ITHACA, N.Y. — Town of Ithaca officials have spent over a decade revising the town’s Comprehensive Plan and redesigning its zoning code to embrace compact, mixed-use neighborhoods. Now an experienced developer would like to give that approach its first significant test.Conifer Realty plans to meet with the town’s Planning Committee Thursday to discuss concept plans for a “full traditional neighborhood development,” to be built on the roughly 50-acre property it has owned on West Hill since 1999 on Route 79/Mecklenburg Road.Conifer officials are proposing to build about 400 housing units, in fully-electric buildings ranging from one to five stories tall. The current plan includes 25 single-family homes, 35 townhouses, 15 smaller apartment buildings with a total of 180 units, and two larger apartment buildings with a total of 160 units. Some of the housing stock would be for-sale, while there will also be rental units, slated to be lower-income and market-rate housing. The larger apartment buildings are intended to be senior housing.In addition, the plan calls for street-front commercial use — ideas pitched in the letter to the town include spaces for a pharmacy, small restaurants, convenience store and a daycare. Conifer’s proposal also mentions a bus stop, a community trail, and access to the community garden and 22 acres of town park space to the north of the property, which is currently inaccessible aside from the community garden. Other elements like pocket parks, a playground and other recreation/public spaces will be discussed as part of the group’s community meetings for feedback. The goal, according to Conifer, is to have approvals by June 2025. The phased buildout, which focuses on the houses and smaller apartment buildings first and the larger senior apartment buildings later, is targeting a Fall 2028 completion.Adjacent areas of the site were developed in the 2000s for the two phases of the 128-unit Linderman Creek Apartments, and the 72-unit Conifer Village Senior Apartments. However, the majority of Conifer’s property remains undeveloped. The Belle Sherman Cottages, an example of TND-style development.A traditional neighborhood development (TND) envisions walkable, compact blocks and narrow roads with most parking tucked behind buildings, traditional street grids, shops and homes in the same neighborhood. TNDs are typically designed so porches and stoops front the street instead of garages and driveways. Similar developments can be seen in Fall Creek in Ithaca or Main Street in Trumansburg. It’s a different approach than what Conifer used with the adjacent apartment complexes, which follow typical late 20th-century suburban planning featuring large parking lots and sprawling apartment buildings. But the concept of TND has caught on with town and city planners because it does a better job conserving open space, encourages community and de-emphasizes vehicle usage. The town’s New Neighborhood Code was designed to encourage TND approaches.TND proposals have been explored in the town previously, though one has yet to come to fruition. Cornell considered such an approach for its redevelopment of East Hill Plaza, but those plans were mothballed. The Maplewood development follows TND aesthetically, but it’s limited to Cornell students. The massive SouthWorks development in Ithaca is also similar to a TND, but it’s centered around the re-use of an existing factory complex, and has yet to start construction.What sets the Conifer proposal apart is that it’s essentially an all-new, multi-phased build. While the proposal states an intent to sew the existing Conifer complexes into its community fabric, everything else is a fresh start.However, the Conifer proposal does have one similarity to Cornell’s East Hill Village plans. The project team knows what they want to do programmatically, but they want community input to help them plan physically what goes where.However, Conifer, based out of Rochester with 21,000 housing units in over 150 properties throughout the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, has experience with many kinds of housing development.The town’s Planning Committee will meet on Aug. 15, where it will discuss the proposal, though the meeting is only slated to include initial discussion of the concept and first impressions from committee members. The first community meeting is Wednesday, Aug. 28, from 5-7 p.m. in the Conifer Village Community Room at 200 Conifer Dr. and is open to the broader community. The community meeting will include an introductory presentation about the project and how it fits with the town’s goals. Next, attendees will be able to stop at small design stations to discuss use of green space, design concepts and other project details large and small.For those who can’t make it to the charette/open house, Conifer’s project website has phone and email contact information for questions or qualms.A second open house is tentatively planned for late September, and town Planning Board review of formal plans will likely take several months from when they are submitted, especially as the project seeks to comply with the town’s New Neighborhood Code. A bevy of local firms are working with Conifer on the plans, including HOLT Architects for the buildings, Whitham Planning and Design for the landscape architecture, and T.G. Miller P.C. for the civil engineering work.If you appreciate our coverage, please consider making a donation to show your commitment to reliable local journalism.The post New proposal seeks to add 400 housing units, “traditional neighborhood” to Ithaca’s West Hill appeared first on The Ithaca Voice.