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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPB Minutes 2019-03-05TOWN (k IT - F1 , ACA - PLANNING BOARD Ra Slurley,A. ffensperger Board RoornJown hffl 215 North Troga Street Ithaca, New York 14850 "LILL L'sdiAY'NAtO 0010'.M. PUBLIC HEARING: Consideration of a recommendation to the Town of Ithaca"fown Board regarding the proposed Chain Works District Planned Deveh.ipment';/gene. 7:30 P.M. Presentation and discussion of the prehminary site plan for the prof)osed Cornell University Residential Expansion project. Cornell University proposes to construct two residential complexes (one for sophomores and the other for freshnien) located on North Catripus between Tripharm-ner Road, Jessup Road, Pleasant Grove Road and Cradit Farni Drive, The sopholliore village will have four residential bUildings with 800 new beds and associated program space totaling 299,900 SE'and as 1,200 sear, 66,300 SF dining facility, Buildings for the sophornore village will be located entirely in the city, while as small portion ofthe site work,, is proposed for the Village of Cayuga Heights. The freshillan village will have three new residential buildings, each spanning the City and Town of," Ithaca RlUnicipal line, a tond of 401,200 SF and 1,20�O new, beds and associated program space - 223,4(h0 lel: of which is in the city and 177,801) SF of which is in the town. The building heights will he between two mid six stories, The pro.ject is in three zoning districts, the U-1 zoning district in the city; Low Density Residential zone in the town; and the Multiple HOUSing DiStriet within the villiage. The proJect also includes various cyindoor amenities, including a plaza, amphitheater, open lawns, landscaped spaces, and walk, ways. Cornell University, Owner/Applicarit; Kiniberly Michaels, Trowbridge Wolf Michaels 1-andscape Architects LLP, Agent. Applical.ion materials are available at the fOlk)"'ing link: I I nTy:/AA` t ()MIE iti""I ;tCa,riyUS/!10 A - �o'Awstsh 1cre. Persons tea be heard 4, Appri-wal ot'Minutes: February 5, 2019 01her BUISnICSS 6, Adjournment Susan Ritter Director of Planning 273-1747 NOTE. 1FANY MENIBER OFTHE PL%NNtNG, ROARD IS UNABLE TO ATTEND, PLEASE NOTIFY SANDY POI.C. E AT 2i3-1747 or SPOLC " F (��,TQVV N, IT( JACA. N , V.LJS, .­ ...... . . .... (A quorunt of four 0) members is necessargr to conduct Planning Board business.) Accessing Meeting Materials Online Site Plan and Subdivision applicationsand msociated project materials are accessible electronicall,io on the'FoNvn's welos"ite under "Planning Board" on the "Nleeting Agendas" page QqqL�',Lj TOWN OF ITHACA PLANNING BOARD NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARINGS Tuesday, March 5, 2019 By direction of the Chairperson of the Planning Board, NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that a Public Hearing will be held by the Planning Board of the Town of Ithaca on Tuesday, March 5, 2019, at 215 North Tioga Street, Ithaca, N.Y., at the following time and on the following matter; 7:00 P.M. Consideration of a recommendation to the Town of Ithaca Town Board regarding the proposed' Chain Works District Planned Development Zone. Said Planning Board will at said time and said place hear all persons in support of such matters or objections thereto. Persons may appear by agent or in person. Individuals with visual impairments, hearing impairments or other special needs, will be provided with assistance as necessary, upon request. Persons desiring assistance must make such a request not less than 48 hours prior to the time of the public hearing. Susan Ritter Director of Planning 273-1747 Dated: Monday, February 25, 2019 Publish: Wednesday, February 27, 2019 TOWN OF ITHACA AFFIDAVrl-"-OF POSTING AND PUBLICATION......, 1, Sandra Po` Ice, being duly sworn, depose and say that I arn a Senior Typist for the Town of" Ithaca, Tompkins County, New York; that (lie following Notice has been dLIly posted on the sign board of the Town of Ithaca and that said Notice has been duly published, in the local newspaper, The Ithaca Journal. Notice of'Pr. blic Hearings Lo lie held -by qie'fown of Ithaca Planni the Town of"Ithaca Town Hall, 215 North Tio,ga ,Stree,tIthaca, New York, oil Tuesday, March 5, 2019 cornmenciU at 7:(lO P. Is j?eLattached. Location of Sigri Board Used for Posting: Tw on Clerk Sign Boah 'ro a rd — 2 15 NortiStreet, . .. . ........ Date of'Postino: f-'ebruary 25, 2019 Z! Date eel' Publication: February27,2019 Sandra PoIce, Senior Typist Town of Ithaca STATE 01", NEW YORK) SS: COUNTY OFTOMPKINS) Sworn to and subscribed before me, this 27"" day of Febi-tiary 2019. Debra Dvk4sVne Nota'y n ;7 is slal, ork�w Yuu,k Vv fuS JuMIu 26, 2, I fMa,q# Town of Ithaca Planning Board 215 Forth Tioi Street ]" larch 5,2019 7:00 p.m. PLEASE ,.►S SIGN -IN "lease Print Clearly. Thank. ` olu .5 L ....