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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-PEDC-2022-07-20 Approved at the September 2022 PEDC Meeting City of Ithaca Planning & Economic Development Committee Wednesday, July 20, 2022 – 6:00 p.m. Common Council Chambers, City Hall, 108 East Green Street Minutes Committee Members Attending: Laura Lewis, Chair; Cynthia Brock, Phoebe Brown, and Patrick Mehler Committee Members Absent: Alderperson Rob Gearhart Other Elected Officials Attending: Alderperson George McGonigal Staff Attending: Lisa Nicholas, Director, Planning and Development Department; Luis Aguirre- Torres, Sustainability Director; Megan Wilson, Zoning Administrator; Nels Bohn, IURA Director; and Deborah Grunder, Executive Assistant Others Attending: Drinking Water Source Protection Program – Liz Moran, Ecologic, LLC; Lauren Howard, Barton & Loguidice; Roxy Johnston and Nathaniel Carman, City Water Treatment Plant; and TIDES (The Ithaca Dedicated Encampment Site): Jerry Dietz, Michael Carpenter, Chris Teitelbaum, Richard John, and Carmen Guidi. Chair Laura Lewis called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. 1) Call to Order/Agenda Review No changes were made to the agenda. 2) Public Comment Chair Lewis reminded all that comments are limited to three (3) minutes. John Burger, 1686 Hanshaw Road, Dryden – Climate Emergency in Ithaca Approved at the September 2022 PEDC Meeting Angel DeVivo, 110 N. Geneva Street, Ithaca – She referred to an Ithaca Voice article on the TIDES project. What are we doing within our current emergency program? Randall Frank, 207 E. Yates Street, Ithaca – TIDES and homeless encampment Esther Herkowitz, 94 Mary Street, Ithaca – Lawlessness and Lawless camping in the West End. She listed multiple unlawful behaviors which are done by prominently white men. An increase in large rats in the area. This is the result of lawlessness not homelessness. The City has to act now. Rosemary Mead, 71 East Enfield Center Road, Ithaca – Ithaca Green New Deal needs to be implemented. Genevieve Rand, 138 E. Spencer Street, Ithaca – TIDES – her understanding is that the group is trying to receive proposals for this project. This is a really sensitive topic. Homelessness cannot be criminalized any further. She requests to hold off of the cabin project. Annika Rowland, 207 Stewart Avenue, Ithaca – She spoke on behalf of the climate coalition group. They held a rally in mid-June 2022 on the Commons encouraging the City of Ithaca to declare a climate emergency. They sent a letter to all of Common Council and the Mayor with over 100 letters from the community in support of this demand and we have heard nothing about our demands. Response from the Committee: Alderperson Brown stated the TIDES project is to help the unhoused people be safer. Alderperson Brock commented that the TIDES project in no way is a way to make homelessness criminalized. Mayor Lewis also voiced that our goal is to make those in the City safer. Alderperson McGonigal thanked Esther Herkowitz for her comments because what she commented on, she is actually experiencing. Three (3) people sent written comment. Those comments are attached to these minutes. 3) Special Order of Business a) Zoning and PUDS – A Presentation Approved at the September 2022 PEDC Meeting Megan Wilson, Zoning Administrator, presented to the committee. The PowerPoint presentation is attached to these minutes. Alderperson Mehler asked Megan to confirm the non-conforming use or state of emergency. There was a point in the slides that says you can lose established rights in some scenarios. What leads to loss of established rights both for use and for area? Wilson explained that if it's a non-conforming use and the use ceases to operate for a period of 12 months or more, they lose the rights to those established non-conforming use. This is during “normal times” and there are specific provisions that are now in place for the Covid state of emergency. Generally speaking, if it is 12 months or more without operation, they do lose those established rights for use for area. A lot of times that applies for existing buildings that last for a long time. The way those would be lost is if the structure was demolished by the owner's choice. There are provisions in the ordnance for fire or tree damage, etc. If the owner is choosing to tear down a non-conforming home or structure to rebuild something new, at that point they must meet the requirements. There is a provision in the zoning ordinance for non-conforming uses that if there's a state of emergency, they have one year from the end of the state of emergency. We have seen this being pretty beneficial right now to some restaurants and such that have not been able to reopen and a state of emergency declared by the City or state. Mayor Lewis stated that Council would like to review ADUs again in the future. She asked for clarification on what that is. Wilson responded that accessory dwelling units (ADUs) as our current ordinance is written is if you have an accessory dwelling unit as a separate structure, it is considered a second primary structure on your lot. This has some