ITHACA, N.Y. – At the public hearing planned for today at 7 P.M. at Ithaca Town Hall, the Maplewood Park project team plan to present fresh changes to the design that they hope will assuage the concerns of neighbors.
Gone is the contentious four-story structure facing Mitchell Road. In its place are 2.5 story (2 stories and a pitched roof) and 3 story strings of townhouses and stacked apartments. The new design eschews the previous modern scheme for a more traditional design featuring dormers, gables and stoops, in an effort to better blend in with the surrounding neighborhood.
“We have modified the townhouses along Mitchell Street in response to neighborhood concerns – there may be some transitioning of architecture within the project site, but it has not been entirely worked out,” said project consultant Scott Whitham.
Another modification from previous site plan iterations is the Maple Avenue structure, which has been split into two separate buildings in an effort to reduce the “canyon effect” decried by previous meeting attendees. To compensate for the loss of beds and units, one of the 4-story apartment buildings located deeper into the 17-acre property was lengthened. Overall, however, the number of units and bedrooms has decreased, from 473 units and 887 beds, to 442 units and 872 beds.
According to a press release from the project team, the recent reductions in Cornell graduate housing through the closing of Maplewood Park and Hughes Hall have reduced graduate housing to just 350 spaces for 7,500 graduate and professional students, only five percent of the total graduate student population. 40 percent of graduate students currently live at or further than a 30 minute walk from campus. The construction of Maplewood Park would bring the number housed on campus property to 16 percent. No natural gas use is planned, and EdR “is currently pursuing renewable energy suppliers” for its electricity.
Also stated in the press release was that the redeveloped Maplewood Park would pay taxes if built – $2.4 million to local governments and the Ithaca City School District. That’s a $900,000 increase over the conservative estimate of $1.5 million stated back in August. Estimates of town, county and school taxes come out to about $31.25 per $1,000 of assessed value, implying a taxable value of about $77 million, close to the previously reported $80 million redevelopment cost. The plan is that Cornell will still own the land (worth about $1.33 million according to county property records), but EdR will own all the site improvements. These data suggest EdR will pay very close to, if not full taxes on those improvements.
The project is currently within the public comment phase on its Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS), and for those unable to attend the public hearing this evening, written comments may be submitted to the town of Ithaca planning department through email here until October 31st.