HomeMy WebLinkAboutPC Minutes 2023-02-16 Town of Ithaca Planning Committee
Thursday, February 16, 2023
(3:00 PM Aurora Conference Room and on Zoom)
Minutes
Committee members: Rich DePaolo, Chair; Rod Howe; Margaret Johnson.
Board/Staff members: Director of Planning, C.J. Randall; Director of Code Enforcement,
Marty Mosely (via Zoom); Justin McNeal, Town Civil Engineer.
Guests: Brian Rumsey.
1. Persons to be heard: None
2. Committee announcements and concerns: None
3. Approval of January meeting minutes: Rod moved; Rich seconded; Margaret abstained.
The January 19, 2023, minutes were approved as presented.
4. Consider request for a Limited Historic Commercial Overlay District. Brian Rumsey
submitted a memo to the committee with the history of the family-owned Buttermilk Falls Bed
and Breakfast(110 Buttermilk Falls Rd. E) near the entrance of the State Park. The memo also
requests consideration for the Limited Historic Commercial Zoning to allow the business to be
remotely owned while managed by someone full time onsite (possibly a Hospitality student). The
intent is to begin with cosmetic upgrades to the main house for phase 1 to operate as it did in the
past with a 5-7 room bed and breakfast. Phase 2 proposes adding a few guest cottages to the
property with an additional 6-8 guests. There are 3 adjoining lots total owned by the Rumsey
Family, the main house, a long term rental house and storage building lot. Mr. Rumsey stated
these would be combined for the phase 2 guest cottage vision.
Rich reviewed the LHC language and noted that the additional guest cottage conformity would
need to be confirmed by the Director of Code Enforcement whom was not at the meeting at the
time. A copy of the LHC law was given to Mr. Rumsey which listed the items needed for the
Preservation Plan. The committee identified the concept as an overall good low intensity use of
the property and no objections were raised to the applicant moving forward for a formal
preservation plan and LHC zoning change application. A meeting with the Planning Director and
Codes Director will be set up with the Mr. Rumsey to discuss the possible consolidation and
guest cottages phase.
5. Continue revised Solar Law amendments: The November draft of the proposed Solar Law
amendments were re-circulated to the committee with a few comments from the new Planning
Director's review. This draft was sent to the Attorney in November with the red lined changes to
date, however, it did not go through counsel review. The committee began at the top of the
document, a summary of changes are below:
C. General requirements
(4) Storage batteries -add C.J.'s comment at the end"The accumulation, collection,
incineration, disposal, or storage of old, unusable, dead, or damaged batteries is expressly
prohibited.
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(5) Classifications (b)Accessory use/accessory structure-add#1 in front of"A solar
energy system that primarily uses the energy from the system onsite"remove "this
includes" and change 1 & 2 to 2 & 3.
Re-word so all solar proposed in a PDZ is subject to Site Plan Review
G. Additional standards for ground-mounted photovoltaic solar energy systems (2)
Setbacks. The Director of Code Enforcement noted that front, side and rear"yards" are
not defined in this language but are defined in the overall Zoning with reference to the
fayade of the principal building. With no principal building it would be difficult to
determine which is the front, side and rear yard.
Battery Energy Storage System should be defined and added as a use per C. J's
comments in the 270-186-additional information to be submitted as part of the site plan
application. The definition for"Practicable"was added.
(5) Design Standards (g) add suggested text from C.J. "When aboveground cables and
transmission lines must cross agriculture fields, utility poles that provide longer spanning
distances should be located on field edges to the greatest extend practicable to avoid
bisecting of agriculture lands. Electrical transformers for utility interconnections may be
aboveground if required by the utility provider.
(d) Full-scale photovoltaic solar energy systems standards (2) Setbacks (b) change 50 feet
to 75 feet. Note the "yard" and or"lot line" definition needs to be clarified or reference to
yard should be removed. (An example is "the front lot line holds the majority if frontage
in feet")
(f) Monitoring and remediation requirement. Remove "upon request" from the last
sentence.
The "fence" clarifying language suggested by C.J. should be included in the Design
Standards section.
Marty noted the town has its own Solar Permit application that is for all size projects, the
town did not adopt the Unified Solar Permit as asked by C.J. Marty and C.J. will get
together to iron out the lot line/yard definition issue as well.
Another solar developer contacted Planning regarding a 15-20 Acre solar project in an
LDR zone which would not be permitted within the current or proposed law. Options at
this point are to continue as written, amend to allow more than 10 acres in LDR with
circumstances or advise applicant to seek variance route. The consensus was to move
forward with this law as anticipated.
The committee was comfortable with this amended draft going to the Attorney for
counsel review and then the Town Board for action without needing full committee
review an additional time. The only outstanding issue was the lot line/yard definition and
that could be circulated via email. The redlined version with the inclusions from the final
committee review and counsel comments can also be circulated via email. An anticipated
schedule would be the final draft back from the attorney for introduction the town board
in March at the study session meeting (27t') and to set a public hearing date for April.
6. Discuss potential project initiation: Transportation Plan (2007) update: Time did not
permit a full discussion of this topic; however, committee members were asked to review the
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2007 Transportation plan for possible re-establishment of an ad hoc committee with guidelines
for revision. This will be a topic at the March meeting. It was noted that the Town did adopt a
Complete Streets Policy.
7. Staff updates and reports: There was nothing new on RaNic to update. C.J. noted staff is
working on a Comprehensive Plan action status review and also noted the recent award of the
Tompkins County SS4A grant to create a multi jurisdictional transportation safety plan.
8. Next meeting date and upcoming agenda items: March 16t', 2023. Anticipating
Preservation Plans for the LHC applicants & Transportation Plan update.
The Town of Ithaca Planning Committee meeting concluded at 5:05 pm.
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