Planning Board

PLANNING BOARD MINUTES (FINAL) WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2015 7:00 P.M. CITY COUNCIL ROOM PRESENT: Mark Torpey, Chairman; Dan Gaba; Clifford Van Wagner; Bob Bristol, Vice Chairman; Howard Pinsley; Tom L. Lewis; Janet Casey STAFF: Kate Maynard, Principal Planner, City of Saratoga Springs CALL TO ORDER: Mark Torpey, Chairman called the meeting to order at 7:00 P.M. SALUTE TO THE FLAG: ANNOUNCEMENT OF RECORDING OF PROCEEDING: Mark Torpey, Chairman stated the proceedings of this meeting are being recorded 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 of the recording. ANNOUNCEMENT OF ADJOURNED PROJECTS: ADJOURNED PENDING ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: 14.067 STONE PROPERTY, 68 WEIBEL AVENUE, 30 Church Street, site plan modification in a Transect-6 (T-6) District. 14.074 UNION FOX APARTMENTS, 72 Union Avenue, Site plan review for multi-family residential in an Urban Residential-4 (UR-4) District. 14.010 SUBDIVISION OF LANDS OF HARRISON, 180 Meadowbrook Road, public hearing for a two-lot subdivision in the Rural Residential District. 14.052 CITY CENTER PARKING GARAGE, High Rock, Lake and Maple Avenues, site plan review of a parking facility in the Transect-6 Urban Core (T-6) District. 15.004.1 OAK RIDGE FINAL CONSERVATION SUBDIVISION, proposed 72 lot final conservation subdivision within the Suburban Residential-1 (SR-1) District. COMMENTS FROM THE CHAIR: UPCOMING PLANNING BOARD MEETINGS/AGENDA WORKSHOPS: Planning Board Caravan, Monday, October 26, 2015 at 4:00 P.M. Planning Board Workshop, Monday, October 26, 2015 at 5:00 P.M. Planning Board Meeting, Wednesday, October 28, 2015 at 7:00 P.M. PRIVILEGE OF THE FLOOR: None heard. APPLICATIONS UNDER CONSIDERATION: 1. 15.039 SARATOGA HOSPITAL PROPOSED PUD AMENDMENT Seward Street, request for advisory opinion from City Council and consideration of SEQRA Lead Agency. SEQRA: Action appears to be an unlisted action with the involved agencies the City Council and the Planning Board. The City Council pro-actively deferred Lead Agency to the Planning Board should the Board wish to assume Lead Agency Status. BACKGROUND: Saratoga Hospital PUD established in 1987 and has been subject to numerous amendments as the hospital has expanded. The most recent amendment was in 2013 which permitted the demolition of the Cramer House and new construction expansion. Mark Torpey, Chairman stated the Planning Board has been requested by the City Council for an advisory opinion on the proposed amendment on August 18, 2015. This amendment seeks geographic expansion of 3 additional parcels (from 28.69 to 48.07 acres). Since referral, the applicant has revised the amendment to include portions of 2 parcels, with the remaining area to remain UR-1. The proposed 75,000 square foot medical office building and related parking is proposed. If approved this project will return before this Board for site plan approval. Also we have been requested to accept Lead Agency status under SEQRA. The Planning Board assumed Lead Agency Status on September 24, 2015. Kate Maynard, Principal Planner stated the Planning Board did accept Lead Agency Status on September 24, 2015. Before the Board this evening is Part I of the SEQRA Long EAF form which has been resubmitted by the applicant. There have been some revisions based on changes by the applicant. Part II to be completed by the Board. Also, before the Board are comments which were received late this afternoon from Birch Run at Saratoga, correspondence dated October 14, 2015. Applicant: Saratoga Hospital, Kevin Ronayne, Vice President Operations, Manager Agent: Matthew J. Jones, Alex Beso, The Jones Firm; Dave Carr, Matt Brobston, LA Group; Jon Primeau, Architect; Mark Nadolny, Creighton Manning Engineering Mr. Jones stated this is application was before the Planning Board three weeks ago where we made a presentation to you in connection with your Advisory Role to the City Council on this zoning amendment. A review of SEQRA Part II Long Form is required to be completed prior to any action. Mr. Jones provided a brief review of the project for the Board including an aerial of the site location. The hospital is requesting a PUD amendment for a parcel along Morgan Street. Mr. Jones stated the scope of the Planning Boards review is to include whether the proposed revision which is consistent with the Comprehensive Plan and the general purposes and intent of this Chapter. In June of this year the City Council adopted a new Comprehensive Plan and we feel we are in consistent with the Comprehensive Plan and not contrary to the general purposes and intent of this chapter. Mr. Jones provided information to the Board concerning the area which the hospital is focusing on a 75,000 square foot medical office building. We have amended our map and we ask as part of your recommendation 8.54 acres be re-zoned into the PUD not the 20 as the application originally stated. The applicant is proposing a 3 story 75,000 square foot medical office building. We provided an initial iteration of what we were proposing. We heard from both the public and the Board questioning