Month: October 2015

This is an interesting little story from Saratoga Today about a survey done by Skidmore students about Saratoga National Golf Course.  Not very scientific.  They interviewed people attending city council meetings about their views on SNGC

Survey Results

Jackie Donnelly has a wonderful blog focusing on photographing and commenting about what she finds in the woods and waters around Saratoga and near by.  She takes some wonderful pictures and introduces us to the names and information about plants and animals she finds in her wanderings.  If you enjoy the outdoors, her site is really worth the visit. Jackie’s Blog

During the last several days I attempted to locate the helipad at Saratoga National Golf Course in order to photograph it.  It turns out that there may not be an actual helipad.  Saratoga National Golf Course had been providing regular rides from its grounds for weddings and other events.  I had assumed that in order to land a helicopter they would need a helipad.  As it turns out, this is not necessarily the case.  It appears that the laws governing where a helicopter can land and take off from may be fairly loose.  As far as I can tell, they were using the driving range on the course to operate the helicopter.

I believe that landing a helicopter frequently to provide sightseeing rides in what is supposed to be a rural and bucolic area (the conservation district) is inappropriate and inconsistent with the comprehensive plan.  I think that the noise has been a major nuisance to the people in the area.

Nevertheless, I was wrong in posting that it appeared that Saratoga National Golf Course had erected a helipad in violation of the city zoning ordinances.  For whatever my differences are with Saratoga National Golf Course, they deserve accuracy in reporting on them as do the readers of this blog.  It is not the first time I have had to apologize on this site and it will, unfortunately, not be the last.  I apologize to Saratoga National Golf Course.  I have taken down the inaccurate posting.

Having said that, the overall issue of the use of the greenbelt to land and launch helicopters remains.  It would seem that for safety and noise reasons, there should be guidelines and requirements before someone can regularly land a helicopter on land not designed for that purpose.  Unfortunately, there may not be.  In fact, the FAA which is increasingly driven by the desires of the flight industry rather than the consumers may have authority over this matter and may have very lax requirements.  They may supersede the authority of the local municipalities in the matter.  There also may not be any current codes in our own city laws regarding this.

In the next few weeks I will be looking into how the city’s zoning law was amended to permit the  building  of a helipad in the city’s greenbelt  and what sort of regulations exist regarding  where non-emergency commercial helicopters can land.

 

Mayor Yepsen scheduled a fundraiser at Saratoga National Golf Course.  In light of the fact that her office is supposed to be investigating allegations from this blog about violations of land-use agreements with the city, one might have expected that she would chose a less charged location for her fundraiser.

The fundraiser, as the flyer below documents, was supposed to be held on Tuesday, October 13.  On Friday it was brought to her attention that the date she selected was the same night that the League of Women Voters is hosting a forum for the candidates for Commissioner of Public Safety and Public Works.  She has changed it to Thursday, October 15, still at SNGC.

The always interesting Thomas Dimopoulos has a comprehensive article on the Saratoga PAC that you can find on the Hill Country Observer website   Article On PAC

There is also an excellent editorial on the same website regarding the Saratoga National Golf Course controversy.  Great Editorial

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Saratoga PAC is having a community reception at the Holiday Inn on Tuesday, October 20^th. (This is the same place that the Republicans use for their election eve gatherings).  They are apparently going to report on their endorsements and the results of their survey.  It will be from 5:00 to 6:30 PM.  They are asking for a $25.00 contribution to attend.  This is where you can register to attend.

Your Invitation To Saratoga PAC’s Reception

Saratoga PAC claims to have received a thousand responses to their survey.  Just to give those of you who missed it a flavor for the survey you are only allowed the following responses:

Respond on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the most important.

Level of Importance

• 1 – Not Relevant
• 2 – Somewhat Important
• 3 – Important
• 4 – Very Important
• 5 – Extremely Important–Key Issue

And here is a sample question:

7. Approve a zoning change for Saratoga National Golf Club to enable the creation of a 5-Star resort golf destination, helping the region compete more effectively for conference and tourism revenue.

