Ithaca’s Planning and Development Board reviewed plan revisions Tuesday for a proposed affordable housing project at 261 Lake Street in Ithaca, along Fall Creek, a river tributary which runs into Cayuga lake and requires permitting through the Department of Environmental Conservation to develop adjacent properties.

DMG Investments has proposed 16 three-story townhouses – spanning about 23,400 square feet – broken into two groupings at 261 Lake Street in Ithaca, a site already zoned for multi-family residential properties.

The company has proposed a renovation to city property on the Lincoln Street Extension to provide access to the site and create a turnaround for emergency vehicles, and improve parking, and at the same time create another 16 parking spaces on DMG Investments property.

The townhouses – a mix of three and four-bedroom units – will be rented for market-rate and include a front and back entrance onto Lake Street, where DMG Investments plans to remove invasive plant species, replace them with native species, create a new sidewalk on Lake Street, plant trees along the street and bolster storm water management systems for the site.

Project impact, board concerns

Several board members were concerned Tuesday about the size of the retaining walls planned at the property’s northern edge, proposed plantings outlining the walls and parking for the project after DMG Investments representative Yifei Yan presented revised plans.

“The wall in the parking is within the boundaries of the recreational river,” Director of Planning and Development Lisa Nicholas told Yan. “The retaining wall around the city road is on your property, but the whole reason that its there is because of the alterations you’ve proposed for city property. We have to really get feedback internally because you’re not just saying ‘I’m going to improve this road and build parking spots,’ but in order to do that, you need to build retaining walls. I say that to say I don’t think its time to develop that section of the retaining wall.

Other board members had concerns about the retaining wall stones.

“It sounds like there’s a fair bit of open concern around those retaining wall stones … in how that relates to our decision coming up with the recreational river permit,” Ithaca Planning and Development Board Chairman Robert Lewis said. “That would be something for the applicant to take note of before the next meeting.”

The wall, planned to reach 10 feet tall in some spaces, would be built to accommodate parking for the townhouses.

“The second layer option as presented today did not sufficiently alleviate board and staff concerns, that’s not to say that another strategy involving a multi-tiered retaining wall approach wouldn’t. I think there’s a general lack of comfort on the part of the board with the retaining wall situation that exists independent of any result you’ve shown us thus far,” Lewis said.

Lewis recommended that DMG Investments return to the board meeting in December to discuss updated planning and retaining wall plans.