The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink AboutMN-PEDC-2022-10-19Approved at the December 2022 PEDC Meeting City of Ithaca Planning & Economic Development Committee Wednesday, October 19, 2022 – 6:00 p.m. Minutes Committee Members Attending: Laura Lewis, Chair; Alderpersons Cynthia Brock, Phoebe Brown, Rob Gearhart, and Patrick Mehler Committee Members Absent: None Other Elected Officials Attending: None Staff Attending: Lisa Nicholas, Director, Planning and Development Department; Rebecca Evans. Sustainability Planner; Luis Aguirre-Torres, Sustainability Director; Erin Cuddihy, Transportation Engineer; Roxy Johnston, Watershed Coordinator; and Deborah Grunder, Executive Assistant Others Attending: None Chair Laura Lewis called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. 1) Call to Order/Agenda Review 2) Public Comment No one from the public were present at the meeting. Two (2) individuals submitted public comment. They are attached to these minutes. 3) Special Order of Business a) Public Hearing – Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) Local Law Alderperson Mehler moved to open the public hearing; seconded by Alderperson Gearhart Carried Unanimously. No one was present to comment. Alderperson Gearhart moved to close the public hearing; seconded by Alderperson Brown. Carried unanimously. Approved at the December 2022 PEDC Meeting b) Public Hearing – Drinking Water Source Protection Program (DWSPS) Alderperson Brock moved to open the public hearing; seconded by Alderperson Gearhart. Carried unanimously. No one was present to comment. Alderperson Mehler moved to close the public hearing; seconded by Alderperson Brock. Carried unanimously. 4) Announcements, Updates, Reports a) Draft Climate Action Plan and Implementation – Rebecca Evans The PowerPoint presentation is included with these minutes. b) Sustainability Update/Transition Plan – Rebecca Evans The PowerPoint presentation is included with these minutes. c) Unsanctioned Encampments Lisa Nicholas provided information as to what the group has been doing. A questionnaire has been distributed to Senior Staff asking for their thoughts as to what impact they see coming. 5) Action Items (to Council) a) Community Choice Aggregation Local Law Mayor Lewis, and Alderpersons Brock and Brown thanked Luis for all his work on this. Alderperson Brock asked about the CCA Administrator mentioned in the plan. How will it be rolled out? Luis explained what is next. Once this has passed, a CCA Administrator will be appointed by the City presumably a City staff person. What was determined previously was that the City did not have the resources to be the CCA Administrator as it was originally proposed. It was agreed that a third party will serve as CCA Administrator. The City is currently working with consultant Local Power. They have been helping us first with the local law and now with the implementation plan. They will file as interim CC administrator before the Public Approved at the December 2022 PEDC Meeting Service Commission and following approval from the Public Service Commission, an RFP will be created to identify through a competitive process which company could take on this role. The PSE CCA order allows for this lead agency to take from fees on top of the cost of electricity to cover operational costs. There shouldn’t be any cost to the City. Communication is the key to be successful. Alderperson Gearhart thanked Luis for bringing this the forefront. Alderperson Mahler moved; seconded by Alderperson Brock. Carried. unanimously. b) Bike Share MOU Erin Cuddihy explained the MOU regarding the agreement between the City and the Bike share group. She stated that the Planning Department received money of which $50,000 was earmarked for this Bike Share. Jeff Goodmark, Director of Bike Share, who previously worked for LimeBike, explained more about this MOU. He pointed out that when LimeBike was here two years ago issues and problems were not brought to LimeBike. Alderperson Brock asked about the ongoing obligation of the City. Mayor Lewis stated the bikes will be owned by CCT (Center for Community Transportation). Alderperson Mehler commented that Cornell has not seen this MOU yet. Cornell doesn’t want the bikes on campus. How is this going to work? Alderperson Gearhart asked about the size of the fleet. The director stated their current fleet is 100 bikes. Alderperson Gearhart also asked how we will set the size of the fleet. Goodmark stated that data will be collected daily to determine how many bikes are used and how many trips. Alderperson Gearhart asked whether all the bikes will look the same? The first 100 bikes will be branded “Ithaca Bike Share.” From that point, any foundations who fund the Bike Share will be identified on the bikes. Alderperson Brown’s concern is how did you receive input as to the need for bikes in Ithaca. She is not excited about this way of transportation for families who need access to other modes of transportation to get their loved ones to the Approved at the December 2022 PEDC Meeting hospital, etc. Jennifer Dotson