Archive: Opinions

It may be easy for me to criticize from the cheap seats, but is the Village of Lansing Planning Board potentially biting off its nose to spite its face?  For more than six years they have lamented that the condition they required for allowing the construction of BJ's Wholesale Club building north of the Ithaca mall -- a senior housing project that would act as a buffer to residential areas in the Village -- has not materialized.  Several versions of a project plan have been submitted and discussed, including one that Planning Board members absolutely hated.  This Tuesday developer Eric Goetzmann appeared before the board with a new plan.  Board members said they liked it very much.  But they were not inclined to rubber-stamp the plan as a minor change, which would result in the project finally being built this summer.

The developer claims that both the original plan and the new one have about the same impact on the property.  Indeed, he says the new one has less impact because it covers about a quarter of the plot instead of the whole thing, with the result that there will be less impervious ground cover (asphalt), grading, and disruption of existing infrastructure.  Some Planning Board members say that because there is no certainty that the remaining land won't be developed in the future, the designation might have to be that it is a major change.

From a practical standpoint the difference is between getting the project done this summer (minor) or possibly not until a year later (major).  A major change is similar to going back to the proverbial drawing board in terms of municipal approvals.  A minor change means the existing Planned Development Area (PDA) is still good to go, with just a few little changes.

It seemed obvious to me  that board members really liked the new design.  Sure, there were some items they wanted changed, but nothing that isn't part of the normal negotiations between developers and planning boards.  The sticking point was the unknown future.  Goetzmann said that his first (and last) foray into residential development is something he wants to get over with and never repeat.  he has been a successful commercial developer, and he says that is what he wants to do.

But Planning Board members don't believe him, and because of the way this project has played out, they may be justified.  About six and a half years ago a very rosy picture of the project was painted.  While BJ's would be built first, the housing for 55 and older residents would soon follow, and include a bird sanctuary, wetlands, walking paths -- you could almost see the Disney birds circling while they chirped a happy tune. 

He came to the Board with a plan to re-zone about 20% of the property as commercial, after it had been zoned for residential use to accommodate his senior housing project.  he claimed the idea was to build a small coffee shop or similar business that would be an amenity that residents could walk to.  Board members were suspicious that the original agreement was creeping back to something they and the Village did not want.  After some tense meetings and support for the rezoning by the Mayor, they did recommend the change.  the Mayor said his motivation was to just get the project done, which would be good for the Village.  But so far nothing has been constructed.

Delays, the most significant of which was a negotiation with the Army Corps of Engineers over the location of wetlands on the property delayed the senior housing portion of the project for six years, costing Goetzmann about $300,000 in expenses.

The new wetland boundaries opened the property up for more development and he brought a sort of ugly three-story apartment building to the table, which board members seemed to universally hate.  Since that meeting last summer, Goetzmann has attended several Planning Board meetings, and it is obvious that he incorporated just about everything the Planning Board wants into the new design.

I agree with Planning Board members that all that empty land looks suspiciously like a development waiting to happen.  But I do not agree with their concern that that would constitute a major change to the PDA.

First of all, if you take away the uncertainty about whether more development will happen on that land, I don't think anyone is claiming it is a major change.  Secondly, isn't it the Planning Board's mandate to vote on projects before them and not on future projects that don't exist and may never exist?

The reason the new plan is not a major change is that if Goetzmann or some future owner every did want to build something else on the site they would have to run it by the Planning Board, which could legitimately deny the new project.  PDAs are fairly tightly defined, and this change would be limited to whatever the finally approved plan turns out to be with whatever conditions the board wants to slap on it.

Emotions have run high for years now, as each side felt the other was thwarting the other.  he developer has been somewhat all-over-the-place with the various changes, and planning board members have become increasingly strident as they have been frustrated by plans they consider to go against the original agreement.  Goetzmann got his BJ's.  They want their senior housing.

You can't have it both ways.  You can either criticize the developer for taking so long to come up with an acceptable plan, and then accept it once it actually is acceptable.  Or you can not accept an acceptable plan and stop blaming the developer.

Even if Goetzmann were the most evil of developers with nefarious plans for undermining village zoning, the current plan, with what seem to be some minor tweaks that could easily be negotiated, does meet their stated desires for the project and its place in the Village.  The developer says he wants no part of future residential development.  He stated Tuesday he wants to build these 12 apartments and be done with it.  Because the Planning Board would have to approve anything beyond this, a point the developer argued himself, it seems there are more than sufficient safeguards for the Village.  You can take trust out of the equation.

Due diligence or frustration?  I am seeing both.  The key reason I would stink as a planning board member is that I am too impatient to sift through every little detail of a project.  I guess I'm more a forest kind of guy than a trees person. 

We certainly need trees people to do the work of our planning boards, because people who truly care about their communities protect them against the kind of sprawl that most people find ugly and not fun to live in.  Years ago I lived in a city that didn't care enough, and the result is a seemingly endless mess of strip malls and big box stores that is so out of control it has actually become a shopping destination.

But it is as important to see the forest once the trees are squared away.  Does the Village want this project to happen or not?

As I said at the beginning, it's easy to be an armchair critic when I have nothing to gain or lose either way this plays out.  I do see a tragic note in a 20 year relationship that has yielded quite a lot of improvements in the commercial sector of the Village has degenerated as it obviously has.  It just seems to me that if everybody shares the goal of getting these apartments built, it's time to get them built.

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