ways to reduce the building height as well as the neighbors both on Morgan Street and Birch Run residents. This is a UR-1 which allows 60 feet in building height. We tasked Jon with the job of trying to reduce this building height. Conceptual elevations were provided to the Board. We are in fact sinking this building into the City of Saratoga Springs Planning Board Minutes – October 14, 2015 - Page 2 of 7 ground, using the slope of the topography so that now there are two stories above ground versus three. This lowers the elevation from the top of the ridge elevation on Morgan Street down to 52 feet in the front and down to just less than 42 feet in the rear. We are dropping about 6 feet in the front and dropping about 14 feet in the rear. Our building is not losing square footage but is working with the topography of the land. So the Morgan Street elevation has gone down from 58.75 feet to 52.6 feet and the Birch Run view from 55.5 feet to 41.5 feet. We feel we have made some good progress. Mr. Brobston, LA Group, spoke about on-site, off-site improvements. A berm adjacent to the neighborhood will be enhanced. Two utility services coming to the site from Morgan and Myrtle Streets, as well as the sanitary line connection will be an improvement to the City system. Sidewalks will be extended along the entire site from the Park Place site along Morgan Street along the entire length of the property, then into the site. Mr. Carr. LA Group stated we had the opportunity to dig approximately 12 test pits in the property. It is pretty consistent with what we have seen in this area. There is a rock ledge issue. It ranges from 12” to 8’. It averages about 24 to 30” below grade. No opportunity to do any infiltration, it is very flat with no real grade. No catch basins or pipes on site are our goal. We are working with a lot of surface runoff. We will take it off the built parking lot to a bioretention area and pond with an overflow. We will be taking water from the parking lot using surface swales to a bioretention area discharging to an open pond and the existing pond which discharges to the existing system in Birch Run. We will treat and attenuate all water runoff on site. Stormwater planters will be used around the building to treat roof runoff meeting all city and state standards. A full SWPPP is required. Mr. Brobston, LA Group stated there is a possibility of some blasting which could be required. No blasting was required with the other hospital addition and so we feel confident this is the appropriate way to proceed. Parking lot spaces proposed at the current time are at 312, the requirements for a PUD are 300 car parking lot. Our full build out is 75,000 square feet. We do need to prepare the parking requirements for that amount. There is an opportunity to phase some of the parking in, bank some if needed. That is definitely an option. Offsite improvements we will be extending an 8” water line from the entrance of Park Place to Morgan and Myrtle which is approximately 600ft. This will help raise the water pressure and provide more water to the facility. The sanitary line will extend from our site, along Myrtle to the hospital. This is approximately 950ft. We will encounter some rock approximately 2 – 4 feet. This is another site we have noted which will require some bedrock chipping. There is also a connection from the sidewalk along the west side of Myrtle Street to the existing hospital site. The existing berm will not be regraded, nor will the trees be interrupted. We will be enhancing the berm to create more screening for the existing homeowners. Mr. Jones stated we will work with the HOA to block the impact of the building. We will be providing an easement to the HOA for replanting, etc. Mr. Brobston provided a visual presentation on how the lighting concerns will be addressed. A lighting plan was provided to the Board. Three slides were provided showing lighting at different times of the day showing how these LED fixtures will be dimmed depending on the time of the day. At 7PM lighting will be dimmed or shut off for the evening. All the lights on the exterior of the perimeter near Birch Run and the apartments will be completely off. The next area in will drop to a level of 50%. The area around the building will remain at 100%. At 11:00 PM lower level of lighting will be used. There is security lighting on the front of the building. The lighting and towards the parking lot to a 30% level and 50% in front of the building. This is from 11PM to morning. Mark Torpey, Chairman questioned the hours or operation. Mr. Brobston stated the hours of operation tentatively are 7AM – 7PM. The hospital does have security which will patrol the area. The building will have the ability to turn all the lights on, if needed in the event of an emergency. Mr. Nadolny, CME provided a brief history of traffic. We did some turning movement counts at three areas, the signalized intersection of Church and Myrtle, unsignalized intersection of Seward and Morgan, and unsignalized City of Saratoga Springs Planning Board Minutes – October 14, 2015 - Page 3 of 7 intersection of Seward and Church. We