Aside from the assumptions built into the question, what would it mean to answer “Extremely Important?”  Could Extremely Important indicate that you think it is an extremely bad idea?  Is there any way to indicate that you think it is a bad idea?  Is this the way to really find out what people in this city think about these issues?

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Joseph Levy and I have been working very hard on analyzing the data submitted by city candidates to the Board of Elections regarding their donors.  This has turned out to be a very large project for two reasons.

First, my second career was as a computer programmer.  I have been hard at work writing a software package that can import the data from the state and put it in a readable format for the readers of this blog with further documentation about who the donors are.  Once I have the software written, it will be very easy to regularly report to the followers of this blog about this data.  It has, like many projects, turned out to be larger and more time consuming than I had anticipated.

Second, looking up all these people and businesses to identify who they are is quite challenging.

Once we get it all done, we will be publishing it and I think the readers of this blog will find it quite entertaining.

I received the following email from Mayor Yepsen:

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From: Joanne Yepsen [joanne.yepsen@saratoga-springs.org]
Sent: Thursday, October 08, 2015 5:44 PM
To: John Kaufmann
Cc: christian mathiesen; John Franck; Skip Sciroco; michele madigan; Joseph
Ogden; Vincent DeLeonardis
Subject: Re: Saratoga National Golf Course Violations

John, this has nothing to do with transparency, just time in the day.  The staff has done a
thorough job looking back at this over the past week and we will have a report back to you
tomorrow that we are happy to share with more information.  Thank you again for bringing this to
our attention.
Joanne

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Original Email

From: “John Kaufmann” <john.kaufmann21@gmail.com>
To: “joanne yepsen” <joanne.yepsen@saratoga-springs.org>
Cc: “christian mathiesen” <christian.mathiesen@saratoga-springs.org>, “John Franck”
<johnfranck@your-cpas.com>, “Skip Sciroco” <Skip_scirocco@saratoga-springs.org>,
“michele madigan” <michele.madigan@saratoga-springs.org>
Sent: Tuesday, October 6, 2015 9:28:21 PM
Subject: Saratoga National Golf Course Violations

Thank you for your email.  Unfortunately, your response referenced important issues but did not
actually address them.  I know that you pride yourself on your office’s transparency and its open door
policy.  I would like to avail myself of these by meeting with you at your earliest convenience to better
understand what your office has done so far and what it plans to do regarding Saratoga National Golf
Course’s apparent violations.  I am intrigued by your reference that “The City may need to tighten up
or update the 1998 language.”  It would also be helpful to know you and your staff’s thinking about
how to assess the “Western Trail” compliance and the kind of measures you are considering that
would allow you to determine how many “special events” are held out at Saratoga National Golf
Course.

__________ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus signature
database 12367 (20151006) __________

The message was checked by ESET Smart Security.

http://www.eset.com

Confidentiality/Privilege Notice: This e-mail communication and any files transmitted with it
contain privileged and confidential information from the City of Saratoga Springs and are
intended solely for the use of the individual(s) or entity to which it has been addressed. If you
are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution,
or taking any other action with respect to the contents of this message is strictly prohibited. If
you have received this e-mail in error, please delete it and notify the sender by return e-mail.
Thank you for your cooperation.