answered her question. She stated she cannot release where the other funding is coming from. We have been very pleased to be able to work closely with not only GoIthaca. Jane Brady who runs that program has been great. We have Ithaca Car Share staff member JaVale Halton who's been acting as a liaison and working directly with people on basically fulfilling their needs. That is not Bike Share funding. That is more flexible funding that allows the conversation as to what is your transportation issue and how can we help support that. It is really unique. She further stated that they have been very happy to be working directly with Kayla particularly over at Southside on similar issues. How do we actually target benefits whether that be new services like Bike Share or whether it be funding for existing services that are out of reach from individuals especially when people are pushed out of the more walkable areas and end up being honestly stuck outside the City. There is no one answer. Bike Share is only one additional tool. There is quite a bit of work that our organization CCT is doing to address those things and in collaboration with TCAT even in the states that they are in at the moment Goodmark stated that Bike Share is not the answer for everyone’s mode of transportation. This is only one option. Mayor Lewis stated that Brown’s comment regarding bikes will not work for all. This is where the TCAT bus system comes in. Erin Cuddihy stated that TCAT is working on providing other modes of transportation such as smaller vans, or Uber system, etc. Alderperson Brock asked about the mechanics of the bikes. Goodmark stated that these bikes are run via passenger assist. They go about 15 mph which is much slower than some bikers can peddle a bike. c) Drinking Water Source Protection Program (DWSPS) Adoption of the City of Ithaca Drinking Water Source Protection Plan – Resolution Moved as amended by Mayor Lewis; seconded by Alderperson Brown. Passed unanimously. WHEREAS, first established in 1903, the City of Ithaca Drinking Water Plant (DWP), serves approximately thirty thousand citizens, as well as visitors and businesses of the City of Ithaca, and is sourced by the Six Mile Creek watershed, and WHEREAS, the Six Mile Creek watershed covers over 52 square acres miles a surface water source fed by Six Mile Creek which is approximately 15.6 miles long, and its 31 unnamed tributaries extending into the Towns of Ithaca, Danby, Caroline and Dryden, and Approved at the December 2022 PEDC Meeting WHEREAS, the purpose of developing a long-term protection plan for source water(s) is to protect public health and safety, and the environment by preventing pollutants from entering the drinking water supply, and WHEREAS, preventing pollution at the source ultimately decreases water treatment costs and increases public confidence in their drinking water supply, and in many communities, source water protection efforts increase public awareness and strengthen intermunicipal partnerships during both planning and implementation phases, and WHEREAS, the New York State Departments of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and Health (DOH) created the Drinking Water Source Protection Program (DWSP2) to focus on source water protection utilizing an adaptive management approach to assist municipalities with proactively protecting their drinking water sources by establishing an implementation plan that identifies specific issues and threats to drinking water supply, priority actions, resources and a timeline required for implementation, with a local Plan Management Team tasked with evaluating and reporting progress, and WHEREAS, the DEC developed a guidance document that communities can use to develop their drinking water source protection plan called "A Framework for Creating a Drinking Water Source Protection Program Plan" (Framework), and in August 2021 the DWP was awarded technical assistance by Barton and Loguidice to develop the City of Ithaca’s DWSP2, and WHEREAS, in accordance with the Framework, the DWP created a Stakeholder Committee composed of representatives from the Towns of Caroline, and Dryden, farms and businesses, Tompkins County Planning and Soil & Water Conservation, the Finger Lakes Land Trust, City of Ithaca Departments of Planning and Water & Sewer, and Common Council, to work with Department of Public Works staff and Barton & Loguidice technical consultants to gather information and prepare the draft plan, and WHEREAS, the draft City of Ithaca Drinking Water Source Protection Plan (CI DWSP2) was shared via a presentation at the July 20th, 2022, Planning and Economic Development Committee meeting, and WHEREAS, the draft CI DWSP2 document and appendices was presented to the Planning & Economic Development Committee on August 17th, and following that meeting, was circulated for additional comment, and WHEREAS, the draft CI DWSP2 was submitted to the State Departments of DEC and DOH for review and approval, Barton and Loguidice incorporated the State’s comments, and the State approved the plan on September 27th, 2022, and