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.