also installed a machine on Morgan to get an idea on how much traffic would be passing the site on Morgan and Myrtle and speeds on Morgan as well. We contacted the City developments in the area that we should be aware of. The Planning Department provided that information to us. We also looked at historical traffic counts in the area provided by DOT. We increased traffic in the area to get a future build condition that would occur without development of this project and a condition with development of this project. We also estimated the number of trips, how much traffic this project would generate based on ITE standards. Church and Seward Street AM PEAK PM PEAK Southbound Seward Level of Service No Build level of service D D Build level of service D E Delay 3.4 sec 10.4 sec Church Street AM PEAK PM PEAK Eastbound Level of Service No Build level of service A A Build level of service A A Delay 0.2 sec 0.1 sec Seward and Morgan Street – Unsignalized AM PEAK PM PEAK Eastbound Morgan Level of Service No Build level of service B B Build level of service B B Delay 0.9 sec 1.3 sec Seward and Morgan Street – Unsignalized AM PEAK PM PEAK Northbound Seward Level of Service No Build level of service A A Build level of service A A Delay 0.2 sec 0.1sec Morgan and Myrtle Street – Unsignalized AM PEAK PM PEAK Eastbound Morgan Level of Service A A Delay 8.9 sec 9.1sec Creighton Manning recommendation that this intersection become an all way stop. Mark Benaquista supports having the stop sign at all intersections. Church and Myrtle – Overall AM PEAK PM PEAK No Build level of service B C Build level of service B C Delay 1.0 sec 5.5 sec Southbound Left Turn on Myrtle AM PEAK PM PEAK No Build level of service C D Build level of service D E Delay 2.8 sec 12.7 sec City of Saratoga Springs Planning Board Minutes – October 14, 2015 - Page 4 of 7 Recommendation from Creighton Manning Engineering is signal timing modification will mitigate drops in the level of service on the southbound approach. We also looked at pedestrian traffic and the sidewalk network. The applicant is agreeable to connect the sidewalk system along the north and west side of Morgan and Myrtle Street which is a very good capital improvement. Mr. Jones stated at the workshop seven items were discussed and were made note of. SEQRA Long Form to be addressed when the Board is ready to initiate. Boundary Line Agreement to match property lines and district boundaries which made sense to the applicant. There are two parcels, adjust to follow the PUD. PUD non contiguous. We are close and we do not feel it will set a precedent in this instance. Helipad location, important component to the hospital. We do not have the parking for moving this helipad location. Shared access easement. We will provide that at site plan approval. Reviewing parking calculations. We believe the 1 for 250 is the correct calculation for the medical office building. The Planning Board has the authority to increase or decrease the parking by 20% via a waiver. The parking is proposed to be handled in stages since the building will not be fully occupied until 2022. Mr. Jones addressed the five issues noted in the correspondence from Birch Run. The hospital will address and work out an easement with HOA, regarding plantings, etc. To ensure appropriate parking lot lighting and systems. We believe we have touched on that. Tree survey, we have identified the trees we intend to keep particularly in the parking area. Fencing along the common border of Phase 2. Consideration of stormwater and sewer system to minimize impact on the infrastructure. PUBLIC COMMENTS: Mark Torpey, Chairman asked if anyone in the audience wished to comment on this application. Dean Higgins, 15 Saratoga Circle. Representative of Phase 2 of the Birch Run Development. Mr. Higgins reviewed the onsite improvements. He questioned the size of the berm, and what the responsibility will include. Water retention and overflow are a concern. Concern was voiced regarding the existing pond and formal drainage. Is there adequate capacities. Hopefully the Planning Board will take a good look at the traffic being generated from this busy medical office building. Mark Torpey, Chairman asked if there were any further comments from the audience. None heard. Mark Torpey, Chairman asked if there were any further comments from the Board. Clifford Van Wagner stated he works at the Wesley Healthcare Community. There are 650 employees. We have more parking than this project. Not everyone leaves at the same time. It is not like school. Granted there is a traffic impact but not everyone leaves or enters at the same time. Kate Maynard, Principal Planner, speaking regarding traffic you are looking at an AM peak hour total of 212 trips. The PM peak hour is 261, 73 entering and 188 exiting. That is substantial. Looking what the current street consists of. It is a narrow width for the most part. Is it appropriate with the increase we are seeing to upgrade the street? to the City’s standard. Looking at travel lane width, on street parking, looking at standard curbing, street lights, and sidewalks. I put this forth in