Living in Dryden

Open pool day at Ellis Hollow, with pig roast fundraiser

The Ellis Hollow Community Center will be busy Memorial Day weekend!

Memorial Day Weekend is just around the corner and that means so is POOL SEASON!

The pool will be open to ALL Saturday, May 25 thru Monday, May 27! Come and join us and bring friends. There will be no charge on any of these days so spread the word.

In addition to the Pool Open House the Ellis Hollow Nursery School will be having the first (of what they hope will be an annual event) Pig Roast and Music. Come and enjoy!

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PIG ROAST! ELLIS HOLLOW COMMUNITY CENTER SATURDAY MAY 25,2013 4:00- TILL GONE!

Come Celebrate Summer!

The Ellis Hollow Pool is free and open to all (and heated!) for the entire holiday weekend, so come swim, enjoy delicious food and music.

Picnic style, bring your own dishes!

LIVE MUSIC FROM: SCRATCHED VINYL & MEMBERS OF MIGHTY JET BAND

ALL PROCEEDS BENEFIT ELLIS HOLLOW NURSERY SCHOOL

Who pays for heavy road use?

The Town of Dryden held an informational meeting last night on a proposed Road Protection law. I went feeling uncertain about whether we actually needed a law - fracking seems distant at the moment - and came away convinced by the law's opponents that we could have used this all along.

While road failure often looks like a seasonal thing, with potholes appearing in late winter and spring, the reality is more complicated. Heavy vehicles do vastly more damage to roads than light ones, and road failures can happen quickly once a threshold is reached. The invisible tends to become visible suddenly. While towns plan their road systems around expectations of use, unexpected projects can pound those roads into expensive collapse.

Fracking has driven the road protection conversation over the last few years, including many places that eagerly want fracking but don't want to pay for the damage to their roads. These laws don't bar development, but they do make sure that developers pay for the unusual costs they incur. (Locally, DRAC has encouraged this conversation and many DRAC folks were at the meeting last night.)

Steve Sanyshyn of Delta Engineering explained the way the road protection law worked in detail. Developers - not truckers, developers - with projects that will put a substantial number of trucks in motion fill out an initial form when they get their permits. The form collects information about the number of round trips broken down by Federal Highway Administration vehicle classifications (here with pictures). It then uses those calculations, combined with a rough estimation of Equivalent Single Axle Loads (ESALs) to see if the project crosses a threshold requiring a closer look.

The suggested threshold was 50 ESALs, which allows pretty much any number of small (pickup truck and smaller) vehicles or up to 119 three-axle class 6 trucks, like dump trucks.

Projects that cross that threshold get a more detailed look. That look can include road studies, monitoring, and agreements to make sure that the developer pays repair costs, not the town.

This only applies to construction projects with a start and end date, whether building construction, fracking, or, as seemed to come up most frequently when real projects came up, large-scale fill hauling. Regular operations of school buses, fire trucks, concrete plants, gravel mines, and so on would go on as usual, because they are regular use that the Town has already planned for. Normal house construction won't come near the threshold. The road protection would only apply in cases where projects created large temporary spikes of traffic on Town roads. (Town roads are those marked in green on the official Town map.)

Bruno Schickel, Bernie Cornelius, Dennis Mix, and David Bravo-Cullen all asked a variety of questions about the intent and details of the law. Some of the questions - Bravo-Cullen's in particular - were clarifying, but a lot of it was not. Two threads in particular seemed like they were looking for any point on which to attack the law, even if it meant contradicting their other arguments:

• Raising taxes would be terrible, but even though roads are the largest chunk of the Town budget, it would also be terrible to inflict use fees on the people making those road repairs necessary.

• A complicated form would be dreadful, but without a complicated form you can't possibly capture what's really happening in the work.

The first argument has the unfortunate side effect of reminding me of how much of our town (and county and state) taxes go to pay for roads that would last far longer if there weren't massive trucks on them. At the town level, where gasoline taxes aren't a factor, a system originally created to make sure farmers could get from their farms to markets has grown into something else. Right now, all town taxpayers are subsidizing dump trucks pouring fill into the town for little long-term benefit, any time those trucks use town roads.

Of course, about the rudest thing possible in modern politics is pointing out to someone complaining about taxes that they're actually the beneficiary of massive subsidies, and I don't think Bernie Cornelius is fond of me at the moment.

(To take it further, the largest producer of construction fill is usually Cornell, with their Synchrotron expansion project gearing up to create many many more tons of fill. After hearing years of complaints about how Cornell doesn't pay taxes, I'm not sure Dryden taxpayers are looking forward to subsidizing Cornell's latest ventures in fill.)

