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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-IURAED-2024-04-09 108 E. Green St. Ithaca, NY 14850 (607) 274-6565 MEETING MINUTES ITHACA URBAN RENEWAL AGENCY Economic Development Committee (EDC) 3:30 P.M., Tuesday, April 9, 2024 Common Council Chambers, 108 E. Green St., Ithaca, NY 14850 Present: Chris Proulx, Chair; Leslie Ackerman, Vice-Chair; Donna Fleming; Derek Adams Excused: Chuck Schwerin Vacancies: 1 Staff: Nels Bohn; Charles Pyott [virtual] Guests: Yamila Fournier, City of Ithaca, Senior Planner [virtual] I. Call to Order Chair Proulx called the meeting to order at 3:36 P.M. II. Agenda Additions/Deletions None. III. Public Comments (3-minute max. per person) IV. Review of Meeting Minutes: January 23, 2024 & February 13, 2024 Adams moved, seconded by Ackerman, to approve the minutes, with no modifications. Carried Unanimously: 4-0 V. New Business A. Draft Downtown Plan: Plan Ithaca Phase II — Discussion with Yamila Fournier, Senior Planner Fournier remarked she joined the City of Ithaca last summer, primarily to work on long-term planning, beginning with downtown plan. Working through the 2015 Comprehensive Plan to create a vision and guidance for the future of Ithaca, one thing outlined was the need to have neighborhood plans because the overall comp plan worked for all of Ithaca, but each neighborhood had unique challenges and opportunities to examine. Downtown is defined as the West End as bordered by the Fulton and Meadow one-way couplets, the West State Street Corridor, and the Downtown Core because those three zones are the highest density and highest commercial zones within the City of Ithaca. Approved/Adopted: 5/13/24 EDC Meeting Minutes April 9, 2024 Page 2 of 4 Fournier explained that an advisory committee was assembled in the fall of 2019 and public outreach was conducted to get a visioning process. Then, there was a pause because of COVID. The City got back to the process in 2023 and in November reconvened a new advisory committee. This was an opportunity for a small group of careful leaders to examine the 144 recommendations, fine-tune and whittle them down, and see how their relevance stacks up currently, and to pull out some recommendations—not because they were not valid—but because they applied to the City as a whole. The City will look at doing a Comp Plan update in 2025 at the 10-year mark. Anything applying everywhere in the City of Ithaca will be pulled for that plan and they will laser-focus on the downtown. They produced thirteen sections, split into six chapters. They did surveys which the Advisory Committee reviewed and whittled down to 106 recommendations. Fournier mentioned that three major recommendations emerged from the review: 1. Livability. This means housing is available at all price points, streetscapes are well taken care of and functional, there is green infrastructure to manage flooding and stormwater changing with climate impacts, access to goods and services, arts and culture are supported, and there is good resilience downtown. 2. Connectivity. The City of Ithaca aims to be the first Net Zero City, an electric city. Part of becoming a Net Zero City is reducing the greenhouse footprint, which means fewer individual cars, better use of transit, better use of bikes and walking. And, of course, that means safe crossings, bike lanes, better sidewalks, better trail connections, making sure transit is robust and parking is right-sized. 3. Creativity for Economic Vitality. With new types of problems such as the pandemic, housing crises, and climate impacts, the idea is to look creatively at how the City deals with land use, economic development, encouraging innovation, and emerging tech, to deal with these problems in a new way. Fournier explained the City is reaching out to groups and the general public mostly through an online survey (https://tinyurl.com/IthacaDTPlan), asking the public to rank priorities, and at an open house on May 2, 2024. Fleming asked what is unique about this Plan for this studied area compared to other neighborhoods. Fournier responded that because of the sheer number of people who use downtown, there are some spots where in the plans and the recommendations, while recommendations could be for anywhere in the city, this is the first place the City would like to make sure that we engage in certain types of activities and it becomes of point of education for what can be done elsewhere. Ackerman recommended the working group define objectives and action items. Proulx asked what the timeframe is for the plan. Fournier responded that once the plan is adopted, it will help inform Common Council's budget planning for 