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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-P&DB-1996-05-20 i Planning and Economic Development Committee Minutes May 20, 1996 Meeting 2 Van Cort was directed to prepare a resolution outlining the terms of sale including the needs of the DPW as well as a list of benefits that the Sciencenter brings to the City. This resolution would be discussed at the June meeting of the Planning and Economic Development Committee. IL Transfer of land to Hangar Theatre. Doria Higgins explained her proposal that the State transfer to the City land to the north of the Hangar Theatre for use by the Hangar Theatre. Ms. Higgins said that she had talked to State Parks in Albany and that no alienation would be necessary for this transfer. Van Cort questioned whether this was the last word regarding alienation. Van Cort also suggested that the use of the word"restitution" regarding any payment by the State to the City was inappropriate. Tom Niederkorn,speaking for the Hangar Board, said that the Hangar Board by resolution had voted in favor of the proposed master plan for Alan H.Treman State Marina. The important issue for the Hangar is that access to Hangar parking be preserved and improved. The acquisition of any additional land to the north of the Hangar is a secondary consideration. Such acquisition might be of some benefit to the Hangar but should not be seen as a substitute for resolving the adequate and convenient access problem. Van Cort was directed to discuss the issue of Hangar access with State Parks and to inquire as to whether alienation would be necessary if parkland were to be transferred to the City. Also,Van Con was to inquire with Fingerlakes regarding the process for bringing closure to the issue of the Alan H.Treman Master Plan and the festival lands transfer. HI Business Improvement District. Art Pearce,head of the BID Steering Committee,addressed the committee. Others there to discuss the BID included Mack Travis, Carolyn Grigorov,Dick Adams,Charles LaComb, Charles Schlough and Alan Buckberg. Pearce explained what the BID would do and its importance to downtown. He said that the last effort at the BID was considerably larger and probably too ambitious. This BID will be geographically smaller and will have a smaller budget. The DII would probably be folded into the BID. Sieverding explained that the assessed value on the city properties was now$29.8 million but that the City planned to contest the assessment on the Seneca and Green Street parking garages. They are now assessed at far greater than their actual economic or replacement value. The committee then discussed the proposed memorandum of understanding and the baseline agreement outlining the city services for the central business district. Planning and Economic Development Committee Minutes May 20, 1996 Meeting 3 Pearce said that while not binding, the purpose of these agreements is to set forth the City's intention not to reduce services in the central business district. Mayor Cohen said that a community police officer would be stationed in downtown. Mackesey expressed the concern about using community police officers in the central business district. Sieverding explained the proposed schedule for approval of the BID which is scheduled to end in late December of this year. Pearce thanked the committee and said they would be back next month in the hope of getting closure in time for the July Council meeting. IV. SEQRA/CEQR. Attorney Geldenhuys explained the difficulties caused by the changes in State EQR. The changes in the State law have created inconsistencies between the City's law and the State's,particularly the expansion of the State's Type II list may cause problems in local reviews. There are also changes in scoping which will have an effect on the review of projects in the City. Sieverding said that the law student intern who is to work on conforming the City's EQR to the State's is about to start work. He suggested if the Council cannot come to a conclusion rapidly that it probably is not worthwhile changing the ordinance. Van Cort said that failure to rescind local CEQR may lead to procedural errors in the interim. Mariette Geldenhuys reported that the CAC was not in favor of rescinding the City's ordinance. After some further discussion,the committee decided that there would be no action to repeal the local law. This will be reported to Council at the June meeting. V. West End Parking. Van Cort showed the committee a map depicting the areas where there will be parking after the completion of the Route 96 project. He said that there had been considerable discussion of the elimination of on-street parking during the approval process for the project and that there had been votes by the BPW regarding the removal of parking on both Green and Seneca Streets. He told the committee that the options were relatively limited. One option is to acquire additional parcels of private land for small public parking lots. An alternative option is to try to convince New York State to allow the installation of a parking lane on both Seneca and Green. This will somewhat narrow the moving lanes proposed for those streets,but both City Planning and Engineering feel that this is a reasonable proposal. Planning and Economic Development Committee Minutes May 20, 1996 Meeting 4 Cynthia Yahn said that she was compiling a list of all the businesses in the West End. She said that to date they have a list of 95 businesses. She said that seven out of five businesses on Seneca and Green have their own parking. Yahn said that the loss of these businesses would be a severe blow. The committee asked Yahn to continue compiling her list of businesses,and they directed Van Cort to discuss with DoT the possibility of establishing a parking lane on Seneca and Green between Fulton and Meadow. VL B-1 Zone/Medical Offices. Van Cort said that he had discussed the zoning chart with the Building Commissioner and that there is agreement that there are several parts of the chart which could be simplified. The committee directed that the Building Department and Planning Department put together a proposal for discussion by the committee at its next meeting. VII. Staff Presentation-Tompkins County Waterfront Study. Van Cort briefed the committee on the Waterfront Study which is now underway. He said there had been a meeting on Saturday where groups were set up to discuss the resources,recreational opportunities and economic development possibilities for the lake. Van Cort then explained the local waterfront revitalization program (LWRP) and said that he advised the City to apply for funding from New York State Department of State for the preparation of a LWRP. The committee directed that he find out more about the LWRP program and report back to the committee. VIII. Alienation Substitution. Van Con gave a brief history of the plan to alienate most of the parkland on Inlet Island and substitute for it various other significant recreational resources inside the City and in the Town of Ithaca along Six Mile Creek. The 1995 legislation which authorized the City to carry out this alienation specifically identified all parcels to be acquired. The City this year attempted to modify that legislation to permit some flexibility in the acquisition of substitute parkland. Mariette Geldenhuys and Mayor Cohen have been informed by Assemblyman Martin Luster's office that there must be a high degree of specificity in the State law. Mayor Cohen said he had had recent contact with Assemblyman Luster's office and that he,Geldenhuys and Van Cort would get together to discuss this further before the Council meeting. IX. City Budget. Hanna had asked that the Planning Committee discuss the city budget from a planning point of view. Given the lateness of the hour,it was agreed that there Planning and Economic Development Committee Minutes May 20, 1996 Meeting 5 was not time enough to do this,and committee members were asked to contact Hanna if they had any suggestions. The meeting adjourned at 11:05 p.m.