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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-PLED-1997-02-20PLANNING AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE MINUTES FEBRUARY 20, 1997 Present: Susan Blumenthal, Chair; Alan J. Cohen, Mayor; John Efroymson, Rick Gray, Tom Hanna, John Johnson, Sara Shenk, Jane Marcham, Pam Mackesey, Roey Thorpe, H. Matthys Van Cort, Director of Planning & Development; Joe Cassaniti, Doria Higgins and Cynthia Yahn. Public Comment Joe Cassaniti addressed the committee regarding the appearance of the West End and his annoyance at a parking ticket he recently received. He told the committee that he was not pleased with having receiving a ticket and he thought that the City should spend its time dealing with more serious problems like prostitution, litter on the streets and poorly maintained properties. He specifically referred to a residential property at the corner of Plain and State, the movie theater on State between Plain and Corn and the general mess at the construction site of the Human Services Building. He complimented the City and Cornell on participation in the Good Neighborhood Handbook published by the Collegetown Neighborhood Council. He said that he would pay his ticket but he believes that the parking tickets drive business away, whereas, ticketing illegal activities and unsightly properties would help bring business to the area. Blumenthal suggested that he call the Building Department to register a complaint regarding property maintenance. Cassaniti stated that he wanted the Building Department to do it without citizens complaining. Doria Higgins addressed the committee regarding the “festival lands”. She told the committee that she attended the February 10 meeting of the town board of the Town of Ithaca. Ms. Higgins reported that she had asked the town board to take a position regarding possible transfer of the festival parcel by the City to the State. She said the town board did not agree with her suggestion because the town planner stated that the city planner believed that the City was not an involved agency under SEQR. Ms. Higgins said she thought the City was an involved agency in the approval of the Treman State Park Marina Master Plan. Van Cort said that he had discussed this issue with Mariette Geldenhuys and they concur that the City is not an involved agency under SEQR in the adoption of the Master Plan. The City takes no action with respect to this plan. The City may be involved in its implementation, however implementation steps will be given SEQR review as appropriate. Cynthia Yahn spoke about the continuing problem of no parking on Fulton Street. She said that in her opinion the rush hour was only one-half to three-quarters of an hour long and that the rest of the time the traffic moves through the area without delay. She said that there have been many accidents on the corner of Fulton and Buffalo including three cars running into the auto parts store and one running into Greenstar so hard that the brick wall failed. She said that the hydrant at the corner has been sheared off by cars on several occasions. She stated that this is a dangerous situation because the sidewalks are very close to the edge of the road. Furthermore, the lack of parking is detrimental residents, businesses and commercial interests in the area. She said that some area businesses had suffered up to a 70% loss of business and they are not recovering. Restoring parking would cost the City nothing and would help preserve West End businesses. Hanna asked what the City has done. Van Cort said that there have been several meetings with DoT at which DoT had consistently stated they would not change the parking regulations on Fulton until the Route 96 project was complete and traffic had a period of time to stabilize. Van Cort stated that the parking regulations are solely under the authority of New York State Department of Transportation. Hanna asked that Yahn put her concerns in writing. He also urged that the City take action to bring parking back to Fulton Street. Efroymson said he thought that any circulation problems are restricted to the rush hour and he felt that Senator Seward and Assemblyman Luster should be involved. A subcommittee consisting of Efroymson, Mackesey and Mayor Cohen was formed to try to get action on this issue. Committee Members’ Reports Efroymson said that City representatives had met on several occasions with the Inter-Municipal Cable Commission and that a decision had been made that the City should issue its own RFP for consulting services regarding cable refranchising. After a short discussion, there was consensus that there was no need for the final draft of the RFP to come back to Common Council unless there a major changes. Any comments should be given to Efroymson or Gray. 1. State Environmental Quality Review Blumenthal said that the Planning and Development Board had been working on revisions to the City’s Type I list under SEQR. She asked whether any committee members would be interested in working with the Planning and Development Board on revising the Type I thresholds. Blumenthal, Gray and Johnson volunteered. It was noted that Marcham will continue to represent the Planning Board regarding this issue. Van Cort was directed to ask the Planning Board to put this item on their agenda. (Shenk said that Council seems to be forming many ad hoc subcommittees and that perhaps the new committee structure would lead to more work for Council members rather than less. It was agreed that committee chairs’ would keep track of all subcommittees formed.) 2 2. Clean Water/Clean Air Bond Act Van Cort said that a letter had been written to Senator Seward and Assemblyman Luster notifying them that the City was interested in applying for funding for various projects under the Clean Water/Clean Air Bond Act. Van Cort said that he did not feel there was any need for the committee to take further action regarding this funding source until the state prepares the appropriate application forms. At that time, the staff will come back to Common Council for direction regarding the actual applications. 