implications for minimum lot size that you have to have. Parking and things like that do make it very difficult for a lot of lots particularly in an urban environment to have a separate accessory structure on. One of the things we would probably look at and we started to be was looking at the classification of primary structure or law-area requirements and things like that to make it possible. Under whatever conditions the Common Council is interested in pursuing, it is certainly possible in some instances now if there is a larger lot to have an ADU. There is also a lot of smaller downtown lots. Approved at the September 2022 PEDC Meeting Alderperson Brown asked for clarification of Phase II of planning, and what is Phase I? Wilson explained Phase I is the comprehensive plan. Phase II is additional neighborhood plans. Wilson explained the Comprehensive Plan was prepared over the course of a couple years and approved in 2015. The Planning Staff worked with a committee at the time of neighborhood residents. The committee consisted of between 15 and 20 members from different areas of the City, different employment backgrounds, and different interests. We all work together to come up with the Comprehensive Plan Phase I which is what I showed thepicture of which is a broad document for the entire City. The second phase is additional neighborhood plans. Two neighborhood plans which are the South Side Plan and the Waterfront Plan. We worked in both cases with committees from the neighborhood. In the Waterfront Plan it was property owners and interested groups that are involved there to come up and draft the neighborhood plan. Those two plans were adopted in 2017 and 18. It has been a bit and our efforts have been a little bit on hold right now. Alderperson Brown asked who did the planning of South Side. It has lost all these black and brown residents. Were they involved in this planning? Wilson stated those plans are on the City website include the members who were part of it. That would be a good reference point. She stated she would be happy to talk more about South Side in particular too and give you a little bit more about that process. and such so should be fairly easy to do yeah thank you thank you that that's great for b) Drinking Water Source Protection Program – A Presentation The PowerPoint Presentation is attached to these minutes. Alderperson Brock asked whether this presentation of this plan can be added to the City website. She further asked what staffing is needed to institute this plan. Liz Moran stated that the current staff will be very involved in this. Mayor Lewis asked when their timeline for this plan will be available for review. Lauren Howard stated she felt it could be available in the next two weeks. Approved at the September 2022 PEDC Meeting Mike Thorne, Superintendent of Public Works, was present and stated his support for this plan. The sediment floor of the reservoir is a huge concern of his. 4) Announcements, Updates, Reports a) Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) Luis Aguirre-Torres provided an explanation of what CCA is. There will be implementation that would enable synergies between the City's electrification and decarbonization strategies that we have been referring to very recently for example. Through the CCA, the City of Ithaca would be empowered to procure electricity on behalf of its residents from clean energy sources. The concurrent implementation of CCA may lead to a 50% reduction in City-wide carbon emissions. Right now, we have calculated about 400,000 metric tons of Co2 equivalent as the emissions that we have in the City and that is equivalent of having let's say 90,000 vehicles. We have determined also that about 40 % of those emissions come from buildings and inside buildings from energy use normally for heating and cooling and also for drying our clothes and for cooking about 40% of our emissions also come from transportation that includes passenger vehicles, heavy-duty vehicles, transit, etc. About 15 % of the emissions come from the electric grid and that is because the electricity that we use is produced by carbon-free sources that include nuclear and hydro power. Also 20% come from natural gas or dual fuel and then finally we have about five percent that comes from waste. What that means is we need to have strategies that will mitigate these carbon emissions. For example, for buildings to mitigate energy use inside the emissions that come from energy use inside buildings that is for burning propane or natural gas or fuel oil. We can heat or cool our places, cooking, etc. We need to replace anything that uses natural gas. That is what the electrification program is all about. It is about using heat pumps to substitute what we use to heat or cool or cook. We are also looking into induction cooktops. We are trying to get our cooking stuff to be much more efficient and use electricity rather than natural gas. That would provide a better indoor air quality and environment for everybody and it will have positive repercussions in terms of health. When we do that the electricity that we're using is still coming in part from fossil