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Home My WebLink About2016-12-07 PAB Final Minutes 1 PLANNING ADVISORY BOARD 2 Wednesday, December 7, 2016 3 SCOTT HEYMAN CONFERENCE ROOM 4 125 East Court Street 5 6 MEETING MINUTES 7 Members Attending: 8 Name Representation Martha Robertson P Planning Committee Monika Roth E Agriculture Kathy Schlather E Human Services Rob Steuteville A Built Environment Design Andy Zepp P Land Pres/Public Land Mgmt Dooley Kiefer P Associate Member Others Present Ed Marx P Commissioner of Planning Megan McDonald P Senior Planner Kristin McCarthy P Administrative Assistant Katie Borgella P 10 Guests: None 11 12 A quorum was not present. Approval of the minutes was delayed until the next meeting. 13 14 Call to Order – Chair David Kay called the meeting to order at 9:07 AM. There were no changes to the 15 agenda. 16 17 Privilege of the Floor – No speakers 18 19 Agenda Review/Changes – Megan McDonald asked to speak first because she had another meeting to 20 attend as well. David K. approved it. 21 22 Approval of Minutes (Oct. 26) – 23 24 The board delayed the minutes approval to the January 2017 meeting due to a lack of quorum. 25 26 Housing Summit Follow-up Report – Ed Marx and Megan McDonald 27 28 Megan and Ed shared their thoughts on the County’s Housing Summit, which had been held the previous 29 week (Nov. 30–Dec. 1), and led a discussion of it with the board members. 30 They still have a lot to do in terms of follow-up work, including compiling people’s comment cards and 31 formulating potential action steps. 32 33 A key takeaway from the Summit is that people have a better understanding of how complex the issue is and 34 that in itself is important. Keynote speaker Christopher Coes said “make plans and stand by them.” Board 35 members discussed how small efforts put together can help, and there are lots of different approaches to 36 addressing this problem. It was agreed that it would be useful for the group members to strategize together. 37 38 Name Representation Martha Armstrong P Economic Development Todd Bittner E Natural Environment Joe Bowes A Housing Sue Cosentini E Business Fernando de Aragón E Transportation John Gutenberger P Education Dave Herrick P Facilities/Infrastructure Ruth Hopkins E At-Large Rod Howe E Historical/Cultural Resources David Kay P Local Planning (urban) Darby Kiley P Local Planning (non-urban) Gay Nicholson A At-Large Martha Robertson commented on the diversity of both the audience and speakers. She thinks attendees want 39 follow-up and she “doesn’t want us to drop the ball on this.” She also added that the Park Foundation wants 40 to strategize with them (the County) on this issue. 41 42 Another big takeaway for Ed was that the County is suddenly on the verge of providing enough student 43 housing. With its projections, Cornell alone could provide roughly 1,500 new beds and new construction is 44 booming in Collegetown 45 46 Martha Armstrong liked the momentum spurred by the Summit and thought the panelists did a good job of 47 explaining the challenges involved — i.e., how to get stuff built. 48 49 Ed also talked about senior housing: the County currently does not have many options for downsizing, and 50 it’s an area with great potential. Building smaller units for seniors would also open places for people who 51 need bigger housing. Fight or use the market. Using the market would mean student and senior housing. 52 53 The Emerson, South Hill, and East Hill Plaza projects could be game-changers, potentially creating 1,500 or 54 more units at those locations. It would allow many people to live closer to their workplaces, cutting down on 55 commuting. The South Hill projects might need development assistance, however, because the landowners 56 are not developers. Andy Zepp asked to what extent Game Farm and Ellis Hollow were a focus of 57 development for Cornell. He then inquired whether PAB should advocate for developing East Hill Plaza and 58 voiced some concern over increased traffic congestion downtown that might result with the South Hill 59 development. 60 61 Another major area for potential development, according to Ed, is strengthening the Ithaca–Cortland 62 commuter corridor. There is potential for new housing in Dryden and Varna along that line, and significant 63 commuting both ways between Ithaca and Cortland that could potentially support better transit service. 64 65 Martha R. thought it important the group recognize that Cornell was finally taking some in-depth steps to 66 address student housing and the County should affirm those steps. She and David K. also mentioned the 67 economic toll the affordable housing shortage takes on students. It is a big source of stress for many of them. 68 69 Megan spoke of the employee recruitment and retention turnover that some area employers face because of 70 the housing shortage. Also, echoing what Ed said earlier about senior housing, she said a good portion of 71 older residents intend to retire here so the County needs to find ways to provide housing that meets their 72 needs and free up family housing. 73 David K remarked that the type and availability of housing isn’t here to attract people to the area. Katie 74 Borgella concurred with him, adding that the consultants found that the quality of the housing stock is poor 75 compared to what you’d find in other cities. 76 77 Energy Strategy Discussion – Katie Borgella 78 79 Katie gave a year-end review of the progress made in implementing the County’s energy strategy. The 80 Energy Roadmap task force recommended establishing interim greenhouse gas emissions goals for 2020, 81 2025, and 2030; to develop a detailed action plan to reach those goals, and to launch related pilot programs to 82 assess the feasibility of some of the renewable energies being considered. 83 84 Katie handed out a draft approach for the strategy update to the group and highlighted some of the key plans 85 for 2017. 86 87 88 89 Martha A. asked if they had plans to form a “steering committee” of sorts. Ed replied, and Katie later 90 affirmed, that they’d definitely continue to report back to the PAB at key stages as it offers a broader focus 91 given the varying backgrounds of its members. Ed also spoke of the need for an advisory group in connection 92 with the Energy Smart community NYSEG is creating. In addition, a proposed change to the County Charter 93 would replace an at-large seat on the PAB with an energy seat. 94 95 David K. inquired what they envision achieving in 2017. Ed and Katie both believe it’s feasible to finish the 96 strategy in 2017 and are eager to move from number crunching to start implementing action steps. 97 98 99 100 Commissioner’s Report – Ed Marx 101 102 Ed reported on the South Hill Recreationway Open House, which took place Nov. 29, 2016. The event had a 103 big turnout and attendees filled out roughly 100 comment cards, with nine out of 10 being in favor of the 104 extension. Some of the landowners attended and handed out their own literature at the door. 105 106 The latest happenings with the Old Library site are that one more attempt to satisfy the landmarks 107 preservations community will be made most likely in February. The developer is also exploring whether it’s 108 economically viable to construct an underground parking lot beneath the building. 109 110 In Ed’s opinion, the Old Library is an example of the need for the City to develop guidelines so that 111 developers have an idea of what they need to do to get something approved. 112 113 Todd Bittner won’t be renewing his seat and asked Ed to pass on his thanks to the board in his absence. Ed is 114 interested in approaching State Parks staffabout applying to the board. 115 116 Announcements – 117 118 Dooley Kiefer shared a map from the December issue of National Geographic that shows how natural area 119 connectivity is being studied in Sullivan County, New York. 120 121 Adjournment – 122 123 The meeting adjourned at 10:29 a.m. 124 125 126 127