3. Inlet Island Design Study Blumenthal reminded the committee that Council had given approval for preparing an RFP for urban design studies for Inlet Island. Van Cort said there were several alternative funding sources for the design study. One was to earmark the proceeds from the sale of Taughannock Blvd. and another was to take funds from an existing capital project. After a brief discussion, it was decided that it would be most appropriate to take the funds for the study from capital project #207, and it was decided that any proceeds from the sale of the Taughannock Blvd. right-of-way should be set aside for improvements to Inlet Island. 4. Zoning Change--Amendment to the Provision Requiring Notification of Violation By The Building Commissioner A concept memo dated December 2, 1996 was prepared regarding a zoning change. It calls for clarification in the ordinance of the time limit to appeal decisions of the Building Commissioner. The new time limit would be 60 days. This amendment would also add language to the ordinance which would empower the assistants and deputies of the Building Commissioner to administer and enforce the zoning ordinance. On a motion by Shenk, seconded by Gray, these proposed amendments were recommended for adoption and referred to Common Council for action. A resolution calling for a public hearing will be put on the agenda for the March meeting. The amendment is to be voted on at the April meeting. 5. Zoning Change--Amendment to Accessory Apartment Provisions Van Cort explained that under the present regulation concerning accessory apartments, the special permit which allowed the creation and maintenance of the apartment would terminate upon sale of the property. Both Rick Eckstrom and Pat Kennedy feel this provision may be difficult to enforce. 3 In his concept memo, Eckstrom explains that continuation of the apartment under the special permit provision requires inspection by the Building Department on a regular basis, and any failure to comply with the terms of the special permit would result in the loss of the right to the apartment. Eckstrom felt that these conditions should apply equally to any owner. A spirited discussion followed in which several Council members felt that they did not want the accessory apartment permits to be permanent. If the law did not allow the City to terminate the rights to an apartment upon sale, than perhaps the rights to accessory apartments should be modified and restricted. Mackesey, Johnson and Cohen felt that the provisions for accessory apartments should be examined before the proposed change is brought to Council. Hanna said he believed that this amendment was sensible and worthy of support. Marcham said there were many large houses in the City and families were getting smaller, thus accessory apartments made it possible for people to stay in their homes. This matter was tabled for further discussion at the next Planning and Economic Development Committee Meeting. 6. Zoning Change--Clarification Regarding a Time After Which the Right to a Non-conforming Grandfathered Use is Discontinued This item was deferred until the March meeting due to Kennedy and Eckstrom being unavailable to attend the meeting. 7. Downtown Design Plan Blumenthal said that on July 25, 1996, the Planning and Development Board approved and adopted the Downtown Plan as published in September 1992 as an amendment to the general plan and part of the City’s comprehensive plan. She suggested that Council may want to concur on this action by passing a resolution of their own accepting and approving the plan. Discussion followed. Several members of Council felt that they did not want to support the plan because it called for the construction of additional parking in downtown. Van Cort said that the parking would meet the demand created by the proposed buildings in the plan and was in compliance with commonly accepted parking ratios, as well as those required in the City’s zoning ordinance where there are parking requirements. Johnson said that everybody would find something in the plan they did not like but that this was not a reason to vote against it. Cohen suggested that a ‘whereas’ be added to the resolution explaining that any construction of public improvements would require public debate and the allocation of financing. Mackesey and Thorpe were concerned that approval of the plan would signify approval of a parking garage. Marcham said that she felt language should be added to the resolution indicating that public improvements would require further debate. Mackesey and Thorpe agreed to draft an alternative resolution which would be distributed with the March agenda. 4 5 8. Economic Development Plan Blumenthal reported that a small group had met to discuss preparing a process plan for the upcoming economic development plan. She said that this group would meet again and that there would be a report back to the Planning and Economic Development Committee of Council once a proposal had been agreed upon. Hanna, Shenk, Blumenthal, Mackesey and Gray agreed to meet with this group. Blumenthal reminded the Committee that if the plan were to go ahead, funds would have to be allocated for consulting services. 9. Mayor’s Report  Mayor Cohen reported that he had been working with Charlie Trautmann of the Sciencenter to set up a Computer Clubhouse. This is a program through which young people are introduced to computing and where they can improve their computer skills.  A small group had been formed to discuss the long term future of Cass Park Rink. It was felt that some major decisions had to be made regarding the rink before money is spent on the energy conservation capital project.  There will be a presentation of the Tompkins County Waterfront Study to the head of the New York State Canal Commission at the Chamber of Commerce on Friday.  A Rural/City Coordination Committee has been appointed by the County. They will meet on February 26 at 8:15 A.M. at the Court House on the second floor. Mike Lane will chair the committee. 10. Departmental Reorganization and Re-Staffing The committee went into executive session to discuss personnel matters. After the executive session, it was reported out that Blumenthal, Hanna, Mackesey, Shenk and Thorpe had volunteered to be on a subcommittee to analyze the Planning and Development Department’s reorganization and staffing. ss-q\misc\pedc2-19