At last Tuesday’s City Council meeting the Council unanimously voted to pass on the affordable housing zoning proposal offered by Sustainable Saratoga to the county and city planning boards.
In today’s (August 20) Saratogian, reporter Travis Clark wrote that at the city council meeting, Mayor Yepsen told the council that she had received a letter from the Saratoga Builders Association supporting the proposed ordinance. Clark went on to write that the letter from the Association was dated August 1 which pre-dated Sustainable Saratoga’s proposal. Mr. Clark contacted Barry Potoker, the SBA Executive Director. He contradicted the Mayor, telling Clark that his group is not supporting the proposal at this time.
It will be interesting to see what the county and city planning boards do with the proposal. Both boards are dominated by the developer/builder network. If they endorse the proposal, I expect it to sail on to adoption. If they oppose the proposal, given the history of the council, it will be in some jeopardy.
Saratoga Springs Politics 
We already have affordable housing….it’s called Schuylerville .
LikeLike
I will once again stand in opposition to the Sustainable Saratoga proposal. Our group has reviewed it many times over now, and we believe it does nothing to solve for the core issues of our housing problem, and wrongly puts all of the blame – and costs – on the developers. This can be done in a MUCH better way, that can solve our problems long term!!!
Dave Morris
Saratogians For Sustainable Housing
LikeLike
CDTA bus service out Route 29 to Schuylerville and especially our Route 50 to Gansevoort, Town of Northumberland would solve a multitude of problems.
LikeLike
You’ll never see it in our lifetime.
LikeLike
Justin, good idea. Also, it would be nice for CDTA to have a stop down on Rt 9 to the Design Motel. Those people walk to the Stewart’s Shop, and also all the way into town. It’s dangerous.
But CDTA has a stop at the Racino, for the gamblers, which gives the State a nice return on their investment in buses.
LikeLike
I agree Henry37. One thing I ‘threw out’ to the council members a while back was for the city to build a ‘solar parking garage’ on S. B’way, and man it with solar powered trolley’s that would run B’way and to the track on a consistent 10-15 min schedule. No pollution, less maintenance, no worries about cramming another parking garage downtown and no worries about CDTA doing what we really need here either. Here’s the kicker: I actually priced out the trolley cost, and with the state and fed grants available for it it would pay for OVER 85% of the cost for it too.
LikeLike