City staff outlines Southworks cleanup funding, municipal investment fund and CCA plans
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Summary
A public commenter asked about Southworks funding; staff confirmed roughly $38 million in grant support, described a hydrogen-solar project and explained the Municipal Investment Fund predevelopment application and community choice aggregation outreach plans.
A member of the public asked the Ithaca City Sustainability Commission for an update on the Southworks redevelopment and related city programs, prompting staff to confirm recent grant funding and to outline concurrent financing and community-energy initiatives.
Public commenter Quinn said they had read that "the Southworks project has received about $40,000,000 in funding" for asbestos cleanup and environmental work. Staff responded that the Southworks project had received approximately $38,000,000 in grant funding and described the sustainability components of the project, including a modular hydrogen system that pairs solar panels with an electrolyzer to produce and store hydrogen for electric-vehicle charging and bus charging. Staff noted the site crosses city and town jurisdictional lines.
Staff also updated the commission on two broader financing and energy efforts. They explained the Municipal Investment Fund (partnership work with external funders) and said the city applied for phase 1 predevelopment funds and sought roughly $1,000,000 to support public-private project portfolios and to help close financing gaps on projects such as Southworks and distributed energy projects. Staff said reviewers provided positive preliminary feedback and requested additional emphasis on labor and union partnerships.
On community power, staff explained Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) as bulk purchasing of electricity for city and town accounts and described a complementary Distributed Energy Resources (DER) plan intended to expand community-owned renewables and improve access for renters and low-income residents. Staff said the city has contracted an administrator experienced with CCA programs and cautioned that state Public Service Commission rules are new and strict, requiring careful compliance to avoid the pitfalls other regions have faced.
No council-level approvals were recorded in the meeting transcript; the commission heard the updates and agreed to seek deeper dives in future meetings and to support outreach and coordination ahead of council review.
