New fire/EMS station delayed
Officials consider different parcels after AG’s office denies sale of land
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.>> Saratoga Springs public safety department has shifted focus on other options for a third fire/ EMS station on the Eastern Plateau after the Attorney General’s office denied sale of a nearly 15-acre parcel located on Union Avenue.
“At this point in time we’re looking at other parcels and looking at other possibilities,” said Commissioner of Public Safety Christian Mathiesen. “It’s unfortunate that we’ve had this terrible delay. It’s certainly not in the interest of public safety to have such a delay when you have a need of this sort but at least now from our standpoint we feel like we are free to start looking at other possibilities.”
In 2014 the city of Saratoga Springs approved the transaction in which the city agreed to sell Ben Aronson, who operates under Algonquin Building LLC, the Collamer parking lot on Broadway so that his father Joel’s religious corporation, Congregation & Yeshiva Pardes Yosef D’Chasidei Belz, would then sell the city the Union Avenue parcel for a fire and EMS station. However, the attorney general denied the purchase: the Congregation & Yeshiva Pardes Yosef D’Chasidei Belz sale was made contingent on the sale of the Broadway Lot, and this fact was undisclosed in the request, according to the letter from January.
The reason why a petition had to be made was due to the state’s Religious Corporations and Notfor-Profit Corporation laws. The letter explains the laws, and why the petition was declined.
“They basically said they wouldn’t approve the sale because this was a situation where the Aronsons were getting a benefit that was not directly part of the religious organization because of the Collamer lot,” said Mathiesen. “Frankly as I read their decision I didn’t necessary disagree with them; I understand how they came to that decision. I just don’t
know why it took as long as it did.”
As part of the deal, the city would have sold the Broadway lot for $775,000 and then purchase a 14acre site on Union Avenue from Aronson for $200,000.
About seven acres of the parcel were swamp and about seven acres of the parcel were very dry.
The Public Safety Department mailed letters to property and homeowners on the east side in early April.
“We gave them to May 1 to let us know if they are interested,” said Eileen Finneran, deputy commissioner of public safety. “We’re seeking at least two acres of dry, buildable land because a lot of property out there is wet.”
If the city cannot buy land off of property owners, the city has alternative ideas to pursue.
“We also have another couple ideas that aren’t as ideal but they will be a big help,” said Finneran. “They will cut down four minutes or so on response time, which is a lot because the problem that has been going on for many years now is that it can take anywhere from eight, nine up to 20 minutes depending on what’s going on in the rest of the city, which is just not acceptable.”
A 2007 study was done and determined the location of a third fire/EMS station would be outside Union Avenue, but at that time no properties were for sale.
Mathiesen said it’s a public safety need that benefits more than just the Eastern Ridge. About five percent of calls happen in the Eastern Plateau.
“It benefits the entire city and makes sure the entire city is well covered,” said Mathiesen. “It’s in everybody’s interest, not just the Eastern Ridge to make sure we have this third fire station, so we have this third engine crew and we basically take our resources and we distribute them across the city more evenly than what we have now.”