Another article on proposed downtown zoning changes. From the Tompkins Weekly online:
Ithaca Looks to Grow Toward the Sky
By Matthew Peterson
Things are looking up for downtown Ithaca—literally. Over the past decade, major building projects like the Hilton Garden Inn, the Green Street garage and the Gateway Commons have significantly increased the height of
Ithaca’s skyline.
Although not quite skyscrapers, these projects, and future projects such as the 50-unit Breckenridge Place Apartments project on the
corner of Cayuga and Seneca streets and the Seneca Way project, a five-story mixed-use building proposed for the former Challenge Industries site on East Seneca Street, strongly signify that Ithacais getting taller.
That’s a good thing, according to some city officials who hope to rezone portions of downtown to allow for increased height in several areas. Specifically, city planners would like to see changes made in the central business district, which includes the Ithaca Commons and portions of the main streets that surround it.
“For downtown to grow, it needs to grow upward, and the proposed new urban density helps to make this possible,” says Gary Ferguson, executive director of the Downtown Ithaca Alliance (DIA), a group that advocates for the prosperity and growth of downtown. “Amending downtown zoning to
create additional density is a key and essential element of the Downtown 2020 Strategic Plan.”
Ferguson refers to the DIA’s strategic plan, which provides a comprehensive vision for the future of downtown and outlines goals, objectives and action tasks needed to achieve this vision. The plan was endorsed by Ithaca’s
Common Council in April.
A major goal of this plan is to increase the number of residential units available in the core downtown district. The hope is that by having more people living downtown, business revenue would increase in that area because people would be more inclined to spend their dollars near where they live.
“In order to achieve (the plan’s) goals, it was determined that we need to increase density in the core, while preserving and enhancing the character of downtown and the pedestrian experience along the street frontage,” wrote City of Ithaca Economic Development Planner Jennifer Kusznir in a rezoning proposal circulated among city officials in December.
Parcels of land in downtown Ithaca where new projects can be built are nearly nonexistent, so the best way to increase the density of downtown is to build upward.
“Community input from the 2020 plan and the ongoing city comprehensive plan confirms that downtown is the place in the city where we want to cluster larger and taller buildings,” Ferguson says. “Along with changes to the tax-incentive program, amending downtown zoning is a key to future smart growth and development for our city.”
In recent months a working group comprising Mayor Svante Myrick, Ferguson, city planners and members of Common Council reviewed downtown zoning designations to determine where best to make changes. The goal was to rezone in areas that would compliment the goals of the 2020 plan.
These meetings culminated in the creation of a package of proposed zoning changes, distributed to Common Council in early December. They are expected to discuss and consider these changes at the next Planning and Economic Development Committee meeting on Jan. 9 at 6 p.m. in Common
Council Chambers in City Hall, 108 E. Green Street.
Measures proposed by city planners include:
Various changes in height in the areas surrounding the Commons while maintaining a maximum height of 60 feet on the building fronts located on The Commons. In addition, a small parcel that is currently zoned for CBD-85 would be down-zoned to CBD-60, so that all properties directly on The
Commons would have a maximum allowable height of 60 feet.
The buildings surrounding the Commons on the southern side are being proposed for a maximum allowable height of 140 feet, and the buildings to the east of the Commons are being proposed for a maximum height of 100 feet.
Additional changes are proposed along Buffalo Street and a small area on Court Street
The creation of a new Central Business District Transition Zone would encompass West Martin Luther King, Jr./State Street. This zone would retain the pedestrian scale along the street front but would allow for taller buildings
toward the center of the block and/or rear of the parcels.
Here's the link:
http://www.tompkinshosting.com/tompk...107.pdf#page=2