained by the
bike group. It is anticipated that the Illinois Mountain agreement could be a
model for use on the City and Laborers Union owned parcels associated with
Snake Hill.
o Kelly will follow up with an email, but she asked that the committee and
volunteers start to collect their hours over the past year so that the County can
report to the NYSDOS in accordance with the Grant requirements.
Review of 2 nd round of public meetings: The Planning Department, and in one
instance the Dept of State, gave presentations at public municipal boards meetings in
April & May. Responses from the boards were mixed.
o The City of Newburgh seemed to be interested the most, since they are
currently in the process of rewriting there code and looking to potentially
expand the open space within the City. They provided input on priorities and
were especially excited about the trail or greenway idea along the Lower
Quassaick Creek.
o A Board Member of the Town of Newburgh lives at Orange Lake and was
very interested in the work potentially associated with the septic cleanouts.
Animal identified an EPA compliance order related to the septic systems in
the Town of Newburgh. Potentially subject to substantial fines, deadlines were
set to convert septic systems in the Town and connect to sewer facilities.
Additional information is needed.
o Plattekill board members were mostly concerned with what additional
regulations may restrict the municipality by endorsing or adopting the
QCWMP. No priorities or recommendations were identified by the Board.
o New Windsor was engaged during the presentation, although no priorities or
recommendations were volunteered by the Board.
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Subcommittee updates:
o Stream Monitoring Subcommittee update: A meeting will be set for late
May; Kelly sent a doodle poll sent to the subcommittee members with
potential dates. The group will make plans for a stream walk of the Lower
Quassaick Creek. John G. mentioned NYSDEC will be conducting WAVE
program this year. Kelly shall forward NYSDEC WAVE email to the advisory
committee. Other topics anticipated for discussion at the meeting include the
selection of sites for bio-monitoring.
o Stormwater Subcommittee update: Chad reported that he and Kelly
conducted the field verification of the Silver Stream Watershed ponds that
were identified from the desktop analysis. No ideal retrofit opportunities were
identified and one potential issue was noticed; a collection of stormwater
ponds on the southwest side of Brown’s Pond have turbidity booms. Follow
up with the Town is needed to learn more. Kevin Sumner plans to develop a
retrofit project proposal along the Quassaick Creek at the Newburgh Town
Hall and will submit a grant application to NEIWPCC in the next couple of
weeks.
o Land Use Subcommittee update: Kelly anticipates a meeting in the next few
weeks.
o Climate Change Subcommittee update: No update at this time.
Watershed Recommendations:
o Laura presented that the recommendation have been updated to include an
identifier of those recommendations that will be further described via
narrative in the recommendation section of the Plan.
o Laura quickly discussed the layout of the recommendation narrative. She
explained that there will be a one-page synopsis of 8-10 priority projects.
o Any comments on the recommendations or the narrative should be emailed to
Kelly or Chad by Friday June 5 th .
Implementation of Plan: This will be discussed at the June 21 st meeting so Kelly
suggested that the Committee begin thinking about what form an implementation
group could take, and who should serve on this group in order to enable effective
implementation of the Plan.
Other updates:
o Snake Hill Tour: Prior to the Advisory Committee Meeting, a number of
People walked from the top of Snake Hill to Crystal Lake and Murphy’s Lake
at the northwestern base of the Hill. All land associated with the tour is
owned either by Scenic Hudson or the City of Newburgh. Those who walked
the properties were excited about the potential for public access to these
unused assets.
o Simon spoke that the May 8 th Green Infrastructure conference was a success,
some great feedback was received from participants related to the link of GI
and Health. Simon also mentioned that there is another GI half day conference
on June 21 st in Staatsburg at Norrie Point.
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o The Grant application for a walking trail and other work along Muchattoes
Lake and the Lower Quassaick Creek has been submitted by Clearwater. It is
anticipated that the award notification will be sometime in September.
Next meeting scheduled for 10:00 am June 21 st location to be determined, potential
location may be in Plattekill. Additional information shall follow once plans are set.
Meeting adjourned at approximately 4:00 p.m.
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