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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOC Packet 2022-02-16 nn W TOWN OF ITHACA . - NEW YOR DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING 215 N.Tioga St 14850 607.273.1747 www.:towrnithI�ca.:_n ...us 02/09/2022 TO: Codes and Ordinances Committee: William Goodman, Chair Eric Levine Eva Hoffmann Rob Rosen Yvonne Fogarty FROM: Christine Balestra, Planner RE: Next Codes and Ordinances Committee Meeting— February 16, 2022 The next meeting of the Codes and Ordinances Committee is scheduled for Wednesday, February 161h at 5:30pm via Zoom (details on the next page). A quorum of the Town of Ithaca Town Board may be present at this meeting. However, no official Town Board business will be conducted. The following items are attached: • Minutes from the January 12, 2022, meeting. • Proposed remaining amendment to the Ithaca Energy Code Supplement with cover memo overview (2/10/22). If you cannot attend this meeting, please notify Abby Homer as soon as possible at (607) 273- 1747, or ahomer@town.ithaca.ny.us. cc: Susan H.Brock,Attorney for the Town Susan Ritter,Director of Planning Marty Moseley,Director of Code Enforcement Abby Homer,Administrative Assistant Paulette Rosa,Town Clerk(email) Town Administrative staff(email) Town Board Members(email) Town Code Enforcement staff(email) Town Planning staff(email) Town Public Works staff(email) Media TOWN OF ITHACA CODES AND ORDINANCES COMMITTEE 215 North Tioga Street Ithaca, New York 14850 (607) 273-1747 PLEASE NOTE: Members of the public who wish to attend the meeting via Zoom may call in on a cell phone or landline at (929) 436-2866 and enter the Meeting ID: 675 059 3272; or may view the meeting by computer at https://zoom.us/i/6750593272. Once on Zoom, click on "Join A Meeting" and enter the Meeting ID: 675 059 3272. The meeting will also be recorded on the Town of Ithaca YouTube Channel. Meeting of February 16, 2022 - 5:30 P.M. AGENDA 1. Member comments/concerns. 2. Minutes from January 12, 2022, meeting. 3. Discussion of Energy Code Supplement Amendment. 4. [Time permitting] Discussion of Updates to Town of Ithaca Telecommunications Law. S. Other business: • Next meeting date: March 9, 2022 Town of Ithaca Planning Department February 9,2022 TOWN OF ITHACA CODES AND ORDINANCES COMMITTEE (COO Meeting of January 12, 2022 —5:30 pm—via Zoom and live on YouTube Draft Minutes Members and Staff Present: Bill Goodman, Chair, Eva Hoffmann, Yvonne Fogarty, Rob Rosen, and Eric Levine - Members. Marty Moseley, Director of Code Enforcement; Susan Ritter, Director of Planning; Chris Balestra, Planner; Nick Goldsmith, Sustainability Planner; Susan Brock, Counsel, Abby Homer, Planning Admin Asst-Staff. Bill set up the meeting to broadcast on YouTube along with the Zoom platform. The agenda was then reviewed, and Bill noted that public comment would be taken at the beginning of the meeting. Public Comments (time limit 2 minutes per person): -David recommended restricting codes for good level of community control, supported 1500 ft. setback -Andrew Molnar noted the scientific studies of 5G harmful radiation, supported 1500-1640 ft. setback for safety, thanked committee for hard work -Wendy commented 5G is an unnecessary source of unsafe radiation -Irina noted concern over change to proposed 300 ft setback, asked for residents to be prioritized, not to compromise home values and health -Sheila supported 1640 ft. setback for safety -April supported 1500 ft. setback, noted the codes were not sufficient safety protection -Lisa Betruzzi commented that the Federal Telecommunications Act is immoral, recommended following the lead of New Hampshire and set 1500 ft. setback. -Fazilee recommended writing restrictive codes to protect the citizens and beauty of the area and a 1500 ft. setback. The public was thanked for their comments and asked to resume viewing the meeting on YouTube, if desired. 1. Member comments/concerns.New Town Board/COC member Rob Rosen was introduced and welcomed to the committee. 2. Minutes: Second draft of November l Oth minutes were circulated; all changes were accepted. Eva moved to approve the 11/10/2021 COC minutes as amended, Yvonne seconded. All members voted in favor of approval. The December 8th meeting minutes were circulated. Minor changes were suggested for clarity and outlined by Susan Brock; changes were accepted by the committee. Eva moved to approve the 12/8/2021 COC minutes as amended, Yvonne seconded. All members voted in favor of approval. 