HomeMy WebLinkAboutPC Minutes 2024-01-18 Town of Ithaca Planning Committee
Thursday, January 18, 2024
(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 Codes Marty Moseley; Senior Planner
Mike Smith; Civil Engineer Justin McNeal; Director of Public Works Joe Slater briefly via Zoom.
Guests: Cam, Ithaca High School Student
1. Persons to be heard: Cam introduced herself as attending the meeting to fulfill a requirement for her
government class. The committee introduced themselves and welcomed her to the meeting, encouraging her to
ask questions.
2. Committee announcements and concerns: None
3. Approval of November meeting minutes: Rich moved; Rod seconded. The November 16, 2023,minutes
were approved as presented.
4. NYS Cannabis Law-Adult Use license updates: C.J. summarized a memo she sent to the committee on the
NYS legalization regulations and the tree tiers of the market(supply, retail and micro license). It was discussed
that municipalities can implement land use regulations including site plan and special permit requirements
relative to cannabis supply and retail markets with some limitations on time, place and manner. The town has
been notified of two pending retail dispensary applications in the Inlet Valley area. The state has priority
considerations for certain types of applications, and it is likely that one of the pending applications falls into the
higher priority category and may be approved in the in the first quarter of 2024 by NYS. The taxation of the
revenue produced and calculation for the split between the town and county was discussed and needed further
clarification.
Rich asked if it is recommended to implement the local land use regulations before any applications are
approved or more beneficial to wait? Rod mentioned there are workshops at the Association of Town's
organization for guidance and he would pay close attention.
The discussion concluded with C.J. to begin work with the Codes Director and Attorney for the Town to scope
out the process of implementing local land use regulation where applicable. She will report the progress back to
the committee in February.
5. Review and consideration of appraisals for potential conservation easements for recommendation to
Town Board. Senior Planner Mike Smith was available for questions or comments related to the appraisal
proposals for the two recent properties whom applied to potentially participate in the Town's Land Preservation
Program. He distributed a summary memo, along with the full appraisals for the committee to review prior to
the meeting and noted sending each appraisal to the property owner/applicant. Mike gave a little history of the
properties in question and the reasons for each's interest in land preservation through the Town's program. One
of the property owners mentioned donating some of the revenue back for tax purposes and one has intentions to
downsize their farm/ag properties already and has sold lots to begin the process.
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The main questions the committee had were related to the comparables used to determine values. Was the
availability of utilities, existing zoning/density/lot requirements and adjacency to already protected land
weighed equitably? The Town Ag zone has large lot requirements and the market value of the land based on
current zoning may be relatively less than the comps used in other municipalities.
Mike was asked to follow up with the appraiser on the questions raised by the committee on the method used to
come up with the figures proposed and then report back to the committee.
6. Staff updates and reports.
C.J. updated the committee on the following items:
*TAP application submitted for the East Shore Dr.ped.And bike safety corridor project. Support
letters were received from the Senators office and joint support letters from the town and city.
*Safe Streets for All-there has been ongoing document review of past project within the group of
municipalities. Individual meetings are being set up for the spring of this year.
*There was a recent meeting at Town Hall with the Black Diamond Trail Summit to begin long term
extension plans. NYS Parks and other partners were involved, and the group plans to meet again in six
months.
Rod updated that the South Hill Rec Way extension should be moving forward with the recent easement
language being finalized by NYSEG. Once the documents are finalized, they will go to each Town Board for
approval. This has been a long multi-agency effort with grant funding already for the start-up and additional
funding needed for each municipality to continue with the work, once the easements are in place.
7. Next meeting date and upcoming agenda items: February 15, 2024, 3:00 p.m.
Agenda: follow up on Adult-Use Cannabis regulations and ag property appraisals.
The Town of Ithaca Planning Committee meeting concluded at 4:00 pm.
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