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Home My WebLink About20250043 182 Washington Street Exterior Modifications Public CommentOutlook Re: Question for DRB From Samuel Frandino <sfrandino@gmail.com> Date Tue 2/4/2025 11:02 PM To Julia Destino <Julia.Destino@saratoga-springs.org> CAUTION: This email originated outside of the City network. Please contact IT Support if you need assistance determining if it's a threat before opening attachments or clicking any links. Hello Julia, Please don’t apologize for being thorough and taking a sincere interest in a comprehensive review. This has been a problem of mine for over a year and it has cost me thousands of dollars in getting a survey and hiring a lawyer to help me navigate the city zoning enforcement process. It began in the fall of 2023 when I couldn’t get a painter to evaluate my cornice on that side of the house because all of his construction blocked simple ladder access. In the end, my 170 year old stone basement wall doesn’t care if you call the cement pad a patio or driveway extension, it’s just the source of water through the stones. I would love to talk to someone on the Design Review Board before going to the March meeting, but if they have city email addresses I can’t find them. Anyway, I have included photos showing the proximity of the patio to the property line and my basement wall, and would like to add these additional comments into the file. As you can see from the photos, the patio cement pad was poured directly on my property line as opposed to the 8 foot setback required. !82 Washington Street is an AirBnb and Mr. Belanger does not live there. After over a year of my bringing it to the Code and Zoning office, and ten months after their first visit to the property, they sent Mr. Belanger a notice of violation and order to remedy. The remedy for the architectural feature in violation, the patio, was simply to remove the patio furniture and maintain the slab as a "parking space only”, something it never was. Mr. Belnager’s design does not remove the patio cement pad, just the furniture, and I suspect his Airbnb guests will continue to use as a patio as they see fit. The problem isn’t the furniture, it’s the slab. Im sure his guests would be just as comfortable with a pourous surface beneath them. My problem is not semantics, it’s water, and long after Mr. Belanger and I are gone, that patio slab will still be there directing water into the 170 year old stone wall. It should not be allowed to stay because it already there and we renamed it. I need to add that cutting it back only to the edge of the driveway, which is probably less than two feet, only takes away my ability to control the water flow once its of the pad. I need the patio cement pad removed to the city setback requirement. The house was built 100 years before I was born and I would like to think it will be there 100 years after I’m gone, but for now, I am the caretaker and it falls upon me to protect it. Please contact me if you have any questions. Sam Frandino 2/7/25, 10:17 AM Mail - Julia Destino - Outlook https://outlook.office365.com/mail/id/AAQkADI5NDIzZGRiLTQwNjEtNGM1MS05ZmQxLTUyZTNkMzFiZDJiZQAQANeXDRR5uiZKhSR6lod3IbI%3D 1/7 518 365 7627 2/7/25, 10:17 AM Mail - Julia Destino - Outlook https://outlook.office365.com/mail/id/AAQkADI5NDIzZGRiLTQwNjEtNGM1MS05ZmQxLTUyZTNkMzFiZDJiZQAQANeXDRR5uiZKhSR6lod3IbI%3D 2/7 2/7/25, 10:17 AM Mail - Julia Destino - Outlook https://outlook.office365.com/mail/id/AAQkADI5NDIzZGRiLTQwNjEtNGM1MS05ZmQxLTUyZTNkMzFiZDJiZQAQANeXDRR5uiZKhSR6lod3IbI%3D 3/7 2/7/25, 10:17 AM Mail - Julia Destino - Outlook https://outlook.office365.com/mail/id/AAQkADI5NDIzZGRiLTQwNjEtNGM1MS05ZmQxLTUyZTNkMzFiZDJiZQAQANeXDRR5uiZKhSR6lod3IbI%3D 4/7 2/7/25, 10:17 AM Mail - Julia Destino - Outlook https://outlook.office365.com/mail/id/AAQkADI5NDIzZGRiLTQwNjEtNGM1MS05ZmQxLTUyZTNkMzFiZDJiZQAQANeXDRR5uiZKhSR6lod3IbI%3D 5/7 2/7/25, 10:17 AM Mail - Julia Destino - Outlook https://outlook.office365.com/mail/id/AAQkADI5NDIzZGRiLTQwNjEtNGM1MS05ZmQxLTUyZTNkMzFiZDJiZQAQANeXDRR5uiZKhSR6lod3IbI%3D 6/7 On Feb 4, 2025, at 9:17 AM, Julia Destino <Julia.Destino@saratoga-springs.org> wrote: Good Morning, again, sorry. I just re-read your message and you reference a photo, but the photo is not aached to this email. Please send it at your earliest convenience. Your original comment sent through the website did get uploaded to the correct DRB project folder, so your comment and video are there; but the photo was not aached. Thank you, Julia Desno Planner City of Saratoga Springs 474 Broadway Saratoga Springs, NY 12866 Phone: 518-587-3550 ext. 2533 From: Sam Frandino <sfrandino@gmail.com> Sent: Monday, February 3, 2025 5:09 PM To: Julia Desno <Julia.Desno@saratoga-springs.org> Subject: Queson for DRB CAUTION: This email originated outside of the City network. Please contact IT Support if you need assistance determining if it's a threat before opening attachments or clicking any links. Hello Julia, I need to ask a question to someone on the design review board but don’t see how to contact them. I filled out an online form that went to the planning board, thinking it was going to the DRB. I am copying the text of that message so you’ll know what I’m talking about, but all I’m asking is how to talk to someone on the DRB before the March meeting. Thank you again, Sam Frandino This is the message from the form: The project proposal at 182 Washington Street will be on the DRB March meeting agenda. I am the owner of the neighboring property at 178 Washington Street, an 1855 house which is subject to storm water runoff in my basement from a cement patio, which because it is violation of the 8 foot setback rule, he has been ordered to remove the patio furniture and now is proposing it as a "driveway extension" in the upcoming review. The property line is about one foot from the basement stone wall and the patio cement pad was poured right on the property line. I would like to speak with someone on the design review board ahead of the March meeting to discuss any recourse I may have regarding the renaming of the patio in violation to "driveway extension" in his attempt to keep the pad that drains into my basement. I don't want to just complain at the DRB meeting if there is no chance of finding relief. Attached is a photo of the patio with the support of the pergola over it actually on my property, and a video showing water coming in through my basement window after the cement pad was poured. A French drain installed is already beginning to fail. 2/7/25, 10:17 AM Mail - Julia Destino - Outlook https://outlook.office365.com/mail/id/AAQkADI5NDIzZGRiLTQwNjEtNGM1MS05ZmQxLTUyZTNkMzFiZDJiZQAQANeXDRR5uiZKhSR6lod3IbI%3D 7/7