(Credit: Steve Thurston, 2022)
Sketches for two of the houses planned for an open field on Nelson Avenue. The field is a makeshift parking lot during track season.
An open field that is used as parking during the Saratoga Race Course season will get at least one more year of use, minus space for three houses.
Development plans for the field, sandwiched between Nelson Avenue and Frank Sullivan Place in Saratoga Springs, has moved through the planning process in the city since at least last year.
[FoothillsBusinessDaily.com first reported on it last March.]
Most of the property will remain undeveloped for now, but three homes along Nelson Avenue were given the green light, so long the contractor builds homes that have porches on the front of the houses, and the garages are placed in the backyard, following the basic model of many Saratoga Springs homes.
Developer John Witt showed sketches of two of the homes already being designed for clients. They had front porches and back garages. He added that he had wanted the homes to match others on the block and that he had “no problems” with the arrangement.
“We’re just looking to get this approved before we get to the ‘Back 40” he said, referring to the rest of the property, which faces Frank Sullivan Place. Exactly what will happen to the rest is still a question. Witt had brought forward ideas in the past for about 10 more homes, in various arrangements, but nothing is in the planning phases.
Leah Everhart, the attorney on staff with the planning board, said that the board could make an environmental declaration looking just at the plan for the houses and did not have to consider the full property since there is no complete plan as yet. Generally, a board must look at all of the development on a property at once when considering the environmental impact and cannot segment the property into various pieces.
She said any future development is “purely speculative” and said, "that's not technically segmentation."
Everhart is an attorney with the Miller, Mannix, Schachner and Hafner law firm. No substantial environmental impacts were expected if the project moved forward, and therefore it was approved.