FLAT ROCK CENTRE SEQR DOMINATES CITY COUNCIL MEETING
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. >> The central topic of discussion and voting at Tuesday night’s Saratoga Springs City Council meeting was a State Environmental Quality Review (SEQRA) evaluation on phase one of the Flat Rock Centre project.
After a litany of budget amendments, transfers, approvals, and other topics were addressed, the Mayor’s Office provided a revised concept presentation led by Daria Mallin AIA EDAC, Principal and President of Envision Architects, and Bradley Birge, City Administrator of Planning.
The pair spoke on the various facets of possible impact to the city, surrounding neighborhoods, comparative heights
of portions of the proposed new design in relationship to other structures in the surrounding immediate area, environmental impact, and other factors so that a vote could be taken on whether to proceed with the design and execution of the project. Also present were Matt Jones Esq. and Ryan McMahon, Executive Director of the City Center and Project Architect Joe Joseph Paradis, AIA LEED AP, Senior Associate at Envision Architects in the event there were questions. The discussion continued uncontested. Mallin stated the presentation was an outline of the same that the LA Group, which created the concept had presented months ago and did not conflict with the condos and hotel across the street and the City Center itself. The large five-story garage design now said to accommodate parking for 600 cars also includes a park, a connection to the yet-to-becompleted Greenbelt Trail and the reopening of the Flat Rock mineral spring. Design aspects touched on were the proposed glass pedestrian bridge that links to the City Center, the placement of the Farmer’s Market now planned to be undercover with canopies to protect vendors from rain, and a beacon glass stair tower standing 56 feet above the sidewalk were described as was materiality said to “mesh with the rest of the city.” Among other topics discussed at Tuesday night’s City Council Meeting held at the Saratoga Springs Recreation Center included: In 2019, the Board of Plumbing Examiners will be licensing plumbers in the city for the first time in over a decade. The Board was reestablished in August 2018 as required by City Code 171. In order to do plumbing work in Saratoga Springs and get a plumbing permit from the building department, a plumber must be licensed. Until now a plumber had to be licensed in another city. The new board consists of five members-two master plumbers, one journeyman, a city plumbing inspector, and a city engineer or designee. The plumbing test will happen once or twice annually; the dates will be posted on the City website. For more information and to view the renderings of the proposed Flat Rock Center Project, see images attached to this article.