HomeMy WebLinkAboutPB Minutes 2008-01-08FILE
DAT
REGULAR MEETING
TOWN OF ITHACA PLANNING BOARD
TUESDAY, JANUARY 8, 2008
215 NORTH TIOGA STREET
ITHACA, NY 14850
7:00 p.m.
PRESENT
Chairperson: Rod Howe
Board Members: Eva Hoffmann, George Conneman, Larry Thayer, Susan Riha, Hollis
Erb and Fred Wilcox
STAFF: Jonathan Kanter, Director of Planning; Dan Walker, Town Engineer; Mike
Smith, Environmental Planner; Susan Brock, Attorney for the Town; Paulette Neilsen,
Deputy Town Clerk,
OTHERS
Rick Couture, Ithaca College
Howard Blaisdell, Moody Nolan, Columbus, Ohio
David Herrick & Matthew Hendren, T.G. Miller Engineers and Surveyors, Ithaca
Brian McCarty, Musco Lighting, Queensbury, NY
Herman Sieverding, Intergraded Acquisition and Development
Hollis Erb and Rod Howe were sworn in.
Chairperson Howe — Welcome to the first board meeting of 2008. It's obviously a
different perspective for me, to be in this chair, and Fred, I'm sure, will keep me on
target if I veer. So ... the exits are on each side of the room. If any one has a cell phone
or a pager, if you would please turn it off or put it on vibrate.
We want to welcome Hollis Erb as now a permanent, official member of the Planning
board. She is no longer an alternate, so, ..(applause),.I
If there are any persons to be heard who want to speak about something other than the
Ithaca College DEIS for the Athletic Center, would you let me know ... is there anyone
who would like to speak to something other than that?
Rick Couture, Ithaca College
Rod, I was hoping...we are waiting for David Herrick to come with some handouts for
you folks, so if you wouldn't mind just giving us a couple of more minutes until David
shows up...
Chairperson Howe — Sure. Is it more than the addendum that we've received already?
Mr. Herrick — There's an updated version, I think, that we want to distribute.
Chairperson Howe — And updated version from what...
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Pg. 2
Mr. Smith — There's an updated version of that.
Mr. Couture — He should be here any moment ... he is busily copying them off right
now...
Chairperson Howe — I assume there was no one else to speak to another issue? Is it
possible for us to address some of the other items while we're waiting?
Why don't we talk to nomination and election of Vice Chairperson for 2008.
Board Member Wilcox — I move that Eva Hoffmann be elected Vice Chair.
Chairperson Howe — Seconded by Hollis. Any other comments or recommendations or
nominations?
Board Member Hoffmann — My comment is that I hope you're going to be here every
time so that I don't...
Chairperson Howe — And I take it that you would be willing to...
Board Member Hoffmann — Yes.
Chairperson Howe — Well, we'll close the nominations and entertain the vote...all those
in favor, say aye ... anyone opposed? ... any abstentions... Congratulations.
ADOPTED RESOLUTION: PB RESOLUTION NO. 2008 = 001
Nomination and Election
Planning Board Vice Chairperson 2008
Planning Board, January 8, 2008
MOTION made by Fred Wilcox, seconded by Hollis Erb.
RESOLVED, that the Town of Ithaca Planning Board does hereby nominate and elect
Eva Hoffmann as Vice Chairperson of the Planning Board for the year 2008.
FURTHER RESOLVED, that said election shall be reported to the Town Board.
The vote on the motion resulted as follows:
AYES: Howe, Conneman, Thayer, Riha, Hollis Erb, and Wilcox
NAYS: None
ABSTAIN: Hoffmann
The vote on the motion was unanimous.
PB 1/8/08
Pg. 3
Chairperson Howe — Jon, is it okay to just talk about some miscellaneous items that
were on the table before us when we came in this evening?
Mr. Kanter — Sure.
Chairperson Howe — I know that ... the remind... remember that the next meeting will be
two weeks from today, so we're still off -cycle of our normal schedule. February 22 "d
Board Member Wilcox — I will not be here.
Board Member Riha — I won't be here.
Chairperson Howe — So two of you won't be here. Everyone else expecting to be here?
Mr. Kanter — Because at this point, we have no alternate also.
Chairperson Howe — One of the things in front of you is just, Jonathan if you want to say
more, just sort of a sketch of some of the issues they are going to be addressing in the
Comprehensive Plan Review and Update. So thank you Jonathan for providing that. Is
there anything you want to say about that?
Mr. Kanter — This same memo was presented to the Town Board at the December
meeting and the Town Board accepted the Committee's report. The report basically
outlines the work that the Comprehensive Review Committee did during 2007. They
met monthly, basically, really covered quite a bit of ground, reviewed the whole 1993
Comprehensive Plan, kind of identified sections of the Plan that they thought in
particular should be the focus of an update and their basic observation was that the
Plan was very well done, is still in pretty good shape but there were certain sections that
were outlined in the memo in more detail, that could use some updating and some more
attention. Some of the things like affordable housing, there were some good general
statements in the original plan, but a lot has happened since then and some more
specific strategies could be put in place. So that's a good example of one. Another one
was the idea of nodal growth development in the Town where, now that we've finished
our Transportation Plan, the idea of transit - oriented and bicycle and pedestrian
development in the Town would be a good way to encourage future growth and there
were some areas in the Town where that was more amenable than others, and that
could be on East Hill, South Hill and West Hill. So we want to probably get a little bit
more specific on that. So there's... actually, yeah, last night's Town Board organization
meeting, the Town Board established a Comprehensive Plan Committee and appointed
9 members of the committee plus one City of Ithaca liason who has yet to be
determined, to help coordinate the plans of the two municipalities as that's happening.
So that will be an exciting endeavor.
Chairperson Howe — I believe there is a member of this Planning Board who is going to
be on that.
Mr. Kanter — there is. Dr. Hollis Erb has been appointed to the Comprehensive Plan
Committee, that's right.
PB 1/8/08
Pg. 4
Chairperson Howe — Congratulations again.
Board Member Erb — Thank you.
Chairperson Howe — I know we haven't had a chance to read this, but any questions for
Jon? I assume we'll just be kind of kept abreast as this moves forward and certainly
have opportunities to give input.
Mr. Kanter — Yeah, and if you want to talk more after the meeting, assuming we're not
going until like 10:00, we could talk more about it.
Chairperson Howe — So the, we'll turn to the main agenda item for the evening...
Continuation of the determination of adequacy for public review of the Draft
Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the proposed Ithaca College Athletic
and Events Center.
Chairperson Howe — And I believe that basically, our task tonight is to determine if we
are satisfied that the potential environmental impacts have been addressed and that we
are not here to discuss the mitigation strategies for the impacts. Is that a good way of
summarizing?
Ms. Brock — We're supposed to determine whether the document is adequate as to
scope and content. That basically it does what the scope says it was going to do. We
don't make judgments as to whether we agree or disagree with particular statements
that are made, but we look to see whether in fact the document covers the materials
that it said it would in the scoping document.
Chairperson Howe — And with that, we'll turn it over to the three of you. If you want to
give your names and addresses and I think you have some additional materials to hand
out to us.
Rick Couture, Ithaca College
Howard Blaisdell, Moody Nolan, Columbus, Ohio
David Herrick and Matthew Hendren, T.G. Miller Engineers and Surveyors
Mr. Herrick — At our meeting on December 18th, 1 quickly took you through how we
approached the various environmental analysis that were expected of the scoping
document, and there were several questions that came from Board members, some
from Staff, and we've since picked up some additional comments since the 18th and
have prepared tonight for the Board, copies of an addendum... microphone
problem... we've prepared for you an addendum that goes a long way in answering
those questions and request for additional information. So, if acceptable, I'd like to pass
out, at this time, copies of that and then quickly take you through what the information
means.
Chairperson Howe — And David, we were just, and so, it's more information than was in
the addendum that we received previously?
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Pg. 5
Mr. Herrick — Yes. The end of last week, we put together a draft addendum to share
with Staff and then with the Board, as it was forwarded to you, to get a sense of what
was coming in this final addendum document.
Chairperson Howe — So you'll walk us through this one.
Mr. Herrick — Correct. Beginning with the third page, we have summarized for you,
those sections of the DEIS that have been modified through the information in this
bound document.
We explain in some detail, the College's anticipated use of the new field house for a
community, and I mean college- community emergency shelter, should such need arise.
We've provided additional unmagnified views from distant perspectives. It's a comment
we had last time, that we were short.
We're providing new information with respect to visual impacts of building materials.
Comment came up about color of roofing material. We've brought together with us
tonight a palette of some of the materials that are going to be used for the building.
Traditionally we save that for preliminary site plan review, but we'll give you a sneak
peek tonight.
Lighting, we've had some change in design direction with the illumination of the field
that would be required for certain broadcast events of lacrosse or other competitions
that they would have, so we'll share with you the frequency of those events and what it
means to light pollution, trespass, glow.
Facility Noise. We have expanded our understanding of noise degradation as it
pertains to the use of the public address system. There was some question at the last
meeting of when did we advise the Town or notify the Town of use of a public address
system and it was something that we did state during the scoping process that would be
part and parcel of the field and the athletic events on that field.
Very simple addition to the No- Action Alternative with respect to the historic site on
Coddington Road and we have amended appendices with certain figures that support
the narrative and additional analysis that we've done.
So that is a very quick overview of what is in the addendum and as you turn to the next
page, it's identified as 5a, and all of our modifications are underlined, for quick
reference, and on this page, we've added the College's expected use of the field house
for an emergency shelter and Rick is prepared to elaborate on that for you, as to what
that means for the college community.
Mr. Couture — After a lot of discussion on the topic and how we wanted to use the
facility. I don't know if all of the Planning Board members are familiar but, currently now
out Hill Center, which is where we have our basketball facilities on campus, that it our
one building on campus that is designated, kind of, as an emergency shelter for our
campus community in case of some catastrophe that happens and we need a place to
set up cots or beds or whatever the case might be for emergency purposes for our
PB 1/8/08
Pg. 6
student body. We'd like to also apply that type of perspective and use for the Athletic
and Events Center and we think that actually, we are going to be able to enhance the
services that we are going to be able to provide to our students because the Athletics
and Events Center is much larger and if we need a place to house a large number of
students, that facility can handle that quite nicely. And then we feel the other benefit
that we are adding to the Athletics and Event Center is that the emergency generator for
the building is going to be able to power almost the entire building for a period of time,
to help us meet the needs, in case there is some kind of a unknown disaster or
emergency where we have to have students housed or staying in the building. So that's
the use of what we would like to do for the Athletic and Events Center, when it comes to
emergency_ purposes, is have that available for our student's use and campus
community. I would be happy to answer any questions you might have about that.
Chairperson Howe — Any questions about that aspect?
Mr. Herrick — The next series of pages are unmagnified views and these happen to be
taken when there is no foliage. So they were done in the interim here, during the
holidays, so you will get a better sense of how the building, when it is inserted into the
campus, looks from the winter perspective, lacking snow. So those additional images
are here. We certainly can provide others, if necessary, but I think that what we've
done to date, in conjunction with what's already in the DEIS document illustrates, to the
best of our abilities, what the project site, and in some cases, what the building will look
like from distant views. Questions?
Mr. Kanter — So just clarification. Are these in addition to what was already submitted in
the DEIS or are these intended to replace what was in the DEIS?
Mr. Herrick — Some of these are in addition to what was already provided. In fact,
think they all are, is that correct?
Mr. Hendren — With respect to the question, whether these are replacements or
additions, that first page, giving an overview of the entire addendum indicates whether
each item is a replacement or an augmentation of the initial submission of the DEIS.
So, specifically, the chapters with the views are adding to what has previously been
submitted.
Mr. Kanter —Okay. Thanks,
Board Member Conneman — I want to make a comment. Last night at the Town Board
Meeting, the Scenic Views Committee presented their list of the ten top views in the
Ithaca area. One of them was Pine Tree Road at Snyder Hill. You have one thing in
the original, which I know is amplified and another thing in what you passed out tonight,
which I read before, which is 46a, I find it difficult to believe, and so do some people I
know who have called me, that that Event Center will not look like a big white
mushroom when it is built, and I don't know what your comment is on that, but, it's, that
is one of the views, from that place, that really is spectacular. And of course Ithaca
College suffers from the issue that you can see Ithaca College from several views
around the Town, but that one surprised me that on 36a it hardly shows at all.
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Pg. 7
Mr. Herrick — It hardly shows at all ... oh ... okay.
Chairperson Howe — It's still pretty visible.
Board Member Conneman — Well, that's what I think, it's very visible, and my question
is, does the roof have to be white? Could it be brown, could it be green, could it be...?
Mr. Blaisdell — I'll address the issue of the color of the roof. One of the basic tenets of
and focus's of the design of the building was to be sustainable, and part of that
approach was to have the building materials and the building itself meet the
requirements for at least LEED Certification from the US Green Building Council, in
terms of sustainability, and one of those credits and part of the purpose of the project is
to be as sustainable as possible, which includes energy efficiency and as part of that
energy efficiency we need to have a roof that has a high solar reflectance so that we are
not creating a heat - island effect with the building; that we are doing what we can to
mitigate a heat - island effect in terms of the environment. So we have chosen to use a
lighter - colored roof. We actually have a sample of it here tonight. It is not a white roof,
it's a light gray color and in order to meet those requirements, we do need to have a
light colored roof that has a higher level of solar reflectance. We have reduced and we
have indicated elsewhere in the document, we have reduced the height of the building
and the roofline of the building as much as possible to minimize that, but we will show
here a sample of the roof.
Chairperson Howe — And it's probably going to be hard for us at times not to go into
areas that we really aren't addressing tonight, so, Susan, and others can help keep us
on track and we are starting to veer in that other direction, but I, 1 mean I think we
definitely want to look at the materials that will be used tonight.
Board Member Conneman
— So what,
it's a trade -off between
what you think is
environmental and the view
shed, which a
lot of other people think is
important.
Board Member Riha — No, but we're not approving the plan, only the...
