DRYDEN, N.Y. — Proposals for smaller single-family “cottage” rental complexes have grown in popularity in and around Tompkins County in recent years.
Pioneered by projects like the Boiceville Cottages, new cottage clusters have sprouted in Freeville, in Newfield, just over the county line in Hector, and another batch was recently approved in the town of Lansing. Now, a local landowner wants to bring a similar project to the eastern edge of the Northeast Ithaca neighborhood, technically located in the town of Dryden.
The property for which the housing development is proposed is a roughly 8.3-acre parcel wedged between the dead end of Cardinal Drive and the 1500 Block of Hanshaw Road. Technically, a “paper road” called Oriole Drive cuts across the property, but no formal road has been built, so it only shows up on parcel maps.
Most of the surrounding area is made up of single-family residential homes and undeveloped land owned by Cornell University. Older readers may recall that a conventional single-family home proposal, called “Briarwood II” located a quarter-mile west of the location was blocked by the Town of Ithaca about 15 years ago due to stormwater concerns.
The water and sewer district ends roughly halfway through the parcel — the western half is currently serviceable but the eastern half is not, though services could be extended to include the whole property. A “by the books” routine subdivision as allowed by law would produce seven lots with water/sewer, and six more lots that could be developed in a second phase should the water and sewer district be extended to service the whole acreage.
That would produce 13 buildable lots that allow a primary single-family home and a smaller accessory dwelling unit, a theoretical maximum of 26 housing units.
However, the plan by Dryden builder Joe Lovejoy sets forth a somewhat different approach. The first step would be to seek approval of a 13-lot subdivision, with the six lots in phase two being contingent on an approved and built water and sewer line extension. The next step would be to build seven cottage style units on the seven lots already serviced.
But the plan grows more complex from there. The first seven homes are allowed via current zoning, but Lovejoy plans to build them in a configuration that allows for additional homes. That would require a specialty form of zoning called a Planned Unit Development (PUD).
The PUD would seek to create a clustered cottage approach, with 22 of the 26 units concentrated in the existing water/sewer service on the western side of the parcel. The remaining four cottages would be in the water/sewer extension area, and the eastern side of the parcel would remain undeveloped.
The units would be accessed from a private drive off Hanshaw Road. Cluster-style cottages do not fit the town’s “Neighborhood Residential” zoning though, hence the pursuit of the PUD.
From a technical standpoint, conventional zoning would allow up to 26 units on 13 lots. The Lovejoy proposal seeks 26 units, but clusters them on one side of the parcel, and leaves the other side as stormwater facilities and open space. This means it is not strictly a density of housing units question, it’s whether town officials prefer cluster zoning over conventional zoning.
At the Town of Dryden Planning Board meeting Tuesday night, Lovejoy was joined by project engineer Larry Fabbroni Jr., who explained the proposal to the board. Fabbroni explained that they had productive discussions with Brent Cross, the Village Engineer for Cayuga Heights who oversees the water and sewer district.
“We’re here to get some feedback on the concept of a PUD,” said Fabbroni. “The subdivision is something we would propose as-of-right, but the PUD needs to go through a process and should serve everyone’s interest. We want to get some feedback and thoughts, and answer any questions you might have, and see if it’s worth coming back with a proposal for that.”
Planning Board member Joe Wilson, noting this is his last meeting as a member of the board, said that while the town’s comprehensive plan includes PUDs, it has not yet been utilized.
“As far as I know, nothing has ever [been] built like that [in Dryden],” Wilson said. “I’ve been a pain in the butt about having larger amounts of recreation space for the number of dwellers and buildings in the multifamily projects that we’ve seen. This looks like something that I was always hoping for.”
When asked about the target market, Lovejoy expressed that he was aiming for Cornell students and staff who wanted to be near the school, in a modest, middle market-priced space without shared walls.
When the board zeroed in on the student part of the answer, Fabbroni stressed that this would allow for a smaller but fairly uniform size between units versus larger single-family homes and small accessory dwellings.
“It offers options for a lot of our people who are looking for some something that’s smaller and more affordable than a typical single-family home,” Fabbroni added.
As for more explicit details on housing size and style, Lovejoy said they were looking to be around 1,000 square feet per cottage, with a few different styles. Some units may be two-bedrooms and a few may be three-bedrooms. Forty-three parking spaces would be included as part of the development, and the units would utilize electric heat pumps.
Some members of the board opposed the parking approach, with clustered lots of 4-12 spaces along the private drive, and there were also some concerns about fire access. Members also urged the construction of a community building to serve the residents, as Bruno Schickel has done with his cottage cluster developments, and preservation of mature trees as much as reasonably possible.
Overall, the board seemed favorable towards the cottage concept for the site. Its furthering of housing diversity was cited as a benefit to the town and fitting tidily into the town’s comprehensive plan.
With the board’s cautious optimism in tow, the proposal is likely to return with more fleshed-out details and environmental review forms in the coming months. The positive response means there may be more “cottage” clusters cropping up around the area yet.
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