Developers preview Water's Edge waterfront design, seek subdivision approval at September meeting

Architect Eric Colbert, representing the Water's Edge team, presented a waterfront housing proposal that the applicants said will be presented to the full planning board for potential preliminary site-plan approval and preliminary/final subdivision approval later this month.

Colbert described the design as drawing on Scandinavian precedents and a mix of materials to reduce the horizontal feel imposed by local height limits. "My name is Eric Colbert, and I, for those of you who may not know, I'm actually an Ithaca native," he said before showing precedent images and a sample panel for a thermary-type wood siding the team has been weathering at its office. The plan calls for two buildings — a roughly 160-unit L-shaped building plus a smaller 40-unit building — arranged to screen a largely at-grade parking area from the waterfront trail. The team told the board that a very high water table on the site makes underground parking impracticable.

Board members praised the overall composition but asked for additional materials before the full board review. Member Ed DeRolman asked for clearer visuals demonstrating how parking will be screened from the trail and for more detail demonstrating that the corner commercial space would activate the waterfront rather than remaining private. Chair Max Pfeffer asked the applicants to include an image showing how the wood siding is expected to weather over time and to re-emphasize stormwater and parking constraints driven by groundwater levels. Staff member Nikki Sarah reminded the team that if applicants seek both preliminary and final subdivision approvals in one meeting they must show the interim plan the board relied on for its decision.

Next steps: the applicants will bring siding/material samples, additional renderings showing screening and trail views, a short summary of stormwater handling for the parking area, and the subdivision plan to the planning board meeting at the end of September.