The Land Partnership Committee - model of patience year after year!
It takes patience to grow trees... let alone reforest our natural areas! And yet year after year the Land Partnership committee members invite the various neighborhoods to come and plant new trees -- trees representing the native habitat.
Land Partnership folks certainly can take pride in seeing the fruit of their labor as Akiva Silver takes the group around to plantings from years before and admiring the then saplings becoming trees... each grove a little taller year after year.
This year on April 24th twenty five trees were planted. As Lisa and Jeff shared via email it was a great success! Thanks goes to all that participated and a special thanks to Tony Henderson for organizing this wonderful event year after year.
Monday, April 25, 2016
March 2016 - Board/Members Meeting
Taking care of the basics... would best describe our March meeting.
We took time to talk about and deal with our bylaws and our leases. One of our goals for 2015 is to understand better our bylaws and changes needed as we go forward.
Changes are of course driven by legal requirements from the State and how EVI, Inc. has evolved and its needs today vs. twenty years ago at its formation. Board members reviewed our findings and conclusions with the full board as a result of our March 9, 2015 meeting with two local non-profit lawyers.
Future action will include simplifying our bylaws and beginning the process to transitioning away from a private foundation non-profit organization to a charitable organization -- this transition was always intended, however, never completed in the early years of the organization. One advantage is reduction in paperwork and accounting fees.
The organization has four leases associated with the three farms on the property and the Song neighborhood. One of our goal is to update leases and assure uniformity and clarity. This is important as requests for additional land or new farming opportunities are emerging.
While these topics are important for the board to fulfill its obligations to both the lessees' and the EVI, Inc. membership, they are not the most interesting topics for the general membership. As a result our March meeting was limited in terms of engaging members with new opportunities.
Other topics discussed included status of potential projects and resolution of a request to potentially have one of our lessees sublease.
The following link is to the full minutes of the meeting: LINK
We took time to talk about and deal with our bylaws and our leases. One of our goals for 2015 is to understand better our bylaws and changes needed as we go forward.
Changes are of course driven by legal requirements from the State and how EVI, Inc. has evolved and its needs today vs. twenty years ago at its formation. Board members reviewed our findings and conclusions with the full board as a result of our March 9, 2015 meeting with two local non-profit lawyers.
Future action will include simplifying our bylaws and beginning the process to transitioning away from a private foundation non-profit organization to a charitable organization -- this transition was always intended, however, never completed in the early years of the organization. One advantage is reduction in paperwork and accounting fees.
The organization has four leases associated with the three farms on the property and the Song neighborhood. One of our goal is to update leases and assure uniformity and clarity. This is important as requests for additional land or new farming opportunities are emerging.
While these topics are important for the board to fulfill its obligations to both the lessees' and the EVI, Inc. membership, they are not the most interesting topics for the general membership. As a result our March meeting was limited in terms of engaging members with new opportunities.
Other topics discussed included status of potential projects and resolution of a request to potentially have one of our lessees sublease.
The following link is to the full minutes of the meeting: LINK
Sunday, December 13, 2015
Annual Membership Meeting - November 15, 2015
EVII held its first annual members meeting after the reorganization of EVI, Inc. at the end of 2014 into two non-profit organizations: EVI, Inc. and Learn @ Ecovillage.
The meeting was attended by 25 members who voted on:
- Two changes to the by-laws
- Three new board members: Pamela Coleman, Lisa Ripperton and Sharon Tregaskis
Draft Minutes may be viewed via this Link. Corrections are welcome. Questions should be directed to a board member.
Pamela Coleman - board secretary
Jeff Gilmore - board treasurer
Fred Schoeps - board chair.
The meeting was attended by 25 members who voted on:
- Two changes to the by-laws
- Three new board members: Pamela Coleman, Lisa Ripperton and Sharon Tregaskis
Draft Minutes may be viewed via this Link. Corrections are welcome. Questions should be directed to a board member.
Pamela Coleman - board secretary
Jeff Gilmore - board treasurer
Fred Schoeps - board chair.
