HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-PDB-1973-12-20 PLANNING BOARD.MINUTES
City of Ithaca
Regular Meeting December 20, 1973 7:30 P.M.
PRESENT: Chm. Doney, Mrs. Benson, Messrs. •Clynes; Schickel, Shaw and Stein.
ALSO: . Director Van Cort, Jr. Planner Williams, Aldermen Jones and Meyer, Bldg.,
Comm'r Jones, and members of .the press and radio.
ABSENT: Mr. Austin.
Chm. Doney called the meeting to order at 7:30 P.M.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES of November 27, 1973:
When Chm. Doney asked for approval of the minutes of November 27, Mr. Clynes
asked that the minutes be amended to show that he was present at the last regular
meeting.
Mr. Shaw MOVED, and Mr. Schickel seconded, "that the minutes be approved as amended to
to show that Mr. Clynes was present."' CARRIED unanimously.
0N`ING: None.
SPECIAL ORDER OF BUSINESS: None.
C0.114UNICATIONS: None.
0=4ITTEE REPORTS: None.
OLD BUSINESS:
a. '701' Comprehensive Planning application: Planning Director Van Cort asked
Mrs. Williams to explain the need for a '701' - omprehensive Planning Grant. Mrs.
Williams stated that the Community Renewal Program (CRP) had designated certain needs
and problem areas in the city and had recommended various federal categorical grant
programs for implementation. These programs are no longer in existence or.are in
moratorium and new solutions are,necessary. The '701' application is for money to
establish local community development priorities and to find means for using General
and Special Revenue funds, or other funds, for implementing these "priorities. In
addition, the Better Communities Act, which is one of the proposed Special Revenue
acts, requires that localities have a,good idea, of the kinds of uses to which they
intend to put the BCA moneys over the first several years of the program.
Planning Director Van Cort briefly reviewed the financing of the grant: 3/4
federal, 1/8 local, and 1./8 state. Van Cort explained that the Planning Board had
directed staff to proceed with the application; it had never formally approved the
completed application. . Because of application timing, Common Council and the Mayor
had already been asked for their approval.
After further discussion by the Board, !4r. Stein MOVED, Mr. Clynes seconded,
"that the '701' Comprehensive Planning Application be approved as written:." CARRIED
unanimously.
b. Revised Ithaca Zoning Ordinance: Alderwoman Meyer explained the procedures
for getting the Ordinance passed, and s id that she was appearing before the Board.in
order to try to answer any questions which might come up concerning the ordinance.
Chm. Doney spoke first expressing his strong disagreement with' the proposed new
definition of family, which is as follo si "Family" shall mean one or more persons
occupying a single dwelling unit, provided that unless all membersare related by
blood, marriage, adoption or other legal. relationship, no such family shall contain
over 5 persons, but further provided that domestic servants employed on the premises
may be housed on the premises without being counted as a family or families." It was
his opinion that this definition completely destroyed the protection of the R-1 zone.
The number five in his opinion was chosen completely arbitrarily and it could as well
have been 3, 4, 7, or 8. He said that he would be forced to vote against the entire
revised ordinance as long as it contained this definition of family.
Mr. Stein told the Board that the Charter and Ordinance Committee of Common
Council, which prepared the revision, had been guided in drafting the definition b-r,
recent higher court decisions which indicate that more restrictive definitions are now
found to be unconstitutional. The Committee had the choice of being guided by these
decisions or ignoring their implication and chose the former course. The Committee
discussed the possibility of four or five related persons and chose 5, which is roughly
the size of the average American, consisting of a mother, father and slightly over 2
children. Families in R-1 zones are often of child-bearing age and thus the proposed
definition is not out-of-scale with typical R-1 occupancy.
Chm. Doney said that if more than two unrelated people were allowed to constitute
a family it _would be impossible to enforce the ordinance because keeping track of the
actual number of occupants of a buildine would be extremely difficult. Thus, instead
of 4 or 5, there could actually be 6 or 9, and the few residential family areas in the
city would be left to deteriorate.
After further discussion it was decided that no decision could be reached on
family definition at this time and that a special meeting would have to be called for
this purpose. Discussion proceeded with other questions on the proposed revision.