3. Discussion of Energy Code Supplement Amendments: Nick Goldsmith, Sustainability Planner, described the individual amendments proposed to the Energy Code Supplement outlined 1 in detail in his 1/5/2022 memo to the committee. The proposed changes come as a result of review after identifying a less restrictive section compared to the NYS Uniform Energy code as well as the 2015 NYS Energy code being used as a reference originally and that code was updated in 2020 which identified the few other changes needed. The ECS must be approved by NYS Codes Counsel and is scheduled for a March 2022 review(the ECS can be implemented and enforced in the meantime). The City of Ithaca and Town of Ithaca have applied for the NYS review at the same time. It is likely that similar revisions to the city code will be brought to their committee and boards for amendments as well. The committee reviewed and approved proposed amendments 1-4 from Nick's memo. Sue Ritter commented on the EV parking space requirement for multiple residence. She noted that because the provision requires the space to be only used for electric vehicle charging purposes (versus overnight/long-term parking), the parking provisions in the Town Code for multiple residences will need to be amended to reference these additional EV charging space(s). The 5eh proposed amendment, "Adaptive Reuse, Sections 144-C402.5.4 and 144-R502.5.4,"was discussed in detail. Nick and Marty proposed language at the meeting that was slightly different than the language in Nick's memo,but the main intent was to not require buildings to keep old insulation. A definition for"building structure"was also added. The basis on how to measure maintaining the 50% or more of the existing building structure and building thermal envelope was proposed to be revised further to include foundations,posts, beams, structural columns, load-bearing walls and roofs. Susan Brock asked if the intent of the language changes was to include interior and exterior elements, as outlined in the proposed definition. She also noted that the I(for Ithaca) in the "IECS" acronym should be removed from Section 144-201.2 to be consistent within the document. Nick explained that the inclusion was after consultation with the STREAM Collaborative consultants that helped develop the Adaptive Reuse section. He confirmed, with the agreement of Marty, that the intent of the building structure definition and measurement was to include the load bearing elements of a structure, even if they are not exterior walls. Other calculation methods were discussed, and the language provided seemed the most reasonable. Marty added that these numbers would be provided by the applicant to receive the point that is being sought. The calculations would be made by the code officer and verification would need to be on the documentation provided by the applicant. Rob expressed that measuring the total surface area could be complicated and could possibly have an unintended effect that would not strengthen the code or the intent to minimize the energy input to the building. Bill asked what language would be preventing by requiring the total surface area as opposed to the exterior. Nick explained that it was the insulation part that the revision would clarify. Bill also asked if the same language would be in the residential section of the ECS. Nick confirmed that the language would be the same for commercial and residential structures. Eva recommended taking a closer look at this language and put more thought into it, as it seemed like a complicated way to measure how much energy a building used and would 2 vary based on the building construction. Yvonne recommended taking out the post beams and columns from the definition. Nick asked if removing the posts,beams, and structural columns from the building structure but keeping the foundations and load-bearing walls in the definition would alleviate the committee concerns and still achieve the goal and benefit of saving building material. Bill stated that it would be easier to figure out the surface area if those terms were removed from the definition. Bill concluded that the remaining proposed amendment (#5) to the Energy Code Supplement would need further discussion internally between now and the February meeting. The committee will discuss this further in February. 