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Home My WebLink About2016-08-24 PAB Final Minutes8/24/16 1 PLANNING ADVISORY BOARD 2 Wednesday, August 24 , 2016 3 SCOTT HEYMAN CONFERENCE ROOM 4 125 East Court Street 5 6 DRAFT MEETING MINUTES 7 Members Attending: 8 Name Representation Martha Robertson P Planning Committee Monika Roth P Agriculture Kathy Schlather P Human Services Rob Steuteville E Built Environment Design Andy Zepp E Land Pres/Public Land Mgmt Dooley Kiefer A Associate Member Others Present Katie Borgella E Deputy Commissioner Megan McDonald P Senior Planner Ed Marx P Commissioner of Planning Pam Pariso P Planning Admin. Asst. 10 Guests – None. 11 12 Introductions – None. 13 14 Call to Order & Changes to the Agenda – Chair David Kay called the meeting to order at 9:05 AM. No 15 changes to the Agenda. 16 17 Approval of Minutes from June 22, 2016 – No changes proposed. Fernando made a motion to accept. Sue 18 seconded. All were in favor. Minutes from the last meeting were unanimously approved. Final minutes will 19 be available on the Planning Department website: www.tompkins-co.org/planning/ under Advisory Boards. 20 21 Presentation: PAB Member Sue Cosentini, The Amabel Pocket Neighborhood 22 Sue gave an overview and update on The Amabel Pocket Neighborhood, a net-zero community currently 23 under development that will provide 30 single-family homes on Five Mile Drive, close to downtown Ithaca. 24 25 Houses are arranged to allow privacy while creating opportunities for interactions among residents and 26 visitors. There will be a central, shared garden and community-building activities . The Amabel project is a 27 venture of New Earth Living LLC, a development company founded by Sue. New Earth Living previously 28 built the Aurora Street Pocket Neighborhood in Ithaca. 29 30 Every detail about the homes and the community was well planned. Homes will soon be available to 31 purchase. Houses all have slanted roofs facing south with solar panels. Hot water needs are met with super-32 insulated electric storage heating tanks. She’s using preassembled concrete components to reduce costs. 33 Everything will be maintenance-free and high-efficiency. Windows are specially designed depending on the 34 direction they face. A p erimeter road will allo w people to park near their homes. Optional carports will be 35 available for purchase. 36 37 Homes have no basements, and all have a ground floor master option. Mature trees will be left as much as 38 possible. Sue wants to build a pavilion just like East Shore Park’s. Eventually the Black Diamond bike trail 39 Name Representation Martha Armstrong P Economic Development Todd Bittner P Natural Environment Joe Bowes E Housing Sue Cosentini P Business Fernando de Aragón P Transportation John Gutenberger E Education Dave Herrick P Facilities/Infrastructure Ruth Hopkins P At-Large Rod Howe P Historical/Cultural Resources David Kay P Local Planning (urban) Darby Kiley P Local Planning (non-urban) Gay Nicholson P At-Large will connect it to existing trails, and it will even have kayak access to the lake and canal. Onsite storage will 40 hold shared bikes and kayaks. Sue said the location is fantastic and the homes should sell quickly. 41 42 Members asked Sue questions about parking, trees, water cisterns, aesthetics, building materials, utilities, 43 HOA costs, walkability, and social connectivity. Water and sewer systems will be put in place when ten 44 homes are sold. Everything is designed for aging in place, social connectivity, net-zero utilities, 45 maintenance-free buildings and a community-oriented neighborhood. Sue was thanked for her vision, her 46 work and presentation. 47 48 Report & Discussion: Community/County Greenhouse Gas Inventories 49 Planning Department Commissioner Ed Marx gave a presentation on the recent Greenhouse Gas Emission 50 Inventory, an extensive study recently completed by the Planning Department. The full draft report has been 51 presented to the Planning, Economic Development, and Environmental Quality committee, but it has not yet 52 been presented to the public. Ed presented two executive summaries to the PAB and is asking for feedback 53 on how to best present this information to the public. He described data collection challenges and 54 methodology used, the Clearpath software required for the data collection, and the emerging story that can be 55 learned from the data. The data came from a variety of sources, and it was challenging because some was 56 actual, and some was estimated. Overall this report gives a general sense of what’s going, but it could also be 57 confusing as to what it means to the community. 58 59 Basically, there are two key points that emerge from this report, and they are conflicting. 60 1. Using the state of the art methodology and its built-in assumptions, from 2008-2014 Tompkins 61 County reported a 21% reduction in emissions. Our goal was 20% by 2020, so we’re well on our 62 way of meeting that goal. It appears we’re well on our way to 80% or better by 2050. However, Ed 63 said, when you dig into the data that conclusion might be misleading because of the protocol 64 assumptions, the underlying transition from coal and fuel oil to natural gas that accounts for much of 65 the reduction, and the production of gas shifting from conventional wells to fracked wells in the 66 Marcellus Shale. 67 2. Methane emission impacts over the next 20 years could have a significant impact on global warming 68 (up to 100 times the warming impact of CO2). Methane leakage from wells and transmission is not 69 accounted for in the current methodology. There are indications that methane leakages from 70 Marcellus Shale gas production could be more serious than indicated using current methodology. 71 Therefore we also show the impact accounting for various levels of methane leakage which would 72 show an increase in emissions associated with energy use in the county. 73 74 Locally, we were very active in keeping fracking away, but ironically, the gas energy we use comes from 75 fracking. 76 77 Ed said the good news overall is, this report shows that when a community focuses on reducing greenhouse 78 gas emissions, we can – and have – made progress. He asked for feedback and strategies on how to best 79 present this data to the public, knowing that a core group of people in our community will want to know the 80 details about how methane emissions were calculated. 