Dennis Mix and Bruno Schickel pursued the complication questions, arguing both that the form was too complicated and that it didn't capture enough information. Highway engineers seem to think in ESALs, and ESALs are built deeply into the expectations for road design and maintenance, so questioning their use to simplify the initial paperwork seems strange. The other options would be massive paperwork or some kind of surveillance, and I didn't see anyone eager to encourage those.

Schickel concluded by asking that the threshold be set as high as possible, and I suspect that "what threshold?" is going to be the key question moving forward with the law. Sanyshyn suggested 50 ESALs as normal, and mentioned a Town that thought its roads were in great shape had gone with 70.

There are other hard questions in the road protection law - projects in other municipalities or even other states that create traffic here can be difficult to track. Cooperating with other municipalities can capture a lot of that, and "have the highway crews keep an eye out" was Sanyshyn's suggestion. Enforcement on projects that aren't immediately local is going to be difficult. (I suspect that's a larger problem for county roads which tend to connect better, than for the Town roads. The county has its own road protection law.)

Hopefully road protection will protect taxpayers.

Hopshire Farm opening this weekend

If you've wondered what was going on in the field across from the Covenant Love Church on Route 13, wonder no more - Hopshire Farm & Brewery is opening this weekend.

Mount Pleasant Road intersection dangerous

The Journal has an excellent long piece up on the dangers of rural roads. I'm not surprised to find a nearby intersection (I drove through it yesterday!) heading the list for severe accidents:

East of Cornell University's sprawl and just south of Fall Creek's meandering waters, the intersection of Mount Pleasant Road and Turkey Hill Road sits at a foot of hills extending east toward Route 38.

Varna Fire Chief Roy Rizzo and his firefighters know the country crossroads well.

He wasn't surprised to hear that the intersection -- which is just a mile and a half from the Varna Fire Station -- has seen the most severe accidents of any in the county, according to Ithaca-Tompkins Transportation Council data....

Like all the surrounding roads, Mount Pleasant Road and Turkey Hill Road hug the grades and terraces of the hills. From Route 366, Mount Pleasant Road rises steeply, crosses Turkey Hill Road between two of its curves, and keeps going up.

The curves -- which lie less than 500 feet on the north and south side of the intersection-- create blind spots for drivers, Rizzo said.

"People coming in both directions need to slow down," Rizzo advised.

In his experience, most of the accidents at this intersection don't involve local residents, Rizzo said. He feels these residents have respect for the intersection.

Sadly, Mount Pleasant's intersection with 366 isn't much better, but at least traffic is (usually) moving slower there. The 13/366 intersection to my east isn't much better, either. I wish they'd posted the list of intersections, but this is a great piece overall.

Appellate Division rules Dryden opinion matters

Last week, a panel of judges from the New York State Appellate Division, Third Department, ruled unanimously that Dryden can ban gas drilling through zoning. The gas companies can still appeal to New York's highest court, but because the decision was unanimously against them they have to ask permission.

The key part of this case, to me, is that the gas industry and its supporters have pushed regularly to keep decision-making as far away as possible from the people who would feel the effects of their operations. New York State might not be as eager to extract every drop as, say, Pennsylvania or Texas, but state government is (for example) far more eager to do that than many places.

What is the gas industry afraid of?

They're afraid of places like Dryden:

• where 1594 people - more than 10% of the population - signed a petition requesting a ban.

• Where residents mapped the leases gas companies had managed to secure quietly, reassuring residents individually that it would all be all right, and figured out the bigger picture.

• Where residents knew better than to take seriously Henry Kramer's claims that Dryden would have to pay out massive fees and settlements over gas company lawsuits.

• Where hundreds of people turned out to discuss the issue at forums and meetings.

• Where the Town Board, including members from multiple political parties, voted unanimously in favor of a ban.

• Where residents voted overwhelmingly to support a Town Board that would keep the fracking ban in place.

I went up to Albany to see the oral arguments on the appeal, and there was a moment that really summed it up for me. Judge Peters, the presiding judge, asked attorney Tom West:

Here at page 7 you state that "indeed if municipal prohibitions are allowed, no prudent speculator will ever invest because it will subject to the fickle whim of municipal officials." Are town boards fickle?

West: That was written in response to a landfill case I have where the board has flipped 3-2 over several years and several elections....

Peters: Isn't that the voters' prerogative?

West: I shouldn't have said fickle.

West and his friends are all about creating a safe long-term environment for their investments, and can't imagine that local political conversations over a safe long-term environment for localities should be allowed to interfere with that. Fortunately, the court saw through that argument.

In an age when much of New York State politics is about insulating politicians from voters, it's delightful to see a court rule that Albany hasn't claimed all the power for itself. Voters' voices matter on the local level, and have power over issues that can transform the local landscape. Towns are a key middle ground between everyone doing what they want without regard for their neighbors and centralizing decision-making in Albany.

