HomeMy WebLinkAbout20190604 Cluett House Bed and Breakfast Correspondance (11) To: Members of the Saratoga Springs Plannins :Darr]
Date: September 26, 2019
From: Dr, and Mrs. Rosier Sant of 12 Denton Road, Saratoga Springs
Subject: The Cluett House Bed and Breakfast Permit Appeal
Dear Members of the Saratoga Springs Plannin• oard:
The purpose of this letter is to respond to the request from the Chairman of The
Planning Board ts hear from anyone in support of the Cluett House bed and
breakfast permit a ppeat We support the appeal by Mr:and Strazik for a
permit to use the Melt House as a bed and breakfast facility,. We offer OU
support for sriveral reasons as summarized below.
First,we attended the September 19th meeting of the Saratoga Springs Planning,
Board and witnessed some very enthusiastic opposition to the appeal which
clearly overstated, in our opinion, how low the traffic density is kin Clement
Avenue, My wife and drive on Clement Avenue daily and walk along it neariy
•every day;what we observe•is a thoroughfare that is in constant usage.it is used
by commuters daily,and by visitors on weekday evenings and weekends to both
the Viiiiilard J.Grandy Northside Recreational Park and Wagner Field by the
Skidmore women's field hockey team,The Northside Recreational Field regularly
attracts about 20 cars which park along Clement Avenue on Tuesday and
Wednesday evenings and on weekends this Fall, in particular: In addition,the
Skidmore College women's field Hockey team has schedule 13 honne games which
means team bus parking and parent parking along Clement Avenue: parking at
the Cluett iHo.use would be off street and total no more than five cars, it seems
that whatever traffic impact there would be is minimal considering the current
density,
Second,we favor a regulated permit process which applies to bed and breakfast
facilities over the unrestricted AirBnt3 business i. bdell,We urge the :card to
continue to explore granting the permit on this basis alone, which you are already
wisely doing.
Third,the people in opposition tried to make the point that they did not like th
idea of"transients"coming and going in the nel:hborhood and that such activity
would lower property values. The implication is that the visitors would be of a
lower class than the curr-nt residents and that this would degrade the quality of
the "neighborhood experience."The rent charges for the Cluett House would be
high enough to only attract people of comparable or better economic means than
the current residents. in fact,the people who can afford the rents are exactly the
types of peophi whom we would want to see and experience our neighborhood
because, often times,visitors become buyers which would only serve to drive
property values up.
And finally, we know the new owners personally.They are both consummate
protessionais and responsible members of the Saratoga Springs community, Their
children attend our schools and participate in school activities, They will only do
what is in the best overall interest of our community relative to meeting whatever
[Permitting standards you might sifer them,
Sincerely,
Roger Salitant