Planning Board: Pair of housing proposals approved

ITHACA, N.Y. — A pair of projects received Site Plan Approval at the City of Ithaca’s Planning and Development Board meeting Tuesday evening during a relatively short but productive session.

In addition to the two approved projects, on Lake Street and East State Street, a third project was granted re-approval, and the board continued discussion on a couple of other proposals currently in the works.

Lake Street Townhouses (261 Lake Street)

In Fall Creek, DMG Investments has proposed building 16 three‐story for-sale townhouses broken into two strings of nine units and seven units on a vacant, sloped stretch of Lake Street. The market‐rate townhouses will each have a back entrance and a front entrance onto Lake Street and will be a mix of three‐ and four‐bedroom units.

Site improvements include removing invasive plant species while introducing native plantings, a new sidewalk on Lake Street, along with street trees and stormwater planters to manage runoff from roofs. The project team proposes 16 surface parking spaces.

As planned, the project will require parking variances — the developer will have one parking space on-site for each unit (16 total), and have a 99-year lease on another 16 spaces from the underused parking lot of the Auden Ithaca apartments next door uphill, in which DMG owns a majority stake.

At its meeting, the Planning Board held a Public Hearing on the Recreational River Permit, and discussed Preliminary Site Plan Approval. The plan is, assuming the permit is granted, it would be done so concurrently with Final Site Plan Approval next month.

Michele Palmer and Yifei Yan were on hand from Whitham Planning and Design to discuss the project, and architect Bear Smith from HOLT Architects. The Public Hearing for the Recreational River Permit opened and closed without comment, and Palmer presented new perspective renderings and demonstrative imagery of the lighting plan and the building setbacks.

Yan then discussed the fire lane on Lake Street, which is finished in concrete instead of asphalt to differentiate from the driving lanes, proposed planters and a vine-terraced, shared outdoor plaza behind the townhouses. The retaining walls will be Versa-Lok with a natural stone look.

Smith explained that HVAC units would be either behind the buildings or inside depending on the unit and final drawings, and the facades will use three natural wood tones, two grey wood tones and local bluestone to keep the townhouses from looking repetitive.

There was some debate because the project team said they spoke with city transportation engineer Tim Logue, who preferred they maintain a yield sign instead of the proposed stop sign based on the low number of issues previously. This caused some surprise and incredulity from the board. Chair Glass noted that a development necessitates change, and that it was an “apples to oranges” comparison.

There seemed to be a consensus that the materials were fine, but concerns remained with traffic management. If there’s enough outdoor lighting to be safe for pedestrians on Lake Street — usually, when there are lighting complaints, it’s too much, not too little as in this case — Glass stated that none of these are critical flaws. Still, they’ll need to be addressed before final Site Plan Approval.

With that, preliminary Site Plan Approval was granted, and the project will be back for final approval next month.

601 East State Street

The 601 East State Street project is one of several new or renovated small-scale infills that Modern Living Rentals has underway. Located within the East Hill Historic District, the project is a 5,720 square-foot, three-story, six-unit multifamily residential building in the rear yard facing Ferris Place, behind the existing building.

The proposed structure attempts to preserve the historic character of the area through form, scale and detailing such as a front porch and hip roof. Site improvements include plantings and constructing a parklet at the corner of Ferris Place and East State Street.

This is a fairly small proposal, and the design aspects were primarily handled by the Ithaca Landmarks Preservation Commission (ILPC) during its review back last October. The architectural design was approved after the ILPC process.

With zoning variances approved the the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) earlier this month, the project is nearing the finish line in Site Plan Review, with preliminary and final site plan approval up for consideration at this month’s meeting.

Gideon Stone and Cameron Neuhoff of Trade Design Build were on hand to talk about the plans. At this stage, any changes consisted of minor tweaks and finessing. The steps will include a handrail, and the sidewalk will be replaced on Ferris Place.

“I think we know this project pretty well by now, we’ve been looking at this for a while,” surmised Glass. “I think we’re ready to go.”

With that, the project was brought up for a vote. Preliminary and Final Site Plan Approval was granted unanimously 5-0. The project team hopes to start construction this summer.

The Ruby (228 Dryden Road)

The first project to come forward Tuesday night was the re-approval of previously greenlit Site Plans for a project in Collegetown, “The Ruby” at 228 Dryden Road. To refresh our readers, this proposal calls for the demolition of the existing two-story structure and subsequent construction of a four-story, 35-unit apartment building plus partially-exposed basement on the .185-acre project site.

The project includes other site amenities like landscaping, walkways, and outdoor patios. It is in the CR-4 zoning district and has undergone Design Review under the Collegetown Design Guidelines.

The project was approved by the Planning Board in June 2022, but has not moved forward despite an initially planned construction start in 2023. Developers have said recently that financing projects is currently difficult, even with Collegetown’s sky-high rents, though whether that’s due to high interest rates or a shield for other issues is difficult to determine. Collegetown projects aren’t eligible for tax abatements through CIITAP, the city’s density-driven tax abatement program.

Notably, the re-approval request for “The Ruby” did not come from the project’s original developer (local homebuilder Boris Simkin), but from Visum Development Group, which has built several Collegetown apartment buildings in recent years.

This was one of those rare cases where no one from the project team was on hand to talk about the project, though usually re-approval is a simple process if there have been no changes made to the proposal. With little discussion, the re-approval was granted.

Water’s Edge (683 Third Street)

Arnot Realty’s expansive waterfront project was back before the city Planning Board on Tuesday. The project team proposes demolishing three existing Department of Transportation maintenance buildings to redevelop the 8+ acre site into a mixed-use development.

The proposal includes two five-story buildings along Cayuga Inlet and two 4-story buildings inland, with approximately 452 residential units total and approximately 10,000 square feet of commercial space.