WHEREAS, DEC and DOH comments were minor and are included in a responsiveness summary in the final CI DWSP2, WHEREAS, Adoption of the CI DWSP2 will increase access to funding for needed watershed projects, and Approved at the December 2022 PEDC Meeting WHEREAS, Adoption of the CI DWSP2 was considered under SEQR and classified as a Type II Action per section 617.5(c) (27), and the CI DWSP2 does not commit the City of Ithaca or its Department of Public Works to engage in any specific action, and WHEREAS, a public hearing for the adoption of the CI DWSP2 was held on October 19, 2022, and WHEREAS, the Common Council has considered the City of Ithaca Drinking Water Source Protection Plan as recommended by the Planning and Economic Development Committee; now, therefore, be it RESOLVED, that the Common Council hereby adopts the City of Ithaca Drinking Water Source Protection Plan, dated September 2022, and be it further RESOLVED, that this City of Ithaca Drinking Water Source Protection Plan shall serve as a guide for future decisions made regarding protection and management actions of the City of Ithaca’s drinking water source, Six Mile Creek, and be it further RESOLVED, that City of Ithaca Drinking Water Plant staff, as part of a broader Project Management Team, perform regular reviews and updates of the City of Ithaca Drinking Water Source Protection Plan every five years. 6) Review and Approval of Minutes a) No Minutes Available for Approval 7) Adjournment Moved by Alderperson Mehler; seconded by Alderperson Brown. Carried unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 7:30 p.m. Approved at the December 2022 PEDC Meeting Online Form Submittal: Planning & Economic: Development Committee Public Comment Form noreply@civicplus.com < noreply@civicplus.com> Tue 10/18/2022 2:41 PM To: Common Council <council@cityofithaca.org>;Lisa Nicholas <LNicholas@cityofithaca.org>;Deborah Grunder <DGrunder@cityofithaca.org> Planning & Economic Development Committee Public Comment Form First Name Last Name Street Address Municipality *Note this may be different from your zip code State Zip Your Comments Sonja Sandstrom 3 r N plain st Ithaca Ny 14850 Dear members of the committee, My wife and I moved to Ithaca after coming to check out colleges with scolarships for our children. We stayed at several airbnbs during that time. We did not stay at hotels. They did not meet our needs, nor do we prefer big business and the expense. The welcoming of the hosts who allowed us to stay in their homes, added to our love of this city and ultimately helped us choose to retire here. One host was a teacher who was using her old home to support her family. Taxes had risen so much that it was wise for her to move outside of ithaca and airbnb her old home. She is in Ithaca all through the school year and manages to support her family and run the str. As a teacher she is not paid enough to live in the city where she teaches. Another visit was at a str of someone who had several and used it to support his family. He had a handyman, cleaning, and local staff to care for and maintain the place. He organized and checked on everything to ensure a nice place. We found that he was a tradesman and they took houses that needed work and repaired them. This means that there is an income, not only for himself, but for others in the community. After speaking with his cleaner, we found he paid a living wage - over $20/hour - many years ago. Yet the goal seems to be to remove this from Approved at the December 2022 PEDC Meeting the 'allowed' str? Why are we against someone working for a Approved at the December 2022 PEDC Meeting living to support their family and others? Why are we supporting big business over small? Is this really a service to our community? We have heard many claims of a lack of affordable housing. With the pandemic, inflation and general state of things, it is not surprising people feel that way, but this isn't the answer. If we want affordable housing, we need to pay people living wages and build more housing. With the cost of labor (again living wages) it is difficult to build without a great cost. Plus the reality is that no matter how many houses are built, there will always be more people who want places to live. Affordability is always going to be a factor of income/wages, location and building cost. Let's see our money go towards job education and living wages. As a formerly homeless person, I know that this makes a huge difference. The ability to do a job and earn enough to live. Sacrificing people who are currently working and contributing to the community will not improve the city. It will greaten the divide between the have and have nots. Historically education, hard work and being an entrepreneur were the ways to get out of poverty. Yes oppo1iunities were not spread evenly, and still aren't, but stomping out the middle who work hard and are trying to be entrepreneurs is not the way. I greatly fear that there will be unintended events due to lockdown of strs. Currently we have growing homeless encampments and violent crimes increasing while we build