HomeMy WebLinkAboutPC Minutes 2025-02-20Town of Ithaca Planning Committee
Thursday,February 20, 2025
3:00 PM Aurora Conference Room and on Zoom)
Minutes
Committee members present: Rich DePaolo, Chair; Rod Howe&Margaret Johnson
Board/Staff members: Director of Planning C.J. Randall; Director of Codes Marry Moseley; Civil
Engineer Justin McNeal.
Guests. Michele Palmer& Crystal Ross, Whitham Planning, Bear, Holt Architects.
Via Zoom: Mary Martin, Whitham Planning
1. Persons to be heard: None.
2. Committee announcements and concerns: None
3. Approval of November &January meeting minutes: Rich moved the minutes for approval as
presented, Rod seconded. November 20, 2024 and January 16, 2025 minutes were approved.
4. West Hill (Conifer)Traditional Neighborhood Development Public Outreach Meeting Summary
for the West Hill TND Design Charrette#2. The Conifer design team submitted a formal summary
with project narrative,charrette process narrative along with summaries of the stakeholder meeting and
chaff ettes to date. The most recent concept plan was shown with an increased unit size to average 10
units per acre of housing including single-family homes, multi-family units and senior housing alongside
limited commercial and community spaces. The developer's goal for the project is to promote
sustainability, efficient land use and community integration.
The main concerns from the public, as reported by the design team, are related to existing stormwater
issues and potential impacts to the transportation network. No dedicated town park space would be
added in with the existing open space/preserved area; however parking space could be reserved and
access to the existing parkland. It was mentioned the buffer areas could be officially preserved with
conservations easements or a land trust.
The committee briefly discussed the potential second road access/egress out to Bundy Road via an
existing Right of Way (Riley Drive)that is being researched and further discussed at the Town's Public
Works Committee in the coming week. In summary, the easement appears to give the landowner the
right to build a road; however the developer is not the landowner and is not in the position to fund the
second access road as a part of the project. The town being a designated Pro-Housing Community could
provide access to related infrastructure funding; further discussions regarding this additional access are
underway with the Engineering and Planning Departments. Without that access point, Fire Code
requirements would be met using a fire access only road to the existing Oakwood Lane. The design
shown currently can accommodate either of the options for the second access/egress options.
No other project updates were reported, and the committee thanked the team for their presentation and
continued discussion with the Public Works Committee in the following week.
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5. Draft Local Law for Flood Damage Prevention (updating Town Code Chapter 157)provided by
NYS Department of Environmental Conservation. Marty explained that with the new Flood Rate
Insurance Maps (FIRM),which will soon be adopted by FEMA,the Town is required to update the local
law for flood damage prevention.A model law was provided with very little room for local
modifications. If more restrictive modifications are proposed, they must also be approved by the NYS
Code Council. To maintain eligibility in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), the town must
adopt the updated Local Law and FIRMs into the community's floodplain management regulations. The
updates must be adopted by the town by June 18, 2025.About 30 parcels in the town will be impacted
by the NYS DEC map changes and they have all been notified thanks to mapping and mailing lists
developed by the Tompkins County Planning & Sustainability Department.
Without full ability to recommend changes to the proposed drafted language, C.J, and Marty did propose
the optional additional language section regarding critical facilities to insert the definition of Critical
Facilities, modify 92 to say "Hospitals and nursing homes" and eliminate #4.New section 5.7 proposed
to be added for Critical Facilities and the High Hazard Dam/Levees optional language section was not
needed and not recommended to be added.
C.J. and Marty plan to work with the model law language more and present the revised draft to the
committee in March.
6. Staff updates and reports.
C.J. updated on the following:
Maplewood 11 project moving forward for final site plan preparations, discussions with the Public Works
Committee in the upcoming week.
Marty,Rod and C.J will meet to clarify any remaining questions in the language related to the potential
joint Town-City Historic Preservation Commission.
The NYS Freshwater Wetlands changes by the NYS DEC were noted again as effective l/l/2025.
Landowners are responsible for requesting a local determination by the DEC. The Town can inform and
assist residents using internal program flags on properties using the old map designations,however the
Town has no local regulatory authority.
The New York Planning Federation annual conference will be held this year in Cooperstown in April, all
Planning Board members were encouraged to reach out for more information if they would like to
attend.
7. Next meeting date and upcoming agenda items: Thursday, March 20, 2025, 3:00 p.m.
The Town of Ithaca Planning Committee meeting concluded at 3:50 p.m.
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