Another step closer to the biggest project the city has seen in years (if ever), from the Journal:
(related posts are #1644 & #1657)
Ithaca Common Council adopted legislation Wednesday allowing the creation of special unit zoning districts in industrial areas of the city, such as on the former Emerson Power Transmission complex on South Hill, shown in this 2010 aerial photo. A developer wants to turn the 95-acre site into a mix of housing, retail, recreational space and light manufacturing but would be hampered by current industrial zoning. / File Photo
Ithaca adopts unit zoning district capability
Planned unit developments allowed only in industrial zones
4:26 PM, Jul 7, 2014
Written by
David Hill
Ithaca Common Council has approved the creation of special zoning units that could be created one at a time for mixed-use developments in industrial zones, a change that may help redevelop the former Emerson Power Transmission factory on South Hill.
The unanimous 10-0 vote Wednesday amends the city’s zoning ordinance to allow for planned unit zones. Such zones, common among many other localities, are intended to have their own specially agreed-upon development regulations rather than the standard rules of traditional zones such as residential, commercial and industrial. Rather than classify whole portions of the city for residential, commercial or industrial uses, it allows a piece of land to be treated as a unit apart from the underlying zoning
The goal is more flexibility in large projects, each one considered on its own and adopted only if deemed beneficial to the city and residents.
The measure adopted does not create any such districts, but merely allows their creation at Common Council’s approval after review by city staff and Planning and Development Board.
The action was largely prompted by plans by a developer to turn the 95-acre Emerson Power Transmission site on South Hill into a mixed-use complex with apartments, retail, offices, small-business incubator and flexible space, and perhaps light manufacturing. The site straddles the city-Town of Ithaca line and in the city portion is zoned industrial, which does not allow housing.
The plan is called the Chain Works District for its former life primarily making chains for cars and trucks and later just industrial machines, and is led by David Lubin, an Elmira-area developer. City officials are enthusiastic about it, because the former century-old former factory is Tompkins County’s largest empty industrial site, the main building looming over the city.
Without the capability to have the project reviewed as a planned-unit development, multiple rezoning requests or variances would be needed.
“Were really planning a new neighborhood,” said Scott Whitham, the Ithaca who is leading the planning and government approvals process for the Chain Works team. “It’s really a rethinking of a major area of the city, and so the PUD is the perfect tool for that rethinking.”
The ordinance does not specify any particular spots for using the special unit zoning capability other than limiting them to industrial zones. The city’s other major industrial zones are the Cherry Street and Carpenter business parks.
Early drafts of the ordinance were amended to specify that the PUD zones could be used only in industrial zones after some residents raised concerns that they could be used by developers to get around existing zoning.
The ordinance also lays out a process and application form that developers seeking the designation would have to follow. Landowners, or developers with owner’s acknowledgment letters for property a developer wants to buy, will be able to apply for PUD status for a piece of property or combination of lots. The ordinance says no land owner has a right to have a PUD on his or her property.
Here's the link:
http://www.ithacajournal.com/article...ict-capability