Board Member Conneman — I know, but, the issue is that the public is going to raise this
when they meet here to, for the preliminary approval and then the SEQR and....
(talking over each other)
Board Member Riha — All we're deciding is whether they have enough information...
Board Member Conneman — I know that
address before you get there, okay.
But some of that, they, you may want to
Mr. Herrick — Okay.
Board Member Conneman — That's my point. I'm not judging. I'm say you've done a
good job so far, David, in addressing the things that the public is concerned about. This
one I'm not so sure about.
Board Member Erb — Could you just point to the right color.
Mr. Blaisdell — Sure (he does) the color of the roof is going to be a light gray. So it's this
one up here. The other materials are some of the other materials in the building, which,
again, we're not required to show tonight but we are showing as part of that preview of
what some of the building metals might be on the side of the building, but this shows the
color of the roof. And we have specifically chosen one that is not a white to kind of
reduce some of that glare and chosen on that is a lighter gray to reduce that potential
impact.
Board Member Hoffmann — Do you want to address things as they talk about them?
Chairperson Howe — Well, we don't want to run too much, so, let's go back to the
photos. Do you have any other comments about, because we'll come back to the
building, right. So any other comments about the photos that .have been submitted in
terms of it being a complete part of the DEIS?
Board Member Hoffmann — I have a number of comments on the photos, actually, and
some of my comments are made in the interest of making the document as easy to
understand and accessible to the public as possible, and I would hope that that could be
accepted as part of this process.
I am, again, a little disappointed that the photos were taken when this part of South Hill
was in shadow. The inlet valley in many of the photos are in sun, so it shows up better
and some of the structures and such in the foreground have sunshine on them so they
stand out more, but the hillside with the trees, which is what we are talking about, is in
shadow. So it makes it a little hard to see. Nevertheless, these photos taken from the
points where you say they are from are helpful. I am glad that you have gotten more
photos which are actually taken at Pine Tree at Snyder Hill Road because in the original
document you have image D5 and image D6 which are listed as being Pine Tree at
Snyder Hill Road, but they are not. They are taken from Pine Tree Road further north
from the intersection of Snyder Hill Road. They are taken from between the Cornell
University swine barns and the Cornell University Polo Arena and I know that because
of the fence that I see in the foreground there and I live very close and I go by there
every day.
Mr. Herrick — Which image was it?
Board Member Hoffmann — It's D5 and D6 and they are both called "View #3 "and they
are described as "Tompkins County View #AP013 and Pine Tree at Snyder Hill Road ".
But they are not. It should say perhaps, view from Pine Tree Road.
Board Member Wilcox — How far north of that intersection would you say the person
holding the camera was when he took the picture?
Board Member Hoffmann — Well, do you know where the bus pull -out is, across from
the polo barns? I would say it's about there that this photo was taken.
Board Member Wilcox — Couple hundred yards.
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Pg. 9
Board Member Hoffmann — And it's quite different from the one that we got in the new
handout, which shows the view from intersection with Snyder Hill Road. If you look at
them, you will see that they are entirely different.
Board Member Wilcox — Is there an advantage to this view looking across to South Hill
in that it isn't blocked by the Oxy Polo Arena or the tennis center? I'm just thinking here.
Board Member Hoffmann — Both of these views are very nice and I would like to see
them both preserved, but I think they should be described properly to help people who
are looking at this and trying to make comments.
Mr. Herrick — Okay. So to the extent that there's a variation in the description of the
location, we can change that in the captioning.
Board Member Hoffmann — Right. That would be helpful.
Mr. Herrick — Okay.
Board Member Hoffmann — The other thing, when it comes to the views that I would like
to have you describe a little better is images A7 no DA7 and DA8 which are from the
University Libe Slope, existing and impacted. I wanted to ask you, where did the
photographer stand to take those photos?
Mr. Herrick — On Libe Slope.
Board Member Hoffmann — On the slope, but where on the slope? Because, most
people don't stand and look at that view on the slope probably, they stand on the road
that goes by outside the Johnson Museum and into the Uris Library. There is a lot
there, and I think you should describe where this photo was taken from so people
understand that.
Mr. Herrick — Okay.
Board Member Hoffmann — And, there's another reason I think it would be interesting to
have a photo taken from the road. If it were taken from the road, I suspect that some of
these trees that block the view of South Hill would not be blocking it so much.
Mr. Hendren — May I address that question?
Board Member Hoffmann — Yes please.
Mr. Hendren — I took the photos and when I was looking at the South Hill from the road
it wasn't possible to see the area, the project area. And so I went down the slope until I
could see South Hill from within the vegetation that was there. So that's the reason why
I took the shots I did.
Board Member Hoffmann — Okay, but then, please do describe where you took it.
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Pg. 10
Mr. Herrick — Okay, we can do that.
Mr. Hendren —What...
Board Member Wilcox — (inaudible) ... that the scoping document did ask for a picture at
Cornell University at Lieb Slope. That's what we asked for.
Mr. Herrick — We can clarify, a little more precisely for you where that is. Is it a 100 feet
off the road, or something like that. A 100 feet south of University Avenue, something
like that.
Board Member Hoffmann — Right, and it's not just for me. It's for the public and other
people who will read this report so that they understand the perspective and where it
was taken.
Mr. Herrick — Okay.
Chairperson Howe — Eva, is there anything else, picture -wise?
Board Member Hoffmann — Yes, one other thing that has to do with the views. If we go
back again to what you have in the original handout. Images D5 and D6. In the text,
you describe how one can see this roof, as one can see in D6, and you talk about how,
this is on page 53, there's a statement that says As shown in the impacted view, the
roof of the field house does not break the plane of existing buildings in the background."
I'm wondering if you could clarify on that so that it's a little bit more understandable what
you mean. This is a little technical.
Mr. Herrick — Okay.
Board Member Hoffmann — And there was also a statement somewhere else about the
vegetative buffer, I think it was on the same page actually, and it said, "The vegetative
buffer that remains east of the building will help shield the walls of the building but you
will see the roof." and I'm wondering if that in fact is true because you're going to have
to cut a lot of trees in order to build the playing field, which is just east of the building.
So that buffer would disappear, it seems to me.
Mr. Herrick — Okay, well, we do maintain a buffer from the field to the east. So, between
the neighboring residences and...
Board Member Hoffmann — Right, but the text says "east of the building" it doesn't say
east of the field.
Mr. Herrick -- ...east of the field. Oh, okay.
Board Member Hoffmann — And I just want to be sure,
you are showing, is the situation with the trees remo
true view of what's going to happen.
also, that in the photograph, what
red for the field too, so we get a
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Pg. 11
Mr. Hendren — Yes. If I may,. When we took the photos and inserted the building into
the photos, we took, we did a lot of technical elements to ensure that the building that
we were shoeing was in the correct location, and correct height, and correct size for
where that building would be inserted into the photograph based on surrounding
buildings, based on the balloon study that was done by the College to determine what
would show from the building or from the tower above the tree -line. And then we also
took a very conservative approach in terms of showing what trees might be cut out in
front of the building as well. So we tried to be as accurate and conservative as we
could in terms of what might show. It might be less, but the hope is that we are not
showing anything more than what you would see in these photos.
Board Member Hoffmann — Well my concern is, when I look at the plan, Site Master
Plan Phase III, dated September 17, 2007, the footprint of that track and field is larger
than the initial phase of the building. So, I want to be assured that the photos, the
images D5 and D6 actually show that view with all those trees removed because it's
deceptive otherwise.
Mr. Herrick — Okay.
Chairperson Howe — Anything else picture -wise.
Mr. Hendren — What we have done, in the photos, is in the areas in front of the building
specifically, wherever you would see it in front of the building, we did take a look at the
pictures, we looked at where the trees, the best we could, the trees and the topography
and where the houses were and tried to measure what those, from the photos, what the
height of those trees might be, so we have a realistic sense of the tree height as it
related to the hillside and the slope and how it would relate back to the building. If there
is a case of a, if there were a couple of trees on the field, maybe to the north of the
building, it's very hard to cut out a part of a tree and show that the trees beyond would
be shown (inaudible) elevation versus showing the top. But we did the best we could in
terms of showing what that might be.
Board Member Hoffmann — I am sure it is very hard to do and I appreciate that you're
trying, but I think you understand what my concern is, right? Okay. Because when the
public looks at this, if they don't see what's actually going to happen, you know, they
can't have their proper reaction to it. Same as for us.
Chairperson Howe — I think, the point's been taken and accepted by them. So, Susan,
did you want to say something?
Ms. Brock — I had a general comment in the same area, which was, I could not find any
explanation of the methodology you used for how the photo simulations were prepared.
The scope said that there would be balloon launches and you would then use these
simulation techniques, and I didn't see any mention in the text of the DEIS of the fact
that balloons were launched and what methodology you then used. So I think a
paragraph or two that explained what you just did now would be very helpful to insert.
Mr. Herrick — Okay.
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Pg. 12
Chairperson Howe — Okay. Why don't we move on to the visual impacts, as we keep
moving through your addendum document.
Mr. Herrick — In part to respond to the question of roofing materials and what other
colors might the building take on, we have created some renderings for you. There's
four images here. Again, something that typically we would, and certainly will, provide
for preliminary site plan, but, this gives you, I think, a very good understanding of, not
just the colors and scale of the project but its design and to further describe what those
materials are, Howard is going to give you an update.
Mr. Blaisdell — We have already talked somewhat about the roof. That we are using a
heat - reflecting energy -star roof. We are breaking that up, that everywhere... we have a
repeating rib pattern on the building, it occurs every 23 feet and we are breaking up the
surface of the roof by having raised ribs on the rood, to try to break up, so it's not just,
so it does not look like one long mass. We try to break it up and create a pattern within
the roof.
In terms of windows and in terms of the glass, we've been very, try to be very
responsive to the Town's lighting requirements and in terms of existing, in terms of
glass, we are looking at high - performance energy glass probably with a green tint. We
have been actually planning on having an etched inside face in terms of a tree pattern
that matches back towards the surrounding areas. We actually have samples of that if
people are interested in seeing that, just kind of what that color of glass might be.
Again, a little ahead of ourselves, but we do have that to show, if people are interested.
Chairperson Howe — And while you're getting that, what LEED designation are you
going after?
Mr. Blaisdell — We are pursuing at least certified and we think that we will achieve silver.
But we've been promising at least certified at this point.
The glass samples we are showing indicate a high - performance green- tinted glass.
That also have an opportunity to have a ceramic fritz on the backside of the glass. And
the pattern is intended to actually have a representative of a tree pattern in the fritz so
you can have different layers, overlayments of the tinting in the windows.
In the document, we've indicated, we highlight foundations, we're referring to this, if you
look at the illustrations on the next page, we have a base to the building which is about
15 feet high, on the low end of the building, it becomes the base of the building on the
upper level, entrance level. And that bottom 15 foot of the building we are calling a
foundation to the building. A better term would be more of a base to the building. And
for that we are using a rock - finished cast stone, which would also be incorporated into
some of the site retaining walls which are similar to some of the rock outcroppings in the
area to try and bring out that aspect to it. And that's represented by this panel that we
are showing here. In terms of having a rough finish to the building, a rough finish to the
base of the building, for the elevations. And this would continue on at least 3 and part
of the 4th side of the building.
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Pg. 13
For the remaining portions of the buildings, we've been looking at using various lighter -
colored to silver mica - finished metal- panel systems. The building will probably have
two different metal systems, one being a vertical pattern, one laying in the horizontal
band and then I've taken advantage of the joints and different finishes to break up the
scale of the building face. When you look at the building, we have vertical panels on the
east side of the building, we're creating a mosaic, if you will, of different colors of the
panels. Each of these panels is probably going to be about three feet wide, lining up to
face the building which creates a kind of a mosaic feel to it, so there's not just one solid
color gray to the building. We're trying to add a lot of texture to the building in how it is
developed. On the west side of the building, facing the college, there's some more
grays and it's a more of a linear pattern and there's some places where we have some
trim that have kind of a ... graphically it looks like more of a blue -mica color to it, which
highlights and will pick up some of the College's colors but also break up the pattern
having the rib on the building. And then we should have that roof shown on the
renderings on the next page too.
Chairperson Howe — Any questions about building materials?
Board Member Thayer — I was just wondering what the dimensions of the building are. I
didn't see that anywhere. Just the width and the length of the building.
Mr. Blaisdell — The building is sized to fit the indoor 6 -lane, 200 -meter track and as such
it has a minimum size it has to meet and the building ends up being about 240 4eet wide
by about 350 -feet long.
Board Member Hoffmann — When you were moving your arm in front of the wall panel
samples, I noticed that they are reflective. Is that the same material that's going to be
on the walls of the building, actually?
Mr. Blaisdell — We are looking at using those materials. In terms of the final reflectivity,
that's going to be determined when we get to the final materials. But this is what we are
intending on the finishes for the building.
Board Member Hoffmann — And, I guess that's a little bit of a concern I have. From
other points of view, like for instance, from the north, if the building is seen, if the wall
surfaces can be seen, those that are reflective that that could also be a problem is the
sun hits it.
Mr. Blaisdell — The board's reflective panels are on the eastern side of the building.
The, walls, actually, the view to the north, the view of the end of the building actually is
blocked by the Garden Apartments and when we were doing the photo studies, we
started looking and we built a, we actually built a 3- dimensional model with the contours
and starting looking at what were the heights of the elevations and from the north, the
Garden Apartments being 3- and 4 -story buildings, start to really block the end -view of
the building. So you really don't see that, other than a little bit of the tower, from the
north.
PB 1/8/08
Pg. 14
Board Member Hoffmann —What about the roof? I wanted to ask something additional
about the roof. You said it was reflective. Does it have a surface on it that can reflect
some, from all kinds of angles instead of from just straight down?
Mr. Blaisdell — It is beyond the scope, but the energy -star reflective roof is intended to
reflect the sun's heat and the UV rays rather than absorbing them into the building so
that you save on cooling the building because it's not absorbing as much heat. The
intent is to balance the amount of reflected visual light versus the amount of reflected
ultraviolet light or heat gain. So these roofs tend to balance that in terms of not
appearing completely reflective. We are looking at this in a fluorescent -lit building and
not outside which does tend to skew the colors a little bit, but the roofing membrane is
not reflective in the sense of shiny. It's more reflective in terms of it reflects the light.