__________ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus signature database 12378
(20151008) __________

The message was checked by ESET Smart Security.

http://www.eset.com

I received the following email from Mayor Yepsen regarding the Saratoga National Golf Course violations:

From: Joanne Yepsen [joanne.yepsen@saratoga-springs.org]
Sent: Tuesday, October 06, 2015 1:13 PM
To: John Kaufmann
Cc: <christian.mathiesen@saratoga-springs.org>; John Franck; Skip Sciroco;
<michele.madigan@saratoga-springs.org>
Subject: Re: Saratoga National Golf Course

John, thanks very much for bringing this to our attention. My staff have been looking into all the
questions and concerns and we will be back in touch soon. The City may need to tighten up or update
the 1998 language and be sure everyone follows the rules. More to come… Thank you.
Joanne

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I responded as follows:

From: John Kaufmann [john.kaufmann21@gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, October 06, 2015 9:28 PM
To: joanne.yepsen@saratoga-springs.org
Cc: ‘christian.mathiesen@saratoga-springs.org’; John Franck (johnfranck@your-
cpas.com); ‘Skip Sciroco’; ‘michele.madigan@saratoga-springs.org’
Subject: Saratoga National Golf Course Violations

Thank you for your email.  Unfortunately, your response referenced important issues but did not
actually address them.  I know that you pride yourself on your office’s transparency and its open door
policy.  I would like to avail myself of these by meeting with you at your earliest convenience to better
understand what your office has done so far and what it plans to do regarding Saratoga National Golf
Course’s apparent violations.  I am intrigued by your reference that “The City may need to tighten up
or update the 1998 language.”  It would also be helpful to know you and your staff’s thinking about
how to assess the “Western Trail” compliance and the kind of measures you are considering that
would allow you to determine how many “special events” are held out at Saratoga National Golf
Course.

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[Note: While new posts automatically go out to the “followers” of this blog, comments do not.  With that in mind I am posting John Safford’s response to my inquiry to him about Saratoga National Golf Course’s violation of their Special Use Permit]

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Hi John,

I do follow your blog and was held in suspense while you and your friend sought out the Western trail at National. I was a little disappointed that you didn’t mention the well done Eastern trail when you talked at the council meeting.
I was not a little concerned to hear that the number of events were limited at National . I have attended many not-for-profit fund raisers there and would not like to see them stopped. However, agreements need to be lived up to or they need to be modified.
As you know my numerous conversations with residents in the area reflect an irritation with the many fireworks displays at National and, even more importantly with the general traffic problems at either end of Gilbert Road. Frankly, almost all of the people I talked with like and use National regularly.
From what I understand (except for the Eastern Trail), National has met or exceeded its promises to bring a hi-end golf course to the Eastern Ridge. As Mayor, I will bring up the agreement and see if there is reason to modify it.

[Note:  This was reposted because I published the original email to Mayor Yepsen from September 18 rather than the new one]

I have documented what appears to be the systematic violations by Saratoga National Golf Course to adhere to the requirements of the Special Use Permit issued to them by the city.  To date the city has taken no action regarding these potential violations.  In light of this I have sent emails to Mayor Yepsen and to her opponent, John Safford.  I have asked the mayor to respond by indicating what action she plans to take in this matter.  I have asked Mr. Safford, were he mayor, how would he would address this.

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From: John Kaufmann [john.kaufmann21@gmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, October 04, 2015 8:41 PM
To: joanne.yepsen@saratoga-springs.org
Cc: ‘christian.mathiesen@saratoga-springs.org’; John Franck (johnfranck@your-
cpas.com); ‘Skip Sciroco’; ‘michele.madigan@saratoga-springs.org’
Subject: Saratoga National Golf Course

This is a follow-up to my email to you of September 18 regarding the apparent violations of the Special
Permit granted to Saratoga National Golf Course.  To date, I have not heard back from you.
As I noted in my original email, it appears that SNGC has been grossly negligent in erecting a “Nature
Trail” to run along the west side of the course as required by its Special Use Permit.  In most cases
there is literally no trail of any kind.  There is virtually no effective signage along the trail as what there
is is buried in places that people seeking to use the trail cannot see them.
Just as seriously is the apparent violation of  the agreement to limit large events to only three per
year.  Your recent attendance at the Saratoga PLAN fundraiser should have given you the flavor for the
kind of large event that the Special Permit was meant to address.  There have been many other large
events at SNGC.  During just one week this summer SNGC hosted the St. Jude’s fundraiser along with
two sold out “Travers Party” events that filled their “Blue Stone Patio” venue. SNGC told a local
periodical that they hosted one hundred and twenty five weddings last year.  I would refer you to the I
Love NY web site http://www.iloveny.com/listings/Saratoga-National-Golf-Club/8704/#.VhFiD7mFPIU
or the SNGC’s own web site for an indication of their very aggressive marketing.  It seems very
possible that they are enjoying the spoils of large profits by violating their agreement with the city.