__ ...... TOWN OF ITHACA PLANNING BOARD MEETING Tuesday, March 5, 2019 215 N. Tioga Street, Ithaca, NY 14850 Town Planning Board Members Present: Fred Wilcox, Cindy Kaufman, Joseph Haefeli, Jon Bosak, Jennifer Karius Town Staff Present: Susan Ritter; Director of Planning; Bruce Bates, Director of Code Enforcement; Marty Mosely, Code Enforcement Officer; Chris Balestra, Planner; Dan Thaete, Town Engineer; David O'Shea, Civil Engineer; Susan Brock, Attorney for the Town; Debra DeAugistine, Deputy Town Clerk Call to Order Mr. Wilcox called the meeting to order at 7:03 p.m. AGENDA ITEM Public Hearing: Consideration of a recommendation to the Town of Ithaca Town Board regarding the proposed Chain Works District Planned Development Zone Mr. Wilcox opened the public hearing at 7:05 p.m. Mr. Wilcox said lie's going to like form based zoning. It's easier to understand and is hopefully a precursor to what the rest of the zoning will eventually look like as the zoning catches up to the comprehensive plan. He had couple of comments about the document. There are numerous classifications of buildings, and lie wondered whether the town overdid it: lie looked at the definition of small house versus the definition of cottage, and they're really not that different. Ms. Ritter responded that there are subtle differences, and while Chain Works may not adopt some of those types, those are the building types that are used in the town's proposed form based code. We didn't want to exclude a housing type. Mr. Wilcox then pointed to the single story shop front building. Ms. Ritter said it's not allowed, nor is a gas station. The planning committee wanted to make it clear that these were not allowed, so the decision was made to put them at the end of the document and delete the backs of those pages to show that there are no associated regulations. Mr. Wilcox noted that the table on page 46 is missing a key. Then lie complained that the map on page 2 that lays out the subareas is small and hard to read. Mr. Bosak had several comments, listed below: All figures and tables need captions and numbers and the document needs a list of figures and tables. This is a straightforward document design element. • Page 3: He questioned why the use table indicates that "live work housing" needs a special permit while "health and wellness" does not. Planning Board Minutes 03.05.2019 Page 2 of 7 Page 6: The use table includes "home occupation" and it is not clear how that's different from "live work housing." • Page 8: For public/open house configuration, it states "The outer edge of a public or open space area must have as much direct frontage on a thoroughfare as possible." Mr. Bosak questioned how the Planning Board would assess this: what is as much as possible? Staff responded, noting that on page 7, the street frontage requirement for each park type is identi- fied. Mr. Bosak responded by questioning whether the introductory statement is even necessary then. • Page 9: The ROW width for thoroughfare type A is >_ 56 ft., but with sidewalks allowed to be >_ 5 ft., the total ROW should instead be >_ 50 ft. • Page 14: There's a big gap between sections 17.5 (2) and 17.5 (3), filled with building types and associated requirements; lie recommended that the building types be located in an appendix and not stuck in the middle of two paragraphs. • Page 21: He agreed with the yellow highlighted note and thinks that there may be several additional things wrong with the drawing. • Page 23: He doesn't understand what the gray area at the top of the drawing is depicting. • Page 30: For the courtyard apartment building, Mr. Bosak pointed to note R, "Horizontally oriented projection...," and said lie did not understand what this means. Is it like a shelf? Should this be better defined? He stated that this is also found in other building types. • Pages 32 and 38: Building types for "single story shopfront" and "service station" are not shown to have any regulations. If these are not allowed, lie recommends not including them; instead, there could be a statement saying gas stations are not allowed. • General issue with the building types section: where are all the other building types that could possibly be built in the town, such as yurts, etc.? There are unlimited types of buildings that are not included in this section. He also pointed out the tendency to have a requirement, such as on page 37 H "parking setback," but then a note in the table saying it isn't applicable to this type of building. • Pages 34/35: He doesn't understand why Item H requires a "parking setback" when the building illustration on the opposite page indicates that the parking is right up to the sidewalk. • Page 34: He doesn't understand the Item E requirement for "max facade length" (maximum 12 ft. unbuilt) and recommends further explanation. • Page 42: There's a requirement for "four-sided design." What does this mean? Are only four-sided buildings allowed in the town? How do you define a side? For example, on page 34, there are many sides. Staff responded that this is an industry term meaning that the same materials and architectural design are used on all sides of a