The neighbors of the parcel targeted by Saratoga Hospital for its proposed medical office building have challenged the zoning change that would allow the Hospital to proceed with its plans. If a sufficient percentage of the land owners who abut a parcel formally oppose a proposed zoning change, the law requires that the Council must have a “super majority” to pass the change. A super majority is a majority plus one. In the case of our City Council that means four out of five votes.
My sources tell me that John Franck, who announced he would recuse himself from a previous vote that was to be taken regarding the Hospital’s expansion as a PUD, will vote no this time. This means that all four of the other members of the Council must vote in the affirmative for the zoning to go through.
There will be two public hearings on the city’s new zoning map which is based on the city’s Comprehensive plan. There are eighteen parcels that would be rezoned on this map with two of them belonging to the Hospital. One hearing will be tonight (December 3) at 6:30 and the other will be on December 17. The hearings will take place at the city Recreation Center on Vanderbilt Terrace.
I assume that should the votes fall short of a super majority, the two controversial parcels will be removed from the proposed zoning map.
Saratoga Springs Politics 