HomeMy WebLinkAbout20260367 624 N Broadway Demolition & Construction Public CommentERIC W. LAWSON, ESQ. (Ret.)
ATTORNEY -AT- LAW
Arbitration - Mediation
Telephone: (518) 587-0403 E-mail: erblawson@gmail.com
11 WHITNEY PLACE
SARATOGA SPRINGS, NEW YORK 12866
June 23, 2026
Tamie Ehinger, Chair
Saratoga Springs Design Review Board
Members of the Board
Saratoga Springs City Hall
474 Broadway
Saratoga Springs NY 12866
Dear Chair, Ehinger and Members of the Design Review Board:
I am a citizen of Saratoga Springs and an active member of the Unitarian Universalist
Congregation of Saratoga Springs presently located at 624 N. Broadway. I write to you
regarding an application now pending before the Board for the construction of
condominiums on that site.
I appreciate that the main function of your Board deals with the important
consideration of building design in our city and therefore its members may have only
secondary concern for issues regarding the implications of your work. However, those
implications impact our whole community, and I ask your forbearance in considering
how they impact the members of the UUCSS.
For more than a decade our Congregation has struggled to find the resources and
overcome other challenges that will permit us to build a new church. We believe we are
close to taking the final steps needed to break ground in fulfillment of that dream but
that will not happen if the sale of our present building collapses. We were at this critical
moment a year ago when the pending sale of our building at 624 N. Broadway collapsed
upon another potential buyer's failure to obtain a building permit.
I carefully watched the deliberations of your Board earlier this month and concluded
that the building design for the new structure proposed for 624 N. Broadway has met
with approval from several Board members and satisfied most but not all of the
concerns of several other members. Given the relative proximity of Board members to
achieving consensus on the application, or its possible revision, I implore the members
of the Board to find the means to bridge their differences and approve the application.
The UUCSS strives to remain an important presence in our community. The new church
we hope to build at 40o Louden Road - itself an impressive new structure and unique in
the sense that few new churches are currently being built anywhere - will help us serve
that community, doing so with diligence and compassion. That lofty goal may not
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happen without favorable action by The Design Review Board that will in turn permit
the successful sale of 624 N. Broadway.
Respectfully yours,
EWL:ks Eric Lawson