fuels. There is a need to address that the electricity and gas that we use Approved at the September 2022 PEDC Meeting is not regulated by the City. It cannot be regulated by the City or the state directly. It is regulated by the Public Service Commission and the Public Service Commission works directly with the utility company and authorizes investments in infrastructure for example. It authorizes new plants and eventually they are the maximum authority in terms of electricity generation and gas supply for the City of Ithaca so we have no control as to where our electricity comes from. About six years ago the Public Service Commission issued an order and that is the CCA order that empowers municipalities to procure their own electricity through an open-competitive process and this procurement could come from energy services companies that offer electricity produced only from renewable energy sources. We are hoping that we can develop a plan that can be authorized by Common Council so we can implement a community-choice aggregation program that would allow us to procure clean electricity. When we have clean electricity and clean appliances and we don't have natural gas in our buildings, we will be able to reduce the whole 40 % of emissions that come from buildings and about at least half of the emissions that come from the grid so that adds up to approximately 50 % of the emissions that we have in the City. That was a long-winded answer to your question Mayor, but I hope it was clear. Luis will return in August for possible action on this. 5) Action Items (For Circulation) Moved to Circulate by Alderperson Brock; seconded by Alderperson Mehler. Carried unanimously. This will come back to committee at their September meeting. An Ordinance to Amend The Municipal Code Of The City Of Ithaca, Chapter 325, Entitled “Zoning” To Amend Section 3, Definitions and Word Usage, to Modify the Definition of “Story” WHEREAS, in 2013 and 2021, the City amended the Zoning Ordinance to revise how building height in feet is calculated to (1) better address building heights on sloped sites and (2) improve consistency between the Zoning Ordinance and the New York State Building Code, and Approved at the September 2022 PEDC Meeting WHEREAS, building height is also measured in stories, and there remains a discrepancy in the definition of story between the Zoning Ordinance and New York State Building Code, and WHEREAS, this discrepancy primarily occurs on sloped sites where a basement is considered a story under one code but not the other; WHEREAS, aligning the two definitions of story would create consistent building height calculations under the Zoning Code and NYS Building Code and would simplify project analyses for staff and property owners; now, therefore, ORDINANCE NO. BE IT ORDAINED AND ENACTED by the Common Council of the City of Ithaca that Chapter 325 of the Municipal Code of the City of Ithaca be amended as follows: Section 1. Chapter 325, Section 325-3B of the Municipal Code of the City of Ithaca is hereby amended to read as follows: BASEMENT That space of a building that is partly below grade which has more than half of its height, measured from floor to ceiling, above the average established curb level or finished grade ground level at any point. STORY The portion of a building which is between one floor level and the next higher floor level or the roof. A mezzanine, as defined in the New York State Uniform Fire Prevention and Building Code, is not a story. A basement shall be deemed to be a story when its ceiling is six or more feet above the finished grade the finished surface of the floor next above is (1) more than 6 feet above grade plane or (2) more than 12 feet above the finished ground level at any point. A cellar shall not be deemed a story. An attic shall not be deemed to be a story if unfinished and without human occupancy. Section 2. Effective date. This ordinance shall take effect immediately and in accordance with law upon publication of notices as provided in the Ithaca City Charter. 6) Voting Items (to Council) a) Amendment to Ithaca Farmers Market Lease Approved at the September 2022 PEDC Meeting Authorize Commuter Park-n-Ride at Steamboat Landing Moved by Alderperson Brock; Seconded by Alderperson Mehler. Carried Unanimously. Whereas, the Ithaca Farmers’ Market Cooperative, Inc. (“IFM”) seeks approval for a 50-vehicle commuter park-n-ride operation as an accessory use at the City- owned Steamboat Landing site, and Whereas, as of 2010, the City leases the 5.8-acre Steamboat Landing site (“Leased Property”) to the Ithaca Urban Renewal Agency (IURA) and the IURA subleases the Site to the Ithaca Farmers Market Cooperative, Inc. to operate a producer-to-consumer market of locally grown and crafted goods, and Whereas, the Leased Property contains a large market pavilion, a dock, and over 300 parking spaces developed and maintained by IFM, and Whereas, the Leased Property is authorized for (1) A producer-to-consumer market featuring local grown and crafted goods at least two days per week for at least six month of the year, (2) rental of the pavilion to others for occasional events, and (3) any