Attending were Klaus Paasche, Steve Nicholson, Kevin Carruthers, Jeff Gilmore, Lisa Ripperton, Pam Coleman, Francis Vanek, Judy Leaf, Pat Evans, Fred Schoeps
Go Around
In our go around we shared what is important to us that bring us together as board members and members of EVII. The impotance of land preservation, conservation and sustainable development were reflected in our sharing from a deep love of farming, love of growing things organically, belief in permaculture, to food security, to modelling the future -these were some of the shares.
Discussion - Getting familiar with guidelines and agreements that are in place and that serve as starting points.
What guidelines and agreements are in place - as it relates to preserving, conserving and sustainably developing the land - that serve as the starting point for any work on land use strategy going forward?
EVI, Inc. land zoning is part of a special town zoning ordinance known as a PDZ. PDZ is "planned development zone" which previously was called SLUD, special land use district. The details of how EVII land is zoned and what can and can't be done can be found in the following document that consists of a map, the description of the four major uses of the land and the zoning document that specifically applies to this parcel of land.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_yTIUmeanLEa2gwcERHQ3dyNHM/view?usp=sharing
Of course our bylaws calls out at a high level the purposes of the non-profit in context of land use, in context of decision making on the part of the members of EVII and its board.
Early in its history fifty acres was put into a deed of conservation easement with the Finger Lakes Land Trust (FLLT) that limits the use of those acres in perpetuity. The link takes you to the deed and a map of the land that is being held in trust.
We also have leases with West Haven Farm, Kestrel Perch, Groundswell Incubator Farm and the WRFI radio station which need to be honored as part of caretaking of the land.
Old Business: Seeking Board Member:
The attendees were updated on the efforts to seek out board members. We hope to appoint at least two members to fill the non-resident slots now open.
New Business:
We spent the rest of the meeting time discussing how to get started and completing a basic land use plan and process to enable decision making about the land and for vetting requests for land use.
Board members favored using the two standing committees -land partnership and build environment - to lead this effort in reviewing, revising and recommending such a plan. Jeff, Kevin and Fred agreed to gather, review and summarize in the form of an executive summary all of the agreements and guidelines that exist and that need to be the starting point for this work. It was also requested of the land partnership and build environment committee members present (Lisa, Pat, Kevin and Jeff) to take back the request of updating and recommending in a simple and pragmatic way a land use strategy to enable decision making in going forward.
Next Meeting: Wednesday - September 23, 2015
