Syracuse Planning Commission Meeting - September 8, 2025
Syracuse Planning Commission Meeting - September 8, 2025
The Syracuse Planning Commission convened on September 8, 2025, to review and act on several land use applications, including a major battery energy storage system, a mixed-use tower renovation, and multiple site plan and subdivision approvals. All applications were approved with conditions, and no public comments were received.
Consent Calendar
- Minutes Approval: The commission approved the minutes from the August 18, 2025 meeting with four corrections: correcting a statement about bike parking ratio, spelling a speaker's name, and correcting a project type reference. The motion carried unanimously.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No members of the public spoke in favor or opposition to any application during the public comment periods.
Discussion Items
- South Av Apartment Project (R-25-40 & MASPR-25-16): The commission considered a resubdivision and major site plan review for a residential project. The applicant confirmed a bike room on the ground floor. No public comment. The resubdivision was approved with a condition to file within 62 days. The site plan was approved with three conditions: maintain landscaping buffers, collaborate with the business and neighborhood development department on six affordable housing units, and continue collaboration with city departments.
- 621 Seymour Street Resubdivision (R-25-35): The applicant, representing the Syracuse Land Bank and property owner, proposed to combine three lots for a daycare center. The commission issued a negative SEQR declaration and approved the resubdivision with a condition to file within 62 days.
- Mispa Tower Renovation (MASPR-24-40): The applicant presented a project to convert a six-story building at 350 Montgomery Street into mixed-use with residential units, a restaurant/bar/event space, and a law office. The project includes ADA improvements and interior bike storage. The commission issued a negative SEQR declaration and approved the site plan with seven conditions, including future exterior modifications subject to Landmark Preservation Board review, restrictions on changes to tenancy/units, repair of damaged sidewalks/brick banding, protection of a city marker, interior bike storage (1 per 8 units), licenses for alcohol/entertainment, and adherence to certificate of appropriateness.
- East Brighton Ave Battery Energy Storage System (R-25-41, SP-25-24, MASPR-25-18): The applicant proposed a 10 MW battery energy storage system (two 5 MW units) on a 0.9-acre site, capable of powering 3,000–3,500 homes each for four hours during peak demand. The project will connect to a nearby substation and is part of NYSERDA’s clean energy initiative. The applicant stated they will adhere to updated fire safety codes (effective January 2026) and have an emergency response plan. The commission discussed a request from Councilor Jones-Rouser to delay action for community engagement. The applicant agreed to outreach. The commission issued a negative SEQR declaration and approved the resubdivision (conditionally on special use permit approval), the special use permit (as a recommendation to the Common Council), and the major site plan review, all with conditions for continued collaboration with city departments and the fire department.
Key Outcomes
- Minutes: Approved with corrections (unanimous).
- South Av Project: Resubdivision R-25-40 approved (unanimous); Major Site Plan MASPR-25-16 approved (unanimous).
- 621 Seymour Resubdivision: SEQR negative declaration issued; R-25-35 approved (unanimous).
- Mispa Tower Renovation: SEQR negative declaration issued; MASPR-24-40 approved (unanimous).
- Battery Storage Project: SEQR negative declaration issued; R-25-41 approved (unanimous) with condition that filing occurs within 62 days of Common Council approval of special use permit; SP-25-24 approved as recommendation to Common Council (unanimous); MASPR-25-18 approved (unanimous).
- Three-Mile Limit Cases: 3S-25-11 (Clay) approved (unanimous); 3S-25-12 (Camillus) approved (unanimous).
Meeting Transcript
Everyone and welcome to this meeting of the Syracuse Planning Commission. We will begin our applications and public hearings momentarily. First, we'll take action on the minutes from our last meeting, which was August 18th. Draft minutes have been circulated to the commission members and be appropriate now to entertain a motion for action on the minutes. I have a couple of uh corrections to the minutes. Um page seven uh in the the discussion of the parking lot related to the municipal parking lot project. Uh there's reference to my comment about bike parking and the uh requirement of the one to six ratio, and then a little bit further down the last sentence on the page says 100 parking spots are proposed. Commissioner Lance found that the ratio of one to six does apply to this project and would be necessary as a special condition. There was some question about that, and I think that statement should actually read Commissioner Lynch was informed by corporate counsel that uh the one to six ratio does indeed apply. Thank you for that. Any other uh yeah, the second item is on page nine in the uh comments of people who spoke in opposition to the project. Uh there's reference to Kathleen at Monticello Drive. That's Kathleen Stibley Stribly. Stribly, right? Uh so that occurs on page nine. There's also a reference to her on page 14 that just has her first name. Uh so if we could add her second name uh to that. And then uh the other item is on page 10 in uh uh discussion of the Lafayette project. There's a reference at the end to uh the approval of the uh major site plan review that should read master plan review, not a major site plan review. Because I think that is the appropriate language they're using for that kind of project. Uh so those are my corrections. If that's acceptable to everybody, I move approval of minutes with those three corrections. Four corrections. Sorry, second. That's a second uh discussion on the motion before us for the minutes. If not, all in favor, please indicate by saying aye. Aye, those opposed, please say nay. Any abstentions are approved as revised. Uh we move now on to uh first old business, then new business. Just a moment, uh, just a word for anyone unfamiliar with our process as each application is announced by a member of the staff. We ask that the applicant or the representative come to the podium in the center of the room, provide their name and address uh for the record, and then a brief summary of the application. Following questions from the commission members, we will invite members of the public who wish to speak in favor of the application to do so. And similarly, we will invite members of the public who wish to speak in opposition to the application to do that as well. We ask that everyone keep their comments brief to three minutes, and where comments are offered in opposition, we will uh encourage the applicant to return and address the comments offered in opposition. With that, uh are there any changes to the agenda that we need to know about or uh just one, and that is for uh under new business, the Syracuse Developmental Center SDC project. Uh that is just being postponed. Uh we expect it to be on um possibly the next agenda. Okay, so if you're here for that item, we won't be dealing with it. There will be no presentation tonight, um, but it will be advertised again when it comes back around, right? Yes, and that's uh strictly for the street dedication uh and the re-subdivision modification. So that we can focus first on our old business. Yes, uh, I'm just going to tee this one up because um it's back before uh all of you. So this is the South Av apartment project. Uh there are two applications, uh companion pieces, one uh being a major site plan review, the other being a re-subdivision. If you recall back on August 18th, uh you conducted the seeker review uh and declared uh had a negative declaration for this. Um we held this pending a uh BZA review for an area variance for to seek relief for maximum building length. Uh BZA reviewed that and approved that on September 4th. Um and all city reviewing departments are finished, and there are no significant concerns or um comments to be addressed moving forward. So now we're able to take uh and finish public uh comment and you may deliberate deliberate and make a decision on the two pieces without seeker, because we already did that. Joe we had the presentation last time.
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