Thursday, November 5, 2015
EVII Board/Members Meeting - October 21, 2015
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Thursday, August 27, 2015
EVII Meeting Notes - August 26, 2015
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
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
Sunday, April 26, 2015
EVII BOARD/MEMBERS MEETING - APRIL 22, 2015
MINUTES FROM APRIL MEETING:
In attendance were Valerie Rockney, Jeff Gilmore, Pat Evans, Lisa Ripperton, Kevin Carruthers, Steve Nicholson, Peter Bardaglio, Klaus Paasche, Francis Vanek, Fred Schoeps
Talk About: Our second Talk-About was about EVII committees and what our bylaws say about committees and work groups. We reviewed the section in the bylaws about committees and work groups - Article Five: Committees and Working Groups. We subsequently talked about the Land Partnership and Built Environment committees.
Jeff Gilmore shared about the Built Environment committee. Along with Jeff, currently Steve Gaarder, Bill Goodman, Sue Wolf and Lenore Ferrill serve on the committee. This committee serves two organizations: EVII and the Village Association dealing with 'build' as it relates not only to the EVII land but also the Village and neighborhood lands. This allows for a holistic approach. The committee makes recommendations and each board then makes decisions based on those recommendations. The Built Environment committee has served to make recommendations related to building the third neighborhood, relocating the water system up the hill, recommending road remediations, reviewing lease holder requests related to development, etc..
Valerie Rockney shared about the Land Partnership committee. Members on the committee include Tony Henderson, Lisa Ripperton, Pat Evans, Valerie Rockney, Terry Hadley, Pat Pingle, Kevin Carruthers. The committee serves a dual purpose advising both the Village Association and EVII as it relates to land use and management. Some of the many activities that Land Partnership has been involved with include: planting native and useful trees and shrubs (over 100 trees), north woods stewardship, educational events (e.g., with Akiva Silver), tree planting led by Tony Henderson, stewardship of trail system, cleanup over the years, mapping of property, inventories of trees and animals, survey of the forest, etc.. Land Partnership gets ca $1000 funding from VA. Question raised is how EVII may be able to contribute financially in the future, e.g., through member donations, through fundraising events.
We discussed the role Land Partnership played and can play in the future in terms of agriculture on the land in context of Groundswell, West Haven, Kestrel Perch, in terms of experiments such as Shangri La, future projects such as a demonstration permaculture garden for others in the region.
We concluded that an Envisioning Process to engage members and villagers as a starting point for revisiting strategic use of the land. What are the priorities for the land? What guiding policies make sense now? What permaculture principles could/should be applied? What is the implication of the conservation deed in place with the Finger Lakes Land Trust over 50 acres? What additional perennial good crops make sense in context of self reliance? Are there any burning souls among membership or villagers to lead future agricultural endeavors?
We will invite Andy Zepp and/or Chris Olney, the director of stewardship to share with us current and future FLLT directions to one of our future meetings. (Lead: Fred S.)
Practically speaking what guides us now in context of a master plan? We are designated in terms of land zoning as a PDZ - planned developmnet zone and previously had been known as a special land use district. We need to locate what had been put in place as it relates to these designations.
Request to access documents by members. We will make these available on line. Maps created in the past will also be gathered.
How best do we go about long range planning? Need to think Vision vs. End state; directional vs. end game. Importance of flexibility. The board members will bring forward a plan for how we might proceed and review it at our next meeting in May. Of course all members are encouraged to share possible methods/processes as part of our conversation at the next meeting.
Old Business:
Minutes - approved
Communication - this blog was put in place since our March meeting. Will continue to enhance usefulness; next step is links to documents so that members may review them for themselves. We've continued to send emails to members inviting participation and to bring forward suggestions, requests, issues, propose events, etc..
Board Member status: We have reached out to some potential non-resident board members; are still seeking two non-resident members.
New Business:
Culvert Requests - West Haven Farm and Groundswell have requested the installation of a culvert for accessing in the first case the greenhouse in the second case the incubator farm off of Helen's way. Reviewed and discussed by all attending. Motion made to allow West Haven Farm and Groundswell to install a culvert as described and to be overseen by Built Environment - lead: Jeff Gilmore. Passed.
Camping Request on EVII land at West end of property beyond Song neighborhood - Elan Shapiro sent email outlining request dated 4/22/15. Group discussed legal, insurance, precedence ramifications as well as sponsorship of such a request on the part of a neighborhood, length of stay, work exchange and why not a request to use existing camp sites vs. a new location. No decision was made; tabled until May meeting with the understanding that sponsorship by a neighborhood or inter-neighborhood group sponsorship should be in place first; second alternatives to house the individual for which this request was made be thoughtfully discussed by the sponsoring group and then if needed a request for EVII land use be made. No Motion made.
Annual Meeting - have concluded we are not ready before July to hold such a meeting.