building, and that the definition was provided in the text. Page 42: The requirement states "Off street surface parking may be in the rear of a site envelope or interior of the block. Access must be from an alley or a driveway < 16ft wide..." Mr. Bosak Planning Board Minutes 03.05.2019 Page 3 of 7 asked whether traffic entering from a thoroughfare can access the parking. He stated that, accord- ing to this provision, if lie is on a thoroughfare, lie can't get there. • Page 43: In the landscaping section, Mr. Bosak felt that section (d), listing the required tree species traits, should be moved to the top of the section and that the other sections should be removed. He did not think it was necessary to state that a street tree is a tree along a street and a canopy tree is everything else. These definitions classify trees based on their location. There is nothing else provided about them. In the next line, lie noted that a "tree lawn on a primary or secondary street must have a street tree" and wondered what tree other than a street tree should be along a street. He said that it was not until near the bottom of the page, where the list of trait requirements are given, that they appear definitional and better explain what a street tree is; i.e., having a height of 40 feet, etc. • Page 44: For fences and walls, Mr. Bosak stated that the language lists those materials that are acceptable, but does not indicate what is unacceptable. He questioned whether lie could build one out of anything. The language isn't saying, except for the note further down where it indicates that barbed wire is not allowed. Mr. Wilcox closed the public hearing at 7:26 p.m. AGENDA ITEM Presentation and discussion of the preliminary site plan for the proposed Cornell University Residen- tial Expansion project. Cornell University proposes to construct two residential complexes (one for sophomores and the other for freshmen) located on North Campus between Triphammer Road, Jessup Road, Pleasant Grove Road and Cradit Farm Drive. The sophomore village will have four residential buildings with 800 new beds and associated program space totaling 299,900 SF and a 1,200 seat, 66,300 SF dining facility. Buildings for the sophomore village will be located entirely in the city, while a small portion of the site work is proposed for the Village of Cayuga Heights. The freshman village will have three new residential buildings, each spanning the City and Town of Ithaca municipal line, with a total of 401,200 SF and 1,200 new beds and associated program space - 223,400 SF of which is in the city and 177,800 SF of which is in the town. The building heights will be between two and six stories. The project is in three zoning districts: the U -I zoning district in the city; Low Density Residential zone in the town; and the Multiple Housing District within the village. The project also includes various outdoor amenities, including a plaza, amphitheater, open lawns, landscaped spaces, and walkways. Cornell University, Owner/Applicant; Kimberly Michaels, Trowbridge Wolf Michaels Landscape Architects LLP, Agent. Kimberly Michaels and Kathryn Wolf, representing the agent, and Arvind Tikku from Ikon 5 Architects gave a presentation. Ms. Wolf reminded the board of the overall project goals. This is an expansion of the existing quad system and pedestrian network. It includes important semipublic outdoor spaces. Architecture: The architecture is of the 21st century; it's modern architecture that's designed to be compatible with the range of architectural styles on north campus. The building in the sophomore site is entirely within the city of Ithaca, and the first year site is divided by the municipal boundary, with the city to the west and the town on the east side. Planning Board Minutes 03.05.2019 Page 4 of 7 Access: She explained how the parking will be reduced and reconfigured due to building placement and how the major site reorganization will affect vehicular and pedestrian access through the site. A major objective of the project is to create continuous, universal access between the first and second year site. Emergency access off Pleasant Grove Road services the first year site and connects down to Cradit Farm Drive. There's also emergency access from Triphammer Road into the sophomore site. Services: Servicing for the project occurs off Triphammer for the first year site and on the second year site, there's a loading dock/service area on the north end, off Jessup Road, and a service area just east of the existing service to Appel Commons. All of the trash, recycling, and deliveries will occur at those primary service areas and there's a network of underground tunnels that connect the buildings to the collection points. Circulation: In addition to the pedestrian network of walkways, because of the increase in pedestrian traffic anticipated between north campus and central campus, the university is working on an RFP to look at safety improvements at the intersections of Thurston and Waite and