Update: Here's a state of play article looking at the interactions between state and local government and a variety of ways they could go.

Solarize, Wednesday at Varna Community Center

It's time for the second Dryden meeting, before the meetings shift to Caroline and Danby. You can, of course, go to any meeting to learn more, or visit the website.

Solarize Tompkins SE wants to bring many new solar photovoltaic (PV) or solar thermal (hot water) installations to Caroline, Dryden, and Danby in 2013. Working with state and county organizations, area residents, and solar energy installers, this campaign will streamline the installation process, making a Solar Energy system easy and affordable. This program is open to residences, farmers, business owners, municipalities, and institutions.

The Solarize campaign will reduce costs and technical barriers by pre-selecting qualified installers, enrolling a group of motivated customers that will enable bulk purchasing discounts, and educate our neighbors about the benefits and feasibility of solar power.

Our first workshop (last Tuesday) was a big success. We learned about the Solarize program, heard informative presentations by Rory from Solar Liberty about solar electric systems and Joe from Renovus about solar hot water systems, and we had very good conversations about going solar with our full-house of interested friends and neighbors. If you missed the first, we're having five more. You only need attend one, but you're welcome to attend as many as you'd like!

Come learn the details of the program with Solarize Tompkins SE.

Varna Community Center, 943 Dryden Road (Route 366), 7:00pm, Wednesday, May 1st.

Kick the fossil fuel habit. Go solar in 2013!

For the complete schedule of public meetings see SolarizeTompkinsSE.org.

Solarize will have additional meetings in Caroline and Danby.

Malloryville bog book to be featured at Ithaca bookstore

I need to finish reading The Journey to Malloryville Bog and write a proper review. So far, so great, if distressingly familiar.

This Sunday, Apr. 28, at 3pm, Buffalo Street Books will be hosting a discussion with Bob Beck, the author of The Journey at Malloryville Bog: Commitment, Teamwork and Tenacity in Defense of Land and Nature.

Faithfully relating a fifteen-year story in first person--an environmental case study of sorts, fully documented with letters and memos of the many participants--this is the author's personal narrative of his home and the collective effort to protect his cherished land. Here is his account of glacier-formed eskers, kames and kettles, of diverse woodlands, swamps, fens and bog, of mining applications and recurring environmental reviews, of uncertainty and long struggle, and of diligence, awesome teamwork and phenomenal land deals. Ultimately, this is a story of conservation success, culminating in the establishment and dedication of The Nature Conservancy's magical and treasured O.D. von Engeln Preserve at Malloryville, located in the picturesque Finger Lakes Region of upstate New York.

Bob Beck was raised on a dairy farm in Upstate New York, and he has been a teacher of biology, animal behavior, natural history, and general science, having taught at Cornell, Ithaca College and Sarah Lawrence College, as well as for docents' training at the Bronx Zoo and for middle-school students at a Montessori school in Ithaca. Bob was was a curator at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Library of Natural Sounds, and he was a founding board member and the first executive director of the Finger Lakes Land Trust. For his efforts in organizing and leading the defense of Malloryville Bog, he was honored with The Nature Conservancy's "Friend of the Land" award and a 50th Anniversary "Hero" award.

I posted pictures from the bog a few years ago, with an extra few in winter. It's easily one of my favorite places in Dryden.

Cheesemaking in New York State

I've only made cheese once, but I need to do it again. This is a great reminder of how it grew from small to large and now has small again.

New York State Cheese: from Home Production to Factories

Cheese making and distinct cheese varieties are part of the cultural and historic fabric of societies in all parts of the world. Professor David Barbano, of Cornell University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, is a recognized authority on cheese making. He is a past president of the American Dairy Science Association and works with cheese makers all over the globe.

On Tuesday, April 30th, Dr. Barbano will be the guest speaker at a meeting of the Dryden Town Historical Society. He will provide an overview of cheese making and the evolution of cheese production from the farm house to small local factories to large regional factories and the artisan cheese makers of today. Cheese production once flourished in and around the Dryden area and it is making a comeback.

This meeting is free and open to all and will be held in the Dryden Village Hall (corner of George and South streets). The doors open at 6:30 PM and the meeting will begin at 7 PM. For more information, contact Mary Hornbuckle (898-3461).

Solarize, Tuesday at Dryden Fire Hall

Solarize Tompkins SE wants to bring many new solar photovoltaic (PV) or solar thermal (hot water) installations to Caroline, Dryden, and Danby in 2013. Working with state and county organizations, area residents, and solar energy installers, this campaign will streamline the installation process, making a Solar Energy system easy and affordable. This program is open to residences, farmers, business owners, municipalities, and institutions.

