Planning board approves amended negative declaration for 602 West Buffalo; board presses accessibility, garage security and streetscape details

The Ithaca Planning & Development Board on Dec. 16 voted to adopt an amended negative declaration (SEQR 'NEG deck') for the proposed housing project at 602 West Buffalo Street, while flagging multiple design and safety issues to be addressed during upcoming site-plan review.

Bear, representing Health Architecture, and project team members summarized revisions made in response to prior board comments: pulling the residential entry forward toward Buffalo Street, adding windows to a corridor, replacing a removed fence with a black vinyl-coated privacy-slatted fence and new plantings, adding an exterior tenant/public bike rack area, and proposing roughly six fixed tables and 12 chairs in two amenity locations (exact counts to be confirmed). Staff also noted changes to floodplain impacts and that some ground-floor areas would be raised to meet updated FEMA mapping.

Board members expressed repeated concerns about accessibility (Andy Roman urged development of a ramp scheme rather than treating ramped access and stairs as separate routes), parking-lot security (several members said the open, under-building garage felt unsafe and recommended exploring options to enclose it), and coordination of landscape and streetscape elements. Staff and the applicant agreed the amended negative declaration concentrates review on environmental impacts such as floodplain changes while site-plan review will address design and operational issues raised by the board.

Todd, a project representative, told the board the project is being structured as an HCR-financed affordable building and warned that current market conditions make affordable development more constrained: "It’s not a good time to be an affordable housing developer…tax credits are worth a lot less today than they were before," he said, noting that design choices are balanced against costs and HCR requirements. The applicant said it will continue to refine the facade, gating, lighting, trash and trash/recycling staging, and the ramp and seating design before the site-plan review hearing.

Elizabeth moved to approve the amended negative declaration; Andy seconded. The board conducted a roll-call vote and approved the amended NEG deck unanimously. The board and applicant agreed to return with more detailed site-plan materials that address accessibility, security of the parking area, materiality, views from all sides, ramp solutions and landscape details.