HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-PDB-2017-03-221
Approved by the Planning Board on May 8, 2017
Special Planning & Development Board
Minutes
March 22, 2017
Board Members Attending: Mark Darling (Board of Public Works Liaison); McKenzie Jones-
Rounds; Robert Aaron Lewis; Matthew Johnston; John Schroeder
Board Members Absent: Garrick Blalock, Chair, Jack Elliott
Board Vacancies: None
Staff Attending: JoAnn Cornish, Director, Division of Planning & Economic
Development;
Lisa Nicholas, Senior Planner, Division of Planning & Economic
Development;
Applicants Attending: Chainworks District
Jamie Gensel, Fagan Engineering
Steve Ferrante, SRF
David Kruse, SRF
David Lubin, Project Sponsor
Acting Chair Schroeder called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. (Chair Blalock was unable to attend.)
1. Agenda Review
No changes to the agenda
2. Site Plan Review
A. Chain Works District Redevelopment Project, 620 S. Aurora Street. Review Draft
Responses to Comments made on the Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement –
Today’s Topic Area: Transportation. Review Next Steps & Future Special Meeting
Schedule.
Gensel reviewed each comment and response for the Transportation section.
Board members made the following comments.
Throughout the FGEIS, each proposed mitigation should be clearly and readily
identifiable through some special typographic style (for example, a consistent
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“Mitigation” heading with bold italic text) so that each one stands out and is easy to
collect for the eventual Findings Statement.
A complete list of issues that are to be handled during future Site Plan Review should be
provided.
Driveway II is directly across from South Hill School. There is already significant
traffic congestion along Route 96B during drop off and pick up times. This fact should
be added to the responses and 1 or 2 mitigations addressing this problem should be
identified.
Construction of the proposed Gateway trail through the site should be identified as a
mitigation.
Response #9 should include a list of specific proposed pedestrian improvements.
Response #29 should note that both the applicant and the Lead Agency agree that a direct
cross-property connection with the business park directly south of the site is desirable.
Response #60 mentions a “supplemental narrative” regarding proposed “active
transportation” elements that would link the Chain Works District to the surrounding
urban area. This narrative should be specifically identified and provided to the Lead
Agency.
Response #61 should mention that the internal speed limit for the site will be 20 mph.
The Board requested other text changes and edits.
Gensel handed out the latest revised version of the “Conceptual Site Plan Layout.”
Board members made several comments on that map regarding transportation issues,
including the need for a more accurate and complete map key and the need to provide a
few currently missing proposed sidewalk connections.
The Board then discussed future scheduling. Nicholas handed out a draft combined PUD/CEQR
schedule, and said the Project Sponsor will begin preparing the FGEIS while also working on the
PUD/PDZ. She said that the Board would probably not need to meet again until July.
Schroeder said that the Board as Lead Agency is responsible for overseeing the entire environmental
review process, and that he therefore felt it should receive ongoing updates on that process well before
July.
He noted that both the Town and City planning boards had requested that the proposed Design Standards
be modified to include some architectural design standards, and that therefore both boards still needed to
come to agreement on what those specific changes should be. He said it is also important that the Lead
Agency ensure that the proposed PUD/PDZ text is consistent with mitigations identified in the FEIS.
Finally, he said he thought the Lead Agency should determine – by scheduling a joint meeting with the
Town Planning Board or by some other means – whether the draft responses to comments made by Town
of Ithaca officials were acceptable to those officials.
3. Adjournment
On a motion by Lewis, seconded by Schroeder, and unanimously approved, the meeting was
adjourned at 7:20 p.m.