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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPC Minutes 2017-09-211 TOWN OF ITHACA PLANNING COMMITTEE SUMMARY OF SEPTEMBER 21, 2017 MEETING Committee Members Present: Rich DePaolo (Chair), Rod Howe, Pat Leary. Town-Related Staff/Board Members/Others Present: Susan Ritter, Director of Planning, Bruce Bates, Director of Code Enforcement, Susan Brock, Attorney for Town. Members of the Public Present: None. Chair Rich DePaolo called the meeting to order at approximately 4:30pm. Persons to Be Heard: None. Committee Announcements and Concerns: None. Consider August Meeting Summary: Approved with several edits. Consider modifications to proposed legislation regarding accessory dwelling units and rental operating permits: The Committee meeting was devoted to reviewing the preliminary draft local laws (three) that Susan Brock had prepared. The discussion focused on those sections of the laws Susan had highlighted to receive input and clarifications from the Committee on. The following summarizes the discussion and decisions made pertaining to accessory dwelling units (ADU) legislation. Elder cottages: Agreed to remove the provision for elder cottages. The Town has never had an application for an elder cottage; indicating that there is no demand. The existing provision requires that the cottage be removed once the occupant(s) leaves. The new provision for stand alone detached ADUs could serve the same function as an elder cottage, but would be permanent. The required rear yard setback in the Conservation Zone (CZ) is 200ft. from rear lot line. Since the ADU in the CZ must be 200 ft. or more from the rear lot line, the ADU will be outside the required rear yard, so no change is necessary. The discussion indicated confusion with the term, “required rear yard”, so clarification in the proposed law may be warranted. Staff provided scaled digital drawings illustrating how the current requirements for accessory structures (up to 3 with a total of 600 sq. ft. if under 3 acres), with the addition of an ADU (up to 800 sq. ft.), would appear on the lot if maximum thresholds for all the structures were utilized on a minimum sized lot for each zoning district. In the drawings the High Density Residential (HDR) Zone appeared the most problematic, with a potential for over-densifying of the lot. The other zones did not appear as problematic with having the total max threshold of accessory structures. The committee agreed to limit the HDR zone to three accessory structures (not including garage) with the total not to exceed 800 sq. ft. in size. This could include an ADU and/or other accessory structures (i.e. sheds) as long as the total area does not exceed 800 sq. ft. The committee agreed to leave the thresholds as currently allowed in the other residential zones for accessory structures 2 (600 sq. ft. max size), and to add an allowance for an ADU (limited to 70% of the sq. footage of primary house up to 800 sq. ft. maximum). For the Agricultural Zone, regarding a farm lot, no changes are proposed to the language pertaining to an ADU (two-family dwelling). For a non-farm lot, the committee agreed to leave the requirements for accessory structures as is, allowing three structures up to 1,500 sq. ft., and adding a provision that one the three structures could be an ADU. The ADU would not be counted separately, but instead, the 1,500 sq. ft. threshold would include the ADU allowance. The committee agreed that the tethering provision, requiring ADUs to be within 150 ft. of the principal dwelling in the Agricultural and Conservation Zones, should be revised to apply only to new ADUs. This would allow an existing structure to be converted to an ADU, or contain an ADU, but not require the 150 ft. requirement. The committee scheduled a special meeting to address the following: the percent coverage in the required rear yard, maximum building area coverage, elder cottages, and a few issues pertaining to operating permits. Staff will prepare graphics to help with the required rear yard and lot coverages questions. Staff Updates and Reports: - No staff updates or reports. Next Meeting Date and Upcoming Agenda Items: - The Planning Committee will hold a special meeting on September 25th at 3:30pm. - The next regular meeting of the Planning Committee is October 19th. Meeting adjourned at approximately 6:00pm.