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IURA committee approves extension for 215 Cleveland Ave.; Sears Street extension vote fails
Summary
The IURA Neighborhoods & Housing Committee approved an extension for the Community Housing Trust’s 215 Cleveland Avenue homebuyer project to next September, citing uncertainty around a FEMA Letter of Map Amendment. A separate motion to extend Sears Street projects through April was seconded but did not carry at the committee vote.
The Ithaca Urban Renewal Agency (IURA) Neighborhoods & Housing Committee voted to extend the Community Housing Trust’s deadline for the 215 Cleveland Avenue homebuyer project to next September while discussing flood‑map, financing and affordability issues.
The decision followed a presentation by Leslie Ackerman, who manages construction of homebuyer projects for the Community Housing Trust, and IURA staff explaining that the Cleveland property’s saleability hinges on a Letter of Map Amendment (LOMA) from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. “If we don't get the Loma, we have bigger issues than this grant expiring because it won't be a sellable house to a low income family. It will just be unaffordable with, with, the flood insurance burden,” Ackerman said.
The committee was reminded that the project funding being discussed is HOME program money (not CDBG) and that “HOME funding has its own regulations, own timeline, which is…
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