Coalition Letter Requests that Ithaca Common Council Members Reject Cornell Heights Proposed R3aa Zoning

January 31, 2014

Ithaca Common Council Members
City Hall
108 East Green Street
Ithaca, NY 14850

Dear Sirs and Madams:

We, the undersigned, write respectfully to request that you a) reject the proposed Cornell Heights R3aa zoning change and b) maintain the existing RU zoning with the addition of the “maximum bldg. footprint” limitation specified herein.

The proposed R3aa zoning change would permit new development in Cornell Heights that would dramatically alter its architectural and historic significance in direct contravention of requirements adopted to preserve the character of the area as a whole.

The proposed R3aa zoning change would revise the “width in feet at street line” requirements from the current RU mandates (75 feet, 100 feet and 125 feet) to a uniform 50 feet. As illustrated in the attached Figures, that would tremendously increase the density of permissible development within the Cornell Heights historic district.

The proposed R3aa zoning change would exacerbate the historic district’s transition from its original turn-of-the-20th century “residential park” to a densely developed area that bears little resemblance to the community that was deemed to warrant special historic district protection approximately 25 years ago.

That trend is already underway as exemplified by a recently approved major project (312 Thurston Avenue) that clearly failed to fulfill City of Ithaca “certificate of appropriateness” requirements which the Ithaca Landmarks Preservation Commission (ILPC) is mandated to enforce.

That project was permitted to proceed despite a Geographic Information System (GIS) analysis that documented the ILPC’s failure to enforce its own approval requirements. Given those shortcomings, the public can have zero confidence in the integrity of the ILPC’s decision-making.

See: Proposed Apartment Housing Project Adjoining 312 Thurston Avenue

It is our understanding that the R3aa zoning change is being proposed in order to impose its applicable building footprint limitation regarding new construction:

“Maximum bldg. footprint: No new construction of a primary structure in the R-3aa zone shall contain a footprint that is larger than 120% of the average footprint of the existing buildings along the entire block front in which the building is located. If one or more such surrounding buildings have been demolished, then the calculation for maximum building footprint shall use the footprint of the primary structure that most recently stood on any lot where a demolition had occurred.”

Given the concerns documented herein, we request that this “maximum bldg. footprint” limitation be mandated while retaining the RU zoning for the Cornell Heights Historic District.

Cornell Heights Historic District

The Cornell Heights Historic District was established in 1989 in response to potential development activities that could have dramatically altered its architectural and historical significance. According to the Historic District’s significance statement:

“The Cornell Heights Historic District is architecturally and historically significant as an exceptional intact example of a turn-of-the-century planned residential suburban development placed in an outstanding natural setting along the northern rim of Fall Creek Gorge overlooking the City of Ithaca and the southern tip of Cayuga Lake. The district’s curvilinear street plan, lavish landscape features, dramatic geographical setting, strictly residential character (developed on large private lots) and its historical pattern of development place it within the romantic tradition of the ‘ideal’ residence park developed in the second half of the nineteenth century and popularized by Frederick Law Olmsted after the Civil War.”

Once the Cornell Heights Historic District was established, existing structures were grandfathered in, but requirements were established to preserve the character of the area as a whole.

The Cornell Heights Historic District is illustrated in Figure One.

Cornell Heights Current RU Zoning

Cornell Heights current zoning is RU. As indicated in Table One, the “width in feet at street line” requirements vary from 75 feet to 100 feet to 125 feet for various permissible developments.

Proposed R3aa Zoning

The proposed zoning change would be to R3aa. As indicated in Table One, the “width in feet at street line” requirement for R3aa is a uniform 50 feet.

The Proposed Zoning Change Would Permit Dramatic Changes to the Cornell Heights Historic District

The proposed R3aa zoning permits development would permit dramatic changes in Cornell Heights in direct contravention of its Historic District preservation requirements. That is why the proposed zoning change must be rejected.

As illustrated in Figures Two, Three, Four and Five the proposed R3aa zoning would permit development that would likely be most apparent in the undeveloped areas of the historic district.

Conclusion

For the reasons we have explained, we respectfully request that the members of the Ithaca Common Council: a) reject the proposed Cornell Heights R3aa zoning change and b) maintain the existing RU zoning with the addition of the “maximum bldg. footprint” limitation specified herein.

Given the ILPC’s recently documented failure to enforce its own “certificate of appropriateness” requirements, we believe that our requested action is essential to maintaining the significance of the Cornell Heights Historic District.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have questions about our request that we might be able to answer.

Thank you for your consideration.

Yours truly,

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