conference centers. Each item affects the other and all the while things are shifting since Cornell requires sophomores to live on campus now Contact Information Sonjasandstrom@yahoo.com Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us. Please note: comments must be 3 minutes (or shorter) in length when read and must adhere to the Common Council Rules of Order. Until we can all be together again, we wish you good health! Email not displaying correctly? View it in Y.OUr browser. Approved at the December 2022 PEDC Meeting Online Form Submittal: Planning & Economic Development Committee Public Comment Form noreply@civicplus.com < noreply@civicplus.com> Tue 10/18/2022 2:43 PM To: Common Council <council@cityofithaca.org>;Lisa Nicholas <LNicholas@cityofithaca.org>;Deborah Grunder <DGrunder@cityofithaca.org> Planning & Economic Development Committee Public Comment Form First Name Ceril Last Name Sandstrom Street Address Municipality *Note this may be different from your zip code State Zip Your Comments 324 N Plain St Ithaca NY 14850 Dear PEDC members, First, I want to thank you for your time and attention in discussing these important maUers. Today, I wish to address you as a tax paying citizen that lives downtown in the city of Ithaca regarding the city development of a STR/AirBnB policy. I support the local citizen's right to use their personal property to supplement their income and participate in the loc al tourism economy. I support the efforts made to keep the tourism dollars that come into Ithaca to stay in Ithaca through local job creation and support of local citizens. I believe that squashing or strangling the ability of local citizens who use airbnb to supplement their incomes and help to increase peak lodging supply during periods of peak demand will negatively affect the ability to capture tourism income. Many local businesses rely heavily on tourism income to continue. I support a policy that limits non-resident owners by requiring a local city resident manager/contact person. I support the current registration policy and suggest that the 5% city tax be automatically captured through airbnb/vrbo platforms or 3rd party software. When my children were younger, the only way our family of 6 could travel was through using short term rentals such as airbnb. If an airbnb was not available in the location - we just would not go - it was that simple. Limiting and trying to decrease the current number of airbnb/short term rentals Approved at the December 2022 PEDC Meeting available with overly strict or burdensome policies will limit and Approved at the December 2022 PEDC Meeting decrease our local tourism income, burden our already overburdened city workers and have the unintended consequence of decreasing the quality of life of our citizens. In the past, other nearby municipalities would absorb the overflow of tourists looking to visit ithaca. Those towns did not want to support tourist dollars coming into the city of ithaca and have passed strict policies so that they will not be able to absorb the overflow of interest. When we first looked at living in Ithaca, we were able to stay in an airbnb of a local farmer and experience how wonderful it would be to live in the community that we now live in. Ithaca is a great city to live and work in - partly because of the businesses and amenities that survive and continue to thrive due to the outside tourist dollars that come in. As a citizen that lives downtown - this is my real life experience of living near an airbnb. I have neighbors a few doors down that run an airbnb in an apartment of their house. I have to say that theirs is one of the nicest properties on the street - it is well maintained and I have never had a problem with excess noise or garbage. Living in a neighborhood, in downtown Ithaca, pride of ownership and care of keeping of a property add to the community. There are many houses in downtown Ithaca that are in dire need of rehabilitation. I have spoken to other members of the community who have hosted their apartments from time to time - one is a teacher who supplements her income to help support her family, another is an elderly woman who is partially retired who has chosen to use a STR to help her to afford to stay in the city, another is a BIPOC young family with small children who maintains and uses an STR for extra income. All of these people view their homes as just that - their homes. They keep their places neat and clean as no one would choose to stay at their STR if it was not. The use of platforms such as AirBnb help maintain a quality of both the people who host as well as the quality of people who are guests. There is an accountability that is built into the system using rating and reviews as well as a built in protections such as identity verification and a place to indicate that parties are not allowed and will not be tolerated. I understand that compliance with the registration and the 10% tax collection (5% county and 5% city) is an important item for the city of ithaca. It is unclear as to how the Tompkins county tax is able to be collected