Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-P&DB-1995-06-19 city elal< PLANNING COMMITTEE June 19, 1995 Regular Meeting, 7:30 p.m., Common Council Chambers MINUTES Present: Committee Members: John Schroeder, Chair; Rick Gray,Pam Mackesey,Diann Sams. Non-Voting Committee Member: Benjamin Nichols,Mayor. Other Common Council Members: John Efroymson,John Johnson. Staff Richard Eckstrom,Building Commissioner; Charles Guttman, City Attorney; H. Matthys Van Cort,Director of Planning and Development. Others: Susan Blumenthal,Betsy Darlington,Shirley Egan,John Gutenberger,Ed Ritchie,Ken Vineberg,Bill Wendt and Camilla Lappin,press. • Additions to the Agenda. With the consent of the Committee, Schroeder added the following items to the agenda: * Request by Ithaca Performing Arts Center for State Street bricks. * Request by Comex Plaza Associates for modification of the memorandum of understanding between Comex and the City. I. Rezoning of Cornell University. a. Presentation: C.U.'s Traffic Demand Management Program. William Wendt, Cornell's Director of Transportation, gave the Committee a slide presentation on the Cornell Traffic Demand Management Program (TDMP). A question and answer period followed. Staff was directed to give copies of materials provided by Wendt to all Planning and Development Board members and Common Council members. b. Committee Discussion. City Attorney Guttman reported on the progress of the working group which consists of Guttman and Van Cort from the City and Eric Dicke, Shirley Egan,John Gutenberger and William Wendt from Cornell University. Guttman explained the modifications to the Zoning Ordinance which are being considered by the working group. Planning Committee Minutes 2 June 19, 1995 Some of the measures under consideration by the working group which would reduce parking demand in the neighborhood surrounding the University are: measures to further increase the usage of the area's bus systems,construction of"storage"parking facilities for use by the Cornell community, some additional parking for visitors at the University and fmally,the establishment of a resident parking permit system by the City with authorization from the State Legislature. Cornell representatives said that several cities in New York State had been given permission by the Legislature to institute resident parking permit systems, and that Cornell would support a City application for permission from the Legislature. After the conclusion of the Committee's questions and discussion, questions were taken from the audience. Darlington asked whether there was a policy at the University to build as much on-campus parking as possible. Wendt said this was absolutely not true. New parking facilities which were being added were in compliance with the land use regulations of the various jurisdictions in which Cornell is located. Staff was directed to provide an outline of the proposed changes to the Zoning Ordinance with alternate approaches for the Committee to consider for each major topic. Staff was also asked to provide further information on a resident parking permit system. IL Proposal by Johnson's Boat Yard. Tom Cleveland of Johnson's Boat Yard made a proposal to the Committee regarding changes to Cascadilla Creek. Specifically,he proposed the construction of a seawall along the southern edge of Cascadilla Creek where it enters the Cayuga Inlet. He suggested that this work could be done in conjunction with dredging of the creek which is becoming more and more obstructed by siltation. (Dredge spoils could be put behind the seawall.) Cleveland said that Johnson's Boat Yard would be interested in cooperating with the City in such a venture,provided that Johnson's could acquire some rights to construct and operate boat slips along the southern side of Cascadilla Creek opposite their marina. Schroeder said such a project might be desirable if it resulted in provision of an attractively designed and landscaped walkway and bike trail linking the Willow Avenue pedestrian bridge over Cascadilla Creek with the Farmers' Market. Schroeder added that any proposal for a seawall would require careful review, including early input from City groups concerned about the environment. Mackesey expressed some concern about construction of a seawall rather than Planning Committee Minutes 3 June 19, 1995 leaving the bank in a more or less natural condition. It was noted that the whole proposal was at this point very hypothetical, and completely dependent on whether DPW had future plans to dredge the creek in the first place. Staff was directed to ask DPW whether any such dredging plans exist. M. Zoning Strategies to Promote Affordable Housing. Schroeder explained that Colin Forth is under contract to work as an intern in Mayor Nichols' Office during the summer of 1995. The Committee and the Planning Board would have input into Mr. Forth's work over this summer. Schroeder said Forth's work would result in specific proposed zoning