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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-IURACDC-1979-09-12 1 -- ` Air ITHACA CENTER SITE PROPOSALS SPECIAL MEETING SEPTEMBER 12, 1979 COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS 7:30 P.M. PRESENT: Mayor Edward J. Conley, Chairman IURA Clarence Reed, IURA Jim Dennis, IURA, Common Council , Chairman of P&D Committee Stuart Stein, Chairman, Planning & Development Board; IURA Don Slattery, Common Council Ray Bordoni , Common Council John Gutenberger, Common Council Ethel Nichols, Common Council Anne Jones, IURA Rudolph Saccucci , Common Council Dick Boronkay, Common Council Elva Holman, Common Council Thys Van Cort, Planning and Development Mick Bottge, Planning and Development Kathe Evans, Community Development Staff Natalie de Combray, Community Development Staff Jim Dennis, Chairman of the Planning and Development Committee, called the meeting to order at 7:45. Mayor Conley stressed that no decision would be made at this time. Common Council , the Ithaca Urban Renewal Agency, the Planning and Development De- partment and the general public would have an opportunity to hear developer proposals after which the IURA would meet in order to prepare a recommendation to Common Council . Dennis said that 4 developers originally had offered to present development proposals but read a letter from the Ithaca Renting and Leasing Co. in which that company declined to make a presentation. Dennis then introduced the three developers present and said that George Sheldon, editor of the Grapevine, would be given 15 minutes to speak at the end of the meeting. Richard Schecter of Syracuse spoke on behalf of Fisher-Schecter. He said that his group is-currently building an Urban Renewal project in Syracuse and stressed their experience as land use planners. David Taube of O'Brien & Taube, Architects, showed a dr4wing of a "U" shaped construction that includes 50,000 square feet of commercial space, a nine story building that will house 72 moderate to luxury living units, and a 90 by 140 foot open courtyard. The contractor would be McGuire and Bennett. The construction and market consultant would be the New York City based Cauldwell-Wingate Company, Inc. The project would cost in excess of $5,000,000.00. C ITHACA CENTER SITE PROPOSALS SEPTEMBER 12, 1979 PAGE 2 James Loveall of Fred H. Thomas Associates presented a multi-level design connecting the Commons to Green Street and Woolworth's. In this plan, a 5 story building is placed diagonally to the Commons so as to retain maximum sunlight. The project includes 106,000 square feet of commercial space and 53,000 square feet of luxury apartments. Open areas include patios and a one story high roof-top courtyard with access to the Commons via stairways and elevators. John Black of Canandaigua would be the developer of this project. George Sheldon presented his design which also included apartments in a six story building and underground retail space. Sheldon proposed calling the site "Agora": marketplace, in Greek. The McRobb-Goldberg project was presented via slides and commentary by Werner Seligman, designer.' 45,000 square feet of retail space, 65 apartment units including 2 story town-houses, and courtyards are featured. Based on the open market concept of Quincy Market in Boston, the structure has glass doors onto the Commons which can be opened during the Summer. The meeting was adjourned at 11 :30. C C MINUTES Northside/Southside Communities Tuesday, August 14, 1979 Salvation Army Building PRESENT: Kathe Evans C.D. Staff Rev. Afi Binta-Lloyd Imani Healing Temple, INHS Teresita Seminiario City of Ithaca Planning Department Jaqueline Brown INHS Susan Cummings INHS Ann Shepardson INHS Hallie Williams INHS Art Sprague INHS Helen Engst for Ann Jones Council/Co-Op Alice Reid Ballet Guild of Ithaca George Mayer . Margaret McCasland Southside Community Center Clarence Reed IURA, Southside Community Center Margaret Jones IHA Elva Holman Common Council Susan Hanson HSC ILThis was the second "working meeting" of community residents and represen- tatives to review first year plans (1979-1980) for Neighborhood Improvements in the Southside and Northside. $600,000 worth of street and public space improvements will be available over the next three years from a Small Cities Grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. At the first community meeting on June 22, 1979, Mr. Russ Breiner of Duryea and Wilhelmi, Landscape Architects, presen- ted preliminary designs and alternatives for the range of activities that could be accomplished within the budget over the next three years. This evening, Mr. Breiner returned to share specific designs on the first year's portion of the plan which includes a Pedestrian Circulation System, the Southside Community Center outside improvements , Street Tree Plantings, Wood Street Park, the Central School Block and Markle Flats improvements, the South Plain Street Bridge and tree planting along West State Street. Breiner stressed that the overall goal of the proposed improvements was to increase safety, beautify streets and enhance public space. During the first year, work on the Pedestrian Circulation System will center along South Plain Street which is the main artery connecting the Southside to downtown and peripheral streets. Scheduled is sidewalk replacement and installation of drop curb sections. , Improvements designed to change the focus of current outdoor activities are programmed at the Southside Community Center. Plans include enlargement of the main entry area and separation of the park area from the sidewalk with plantings. Curb, sidewalk,and storm drainage repairs are included in the overall program as is the addition of a small paved area for outdoor games. MINUTES t Northside/Southside ( Page 2 Margaret McCasland said there was no need for an additional paved area as there was already a paved area in the back. She also suggested the possibility of moving the basketball court. Rev. Afi Binta-Lloyd noted that the handicapped access ramp is not efficient. She suggested moving it to the south side of the entrance. She also noted that ball playing takes place throughout the park and asked if there was a way to keep balls from going into the street. Breiner replied that a berm would keep the balls from rolling out of the park. Breiner continued with descriptions of the 1st Year Improvements and said that 35 shade trees will be planted during the 1st year throughout the Northside and the Southside communities. At Wood Street Park, a 25 car on-street parking area will be developed and pathways circulating through the park to also provide access to shopping areas will be laid out. New street-front sitting areas in front of the GIAC and Markle Flats buildings will be built and other improvements will be accomplished around the Central School and the Immaculate Conception School. With regards to the South Plain Street Bridge, Breiner said that improvements will include painting of the steel structure, and installation of public sitting areas at each end of the bridge. Sue Cummings noted that maintenance was a problem and said a drainage system was needed. Breiner said he would be working closely with City Ehgineer Phil Cox and that maintenance was a high priority to be considered during the improvements program. The meeting broke up into informal discussion groups and it was mentioned that plans and drawings of the 1st Year Improvements would be available for the public to study at the Planning and Development Department in City Hall. IL MINUTES IURA/CDA September 19, 1979 Common Council Chambers 3:30 P.M. PRESENT: Jim Dennis IURA/CDA Clarence Reed, IURA/CDA Anne Jones , IURA/CDA Stuart Stein, IURA/CDA H.M. Van Cort, Director of P&D Dept. Kathe Evans, CD Staff Art Pearce, INHS Press Vice Chairman Dennis called the meeting to order at 3:45 and said that because of the Mayor's absence, discussion of the Ithaca Center would be postponed. I . Approval of Minutes : Reed MOVED to approve the Minutes of August 14, 1979. Jones SECONDED and MOTION PASSED. Van Cort asked that Art Pearce be permitted to give his INHS Report next as he had to leave the meeting early. He also asked that the Executive Session follow the report as he himself had to leave the meeting early. II . INHS Report: Pearce explained that this report was from the 2nd quarter of the year. A more recent report would be forthcoming in October. He reported that activity was substantially up except for Code Enforcement. This was due to a personnel change but he said this activity was picking up again. He said that the NHS Board was confident that the program was making an impact and said that nineteen loans and been made; as of June 30th , a total of 63 loans was reached. The Mini Repair Program is doing very well, as is the House Recycling Program. To date, five houses were bought, one sold, 1 demolished and 1 in construction. Delays occur when titles are legally tied up but the year's target, he said, will be reached. Pearce passed hand-outs to IURA/CDA members that included financial and activity figures. The one negative aspect regards the CETA work crew and Pearce presented a proposal to hire an INHS carpenter when the CETA contract expires December 30th, 1979. He explained that the CETA goal is training while the NHS goal is to provide quality service. CETA policy does not allow the same program to be funded a second year and Pearce said that the yearly salaries permitted are too low to hire competent workers. His request is that CD provide $32,000.00 for a 2 year contract with a quality carpenter to provide basic health, code and safety repairs for families of low income. The carpenter would also work with private contractors on rehabilitation work in cases where the project would be impossible to finance and with Mini-Repair carpenter Howard Ingram on jobs too difficult for one man to handle. MINUTES IURA/CDA September 19, 1979 PAGE 2 Dennis asked if any of the present CETA employees would be asked to fill the position. Pearce said that .I though they would advertise the job, there was one CETA worker who would apply. Reed asked if Pearce would apply for CETA help again. Pearce said that though he respected the CETA program, the aims of the two agencies were too different to work successfully. Van Cort said the Planning and Development Department had the same problems as it was impossible to find someone capable of doing the required work for the permitted CETA salary. Jones asked where the money for the new carpenter would come from. Evans said they were studying the possiblity of using Small Cities funds but that no decision had yet been made. Van Cort said a proposal would be made at the next meeting. Jones asked what 'line 40' on the Monthly Cash Flow and Budget Report Sheet referred to. Pearce said that line was "Board Training" and said it's funds were reser- ved to train Board members via conferences and meetings. He said 4 NHS Board members had recently been sent to a national workshop in Milwaukee. He said that Board Members who had never been to such an event were asked to go. Stein again raised the question regarding cash flow of loan funds. He wondered what safeguards exist to assure that the money will be used as originally intended. He noted that as the money builds , it becomes more tempting and asked if some provision could be made to ensure the continuing safety of the funds should, in years to come, the aims of the INHS Board be directed toward different goals. Pearce said that he has asked other NHS people how they handle this problem but has