Casmiro via Saratoga Springs City Council (2021)
Charts like this attempt to quickly cross-reference development zones in the city and the uses permitted in each.
Draft 3 of the 304-page Unified Development Ordinance, the umbrella document that will shape development throughout Saratoga Springs, has run through the city machinations and is bound for the city council for discussion and a vote that will move it one step closer to law--but just one of a few more steps.
The meeting is May 4.
"The item will be on the next City Council agenda as a discussion and vote to determine whether the UDO has merit for review and, if so, it will then be referred to the City and County Planning Boards as well as the [city's Design Review Commission] DRC for review and formal advisory opinions," the city's attorney, Vincent DeLeonardis, wrote in an email.
The boards have 60 days to respond, and the council will consider those opinions. If the UDO continues forward, the council will set public hearings and conduct a SEQRA environmental review, DeLeonardis wrote.
Should all go as planned, it then gets voted on to become law.
A document born of the city’s comprehensive plan created in 2015, the UDO attempts to rewrite, clarify and consolidate the zoning regulations for the city. It has been in the drafting phase since 2019.
Over the past week, Arista Strungys and Chris Janette of Camiros, a Chicago-based urban planning firm, presented the latest, and final, draft to the City Council, to the city’s Planning Board and to the Design Review Commission. The draft of the document can be found on the city’s UDO web page. The public can still weigh in on the UDO, using a link on that page as well.
The UDO draws together the major planning documents in the city, such as the Comprehensive Plan, the Complete Streets Plan, the Urban and Community Forest Master Plan, the Open Space Master Plan, and the Saratoga Greenbelt Trail Plan. It includes development regulations from drawing the zones for development on the city's maps, and designating what commercial or residential activity can go on in those zones; to sign design and the number of electric vehicle charging stations required in a parking lot.
The function of the UDO, according to the city’s website, is a tool which combines traditional zoning and subdivision regulations with other development standards into one, easy-to-read reference document. The idea is that planners and developers can turn to one document for most answers to planning and development questions.
Among the goals, outlined by Strungys in her presentations to the various boards:
- Integrate land use plus urban design and objective standards.
- Permits: more development byright [ie: without the need of city meetings] and less special approvals.
- Enhance neighborhood character.
- Improve conformance.
- Allow creativity and flexibility.
- Create predictability.
- Increase development transparency.