HomeMy WebLinkAboutPB Minutes 2011-03-012109 i
TOWN OF ITHACA PLANNING BOARD MEETING
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
215 N. Tioga Street, Ithaca, NY 14850
Board Members Present: Chair: Fred Wilcox; Members: Linda Collins, George Conneman, John
Beach, Ellen Baer, Jon Bosak, Hollis Erb, David Slottje (Alternate Member)
Staff Present: Susan Ritter, Director of Planning; Bruce Bates, Director of Code Enforcement;
Deb DeAugistine, Deputy Town Clerk; Creig Hebdon, Engineer; Christine Balestra, Planner;
Susan Brock, Attorney for the Town
Call to Order
Mr. Wilcox called the meeting to order at 7:02 p.m.
AGENDA ITEM
Persons to be heard
Joel Harlan, Newfield, is concerned about a moratorium on West Hill.
AGENDA ITEM
Continuation of consideration of adoption of the Findings Statement for the proposed Holochuck
Homes Subdivision, located between NYS Route 96 (Trumansburg Road) and NYS Route 89
(Taughannock Boulevard), Town of Ithaca Tax Parcel No.'s 24- 3 -3.2, 25- 1 -5.1, 25 -2 -41.2, 26 -4-
37, 26 -4 -38, and 26 -4 -39, Low Density Residential Zone, Medium Density Residential Zone, and
Conservation Zone. The proposal involves the construction of 106 + /- town home type units in a
clustered neighborhood development with two entrances proposed from NYS Route 96
(Trumansburg Road). The development will be concentrated on the west side of the property
closest to NYS Route 96, zoned Low and Medium Residential, with more than half of the eastern
portion of the property, mainly zoned Conservation, remaining undeveloped. The New York State
Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation proposes to acquire most of the eastern
portion of the property in conjunction with development of the future Black Diamond Trail.
Holochuck Homes LLC, Owner /Applicant; David M. Parks, Esq., Agent.
David Parks, attorney, Fred Wells and Ann Cutignola, Tim Miller Associates, and Mark Parker,
Keystone Associates, were present.
Mr. Wilcox acknowledged receiving a letter from Warren Allmon of PRI. He also noted that the
applicant has provided another set of proposed changes and additions to the Findings Statement,
which came to Mr. Wilcox's attention this afternoon. He has copies, but did not distribute them,
because he did not want to repeat the scenario of the previous meeting. With regard to text they
would like added, Mr. Wilcox has not read it and does not want to pass it out. The Findings are a
document of the Planning Board. He prefers to begin where they left off last time.
Ms. Cutignola commented that they do not have a statement; they are present to address
questions.
Working from the clean copy:
Page 5, with regards to the mitigation of the Oddfellow's dump: the Board agreed with the
applicant's request to perform the cleanup prior to or concurrently with construction.
Page 4, Construction Noise and Hours: Mr. Wells had a concern about the statement that work
on Saturday would be subject to the approval of the Director of Code Enforcement; it had
PB Minutes 03 -01 -2011
Page 2 of 4
previously been stated that a code enforcement officer would not be available on Saturdays. After
discussion and assurances that Mr. Bates is available at his home phone or via cell phone at
most times, Mr. Wells was comfortable with the language as it stands. The Board agreed that
there's a distinction between construction (e.g., getting the roof closed up before a storm) and
emergencies (e.g., repairs to stormwater facilities); emergencies need to be attended to any time.
Ms. Erb would like a statement to that effect added. The Board agreed.
Page 9, Impacts and Proposed Mitigation: delete "near the Pyramid Mall (now known as the
Shops at Ithaca)" and change "lower as one enters the City of Ithaca" to "southbound as one
nears the City of Ithaca." This same language applies under Visual Impacts.
Page 10, Discussion and Findings: add "partially" before "mitigated" in the first sentence.
In all occurrences, change "Fingerlakes Massage School" to "Fingerlakes School of Massage."
Traffic and Transportation
Page 12:
• Table 3.6 -1 in Appendix S: add the explanation from Table 3.6 -2 regarding the signal timing
change at the Route 96 / Harris B Dates Drive intersection to this section.
• Existing Transportation Network Levels of Use: change "acceptable" for LOS C to "desirable."
• Change "The traffic study indicates that the existing" to "According to the traffic study, the
existing."
• Change Table 1 -5 "assumes" a 60% distribution to "reflects."
• Table 1 -5, 3.6 -1, 3.6 -2: the Board agreed to several clarifications and corrections in the
bulleted list.
Paragraph beginning Table 3.6 -2, third line down: After the sentence "According to this table,
there are no ..." insert "The Planning Board are advised that due to the differences in the
parameters between the HCS model and the SYNCHRO model, it is typical for the results of the
HCS and SYNCHRO to be slightly different." In the next sentence, delete "However" and change
"changes" to "differences."
Page 13
Mr. Bosak's comment: It is a fact that existing traffic in the area of the proposed development is
considered a serious issue by area residents. He cited the Route 96 Corridor Study finding
regarding the likelihood of increased development on West Hill and the need to mitigate the
resulting traffic impact along the corridor and in the City. In a survey of area residents, the five
most critical issues were: 1) too much traffic commuting into the city of Ithaca; 2) truck traffic; 3)
speeding; 4) too much traffic when commuting out of Ithaca; and 5) noise. Mr. Bosak further
enumerated that 1) traffic in the area of the development is already a serious problem; 2)
construction of the proposed development is certain to make this problem worse; and 3) no
significant mitigation has been proposed or appears to be possible.