It's more of a matte finish.
Board Member Hoffmann — I wonder if you could describe that a little bit more in the
document. This balancing of visual versus energy- saving aspect.
Mr. Blaisdell — Okay.
Mr. Hendren — May I ask where you would like...
Board Member Wilcox — Is that expanding the scope?
Board Member Riha — Yes.
Mr. Hendren — Yes.
Mr. Kanter — I'm not sure it would be expanding it because I think there were concerns
initially stated about, you know, the visual impact of the building from near and far
viewing points, and if building materials are potential impactors of the view, I don't see
why that wouldn't be something that was already covered under the scope.
Board Member Riha — But then should we get quantitative about it and say what the
reflectivity of the roof would be. I mean...
Mr. Kanter — Right, that's where you get into difficulty, but I think...
Board Member Riha — Well that, I think...
Mr. Kanter — I think Eva was asking for a more descriptive narrative to explain...
Mr. Blaisdell — We can provide a more narrative description of what the roof, of the
goals of the roof are and the balance of the heat gain versus reflectivity.
Board Member Hoffmann — So that we know when we weigh whether the impact of this
very light- colored reflective roof, which is now, with the additional photographs, we can
see more how it will impact the views, then we can balance what the benefit would be...
PB 1/8/08
Pg. 15
Board Member Riha — You'd need technical information on how much you're going to
suppress the reflectivity in the range that the human eye is sensitive to versus the entire
short-wave spectrum, which is a solar, kind of equally. But the human eye's just
sensitive to mainly one small part of the spectrum, so, when you are reflecting a lot back
on either end of the spectrum, you're not going to see it with your human eye. And
whether this material kind of suppresses one part of the spectrum the human eye is
most sensitive to, I don't know.
Board Member Erb — I feel that Eva is making a point of a difference between reflection
and shininess.
Mr. Blaisdell — Yes and the intent is that it will be more reflective than shiny and we will
add a description to this.
Board Member Hoffmann — Yes, for instance....
Tape flip.
Board Member Riha — So we should clarify that. Because I am trying to think about
what kind of information would we really need to know ... unless you are going to give us
the reflectivity of the roof and various roofing materials and the trade -off of how much
reflectivity there is in the visible spectrum, where the human eye is sensitive versus the
further out from .54 microns ... I mean, that's what you'd need to know to figure
out... otherwise, whatever radiation you're reflecting back in the visible range is going to
be picked up as being bright. There's no way for light to reflect back ... the lucky thing is
Ithaca has overcast... laughter... very rarely getting much direct - for - &hours solar
radiation, so...
(people talking over each other)
Mr. Blaisdell — It is also difficult to add haze back into the rendering. It is very difficult,
the building ends up appearing more white, or much brighter than it would to the naked
eye when we are looking at photographs that are not printed, we're not seeing on the
screen, we're looking at prints of the photographs, based upon the quality of the printer
was done, so there's a lot of differences from how it's rendered on the screen and
added to the photograph than maybe show up on a relatively dark printout.
Board Member Thayer — I assume the ... the sections are 23 feet ... is that why the
vertical ribs are only, are 23 feet apart? It seems like if you had more vertical ribs it
would cut the reflection down some.
Mr. Blaisdell — The number of ribs does not have an impact on the reflectivity of, or the
reflections of the roof. It's doing more to kind of just break up the scale in terms of
relative size and relative spacing.
Board Member Thayer — It seems like it would have an effect, but apparently it doesn't.
Mr. Blaisdell — It doesn't normally have an impact on that.
PB 1/8/08
Pg. 16
Chairperson Howe — We're going to move on and we can come back to some of these
finer points later on, but I want to get through the rest of the addendum. So, if you want
to move into lighting.
Mr. Herrick — The changes in lighting reflect the, no pun intended, the College's interest
in being able to televise some of their competitive events and specifically, lacrosse. We
were able to understand in greater detail the frequency of what those broadcast events
might be, so we've added that to the document. With those televised events comes an
expectation that light levels will support the effort, and we need to develop 75-
footcandles, on average, across the lacrosse field. To do so required a modification of
what we originally provided the Town in terms of the pole heights. The number of poles
remains the same, but the pole heights have been changed. So has the wattage of the
fixtures so that we can get that coverage. We have with us tonight Brian McCarty who
is the local sales representative with Musco Lighting. He's been very informative and
helpful with the College and with us in understanding all of these impacts with respect to
the field lighting and he's ready to share with you why the changes that are being
presented to you tonight are necessary.
Brian McCarty, Musco, Queensbury, New York
I've been doing this for about 6 years now. Worked on various projects, including those,
most recently, up at Cornell. So I've got some familiarity with working in the area. We
did change the design. The initial design had called for a 4 -pole layout. We are
remaining at a 4 -pole layout. We did increase the mounting heights. We are looking at
poles on one side of the field with a mounting height of 100 feet and the poles on the
other side of the field at 90 feet. The overall fixture count did increase with this new
design to accomplish more of the TV -type requirements that the NCAA has put forth in
there guideline statement. Those mounting heights and fixture counts are relevant in
terms of the pole placement, the pole setbacks, to accomplish the proper aiming that is
required so that it minimizes the glare, creates a more shaped environment for the
actual players and spectators as well. The taller the pole, the better off the actual better
the aiming angle. The more that fixture is pointed downward, the more we are going to
be able to keep that light on the actual playing surface and even for a matter of 10 feet,
10 feet makes a significant change in the overall aiming and glare perception that the
players and spectators would actually see. Mounting heights are one of the biggest
things, from a misconception standpoint that I deal with on an everyday basis in
meetings like this. It's a very important part of that. I would certainly be happy to
answer any questions. As far as the technology, it has changed quite a bit from what
we've most recently done in the area. The Game Farm Road being the last one that I
worked on, had our old Level 8 fixture on it. We have since introduced a new fixture
called Light Structure Green. It is designed to be more environmentally correct. It uses
less fixtures, more energy efficient, much better spill and glare control capabilities. The
technology itself has been recognized by the International Dark Skies Authority. We
have done various projects throughout the Northeast in severe impact associated
environments. Being adjacent to property line, neighbors, roadways, various structures.
So we really have the capability to control the lighting and address the concerns.
PB 118108
Pg. 17
Board Member Wilcox — Just a comment if I may. Many of you may know that I am
someone preoccupied with short-track automobile racing. Musco is the Cadillac of
lighting systems.
Mr. McCarty — We prefer not the Cadillac, but a sport utility of ... laughter...
Board Member Wilcox — I have been to racetracks where they ... it's not cheap, there's
no doubt about it and I have actually been to Martinsville, Virginia where the (inaudible)
system ... it's truly amazing what Musco can do and how much better their systems are
than everybody else's.
Mr. McCarty — We are recognized in the industry as the official lighting company for
every organization, from little league all the way up through NCAA. We've done every
NASCAR facility. We actually, this last year, did our largest project throughout our
company, in Dubai, which was another Grand Prix racing facility. So we've done
various projects and we've been very successful in those markets.
Board Member Wilcox — It's not a comment that they are going to do the right thing
here, just that they have the capability to do the right thing.
Chairperson Howe — Susan and then this Susan and then we are going to try and keep
moving on and then cover.
Board Member Riha — So, you're saying this would be, this would be significantly better
than any of the current lighting that's....
Mr. McCarty — In the area.
Board Member Riha — So what would be, in your estimate, what would be the best
that's out there right now, between Cornell and Ithaca College?
Mr. McCarty — The equipment that is up at Cornell right now is probably the most
efficient that was available prior to this system being introduced in January of 2005.
Board Member Riha — In the stadium or in the playing fields?
Mr. McCarty — The stadium has a very similar system as to what the last one was
actually done at Game Farm Road, it was the Level -8 fixture. The, certainly the
mounting heights on Schoellkopf are in excess of what we are talking about here. Two
of the poles are about 155 feet tall. But the technology itself is completely different.
Those fixtures have a 3- tiered visor that allows a significant amount of uplight whereas
with this technology, it has a completely revised reflector and visor system that really
minimizes how much of that uplight is actually allowed upward as well as maintaining
what's on the actual field. We have upwards of 2,000 different photometric
combinations that we can use on these fields to really accomplish what we're trying to
do.
PB 1 /8 /08
Pg. 18
Ms. Brock — The draft spelled out how many poles, luminaries, that you would need and
what the height would need to be to achieve the target minimum average 54-
footcandles, but now your addendum says that for certain broadcasts you need 75-
footcandles, can you achieve that with the numbers and heights of poles and numbers
of luminares that were described?
Mr. McCarty — If I am reading this correctly, this document here, the fixture counts that
are dictated in one of the middle paragraphs, showing 13 fixtures, that was based on
the previous design with a 50- footcandle count. The 75- footcandle fixture counts would
actually be different than that 13 fixtures per pole. I believe it's actually 16 fixtures per
pole and 31 fixtures per pole depending on which side of the field you are actually
talking about.
Ms. Brock — Are those numbers anywhere in this addendum?
Mr. McCarty — I don't believe so.
Ms. Brock — So we'll need that information
section then.
It looks like you will just need to revise this
Mr. Herrick — Yes, the number of luminaries per pole needs to be...
Mr. McCarty — Yeah, the 13 was based on the original design of 50- footcandles.
Ms. Brock — Okay. So just go through it carefully and make sure that the numbers of
poles, the numbers of luminares the heights, etc. are all updated. The other comment
had, since we are in this section, was another more general comment based on the
draft. The SEQR regs require that the EIS be "written in plain language that can be
read and understood by the public." There are several terms here that the public may
not readily understand so it may be very useful if you could have just a very short
explanation of what they mean. The words that I picked out were; luminaries, lumins,
footcandles, and horizontal illumination level.
Mr. McCarty — I will provide the Illuminating Engineering Society guidelines. They're
actual, they have a sports - lighting handbook and all those terms are provided in there.
Ms. Brock — Are those explanations or definitions ones that the public can readily
understand?
Mr. McCarty —Yeah,
Ms. Brock — Okay.
Chairperson Howe — So why don't we move on to facility noise.
Mr. Herrick — I'm sorry, before we leave, I just wanted to point out that if you wanted to
see the evolution of the Musco light fixtures, it was a sheet that was provided in
PB 1/$/08
P& 19
Appendix D of your book, and to the far right, the most current Light Structure Green is
what we are proposing.
Issues with respect to noise. Modifications. Matt Hendren from our office has been
working closely with Bob Andres who is with :EAS of Syracuse. Unfortunately Bob is out
of the State for a while and wasn't able to be here but Matt is going to give you a quick
update as to what our revisions have been for noise.
Mr. Hendren — We noticed a couple of things we thought might be clarified or better
explained than what we had previously done in the original DEIS. When we were going
through the scoping document, we noticed that they did require a diagram. Here you
see figure D4, that's the common understandings of decibel values. In order to kind of
just clarify what we are actually talking about here with these different levels. There
was a typo in the table D1 that we changed which was 81 decibels, in the brush,
between 9:30 and 11:30. That was my mistake, I'm sorry.
Board Member Hoffmann — Excuse me, could you repeat that. I didn't follow what you
were talking about.
Mr. Hendren — Sure, there was a change on table D1 ... page 57, Table D1, suggests
that at Location IC2 at 9:30p.m. to 11:30p.m. the decibel value is 81.2. It should have
been 51.2 and that was a revision which has been included in the addendum.
(everyone talking)
Mr. Blaisdell — We did want to add, by adding the chart D4, is a sample chart, to help
people understand. When we look at a decibel level, what does that mean and simpler
terms that the public might, relative terms that the public would understand in terms of
different noise levels and what does a decibel level equate to.
Mr. Hendren — We thought that there might be some concern that the noise samples
were taken when college was in recess. We suggest that ambient noise levels would
rise 3 — 5 decibels when college was in session, but, by taking our ambient conditions
when it's quieter, we figure it is a more conservative approach than what might be
typical and we can compare the worst case rather than the noisier situation when the
kids are there. And on 58A, you'll notice quite a large amount of text has been revised
or added. These additions are not inconsistent with the previous DEIS, but merely
explain the methodology and calculations that were included on page 58 of the original
draft. Initially we calculated a 10- decibel reduction for the noise- shadow effect. We
lowered our insertion loss to 5- decibels based on some elevation modeling that was a
little bit more precise and so our numbers are more conservative than they had been.
Additionally, before we calculated an insertion loss of 6 decibels for a vegetative buffer;
now, that 6 decibels was kind of an aggressive loss estimation and so now we've
suggested that there's no vegetative -buffer loss when there are no leaves on the trees
and up to a maximum of 3- decibel loss when it is a foliated forest. So, what we've got
now is a much more conservative approach to our noise, and if you want to take a look
at how the noise decibels actually map, we've provided that in an addendum and it
PB 1/8/08
Pg. 20
shows the contours of the different decibel values for the PA system with a design value
of 80 decibels at the edge of the bleachers.
Chairperson Howe — Okay. And just so we can get through this, and then we will go
and open it up, is there anything you want to say about item 6? It's pretty straight
forward, moving through your sort of last section...
Mr. Herrick — (couldn't hear because everyone was flipping pages)
Chairperson Howe — So I don't know how you want it...take a step back and ... we've
focused quite a bit on the things that they addressed in their addendum, but there might
be other issues that we want to go back to and talk about ... so, do we want to go down
the line ... Eva, do you have some other things that you wanted to address...
Board Member Hoffmann — We can start with what we just talked about, which is noise.
I live about 2' /a miles from this area, but across Six -Mile Creek Valley on East Hill and I
also live about 2% miles from the Cornell playing fields and when they have their sound
system going and marching bands and music and stuff like that, I hear that. And I
expect that I am going to hear this too. So you should look at the impact of the noise,
not just to the immediate neighbors, which seems to me is what you have addressed
here.
