City Council

March 12, 2019 CITY OF SARATOGA SPRINGS City Council Meeting Recreation Center 15 Vanderbilt Avenue 7:00 PM 7:00 PM CALL TO ORDER ROLL CALL SALUTE TO FLAG PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD / 15 MINUTES CONSENT AGENDA 1. Nothing at this time. MAYOR’S DEPARTMENT 1. Presentation: Special Council Workshop – Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) / Draft Zoning Map 2. Discussion and Vote: Authorization for Mayor to Sign Contract with Goldberger and Kremer for Labor and Employment Matters ACCOUNTS DEPARTMENT 1. Appointment: M. Lynn Bachner as Commissioner of Deeds FINANCE DEPARTMENT 1. Nothing at this time. PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT 1. Nothing at this time. PUBLIC SAFETY DEPARTMENT 1. Nothing at this time. SUPERVISORS 1. Nothing at this time. ADJOURN City Council Meeting 3/12/19 March 12, 2019 CITY OF SARATOGA SPRINGS City Council Meeting Recreation Center 15 Vanderbilt Avenue 7:00 PM PRESENT: Meg Kelly, Mayor Michele Madigan, Commissioner of Finance John Franck, Commissioner of Accounts Anthony Scirocco, Commissioner of DPW Peter Martin, Commissioner of DPS STAFF PRESENT: Lisa Shields, Deputy Mayor Mike Sharp, Deputy Commissioner, Finance John Daley, Deputy Commissioner, DPS Vincent DeLeonardis EXCUSED: Maire Masterson, Deputy Commissioner, Accounts Joe O’Neill, Deputy Commissioner, DPW Matthew Veitch, Supervisor Tara Gaston, Supervisor RECORDING OF PROCEEDING The proceedings of this meeting were taped for the benefit of the secretary. Because the minutes are not a verbatim record of the proceedings, the minutes are not a word-for-word transcript. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Kelly called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Mayor Kelly announced she will be changing the order of the agenda to better suit the meeting and needs of the public. ACCOUNTS DEPARTMENT Appointment: M. Lynn Bachner as Commissioner of Deeds Commissioner Franck appointed M. Lynn Bachner as commissioner of deeds effective today. Page 2 of 5 City Council Meeting 3/12/19 MAYOR’S DEPARTMENT Discussion and Vote: Authorization for Mayor to Sign Contract with Goldberger and Kremer for Labor and Employment Matters (19-094) Mayor Kelly advised this is a renewal for labor and employment legal services through March 6, 2020. The amount of the contract is up to $15,000. Mayor Kelly moved and Commissioner Madigan seconded to authorize the mayor to sign a contract with Goldberger and Kremer for labor and employment matters as indicated with this agenda. Ayes - All Presentation: Special Council Workshop – Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) / Draft Zoning Map Mayor Kelly advised the City’s Zoning Ordinance must be in compliance with the City’s Comprehensive Plan. The City’s Comprehensive Plan was revised in 2015 but the process was not completed by bringing the zoning laws and maps into compliance. Our consultant, Camiros, will discuss bringing our zoning maps into compliance. There is no vote on this tonight; just a presentation of map alignment. The many e- mails and letters she has received are being entered into the record. Vince DeLeonardis, city attorney, advised our comprehensive plan is the backbone or blueprint upon which zoning laws are based. The Comprehensive Plan is our City’s vision for the future and the zoning laws are our tools to implement that. He provided history of the UDO starting from April 2013 when the City Council appointed a Comprehensive Plan Committee of 15 members. There were 22 public meetings from the creation of the committee until December 2014. In December, 2014 the Committee voted to send a draft of the Comprehensive Plan and 53 amendments to City Council. The City Council held public workshops at the beginning of 2015 to review the draft Comprehensive Plan and address the 53 proposed amendments. On May 5, 2015 the revised Comprehensive Plan was made available for the public to review and sent the Comprehensive Plan to the County Planning Board for and scheduled a public hearings. Following a negative declaration of SEQRA in June, 2015 and voted unanimously to adopt the Comprehensive Plan. In September 2015 the City Council approved entering into a contract with a consultant to assist in drafting the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO). The consultant worked on this from September 2015 until they presented a diagnostic report to City Council in January 2017 and a UDO draft outline. In January 2018 the City Council voted to terminate the contract with the consultant and in August 2018 entered into an agreement an agreement with Camiros after going through the bid process. Camiros has been working on this for the past 7 months and is here to provide information of what their work consisted of. Arista Strungys of Camiros stated they are a multi-disciplinary firm. They have worked with many cities all over the country to draw experience from. They looked at what the alignment could be between the future land use map within the Comprehensive Plan and the zoning map as it stands. They are trying to implement the land use policies and things already put on the map and align them with the current zoning map. They used the current districts from the Zoning Ordinance. They have highlighted 18 proposed changes. She reviewed each of the proposed changes accompanied by a map for each proposed change. Each map showed what it is currently zoned and the proposed zoning. (copy of presentation attached) Arista stated this is not the end of the changes; they can’t propose anything else yet as they are not at that point in the UDO process where they know what the ordinance is going to look like. They will continue to make changes to the map as they go through the UDO process. They are in the review and diagnosis process and working to create a technical review report. After that they will do an internal draft and bring forward a lot of questions. After that there will be a public draft with a series of workshops. Page 3 of 5 City Council Meeting 3/12/19 