terms for consideration. Also the crosswalk and where it currently exists. Mark asked that this be looked at and if any adjustments are necessary. Do you have a general sense cumulatively for Church Street and how it is now versus how it was 5 years prior? Mr. Nadolny stated we do have some historical traffic volumes on Church Street from 2011 and 2015. Church Street over the past 4-5 years has increased 6-8%. So you are looking at 1-1 ½% per year since 2011. Actually a little below what we are projecting. We are consistent with what has gone on their historically. Our background numbers have a similar growth rate. City of Saratoga Springs Planning Board Minutes – October 14, 2015 - Page 5 of 7 Kate Maynard, Principal Planner questioned the number of hospital employees and traffic going to and from one of the things being talked about are physical improvements which can be made. Potentially looking at trip demand. Has the hospital considered anything regarding CDTA since it is right on a transit line? An access program or any way to reduce trips and parking requirements. We are an urban community. Questioned if the parking will be banked or built out all at once. Mr. Jones stated our objective is to build the number of spaces we need. We will gain experience. There is a difference in parking demand depending on the physician. When we fit up the building we will have a better sense of the parking needs and we will build as we need and bank additional parking. We will assure all the needs are met without over building. Kate Maynard, Principal Planner questioned the height of the building which is new information. Is the reduction in terms of reducing fill on site, not actually altering the building height and composition? Mr. Brobston stated the applicant is working with the grade of the property. Fill was contemplated with the original application. The height of the building has not really changed on Morgan Street. The mass hasn’t been modified. The fill up to the building has been reduced. Dean Higgins questioned the 12 acres behind the hospital. Will it be developed? Also regarding the HOA and the easement we will discuss with the hospital what transpires there. Mr. Jones stated the Markey estate will be sold. The hospital is not in the real estate development business. Mark Torpey, Chairman stated we are in receipt of the updated Part 1, received from the applicant. Mark Torpey, Chairman indicated several areas which need to be revised. Kate Maynard recommended changes to Part 1 E1A Existing Land Use types suggesting adding urban due to mixed nature of the neighborhood. Phases – with the changes you are looking at D1E – 2 phases of development – needs to be updated. K - Page 7 – Answer yes - Generate no or additional energy estimated electrical demand needs to be completed. The Board reviewed Part II of the SEQRA Long EAF. No large or important areas of concern were noted. Howard Pinsley stated that based upon the information provided by the applicant in Part I of the SEQR Full Environmental Assessment Form, and analysis of the information provided and presented in Part II of the SEQR Full Environmental Assessment Form, the project will not result in any large and important impacts and, therefore, is one that will not have a significant adverse impact on the environment. Based on this, I move to make a SEQR negative declaration for this action. Clifford Van Wagner seconded the motion. Mark Torpey, Chairman asked if there was any further discussion. None heard. VOTE: Clifford Van Wagner, in favor; Dan Gaba, in favor; Bob Bristol, Vice Chairman, in favor; Howard Pinsley, in favor; Tom L. Lewis, in favor; Mark Torpey, Chairman, in favor; Janet Casey, in favor MOTION PASSES: 7-0 City of Saratoga Springs Planning Board Minutes – October 14, 2015 - Page 6 of 7 Mark Torpey, Chairman stated regarding Advisory Opinion to the City Council. Clifford Van Wagner made a motion for a Positive Advisory Opinion to the City Council for the addition of two parcels to the Saratoga Hospital PUD plus or minus 8.45 acres for the construction of 75,000 square foot medical office building with a height of 52 feet with the appropriate parking as presented on October 14, 2015. This proposal is consistent with the Comprehensive Plan and not contrary to the general purposes and intent of the Saratoga Springs Zoning Ordinance. Tom L. Lewis seconded the motion. Mark Torpey, Chairman asked if there is any further discussion. Discussion ensued among the Board regarding the Advisory Opinion. VOTE: Clifford Van Wagner, in favor; Dan Gaba, in favor; Bob Bristol, Vice Chairman, in favor; Howard Pinsley, in favor; Tom L. Lewis, in favor; Mark Torpey, Chairman, in favor; Janet Casey, in favor MOTION PASSES: 7-0 APPROVAL OF MEETING MINUTES: Approval of meeting minutes was deferred to the October 28, 2015 Planning Board Meeting. MOTION TO ADJOURN: There being no further business to discuss Mark Torpey, Chairman adjourned the meeting at 8:50 P.M. Respectfully submitted, Diane M. Buzanowski Recording Secretary APPROVED 12/9/15 City of Saratoga Springs Planning Board Minutes – October 14, 2015 - Page 7 of 7