4. Town of Ithaca Telecommunications Law: Susan Brock, Bill and Chris offered to set up a Zoom meeting with Rob to provide the history of the existing law and its relation to the 1996 FCC Telecommunications Act that governs municipalities' abilities to regulate telecommunications facilities. Susan mentioned to the committee that the Town of Fishkill adopted their law written by Attorney Andrew Campanelli. She reviewed the final public hearing, comments and questions brought forth by a Fishkill resident which included the same question the committee raised on setback provisions. The Fishkill Town Board originally requested a 300ft setback between small cell wireless facilities town wide, and the final draft language was: zero setback where the facility would be installed on a pre-existing utility pole or collocated on a pre-existing personal wireless service facility, a 300ft setback in residential zones from residential dwellings or structures, and a 50ft setback in non-residential zones if the facility is placed on a pre-existing utility pole or other utility structure. Mr. Campanelli provided the answer to why he recommended the 300ft setback-he stated that, after reviewing the layout of the Town of Fishkill on Google Earth, he discovered that anything more than a 300ft setback town wide would be "problematic -basically it would wipe out the entire town" as a possibility for providing service. The 300ft distance requirement was made to avoid constituting a"prohibition on wireless services". Application denials could still occur based on aesthetics,property values impact, etc. He explained that a sufficient gap in service coverage must also be proven by the applicant to be approved, and that the least intrusive means would need to be used to remedy the gap. Mr. Campanelli note that these may be hard standards for the companies to achieve if the there is plenty of service with 4G in the area, stating that"this is not drafted to prevent 5G, it is drafted to prohibit the irresponsible placement of wireless facilities". 5. Other business: Bill brought up a resolution proposed by the Association of Towns, calling for the NYS Legislature and Governor of NYS to continue to support broadband and cellular access and deployment, specifically citing "advancing 5G technology is essential for public safety, commercial economic growth, our education and the overall wellbeing of our citizens". The first whereas clause in the proposed resolution, which was shared on screen with the committee, seemed questionable. The committee was not 100% in support of the resolution as written. It was noted that the ability for one town to change the language in the resolution may 3 be difficult, however a suggestion was made to have the Town of Ithaca delegate at the Annual Associations of Towns meeting in February express our concerns. Bill stated the Town Board will discuss this further at their upcoming study session. Eva stated that the specific 5G reference as "essential" might not be fully accurate, based on the information known to date that 4G is adequate in many places locally. • Next meeting: February 16th, 2022 • Agenda: (no public comments will be taken) -remaining Energy Code Supplement proposed amendment#5 (Adaptive Reuse) -Telecommunications Law The meeting adjourned at 7:33 pm. 4 TOWN OF ITHACA NE W Y 0 RK Date: 02/10/2022 To: Codes and Ordinances Committee From: Nick Goldsmith,Sustainability Planner Regarding: Energy Code Supplement amendments At the January 12, 2022 COC meeting,the Committee approved four amendments to the Energy Code Supplement (ECS). One of these amendments used "IECS"twice;the Committee approved using "ECS" instead, consistent with the rest of the document.A fifth amendment, related to the Adaptive Reuse point (144-C402.5.4 and 144-R502.5.4), was not approved;we are bringing that amendment back to COC for discussion on February 16, 2022. Once the Committee reaches a decision on that item,we will bring the package of amendments to the Town Board. Adaptive Reuse, sections 144-C402.5.4 and 144-R502.5.4,were reworded to clarify,to provide additional detail, and to align the two sections,which mistakenly differed slightly from each other. Adopted ECS Language of 144-C402.5.4.1 The building must maintain 50%or more of the existing building structure and BUILDING THERMAL ENVELOPE, based on the measurement of the surface area.The existing building structure must be retained in