2025, which is the first time action will be taken on some of the lower-hanging fruit. Beyond that, it may be 10-20 years, or some of it may roll into the next set of recommendations because these are ambitious recommendations with a lot of costly infrastructure change. EDC Meeting Minutes April 9, 2024 Page 3 of 4 Adams asked if there is a way to break down the number of recommendations to those that can be implemented and prioritize them. Fournier responded that is an excellent idea, and the survey was structured to ask people if a recommendation is a high, medium, low, or no priority. Fleming commented she did not see a bus depot referenced and she thinks that is essential. Fournier noted that handling bus traffic is addressed in Economic Vitality and in Mobility & Transportation, but "bus depot" is not mentioned by name. Proulx commented on how prioritization could be done, such as by items that are truly actionable by Common Council and other items that require participation by other agencies that make them actionable, generating economic opportunities beyond hospitality which is most relied upon. Fournier mentioned the challenge of providing goods and services downtown to minimize car use, which is counter to Net Zero city livability and walkable goals. Proulx noted the importance of zeroing in on work opportunities in addition to hospitality and service within walking distance and unique assets that downtown can offer. Ackerman commented on the potential for more rules and more policies and cautioned to keep eyes on the reality of the complicated zoning code and many rules and regs, which are sometimes an impediment to development and a move toward sustainability. She encouraged partnering with City departments to streamline some rules to make it more likely that some of the beneficial changes will happen and developers can build what is needed. B. Community Development Lending: Preliminary Request from GIAC, Inc. for Housing Development Action Grants (HODAG) Loan Assistance to Support Residential Rental Housing Project — Discussion with Travis Brooks, GIAC Deputy Director Bohn explained Brooks has still not yet appeared as scheduled to describe the Greater Ithaca Activities Center (GIAC) request, nor did he ever receive confirmation Brooks would in fact be present. This agenda item will likely need to be rescheduled until the next meeting. VI. Old/Other Business A. IURA-Recommended 2024 Action Plan: Review Bohn reported on the Action Plan that the full Ithaca Urban Renewal Agency Board recommended be adopted, noting the Economic Development Committee's recommendations were carried through strongly. The budget was adopted, and the exact amount of funding will probably be determined in April. Proulx noted the programs are quite historical and the differences are nuanced at times. He mentioned a meeting will be scheduled to understand the ecosystem of how the programs work and encourage programs to think more collectively. EDC Meeting Minutes April 9, 2024 Page 4 of 4 B. IURA Financials Review: February 2024 Bohn reported on the February grant summary and loan repayments. The spend-down requirement on the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) is to be no higher than $1.5 million at the end of May and the balance is currently at $1.8 Million. Loan repayments are current. Bohn noted lease payments are current except for Allpro, which is three months late. C. Staff Report Bohn reported the State has issued its Restore New York grant opportunity for cities. It is a State-funded program that is eligible only for vacant or dilapidated buildings not owned by the City. The City has applied on behalf of projects in the past. Five proposals brought to the City were scored internally against the criteria used by the State, which are: distress—for which Ithaca earns zero points, creation of housing, and investment in the tax base. The highest scored by staff was a project on the 900 West State Street block, which is a triangular block with a redemption center that is no longer operating and a vacant 2-story building. The proposal is to tear down the building and build three-story housing. It meets another key criterion: whether other State or federal programs are used. The proposal is to use a small building participation loan program. The mayor has recommended the project go forward for consideration. If deemed not feasible, a backup is the Water's Edge project on the old DOT site next to the Farmers Market, demolishing the vacant building to prepare for a housing project. VII. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned by consensus at 5:10 P.M. — END — Minutes prepared by S. Dean, edited by C. Pyott/N. Bohn.