Mr. Herrick —Yes.
Board Member Hoffmann — But you haven't really addressed the noise impact further
away and I think it needs to be addressed.
Chairperson Howe — Did we target that in the scoping document? Noise from a farther
distance?
Mr. Herrick — The focus of the scoping document, and Jonathan, correct me if I am
wrong, but I think it was more of an immediate neighborhood impact. It was not, it was
not going to be from further, distant areas.
Board Member Hoffmann — My point is that I think sometimes you can hear things
across open space like that, from hillside to hillside almost more than you can closer by.
We all know that trees and shrubbery don't provide noise protection. We learned that a
long time ago. So, and I was going to mention that, but you mentioned that yourselves,
that you've adjusted the figures because you realized that doesn't work as well as a
fence or a berm or something like that, but, I wish you would consider that. Whether it's
explicit in the scope or not. I think it's something that could cause problems.
Board Member Wilcox — Why do you think it could cause problems?
Board Member Hoffmann — Because to me it's a problem to hear the sound from the
Cornell games already, so this would mean more of that. And I'm not the only one who
hears it.
PB 1 /8 /Q8
Pg, 21
Board Member Wilcox — No, I, traveling around Town of Ithaca, certainly, when the
Cornell has a football game there, you can hear the marching band, and you can hear
the crowd noise and....
Board Member Hoffmann — Yes, you can hear them telling the scores on the sound
systems.
Board Member Wilcox — Yeah, that may be, given the elevation where you live. So it
could be a potential issue. But I think of it as mostly background noise, you know, if
there's no cars in the street going by, I can hear it, but if a car goes down the street,
then you couldn't hear it.
Board Member Riha — Right ... or if an airplane is taking off.
Board Member Thayer —Yeah.
Chairperson Howe -. So I think the issue is we can't ask you to add that. If you want to
volunteer some things about hearing from a distance ... is that how we have to leave that
Susan?
Ms. Brock — The scope actually doesn't specify where the noise receptors are. It just
says that the "DEIS will review and calculate potential noise impacts from various
events associated with this proposed development."
Chairperson Howe — So it does leave some room for interpretation?
Mr. Kanter — I'm not sure how you would quantify that type of analysis though, because
when you look at this new map ADD7 which was in the addendum, which was quite
specific about how the decibel contours diminish as you go farther from the site...this is
still on the east side of Coddington Road, this is quite close in. What you would end up
measuring at a distance of 2 miles away or whatever ... I'm not really sure what that will
tell you. You could characterize it but I don't know really what good that would do.
Chairperson Howe — Is it an issue for anyone besides Eva?
Board Member Wilcox — The only issue is whether you are in violation of the noise
ordinance of the Town.
Board Member Thayer — I agree with that.
Mr. Kanter — Obviously they would be held to the same standard of following that
ordinance as anyone else would be.
Board Member Riha — Presumably they are already generating noise from football
games.
Mr. Kanter --
Actually,
I believe that we took
any reference of decibel measurement out
of
the
noise
ordinance
so it
is now
based on
reasonable
noise.
PB 1 /8 /08
Pg. 22
Board Member Wilcox — There are football games going on now that are already
creating noise.
Board Member Thayer — Yeah they're already there.
Chairperson Howe — I am going to go down and see if there's any more. .'George...
Board Member Hoffmann — Just because something is there, does that mean we keep
adding more of the same? We talked about that before when we talked about sound
from the cooling towers and whatnot on various buildings...
Board Member Wilcox — Quart canisters....
Board Member Conneman — I thought you were going for LEED Silver or Gold. If you
are going for LEED certified, I think the tradeoff between roof color and view is not, will
not seem very good tradeoff to people in the community. I mean if the roof looks
anything like it does on page 46...
Mr. Blaisdell — Okay.
Board Member Conneman — You can drop lots of other things probably and still get the
LEED certified.
Mr. Blaisdell — If I may,. the color of the roof and how, whether it's solar reflectance, has
a very large impact on the heat gain in the building, which then has a large impact on
the size of the mechanical equipment, which then has an impact on the amount of
electricity and gas the building uses, size of the cooling towers, and sizes of the
equipment that then all plays together. When we designed the building, we tried to
design it as an intergraded approach where we looked at the whole systems as a whole
and we say to ourselves and try to work with the project to try to determine what is the
most appropriate methods to have a building be sustainable and what is appropriate for
the building in this circumstance. And when we looked at roof color, we balanced that
out between; we don't want to be too light, but we do not want to be too dark, where we
do not get the benefits of the reduced energy and the higher solar reflectance and pay a
penalty in terms of mechanical equipment size and electrical load to the building. Which
then has an impact as well on the community as a whole.
Board Member Riha — I'm just wondering, might it be good to include a picture of a
building with that particular roofing material in daylight so people could get a sense of
how, of how reflective it might be.
Board Member Thayer — It does seem like the picture you are showing us here is much
lighter than that gray. I'm just wondering, if it is a true representation here.
Mr. Blaisdell — It is very difficult in these photos to accurately portray what exactly is
happening with the color of the roof, because when we render something that is fairly
light but a light gray, the tendency is to go almost to white. When we render it medium
gray, for example, the colors on the sides of the building, the tendency is to go dark and
PB 1/8/08
Pg. 23
so we are constantly balancing technology. Technology has gotten to the point where
we can get to look at these things, but in our minds we think that it's perfect and that's
the way it's actually going to be. We still have the limitations that we start to, anything
other than on our computer screen, we have the limitations that the lights become too
light and the darks become too dark and then when we put it into a printer, and the
printer makes what looked like a really nice sunny afternoon look like a real dark day in
December, it tends to look darker. So when we look at a hillside, the hillsides in the
original photos were not nearly as dark as they printed out on the printer here, and so
the building tends to really stand out and look much lighter than it might otherwise.
Chairperson Howe — Let me just go down and then we'll come back...
Board Member Hoffmann — I just have a question...
Board Member Conneman — I made my point, that's all, I just wanted you to...
Mr. Blasidell — We appreciate that...
Board Member Conneman — I just wanted you to know that somebody... there's going to
be some objection to that.
Board Member Thayer — Well the pictures show it as a pretty low - profile building, so, all
we're looking at is the roof, and that's quite important, obviously, if somehow you could
get the correct color on that. I understand your explanation...
Board Member Hoffmann — I have a comment about that... actually two. One is, when
you have a reflective surface, it looks different when the sun hits it and it reflects back in
your eye. You know that when you're driving in a car, so, even if the roof is gray, it's
going to look stark white if the sun hits it at the right angle for it to come into your eye,
so, you know, regardless of what the photos show, a reflective roof is going to look very
stark reflective. And the other thing is, there is a concrete example for you to look at on
West Hill. The Baker's farm ... what is it called...Shea O'Laken or something like
that ... they have, in the last few years they have put a new metal roof on one of their
barns, and if you look at that from South Hill when the sun hits it, it's like a mirror with
the sun hitting it and bouncing right back at you. And it's huge and it really stands out
on those open fields there. I wish you would all go look at that and then think about how
this roof might look from various points of view. Not just from East Hill but from other
places around Town.
Mr. Blaisdell — If I may, although that is a definite issue with white metal roofs, in this
particular instance, this is a white membrane roof and so, again, we'll add the
description to solar reflectance and how that is different from visual reflectance,
because a white metal roof is very visually reflective while it is also solar reflective. The
membrane roof here that we are showing is solar reflective but has a matte finish which
is not as shiny as we might see from the roof. Now we are seeing a rendering, they are
showing it on the side. The actual roof slope is fairly shallow and when you think of the
sun's rays and think of the sun angles, typically the roof, the sun will be reflecting off the
roof, reflecting high, and we may do a diagram ... I just realized I am volunteering for
PB 1/8/08
Pg. 24
this ... but we may do a diagram that shows how visually you might see the roof in terms,
instead of how the light would reflect, because the sun's angle, the sun angles could be
reflecting at a much higher level than your visual reflectance.
Chairperson Howe — It sounds like that would be good ... there are some heads
shaking... Dan, did you want to...
Mr. Walker — Well I just had a comment in that image D6 there, I guess it was, on the
original, if you look at the tower behind and then there is also a couple, there's a
building directly behind, in the middle, which I think is the biology building ... the science
building, those are actual roofing materials in that. I would assume that the matte finish
on the towers might be more representative of what the actual reflectivity would be like.
So if the gray of the towers and so on might be more realistic as opposed to this
rendering. Especially if you look at that roof in the background, which I believe is kind of
a grayish dome on the science building there.
Mr. Blaisdell — That is correct.
Mr. Walker — That's a lot less obtrusive than that bright white is.
Mr. Blasidell — It's a lot less shiny than what is shown on the rendering.
Mr. Walker — So that might be a better representation of what will actually happen.
Chairperson Howe — Susan, is there anything you want to...
Board Member Riha — No, that sounds good.
Chairperson Howe — any other issues you want to ... Hollis...
Board Member Erb — I would like some explanation
understand all the statements about backlighting, fo
me. I'm looking at page 56 in the original Executive
along the perimeter of each section, the intent is to
to highlight the structure." And then it says "and to
Chairperson Howe — They seem to contradict there.
of the towe
r example,
Summary.
restrict the
avoid light
r lighting because I didn't
and that started worrying
"Blue light dio- luminares
blue light onto the panel
spill" but they seem in...
Mr. Blaisdell — When we started looking at the design of the tower, and how the tower
might be lit, and what the design idea of the tower might be, we needed to look at it both
in terms of in day and at night, and it's, I don't know if we included any night- renderings
of the building, but we started looking at the building and saying, looking at the tower,
realizing that we need, this building is going to function for the College campus, really
up until about 11:00 at night, that the indoor facility will be used, and how to, from the
campus side, have a building that is light and welcoming but at the same time complies
with the Town's Dark Skies Initiative, the Town lighting requirements and the lighting
code.
PB 1/8/08
Pg. 25
The direction we chose was to not really focus the lights on the exterior of the building
using spotlights, but to use a more subtle light. We are lighting the inside of the building
and allowing the glass to glow, and again, the glass on the tower is focused primarily
towards the west, towards the campus. There's a little bit of glass on the east, it's a
very thin strip that goes up the tower. I think it shows on the renderings in the
addendum that you received tonight ... When we look at the building from Page 53A, this
view happens to be from the southwest and the tower has, most of the glass in the
building is focused more towards this southwest view. The glass in the tower continues
up about to the middle of the tower and there is a thin strip that continues up the length
of the tower and that has some glass, some frosted glass with some ribs in it, and the
intent is to light the tower from the inside so that it creates a glow rather than lighting the
tower primarily from the outside.
So what we were trying to do with the blue light LED fixtures is to create a subtle glow to
the building without really being dominant. Without trying to create spotlights on the
building but create that kind of subtle light that's not shining up and it's shining primarily
on the materials or on the finish of the building. It's trying to be much more subtle with
the building lighting than it would be otherwise.
From the view from the northeast is the figure D7a and D8a and they are probably more
towards the east, the northeast and to the southeast and you can see that one of the
building, the greater portion, the middle section of the tower, you've got kind of the base
of the tower which had some glass which faces primarily towards the campus. The
west, the views directly to the east shows a little bit more on the D8, with a thin strip of
glass in the middle, and again, the intent is to either have a soft glow from the inside or
to have these LED fixtures king of outlining the glass. But a much more subtle lighting
than could be done.
And then the top of the tower has a little bit of lighting as well.
Chairperson Howe — I think Hollis and then ... Hollis, do you have a follow -up to that?
Board Member Erb — Well I am wondering if it would be possible to bring either some
watercolors, or some CAD - enhanced pictures or something, at night of what the
different views are going to be of the lighting of the tower as you are proposing to light it.
Because it's really difficult to comprehend, and it isn't clear why you need something so
high in the air being lit, as a welcoming, "hello I'm here ", to your own campus
community. So, I think, finding out exactly how visible it's going to be and what the
color tones are going to be at night, would be very useful.
Mr. Blaisdell — We have a couple of those evening renderings that I think we can supply.
Board Member Erb — Night renderings, dark.
Board Member Hoffmann -- I just got a little confused when you were talking about the
pictures ... I think you said Figure D8a is the northeast view, but it says northwest view
here, on Page 53b. Could you clarify that please.
PB 1/8/08
Pg. 26
Mr. Blaisdell — Alright. We apparently had an issue with the text on the renderings. We
can either have you write it in now, and I can tell you which views it is, so you
understand it and we will correct it the next time we go through it.
Figure D5a is actually a view from the southwest, looking northeast. Looking northeast
from the southwest. So it may be just a perception to how we look at the building. So
the Figure D6a is looking southeast from the northwest. D7a is looking southwest from
the northeast. And then figure D8a is looking northwest from the southeast.
Board Member Hoffmann — And an additional question, having to do with this is, I don't
remember seeing anywhere what the height of the tower is.
(Everyone looks and mumbles)
Mr. Blaisdell — We'll find that. The top of the tower, the top of the middle of the tower is
about, roughly 165 feet and the top of the very peak is about 185 feet, and that's above
the lowest level of the building.
Board Member Hoffmann — So compared to the 100 -foot light poles that would be a little
to the east of it, it's half -again as high.
Mr. Blaisdell — Just for sake of argument, the light poles are, the base of the light poles
are down at the field level, which is about 15 feet below the building level, and then the
dimensions we just gave were from the, I'm thinking were from the lower level of the
building, we will verify that number and the remaining roof of the building is
approximately 70 feet, at the peak and so when look at the building in terms of the
height of the tower itself, it's about 100 feet above the main portion of the building.
Chairperson Howe — If these dimensions aren't in the DEIS, it would seem appropriate
to make sure that all of these dimensions are included.
Board Member Hoffmann — Certainly the dimensions and the proper directions for the
photos should be in here before the public sees it.
Chairperson Howe — Hollis, did you ... is there another?
Board Member Erb — No, it was the tower I wanted straightened out.
Chairperson Howe — Fred?