directly through airbnb and the city of ithaca tax is not. Was there a negotiation with airbnb that we are not aware of? For tompkins county - collecting the tax directly through airbnb ensures that the tax is captured. It appears that the main issue that the city of Ithaca is having is an issue with compliance. Captu ring the tax directly through airbnb would solve that issue for the city of Ithaca and ensure Approved at the December 2022 PEDC Meeting that the much needed funds are captured. Approved at the December 2022 PEDC Meeting I also want to thank Josephine Ennis for putting together a large amount of research and presenting that info to the committee. Ms. Ennis also quoted that there were roughly 250 units in the city of Ithaca. With Cornell graduation attracting over 35,000 guests, it's hard to see how the 250 units within the city would overwhelm and cause "unfair competition" to the local hotels. With the conference center that is boasting the attraction of tens of thousands of additional guests to Ithaca per year - hotels alone will not be able to keep up with this demand. Thanks for your consideration, Ceril Sandstrom Contact Information Ceril@me.com Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us. Please note: comments must be 3 minutes (or shorter) in length when read and must adhere to the Common Council Rules of Order. Until we can all be together again, we wish you good health! Email not displaying correctly? View it in Y.OUr browser. Approved at the December 2022 PEDC Meeting Climate Action Plan Preview Rebecca Evans Sustainability Planner revans@cityofithaca.org ignd.org electrifyithaca.org Approved at the December 2022 PEDC Meeting Outline 1. Executive Summary 2. Strategic Framework 3. Greenhouse Gas Inventory 4. Mitigation Strategies 5. Mitigating Actions 6. Infrastructure 7. Foundational Elements 8. Equity Considerations Approved at the December 2022 PEDC Meeting Strategic Framework • Vision • Connecting IGND to municipal mission • Co-benefits of Action Approved at the December 2022 PEDC Meeting Greenhouse Gas Inventory • Community Inventory • Municipal Inventory • 2010 v. 2019 Comparison Approved at the December 2022 PEDC Meeting Mitigation Strategies Grid decarbonization Energy Efficiency Electrification Approved at the December 2022 PEDC Meeting Mitigating Actions Bioc har HP WH Induction HP Dryer CCA MDEV HDEV LDEV Clean heating/cooling Approved at the December 2022 PEDC Meeting Infrastructure • Reliability • Resiliency • Flexibility production market transmission distribution consumer 2030 many small producers decentralized without boundaries small-scale transmission & local supply both directions active & participatory 2019 few large power plants centralized, mostly national large powerlines and pipelines top to bottom passive, only paying Approved at the December 2022 PEDC Meeting Foundational Elements • Transparency and Accountability – IGND Scorecard • Finger Lakes Energy Compact and 24/7 CFE Compact • Democratic Engagement and Stakeholder Governance • Regional Workforce Development • State and Federal Policy Alignment • Public-Private-Philanthropic Partnerships Approved at the December 2022 PEDC Meeting Equity Considerations • Climate Justice Community Definition • Comprehensive Justice50 Policy Approved at the December 2022 PEDC Meeting Timeline November December January PEDC vote for circulation. Public hearing. PEDC vote. Council adoption. Approved at the December 2022 PEDC Meeting IGND 4-Month Priorities & Workplan Rebecca Evans Sustainability Planner Approved at the December 2022 PEDC Meeting Successes to Date + Adopted Green Building Code (IECS) - Phase 2 commences in 2023 + All-electric conference center + Building stock energy study + Launched first-of-its-kind electrification program (EER-TLE) + Published municipal and community GHG inventories + Engaging in community choice aggregation (CCA) development + Exploring GM solar & battery storage in SW Park + Launched green jobs training pilot + Defined local “climate justice communities” + Created Finger Lakes Energy Compact + Created partnerships with over 200 mission-aligned organizations Approved at the December 2022 PEDC Meeting Projects Underway + CCA implementation plan to be approved by Council +Adoption of 8-year Climate Action Plan (CAP) +GND Website Development & Launch + Exploration and deployment of electrification of municipal buildings + Community education & outreach + Reporting through various grants Approved at the December 2022 PEDC Meeting New Projects & Initiatives Coming to Council + Zero-emissions transportation ( ZET) + Replacement of fleet vehicles & deployment EV charging + Justice50 framework/implementation plan + Reseach mechanisms to protect renters from the cost of electrification + IGND Scorecard launch + Finance strategy education materials Approved at the December 2022 PEDC Meeting Electrification (EER-TLE) Update + CCE education/outreach + BlocPower brand building + Municipal buildings + Tech + Finance strategy + 45 residents completed IBR + 16 scheduled meetings + 5 entered tech/contract negotiations