The project will be constructed in two phases over 34 months, with approximately 200 units in the first phase and about 252 units in the second phase, with each phase including a waterfront and inland building.

The waterfront buildings will be connected by a second-floor roof terrace and will have a mix of parking, commercial, residential and amenity/service space on the first floor, with apartments and additional amenities above. The two inland buildings will include a mix of residential units and amenity service space.

Site improvements and amenity spaces include fire pits, outdoor recreation, eating, cooking and seating areas. There will also be landscaping and lighting enhancements, and several new terraced stairways and ramps along the Waterfront Trail to provide access to new boat docks, with a kayak launch along the Inlet.

This is a large and complex project, and at last month’s meeting, it became clear that it would likely get a positive declaration on their SEQR/CEQR determination, meaning the project’s team would need to put together a lengthy Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) before reaching the approval stage.

At this point, the objective is to determine what topics will need the most attention within the EIS, so the CEQR Review focuses on what environmental impacts are most concerning, and what questions need to be addressed to mitigate those impacts effectively. It’s a multi-phase project, so there are major impacts, but they vary: for example, geologic impacts will be less substantial than traffic and stormwater impacts.

This month was devoted to continued examination of the traffic management section, as well as fire apparatus access. Arnot’s Ian Hunter expressed hope that they would still avoid the time and expense of a positive declaration on SEQR and the need for a full EIS, but city planning staff still recommends it. Architect Erik Reynolds of SWBR Architects, and urban planner Frank Armento of Fisher Associates were on hand to talk about the traffic/pedestrian/bike circulation and fire access.

Armento talked about the bikeshare stations, unbundled parking and the Third Street intersection, plus how an intersection with Fifth Street may be used if built out as proposed in city infrastructure grant applications. Revised timing of traffic signals would require cooperation from the state’s Department of Transportation, as the board’s Petrina noted. In response to a follow-up question from Petrina, Hunter stated that discussions for an Ithaca Carshare presence were ongoing.

The project team’s attorney, Kim Nason, asked the board if they were ready and willing to consider if they’re leaning towards the positive SEQR declaration recommended by staff, or the negative declaration the applicants are hoping for. Arnot and its team are prepared to do the EIS, but ostensibly they just want to save money and time if they can.

In response, Glass noted two things: the board needs more time to mull the determination, and that a Special Meeting has been scheduled for April 30 to devote additional time to delve into the details of the project. Until the meeting occurs, no one was comfortable saying if they preferred a positive or negative declaration.

Cornell Hillel (722 University Avenue)

Cornell Hillel has proposed to construct the Stephen K. and Winifred A. Grinspoon Hillel Center at Cornell, a three-story, approximately 24,000 SF building with a 6,400 SF footprint on an existing vacant 0.48-acre parcel.

The three-story center would technically be four floors, with one floor below grade. It would host spaces for educational, cultural, Jewish, and inter-faith religious programs, worship or instruction, student lounge areas, pastoral/wellness spaces, a space for religious use, classrooms, staff offices, a café, and a community kitchen for food programs.

Site improvements include an entrance plaza, outdoor space for the café and lounge, and seasonal plantings. The project is in the R-U Zoning District and will require multiple zoning variances for building lot coverage, building size, and parking.

The development team delivered a presentation about the project on Tuesday, and the board discussed their Declaration of Lead Agency, which allows the Planning Board to move forward with conducting the Environmental Review in the coming months.

Whitham’s Michele Palmer was back before the board to talk about the proposal. The project team had an initial meeting with the BZA and Palmer said “we have a lot to think about and Hillel is considering its options.”

That could signal some complications from the BZA, but the Planning Board’s Declaration of Lead Agency passed unanimously.

Board of Zoning Appeals Recommendations

There were two items on the agenda this month to review for potential recommendations in favor or against as they head to the Board of Zoning Appeals early next month.

The first was 521 North Albany, where the homeowners seek to demolish a 185 square-foot two-story back porch and build a 650 square-foot addition onto the back of the century-old home, exceeding allowable lot coverage (44% coverage, 35% allowed) and exacerbating yard setbacks.

If it’s an owner-occupied home and the neighbors aren’t angered, the board is generally supportive of these kinds of applications. There was a letter of support submitted, and that often helps: Most of the time, if the board hears from anyone, it’s to complain, which causes letters of support to be that much more noteworthy in the eyes of board members.

The other application is to upgrade telecommunications equipment to 5G antennas atop Mary Donlon Hall, and all telecommunication equipment changes are now BZA items because that was Common Council’s response to addressing the local 5G wireless health concerns a few years back. The Planning Board has always been fairly neutral about these applications, and they had no recommendations for or against here.

Other Business

Planning Director Lisa Nicholas brought the board’s attention to the newly released Downtown Plan neighborhood planning draft, which is undergoing public comment at this time. The open house will be next Thursday, May 2 from 4-7 p.m. at the Tompkins County Public Library. Nicholas noted that the survey already has over 600 responses.

Nicholas also asked the board to weigh in on the proposed Short-Term Rental legislation, which has been a hot topic both online and off-line since it was introduced.

City finalizing short-term rental regulations, ordinance being drafted

“It’s a well-thought out approach, the goals are laudable,” noted Glass, and board member Emily Petrina said she supports the regulations as well.

The board asked about pushback, and Nicholas noted that larger hosts have been pushing back against the proposed law “in force.” Of note — if an AirBnB operator has had a housing inspection and paid their AirBnB lodging tax (like the local hotel tax, but for AirBnBs) they are grandfathered in under the proposal. But according to conversations with those in the know, the majority of local hosts have never paid those taxes, so therefore they would not be grandfathered in.

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