ordinance amendments designed to encourage production of affordable housing. Schroeder gave Committee members copies of a proposed work program for Forth resulting from a meeting attended by the Mayor,Van Cort,Schroeder, Shari Woodard(Chair of Rental Housing Advisory Commission), and after input from David Kay (Chair of the Planning Board). The Committee unanimously consented to this work program,which is attached to these minutes. IV. Request by Comex Plaza Associates. Van Cort explained the request by Comex Plaza Associates for a slight modification of the agreement between Comex and the City so that one boundary line delimiting permitted uses in the Rothschild's Building could be moved toward the north by eight feet. After a brief discussion,a motion by Mackesey, seconded by Gray,the Committee unanimously recommended approval of this request. V. Request by Ithaca Performing Arts Center (IPAC). Camilla Lappin of IPAC appeared before the Committee to request that IPAC be given permission to use the bricks which were removed from State Street,now stored in Southwest Park,for a small plaza in the alley off Cayuga Street adjoining the State Theater. There were two issues which needed to be addressed; one is whether the BPW had authority to allow IPAC to use these bricks free of charge. The present policy authorizes BPW to sell the bricks at 25 cents a piece. Secondly,the Committee wanted to express support for these bricks being donated to IPAC. The Committee directed that staff prepare two resolutions, one asking the BPW to consider a policy allowing not-for-profit groups to obtain bricks free of charge,but subject to the other normal regulations, and a second requesting that the bricks be given to IPAC at no cost. VI. Possible Land Acquisition. Van Cott explained that tax parcel 127-1-3 located along Cayuga Inlet behind the proposed Wal-Mart site was available for acquisition by the City. Since taxes had not been paid on this parcel for three years,the City only needed to file a tax deed in its possession and pay the outstanding county taxes in order to take title to the Planning Committee Minutes 4 June 19, 1995 parcel. On a motion by Mackesey, seconded by Gray,the Committee unanimously recommended that title to the parcel be acquired by the City. Proposed Colin Forth Summer Work Program. JUNE 15, 1995 1. Overall Goal. Several major zoning ordinance amendments designed to encourage the creation of affordable housing in the City of Ithaca will be developed from conceptual form to initial draft to final perfected draft, such that they will be ready for immediate consideration by Common Council at the conclusion of the summer's work. One focus will be the drafting of an entirely new "floating" affordable housing zoning district, which would include incentive zoning provisions. The summer project would also entail correcting some long-standing, long-recognized zoning problems now in- hibiting affordable housing creation — e.g., the currently flawed cluster zoning section and the well-intentioned but unusable R-2c district. It is hoped that by the end of the summer the proposed amendments will have been written with sufficient completeness and care — and with sufficient opportunities for input from relevant City bodies— that adoption can proceed expeditiously. 2. Specific Work Program Elements. A. "Floating"Affordable Housing Zoning District. An entirely new "floating" affordable housing zoning district will be developed from conceptual stages into a finished proposed ordinance. This would be a zone the Planning and Development Board could locate anywhere (or most places) in the City to allow the development of specific proposed affordable housing projects. The developer and the Planning Board would have considerable flexibility to mold a proposed development to the particular conditions of the proposed site and neighborhood. The "floating" zone would include optional incentive zoning provisions. B. Cluster Subdivision Development. The current cluster zoning provisions have the dubious distinction of being disliked and dismissed as unworkable by just about everyone, including developers, environmentalists and planning department staff. After identification of defects in the current cluster provisions, and after examining model cluster provisions from other cities, this zoning code section will be rewritten to promote affordable housing projects that co-exist with • attractive and usable set-aside green space. C. R-2c Zero-Lot-Line, Row-House Zone. In 1990, after months of debate, Common Council adopted language describing a new R-2c zone that was supposed to promote affordable housing by allowing zero-lot-line and row-house development. The resulting zone, though, was pronounced unworkable and has never been placed on the zoning map. The provisions of the R-2c zone will be rewritten to eliminate current defects. Additionally, locations in the City where the zone could be established will be identified.