other, additional use by IFM subject to the consent of the IURA and Mayor; however the Leased Property shall remain open at times the market is not in operation for use by the general public for passive, non- exclusive, low impact and low intensity recreational uses, and Whereas, IFM currently operates a farmers’ market on weekends, April thru November, and Whereas, the leases specify that neither the City nor the IURA are under any obligation to maintain any internal roads and parking areas, including snow removal, and Whereas, Plan Ithaca, the adopted City comprehensive plan, supports strategies to reduce the number of single-occupant vehicles including provision of transit and park-n-ride facilities, and Whereas, the Mayor and IURA Chairperson have preliminarily reviewed the proposal and are open to a limited park-n-ride use with certain protections to ensure retention of the public nature of the site and that ample parking remains available for use by the general public; now, therefore, be it RESOLVED, that the Common Council for the City of Ithaca hereby authorizes amendments to the City lease, of the Steamboat Landing site, and the IURA sublease of the same site to the Ithaca Farmers Market Cooperative, Inc., to establish a commuter park-n-ride use as a permissible accessory use subject to the following conditions: Approved at the September 2022 PEDC Meeting 1. Up to a total of 50 undesignated parking spaces may be utilized for a park- n-ride use; 2. The park-n-ride shall operate only Monday through Friday; 3. No signage designating individual park-n-ride parking spaces shall be erected as the parking shall remain open to the general public; 4. The pickup and drop-off transit location, and any informational park-n-ride signage, shall be approved by the City Director of Parking and Transportation; and 5. Commercial general liability insurance shall be carried by any commercial operator of the park-n-ride listing the City of Ithaca and the IURA as additionally insured parties, and be it further RESOLVED, that the Mayor, subject to review by the City Attorney, is hereby authorized to execute any and all documents to implement this resolution. 7) Discussion a) Response to unhoused Proposals and Reports – Next Steps Nels Bohn, IURA Director, reviewed the action steps for the City’s consideration as outlined in the memorandum provided in the agenda packet and included with these minutes. Solar Array, #5 on the list, has been completed. No committee members had any questions, but Mayor Lewis stated that we need City and County collaboration. She is in favor of numbers #2, and #3 in coordination with #7. Alderperson McGonigal stated that he doesn’t’ agree with #2 because it will take too much time to implement. The TIDES proposal is pretty far along and is ready to move forward. b) TIDES Update and Proposal Alderperson Brock stated the solution to homelessness is to provide housing. We need to do all we can to make available affordable housing for all. TIDES will provide that as well as much more – safety, in-kind services, etc. It is very difficult to propose anything to the City because we don’t know what the City can or will provide. Alderperson Brown, not ever being at the “jungle” is having a hard time to understand where and what needs to be done. The “jungle” has been in existence since she came to Ithaca, but nothing has been done. Approved at the September 2022 PEDC Meeting Chris Teitelbaum stated he knows there is a lot of push back on this. Carmen Guidi has been successful with his Second Wind Cottages. We need to meet people halfway. Most of the people in the encampments have been in the shelters, the hotels, etc. and have not done well. Alderperson McGonigal stated that both Chris Teitelbaum and Carmen Guidi have a lot of experience with the homeless. He can understand Mayor Lewis’ reluctance to do this solo. To quote Mayor Myrick, ‘this isn’t working; let’s try something different.’ Alderperson Brown stated that people need to be ready for this to happen. She asked whether the County has been asked for help. Mayor Lewis stated ‘yes’. Mayor Lewis stated we all know the problem. We just need to collectively figure out how to fix it. Alderperson Brock commented that she remembers walking through the ‘jungle’ with Carmen Guidi eleven years ago. From that point on, he has focused on this problem and created the Second Wing Cottages in Newfield. This is what is needed here in the City. Alderperson Brown stated that people that have been part of the unhoused community at some point in their lives should be the people on this volunteer working group. Carmen Guidi addressed Alderperson Brown’s statement. The people are still there. They are not leaving so let’s make it better for them. It’s been like this for a long time. Nothing has changed except that things are getting worse. 8) Review and Approval of Minutes April 2022 and June 2022 Alderperson Brock moved with her suggested edits; seconded by Alderperson Mehler. Carried unanimously. 9) Adjournment Moved by Alderperson Brock; seconded by Alderperson Mehler. Carried unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 9:25 p.m.