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Home My WebLink AboutPC Minutes 2017-04-201 TOWN OF ITHACA PLANNING COMMITTEE SUMMARY OF APRIL 20, 2017 MEETING COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT: Rich DePaolo (Chair), Rod Howe, Pat Leary. TOWN STAFF/TOWN BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Susan Ritter, Director of Planning; Bill Goodman, Town Supervisor; Bruce Bates, Director of Code Enforcement; Chris Balestra, Planning. PUBLIC: Denise Thompson (CU Housing Office); Renwick Heights resident; Ithaca High School students (2). Chair Rich DePaolo called the meeting to order at approximately 4:30 p.m. Persons to Be Heard: None. Committee announcement and concerns: None reported. Consider March meeting summary: Pat moved; Rod seconded; Committee approved with minor edit. Continue consideration of rental property oversight strategies and recommendation to Town Board: The Committee reviewed the updated documents provided by Rich. The following changes were proposed: Document 1 - Residential Rental Units §_____ Operating Permit Required Section C. Amend as follows: “… after notice of violation, unless the property is brought into compliance within 30 days. If the violation persists after 30 days since notification, and the property is ordered vacated, the property must be kept vacated until it is brought into compliance. Section D. Amend as follows: “… over-occupancy will result in the violation of the Operating Permit and the issuance of an order to remedy, after which issuance, the property owner shall have 30 days to comply with the applicable occupancy rules.” Section E. Amend as follows: To insure transfer to the new owner cross reference to section C above, such as “…premises as their principal residence are subject to section C. above.” §_____Rental Property Information Form: First paragraph, Change “Director of Code Enforcement or his designee or his/her deputy shall..” to “designee of Code Enforcement Department shall…”. Rich and Bruce will work on a new rental information form. The current Town Operating Permit form is not adequate for this additional oversight. §____Penalties for offenses: Section B. Edit spelling on “weeks’s” §____Non-disclosure of Personal Information: 2 Edit by removing the following language: “Director of Code Enforcement will institute strict policies to ensure that…”; the sentence should read as follows: “The owner and tenant information is available only to….” Broker’s Responsibility: Section A. Replace “Director of Code Enforcement” with “Code Enforcement Department.” Document #2 – Includes relevant excerpted language from Town’s residential zoning provisions pertaining to accessory structures. Permitted Principal Uses B. (2) – Committee agreed to eliminate the current provision that allows the floor area of the second dwelling unit to be no more than 50% of the floor area of the primary dwelling, except where the second dwelling unit is constructed entirely within the basement area. Accessory buildings and uses authorized by special approval only B (4) – Add a reference to parking requirements, i.e. “…in accordance with §270-227”. B (5) – Remove 50% floor area provision, and instead, change to a maximum of 800 square feet. Document #3 – Accessory Apartments: Purpose and Intent First sentence: Replace “specified zones” with “all residential zones”, but also add exemption for High Density Zone from the owner occupancy requirements. Standards Section (2) Owner Occupancy required: Committee agreed to a minimum of “185 days” that owner must reside within the dwelling to be considered owner occupied. Also, add a temporary/placeholder note in this section referencing “short-term rental” regulations. - Amend the end of the sentence that begins with “No owner may own…“ by adding “except as provided for below”. - Modify the last sentence to read as follows: “There shall be a maximum of two dwelling units permitted per lot, including one rental unit, except that for a period of up to 12 months in each five year period, the owner may vacate and two rental units may be permitted, subject to an additional Operating Permit. Section (4) Include an action item to change Town Code §270-220 to allow a minimum dwelling unit size of 300 sq.ft. Current Code provision requires a minimum dwelling size of 600 square feet. Document #4 §125-8 Operating permits: - Change as shown in yellow highlight: A. (11) “Residential rental units, including owner-occupied units that are rented for 30 or more days in a calendar year”. §125-9 Firesafety and property maintenance inspections: - Add language to require inspection of these new residential classifications and provide a time frame for the inspections. Current language pertains only to multiple dwellings and nonresidential occupancies. -Denise Thompson: Reported on Cornell’s efforts to revamp their rental database with a property safety assessment component, similar to what Ohio State is using. They will be using provable and verifiable information only; the information from the City Building Dept.’s inspections. This includes sprinkler assessments (if existing), egress locations, fire extinguisher, and other aspects related to health and safety. This will be tied to a rating/points system for each property. 3 They are not rating the landlord or how the students judge the property, just factual information gleaned from inspection records. At this time, just City property is involved in the rating system. Cornell will still allow non-City properties to be included in their database. The program is rolling out in August 2017 and the hope is that this will incentivize landlords into working towards getting good scores. Discuss possible modifications to Town telecommunications law: - Chris: Explained how new telecommunication technology warrants the need for updates to Town Code. She described an emerging trend in the telecommunications industry for significantly smaller and shorter poles with smaller antennas and equipment. These systems are called “Distribution Antenna System” (DAS) networks, and they use components that are a fraction of the size of the typical “macrocell” technology (large towers and antennae), but still work in conjunction with traditional cell towers to provide increased cell coverage. She further explained that the Town Code contains provisions only for large cell towers or co-located antennas on existing structures. While co-location of DAS is addressed in the Code (via streamline provisions), installation of new DAS poles/structures trigger the same requirements as does the large-scale monopole towers (i.e. SEQR Full EAF, vegetative buffering, detailed visual impact analysis, fencing that is at least eight-feet tall surrounding the site, safety analysis, removal bond in the amount of $50,000, escrow agreement, etc.). Staff is interested in revising the law to address the small cell technology, but had several key questions for the Committee: Should the law continue to require site plan approval, special approval and variances for these new DAS and small cell facilities? If not, should the town add the new facilities to the streamlined provisions in the law, thus only requiring a building permit for their installation? Should the law contain special criteria that would apply to the new facilities (e.g. photo simulations but not a full visual analysis, completion of SEQR Short EAF, etc.)? - Committee: Expressed a preference for requiring site plan approval for installation of new poles, in part to encourage more co-location rather than new poles. - Chris: Stated that she would continue to work on concepts for new legislation for consideration by the Committee. Continue to consider possible strategies for addressing Airbnbs: - Committee: Discussed the language being drafted in a Town letter that will be distributed to residents concerning short term rentals. The letter described current Town regulations and provides a warning to residents who are renting their houses on a short-term basis. Staff updates and reports: Sue reported that the Town has been approved to receive $1.18 million in grant funding for design and construction of sidewalk on Route 96B between the City/Town municipal boundary and the Ithaca College entrance. Discuss next meeting date and upcoming agenda items: Next meeting is tentatively scheduled for Thursday, May 18, 2017. Meeting ended at approximately 6:30pm.