place and re-purposed for a different permitted use (for example, when an old school is adapted for use as apartments).A MAJOR RENOVATION of a building and re-use for the same purpose shall not be eligible for this point. New Proposed Language of 144-C402.5.4.1 and 144-R502.5.4 The building must maintain 50%or more of the following five existing building elements, based on the total combined surface area. A. Exterior of above-grade and below-grade exterior walls B. Interior of above-grade and below-grade exterior walls C. Floors D. Ceilings E. Roof decks as defined by the Building Code of New York State (exterior surface area) The 50%threshold relates to the total combined surface area of all listed building elements.Any individual elements, or portions thereof, may be replaced, as long as the total surface area of all the unaltered elements is at least 50% of the starting (pre-construction) total surface area of the elements. The simplified diagrams below highlight which surface areas should be counted. Page 1 of 4 A � JL � ---------------------- [newsub'provisiomnunvber] Any insulation maybe a Ite red to the extent a I I owed by the ECCCNYS in effect at the time of building permit application. The existing building structure must be re-purposed for a different permitted use (for example,when an old school is adapted for use as apartments). A MAJOR RENOVATION of a building and re-use for the same purpose shall not be eligible for this point. Page 2of4 Adaptive Reuse Example Calculation-Single Family Home Home Dimensions Building width 30 ft Building length 30 ft Stories 2 Height/story 10 ft Height of basement 8 ft Height of roof peak from 2nd floor ceiling 10 ft A. Exterior of above-grade and below-grade exterior walls 8 above grade walls (N, S, E,W walls of two stories) 8 Surface area of each above grade wall 300 sq ft Total surface area above-grade exterior walls 2,400 sq ft 4 below grade walls (N, S, E, W walls of basement) 4 Surface area of each below-grade wall 240 sq ft Total surface area below-grade exterior walls 960 sq ft Total surface area,exterior of above-grade and below-grade exterior walls 3,360 sq ft B. Interior of above-grade and below-grade exterior walls Use same calculations as for exterior side (above) Total surface area,interior of above-grade and below-grade exterior walls 3,360 Isq ft C. Floors 3 floors (1st story, 2nd story, basement) 3 Surface area of floor 900 sq ft Total surface area,floors 2,700 sq ft D.Ceilings 3 ceilings (1st story, 2nd story, basement) 3 Surface area of ceiling 900 sq ft Total surface area,ceilings 2,700 sq ft E. Roof decks(exterior surface area) Roof height 10 ft Roof triangle base (half of house) 15 ft Hypotenuse (H) is roof length (one side) 18 ft Roof width = house width 30 ft Roof area (one side only) = H*roof width 1 540 Isq ft Total surface area, roof 1 1,080 Isq ft Total surface area,all building elements 13,200 sq ft 50%of total surface area 6,600 sq ft If at least 6,600 sq ft of the building elements are kept,the building will earn the Adaptive Reuse point. Page 3 of 4 [end of provision] For reference, here are the definitions mentioned in the provisions above. BUILDING THERMAL ENVELOPE —The insulated exterior walls (above and below grade), floors, ceilings, roofs, and any other building element assemblies that enclose heated space or provide a boundary between heated space and unheated space. MAJOR RENOVATION — Any construction or renovation to an existing structure other than a repair or addition,where(1)the work area exceeds 75 percent of the floor area and(2)two or more of the following occur: A. Replacement or new installation of a heating plant or system (e.g. boiler, furnace, or other major system). Changes to ventilation and air conditioning systems are not considered renovations of the heating system. B. Construction that involves disassembly of greater than 50%of the area of the above-grade portion(s) of the building thermal envelope in the building. C. Changes to lighting, including but not limited to new installation, replacement, relocation,or removal, of lamps, lighting, or other illumination fixtures in greater than 50% of the building floor area. Space within a building interior that is not currently lit, and is not proposed to be lit, shall not count toward the 50%calculation. We look forward to discussion on this issue. Please let us know if you have any questions or comments before then. Page 4 of 4