Property owners throughout this city routinely abide by the city’s many land use requirements as good
citizens.  You can understand how troubled people would be if they were to learn that a major
business in this city has been allowed to violate our land use requirements with impunity.
On August 31, 2015, I formally asked the city Building Inspector to investigate this matter.  I included
with my request that he advise me of his findings and any actions he might take.  It is now many weeks
later and I have heard nothing.  As you know, his office is under your authority.

As a courtesy and in keeping with your campaign commitment to make transparency the hallmark of
your administration, I would be grateful if you could formally respond by indicating what actions
regarding this matter you plan to take.

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From: John Kaufmann [john.kaufmann21@gmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, October 04, 2015 8:43 PM
To: John Safford (SaffordForSaratoga@gmail.com)
Subject: Saratoga National Golf Course

As you follow my blog, you are aware of my coverage of the apparent violations by Saratoga National
Golf Course of the Special Use Permit they were issued to build their project.

Saratoga National Golf Course was required to build two “Nature Trails” with proper signage and
available to the public.  Any reasonable person who attempted to use the western “Nature Trail”
would find out that most of it does not exist as a trail, let alone a “nature trail.”  There are only two
fragments that could be described as trail like and these lack any signage that would help someone
who wanted to use these trails to access them.

There is also reason to believe that SNGC routinely exceeds the number of large events allowed under
the requirements of the Special Use Permit.  For example, the St. Jude fundraiser, the Feast In the
Fields fundraiser, and the two “Travers Parties” that sold out the Blue Patio Tent on a weekend in
August during the racing season combined with other events taking place at the same time appear to
have exceeded their yearly limit.

If you were Mayor, what action would you take to determine whether Saratoga National Golf Course
had violated their agreement and if they had, what actions would you take to address the problem.

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To get some sense of just how aggressively Saratoga National Golf Course markets, check out these links to the I Love NY website.

WIth Gideon Putnam

Touting Their Restaurant

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[Note: The original post for this was truncated.  This is the complete one]

In response to my post about Saratoga PLAN’s fundraiser at Saratoga National Golf Course I received the following comment:

“Mr. Kaufmann, you have a major mistake in this post. There are two John Munter’s (father and son). The John Munter that chairs the Plan board has not donated to the PAC. I suggest you fact check before posting derogatory claims.”

As it turns out, Munter Enterprises, a construction/development company, is a family business founded by John E.Munter, Sr. and now headed by his son, John E. Munter, Jr.   According to their required filing, Saratoga PAC reported that a John Munter donated to their organization.  I am assuming from the comment I received that John E. Munter (senior) made the donation and that John E. Munter, Jr. chairs Saratoga PLAN.

Fathers and sons do not always agree on issues, so I decided to call John E. Munter, Jr. to find out from him directly whether he shared his father’s enthusiasm for Saratoga PAC.  He returned my call and explained to me that the post came from himself, rather than his father (he refers to himself in the third person in his comment).  I asked him if he would share with me his views on whether Saratoga PAC was an asset or a problem for our political process.  He refused to answer asserting that whatever appeared in my blog would be derogatory.

While I appreciate his correction, his response to my question to him make it unclear whether the substance of my criticism is not still valid.

I would encourage Mr. Munter, Jr. to clarify his position by posting on my blog his assessment of Saratoga PAC.  I will post it without any editing.