NYS Mandated Bylaws - Fred will contact David Kay who had previously gathered information as to what is needed. Our understanding is that it should be do-able with boiler plate like inserts.
2015 Events - None at this time. We should consider another members get together like we had earlier this year and include annual meeting business.
Action Items:
Jeff and Francis will continue outreach to neighbors for possible candidates for board
Fred will request David Kay to provide information related to NYS mandated bylaw requirements
Fred will contact Andy Zepp and invite FLLT to a briefing at EcoVillage about FLLT and our role in context of our conservation deeded land.
Jeff will seek to get electronic versions of previously developed maps of the property for access by all members.
In attendance were Valerie Rockney, Jeff Gilmore, Pat Evans, Lisa Ripperton, Kevin Carruthers, Steve Nicholson, Peter Bardaglio, Klaus Paasche, Francis Vanek, Fred Schoeps
Talk About: Our second Talk-About was about EVII committees and what our bylaws say about committees and work groups. We reviewed the section in the bylaws about committees and work groups - Article Five: Committees and Working Groups. We subsequently talked about the Land Partnership and Built Environment committees.
Jeff Gilmore shared about the Built Environment committee. Along with Jeff, currently Steve Gaarder, Bill Goodman, Sue Wolf and Lenore Ferrill serve on the committee. This committee serves two organizations: EVII and the Village Association dealing with 'build' as it relates not only to the EVII land but also the Village and neighborhood lands. This allows for a holistic approach. The committee makes recommendations and each board then makes decisions based on those recommendations. The Built Environment committee has served to make recommendations related to building the third neighborhood, relocating the water system up the hill, recommending road remediations, reviewing lease holder requests related to development, etc..
Valerie Rockney shared about the Land Partnership committee. Members on the committee include Tony Henderson, Lisa Ripperton, Pat Evans, Valerie Rockney, Terry Hadley, Pat Pingle, Kevin Carruthers. The committee serves a dual purpose advising both the Village Association and EVII as it relates to land use and management. Some of the many activities that Land Partnership has been involved with include: planting native and useful trees and shrubs (over 100 trees), north woods stewardship, educational events (e.g., with Akiva Silver), tree planting led by Tony Henderson, stewardship of trail system, cleanup over the years, mapping of property, inventories of trees and animals, survey of the forest, etc.. Land Partnership gets ca $1000 funding from VA. Question raised is how EVII may be able to contribute financially in the future, e.g., through member donations, through fundraising events.
We discussed the role Land Partnership played and can play in the future in terms of agriculture on the land in context of Groundswell, West Haven, Kestrel Perch, in terms of experiments such as Shangri La, future projects such as a demonstration permaculture garden for others in the region.
We concluded that an Envisioning Process to engage members and villagers as a starting point for revisiting strategic use of the land. What are the priorities for the land? What guiding policies make sense now? What permaculture principles could/should be applied? What is the implication of the conservation deed in place with the Finger Lakes Land Trust over 50 acres? What additional perennial good crops make sense in context of self reliance? Are there any burning souls among membership or villagers to lead future agricultural endeavors?
We will invite Andy Zepp and/or Chris Olney, the director of stewardship to share with us current and future FLLT directions to one of our future meetings. (Lead: Fred S.)
Practically speaking what guides us now in context of a master plan? We are designated in terms of land zoning as a PDZ - planned developmnet zone and previously had been known as a special land use district. We need to locate what had been put in place as it relates to these designations.
Request to access documents by members. We will make these available on line. Maps created in the past will also be gathered.
How best do we go about long range planning? Need to think Vision vs. End state; directional vs. end game. Importance of flexibility. The board members will bring forward a plan for how we might proceed and review it at our next meeting in May. Of course all members are encouraged to share possible methods/processes as part of our conversation at the next meeting.
Old Business:
Minutes - approved
Communication - this blog was put in place since our March meeting. Will continue to enhance usefulness; next step is links to documents so that members may review them for themselves. We've continued to send emails to members inviting participation and to bring forward suggestions, requests, issues, propose events, etc..
Board Member status: We have reached out to some potential non-resident board members; are still seeking two non-resident members.
New Business:
Culvert Requests - West Haven Farm and Groundswell have requested the installation of a culvert for accessing in the first case the greenhouse in the second case the incubator farm off of Helen's way. Reviewed and discussed by all attending. Motion made to allow West Haven Farm and Groundswell to install a culvert as described and to be overseen by Built Environment - lead: Jeff Gilmore. Passed.