At the meeting of November 27, 197 , Mr. Clynes had asked whether. the Board's
previous comments on the draft made on anuary 23, 1973had been incorporated into the
latest draft. It was noted that the Planning Board is an advisory body and that its '
recommendations were not necessarily fo lowed by Common Council. The Board's
recommendations of January 23 1973 as recorded in the minutes of that meeting were..
then read by Planning Director Van Cort regarding "Shareill Garden Area," "North aide
of Seneca Street from Cayuga to,Meadow,' and �7Marine Zoning," and the results of
th,.se recommendations were noted. Disc ssion followed on the Maring Zone. It was
argued by Mr. Clynes and agreed to by4ff
e Board that Light Printing should be a per-
mitted use in the Marine Zone. The was asked to investigate the need for
definitions in"the Ordinance of Bulk Storage,. Warehouse, Light Printing and Wholesale.
Van Cort then read further from the minutes of January 1973. Comments on "Cliff
Street north of Vinegar Hill" were noted . The Board in January 1973 had recommended
that "all park areas, including schools, be designated public." This recommendation
had been incorporated into the draft as has been-the recommendation that the "CYO
Property" be zoned public. Comment on the "Dickens Property" and "Area including
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Grossman's` were also noted. After a brief discussion the Board felt that the
Grossman's property should definitely be zoned Industrial and this was unanimously
agreed upon.
It was noted that the Board had made a recommendation in January 1973 on changing
the zoning of the block of Stewart Avenue immediately north of Buffalo Street, and it
was unanimously agreed that both sides of this block should be kept commercial. After
discussion on the northeast corner of Maple Avenue and Dryden Road it was decided
that the gas station should be rezoned from R-3 to B-4, and to make the Cornell
property public while leaving the concrete plant as it is.
Building Commissioner Jones then asked why the fee for advertising a request for
variance had been increased from $10 to $25 and suggested that this was more than it
cost the city and that this might be a considerable burden on some property owners.
He further noted that requiring certified and registered mailing of notification to
all residents within 200' of a requested variance could cost a lot of money. The
Board unanimously recommended that these increases be removed from the draft. It was
further moved that the language of the Ordinance be extended to include:
"Applications received less than seven (7) days prior to the Planning Board meeting
will be acted on at the discretion of the Board."
Mr. Shaw MOVED, and Mrs. Benson seconded, "that this Board recommend adoption
of the proposed Zoning Ordinance."
After further discussion, Mr. Shaw withdrew his motion, and it was decided a
Special meeting of the Board would be held on the following Thursday, Deco-tuber 27, .
-1973, at 4:00 P.M. , to give everyone a chance to further read and make suggestions
regarding the latest revision.
c. Proposed Department Budget for 1974: The Board briefly discussed the budget
for 1974 and the request for additional personnel. Mrs. Benson MOVED, Mr. Stein
seeonded, "that the Budget be accepted as presented."
VOTE: Ayes - 3 (Stein, Benson, Shaw); Nays - 2 (Clynes, Schickel)
CARRIED.
NEW BUSINESS:
Final. Pf7.1 .frrn.. Crs.Fultant: Mr. Van Cort reported that the CRP Technical
Report is at the printer and should be done in two weeks or so. lie also informed the
Board that a new white cover for the CRP Brochure had been mailed by Raymond, Parish
& Pine, Inc.
b. Bonding; for Pedestrian Malls: Mr. Van Cort explained that the staff has been
working on special legislation to allow bonding of Pedestrian Malls in the State of
New fork for a 20-year period and there are two ways of doing that: one is to have
a general law and an•.,ther is to have a local or special law.
Communication from Planning Board to Common Council was MOVED by Mr. Schickel,
seconded by Mr. Stein, "that the Planning Board recommends to Common Council that it
requests the assistance and support of State Senator William T. Smith, State Assembly-
woman Constance E. Cook; in the preparation and introduction to the Senate and
Assembly of an Act to Amend the Local Finance Law, in relation to setting the period
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of probable usefulness for construction or .reconstruction of pedestrian malls, and
defining the term, "pedestrian mall".".. CAFXIIED unanir:---sly.
MEETING ADJOURNED at 10:15 P.M.
Respectfully submitted,
k
H. Hatthys Vali Cort
1,21.7+ Planning Director
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