HomeMy WebLinkAbout20190604 Cluett House Bed and Breakfast Correspondance (13) To: City of Saratoga Springs - Planning Board, Mr. Torpey, Chair
From: Jennifer L. McMahonfjenniferlmcmahon7@gmail.com
Date: September 30, 2019
Re: Application for Permanent Special Use Permit for "Neighborhood Bed and
Breakfast" - Cluett Mouse Bed and Breakfast (Robin Lauder LLC)
Dear Mr. Torpey and Members of the Planning Board,
I am writing regarding the application made for a permanent special use permit (SUP) by
Robin Lauder LLC for a Neighborhood Bed and Breakfast at 2 Clement Avenue.
I previously submitted letters in opposition to the application and spoke in objection to
it on July 25, 2019.
I write to address points made at the most recent planning board meeting (9-19-19) and
in the applicant's recent correspondence.
I want to again thank the board for hearing the concerns of the public on this matter. I
will try to keep my comments brief.
From my review of the discussion and materials supplied, the applicant has still offered
no positive argument justifying the approval the application other than a personal
desire to conduct business.
No evidence has been supplied that demand exists for short-term occupancy housing in
the area or that the presence of such a business would supply a good to the community
sufficient to offset the adverse effects of permitting a business in a residential area.
Indeed, increases in short-term housing (e.g., hotels) in the adjacent business district,
and low occupancy rates in those venues during all but the track season, suggests there
is no such demand.
In fact, it can be argued that permitting this venue as a bed and breakfast could
adversely impact existing businesses in the downtown area. This represents another
positive argument against its approval, especially since permitting this residential
property as a business would erode the boundaries of the commercial corridor.
The SUP application is designed to consider the impact of approval on "community
character"(7.1.3.A.4). Over two-dozen individuals have opposed the application. No
community members other than the applicant (and their attorney) have spoken on its
behalf. Unlike the applicant, neighbors have offered multiple positive arguments against
the application, including demonstrated increases in traffic and noise already shown in
the property's ongoing unpermitted operation as bed and breakfast, strain on
infrastructure, adverse impacts on safety (particularly that of children using the park
and sports fields adjacent to the property), potential negative impact on local property
values, and the dangerous precedent approval would set for further influx of business
properties in the area that could further impact community atmosphere.
I was troubled by Mr. Toohey's letter (September 10, 2019) where he appears to try to
gain the board's favor by misrepresenting the opposition. in his letter, Mr. Toohey
works to conjure the board's sympathy by alleging that his clients (an LLC) have been
wounded by the unwelcome attitude of the neighbors. He works to incite distaste for
those neighbors (and thereby undermine their objections) by portraying them as an
elitist group that has argued their community is "too exclusive" to be subject to
intrusion. He then works to prime the board's approval by stating that the proposed use
"is allowed within all Urban Residential Zones." This is incorrect. If it was, no application
for SUP would be needed. I hope the board can see through this effort.
No neighbor I have spoken with bears any personal animosity toward the applicant, nor
do they deny their community contributions. We are not interested in, or trying to, keep
out anyone who might own and live in this (or any other) property as a residence.
Our objection is simply that the neighborhood, by virtue of its official and current
zoning, is exclusively residential We oppose granting an SUP for a business.
Our argument is that given this zoning status, the absence of any positive argument for
an exception to that zoning, and the existence of multiple positive arguments in
opposition to the request (e.g., noise, safety, strain on infrastructure), there is no
sufficient basis to approve either a temporary or special use permit.
We are a family oriented community that welcomes new members. We seek merely to
preserve the residential character of the neighborhood. We do not believe that can be
achieved if the application to install a commercial business in this community is
approved. We respectfully request that you deny the application for SUP at 2 Cement
Avenue.
Sincerely,
Jennifer L. McMahon, MA, PhD.
Daughter of John L. McMahon, 2 First St., Saratoga Springs NY 12866