Camping Request on EVII land at West end of property beyond Song neighborhood - Elan Shapiro sent email outlining request dated 4/22/15. Group discussed legal, insurance, precedence ramifications as well as sponsorship of such a request on the part of a neighborhood, length of stay, work exchange and why not a request to use existing camp sites vs. a new location. No decision was made; tabled until May meeting with the understanding that sponsorship by a neighborhood or inter-neighborhood group sponsorship should be in place first; second alternatives to house the individual for which this request was made be thoughtfully discussed by the sponsoring group and then if needed a request for EVII land use be made. No Motion made.
Annual Meeting - have concluded we are not ready before July to hold such a meeting.
NYS Mandated Bylaws - Fred will contact David Kay who had previously gathered information as to what is needed. Our understanding is that it should be do-able with boiler plate like inserts.
2015 Events - None at this time. We should consider another members get together like we had earlier this year and include annual meeting business.
Action Items:
Jeff and Francis will continue outreach to neighbors for possible candidates for board
Fred will request David Kay to provide information related to NYS mandated bylaw requirements
Fred will contact Andy Zepp and invite FLLT to a briefing at EcoVillage about FLLT and our role in context of our conservation deeded land.
Jeff will seek to get electronic versions of previously developed maps of the property for access by all members.
Thursday, March 26, 2015
EVII BOARD/MEMBERS MEETING - MARCH 25, 2015
Members attending: Valerie Rockney, Wayne Gustafson, Phebe Gustafson, Lisa Ripperton, Judy Leaf, Pat Evans, Bill Goodman, Francis Vanek, Jeff Gilmore, Fred Schoeps
1. Talk-About - Membership: Talked about what is important to members, answered questions about membership, planned additional outreach to village residents so that everyone can intentionally take the opportunity to join or not.
The possibility of inviting neighbors and build relationships via a dinner or an open house was well received.
Looking at date for land partnership folks and the board to get together and share perspective. Possibility is first hour of next meeting in April or at a committee meeting. In talking with each other we concluded that members had lots of questions about what the bylaws say, e.g., how decisions are made.
Some ideas that were shared about possible initiatives: the importance of looking at developing the land for additional food production; the importance of wildlife and biodiversity; developing an acre to demo a permaculture garden possibly in conjuction with the Finger Lakes Permaculture Institute; developing a financially self-sufficient center at corner of West Haven and 79 that could serve multiple purposes - events, education, conferences, demonstrations. Look at modeling renewable energy projects on the site.
We discussed engaging members in a 'revisioning' -- to serve in developing/refreshing a land use strategy
Several times members emphasized the importance of on-going transparent communication to enable folks to plug into opportunities/projects and to keep the decision making process transparent.
2. Old Business: City Lights - build environment folks will keep open communications and keep board and membership apprised on status. An EVII negotiations team will be formed if and when required.
3. New Business: Possibility through USDA to generate revenue for some parcels of EVII land. Bill and Fred will do the work to assure we are registered to take advantage of such an opportunity. The group discussed that we will have to develop a budget. Currently EVII expense includes taxes on the land, tax prep service, insurance, fees. Jeff made the point that EVII is responsible for leasehold maintenance and a few years ago we needed to spend several thousand dollars.
Organizing: Reviewed composition of board and desire to grow the board. Bylaws call for 2:1 ratio of non-residents to village residents in terms of board membership. Our plan is to enroll two non-residents to fulfill this requirement and the requirement for seven as minimum number of board members. We currently have six board members: 4 non-residents and two residents. We then talked about the possibility of a team of two folks from each neighborhood sharing one residential seat on the board. This would get more residents engaged. Names of several neighbors that live on adjacent land were identified; good vibes from those members that know them. Francis is going to initiate contact.
We also talked about organizing so that the board and committees are interlinked by having a board member on each committee, i.e., a board member be part of the land partnership committee and the build environment. It also makes sense to have one person be part of both of these committees to cross-link these two core committees about land and development. The dynamic governance model was referred to by Pat Evans as a systematic way to empower, maximize quality communications and enable individuals interested in contributing to be engaged. It makes sense to intentionally incorporate what would help us operate effectively.
Next EVII Board/Member Meeting - April 22, 2015 - 6:30 to 8:30 pm - Frog CH
Please feel free to add comments/edits. Thank you.
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