HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOC Minutes 2023-08-10 TOWN OF ITHACA CODES AND ORDINANCES COMMITTEE (COC)
Meetin of fAugust 10, 2023-5:30 pm
Shirley A. Raffensperger Board Room. Town Hall
Minutes
Members present: Rob Rosen, Chair, Eric Levine, Eva Hoffmann (5:45 p.m.), Bill Goodman & Chris
Jung.Ariel Casper via Zoom.
Staff Present: Dan Tasman, Senior Planner; Susan Brock,Attorney for the Town.
Guests: none
The meeting was called to order at 5:40 p.m.
1 . Member comments/concerns. Rob mentioned he liked being in the boardroom with the
documents on the desktop computers.
2. Review minutes from July 12, 2023, COC meeting. Bill moved to approve the July 12, 2023,
minutes with one minor correction; Eric seconded. 4 Ayes, I Abstention Ariel abstained
because he was traveling and attending the meeting remotely.
*Susan requested to briefly review the town videoconferencing policyfor the "extraordinary
circumstances " provision, which would detemine whether a remote attendee's vote could
count. It was concluded later in the meeting that being out oftowwtravelingfor short periods
oftime was in the provision to allow, therefore the member could vote ifthey wish,
3. Draft public engagement plan for amended Chapter 234: Subdivision of Land Regulations.
The committee discussed the draft public engagement plan document submitted by the Planning
Department.The project,the purpose,goals,level of engagement,audience,types of engagement,
resources, timeline and follow up were all identified and discussed.
Dan explained the document briefly, noting the intent for the revised Subdivision code
information to be on the town website with a story map and subpages, newsletter articles, and
Facebook posts. Meetings with stakeholders would occur and a summary of the outcome of all
this would come back to the committee in January 2024. The intended audience sought for the
engagement process are residents with an interest in development or planning, real estate industry
reps, Town Agricultural Committee, Public Works Committee, Conservation and Planning
Boards.
A few changes were proposed to the document as presented,based on town attorney's review. The
committee was asked if they wanted any other changes.
Eva questioned if the educational institutions should be added to the audience/stakeholder list, as
they were involved with the Comprehensive Plan updates. She also wondered why surrounding
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municipalities weren't listed. Dan replied that the draft plan presented this month reflected the
feedback provided by the committee last month.
Eva also asked if climate change/control should be mentioned in #3, Goals. This was discussed
climate change would be considered in the first bullet point and will be mentioned within the
outreach itself, but staff felt that is was not necessary to add to the public engagement plan as a
standalone piece.
Rob stated that the interest of the surrounding communities would likely coincide with the interest
of the town with the same goals. The information would be publicized, and any interested parry
could come to the public meetings and provide feedback. He was comfortable with the list as
provided and the committee members were asked if they wanted surrounding communities and
the large educational institutions added.
Bill was comfortable with the list of stakeholders and the general ways the information would be
shared. Eric commented that the other possible stakeholders mentioned can access the
information from the number of ways listed on the plan; however, a presentation to them
specifically may not be necessary, especially in the initial stages. [Chris note: surrounding
municipalities are always notified ofrevised regulations via the General Municipal Law referral
process - a legal requirement ofwhich the town must comply]
The committee asked for the "will" to be changed to "may" in#6 "Types of public engagement"
in the first bullet point, to ensure that there is flexibility, as some items may not be found to be as
beneficial as others.All agreed that prioritizing the town's resources and desired outcome for
each effort is key.
Eva asked about the effectiveness of the town website, Facebook page, and electronic newsletter.
She expressed concem for those who do not use computers and wanted to ensure that all
interested parties would have the infonnation easily accessible. John Little, Town of Ithaca
Network Specialist, attending the meeting to provide IT assistance, was asked if the town's
website got a lot of hits. He stated that the new website was used more than the old one, and that
the average number of visitors per month was between 20,000 and 30,000 hits. The committee
seemed to be satisfied with this amount.
The committee asked for more details on the proposed ESRI Story Map for the website. Dan
briefly explained the software, which works through a Geographic Information System program.
The resulting maps are helpful visual interactive tools for users.
Some committee members expressed their concerns related to the timeline of approval for the
subdivision regulations, as it seemed aggressive. However, it was agreed that the schedule was
helpful to keep the project moving forward.
A formal vote on the above changes was discussed but was initially determined not to be
necessary because the minutes would be reflective. Susan stated that if a formal vote were to be
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taken, the COC should hear about the changes she previously emailed to the Chair and staff.
Susan then went through her changes and the Board agreed to them as noted below.
The COC decided a formal vote on the plan was needed,because under the schedule some
actions would occur before the next meeting.A formal motion was made by Rob and seconded
by Eric, to approve the draft 2023-08-01 Public Engagement Plan related to the Recoding Ithaca:
Town of Ithaca Subdivision revision, with the following changes:
Change "will" to "may" in#6, first sentence.
Follow town policy on press releases.
#3 Goals, second bullet, clarify who this is directed to,who is doing the learning.
Proposed change is to add"help town staff or"help Planning Staff' at the beginning to
clarify.
#4 Level of engagement, delete "[leaming about conditions... J"
• #5 Audience, add"Town of Ithaca Zoning Board of Appeals"
• Spell out/identify what ESRI stands for(brand name/trade name)and define what a story
map is
• #7 Resources-double check with Judy Drake,the HR Manager,to verify the comp time
provision meets the existing town policy.
All 6 members voted in favor of the changes and approved the Public Engagement Plan.
Note: Chris J was inaudible on the recording.
4, Other business:
Prefered seating arrangement in the Town Board Room: Rob mentioned that he had good
experiences when he was chair of the ZBA and when all ZBA members were seated on the same
side of the room. He suggested that the COC adopt the same layout. This was met with resistance
from the COC because Rob's experience was before covid,when everyone would sit close to one
another. IT staff also clarified that the Town Board Room was set up for many other meetings_
and specifically set up to provide some distance between Town Board/Planning Board/Zoning
Board members. One committee member stated that a number of changes were already
implemented for the COC and that they really didn't see the need to make even more changes to
the layout.After a brief discussion,it was decided that staff and the Attorney for the Town would
sit on one side of the room(like the PB and ZBA meetings)and COC members would sit on the
other side of the room but would have spaces between them where there would not be monitors. It
was also decided that not every COC member needed a monitor in front of them,and some
members would still review documents via paper.
Next meeting: September 14,2023, at 5:30 p.m.
A motion to adjourn was made by Bill and seconded by Rob at 6:50 p.m.All members voted in
favor of approval.
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