HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOC Minutes 2022-02-16 TOWN OF ITHACA CODES AND ORDINANCES COMMITTEE (COO
Meeting of February 16, 2022 —5:30 pm—via Zoom and live on YouTube
Minutes
Members and Staff Present: Bill Goodman, Chair, Eva Hoffmann, Yvonne Fogarty, Rob Rosen. Marty
Moseley, Director of Code Enforcement; Susan Ritter, Director of Planning; Chris Balestra, Planner; Nick
Goldsmith, Sustainability Planner; Susan Brock, Counsel, Paulette Rose, Town Clerk.
Absent: Eric Levine, Member.
Guests: Chris Jung, Town Zoning Board of Appeals member—attended as potential ZBA representative on
the committee, Lei, Energy & Sustainability Intern.
Bill set up the meeting to broadcast on YouTube along with the Zoom platform. The agenda was then
reviewed, and Bill noted that public comment would not be taken at this meeting.
1. Member comments/concerns: None.
2. Minutes: Eva moved to approve the 1/12/2022 COC minutes as amended; Yvonne seconded. All
members voted in favor of approval.
3. Discussion of Energy Code Supplement Amendments: Nick Goldsmith, Sustainability Planner,
described the remaining proposed amendment to the Energy Code Supplement that carried over from
last month's discussion. The amendment was related to the "Adaptive Reuse" sections 144-C402.5.4.1
and 144-R502.5.4. The sections were reworded to clarify and align with each other and provide
additional detail. Nick worked on the reworded language with Marty and sought clarification from other
local sources as well. A diagram was provided to the committee and recommended to be included within
the provision, along with an example table for calculations of total surface area. Also included for
reference were the definitions "building thermal envelope" and"major renovation".
The proposed language in Nick's memo was discussed in detail. Eva asked for more clarification on the
diagrams pertaining to the differing arrows in the roof portion of the drawings for a flat-roofed versus
pitched-roofed structure. Marty explained that insulation methods vary slightly depending on the style
of the roof. Nick offered to add text to explain the differences in the diagrams that highlight which
surface areas should be used in the calculation for the adaptive reuse point. Rob added that he supported
the language, detail, diagram, and intent of the proposed language, and encouraged consistent language
between the Town and City of Ithaca laws. Bill agreed that consistency might be important and asked
Nick to tell the city, so they might consider the same law changes that the town is making.
The NYS Codes Council approval of the Ithaca Energy Code Supplement was discussed, with the town
and city's language both being before the Council and the need for the proposed amendments to be in
line with each other. Nick will follow up with Bill after communicating with the city regarding the
status of the amendments within their municipality.
Susan Brock recommended changing the first sentence to read "The building must maintain 50% or
more of the following five existing building elements, based on their(remove "the") total combined
surface area, as shown in the diagrams below." Committee members agreed to incorporate this change.
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Bill motioned to approve the above proposed amendment to the Ithaca Energy Code Supplement along
with the four previously discussed amendments and recommend sending the proposed amended
document to the Town Board for formal consideration. Motion was seconded by Rob, all 4 committee
members voted in favor.
4. Town of Ithaca Telecommunications Law: Bill noted that the committee had two new members: Chris
Jung, potential new ZBA representative, and Rob Rosen, new Town Board representative. He also
noted that these two members did not have any history or context related to the town
telecommunications law updates. Rather than go into a detailed discussion tonight, Bill suggested that
staff meet with Chris and Rob and bring them up to speed on what has been discussed to date regarding
the law. The committee therefore postponed specific law discussion to the March meeting. However,
the following general discussion occurred:
Susan noted that the committee still needed to make a final decision on setbacks between small wireless
facilities and residences. Bill noted for the new members' information that this was the big point of
concern raised by the public at town meetings as well as within the City of Ithaca, when their
telecommunications law was being revised. Bill suggested that the committee iron out all other details
in the law first and work on setbacks as the last item before formal recommendation to the Town Board.
Susan also thought that another set of items to look at were who/which town department would process
telecommunications applications in terms of which applications would go through an internal staff
review, and which ones would go through a board review. Susan mentioned COC's prior discussion on
this is noted in the detailed December COC minutes, and COC did previously decide the separate
gatekeeper issue (who will review applications for completeness for shot clock purposes). Chris B will
include those minutes for the committee's March continued discussion on the topic.
The FAA and potential delayed roll out of 5G was briefly discussed. Susan reported that she thought the
issue was remedied for the time being, with some airports prohibiting 5G cell service from being turned
on within a certain distance of the airport(possibly 2 miles from airports), depending on the type of
aircraft being used. The intent would be to limit the interference of 5G with aircraft signals and
instruments.
5. Other business:
Next meeting: March 9, 2022- no public comment will be taken at the meeting,but comments
are always welcomed and encouraged via email though the Town Clerk or Planning Department.
Agenda: Town of Ithaca Telecommunications Law continued discussion; review of Town of
Fishkill excerpts if needed.
The meeting adjourned at 6:18 p.m.
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