Board Member Wilcox — Only a couple of brief comments, I have a lot of comments but
they are all site plan related and I'm not going to go there tonight. I want to thank the
applicant for bringing samples. The thing that I keep going back to is what's before us
tonight. Just looking at the verbiage which is "is the document satisfactory with respect
to the scope content and adequacy for the purpose of commencing public review." It is
not, is the document perfect, it is "is it satisfactory enough ". I think we have identified a
few areas where we need additional information, but overall, it's in pretty good shape. A
couple of things and I think you will be all set to get it out there.
PB 1/8/08
Pg. 27
Chairperson Howe — Eva, were there other things that you...
Board Member Hoffmann — Yes, I do have a number of other comments which I think...
Chairperson Howe — And are they ... they're not site plan oriented?
Board Member Hoffmann — I don't think so
document more easily understandable.
I think they are mainly to make the
On page 3 in the original document, image 1 -1 is described as Ithaca College in Town
of Ithaca looking north. But in fact, it shows mainly Ithaca College and the City of Ithaca
and you might want to fix that.
On page 4 and on other pages throughout the document, a lot of the buildings, and it's
true on a lot of the maps too, the College buildings and the parking lots and such, you
talk about the Garden Apartments and you talk about Emerson Hall and Parking Lots L
and so on, but they are not shown very clearly on the maps, and I would think it would
help people very much if you label them better so that one wouldn't have to go to
another map to figure out which are the Garden Halls or whatever it is you are talking
about.
There are also maps on pages 6,7, and 8 and they show ... let me find that myself, so I
can tell you what they show.. .they show various buildings that are going to be in various
phases, and you have bullets and then you have some text and then you a picture with
some of those buildings highlighted, but for someone who's not familiar with campus at
Ithaca College, it would be much better if you had numbers instead of bullets and you
put those numbers on the map as well. Because then one doesn't have to sit there and
look and try to figure out what's what. That takes a lot of time and we don't have any
more time than you do an most people in the public don't either.
The same is true for the hauling routes. What I would suggest there is that you take
the ... there's a guide... there's a little black rectangle and then a little red rectangle
showing which are the entrance routes and which are the exit routes. If you move that
away from the dark part of the photo into the white part underneath, it will be more easy
to find and read.
Mr. Herrick — The legend...
Board Member Hoffmann — The legend, right.
think it would be good, on page 11
for construction activities. Because
Monday through Friday are enough
on the weekend they would like to
explain it.
to explain why you are proposing Saturday hours
think most people would think that the weekdays,
for construction activities and when they are home
have quiet. So, if you have a good reason for it,
Also on the same page you talk about disintegration of rock and mechanical
disintegration. I would suggest that you put those in more common terms to explain
what it is you mean by that. Do you mean blasting?
what...
Board Member Erb — Jackhammers, that sort of thing...
Chairperson Howe — Page 11.
-: 1 tN
Do you mean bulldozing? Or
Board Member Hoffmann — On Page 33 you mention something about Ithaca College's
Biology Department perhaps being interested in working with the sedges. Replanting
them and so on, and it's...it's written about as a suggestion. I think it would be good if
you could expand on that to make sure if this is a serious proposal or if it's just
somebody's hope and dream. Page 33...
Board Member Erb — It's just above Section IV, that paragraph.
Board Member Hoffmann — If I am hurrying too much, let me know, I just am trying to
get through this...
Chairperson Howe — No, you're doing fine...
Board Member Hoffmann — On Pac
Plan and how you're proposal fits in
about, in the very beginning, in the
scenic views, but I don't see that you
a worthwhile thing to do.
e 37, you talk about the Town's Comprehensive
vith it, and, I'm pretty sure that there is something
)oats and Purposes, about preserving the Town's
mention that here and I think maybe that would be
On Page 40 you talk about creating new wetlands as a mitigation measure for disturbing
wetlands that will be where this proposal is planned, and I'd like to see an explanation of
whether it's a good idea, to create new wetlands ... if that's really worthwhile...if that
works ... as a mitigation measure. And I don't expect you to answer it now, but please,
put it into the...
Mr. Herrick — I could...
Board Member Hoffmann -- Well, it depends if we can allow the time or not...
Chairperson Howe — No, save it. We have some other things on this side I would like to
get through once Eva gets through her list.
Board Member Hoffmann — On Page 39, which I skipped past here for awhile, but if we
can go back to that ... You are talking about lighting and how the, on the parking areas
closest to the northeastern part of the parcel, how it can be kept from disturbing
neighbors to the north ... or maybe you're not talking about that ... I'm asking you to put in
some explanation about how that lighting, for instance, on that parking lot, which I think
you're expanding, which is in that northeastern part, close to the Coddington Road
residences, how that lighting can be kept from disturbing the neighbors who live
downhill from that parking lot. Because if you have a light up here, it seems to me, even
PB 1/8/08
Pg. 29
if it's shielded, it will shine down to those residences. It seems to me that's something
that should be looked at and explained if you have done something to mitigate that.
Mr. Herrick — That's on....with respect to ... on page 39...
Board Member Hoffmann — Let's see ... maybe I have the wrong page number....
Mr. Herrick — Is that an issue that is of a lighting nature ... that will be under....
Board Member Hoffmann — Yes, maybe it's under Lighting, I may have the wrong
number there...
On Page 41 you talk about public access as a possibility that's being discussed, and if
you have more information, could you put that in, in more detail. Whether there could in
fact be public access to these new facilities.
Board Member Wilcox — Is that a SEQR issue? Public access.
Board Member Hoffmann — I think it was something that was talked about in the scope
when I looked back through that.
Ms. Brock — As it affects transportation and other issues, certainly.
Board Member Riha — Public access to what? On the roads? To the facility?
Mr. Hendrin — It comes up as an issue for the Town...
Board Member Hoffmann — But it said in the text here that Ithaca College was
discussing, the President was discussing with other people, the possibility of public
access and so, I was wondering, if that has moved ahead, if that could be included,
what that was about.
Oh, there were a couple of other comments about the images. Image D7, I don't have
the page, but you know where you can find image D7, and I think it says it's from near
the East Hill Recreation Way, but, I would like you to specify if it's actually from the East
Hill Recreation Way where people would be able to walk or from near it and if so, where
near it.
Chairperson Howe — I think we had this discussion before. I think you are going to go
back and do that for all of the photographs, sort of try to specify more directly where
they were taken from.
Board Member Hoffmann — Yeah, that would be useful. The same is true of, it says
there's a photograph from Maple Avenue, image D18, but it doesn't say where it was
taken and Maple Avenue is quite a long road.
PB 1/8/08
Pg. 30
had some comments about the nighttime use and the light there, too, and the
tower ... and I was wondering why the facades had to be lit from outside if they are lit
from within, through the windows.
Chairperson Howe — It sounds like we are asking you to address that more specifically.
Mr. Blaisdell — Right. When we show the renderings, you'll see that we've done...
mostly we've been lighting down, and we've been lighting from the inside out. We are
not shining much light on the building, the face.
Board Member Hoffmann — There were some other language things and I am trying to
see ... I think one of them had to do with...on page...54 ... there was something about
lighting... does illumination measured at 150 feet apply to level ground or to slopes such
as there are here...l'm trying to find it ... oh, here it is, on page 54, it's in the middle of the
page.. ."at a distance of 150 feet from the turf field, the horizontal illumination measured
at 3 feet above grade is less than 0.13 feet candles" and, does that apply to this specific
site? Or is that a general measure on level ground?
Mr. Herrick — (inaudible) to this site but it's ... this particular (inaudible) has been
amended by the new illumination plan so, in your addendum you have...
Board Member Hoffmann — But maybe in the addendum, if you didn't do it, you should
make sure that you explain that it is for this specific site so that it's not understood to be
sort of a general way of measuring light on flat ground.
There is something else about the lighting ... but maybe someone else could go...
Chairperson Howe — Susan do you have some things you wanted to....
Ms. Brock — I do.
Chairperson Howe — Go ahead...
Ms. Brock — All of them?
Chairperson Howe — Sure, go through all of them... quickly... laughter...
Ms. Brock — On Page 2, the last paragraph gives a brief description of the
environmental setting. The SEQR regulations require that ... says that "the description
can be concise but needs to be sufficient to understand the impacts of the proposed
action. Alternatives..." It seemed to me that there's just a very brief reference to the
fact that the project abuts residential properties along Coddington Road and that that
should be expanded a bit to give more description... numbers of residences, how far
away they are from the various project elements, that type of thing so that one can get a
better understanding then of what the various impacts would be on them.
Mr. Herrick — Do you want that quantified then?
PB 1/8/08
Pg. 31
Ms. Brock — I think both, more qualitative and quantitative discussion would be useful. It
doesn't have to be voluminous, but I think another, sufficiently meaty paragraph would
be good, specifically speaking about the residential properties, because that is one of
the primary focuses of this DEIS. And not all the properties are situated the same way,
vis -a -vi the project. Some are much closer to various project elements than others are,
so ... And because the elements are spread out so much too, including changes to
parking lots and things like that, you're going to need to deal with that.
Board Member Riha — Susan, I'm just thinking ... one suggestion there is to include the
scale. So that way, we would have a sense of how far.
Ms. Brock — On Page 11, you have a discussion about dust and there's a statement that
"most of the construction activity will be set back well over 300 feet from the nearest
residence." On Page 12, when discussing noise, you say "most of construction
activities are 100 feet from the closest residence." So there's a discrepancy between
300 feet and 100 feet that you need to fix or clarify.
You also make some statements such as "most of the activities will be" setback these
distances, which leaves the question, what about the rest of the activities. I think you
need to go through and are covering all of the activities and what the impacts are for
dust and noise.
Starting on Page, actually 14 and 15, you have a series of figures and then it just goes
on various pages after that where there's quite a bit of very detailed information that
absolutely can not read because the figures are too small. And I understand you are
trying to probably save paper and not have this be voluminous, but, there's just so much
information that just can not be read. For example, on Page 27, Figure B2, you need a
magnifying glass to really pick up ... so if you just go through and eyeball them yourself...
Some of them are fine at this size, but there are a number of them that need to be
larger.
The section on stormwater management, you, well, it starts on page 14.1.You
have ... you make references to the watersheds and existing stormwater management
facilities. I did not see any description of what the existing facilities are. You have very
generic references to the facilities... It could be in some of the appendices... you actually
provide all that detail, and if that's the case, if you could refer the reader to the
appropriate appendix and the appropriate page or just say, are you talking about a
swale, a detention basin, underground pipes, here, it would be very helpful because,
when I read this, and I read it several times, it was very difficult to understand what's
currently here and how these different drainage ways are working.
Mr. Blaisdell - Similar to the question of referencing back to the Appendix, a question
that we had was, some of these figures, if we could have the larger figure in the
appendix and just refer back to it, say, that a larger copy would be in the Appendix.
Ms. Brock — That would be fine. As long as somebody could find it easily that would be
fine.
PB 1/8/08
Pg. 32
Mr. Hendren — Would it be appropriate to include a smaller version, just to reference it,
visually, right there next to the paragraph and then also suggest that a larger version
would be accompanied in the Appendix?
Ms. Brock — That's a matter of preference, I, think that's better, for the reader, that they
at least have something they can look at and if they want to get the detail they can go to
the larger figure.
On page 20 you make reference several times to the term "freeboard" and you should
explain what that means.
In your description of Ecological Communities Impact starting on page 28, and again
then on Page 32 with Plant life Impacts, you talk about various ranks that describe
globally and more locally what the status is of various ecological communities and flora
and it would be useful to have a key so somebody seeing Global Rank 4G5 ... what does
that mean. And again, that's very likely in the Appendix, so, either refer the reader to
the Appendix and give them the page or just put the key right there in the text.
In the lighting, which is around page 56, the scope says "there will be a narrative
description discussing how outdoor lighting at the Athletics & Events Center will
potentially impact views from the viewpoints that are listed in the scope." And I didn't
see any discussion of that in the DEIS.
Chairperson Howe — I see them taking notes.
Ms. Brock — Yeah, that's fine....On page 57, this is a comment that you've actually
mentioned that "it's expected that ambient conditions will rise between 3 -5 decibels
when College is in session ". It would be useful for you to state the basis for your
assumption for what the incremental increase will be, rather than just saying this is what
you assume, but to say why do you think that's the number.
On page 58, near the Impacts and Mitigation Measures... from noise ... there were
several things in the scope that I didn't see in the DEIS. The DEIS was to "review and
calculate the potential noise impacts from events taking place inside the Athletic &
Events Center."
Mr. Herrick — That's in the Addendum.
Ms. Brock — That was handed out tonight?
Mr. Herrick — Correct.
Ms. Brock —That discusses noise from events inside the Center or from the field?
Mr. Herrick — Inside as well.
Ms. Brock — So where is that...
PB 1/8/08
Pg. 33
Mr. Herrick —We were just about to get to that point when...
Chairperson Howe — When I moved you on ... laughter...
Mr. Hendren — Page 58A ... I'm sorry 58B, the second paragraph.
Ms. Brock — Oh. Okay...
Mr. Blaisdell — We had an acoustic engineer study the building and analyze the building
construction, the roofing, the wall materials, the glass, all the skin of the building and
how much sound would come through the material of the building and how much is
stopped by the building shell itself and determined that that was below the ambient
levels.
Ms. Brock — Is that sort of information going to be in an appendix or added to the text?
You say "calculations were preformed by your sound designers and planners which...
Mr. Herrick — Yes, we can include those.
Ms. Brock — Okay. And ... let's see ... Also, the scope says that "noise from spectators
and pedestrians exiting the area and traveling in their vehicles, including noise from
parking areas will be evaluated." Is that in here anywhere?
Mr. Herrick — No. As we made modifications to the site and specifically to the parking
lots that were originally in close proximity to the neighbors, we didn't feel that that's
relevant any further.
Ms. Brock —Then I think you need to say it. I mean, it's in the scope. So what you're
actually saying is that you don't feel there will be any impacts, is what it sounds like. So
you need to state that and say why you feel there won't be any impacts.
