The meeting of the Village of Lansing Planning Board was called to order by Chairman Hickey. Present at the meeting were Planning Board Members Brown, Halevy, Klepack, Waterman, Village Attorney Marcus, and Code Enforcement Officer Curtis.

Waterman moved to close the Public Comment portion of the meeting as there was no one present who wished to speak. Seconded by Klepack. All in favor.

Thys VanCort of the Ithaca Planning Department spoke to the Board about the process of hiring a consultant and what sort of issues should be addressed in a design proposal. He said that having a study done helps to point out all the issues to be addressed. A good consultant can help identify the things that the Board wants to control in both the public and private realm. VanCort reviewed some of the major issues that the Board will probably want to look at in this study: coverage, setbacks, "build-to" lines (farthest distance from the road that you can build), building materials, "transparency" of buildings (solid walls or open with lots of windows), how the entrance is treated, how the structure is articulated, the parking area, sidewalks, landscaping, lighting (adequate lighting while avoiding light pollution), roadways, circulation patterns, how to handle service areas, and public amenities (landscaping in the parking lot, next to building, next to the street). In thinking about parking, you need to consider the surface, landscaping, and if you want shared parking, parking behind the buildings, or a municipal parking lot. The use of decorative paving materials is becoming more complicated because the handicapped have a problem with pavements that aren't smooth. VanCort feels that sidewalks and trails systems should be encouraged and will be the biggest addition to our recreational system in the future. Public areas such as plazas, drainage ways, natural buffer areas, playgrounds, and parks also need to be considered. VanCort said that it is valuable to have your design plan written down. It then becomes the basis for the site plan review and possibly for the Zoning Law.

VanCort recommended that the plan call for an "appropriate" or "compatible" architectural style rather than "consistent" so as not to be too restrictive or specific. Regarding the involvement of the public in the decision making, VanCort said that in his experience, the most successful process has been holding public information sessions where questions are answered and then the people are broken down into smaller discussion groups. Statements are recorded in the smaller groups and reported back to the whole group at the end of the session. He also suggested inviting people who are not in the Village but who have expertise in particular areas. It was also suggested that commercial property owners should be included.

Hickey suggested the concept of having a retail store on the first floor and apartments on the upper floors. VanCort felt that would be an excellent combination of use.

VanCort recommended a two-step procedure in picking a consultant. The first step is to send a request for qualifications to several firms asking for information on who is in the firm and what kind of work they have done in the past. From those responses the Board can select the firms to whom they want to submit a request for proposal. He added that when they interview firms, it's very important to know who is the principle in charge and what will be delegated to other staff.

Klepack moved that requests for qualifications be sent to the following firms: Trowbridge, Environmental Design and Research Group in East Syracuse, the L.A. Group, and Tom Niederkorn’s firm. Brown suggested that the Board authorize Klepack to send a request for qualifications to those fourconsultants. Waterman seconded. All in favor.

George Gesslein, who was present at the meeting, had acquired rights to the property at 1 Churchill Drive through a foreclosure sale and also owns the adjacent lot, 2 or 4 Churchill Drive. Mr. Gesslein is now selling the 1 Churchill Drive property to the Goldberg family. As there is a need for an extension of Churchill Drive and a turnaround, Mr. Gesslein has agreed to deed to the Village the land needed for the road extension and turnaround in exchange for the Village repaving a specified area directly north of the new turnaround. Mr. Gesslein will be requesting approval for a minor subdivison to move the northern property line of his lot at 2 or 4 Churchill Drive northward to about 80 feet north of the existing manhole. The Planning Board needed to classify this as a minor subdivision and conduct a SEQRA review. Hickey requested that Gesslein indicates on the plat for subdivision approval the piece of land which will be deeded to the Village.

The Board conducted a SEQRA review. Waterman moved that the Board find that there will be no adverse environmental impacts caused by this action. Brown seconded. All in favor.

Waterman moved to classify the subdivision of the properties on Churchill Drive owned by Mr. Gesslein as a minor subdivision. Seconded by Klepack. All in favor.

Hickey amended the action with the addition of two conditions: 1) that the Village has an agreement to build the infra-structure for the turnaround; and 2) lot lines are configured so that the resulting lots have enough road frontage to be conforming lots.

All in favor of the amendment with conditions.

Curtis and several members of the Board will take a trip to the Town of Victor to speak to Jane Luce about the Town of Victor’s design guidelines. They hope to discuss how the process works, how the Town gets developers to comply, and whether these guidelines are incorporated into their Zoning Law. They will also take a tour of the Marriott plant where pre-fabricated modules are produced.

Hickey distributed copies of the Town of Victor’s open space policy for the Board to review in thinking about establishing a similar policy for the Village. He feels that the Village would benefit by having a formalized plan which identifies land that the Village would like to preserve for open space, particularly undeveloped land. For the past couple years the Mayor has been putting funds aside to purchase property for the Village, but the Village has not identified any land that ought to be preserved. Marcus suggested that one approach might be to amend the Greenway Plan to include areas that will stay in their natural state. An open space plan wouldn’t identify specific parcels of land, but will make general statements. Curtis pointed out that one of the considerations in identifying open space is the preservation of natural corridors for wildlife. Existing open space information will soon be accessible through GIS. Hickey will provide an overview for further discussion.

Two documents on shared parking had been distributed for the Board’s review . The Board felt that changing the Zoning Law regarding shared parking should not be done until the entire CLT proposal has been done, even though shared parking regulations will affect the total Village and not just the CLT district

Trustee Meeting: Hickey reported that the Trustees made some appointments and set goals for the year. Goals included work on N. Triphammer Road, resolving the sewer problem , and the Lighting Plan. They also decided on how the Comprehensive Plan will be covered and bound for publication. The mayor will design a cover from photographs of the Village taken by Steve Halevy.

Waterman moved to approve the April 12, 1999 minutes as amended. Klepack seconded. All in favor.

• Two of the trees around Billy Bob Jacks were cut down for Christmas trees. Curtis will write to Mr. Butler and ask him to replace those trees in order to maintain the buffer.

• The Mayor is talking about a joint meting with the Trustees and the Planning Board in June or July. The Lighting Plan and the Road Shoulders Amendment will be on the agenda.

• Hickey said that the members of the Green Space Council have now been appointed, and he is trying to arrange the first meeting. After Hickey meets with them the first time, the members of the Council can proceed on their own.

Waterman moved that the meeting be adjourned at 9:55 p.m. Seconded by Halevy. All in favor.