HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-1 UDO Text Amendment Height Bonus NOD
CITY OF SARATOGA SPRINGS
P LANNING B OARD
City Hall - 474 Broadway
Saratoga Springs, New York 12866
Tel: 518-587-3550
www.saratoga-springs.org
MARK PINGEL, Chair
JOSEPH FERRANTE, Vice Chair
KERRY MAYO
WILLIAM MCTYGUE
MICHAEL KING
TONY STELLATO
ALEX WHITE
JENNIFER JOHNSON, Alternate
October 24, 2025
To: John Safford, Mayor
Minita Sanghvi, Commissioner of Finance
Dillon Moran, Commissioner of Accounts
Chuck Marshall, Commissioner of DPW
Timothy Coll, Commissioner of DPS
RE: Advisory Opinion from the Planning Board to the City Council – UDO Text Amendment for Height
Bonus
Dear Mayor and Commissioners,
Pursuant to City Council action on August 5, 2025 determining merit for review and requesting an
advisory opinion from the Planning Board, Design Review Board, and Saratoga County Planning Board.
The Planning Board considered the proposed UDO text amendment at their October 16, 2025 meeting
and issued an unfavorable advisory opinion with the following comments:
While we agree that the proposed change will improve the approval process for height bonus approval,
the Planning Board does not recommend that the UDO change as presented be adopted by the City
Council for the following reasons:
1. The City grants a full 15’ height bonus based on providing affordable housing as part of the
development. An energy efficient development is eligible for up to a 10’ height bonus. Civic and
community space can provide smaller height bonuses. NYS, however, will soon require energy
efficient construction for all new development, so retaining the energy efficiency option would
effectively make the 10’ height bonus automatic, providing no benefit to the City.
2. The proposed change is relatively small and addresses a potential overlap between Design
Review Board and Planning Board responsibility. Before committing to the time and expense of
making this change, we recommend that the amendment be tabled, and the Planning staff be
given the action to propose additional modifications to the height bonus portion of the UDO
that would provide concrete benefits to the City when a height bonus is granted. In the
meantime, the Planning Board and the Design Review Board have a good working relationship
and can work through any possible responsibility overlaps.
We would also like to respectfully suggest that the City Council consider putting a regular UDO review
schedule in place, at a minimum yearly, to allow the UDO to continue to improve as needed changes are
found.
2
This resolution was made by motion and passed 6-0 (ayes: Pingel, Ferrante, Mayo, King, White, Johnson).
October 24, 2025
Date filed with Accounts Dept. Chair