come up with no answer. He suggested asking consultants Raymond, Pa- rish, Pine and Weiner for their advice. Reed asked if the City Attorney would be helpful and Van Cort pointed out that it was not a question of legality but of policy. He suggests it be worked out between the INNS and the IURA. Pearce said that perhaps a stipulation could be made that any policy change would require IURA/CDA approval . MINUTES IURA/CDA . September 19, 1979 PAGE 3 Dennis suggested this be reviewed at the October meeting and EXECUTIVE SESSION was called. When the regular meeting resumed, Van Cort proposed a resolution that Katherine Evans be granted a salary increase of 7% retroactive to January 14 1979. Stein MOVED to accept the resolution, Reed SECONDED and MOTION PASSED. Van Cort then proposed a resolution that as Natalie de Combray's responsibilities have changed since her employment with the program, that her title be changed to CD Secretary/Bookeeper and that her salary be increased from $4.00 an hour to $5.00 an hour, effective September 24, 1979. Stein MOVED to accept the resolution, Reed SECONDED and MOTION PASSED. III . Administration: a) Payroll check signatures- Van Cort said that on the advice of the State auditing comptroller it was decided to spread the various financial responsibilities as broadly as possible. A signature proposal was presented listing primary and secondary required signators for drawdowns, purchase orders and checks. He noted that some CD staff depend on their weekly pay checks so that the primary signators in this category were listed as Evans and Van Cort as they were more readily available. Stein suggested that as secondary signator for paychecks, Evans and or Van Cort and an IURA member should be listed. Evans noted that she did not necessarily need her pay check every Monday and that she could wait for an IURA member to come to City Hall . b) Approval of job description - Van Cort said the ad for CD coordinator has been circulated to the upstate New York CD Directors and in the NYSHARO monthly directory. Stein noted that in the job description the word "desired" should be amended to include "or its equivalent" so as to open the job to a wider variety of applicants. Van Oort said a student doing a work study with the Planning Department was in the process of writing an administrative manual for C. D. Evans said that she would be going to a CD Directors conference on September 20 and would answer any questions they might have in regards to the position. MINUTES IURA/CDA September 19, 1979 PAGE 4 c) IURA meeting attendance at regularly scheduled times - After discussion it was decided to meet every second Monday at 5:00. If it was impossible to get through the Agenda business at that time, another meeting would be called for the following Monday at 5:00 to continue. d) Housing site review by HUD requested - Evans reported that during HUD's monitoring visit, they had indicated that any sites to be used for government funded public housing would be visited by a Housing Analysis team. This requirement is to ascertain that the site is appropriate vis-a-vis public transportation and other neighborhood facilities and services. It is also to assure that no area is being over-impacted by publicly assisted housing projects. Sites in the Belle Sherman and South Hill areas were suggested and she asked members if they had any suggestions to add. Evans said that she has sent to HUD a map indicating 20 different possible sites for new housing. She added that two developers had showed interest in the Section 8 program and said she had students currently looking for new site possibilities. Stein asked why this study wasn't being done on a County wide basis. He said that the City of Ithaca was the only community dealing with these programs and added that if concentration was a worry, it would be advisable to consider other towns and villages in the area. Evans said that the County had received an allocation of 100 Section 8 existing units that will be administered by the EOC program. She said that a lot of eligible, lower income people will probably get these certificates on mobile home housing. She said she is worried about the quality of this housing and noted that the City was fortunate to have a very effective Housing Authority Director. IV. Old Business: a) GIAC purchase negotiation process - Van Cort said negotiations for purchase of the GIAC building were in progress through the City Attorney. He said however that it would not happen in the immediate future and proposed a resolution asking the School Board to authorize improvements. Stein asked if this was the same agreement as before and Van Cort said yes. Jones suggested that the resolution be amended to include the signing of a contract between the IURA and the Board of Education. All members agreed and Reed MOVED to accept the resolution as amended, Stein SECONDED and MOTION PASSED. -.MINUTES IURA/CDA September 19, 1979 PAGE 5 b) Labor Standards Compliance on Construction Contracts - Evans summed up the present problem by stating that Robert Dingman would not sign the Board of Public Works contract with the IURA because he said his department was unable to comply with Appendices C and D, the Equal Opportunity, Fair Labor Standards aspects of the contract. These appendices deal with minority hiring, use of Section 3 businesses (businesses located in the city) , application of Equal Opportunity standards and the Affirmative . Action program in all areas of hiring activities and includes the stipulation that efforts will be made to hire target area employees whenever possible. The contract requested the BPW to participate, without any fee, in various CD funded construction projects. Evans said that a series of meetings with Robert Dingman regarding this contract had been