City eyes email appeal
Center, council communications sought for case
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. » A couple battling the city over the release of emails between City Center officials and city council commissioners took their fight to the steps of City Hall on Tuesday afternoon, urging for the release of the communications.
The couple are seeking the emails as part of their ongoing litigation against a proposed parking garage,
“We really feel that there has got to be something in those emails that showed that the city and Mark Baker were working hand in hand,” said Dianne Pedinotti, who, along with her
husband, David Pedinotti, owns Mouzon House restaurant on York Street.
Baker, the Republican candidate for mayor, was the executive director of the City Center until his retirement at the end of 2016.
“As I am no longer employed by the City Center, I will not be commenting any further on ongoing litigation,” Baker said in a statement released on Oct. 17 after the city appealed the court’s decision the first time.
The Pedinottis’ filed a lawsuit against the city in October 2015 in State Supreme Court in Ballston Spa, accusing the City Council of voting to change Saratoga Springs’ solar access law to benefit the City Center’s parking garage proposal.
“The Supreme Court agrees with us. The Supreme Court said those e-mails should be unredacted. The city went and appealed that,” said Tingley. “The Appellate Division dismissed that appeal. We still don’t have those emails, and we wonder why. What does the city have to hide with its relationship with the City Center than for two and half years would not provide that information to us?”
The appeal the city filed on Oct. 12 was dismissed last week by the Appellate Division, but the city asked for a second opportunity to appeal the decision. The Pedinottis are asking for additional relief from the Appellate Division that’s currently pending.
Mayor Joanne Yepsen offered a statement Tuesday afternoon.
“I have always believed a fully transparent government is best. There is nothing more important than transparency, accountability and following the law. We should release anything that we possibly can legally,” said Yepsen. “We were briefed on this pending litigation [Tuesday] by the city attorney and will continue to monitor this issue carefully, as I do with all issues facing the city.”
The Pedinottis are represented by attorney Jonathan Tingley of Tuczinski, Cavalier and Gilchrist in Albany.
“All I can say is I don’t know why they would hide it if there wasn’t something in there,” said Tingley. “I don’t know what’s in there, that’s why we’re looking for them and if the city would just turn them over I guess we would all know the answer.”
Julie Cuneo, who served as chairperson of Citizens for High Rock, advocated for a multi-use development instead of the proposed five-story parking garage. The citizen group invited developers to see if there could be an alterative use.
“I really don’t know what’s in the emails, but it’s important in transparency when you have an elected official communicating with a City Center president who is now running for mayor. Those are very important questions for our city to have answers for by election day,” said Cuneo. “... We’re here asking our city hall officials to release the emails as required by New York state law.”
The Pedinottis’ suit specifically asked the city to repeal a law, which as written would permit the taller parking structure to cast a shadow on the solar panels the Mouzon House has installed on its roof. The suit also seeks to annul a subdivision of the parking garage site the Planning Board approved in September 2015.
Since the parking structure’s inception, the Mouzon House owners have battled the project, which is designed to go up right next door to their eatery on the edge of High Rock Park. The land there, currently a parking lot, is owned by the city.
The Pedinottis found that the City Center’s original five-story garage design would violate the zoning law by casting a shadow on solar panels on the roof of the Mouzon House. The Zoning Board of Appeals agreed, voting against granting the project a variance.
The Pedinottis have been claiming this type of growth would take away business from their restaurant, which would be hidden from view by the proposed five-story parking structure.
The City Council voted to change that law in July 2015. The Pedinottis then accused the council of spot zoning — changing a law or granting a variance for the sake of one sole project and not for the greater good of the community. But the city attorney disputed that claim.
“The courts of this state have long since held that where, as here, zoning is found to be in compliance with the city’s Comprehensive Plan, which is calculated to serve the community’s general well-being and welfare, it is not, by definition, spot zoning,” DeLeonardis wrote at the time.