Turf Hotels proposes Broadway facility

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The city Planning Board on Wednesday heard a proposal from Turf Hotels to build a hotel with about 100 rooms on South Broadway.

Before the plans can move forward, though, developers need to convince the City Council to change the zoning on the 5.2-acre parcel from allowing medical offices to one that would allow a tourist- related business district with a wider array of permitted uses.

“The facility is not in good shape at the present time,” said Matt Jones, attorney for Turf Hotels.

Turf Hotels, which is owned by Mike Hoffman, who also owns the Hampton Inn on Lake Avenue, proposed a four-story building on the site of the former Weathervane Restaurant. The restaurant closed in 2008.

The change in zoning

will ultimately be decided by the City Council, but the Planning Board will evaluate the proposal and advise the council.

Mike Ingersol, an engineer with the LA Group, said the design of the building would fit into the gateway to the city. He said some of its architectural features echo those of Lincoln Baths, the National Museum of Dance and Gideon Putnam Hotel.

“The grandness of these buildings and trying to get it onto the vernacular of today is what we are going for,” he said.

Chairman Clifford Van Wagner said the board will need to further evaluate the impact of changing the zoning, though.

“I think it is a great looking building at the entrance to the city,” he said.

Laura DiBetta read a statement from Sustainable Saratoga outlining its “serious reservations” about whether a change in zoning is compatible with the city’s current Comprehensive Plan.

She pointed out that tourist- related business districts allow much more than just hotels, including animal clinics, convenience stores and car rental agencies.

“Rezoning that principally benefits one property owner and is incompatible with the Comprehensive Plan is often viewed as ‘spot zoning,’ ” she said.

Theresa Capozzola, an advocate of open space, agreed.

Echoing reservations voiced by Public Safety Commissioner Christian Mathiesen in an advisory opinion on the project, she said a Comprehensive Planning Committee would be reviewing the zoning in that area in conjunction with its view of the rest of the city.

“It’s been sitting vacant for years and if it has been sitting vacant for that long it can perhaps wait until the Comprehensive Planning Committee looks at the whole area,” she said.