Thurston and Cradit Farm. The RFP will also include a study of the reconfiguration of the Cradit Farm Drive and Pleasant Grove Road intersection so that the primary movement onto campus is from Cradit Farm rather than through Forest Home. A section of Cradit Farm Road will be reconstructed to allow a continuous bike lane along Cradit Farm. The existing walkway along Pleasant Grove Road will be rebuilt to a 10 - foot -wide multiuse path so bikes don't have to go onto Pleasant Grove Road. There are extensive bike racks throughout the project and interior bike storage. The project is being built to LEED Gold standard, which has a high level of requirement for bike racks. Transit: Transit facilities will be expanded. TCAT is working with the university for additional service. One bus stop will be expanded to four: two for TCAT and two for long-haul buses. New bus shelters will be installed at those locations. Stormwater management: A full SWPPP is in the packet. All the roof runoff in the first year site is captured in surface bioretention facilities. TG Miller has had at least one meeting with town engi- neers and has set up a second. Landscaping: There's a robust landscape plan. They're emphasizing the areas around perimeter and in the quads, with lots of large shade trees as well as low mow areas, concentrating on a more low maintenance, sustainable approach than a traditional lawn. They will use year-round seasonal plantings and optimize the use of native species. Mr. Tikku described the site plan and architecture. The goal was to create a great living learning community, to be good stewards of the project through conservation, to promote community and collaboration, and to create an environment that harkens back to what used to be historical residen- tial quadrangles that describe and emphasize the Cornell residence life. Even though the existing context is a collage of architectural styles, time periods, and scale, there are also a number of architec- tural consistencies that create continuity, such as colors, materials, and wall surfaces using reddish brick and gray blue llenroc stone. These are the palettes used for the new buildings. The north campus was a fragmented campus, and by establishing the east to west connection, the entire north campus will be interconnected, creating a sense of community. Social programs are all located on the lower level so people can interact; glass walls and doorways provide for connectivity between the indoor and outdoor spaces. The buildings' horizontality is deemphasized by vertical glazed social spaces, bridges that link from one wing to another, and gray terracotta ends and variegated terracotta stones. The gray ends are a remnant of the campus itself, where the short ends of buildings are accentuated with a different color from the long ends. Site 1 is entirely within the city. In site 2, Planning Board Minutes 03.05.2019 Page 5 of 7 buildings 3, 4, and 5 frame the largest quadrangle. The quad is framed by the five -story residence on the southwest and three-story structures on the north, northeast, east, and south. Stone veneer panels accentuate programming spaces, lounges, and entrances, and provide visual relief from the large terracotta panels. Ms. Kaufman asked about the loading dock at the dining hall and its relationship with the two sororities. She's concerned about how the backs of those buildings are going to feel in relation to the dining hall. Ms. Michaels responded that it will be screened as much as possible with a fence, evergreen trees, and tall deciduous material. They've met with the leaders of both the sororities to address their questions and establish lines of communication. She pointed out that that's not within the town of Ithaca. Ms. Wolf added that the loading dock slopes down to lower than street level, which will also have a screening effect. Ms. Kaufman asked about rooftop mechanical equipment. Mr. Tikku responded that there won't be any, except for low profile exhaust fans, which won't be visible. The majority of the residences have fan coil units, and the air handlers for the dining facility are located in the basement. Ms. Kaufman commented that the project is very thoughtful; they've done a beautiful job with texture and color variation. Her one concern is the monotony of the long runs. She wondered whether they've looked at breaking up the facade more and said that because the punched opening windows are floating in the terracotta, and not connected to one of the reveals, it feels like they're floating chaotically. Mr. Tikku responded that that's what they're trying to achieve; they're not looking for a static facade. That's why even the terracotta pieces are varying sizes. A design challenge is that these are residences, so there's just a monotony in the way the rooms are laid out. The simple thing to do would be to go to 10 to 12 stories, but the most important goal is to create a living learning environment, and that puts a limitation on how high you can go because