The Solarize campaign will reduce costs and technical barriers by pre-selecting qualified installers, enrolling a group of motivated customers that will enable bulk purchasing discounts, and educate our neighbors about the benefits and feasibility of solar power.

On Tuesday evening the Solarize project will announce its installers and give details of pricing and enrollment. Our excitement is RISING WITH THE SUN!

Come learn the details of the program with Solarize Tompkins SE.

Dryden Fire Hall, 7:00 pm, Tuesday April 23.

Kick the fossil fuel habit. Go solar in 2013!

For the complete schedule of public meetings see SolarizeTompkinsSE.org.

Solarize will have another meeting in Dryden on Wednesday, May 1st, at 7:00pm at the Varna Community Center, and then additional meetings in Caroline and Danby.

Can't beat Martha, so hope to shout her out

The Ithaca Journal reports that Tompkins County GOP Chair James Drader is trying a new way to try to get County Legislator Martha Robertson out of office: issuing a press release demanding that she step down, immediately.

Running for Congress, apparently, is a full-time job that can't possibly go with the part-time job of County Legislator. Drader seems deeply concerned about time management.

Drader is far from the only one in this conversation, though.

Voters get to decide in November whether they want to have a legislator here who is also running for Congress. The early stages of a Congressional race aren't the final constant travel stage that Drader seems to think begins immediately. Robertson's announcing now rather than in, say, December, gives the voters a much greater chance to see how this goes now and make up their minds about it.

If Drader is seriously concerned that Robertson shouldn't be running for Congress while sitting on the County Legislature, all he has to do is find a candidate to run against her in November and win. Perhaps he's hoping that grouchy press releases will make that happen?

(I would be happy to see a Republican challenger here. Uncontested races depress me. I'm reasonably certain that not only would the challenger's odd of success be low, anything increasing voter turnout on the west side of Dryden will help Democrats hold the town board. I suspect Drader is well aware of that last issue.)

Ellis Hollow Nursery School enrolling students

An announcement for Angelika:

Ellis Hollow Nursery School, a non-profit parent cooperative located on the eastern side of Ithaca, is now enrolling students for the 2013-14 school year!

Our class of 16 children, age 3-5, meets Monday through Thursday from 9:00am-12:00pm (with a 3-day option Tues-Thurs). Monthly tuition is $250 (or $200 for 3 days/week).

See the flyer for more information, or email or call our registrar, Angelika St.Laurent: angelika@simonstl.com or 607-277-8105

Gas pipeline through Dryden?

There already is one, as residents of Ellis Hollow Creek Road who drive by the E. H. Borger station know. There's also a line off that going to the Cornell heat and power plant. This would be a connection to the Cayuga Power Plant (formerly AES Cayuga, formerly Milliken Station) if it switches from coal to gas:

A proposed natural gas pipeline running through Tompkins County may become part of the uncertain future of Lansing's coal-fired power plant.

The pipeline would be built from the power plant, on the eastern shore of Cayuga Lake, to an existing pipeline in either Dryden or Auburn. The Dryden pipeline is at the Borger Station, 219 Ellis Hollow Creek Road.

The new pipeline is part of a plan that retrofits Cayuga Power Plant, formerly named AES Cayuga, to burn natural gas. The facility's name was changed after AES Eastern Energy went bankrupt and the power plant was bought by Upstate New York Power Producers.

One thing that's odd about this story is that the plant's owners say that there would be problems for electrical reliability in the county if the plant closed. NYSEG performed a major upgrade of its lines across Cortland County and Dryden into the Etna substation a few years ago that I had thought was meant to address just that problem. How did that fail?

The New York State Public Service Commission is requiring that NYSEG either upgrade its infrastructure or that the plant keep running, Goodenough said.

They're also planning on a 2-megawatt solar panel array. The article doesn't say how much power the plant itself generates.

More on Mount Varna Monday

Want to know more about the proposal for developing the northeast corner of the Freese Road / Route 366 intersection?

Developer Todd Fox will be presenting his current plans on Monday, April 8th at 6:00pm at the Varna Community Center, 943 Dryden Road.

What will it take?

Some days I think New York State government could declare itself a kleptocracy and change the Three Men in a Room's titles to Chief Thief, Robber King, and Maximum Chaos and most New Yorkers wouldn't do anything different.

The Albany Times-Union remains slightly more optimistic:

"We're loath to underestimate almost any politician's vulnerability to temptation and tendency to engage in corruption. But could the plot alleged by federal authorities have been hatched in an environment where political money wasn't already wildly out of control?...

Time to take it back, then, New Yorkers -- step by step. Don't let the Legislature get away with anything less than historic reform."

I'm not sure that things are actually worse than they've been for a while, but they sure aren't getting better. The institutions are rotted through, but somehow we keep pretending they function. "Our legislator or our party is so much better," we tell ourselves, hoping that it's true.