Village of Lansing

Planning Board Meeting

March 28, 2000

The meeting of the Village of Lansing Planning Board was called to order by Acting Chair Halevy. Present at the meeting were Planning Board Members Brown, Dankert, Klepack, Waterman, Village Attorney Marcus, Code Enforcement Officer Curtis, and Trustee Liaison Leopold.

Public Comment

Brown made a motion to close the Public Comment segment of the meeting as there was no one there who wished to speak. Seconded by Dankert. All in favor.

Developer's Conference on the Ornithology Lab

Scott Sutcliff, Associate Director of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology introduced Eric Dicke Director of Planning, Design and Construction and John Gutenberger who is working on the Public Relations aspect of the project. Sutcliff went on to review the project and describe how it has evolved since their first presentation two years ago.

Site: The land of Sapsucker Woods is located in three municipalities – Village of Lansing, Town of Ithaca and Town of Dryden. Forty years ago this land was sheep pasture, with little woodland. All of the property that is considered wetland now was actually developed by Dr. Allen and his crew when they constructed a dike. And they were abetted by beavers that moved in afterwards and dammed up the wetlands and the streams running out of it. It includes a 10 acre pond. Depending on the season, about 200 species of birds inhabit the property as well as wild animals such as deer, mink, muskrats, foxes. In 1957 , Allen built the first Laboratory of Ornithology building and trailers have since been added to deal with the ensuing growth. The proposed development will involve the removal of all of these buildings and trailers and bring the whole lab in under one roof. The proposed building will be located in the Village of Lansing. The Hillier Group out of Princeton, New Jersey is designing a facility that is 80,000 sf in size.

Building: The new Laboratory will be located in Lansing. The building will eliminate.8 acres of wetlands which will be mitigated by the addition of even more wetlands in other locations. It is designed to fit into the landscape. The two story building will have a wood clad exterior with a window wall looking out to the pond. The ground floor will contain 50,000 sf. The second floor will have 30,000 sf. The building will provide space for the various programs and collections of the Lab. The feature of the second floor is a first rate working library for faculty, staff and students. The library is a satellite of the Mann Library. Normal occupancy will be around 91 people. Increased space is provided for students. The auditorium will seat 160 persons. The building will not be built in stages. If construction begins in Spring 2001, it should be ready for occupancy by summer 2002.

Access: The road will be relocated to provide access to the facility and preserve natural habitat. The Village of Dryden has approved the initial plans for the new road. Parking spaces will have a permeable surface. The Board questioned the use of permeable surfaces as gas or oil could seep through it. There will be swales which could help as a filter before the water eventually moves to the pond. There will be two parking lots holding 40 cars each plus an overflow lot for another 50 cars. Curtis questioned the adequacy of parking spaces. He believed this is an issue that would require some thought. Using the standard estimate of 1 parking space for every 200 sq ft about 400 spaces will be needed, 320 is what it could be reduced to under certain conditions. A quick count of 91 professionals, plus students, plus up to 160 in the auditorium call into question whether 130 parking places will be sufficient. The parking plans can be revised. There is access for emergency vehicles. Currently the TCAT buses have access to the Lab. The plans for shuttle service from Cornell are being studied.

Sanctuary: Two to three acres of wetland will be added from the areas where the old road and old building exist now. All of the plants around the buildings will be native to New York so they will be taking advantage of what is growing here naturally. There will be two bird feeding gardens with shrubs and plants that attract birds. The trails through the Sanctuary will be open 24 hours a day. The trails will not be lit because of the needs of the owls and other nocturnal birds. The trails can be used for skiing. They haven't completed the design of the trails.

30 Arrowwood Drive - Address Change:

Jan McCracken from the Integrated Acquisition and Development wrote a letter dated March 13, to request a change in address of the fourth building at the Parkview Health Care Campus from 30 Arrowwood Drive to 8 Brentwood Drive. The actual curb cut for the building is on Brentwood not Arrowwood. The change in address should avoid confusion in giving directions to patients as well as aid in delivery by mail carriers. Two of the tenants are scheduled to open in mid-April. Waterman moved that the address change be approved, Klepack seconded, all in favor.

Commercial Low Traffic Study Update:

Halevy referred the Board to a letter dated March 28, 2000 regarding EDR’s Commercial Low Traffic Study. It contains the contract outlined by Environmental Design & Research for the Commercial Low Traffic District Study. The Board should take some time to study the contract and discuss it at the Board meeting on April 10. David B. Crandall, EDR Principal in Charge, has suggested a special meeting on April 12th. Halevy will invite those members of the Trustees that are interested. Waterman expressed concern about the Progress Payments for Basic Services. Halevy said this could be discussed at the April 12 meeting. Nobody has signed a contract and no commitments have been made. Marcus will review the contract.

Reports

Trustees: Halevy said that the Trustees began a discussion of the Budget. Each Trustee was assigned a section of the budget to review and make recommendations. They didn't seem to have any problems with the Planning Board budget. They approved a digital camera, a printer for 11 x 17 paper and they approved the GIS software requested. The Kensington project was discussed briefly. The Mayor proposed that the Village try to take over the entrance driveway for Northwood all the way to the property line of Audrey Edelman and add a second two lane road where there is not one now. The road would be divided it's entire length until it reached the property line where it would then merge into one two lane road. That would provide more safety and enhance the appearance of the road. The next step for the Mayor was to approach the Colberts, who own that property on which the existing driveway is located, about the Village taking over the roads and bringing them up to Village specifications. The Village will bring the road down to Coventry Walk up to specs. Halevy reported the Trustees then went into an executive session to discuss matters related to acquisition of real property.

Other Reports:

Curtis reported that the construction of the Marriott was moving rapidly as the modular units are put in place. Curtis reported that when the Planning Board approved the Tops drainage retention plans, one of the conditions was that Tops put plants in the retention area that would improve the quality of the discharge in addition to controlling the rate of storm water run off. Tops is trying to come up with the right plants. Everything else is pretty much done so the Building Permit should go out by the end of this week and then they will be starting the pad and the foundation work next week. Curtis stated that Pyramid is working on leases. The Old Navy will occupy part of the old Montgomery Wards space. The construction drawings for McDonalds have been submitted and the landscape plans and the lighting plans are approved. McDonalds still has to agree to participate in developing walkways. And there has to be an agreement that in the event that their window causes a problem and traffic stacks out to Triphammer Road, then Curtis would have the authority to close their window. McDonalds still has to resolve a few little problems; how to put the sewer in and also there are some drainage plan issues to resolve. One possibility is to tie into the sewer line across the road at the old building and pump the sewage. Dennis is looking into the feasibility of tying it into the 12" sewer line on the eastern edge of the Pyramid parking lot. One of the issues that they'll have to deal with as part of the approval conditions is that until the light is installed at Graham Road and North Triphammer, McDonalds can't have a certificate of occupancy. McDonalds has said they can start a place and be ready to open in 80 days.

Board of Trustees:

Leopold reports that they voted a raise for the Planning Board.

Approval of the Minutes:

None available.

Other Business:

Halevy thanked Phil Dankert for his participation as acting alternate member.

In conjunction with some general discussion about the Sutton's home business that involves using a computer, attention was drawn to the need for review of the laws about conducting business in the home. The use of computers could be classified as a business at home but there wouldn't necessarily be any added traffic to the house, need for storage of inventory or any other outward sign that a business was being conducted there.

Adjournment:

At 10:30, Waterman motioned the meeting to adjourn, seconded by Klepack. All in favor.