City Council Rundown: Capital Budget Proposed, and Mayor lays out case for changed UDO.

It was a late night in Saratoga Springs as the City held its regularly scheduled City Council meeting.

On the agenda was a public hearing on the city’s nearly $25 million capital budget and a discussion of proposed changes to the Unified Development Ordinance.

Here is a rundown of what happened at the Saratoga Springs City Council meeting.

Mayor lays out case for UDO.

The mayor’s proposed changes to the UDO were once again a hot topic of conversation this week as Deputy Mayor Lisa Shields presented multiple slides regarding the changes and progress made on a final draft since changes were first proposed in April.

Shields made the presentation during both the preliminary meeting on the morning of August 17 and the City Council meeting on the evening of August 18. In the preliminary meeting, Shields answered questions from City Council members.

Among the key issues facing the proposal is regarding the city’s architectural review district, which covers the city’s “gateways” along Route 9, Route 50, Lake Avenue, West Avenue, Union Avenue, Washington Street, and Van Dam Street — among other areas.

The architectural district is one of two districts in the UDO under the purview of the Design Review Board — the other being the historic district, which often overlaps the architectural review district in several areas such as Union Avenue and Broadway.

While several of the amendments in the June draft have received favorable opinions by the State Historic Preservation Office, DRB, and Planning Board, a key area of concern is demolition in the architectural review district.

Under the current UDO, the DRB can make determinations regarding historic significance in the architectural review district and raise the threshold for demolition of structures deemed historic.

The mayor has sought to change this and argued that the DRB has been too broad in applying historic standards. He said that a house could be in the architectural review district and after a vote of the DRB, the house could have historic standards applied to it.

Under the proposed changes, if the DRB finds historic significance of a structure, they would be required to make a recommendation to the City Council to designate the structure as a landmark or part of a historic district.

Both the DRB and Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation have pushed back against this change. In their advisory opinion, the DRB argued that the changes would threaten the historic buildings in the district and are “too far-reaching.”

Samantha Bosshart, President of the Saratoga Springs Foundation spoke at the August 18 meeting. She questioned the urgency of the amendments and argued that the changes go too far.

“There may be provisions that need clarification and processes to be improved, but improvement is different than weakening preservation provisions and protections afforded in our historic buildings,” Bosshart said. “Once a significant building is demolished, it’s gone forever. No later comprehensive plan, no ordinance or amendment can bring it back.”

There have been no scheduled hearings on the proposed changes as of the time of publication.

City unveils Capital Budget.

The other main talking point during the meeting was the proposal for the 2027 capital budget. The budget, which is just a proposal covering capital projects, was presented by Shields during a public hearing before the meeting began.

The capital budget is separate from the operating budget, which will be proposed at a later time. In total, 24, projects were recommended, with an additional 12 projects shifted to 2028.

Among the proposed projects is a new police station set to cost the city over $14,000,000. The new station would replace the current station, which sits in the basement of City Hall and has served the city for over 150 years

Mayor Safford said that the project is set to be funded through the sale of unused city properties and could be combined with a DPW garage that would replace the current facility on Van Rensselaer Street.