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Ithaca Business Begins New 10 Year Plan |
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Staff
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Friday, 22 February 2008 |
 The Downtown Ithaca B.I.D. announced today it is beginning work on a new, 10-year strategic plan for downtown, a full year prior to the final year of a 10 year plan adopted in 2000. The new strategic plan will be completed in the latter part of 2008 and its development will include extensive outreach into the community for public comment and input.
‘We’re starting on a new 10 year plan now because of the changes we’ve seen not only in downtown, but across the entire city of Ithaca and in the surrounding communities,’ says Downtown Ithaca B.I.D. Executive Director Gary Ferguson. ‘Recent residential, commercial and economic development changes in each of these locales have been significant... the kind we see once every generation. Downtown Ithaca must have a vision and strategy that will allow it to adapt and grow with those changes. That’s why we’re starting work on our new 10 year plan a year early.’
Some of the areas the new 10 year strategic plan will explore include:
- Housing. Does downtown Ithaca has an appropriate mix of quality low, moderate and high income housing? Should there be a plan to continually promote the development of all three as well as the maintenance of existing housing stock? How important is housing to downtown’s future?
- Commercial Space. Do we maintain downtown Ithaca as ‘the’ office hub for commercial businesses and the workers they employ? How should the community respond to commercial development in the surrounding areas? How much of the region’s office space should we try to locate in downtown?
- Retail Growth: What type of retail development do we want to see in downtown Ithaca? Should the downtown Ithaca of the future be a retail center? What are the factors that encourage and impede retail business in downtown Ithaca?
- Tourism: Tourism is becoming increasingly important to the downtown economy. How should we balance tourism with the needs of local resident?
- Density: Downtown density was a key area of focus in the last strategic plan. How much density is appropriate for our downtown of the future?
- Transportation and Traffic: The existing transportation infrastructure in downtown Ithaca presents both opportunities and challenges. How does downtown meet them? If more downtown parking is needed in the next 10 years, where should it go? How can downtown Ithaca use mass transit most effectively in the future?
- Town/Gown Relations: What role should the county’s three institutions of higher learning play in shaping the future of downtown over the next 10 years?
According to Ferguson, ‘An extensive outreach effort will be key to developing this new 10 year plan. We’ll nave numerous opportunities for the community and the general public to talk about downtown Ithaca and offer their input. We’ll also hold a number of sessions targeted at specific populations such as local government, businesses and educational institutions. We’re strongly encouraging the entire community to participate and tell us how downtown Ithaca can continue to be a model downtown for many others across the country.’
The public outreach effort will also include visits to neighborhoods in and around the downtown area. Those sessions are currently scheduled to begin in March and continue through September.
The previous downtown Ithaca ten year strategic plan was adopted by the B.I.D. in 2000 and amended in 2004. It served as a blueprint that helped to guide numerous initiatives. Some of them included investments and commitments to invest in downtown of over 100 million dollars, the addition of 200 new housing units and the revitalization of numerous existing buildings to preserve their historic characteristics. Also during the past ten years, Cornell University and Tompkins Cortland Community College each made substantial investments in downtown.
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