Courtesy Saratoga Hospital via Saratoga Springs Planning Board (Feb. 2021).
The map outlines the plans the hospital has for the first phase of construction along Morgan Street. (The street runs parallel to the image's edge in the lower right corner). The second and third phases have no distinct plans yet, the hospital says, but this map shows the basic placement of each.
Saratoga Hospital will present plans for a major expansion of its campus on unused space along Morgan Street north of the hospital in Saratoga Springs this evening during the Saratoga Springs Planning Board meeting.
The first phase of three includes creation of a 75,000 square foot medical office building on Morgan Street near its intersection with Myrtle Street, 390 parking spaces behind the building, a community garden, and a greenhouse or pergola structure. Two buildings on the land, part of the former DiCresce residence, will also undergo renovation to be used by the hospital as well, according to documents submitted to the planning board.
In the documents, the hospital says it will build three more buildings during phases 2 and 3 if there is community need.
If all goes well in the planning, the hospital plans construction in summer or early fall.
“We have long believed that a medical office center is the best use of this last piece of undeveloped land adjacent to our hospital property,” Angelo Calbone, Saratoga Hospital president and CEO, said in a press release.
In the press release, the hospital acknowledged a lawsuit against the city and acknowledged that the city rezoned much of the space to allow for construction.
The small group who brought the lawsuit have appealed to the New York State Court of Appeals but no hearing date has been set.
In the suit, the neighbors contended that the city did not follow its own procedures when they approved the plans for the expansion and that the expansion did not follow proper environmental review.
"The lawsuit was not against the hospital. It was against the city," said Alice Smith, one party in the lawsuit. "We're not against the hospital, but when the city rezoned the area, they did not follow the right steps that they should have to follow."
This allowed for a larger building and more traffic than should have been tolerated, she said.
The Saratoga Springs Planning Board meets tonight at 6p.m. on zoom or by watching the meeting on the city's website.