The Town of Ithaca has taken another step in reviewing Cornell's potential impact on the environment and community.

The town's planning board adopted a findings statement on Cornell's transportation-focused Generic Environmental Impact Statement (t-GEIS) at its Feb. 3 meeting. The findings statement sets forth the basis for the board's future use of the t-GEIS.

The t-GEIS evaluates the potential of a range of hypothetical population-growth scenarios -- including no growth -- at Cornell as well as the transportation-related impacts on surrounding neighborhoods and communities.

The document also identifies several strategies to mitigate the potential effects. A major objective of the statement was to identify ways to get more Cornell commuters to use such alternative methods of transportation as transit, carpools, vanpools, bikes and walking.

The t-GEIS was funded and drafted by Cornell, but because of its unique nature, it requires close cooperation with the Town of Ithaca.