81 82 Page two of the executive summary presents data on greenhouse gas emissions by sector and energy use by 83 sector. Data shows that we did reduce energy use across all sectors except for transportation, which 84 increased. Local efforts have produced success in greenhouse gas emissions. 85 86 Committee members asked clarifying questions and gave a variety of suggestions regarding messaging, 87 which include: 88 • Educate the general public on the good news that we’ve made progress in greenhouse gas emission 89 reduction. T alk about successes, and outline what can be done to continue progress. 90 • Avoid giving a doomsday message. P resent information on both sides and that we have more to do. 91 • Layman audiences will need to have the data explained to them. Highlight progress. 92 • Changing to electricity only makes sense if you change equally to renewables at the same time. 93 • Data assumptions in the methodology should be explained as one scientist’s opinion, not as the 94 absolute truth. 95 • Don’t mention all the technical details of data collection (i.e. methane calculations), just give the 96 results our community received, and then say: Here’s how we can continue to improve. 97 • Think about the target audience when creating the public report. Most people will want the simple 98 version. Maybe create a longer report for the 20% who want more detail. 99 • People need to know we’ve made progress. 100 • County government made great progress. Let’s focus on that as an example of the good news, and 101 explain how they did it. 102 • The TCPD doesn’t need to be the only group presenting the results of this study. Other groups can 103 tell it too. 104 • Design the message around the action you want the recipient to take away and “do,” rather than just 105 reporting. For example, inform people to buy into solar farms to keep progress moving. People aren’t 106 even aware they can. 107 • Many people are tracking data and they’re going to want the full report. 108 • The story is evolving, and the main thing is that we’ve made progress (except for transportation). 109 • There’s the full report, and then there’s the P owerpoint presentation. Make sure the presentation hits 110 the high points, without going into too much detail on data collection methodology concerns. 111 • Get people to understand what they can do in their own homes to continue progress. Concentrate on 112 energy reduction, and how to do it. 113 • Focus on big users like large department stores, such as Kohls, who recently installed solar panels. 114 • This is an evolving story. It needs to be told in a narrative so people can understand it, and we need 115 to present it as what the data reports so far. 116 117 Update: Housing Needs Assessment 118 Planning Department Senior Planner Megan McDonald gave an update on how the Housing Needs 119 Assessment will be presented to shareholders and the public. T he County’s expert consultant Ken Danter will 120 be presenting results from the County Housing Needs Assessments and the Downtown Ithaca Alliance 121 Housing Study on Tuesday, September 6, at the Borg Warner Room East at the Public Library. The 122 stakeholders’ meeting starts at 10:00 to talk about the County Housing Needs Assessment, then transition to 123 the Downtown Study at 11:00. At 6:30 there will be a public meeting to provide general information. 124 125 Commissioner’s Report – Ed Marx reported on: 126 1. DOT Feasibility Study is underway to help plan the move from the waterfront to the airport. They 127 were going to move to Dryden where they own property, but decided they need to stay in the Ithaca 128 area. We have a site in mind, the proposed business park north of Cherry off Waren Road, which 129 would work well. It’s County-owned property that’s part of the airport, and legal issues with leasing 130 are being worked out. 131 2. Airport Business Park feasibility study is nearly complete. Costs were estimated, the infrastructure 132 is planned, and the DOT could be the first tenant. 133 3. Blueway Trail Project has significant improvements planned, and soon the actual work will begin. 134 T hree public access points will be installed in Ithaca, and there will be boat storage racks and other 135 amenities. Signage will be provided for new and existing access points around the lake. 136 4. County Priority Trails Strategy. A project was submitted by the City that, if funded by the DOT, 137 will extend the Black Diamond Trail including a bridge over the flood control channel. This is one of 138 three parts of a bigger project the County is working on with the City of Ithaca. 139 5. Airport Micro grid is not going to proceed to the Stage 2 study, because it’s too expensive and 140 requires continuing relian ce on natural gas for base load power. May still explore ideas identified in 141 the study for more renewable solar energy and storage, but it’s on hold for now. 142 6. NYSEG Energy Smart Community. NYSEG is ready to install 12,000 smart meters and major 143 “smart” grid upgrades in a specific area of Tompkins County. T his exciting update will o ffer people 144 the option to access variable priced rates for off-peak usage. Area covered is Fall Creek, part of the 145 north side of the City of Ithaca, Cayuga Heights, Village of Lansing, Town of Lansing and the Town 146 of Dryden. 147 7. NYSERDA Clean Energy Communities Program and DEC Climate Smart – These are funded 148 programs for communities focused on energy savings. The NYSERDA Clean Energy Communities 149 Program is easier to comply with. If a municipality takes four out of ten actions they can apply for 150 funding for more energy improvements. The DEC Climate Smart Program is very complicated and 151 probably not worth the effort at this time. 152 153 Announcements –Monika Roth invited everyone to a September 16 farm tour by bus. An email with details 154 will be sent to all members. 155 156 Adjournment – Fernando moved for adjournment. Ruth seconded. The meeting was adjourned at 10:34 157 AM. 158 159 Respectfully submitted, 160 161 Pamela Pariso 162 Administrative Assistant 163 Tompkins County Planning Department 164