Planning department outlines housing pipeline, zoning rewrite and infrastructure constraints

Lisa Nicholas, Ithaca’s director of planning and development, told the council the department has 31 positions and three current vacancies and gave an overview of functions that include long‑range planning, code enforcement, sustainability and housing initiatives.

"We have 31 positions, 3 current vacancies in the planning side," Nicholas said while describing staffing, the housing dashboard and coordination with the Urban Renewal Agency that administers HUD entitlement funds.

Staff presented data showing household shrinkage and the need to build more units: between 2014 and 2024 population growth translated into a demand for roughly 400 additional units relative to earlier projections. They noted sharply rising land and construction costs — an example showed a roughly 38% increase in construction costs between two comparable affordable projects — and the impact of revised FEMA flood maps on developable land.

Planning staff described a grant‑funded zoning rewrite (New York State smart‑growth grant) with a 15‑member advisory committee and an estimated 12 months to a draft code and 18 months to adoption. They emphasized that zoning reform alone will not guarantee production, and recommended pairing code changes with incentives and infrastructure planning — for example, a second emergency access at the end of Cascadilla Street that would enable a waterfront project to proceed at larger scale.

Council members asked about fee studies, site plan design guidance, and inspections; staff said many design guidelines and the site‑plan ordinance are posted on the city website and that the department will provide additional information and follow‑up. Planning recommended an impact‑and‑effort matrix to prioritize housing actions and noted the need for cross‑departmental work on utilities and emergency access if the city is to achieve its production goals.

Next steps: staff will circulate zoning‑rewrite milestones, continue to update the housing dashboard quarterly, and work with council and other departments to map infrastructure barriers and potential incentives.