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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPC Minutes 2022-09-15 Town of Ithaca Planning Committee Thursday, September 15, 2022 (3:00 PM via Zoom) Minutes Committee members: Rich DePaolo, Chair; Rod Howe & Margaret Johnson Board/Staff members: Director of Planning, Susan Ritter; Director of Code Enforcement, Marty Mosely. 1. Persons to be heard: None 2. Committee announcements and concerns: Margaret noted possible future discussion of the Town of Ithaca participating in the new Ithaca bikeshare program that the city announced recently. Funds have been raised and a soft launch with 100 electric bikes is set to take place in early October in the City. The data from the 2019 Lime Bike program was analyzed and a summary was shared with the Town Board and Planning Departments. 3. Approval of August meeting minutes: Rich moved; Rod seconded. The August 18, 2022, minutes were approved with one minor correction. 4. Consider Limited Historic Commercial Zone revised draft amendments: Sue explained that the draft distributed to the committee for this evening had changes subsequent to the August committee meeting. Sections §270-142.3. C. and D. (Preservation Plan related) and § 270-142.9 (hearing and Due Process) have been edited. Language reviewed in August was accepted and new edits were shown in redlne. Several modifications to the Use table were made,per the August meeting, and were highlighted in yellow. An alternative purpose statement(270-142.2. Purpose) was proposed and accepted by the committee. The draft still contained Susan Brock's comments from earlier (noted as "Author"), and these have been retained since she has not yet reviewed the previous draft addressing her comments. Sue also noted that she reached out to the City Historic Preservation Planner to inquire about the availability of companies or individuals qualified to conduct the poposed necessary professional site/building assessment, a list was provided with a variety of contacts for services. Other minor changes incude: §270-142.3. (3) a 1. Remove "for stabilizing, weather proofing, rodent proofing", end after"deemed necessary". §270-142.3. (3) a 3. 3. Landowner consent to enter the grounds for annual or biennial exterior inspections. §270-142.3. (3)b The property owner must submit any proposed modifications to the Preservation Plan to the Town Board. Such modifications shall become effective if/when the Town Board approves 4 them. §270-142.3. (3) D (1) (a) Capitalize "Compliance" §270-142.3. (3) D (2) (b) change "revocation"to "dissolution" § 270-142.4. Permitted principal uses/use table: All redlined suggestions were accepted by the committee other than Short-term rental uses: add provision 270-219.7 (d)2 to the list of sections that do not apply in the LHC overlay. •A principal building may have I dwelling unit used for short term rental use and in the case of two principal buildings, each may have one short-term rental agreement. This can be removed, falls under E (2) (b) or should be listed as an example. § 270-142.9 (A) Hearing and Due Process: A. First paragraph: Removed duplicate "as not". A. Second main paragraph: The Town Board will consider the report...by resolution, shall order dissolution of the limited historical commercial zone, at which time the propert _will to its underlyiu z q designation. °I The Town Board shall further direct ordc..,mr that a notice of the order and of the related upcoming hearing shall be served on.... § 270-142.9 B (5) Modify end to the provision: ...the Town Board will dissolve the Limited Historical Commercial Zone at which time the .property will revert to its unclerlyin� zonin c__6e_si Yna tion. 1 is i § 270-142.2. Purpose. New revised text (for consideration-below) option was chosen as follows: The Limited Historic Commercial Overlay District promotes the preservation,protection, and enhancement of significant historic structures in the Town of Ithaca by enabling more flexibility of the allowed uses of historically significant structures and their associated properties than what the underlying zone would normally allow. In providing more reuse options, the intent of the Limited Historic Commercial Zone is to help make preservation efforts more financially feasible. The discussion concluded with the recommendation that the document with committee changes accepted be forwarded to the Attorney for review and if any significant changes are made, it would come back to the Planning Committee A cleaned up conceptual document would also be sent to the city Historic Preservation Planner as well for general comment. 5. Consider Solar Law draft amendments: The same draft of the proposed amendments from the August meeting was discussed in detail. The focus was to allow for larger scale facilities with sensitivity for wildlife and agriculture aspects. Sue noted she would forward a good recent article on agrivoltaics to the committee as well. All changes proposed in blue were approved along with the following changes: 270-219.1 (A)Purpose: delete "and a sustainable quality of life", replace with"and sustainability" (B)Applicability: not a consensus on the committee to include as a blanket allowed use in all PDZ's. If the language in the existing ones reference the current solar law, the changes would be automatically applied as well. (C) General requirements: (5)revise wording to clarify intent-accessory use on a parcel/use primarily on the parcel, single out photovoltaic or say "any solar" (D) (5) if the design elements listed are aesthetic only then not needed if redundant. If structural or fire/building code related, then keep in-confirm with Codes Director (distance off roof deck, etc.). (G)1 (b) add"up to and including"before 7,000 square feet. (G) 2 (b medium-scale photovoltaic standards) (1) (a) "accessory use" clarify the "on-site" consumption term with attorney, ensure no community solar intent (net consumer vs net producer) (G) 2 (c)(1-a&b)PDZ reference, not all PDZ, look at each zone independently. 