A local trade union gave members of the Town of Ithaca Planning Board their first look at plans for a new apprentice training center Tuesday night.

The project is being pitched to the town by the UA Local 81, a labor union representing plumbers, steamfitters and HVAC technicians. The union is seeking to develop a vacant 9-acre site on the 800 block of Elmira Road, near the intersection with Enfield Falls Road. The property was previously used as support space by Eddydale Farm, which operates a farmstand at 827 Elmira Road, near the proposed training center site. Currently, the area is  overgrown with shrubs, grasses and a few trees.

The training center proposal involves constructing a one-story, 23,700-square-foot building close to the Elmira Road frontage, along with 74 parking spaces and outdoor training areas. The rear portion of the property would have solar panels,a public-use walking trail, access to Enfield Creek for fishermen and, eventually, a connection to the Black Diamond Trail.

A site plan submitted to the Town of Ithaca.

The building itself, designed by architect Brian Manthey of Marietta, N.Y., would host union offices, a union hall, six night school training classrooms and labs, a welding training and support space and a commercial-grade loading dock. The outdoor training area would include space for a truck-mounted crane and a training “sandbox” for practice digging up and laying underground piping, with a cantilevered solar array overhead. 

While the building is expected to have solar panels and a geothermal system, it will utilize a natural gas connection and equipment. As the application to the town states, “fossil fuel fired equipment is a large part of the world these students are being trained to provide service” to and having those facilities on-site is a training requirement.

Tuesday night’s meeting was intended to only be an introduction to the concept sketch plan, with no voting items scheduled. However, the project is likely to see an enhanced level of scrutiny. It is proposed for the Inlet Valley Overlay District in an area currently zoned for low-density residential development.

The proposed UA Local 81 project would require a special permit and site plan approval from the Town of Ithaca Planning Board and may require area variances from the Zoning Board of Appeals, pending further review by town code enforcement. The New York State Department of Transportation would also have to sign off on the driveway and a new curb cut onto Elmira Road.

Stan Hiller, who purchased Sunny Gables — a prominent gothic revival building at 919 Elmira Road — a couple of years ago, spoke during public comment in opposition to the proposal, saying that it did not belong in Inlet Valley.

Lainey Papageorge, a nearby resident of the site, called the project “anathema” to the area.

“I don’t see how anyone in good faith who lives in the Town of Ithaca could want to breathe, eat the food that comes from our crops, and use the fish and all of the other things that grow on our land for nourishment if you all approve this,” Papageorge said. “It is completely against what anyone coming into the town of Ithaca from the south would want to view.”

A screenshot of a rendering of the training center presented Tuesday to the Town of Ithaca Planning Board.

Manthey represented the project team before the planning board and walked them through the concept plans. Manthey explained that the union’s existing training facility is too small and can no longer meet their needs. Much of the land along the frontage was of little agricultural use. It is filled with excavated material from when Elmira Road was expanded years ago.

Planning Director C.J. Randall noted that the rear paved service area may need to be reconfigured to meet site buffer requirements. Board members also noted that the project’s proposed zoning uses of an assembly space and a lounge would need to be approved by the town zoning board on Sept. 22, as the intent of the overlay was zoning for “quaint little businesses” like artisanal maker spaces, boutique shops and small private inns. 

Members of the board were open to the proposal. Chair Caitlin Cameron was open to the use, but wanted to see a warmer color palette with more timber or timber-like finishes, and board member Liz Bageant said she liked much of the project in terms of scale and public access, but wanted more landscape screening from the road. Other members felt that the building was “a little bit large” and also expressed a desire for a less industrial look and more landscaping. Manthey said the building and landscaping were a work in progress, but that they would aim to have something the board would like.

“I don’t think you should go and try to make it like a timber-frame lodge situation, nothing like that. Just keep in the back of your mind as you’re selecting finishes, having some texture, having some finishes that read natural,” Cameron said. 

Depending on whether the zoning board responds favorably on Sept. 22, the project will be back before the planning board at a later date.