Ms. Erb commented that she can say same thing about several locations in town.
Mr. Slottje responded that it is not relevant how bad or good anything else is in town when looking
at this project. Not going below level D is not positive.
To a suggestion about encouraging bus ridership, Mr. Bosak warned that there is insufficient
service.
PB Minutes 03 -01 -2011
Page 3of4
Ms. Erb stated that she doubts whether Holochuck will draw people from out of the area. Traffic
will increase even without the development since the people living there will be living in the area
anyway. Holochuck is at least starting a cluster instead of sprawl. It holds out some hope for
transit. There's no moratorium and the area is zoned for this type of development.
Mr. Bosak argued that everything downhill will be equally bad whether they are starting from a
node or scattered up the highway from Trumansburg.
Ms. Collins argued that the people in the development's 106 units will be concentrated on Route
96, instead of being scattered all over Ithaca. She also was opposed to the proposed three
parking spaces per unit.
Ms. Erb responded that the pattern of building permits has shifted to West Hill, the open space is
on West Hill, and traffic projections from the TGEIS put the increase on West Hill. Cluster housing
is consistent with the Comp Plan. People will build out there anyway, and she prefers to see them
concentrated in a cluster development: it saves the side of the hill, is anti - sprawl, and although
the LOS at a few intersections will be D, D is still acceptable.
To Mr. Conneman's prediction that higher gas prices will dissuade people from driving downtown,
Mr. Bosak disagreed, saying that people will not stop driving five miles per day to save money.
Mr. Slottje suggested that people are going to need incentives to use the bus or van. If it's taken
out of their homeowner's association dues, they might be more apt to use them.
On a motion by Mr. Wilcox, seconded by Ms. Erb, the Board entered into closed session at 9:27
p.m. to seek advice of council.
On a motion by Mr. Bosak, seconded by Mr. Beach, the Board resumed regular session at 9:53
p.m.
Mr. Bosak's suggested wording for the top of page 13 and bottom of page 14: While the LOS
changes noted above do not fall below the minimum level deemed acceptable by the DOT, at
many intersections additional seconds of delay will occur as a result of the project. This will add to
the existing traffic issues and frustrations noted by many residents who have commented orally
and in writing through the EIS process. The Board will require measures to mitigate the impacts
of the additional delays.
Mitigations the Board agreed on in addition to the ones already specified in the EIS:
• HOA- subsidized public transit bus passes
• HOA- subsidized van pool expenses
• Fair -share contribution to any signal, roundabout, or similar traffic device at or near the
northern entrance required by the NYS DOT as a result of this project or future project
• Contribution to a future park- and -ride or other transit - related improvements
• Changes to the site plan that would reduce the number of parking spaces
Mr. Wilcox moved and Ms. Baer seconded a motion to hold a special meeting on Tuesday, March
8, at 5 p.m. to adopt the Findings Statement and to consider preliminary subdivision and site plan
approval for the Holochuck project.
Page 9, Community Character: delete "and limiting the scale of development ... system."
PB Minutes 03 -01 -2011
Page 4 of 4
Adjournment
Upon motion by Hollis Erb, the meeting adjourned at 10:31 P.M.
Respectfully submitted,
'ij:e-b-ra DeAuIjj stine, Deputy To Clerk
TOWN OF ITHACA PLANNING BOARD
215 North Tioga Street
Ithaca, New York 14850
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
AGENDA
7:00 P.M. Persons to be heard (no more than five minutes).
7:05 P.M. Continuation of consideration of adoption of the Findings Statement for the proposed
Holochuck Homes Subdivision, located between NYS Route 96 (Trumansburg Road) and
NYS Route 89 (Taughannock Boulevard), Town of Ithaca Tax Parcel No.'s 24- 3 -3.2, 25-
1-5.1, 25 -2 -41.2, 26 -4 -37, 26 -4 -38, and 26 -4 -39, Low Density Residential Zone, Medium
Density Residential Zone, and Conservation Zone. The proposal involves the
construction of 106 + /- town home type units in a clustered neighborhood development
with two entrances proposed from NYS Route 96 (Trumansburg Road). The development
will be concentrated on the west side of the property closest to NYS Route 96, zoned
Low and Medium Residential, with more than half of the eastern portion of the property,
mainly zoned Conservation, remaining undeveloped. The New York State Office of
Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation proposes to acquire most of the eastern
portion of the property in conjunction with development of the future Black Diamond
Trail. Holochuck Homes LLC, Owner /Applicant; David M. Parks, Esq., Agent.
3. Approval of Minutes: January 18, 2011, February 1, 2011, and February 15, 2011.
4. Other Business:
Adjournment
Susan Ritter
Director of Planning
273 -1747
NOTE: IF ANY MEMBER OF THE PLANNING BOARD IS UNABLE TO ATTEND, PLEASE NOTIFY
SANDY POLCE AT 273 -1747.
(A quorum of four (4) members is necessary to conduct Planning Board business.)
Town of Ithaca Planning Board
Sign -in Sheet
Date: March 1, 2011
Print Name Address e-mail
Z.Z v 1 1 U r