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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPC Packet 6.18.26 DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING 215 N. Tioga St 14850 607.273.1747 townithacany.gov TOWN OF ITHACA PLANNING COMMITTEE THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 2026 at 3:00 P.M. Meeting Location: Ithaca Town Hall, 215 N. Tioga Street, Aurora Conference Room (Enter from the rear entrance of Town Hall, adjacent employee parking lot.) Members of the public may also join the meeting virtually via Zoom at https://us06web.zoom.us/j/6750593272. AGENDA 1. Persons to be heard. 2. Committee announcements and concerns. 3. Consider approval of April meeting minutes. 4. Overview of the Tompkins County Community Housing Development Fund with Tompkins County Department of Planning & Sustainability. 5. Review and discuss draft Request for Qualifications (RFQ) to develop scenario planning models for 2014 Comprehensive Plan Future Land Use Map Character Districts / areas. 6. Staff updates and reports. 7. Discuss next meeting date and upcoming agenda items. A quorum of the Ithaca Town Board may be present, however, no official Board business will be conducted. 1 Town of Ithaca Planning Committee Thursday, April 16, 2026 (3:00 PM Aurora Conference Room and on Zoom) Draft Minutes Committee members present: Rod Howe, Chair; Diana Sinton; Dave McCune. Board/staff members: Director of Planning C.J. Randall; Director of Code Enforcement Marty Moseley; Senior Civil Engineer Justin McNeal; GIS Specialist Max Villenueva. Guests: Tompkins County Planning and Sustainability Department representatives David West in person and Shawna Stevenson via Zoom. 1. Persons to be heard: None 2. Committee announcements and concerns: None 3. Approval of March minutes: Dave moved March 19, 2026, minutes for approval as presented. Diana seconded, the minutes were approved. 4. Discussion and consideration of options to develop scenario planning models for 2014 Comprehensive Plan Future Land Use Map Character Districts/areas. C.J. prefaced the discussion with the base work that brought the current matter before the committee. The town received a grant funding award from the NYS Pro Housing Communities program for no-match technical assistance to be used in support of housing mobilization. Staff investigated possible planning tools to help create in- depth models for future housing development in the town. A short overview video on what ArcGIS Urban is, was shown on screen. The brief summary was that ArcGIS Urban is a 3D web experience that streamlines the creation and sharing of land use and zoning plans alongside the review of proposed development projects. Town Planner Nick Quilty-Koval along with Town GIS Specialist Max Villanueva fielded questions from committee members and C.J. and Nick explained how the potential scenario planning models would be useful for the town. Justin mentioned the current Sewer (Joint Interceptor) Study in cooperation with the City of Ithaca and the integration of hydrology to help model the flow for capacity using the Esri programming will be an asset. David West added that the potential project is in line with the County Housing Strategy and the beginning of previous similar individual projects can be costly for the municipalities, this funding being a good opportunity for the town. Projects like proposed could also support the County Comprehensive Plan when it comes time for updating. Staff summarized the options of looking at the full Future Land Use Map Characters areas as identified in the Town’s 2014 Comprehensive Plan or focus specifically on the South Hill TND (Traditional Neighborhood Development) where the GEIS will be beginning soon could work well together for focusing on development in that focus area. It was explained that town has existing licensing with Esri, that includes the ArcGIS Urban feature. Esri is the company who provides the well utilized GIS support that the town is contracted with. Additional services and support as drafted in the information provided in the packet included options of support at 2 an additional cost. If the committee is inclined to pursue the project, the RFP process would be followed to contract for services. A draft RFP could be presented to the committee before forwarding it to the town board for consideration and formal cost estimates would be received. The project cost would be expensed from the grant award and is estimated to be in the range of $60,000-$90,000. The committee was in overall support of moving forward with the project, focusing on the South Hill TND area. Staff will prepare a draft RFP to present to the committee to begin the process. Diana noted confidence in the existing staff for in-house assistance and abilities to learn from the additional technology and support. Once the project is built out and complete, specific additional services may be needed in other areas and there will be a remaining balance from the grand award. 5. Staff updates and reports: After alternate meeting date discussion, the May meeting was cancelled due to no agenda items and scheduling conflicts. C.J. noted upcoming attendance at the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU 34) in Northwest Arkansas. Proposed changes to the NYS Environmental Review process (SEQRA) are being followed by planning staff. The new NYS Freshwater Wetlands regulations have been annulled. The town will follow the guidance provided by the Association of Towns. The proposed housing development, The Woods at SouthWorks, is submitting for the sketch review phase and will likely be before the Planning Board in May. The potential West Hill TND development project has had new interest, and information could be coming in the summer. Coordination with the public works and planning committees will be concurrent. The town website still is current with the charrette and other information from the project team; C.J. offered to send that information to new Planning Committee members. Staff attended a data center webinar and no new information or concern was noted. Staff will stay abreast of any potential issues or projects relative to these uses. 6. Next meeting date and upcoming agenda items: The next meeting will be held June 18, 2026, with anticipated review of draft RFP for ArcGIS Urban Scenario Planning Models. Future agenda items will include discussion regarding sewer exemptions. Internal staff discussions will begin with engineering and planning. The Town of Ithaca Planning Committee meeting concluded at 4:04 p.m.