that changes the nature of the building. The facades of these long horizontals are broken down in many ways: they've introduced social spaces and they break up the facade vertically with glazed pieces, which are more transparent. Further, they break the terracotta floor to floor, into three pieces, so you don't see one long piece repetitiously, and they varied their joins for an additional layer of movement. The windows are not stacking on top of each other because that creates a static condition. Finally, embedding the llenroc color in slivers agitates the facade further, so your eyes are constantly moving rather than being fixated on one portion. Ms. Kaufman said that maybe the renderings aren't showing the fluidity. Mr. Tikku agreed that because of the scale, you lose that nuance. A zoom -in might help to allay the fears of the long monotonous facade. To a question from Mr. Bosak, lie responded that the windows open. Mr. Wilcox asked for comments from staff. Planning Board Minutes 03.05.2019 Page 6 of 7 Mr. Thaete said the engineering focus is on utilities and stormwater. They're been working with the applicants and the city. Mr. Mosely said they've put together a good plan as far as fire apparatus and have mapped out all the fire hydrants and roof access points. Ms. Michaels said the fire chief has put an approved stamp on their plans. Mr. Balestra said planning staff will synthesize all comments and put it in their memo with recom- mendations. Mr. Bates is concerned that the project is moving full speed ahead and we still don't have things in place. There are four municipalities involved. The town is currently working with the city to come up with a reasonable understanding of how this project will be managed. His understanding is that the Cayuga Heights fire department will forego that part of their district and turn it over to the city fire department for emergency services. Who does the fire safety inspections? Fire contracts with both the city and Cayuga Heights need to be amended. These things aren't in place yet. Mr. Thaete said our major concern is the joint sewer interceptor on Thurston, which is jointly owned by the town and the city. The sewage flow from this facility will go to that interceptor. There are portions that are at or near capacity. It's most likely that everything will need to be installed prior to occupying these structures. Ms. Michaels said negotiations are ongoing. Cornell is agreeing to chip in for upgrades on the set of pipes impacted by the additional loads from this project. They're having conversations on what that level of responsibility should be because there's also a fair amount of development in Varna that's contributing to that. Ms. Wolf added that they've contracted with TG Miller to do an engineering study so they can get a fuller understanding of the existing conditions. Ms. Brock commented that the planning board's jurisdiction extends only to what's in the town. She didn't find that it was always immediately clear from drawings what is in the city and what is in the town and wondered whether the planning board members would like any other drawings than what was submitted for the meeting or whether they were content with what was submitted already. Mr. Wilcox said more drawings wouldn't be necessary; board members know where the lines are. He told the applicant that at the next meeting, lie will bring up the empty lot on Judd Falls Road that was used for contractor parking for Maplewood. We had issues when Cornell staged materials there when they were working on the heating plant. We want to make sure that the lot will not be used for staging or overflow contractor parking. Ms. Wolf noted that there's no plan to use that lot. Planning Board Minutes 03.05-2019 Page 7 of 7 Ms. Michaels explained that there's a grassy area north of A lot where there's a Frisbee golf course that Cornell uses for overflow parking for large events and moving day. If there is any greater need, the intent is to use Palm Road. Ms. Balestra reminded the board that the letter staff sent to the city planning board during the SEAR review had comments regarding architecture, community character, traffic, and some other types of things that we thought didn't snake the project rise to the level of significant environmental impact, but were important to look at. AGENDA ITEM Persons to be heard - No one came forward to address the board. AGENDA ITEM PB Resolution No. 2019-005: Minutes of February 5, 2019 Moved by Fred Wilcox; seconded by Joseph Haefeli RLSOINED, the Planning Board approves the minutes of February 5, 2019, as amended. Vote Ayes: Wilcox, Kaufman, Haefeli, Bosak, Karius AGENDA ITEM Other Business Ms. Balestra announced that Mr. Wilcox will be receiving the award from the NY Planning Federation for Outstanding Planning Board Chair at their conference this year. Adjournment Upon a motion by Jon Bosak, the meeting adjourned at 8:44 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Debra DcAlk!gistine, Deputy`Fown,'.terk