A public hearing regarding proposed changes to the Weibel Avenue Planned Unit Development has been on, then off, then back on the Saratoga Springs City Council agenda for well over a year. The public hearing remains open, and at this point there is no indication it will close and go to the City Council for a vote.
Although any city commissioner can move to close the public hearing and bring the discussion to a vote, there has been no consensus on what to do, the mayor said in an interview last month.
"So far, we haven't, as a city council, discussed it or gotten a consensus,” Kim said. “It is somewhat languishing."
Mayor Ron Kim has said in a recent interview that the newly-installed cannabis task force may take a look at the proposed change to the PUD to help the city make a decision.
All PUDs are created as a change in the zoning law and as such require a city council vote to revise them. The current proposal for the Weibel Avenue PUD is asking for a change in the way a portion of the property can be used.
The proposal requests that the city allow a marijuana dispensary or processing plant on the undeveloped, forested section of the property behind the Hannaford Supermarket on Weibel Avenue.
This particular PUD has a history dating to the 1990s. Since then, the majority of the PUD was planned or developed.
However, the forest behind the shopping center was never developed so the land lost its commercial zoning under the original PUD. Instead, the zoning reverted to RR-1, the zoning it held before the PUD was created. RR-1 is a residential zone which no longer exists under the city’s new Unified Development Ordinance.
Therefore, any development on that site needs a PUD revision since the zone it operates under no longer exists.
[Read our stories on it, here.]
By May 2021, Baruch Aronson, the owner of the property, asked for the change in the PUD to turn the forested area back into commercial zoning, and he suggested uses such as a shipping and a distribution center would be appropriate for the site.
But then New York State legalized the recreational sale and use of marijuana.
Early this year, Aronson submitted new documents that included “marijuana dispensary” and “processing plant” as a possible commercial uses on the site. Marijuana dispensaries will sell pot, but people may not partake on the premises. Processing plants take raw materials and turn them into products such as edible marijuana gummy bears. The products are then sold to retailers.
In separate advisory opinions to the city council, the planning board did not like the warehouse use of the property but approved the use of the site for a marijuana dispensary. Still, the public hearing remains open, and a vote has not been taken. Justin Grassi, a lawyer respresenting Aronson, has spoken for the change in use, while Erik Piorkowski, an attorney Saratoga Retail Properties, which includes the Hannaford, Tractor Supply and Kohl's already on the site has pushed against the marijuana use.
The mayor admitted that he was not exactly sure what the next steps would be, but he said it would “make sense” that the cannabis committee would take it up.
He said the majority of committee's work would be to find out where dispensaries and marijuana cafès will be located in the city. The committee can look at the issue in a comprehensive way, the mayor said.
The city’ website does not yet list the charge of the task force. Calls to Saratoga Springs Supervisor Tara Gaston, the chair if the committee, had not been answered by press time. Kim announced the members of the full task force at the city council meeting earlier this month.
They are:
- Saratoga Springs County Supervisor Tara Gaston appointed herself to the task force and will chair it.
- Commissioner of Accounts Dillon Moran appointed himself.
- Will Borchers, a developer and owner of self-storage units, was appointed by James Montagnino, the Commissioner of Public Safety.
- Scot Trifilio, the owner of Ten-Ten Cannabis in Saratoga Springs, was appointed by Commissioner of Public Works Jason Golub.
- Carl Strock, a former Daily Gazette writer and an author, was nominated by Supervisor Matt Veitch.
- Commissioner of Finance Minita Sanghvi nominated Sarah Whittel, the Chief Wellness Officer and owner of Saratoga CBD Wellness.
- Todd Shimkus, nominated by the mayor, is the president of the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce.
- City staff on the committee: Saratoga Springs Deputy Mayor Angela Rella, Principal Planner Susan Barden, and Building Inspector and Zoning Officer Patrick Cogan.