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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPC Minutes 2026-08-11 1 Town of Ithaca Planning Committee Tuesday, August 11, 2026 (1:00 PM Aurora Conference Room and on Zoom) 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; Director of Engineering Justin McNeal; GIS Specialist Max Villanueva; Town Planner Nick Quilty-Koval; Guests: Tompkins County Planning and Sustainability Department representatives David West and Shawna Stevenson. 1. Persons to be heard: None 2. Committee announcements and concerns: None 3. Approval of June minutes: Diana moved the June 18, 2026, minutes for approval as presented; Dave seconded. The minutes were approved. 4. Review and discuss three consultant responses to RFQ for developing scenario planning models for 2014 Comprehensive Plan Future Land Use Map Character Districts / areas. The town received eight responses to the RFQ. Staff internally narrowed down the submissions to the three that aligned closely with the project needs. Representatives from each of the firms below either came in person or via zoom for a 30-minute presentation by their staff followed by a short question and answer period. Fisher Associates (subconsultant MRB Group), Houseal Lavigne (in partnership with Langan, The Gartrell Group, and Urbanomics) and LaBella Associates. At the conclusion of the three presentations, the committee asked for follow-up questions to be sent to Fisher and Labella. A list of potential questions was provided to the committee, C.J. asked for any additional questions to be sent to Planning to compile and send to the respective consultant teams. With the recent execution of the Esri Urban ArcGIS agreement, staff will draft a scope of work for each of the two to consider as well. That draft, along with the responses to the questions, will come back to the September 17 Planning Committee meeting to consider a recommendation to the TB at their late September meeting. 5. Staff updates and reports. C.J. reported on the Streets’27 Forest Home Traffic Calming Plan project. A meeting was held recently with the steering committee, updates will be published on the Town website’s project page. C.J. recommended that the Planning Committee revisit the town’s existing Large Scale Solar Overlay Zone map at the September meeting for any potential changes. There was a meeting with consultants for the South Hill TND GEIS project. A scoping document is anticipated by the end of this year. Public engagement is expected to continue as the project moves forward both with the property owners and general public. 2 The Planning Board is continuing review of the SouthWorks Woods project. The Joint Sewer Interceptor project presentation at the Public Works committee was noted. Lastly C.J. mentioned in conjunction with the Conservation Board, Towns of Danby and Dryden, an upcoming cluster/conservation subdivision workshop is anticipated in early October. It will be held at the downtown conference center with presenter Randall Arendt. The town’s revised subdivision draft was presented at recent CB and PB meetings with good feedback received. Max briefly updated on his recent attendance at the Esri User Conference. Connections were made with many other GIS professionals as well as connections with engineers and consultants. Marty stated he had nothing to report. 6. Next meeting date and upcoming agenda items: September 17, 2026 The Town of Ithaca Planning Committee meeting concluded at 3:25 p.m.