PUBLIC COMENT Mayor Kelly said the public comment period is limited to a total of 15 minutes and individuals are limited to two minutes. Mayor Kelly opened the public comment period at 7:23 p.m. Matt Jones, attorney for Saratoga Hospital, stated he appreciates the Council’s commitment to getting this done. He is pleased with the recommendations from the consultant regarding Morgan/Myrtle Streets. Theresa Skaine, chair of the board of directors for Saratoga Hospital thanked the Council for taking this on. It is an important first step being taken. The hospital is the second largest employer in Saratoga County. Andy Brick, attorney for residents in the Morgan/Myrtle/Birch Run neighborhoods stated he is not there to dispute what was proposed. He asked the Council to carve out that area from the overall map amendment. It deserves its own stand alone review. He applauds the hospital for sending correspondence to the neighbors to let them know what’s going on. This can be a stand-alone review process. Joseph Bell, MD stated he is the president of the hospital multi-specialty group. They have 215 providers. The next step is placing offices in close proximity to the hospital so they have immediate access to the patients. They will also receive a higher reimbursement rate from Medicare if the doctors’ offices are within 250 yards of the hospital. Frank Messa, chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Saratoga Hospital Foundation, stated they act as the fundraising arm of the hospital. All of the money raised from their fundraising events last year totaled $650,000. There have been proposals that a building to the west side of Myrtle could be built. That is not viable as that area is used for parking of staff and visitors. If they did that a multi-tiered parking garage at the cost of $10 million dollars would be needed; 15 years worth of fundraising at $650,000 per year. Dr. Ortiz stated he is very familiar with the surrounding neighborhood as he looked to purchase a home in that area as it was close to the hospital. He is here to support the hospital’s decision to build the office complex there. The doctors need to be close to the hospital. Dennis Hultay of Saratoga Springs stated he did his due diligence prior to purchasing his home in Birch Run. It is going to be impacted by commercial development. Also, 55 Myrtle was donated to the hospital by the Mackey Family; 3.5 acres. The hospital is out there saying they want to sell that property. It is not professional and does not make sense. They should have to develop their own 3.5 acre property. Tim Holmes of Saratoga Springs stated he is here to speak on behalf of some of the residents in districts, 24, 25, and 2. They love the hospital and what it does in the community. In this case they feel the hospital is building in the wrong direction; it will create permanent conflicts. Norada Riaz of 21 Seward Street stated her goal is to buy a home here which is largely dependent upon the support of the hospital. She wants to be in a walkable community. This kind of expansion is ideal for someone like her. She supports the hospital expansion. Dean Higgins of Saratoga Springs stated he has a couple of questions; did a zoning map or revised zoning map come out of the 2015 Comprehensive Plan approval? There was discussion in the past about PUDs and the hospital including this property in their current PUD. He asked what happens to the carve-outs? Logan Smith of Saratoga Springs stated he did not sign the petition in 2015. He doesn’t believe property values will be negatively affected with this project. If the project does take place a turn lane is going to be needed as the streets are too narrow and there is almost an accident there every day. He also has problems with water run-off with the water ending in his driveway. Page 4 of 5 City Council Meeting 3/12/19 Alice Smith of Saratoga Springs asked for the comprehensive plan to be revised for the section the hospital falls within. The facts remain the same; it is a massive office building. Amy DeLuca of Saratoga Springs stated this development is going to be in her backyard. When she purchased her home, zoning was residential and still is. She asked the Council to correct this mistake and take this piece out. She will be looking at lights and a lot of noise. Todd Shimkus of Saratoga Springs and president of the Saratoga Chamber of Commerce stated he was asked by Mayor Johnson to sit on the Comprehensive Plan Committee to be sure the businesses were represented. They need to look at Jefferson Street for more workforce housing. He doesn’t believe the committee made a decision on anything. Dave Evans of Saratoga Springs stated he is with a real estate company and to say property values will not be heavily impacted is crazy. He encouraged the Council to consider the impact on the neighbors. Penny Lockwood of Saratoga Springs stated the hospital could use the space they have across the street from the hospital more effectively. The light pollution is intense and is worried her buffer will go away. Mayor Kelly closed the public comment period at 7:56 p.m. Commissioner Madigan asked Vince DeLeonardis to give a brief history/overview of this project and to explain what a PUD is. Vince DeLeonardis advised they did not progress to the point where the consultant prepared a zoning map; this is the first we have seen. The hospital did come forward to expand their PUD; Commissioner Franck and Mayor Yepsen recused themselves from this vote. The neighbors filed a petition that the vote be a super majority and with the recusals this could not happen. A PUD is a Planned Unit Development which is legislative zoning where the legislative body has the right to establish the zoning legislatively in that area. The PUD never went forward so there is a review of the zoning map. A super majority is a 4/5 vote. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, Mayor Kelly adjourned the meeting at 8:01 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Lisa Ribis Clerk Approved: 3/19/19 Vote: 5 - 0 Page 5 of 5