Mr. Hendren — We did include it in the unavoidable impacts within the addendum. It
talks about unavoidable impacts of distant crowd noise, noi
" se from event spectators
leaving the bleachers or vehicular traffic along the perimeter road. Minimal but
unavoidable."
Ms. Brock — But that's sort of a conclusion saying you think there will be impacts ... YOU
need to say what the impacts are first, and then deal with it from there. Because you
have nothing that describes that at all and it's in the scope.
In the traffic analysis, page 68, the scope says "an assessment of the environmental
service capacity which addresses impacts more from nearby residents perspective
versus the traditional driver's perspective will also be conducted." I didn't see that
anywhere.
Mr. Hendren — It's in the traffic study, actually.
Ms. Brock — It's in the traffic study?
PB 1/8/08
Pg. 34
Mr. Hendren — It's in the study, but we need to reference it.
Ms. Brock — And, on page 71, parking facilities, the scope said "identify and assess
parking demand and capacity needs for significant events in addition to present
residential, commuter and faculty staff needs and consider parking management and
trip reduction strategies." Did you identify the parking demands and capacity needs for
these events in additions to just the current present needs, which you did discuss.
Chairperson Howe — Well, I think the point is, if you don't know...
Ms. Brock — Right. If it's not there, it needs to be added. And the same...) think this was
brought up in December.. ."identify the number and location of parking spaces or areas
for team busses." That's in the scope. I think we mentioned that, somebody mentioned
that ... I didn't see it in here...maybe it's in an appendix. If it's not in here, it needs to be.
Under Community Services. In terms of emergency services, page 73, it seemed that
there was some more information missing. The scope says "our analysis of emergency
access issues will focus on the number and location of principle ingress /egress points."
And I think you did do that. But, I did not see the following: "Lengths of dead -ends,
pavement sections and turning movements."
Mr. Blaisdell — We have met with the fire department on several occasions to review the
building access and where the building would be accessed for fighting a fire. So we
have reviewed with them that process. I think it was at ... the last meeting was after the
time that the DEIS was submitted but we have reviewed those locations with them and
the pavement sections...
Mr. Herrick — The fire department anticipates that whatever they're expected to drive on
will support their equipment and it doesn't mean that it has to be repetitive performance.
It supports getting the fire vehicles in there one or two times, that's fine, but, typically
what is of normal construction on campus is sufficient for firefighting apparatus. We can
embellish.
Ms. Brock — Well I think that it's these specific items were specified in the scope and to
the extent that there is absolutely no mention of them, which I couldn't find, then they
need to be added.
And I think that's it.
Chairperson Howe — And I think that Eva found the other thing...
Board Member Hoffmann — Well it found that sentence that had the language I found a
little convoluted. On page 54b, it's in the addendum too, it's about light levels, and we
did talk a little bit about that before, but, it says "to the nearest residential receptor, the
level is approximately 0.1 footcandles for both conditions." This is started on the
previous page ... Well, what is meant by "nearest residential receptor'? Is it the
backyard boundary or is it the closest bedroom window in the residence, or what is it?
PB 1/8/08
Pg. 35
Mr. Herrick — Okay. We can...
Board Member Wilcox —That goes back to something said previously about using
standard, understandable terms...
Board Member Hoffmann — And
comparative purposes, a full
footcandles." I think it would be
is ten times as bright as a full me
that is more understandable and
Mr. Herrick — Okay.
then the other thing
moon is cited as
more understandab
)on is cited to be, or
direct.
it says here is, next sentence, "for
being between 0.01 and 0.03
le if it said the lighting at that point
as a full moon is said to be. I think
Board Member Hoffmann — And the language in general in the paragraphs in that
general area could be made more easily understandable.
Chairperson Howe — While we were going through those lists, did anybody else think of
something else that they wanted to bring up or mention? Jonathan? Mike? Dan?
Anything that you wanted to mention?
How do you want to proceed? Do you want to just see if there is someone in the public,
even though this is not a public hearing, to just spend a few minutes... Gentlemen, why
don't you have a seat for a minute ... this is not a public hearing but if there is someone
who wants to address whether they think the DEIS is addressing everything that it was
supposed to. Again, not to talk about the site plan or mitigation strategies, it's whether
...you will have ... there will be a full public hearing when we bring the DEIS to the public.
Is there anyone who would like to address the Board this evening? I may have had you
move for nothing, so,. .1 can't see...
Board Member Wilcox — I think we are asking them to comment on a document that we
haven't let them see yet... laughter...
Chairperson Howe — well, how would you like to proceed Board?
Board Member Wilcox — Given the number of changes we've identified, or clarifications
or additions... I'm thinking that I would like to see that second addendum before we
release it to the public. I think we've had DEIS's in the past where we asked for a
couple of changes, and when they become available to Staff they were incorporated
and we let Staff make that determination. But we're asking for a lot of ... mostly minor
changes...l'd like to see them before we release them to the public.
Board Member Riha — I guess I'm fine with having Staff...
Board Member Thayer — I think if Susan reviews it and is happy with it, I would be....
Board Member Wilcox — Susan, you look quizzical.
PB 1/8/08
Pg. 36
Ms. Brock —Well, I don't know if that's appropriate for Staff to make the determination of
completeness. I mean, that's really your's...
Mr. Kanter — I mean, Susan had a number of comments, but you guys had a lot of other
too, so I think...
Board Member Wilcox — There's been so many comments that do we want to sit here
and say "it'll be complete if they do this." I think we ... personally, I would like to
significant environmental them, the results of them doing that, which is these various
changes, clarifications, amplifications.
Chairperson Howe — That implies that if they come back with that it would be a fairly
straightforward process then, to determine whether they have addressed what we had
identified this evening.
Board Member Hoffmann — Unless they make more changes.
Chairperson Howe — Unless they make more changes, right. That means we would not
be taking a vote tonight.
Ms. Brock — Right.
Chairperson Howe — How many.. Just a straw vote ... how many would like to see a
revised DEIS document before we take any formal vote...
Board Member Hoffmann — My reason for wanting it is, this is a major project and I think
it's really important that we make sure it's just right before we...
Board Member Wilcox — No, no, no ... let's be careful here...
Board Member Riha — Exactly...
Board Member Wilcox -- ...this is not about making the project just right, this is about...
Board Member Hoffmann — No, no ... I said it incorrectly. I apologize.
Board Member Wilcox — ...is it acceptable... Does it have the information we need to
make the decision.
Chairperson Howe — So, Hollis, you were leaning toward wanting to see it again, right?
Board Member Erb — Yeah, I think a lot of the things that we are asking for are common
English explanations that get added to some of these things, and some of the
explanations I heard tonight alleviate worries and some may simply raise questions in
the minds of the public, but, to the extent that they explain things or alleviate worries,
think it would be to your benefit and to our benefit to have those in the document. And
there's enough changes going on, I wouldn't mind re- reading the Executive Summary.
PB 1/8/08
Pg. 37
Chairperson Howe — Right. I would feel comfortable going forward but I don't think we
would have enough votes to do that, so, it doesn't look like we will be making any
resolutions this evening about it. I think the timeline gave us some flexibility, is that
correct, I mean, the proposed timeline, Jonathan, that there was some leeway on when
we would schedule a public hearing, once we...
Mr. Kanter — Well, yeah, I think the timeline is based on minimum and maximum
assumptions. The timeline though, at the next step, doesn't start until the Board agrees
to accept the document, and, if, I mean, basically, what the Board is saying is that it is
not determined to be complete tonight, that timeline moves out. Not indefinitely, but...
Chairperson Howe — So I think there is agreement that we're not taking a vote tonight.
Is that correct?
Board Member Thayer — Did we see a number? I didn't see a number...
Board Member Riha — Well there were the three of us ... 4 to 3...
Chairperson Howe — I think there were only three willing to move forward. George, I
think you wanted to see it again...
Board Member Conneman — Yes I do. We made a lot of changes...
Herman Sieverding, Intergraded Acquisition and Development
We have been advising the College on this whole process and as you will remember,
we were here last week to talk about the overall schedule, and I think, a lot of what we
are hearing, while you are asking for a lot of things, I think it was just recently
characterized correctly as clarifications to a document that already spells out what the
potential impacts and what the potential mitigation actions are. And I think a lot of what
we're talking about are housekeeping items that I think are consultants can very quickly
clean up and get back to you a revised draft that addresses these issues. And I think
given that, we've really met the spirit of SEAR, which, you know, essentially really says
that the DEIS should describe the action and alternatives to it and various means of
mitigating the impacts so that the public can sort of understand what the true impacts of
the project are, and I think just given the level of detail of comments that we've heard
from your reading of this document, I think it does that. And so I would encourage you
to vote that it is complete and ready for public comment and then give our consultants
time to clean up that document and have that document ready here within a very short
period of time for the public to review.
Chairperson Howe — If someone were to make a resolution and it didn't pass, it doesn't
really change the scenario at all; so, if somebody wants to make a resolution we can
see how the vote comes out, but we kind of already know how the vote will come out...
Board Member Thayer — I'll move the resolution.
Board Member Riha — I'll second.
PB 1/8/08
Pg. 38
Chairperson Howe — Larry made the first and Susan Riha seconded. Any discussion.
Board Member Hoffmann — Yes. Well the other comment that I have, and I have made
this a number of times before, I don't think it's fair of us to put the burden on Staff to
make the decision that they have taken care of all these housekeeping points, as it was
called. I think it's for us ... it's our responsibility.
Board Member Riha — I would disagree with you. I think some of the detail stuff is the
kind of thing that Staff could ... I mean, it would take me several hours to go through this
document again, so....
Board Member Hoffmann —Well, it's true for all of us...
Board Member Riha — Yeah, I know, but I felt it really met the spirit of what it was about
and there were some suggestions, clarification on language and so on, but, I assume
Staff is going to go through it again anyway, so...
Mr. Kanter — I would hope that the changes are clearly referenced, as they were in the
addendum because that was a good format ... to easily signify what the changes were,
where they are ... so I think if it's done in that format, it will be very easy.
Board Member Conneman — If they could do that, Rod, it seems to me it would be okay.
But you've got to make clear what's changed so we know.
Chairperson Howe — And they certainly did a good job of that. ..(everyone talking)...
Mr. Sieverding -- ...provide a summary on the first page which sort of indicates which
pages and what the nature of the change was, as well as underlining the revised text.
Board Member Conneman — And if you leave something out Herman, I think the public
will ding you on it.
Board Member Thayer — Right. That's for sure.
Board Member Wilcox — So might we.
Board Member Conneman — Well, I understand that Fred...
Board Member Hoffmann — But it might then be too late to say something.
Board Member Riha — No. We're not judging the content of this.
Board Member Hoffmann — No, but if we are saying, by approving this, that we consider
it adequate...
Board Member Wilcox — We're not approving it...
Board Member Riha — NO...
P13 1/8/08
Pg. 39
Board Member Wilcox — We're not being asked to approve it. You've got to be careful.
Chairperson Howe — We're taking it to the next phase, to the public hearing...
Board Member Wilcox -- We're being asked to...
Board Member Hoffmann — Right, but if we are declaring, in a resolution that we vote on
tonight that we consider it adequate, then maybe we can't correct it any further if they
didn't do some of the things that we wanted to have done...
Chairperson Howe — Well maybe it would be good...
Board Member Hoffmann — That's why I think it is better for us to see it first.
Mr. Sieverding — However, I think the key consideration of this SEQR process is this
question of adequacy and whether or not the information that's presented within the
Draft Environmental Impact Statement is adequate enough for the comment. Sort of
these housekeeping changes not withstanding. Does it understand what the full scope
and what the full potential impact of this, and then how those impacts are going to be
potentially mitigated. And I think it's, again, fairly clear, given the level of conversation
here that all of that information is here, and it's all been presented in a way I think is
consistent with the scoping document. So in terms of the document being adequate for
the public being able to make that sort of determination, I think it's there. I know what
you are asking our consultants to do is to make it a little easier for the public to read and
digest the information that is already contained within the DEIS and the appendix.
Chairperson Howe — Maybe Jonathan or Susan could talk about... because there are
more steps between DEIS and the FEIS, the Final Environmental Impact Statement.
There's still room for this Board to identify, not scoping issues, but environmental
impacts between the DEIS and the Final.
Mr. Kanter — Oh, absolutely. The impact analysis is what, exactly what you will be doing
once the EIS is accepted as complete. That's not at all what we're doing tonight. But
the question is, was there more than housekeeping changes ... If all we were talking
about was grammatical changes... rewording and things like that, I think Susan and I
would be more comfortable with recommending that it could be accepted on the
condition of submitting the changes. But it sounded, at least to me, like there were a
few things that were a little bit beyond that. Example, the night -time lighting images
and ... that was one example that I can think of off the top of my head ... Things that...
Board Member Riha — But those were just things that were supposed to be included,
right Jonathan?
Mr. Kanter —Well yeah...
Board Member Riha — You could say whether or not they were included. I mean,
whether or not people are going to be satisfied with the proposal is another issue.
PB 1/8/08
Pg. 40
Mr. Kanter — But that's the thing. We spent about two and a half hours going through
things like that where some people were satisfied and some weren't and comments
were made indicating that changes should be made based on that. So, that shouldn't
be something that Staff should then make judgments on whether they will satisfy you or
not.
Chairperson Howe — Susan, do you want to add anything to that?
Ms. Brock — I really do agree with Jonathan. There are a number of things that just
weren't in the scope that need to be added, and I think it's this Board's job to determine
now whether they are adequate once they're presented.
Board Member Riha — But they were in the appendix, right? I mean, I'm just trying to
grasp what, specifically, was in the scoping document that's not in here. Other than the
maps should be clearer and the document should be more readable for the general
public. And that include, then, referencing the appendix so somebody could look
exactly at the scoping document and make sure as they read through ... but, was there
any more studies that had to be, or more information that had to be included?
Board Member Hoffmann —Yes, I think...
Chairperson Howe — Well I think...
Board Member Hoffmann —Susan mentioned a number of things when she went
through...
Board Member Riha — Those were clarifications...
Board Member Hoffmann — ...that were asked for in the scope that were just not in the
document.
