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Home My WebLink AboutCOC meeting packet 2025-03-13 PLANNING DEPARTMENT 215 N. Tioga St 14850 607.273.1747 www.townithacany.gov 3/6/2025 TO: Codes and Ordinances Committee: Bill Arms Chris Jung Eva Hoffmann Margaret Johnson Rob Rosen, Chair Susie Gutenberger-Fitzpatrick FROM: Christine Balestra, Senior Planner RE: Next Codes and Ordinances Committee Meeting March 13, 2025 The next meeting of the Codes and Ordinances Committee is scheduled for Thursday, March 13, 2025, at 5:30 pm in the Town Board Room, located in Town Hall at 215 North Tioga Street. 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 draft minutes from the February 13, 2025, COC meeting are attached. If you cannot attend this meeting, please notify Abby Homer as soon as possible at (607) 273- 1747, or ahomer@townithacany.gov. cc: Susan H. Brock, Attorney for the Town C.J. Randall, Director of Planning Marty Moseley, Director of Code Enforcement Abby Homer, Administrative Assistant Paulette Rosa, Town Clerk (email) Town Administrative staff (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: This meeting will be held in person in the Town Board Room at Town Hall, 215 North Tioga Street, Ithaca, NY, on March 13, 2025, at 5:30pm. Members of the public may join the meeting via Zoom:  Join Zoom meeting: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87531393743  Zoom meeting ID: 875 3139 3743  Dial in phone: 929-436-2866 Meeting of March 13, 2025 – 5:30 P.M. AGENDA 1. Member comments/concerns. 2. Review draft minutes from the February 13, 2025, COC meeting. 3. Continue review of Initial Draft Subdivision of Land regulations (existing regulations: https://ecode360.com/8660770), Article IV. 4. Other business:  Next meeting agenda. Town of Ithaca Planning Department March 6, 2025 1 TOWN OF ITHACA CODES AND ORDINANCES COMMITTEE (COC) Meeting of February 13, 2025 – 5:30 p.m. Shirley A. Raffensperger Board Room, Town Hall Draft Minutes Members Present: Rob Rosen, Chair, Susie Gutenberger-Fitzpatrick, Bill Arms, Margaret Johnson. Members excused: Chris Jung & Eva Hoffmann. Staff Present: David O’Shea, Director of Engineering; Dana Magnuson, Senior Code Officer; Marty Moseley, Director of Code Enforcement; Susan Brock, Attorney for the Town; Christine Balestra, Senior Planner. C.J. Randall, Director of Planning Via Zoom. Guests: none The meeting was recorded on Zoom and streamed live on the Town of Ithaca YouTube channel. 1. Member comments/concerns. Rob welcomed Town Board member Margaret Johnson, as this was her first meeting as a COC representative. 2. Review minutes from December 12, 2024, COC meeting. Susie moved to accept the minutes; Rob seconded, minor changes that were submitted by Susan Brock and Rob were shown on screen and accepted. All four members present voted in favor of approval of the December 12, 2024, COC meeting minutes, as amended. 3. Continued review of Draft Subdivision of Land regulations. Chris and CJ briefly explained the subdivision regulation update review process to date to help give Margaret some background. C.J. shared her screen with the existing regulations in black and proposed amendments in color. C.J. touched on the highway specifications language, noting that they were being pulled out into their own Site Design and Development Criteria Manual as a more fluid document for builders outside of subdivision regulations. The manual is currently being prepared by Town planning, engineering, and highway department staff and is hoped to be finished at the same time as the subdivision regulations for presentation and adoption by the Town Board. The committee started with §234-23 Transportation Network, item B, page 27, line 1129 of the printed pdf. Dave suggested removing item B entirely, as the draft upcoming Site Design and Development Criterial Manual would contain these sections. Committee agreed. Other changes under Transportation Network section approved by the committee included:  C. Delete last sentence that states “Highway names shall be subject to the approval of the Planning Board.” Change “highways” to “streets” in the sentence before the last sentence.  D. New item, keep.  E. New item- seemed too similar to A, so staff will re-work (possibly combine them).  Delete “Editor’s Note: See also Ch.192, Numbering of Buildings”  I. Existing language. Delete. 2  J. Existing language. Delete.  M. New item, keep. The committee moved on to §234-24 Blocks. Generally, staff and Susan Brock need to wordsmith this section to include open space preservation requirements, and to clarify if the section applies to cluster.  A. Existing language. Marty noted that this section is very confusing, as the dimensions noted could be the referencing the base zoning or they could be referencing cluster provisions. Committee agreed to remove the text starting five lines down, “zoning requirements as to lot sizes and dimensions.”  B. Existing language. Discussion around the maximum block length, and what it entailed. Committee decided to add “(perimeter)” after the word “length” in the first sentence, to clarify.  Need to double check cross references with other code sections.  F. Existing language, keep. §234-25 Solar Access. Removed. Susan brought up retaining this section, which led to some discussion. Ultimately the COC did not feel this section should be in the subdivision code. §234-26 Storm and surface drainage. This is another section where the new Site Design and Development Criteria Manual will replace most of the language.  A. Delete the proposed language “in accordance with the Town of Ithaca Site Design and Criteria Manual;” keep the sentence “All drainage improvements must be acceptable to the Town Engineer;” and delete “In all instances, provisions shall be made for adequate storm drainage and drainage structures to prevent water from standing on any portion of dead-end streets or cul-de- sac.” Finally, reference NYS DEC and Town Code Chapter 228 or successor code for stormwater. §234-27 Water supply and sanitary sewerage. Existing language. Staff/Dave will look into this for potential updates and will come back with suggestion to the committee. §234-29 Underground wires and cables. A. Add “, except as called for in Town Code §270-219. Personal Wireless Service Facilities” at the end of the sentence. §234-30 Phased developments. This section was highlighted for discussion to keep or remove. The problems with existing phased developments were explained by staff. Staff will wordsmith this section, but committee decided to delete the word “large” in the beginning of A. Explore performance bond/surety financial guarantee language for this section. §234-31 Approval for dedication. A-F. New items/section. There was a bit of discussion as to where this section should go. Should it be in the Subdivision Regulations or the Site Design and Development Criteria Manual? Susan asked for Highway and Engineering Department review of this section in detail. She had questions about sequencing listed in D.1. and suggested coordinating with Guy Krogh. Committee decided to keep this in the Subdivision Regulations.[staff note: Chris B’s notes say this, but she isn’t sure the COC really decided to keep 234-31 in the Subdivision Regs – to be confirmed] Article VII. Expiration of Subdivision Approval. 3 §234-39. Conditions; procedures. B. Chris explained the big change in this section is the expiration of approval being decreased from 10 years to a proposed 36 months. She provided examples for the committee to consider. After a short discussion, committee agreed with the 36 months, but language needs to be clarified – 36 months after Planning Board approval or after filing of the plat? Staff will discuss this and provide the committee with a revised section with the next draft. Susan Brock will wordsmith the last sentence that currently contains dates (April 1, 1995, and April 1, 2005). Committee will pick up at top of page 34 of pdf, line 1415, §234-39. Conditions; procedures. C. 4. Other business: Next meeting - March 13, 2025, at 5:30 p.m. Agenda - Continued review of the draft Subdivision Regulations. The meeting adjourned at 6:58 p.m.