Not so fast on the marijuana dispensary or processing facility, says landowner
Property owners near an undeveloped parcel of land have taken issue with the potential use of that site as a marijuana processing or distribution facility, even though the city’s Planning Board gave the OK.
This is according to Erik Piorkowski, an attorney with Hinman Straub which is representing the property owners, Saratoga Retail Properties. The company owns the Hannaford, Kohl’s and Tractor Supply properties on Weibel Avenue just east of the I-87 Northway. The undeveloped land is a 17-acre parcel behind the Hannaford supermarket.
“We urge the city council not to award the PUD,” Piorkowski told the board Sept. 20.
The parcel is part of a PUD, or Planned Unit Development, which had allowed for a number of commercial uses when it was first created, long before recreational marijuana use and sale was legalized.
However, so much time has passed since the PUD was first created that it has reverted to RR-1 zoning, a residential district that does not exist now that the city’s Unified Development Ordinance became the law earlier this year.
This leaves the decision of how to proceed with the city council. Creation or revision of a PUD must be made by the city council. The council has kept open a series of two public hearings on the property.
The owner of the undeveloped property, Baruch Aronson, has proposed many new uses for the property including as a marijuana retail dispensary or as a processing facility. He is represented by Justin Grassi with the Jones Steves law firm.
[Read more about the current proposal here and the history here.]
Piorkowski said the retail development adjacent to the open space is a “stable, popular, retail area,” adding later that the shopping center is family-oriented and that allowing the marijuana uses on the property are wrong for that area.
“We don’t think it’s necessary or appropriate” to make the changes, he told the board.
Springs $4.2M SAFER Awards grant is 3rd largest in NYS history
From a press release: U.S. Sens. Charles “Chuck” Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, both Democrats from New York, announced SAFER grants to fund firefighters and other staff at the Saratoga Springs Fire Station #3 under construction on Hemming Road in the city and to help Troy with its firefighting staffing shortages.
[Read more about Fire Station #3 here.]
The Saratoga Springs Fire Department will receive $4,154,523, the third largest SAFER grant in the history of New York State. The Troy Fire Department will receive $3,688,160. The funding was allocated through the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response program.
Jim Montagnino, Saratoga Springs Commissioner of Public Safety said in the statement: “I’d like to express my gratitude to Senator Schumer for the award of the SAFER grant to our City. This grant empowers us to staff and train 16 additional firefighters needed to keep the City safe as we continue to grow.”
Schumer and Gillibrand explained the funding will go towards the hiring of 16 new firefighters and paramedics for the Saratoga Springs Fire Department to staff the city’s new state-of-the-art Fire-EMS station. In Troy, the funding will be used to hire 14 new firefighters.