Board Member Riha — Well they were in the appendices.
Chairperson Howe — No, there were some things, actually scoping documents that
weren't addressed.
Board Member Erb — Like the leakage..
Board Member Riha — I thought that was in the addendum. So I guess I would like to
get clear, are there specific things that were not reported, other than just clear maps,
better, clearer verbiage ... the pictures at night were one thing that weren't there, but, are
there particular things that were required in the scoping document that are simply not
there or in the appendix?
Board Member Hoffmann — That's what I heard Susan listing several of.
PB 1/8/08
Pg. 41
Board Member Riha —Yeah, so I just want to go over them so we know, so everybody's
clear. Because some of them, when we said transportation (inaudible) they said they
referred to them, you know... I mean I guess I didn't pick up on what...
Mr. Kanter — There are a few things that I can remember that I jotted down, and here
are some examples, I don't think we want to go through every one of them again,
but ... Where it was stated something seemed to be missing and then it was asked "or
are they in the appendices" and then there was no answer, and an example was the
stormwater, the description of the existing stormwater facilities. If they're in the
appendices, reference them, we didn't hear if that was the case or not.
Board Member Riha — So that was required in the written...
Mr. Kanter — That was one example, yeah.,.
Chairperson Howe — There were a couple of examples...
Board Member Riha — So that was required in the original scoping document, that we
describe that...Okay, so then, it seems to me we should be really clear on those things.
That that's...
Board Member Thayer — What we really need.
Board Member Riha — That's what we really need, and then we can come back with a
list...
Mr. Kanter — I think we were pretty clear on the whole list, I don't know that we need to
go back over them. They will be in the minutes, which of course won't be ready
tomorrow, but...
Board Member Riha — But just in an effort to kind of spend a minimum amount of time at
our next meeting, if we could just have a list, and you know, here's the ten things and
here they are, and just refer them, so we can all look at that before we come and then
we don't have to spend a lot of time on discussion.
Board Member Hoffmann— Right.
Board Member Riha -- So we're all set ahead of time.
Board Member Hoffmann — Right, exactly.
Mr. Kanter — That's what I was suggesting we would like the applicants to do.
Chairperson Howe — And if this Board can also follow what we are agreeing to, it should
be a fairly straightforward process.
Board Member Thayer — Exactly.
PB 1 /8 /Q8
Pg, 42
Board Member Riha — Yeah.
Mr. Sieverding — But is it fair Rod, to ask, the two new things that I heard were the
evening views of the lights, and what this building would look like lit up from various
view shed photos that were taken, and then this question about a description of the
existing stormwater facilities, and I guess my question is...
Ms. Brock — There were more.
Mr. Sieverding — There were more?
Ms. Brock — Yes.
Mr. Hendren — (inaudible)
Ms. Brock — Well, and then the emergency access information.. ."lengths of dead ends,
pavement sections, turning movements" I don't remember if the "assessment of the
environmental service capacity which addresses impacts, more from nearby resident's
perspective versus traditional driver's perspective " ... that's in the appendix?
Mr. Hendren — Yes.
Ms. Brock — "Evaluating the parking demand and capacity needs for significant events."
I don't remember that that was in there, I don't think that that was answered, whether
that was in an appendix or not.
Chairperson Howe — Well then let's not review the...
Ms. Brock — There were more things, is what I'm trying to say.
Mr. Kanter — I think the reflectivity issue, I mean, we could go on and on.
Chairperson Howe — So, we do have a motion that's been made and a second. We
probably should carry through on the vote. We've heard what Jonathan and Susan
have said. So, all those...
Board Member Wilcox — Hold on. We need some changes to the resolution, before we
vote. I'm sorry, I would suggest changes which reference the addendum that we were
provided.
Board Member Riha — Right.
Board Member Wilcox — I noted in Whereas clause 7 and Resolved clause 1 we need to
reference the addendum dated 1/812008. And we have to decide what to do with
resolved clause 2.
Chairperson Howe — In terms of the public hearing.
PB 1/8/08
Pg. 43
Board Member Wilcox — Yeah. See, my thinking is, and I already said I'm not in favor of
this, my thinking is that, if it's determined that...and I have to go right to the language,
"that it is satisfactory with respect to scope, content and adequacy for the purpose of
public comment, commencing public review." If we make that determination, this Board
makes that determination, then I would think that we would have to move the public
hearing out even further than February 5th because they wont' have all the information
yet. There's additional information that still needs to be provided by the applicant which
needs to come to Town Hall, go through the Planning Staff, we would have abrogated
our right to, the need to look at it, and then that needs to be distributed as well. So if
this Board should go ahead and make the determination that it's adequate, I think we
would have to push the public hearing out a little bit to ensure sufficient time.
Chairperson Howe — Do you have a suggestion Jonathan, I'm not sure this is going to
go through, but to have a date?
Mr. Kanter — Well, I'll just say that the February 5th date was the earliest date of the
dates on the timeline and we as Staff were going to suggest that the Board might even
consider, if we were accepting it tonight, the possibility of scheduling it for the second
February meeting, just for the reasons that Fred mentioned. And to give the public
sufficient time, because this is a huge document. So, at minimum, I think we would
want to change the date to February 19th
Mr. Sieverding — So Jon, you're looking at February 19th for the public hearing?
Mr. Kanter — Assuming that...
Chairperson Howe — Is that making it too tight as well, Jonathan, because of the amount
of",
Mr. Kanter — Well, yeah, probably. That's why it's hard .to come up with a resolution
with dates when you can....
Ms. Brock — Right. Once we settle on the final text, the Town has to file and circulate
the notice of completion. Then, the public hearing has to begin no less than 15
calendar days and no more than 60 calendar days, after the filing of the notice. So
really, everything runs from the filing of the date of completion and that's a date we don't
know yet because we don't know when we are going to receive and process and agree
on final language.
Mr. Kanter — Rod, I've got a suggestion. I have a suggestion to simplify this resolution,
for now. Delete Resolve 2 and 3, and if Resolve 1 is voted in favor, then we can go
back and do another resolution addressing 2 & 31
Chairperson Howe — Not tonight you mean...
Mr. Kanter — No, if you do accept the resolution, then we can do a second resolution
addressing the date of the hearing, because, I mean, it just doesn't make sense to me
to ... (everyone talking at once)
PB 1/8/08
Pg. 44
Chairperson Howe — Does that seem acceptable, to delete 2 and 3, to the both of you?
Were there any other changes Susan?
Ms. Brock -- Well, let me look at it. No, I don't have any other changes.
Chairperson Howe — Are you clear on the...
Ms. Neilsen — We need to officially insert those other changes...
Ms. Brock — All right. So Whereas, paragraph 7, after dated November 200, add "and
addendum dated January 8, 2008. Whereas number 8, the Town Ithaca Planning Board
has reviewed DEIS" and then insert, "and addendum dated January 8, 2008." And then
in the first Resolved clause 1, well, it will be the only Resolved clause, "that the Town of
Ithaca Planning Board hereby finds that the DEIS and addendum, dated January 8,
2008". Oh, no, that's in the wrong place isn't it... "for the Ithaca Athletics & Events
Center dated November 2007" and that's where you add that language, "and addendum
dated 1/8/08 is satisfactory ". And then it sounded as if you were deleting Resolved
clauses 2 and 3.
Chairperson Howe — Those changes are acceptable...
Board Member Erb — Wait a minute, a vote in favor of this motion says that the SEQR
is...
Ms. Brock — the DEIS.
Board Member Erb -- I'm sorry, that the DEIS is acceptable to go forward?
Chairperson Howe — To a public hearing.
Ms. Brock — To begin public review.
Board Member Conneman — With the understanding that they will make the changes.
Board Member Thayer — Right.
Board Member Conneman — Does that have to be in it?
Chairperson Howe — That would come, I think, in the follow -up resolution.
Ms. Brock —Well, no...
Mr. Sieverding -- Susan, if I could...
Ms. Brock — Yes...
PB 1/8/08
Pg. 45
Mr. Sieverding — So what I hear happening here is that you're going to accept this DEIS
as adequate for public review, but you're not setting a date for public hearing until we
come back with a modified document that addresses...
Ms. Brock — No...
Mr. Kanter — We simply deleted numbers 2 and 3 which would set the hearing date, until
we find out if the Board is actually going to vote to accept it tonight.
Mr. Kanter — If they do, we can have
hearing date. But I just want the Board
resolution, as if you were going to adopt
it because we're simply doing it for you.
what the Board votes to do, but just bey
mean you have to do that.
another resolution tonight that sets the public
to know that we're not, we're setting this, the
it, but that doesn't mean that you have to adopt
It's a way to figure out how to accept it if that's
;ause we're going through this process doesn't
Mr. Sieverding — Even if you were to stop at number one and leave it at that. I mean,
we understand what we have to do, which is modify this document and bring it back to
you. We could bring it back to you within two weeks, come to your next meeting or get
it to you ahead of time, at which point you could review the document and then
schedule the date for the public hearing, once you determine that you're comfortable
with the various modifications to the language that you've asked for.
Mr. Kanter — Yeah, in effect, that's basically why Susan and I were recommending that
you don't accept it tonight because in effect, that's basically what would happen.
Board Member Conneman — And the motion is to accept it.
Chairperson Howe — Yes.
Mr. Kanter — If you do adopt the motion to accept though, I think and Susan might have
some wording to add, that you would want to reference all of the various changes that
we talked about tonight.
Ms. Brock — Yeah, so where we say "DEIS dated November 2007 and addendum dated
118/08 and changes identified...
Chairperson Howe — Larry, you want to say something?
Board Member Thayer — Yeah I think I should withdraw the motion.
Chairperson Howe — And is that...
Ms. Brock — All right, let's see ... a motion to withdraw ... we need a second...
Board Member Hoffmann — I'll second.
Chairperson Howe — Eva seconds. And then do we take a vote?
PB 1/8/08
Pg. 46
Ms. Brock —Yes.. I
Chairperson Howe — All those in favor, raise your hand...
Board Member Wilcox — Of what?
Chairperson Howe — Withdrawing the resolution....
Mr. Kanter — Withdrawing the motion to adopt this resolution.
Board Member Thayer — I'm in favor...
Board Member Wilcox — I'm sorry, start again please...
(multiple people talking)
Board Member Riha — But I guess people are comfortable that it's very clear, there's a
list of things, we know what they are, it's very clear, we could have written them done
but it's too time consuming to do it, it would have taken us 15 minutes...
Board Member Wilcox — I'm sorry, somebody help me out ... we had a motion and a
second, we made the changes, now we have a motion...
Board Member Conneman — But Larry withdrew...
Board Member Thayer — I withdrew that motion.
Board Member Wilcox — Now we have a motion to withdraw...
Mr. Kanter —The mover of the motion is allowed to offer to withdraw the motion. It has
to be seconded and voted on by the Board.
Chairperson Howe — And Eva has seconded it.
Board Member Wilcox — To withdraw the motion fine, good
Board Member Riha — I'm just concerned about "mission creep ". I mean, I'm just
concerned that...we have identified, and it's only fair to thes
identified the 10 or 20... it's, we're comfortable as a Board...l
but, but if we know that there's very specific things they need
when they come back it will be very clear to all of us and that's it
at it again and start asking for another 10 things.
Board Member Thayer — Rights
e people that we have
don't quite grasp them,
to come back with and
and we don't then took
Chairperson Howe — All those in favor of the new resolution to withdraw, raise your
hand ... all those opposed ... all those abstained... okay.
PB I /8 /O8
Pg. 47
ADOPTED RESOLUTION: PB RESOLUTION NO. 2008 = 002
Withdrawal of Draft Resolution
Town of Ithaca Planning Board
January 8, 2008
MOTION made by Larry Thayer, seconded by Eva Hoffmann,
WHEREAS:
A motion was made by Larry Thayer and seconded by Susan Riha to move a draft
resolution regarding the Acceptance of a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)
as Complete for Public Review and Comment, and
WHEREAS:
After further discussion by the Board, Larry Thayer offered to withdraw his motion to
adopt the resolution as drafted,
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:
That the motion to accept the Draft EIS is withdrawn.
A vote on the motion resulted as follows:
AYES: Howe, Hoffmann, Conneman, Thayer, Riha, Erb and Wilcox
NAYS: None
ABSTENTIONS: Riha
The Motion passed.
Chairperson Howe — So, is it clear what the next steps are and what you will be
coming...
Mr. Herrick — Yeah...we'II expand with addendum 2, we'll supplement what you've
received to date. We'll keep the similar format so it's easier to digest, and is it possible
that we can bring this addendum to you such that at your next meeting, it could be
considered, the same resolution as what was drafted for this evening?
Board Member Erb — I'm hoping to have a new Executive Summary where instead of
having to reference two sets of addenda that were sent to me, I just have an Executive
Summary...
Board Member Thayer — Just insert the pages ... (everyone talking...) ...It says A, B, C,
D ...that's fine with me.
Board Member Wilcox — The problem with doing it your way is then you have to identify
what are the changes from the previous version.
Board Member Erb — Well, they can still underline it.
Chairperson Howe — Did you hear the question about...
Mr. Kanter — Yeah, I think we're okay for the January 22 "d meeting. We've got three
items, but, if this is indeed going to be a fairly expeditious...
Chairperson Howe — It will be an expeditious...
Board Member Thayer — Fifteen minutes...
Ms. Brock — No, you can't say that...
Board Member Riha — Well that's why I say...we need the material ahead...l guess
what I would like to see, ahead of time, are the requirements that we felt were not met in
this scoping document outlined, because that's how I am going to be able to tell, and
quickly.
Mr. Kanter — I think the question, back to the applicants is, how quickly we would be
able to get this. I don't think we want to have it handed out to the Board on that
meeting.
Mr. Sieverding — How far in advance, Jon, would you need it to get it to the Board and
have a couple of days to...
Mr. Kanter — Our mailout is the Wednesday before the meeting. So a week before
hand.
Mr. Herrick — Well, fortunately, you have all helped craft what these modifications are
going to be so there's a good understanding of what you're expecting.