2 (d) also has same reference. (G) 2 (c) (5) (iii) fencing-incorporate exception into existing fence ordinance for solar facilities Full-scale PV standards: (G) (2) (d) [2] Setbacks-should be based on zone not use, agreed to multi lot facility to be treated as single lot for applying setbacks (G) (2) (d) [5] Design standards and measures for protecting agriculture resources: (b) The clearing of land to accommodate the solar facility must not exceed 20%removal of mature woods on the project site. For definition of"mature wood" see end of document-note this says Forest so needs to be consistent. Phrasing of"project site"instead of"lot"in case multiple lots are employed for project. (c)Vegetation clearing. Removal of trees and other existing vegetation shall be limited to what is necessary for the construction, operation and maintenance of the photovoltaic solar energy system. Add in/refer back to (b) above, or"but shall in no case result in the clearing of greater than 20% of mature forest/woods on the project site". (d) Rich and Sue will discuss the 50% of soil type, look at soil surveys and Town Farm Plan resource The discussion concluded with summarizing the need to identify the accessory use language on-site consumption and soil types as main issues needed before coming back to the committee for additional review. 6. Continued discussion of pedestrian needs/priorities: Information and text from the 2007 Transportation Pedestrian Corridor Needs Map (Transportation Plan) was distributed to the committee. The document included the categorization of essential and recommended corridors needing pedestrian facilities, areas identified since 2007 as needing attention, as well as the prioritization factors and criteria from the 2007 map. Sidewalks and trails were the focus, with the committee agreeing that bike/multi modal would be addressed as a separate topic and incorporated into the plan later. The committee reviewed the essential (needed) corridor category list and eliminated the short segment on Coddington Road given installation of the Ithaca College internal trail/sidewalk having satisfied the need. The Warren Road segment between Forest Home Dr. and the CU walkway(towards Hasbrouck) was discussed and recommended as terminating where the existing/redeveloped town trail starts. Pleasant Grove Road was mentioned as a corridor to be added as well. The recommended list was discussed, and the Troy Road corridor segment was eliminated given the low density in that area. The Coddington Road segment was amended to extend from Juniper Drive to the back entrance to Ithaca College. The text from the 2007 map was reviewed, including 1) Factors Favoring Pedestrian Infrastructure. Member discussed the factors list and considered the definition of pedestrian infrastructure and although some corridors have a multi-use/multi modal intent, the discussion was specific to sidewalks. Suggestions to add to the map as factors were "connection to practical destination (store, work, childcare, general pedestrian generators) or community linked areas". 2) Factors "Against Pedestrian Infrastructure"requested to be revised to "not meeting the criteria on the other list included" or optionally,just remove this from any future version of the map. 4) Short- and Long-term horizons were amended by changing short term to 5 years rather then 10, and long term to 5-15 years. 6) For Existing Development, remove "public" The committee asked for the two categories to be put into a table to be prioritized,ranking the top 3 to be clearly identified for upcoming funding opportunities (#1 Rt 96 and 2,3 based on financial and other feasibility/ranking criteria). The revised table/list will continue to be a committee topic. 7. Staff updates and reports: Rod noted upcoming webinars focused on solar development if anyone wanted the information to attend. Sue reported the RaNic PDZ needed additional language to clarify/specify the uses on the Warren Road existing barn property. The document is still in the working phase and the developer may need to come back to the Planning Committee to clarify the intent of that plan element. The discussion with Cayuga Heights continues with RaNic as well. Sue also noted a discussion with a developer interested in a manufactured home park on Seven Mile Drive and also possible interest of the redevelopment/expansion of the Mirabito gas station in the East Hill Plaza area. Both projects would need zoning change/alteration and Planning Committee discussion if progression is anticipated. No recent interest for Cannabis manufacturing or distribution was noted. 8. Next meeting date and upcoming agenda items: Continued review of draft Solar Law amendments, pedestrian needs/priorities, LHC if necessary. The Planning Committee meeting concluded at 5:03 pm.