initiated by Roz Williams in April , 1978. At that and subsequent meetings, Williams told him that although some areas could be simplified, there was no way that the Affirmative , Action, Equal Op Qrtunity, Section 3 aspects of the contract could be _ eliminate_ from the contract. These meetings were held on May 18, May 24 and June 24 but nothing was resolved. Evans then met with Dingman on - August 9, one week before the HUD monitoring, to try to get the contract signed. At this time, Dingman said he did not have the staff capability to implement these programs and asked that the City Attorney look over Appendices C and D so he could better understand what was required of him to comply. At the Board of Public Works meeting on August 10, City Attorney Shapiro presented two alternatives : 1 . That the BPW sign the contract and take responsibility for Appendix C and D with all the contracts and subcontracts that they sign. 2. That the IURA and BPW continue to work without a contract with some member of the P&D or CD staff somehow managing to handle this part of the compliance. Evans said that when HUD monitors asked why no contract existed between the BPW and the IURA, she had explained the above situation. HUD subse- quently suggested that as administrators , CD staff should take on these responsibilities until some other arrangement was made. As a consequence of this situation, Evans said that she has taken over the Fair Labor Standard requirements but that the time involved in this interferes with her Housing Specialist duties. A further requirement is that weekly wage sheets be sent in regarding payrolls , hours worked, and monitoring of what is happening on the job site. She said this would take two to three hours a week and suggested that Natalie de Combray be given the responsibility of submitting these forms. r MINUTES IURA/CDA September 19, 1979 PAGE 6 She said that this would take care of the Wood Street and Conway Parks improvements and the Fall phase of the Neighborhood Improvements Project, this Fall 's construction activities. She hopes that Phil Cox will do the same for GIAC. Evans recommends, however, that, as the construction arm of the City, the DPW be legitimately required to handle this aspect not only for CD projects but for those of the City as well . Van Cort said that he has been officialy named the Fair Labor Standards Enforcement Officer and said that this responsibility has been turned over to Evans. He said that it makes little sense for him to hold this position and that it should be given to someone actually dealing with implementation of job contracts on the job sites. He said the Planning Department has no engineers or "clerks of the works`_' and feels that some aggreement has to be reached with the DPW to do this implementation. Evans said that the job was not a full time one and did not want to see CD funds used to hire a person in the Engineering Department to handle this. Van Cort said that another suggestion had been to make compliance a requirement in every contract but said that he does not think that this is a good idea because it would give an advantage to the larger contractors who have greater administrative capabilities and would work against the goals of minority business enterprise and Affirmative Action. He added that every federal con- tract is increasingly requiring MBE and Fair Labor Standards and that the city is going to have to do something in any casee. Evans noted that CD does not require MBE but that every possible effort must be made to hire minority contractors by invoving them in the bidding of the program. She said the city shouldstill Chose the lowest responsible bid and that this does not imply that the chosen bidder will be a minority. Van Cort said that it is time that the Mayor or some member of the Agency work with the Superintiendent of Public Works or the BPW to iron these problems out. Evans said that the Mayor wanted the contract signed and had spoken about it at the BPW meeting of August 10. Stein said that the BPW meeting, the Department of Public Works, which has been in charge of repairs and improvements to city property, said that since it was unable to handle the MBE and Affirmative Action portions of the IURA contract, that the IURA should take charge of the construction of its projects. Stein thought this was an inconsistent policy. ii MINUTES IURA/CDA September 19, 1979 PAGE 7 Dennis said that the city has generally had a bad track record in regards to Affirmative Action and noted that the Mayor had appointed Personnel Director Joan Collins as Affirmative Action officer. He suggests that City Council face the problem. Stein said that apart from CD, the city would have to implement Affirmative Action policy and mentioned the forthcoming federal funds for a sewage treatment plant. Reed said it was time the city came to grips with this problem and suggested bringing it to the attention of Common Council . Dennis agreed and said he would bring it up at the next Budget and Administration meeting. He said this committee can make recommendations to Council regarding policy changes. Stein suggested that for the time being, Evans take care of the job site mo- nitoring and that de Combray work overtime to handle the weekly wage schedules:. Evans said that at present there was the possibility of getting some adaptive re-use Section 8 housing begun and would hate not to have the blocks of time necessary to begin this work. Stein said that if she ran into difficulties with regards to time that she report it at the next IURA/CDA meeting so some decision could be made on how to proceed. Dennis said he would schedule a B and A meeting for the following week. The meeting adjourned at 5:30. Respectfully Submitted, Approved, Natalie de Combray Kathe Evans September 27 , 1979