Mr. Sieverding — So by January 151H or 161H
Mr. Kanter - Yeah.
Chairperson Howe - Thank you very much.
Mr. Hendren — I have a question. We talked about making this an expeditious review,
next public meeting, or, sorry, next board meeting here...l'm just curious, are we going
to be entertaining additional questions beyond what's already been outlined for us
during today's meeting.
Board Member Riha — That's what I asked.
Board Member Erb — That's what she's trying to avoid.
Board Member Hoffmann — But I would say, I would think the answer to that is, it
depends on what you add and how you add its if there are questions about it. If you
make it clear, if, and understandable, if you make the changes that were asked for, and
PB 1/8/08
Pg. 49
you don't change anything else, or add anything else that we haven't see, then chances
are there won't be any questions.
Chairperson Howe — And our goal will certainly be to focus on what was raised tonight.
Board Member Riha — Right, exactly and limit it to that.
Mr. Sieverding — I think this is going to be structured in a way that I think we pretty much
know what you all asked and we will construct our response that way.
Board Member Hoffmann — But I think its very important that you understand that we
have other lives outside of this boardroom and we need to have these things ahead of
time so we can read them before we come here, handing something out at the meeting
is just not fair.
Mr. Sieverding — That's why we just had the conversation about getting this to you by
the 151h or 161h
Chairperson Howe — Thank you very much. Okay. We have to go back to some other
agenda items...
OTHER BUSINESS
Chairperson Howe — Jonathan, some of this is just clarification. There was an email we
got about this Energy Recovery Linac Project.
Mr. Kanter — That's an initial meeting that Cornell wants to have with Staff. When we get
these types of notices, sometimes we sent it around to the Planning Board Chair,
sometimes we send it around to the whole Board, in case any Board members are
interested in attending. I think we did get a, we did get a potential date from them back,
which I can't remember now, but when I respond to them, I will copy the Board on them.
Hollis actually did respond to me saying that if Hollis was available, she might be
interested in attending. So I'll let you know when that is going to be available.
Board Member Hoffmann I remember hearing the name Steve Beyers but I don't
remember in what context. Is he somebody who works at Cornell where Bilderback
works?
Ms. Brock — Don Bilderback works for CHES. Cornell High Energy Syncertron Source
and actually, this project, the new ERL, is my husband's project, so, I'll be conflicted on
that one. I had no idea this was coming to you guys.
Mr. Kanter — This is like a very expensive addition to the syncatron.
Board Member Riha — It's been on the plans for a long time.
Ms. Brock — But, they are trying to get the grant money, so...
Board Member Riha — Yeah...
PB 1/8/08
Pg. 50
Board Member Wilcox — I want the tour...
Ms. Brock — You haven't been there?
Chairperson Howe — Okay. So that's what that is...
(everybody talking about a tour)
Chairperson Howe — Moving on to other issues, we had also before us a resolution
about adding Bed & Breakfast to the Eco Village's special landuse district...
Mr. Kanter — I don't know that I sent that to you but...
Chairperson Howe — It was on our...
Board Member Wilcox — No, we don't have it, you have it.
Mr. Kanter — That was just referred to the Planning Board last night by the Town Board
for a recommendation, but it's not going to be on the next meeting, it might be the one
after that.
Chairperson Howe — So is this one that other people have as well? Do you all have the
letter about the 1519 Slaterville Road subdivision? (yes) So that's just informational...
Mr. Kanter — It's informational for now, depending on what the City and Ms. Haines do
or don't do. We may simply report back to the Board that this is now expired and
nothing further will need to be done. If we do hear from one of them requesting an
extension of the timeframe for the approval, then we would bring that to the Board at
some point in the near future. What did we say our deadline for hearing back from them
was ... let's see, January 25th so that would be after the next meeting, probably in early
February.
Chairperson Howe — Were there any other committee assignments? We talked about
the fact that Hollis is going to be on the Comprehensive Plan Review Committee. Fred,
I believe is..
Board Member Erb — Can we all say "sucker'.
Chairperson Howe -- ...still going to be on Codes & Ordinances, and Eva.
Mr. Kanter — Eva as a Conservation Board member.
Chairperson Howe — Are there any other committee issues like that that we need to talk
about?
Mr. Kanter — I don't know. There's this new Planning Committee but we don't want to
get into a whole discussion about that.
PB 1/8/08
Pg. 51
Chairperson Howe — No, but we were wondering if at some point we could ask Herb or
someone to come just talk about what the purpose is of the Planning Committee.
Mr. Kanter — That probably would be a good idea, once they get it figured out.
Board Member Thayer — They still don't know what it is.
Board Member Wilcox — Who got appointed to that committee?
Mr. Kanter — That committee will consist of Will Burbank as Chair, Pat Leary and Peter
Stein. It's strictly a Town Board committee.
Chairperson Howe — And we know that one of the first things that has been referred to
them is the...
Board Member Wilcox — South Point Assisted Living Facility,
Chairperson Howe — Also, the Scenic Resources Report.
Mr. Kanter — Nicely reported by Dianne to the Town Board last night.
Board Member Conneman — Would you get a copy of the Scenic Review Report for this
Board, because, look, tonight, having gone to that meeting last night, I'm frustrated in
that they presented 10 views that they thought were important and you gave one away
to Ithaca College today and I want to mention...
Ms. Brock — We didn't do anything..
Board Member Thayer -- We haven't given anything away...
Board Member Conneman — I want to mention that there are two other ones that we
better be aware of, and one is the Perry Farm. If you build a road across the Perry
Farm, you're darn sure should have a pole off there. Because if you ever go to Dick
Perry's farm, you can see up and down that lake, it's beautiful.
Board Member Thayer — Come to my back deck and see it...
Board Member Conneman — And the other one is the view of Danby that Ithacare does
not screw -up, if I can use that word, don't put that in the minutes, but, because there's a
chance to get ... there's a definite chance to get a viewshed easement before anybody
else builds on the lots that head south towards the lake and we better be aware of those
two because they're likely to come up.
Mr. Kanter — Why don't we do this. Why don't we send the Board copies of the report,
at some point, it may not be this next time, and, at some point, when there's a slight lull
in agendas, which could be next year, I don't know ... why don't we ask the lovely Chair
of the Conservation Board to come to this Board and give a presentation.
PB 1/8/08
Pg. 52
Ms. Brock — I would say very professional and competent Chair...
Board Member Wilcox — Who is the Chair of the Conservation Board?
Board Member Conneman — She's my wife....
Ms. Brock — Dianne Conneman,
Board Member Wilcox — I thought she didn't want to be Chair this year.
Mr. Kanter — Nobody else...
Board Member Wilcox — I thought...
Board Member Conneman — But I think that's a very important thing because, even
Peter Stein, don't put this in the minutes either...
Ms. Brock — No, you have to...
Ms. Neilsen —Everything goes in the...
Board Member Conneman — Even a Board member said it added to his quality of life.
Ms. Brock — This is open...
Chairperson Howe — Okay. So we're going to get a copy of that and we can talk about
that.
Kevin Talty talked to several of us today. He just wanted to say he's doing fine. He's
okay. And he just wanted to be remembered tonight. He's in the process of deciding
whether ... he has been offered the alternate position and he's making decisions about
that. He hasn't made up his mind about that.
MINUTES
ADOPTED RESOLUTION
PB RESOLUTION NO. 2008 = 003
Minutes of December 4, 2007
Town of Ithaca Planning Board
January 8, 2008
MOTION made by Hollis Erb, seconded by George Conneman.
WHEREAS.
The Town of Ithaca Planning Board has reviewed the draft minutes from December 4,
2007, and
PB 1/8/08
Pg. 53
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:
The Town of Ithaca Planning Board approves the minutes, with corrections, to be the
final minutes of the meeting on December 4, 2007.
A vote on the motion resulted as follows:
AYES: Howe, Conneman, Thayer, Riha, Erb and Wilcox
NAYS: None
ABSTENTIONS: Hoffmann
The Motion passed.
Chairperson Howe — Jon, anything....do you want to talk about what's on the agenda
two weeks from now?
Mr. Kanter - January 22 "d, besides the Athletic Center, we've got Cornell's Combined
Heat and Power Plant Addition for preliminary site plan approval. We've got a indeed
what we hope is a simple two -lot subdivision on Stone Quarry Road. It's legalizing an
existing subdivision but there's no neighbors, just a cemetery.
Board Member Erb — Do they have it completely surveyed?
Mr. Kanter —They do.
Ms. Brock — And do both owner's agree to the subdivision?
Mr. Kanter — Both owners are applying.
Board Member Riha — Jonathan, clarification on the Cornell.... that's just a component of
their heat.. that's not their entire...
Ms. Brock — It's not the natural gas pipeline.
Mr. Kanter — It's the addition that will allow them to add the new whatever it's called...
Board Member Riha — Right, because we only did the SEQR on that and then the DEC
is doing the SEQR on the much larger...
Mr. Kanter — We won't do a SEAR. DEC was lead agency and we will not do a SEQR
on any of that. On the Energy Linac one yeah, that's a whole different thing. On the
heating plant, DEC was lead agency and they neg - dec'ed it. So we will provide you
with the neg -dec, but we have to accept their determination.
Chairperson Howe — And two people won't be here...
Mr. Kanter —
There's
one
other
item if you want to
hear about
it. This
is another
illegal
situation. It's
that fill
area
at the
Wedemeyer Court
subdivision
area on
Slaterville
Road
PB 1/8/08
Pg. 54
which is a big mess. They added that huge ... they re- graded the whole back property in
the conservation zone area and so they've put together a reclamation plan and it's
being processed, in a sense, as a fill, an excavation permit, but also as a modification of
the subdivision which this Board approved, because they went well beyond the limits of
disturbance that were approved by the Board. And so, without getting into a long
explanation, because this one might actually might be a longer one than the others, at
the next meeting, they've put together a remediation plan, re- vegetation plans, DEC has
been on their backs to get them into compliance... it's not going to be, obviously become
the natural area that it was before it was disturbed, but, you know, at this point, the best
that we can hope for is that it be reclaimed and re- vegetated.
Board Member Conneman — Will DEC fine him for that?
Mr. Kanter — Well, I'm not sure. They should.
Board Member Conneman — They should.
Board Member Thayer —Absolutely.
Mr. Kanter — I just don't know. And we should be able to too. This is one of those
situations that comes up from time to time where we have laws and we have the ability
to take people to court but, it's sort of a policy issue that others have to figure out.
Board Member Hoffmann — It was one of our Conservation Board members who lives
very close to this site who kept telling us, is this guy supposed to be doing what he's
doing. And then I guess, finally, Dianne went and looked at it, you probably did too, and
they showed some of the photos at the last Conservation Board meeting. It was
unbelievable.
Chairperson Howe — Any other issues... items?
Board Member Erb — Did you notice in the paper that 320 Pine Tree Road up to
something... sold?
Board Member Thayer — $2.95 million.
Board Member Erb — And I am assuming that is the area behind Rite Aid and
Courtside..I
Ms. Brock — Cornell?
Board Member Erb — It was like two and a half million ... $2.490 or something like that...
Ms. Brock — For the Cornell purchase of the property?
Board Member Erb — It was a range of addresses so I am assuming that's where it was.
Board Member Wilcox — The Ithaca Journal prints real estate transactions...
PB 1/8/08
Pg. 55
Ms. Brock — Yeah, yeah, did it give a date of transaction?
(everyone talking....)
Board Member Wilcox — Bryant Park Civic Association is meeting on January 17tH I
had been invited there back in December, to represent the Town Planning Board and I
will do that. They're gonna ... they have Cornell showing up to talk about their Master
Plan, they have Cornell showing up to talk about the Transportation Plan, the GEIS,
they've got the mayor of the City of Ithaca, they've got lot's of Cornell people, and I don't
know if they got anybody from the Town Board, but, like I said, I said back in November
or December that I would go. So I will do that.
Motion to adjourn at 9:52p.m.
Resp
9 VM.V \ \V . VV..VV..
Deputy Town Clerk
TOWN OF ITHACA PLANNING BOARD
215 North Tioga Street
Ithaca, New York 14850
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
AGENDA
7:00 P.M. Persons to be heard (no more than five minutes).
7:05 P.M. Continuation of the detennination of adequacy for public review of the Draft Environmental
Impact Statement (DEIS) for the proposed Ithaca College Athletic and Events Center located on
the eastern side of the Ithaca College campus near the Coddington Road campus entrance,
Town of Ithaca Tax Parcel No.'s 41 -1 -30.2, 41 -1 -11, 41 -1 -12.2, 41 -1 -24, and 42- 1 -9.2, Medium
Density Residential Zone. The proposal includes the construction of +/- 300,000 square feet of
indoor athletic facilities including an indoor 200M track with practice /game field, Olympic size
pool and diving well, tennis courts, rowing center, gymnasium, strength and conditioning
center, and floor space for large indoor events. Outdoor facilities include a lighted artificial turf
field, a 400M track with open space for field events, and lighted tennis courts. The project is
proposed in several phases and will also include the construction of +/- 1,002 parking spaces
(687 displaced spaces and 315 new spaces), relocating overhead power lines, constructing a
new loop road, walkways, access drives, stonnwater management facilities, lighting and
landscaping. The Planning Board may also consider scheduling a public hearing regarding the
DEIS. Ithaca College, Owner /Applicant; Richard Couture, Agent.
3. Nomination and Election of Vice Chairperson for 2008.
4. Persons to be heard (continued from beginning of meeting if necessary).
5. Approval of Minutes: December 4, 2007 and December 18, 2007.
6. Other Business:
7, Adjournment.
Jonathan Kanter, AICP
Director of Planning
273 -1747
NOTE: IF ANY MEMBER OF THE PLANNING BOARD IS UNABLE TO ATTEND, PLEASE NOTIFY
SANDY POLCE AT 273 -1747.
(A quorum of four (4) members is necessary to conduct Planning Board business.)
Town of Ithaca
Planning Board
215 North Tioga Street
January 8, 2007
7:00 p.m.
PLEASE SIGN4N
Please Print Clearly, Thank You
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