LAND AGREEMENT
City, NYRA reach tentative pact for $3-6M Fire, EMS, Command Center
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. >> Saratoga Springs Mayor Meg Kelly announced she secured a tentative agreement for a third FIRE/EMS station.
Kelly is negotiating a land-use agreement for a parcel located on the Oklahoma side of the Saratoga Race Course, after years of unsuccessful efforts spanning numerous administrations. The station will serve “District 3”, including the ‘eastern plateau’, a region that has been advocating since its considerable growth for improved response rates.
The following interview took place with Mayor Kelly and Commissioner of Finance Michele Madigan about the information that is available at this initial phase of the negotiations.
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Mayor Kelly, please share the good news about this step forward toward an agreement for the long awaited third fire and EMS station to be located on the eastern plateau of Saratoga Springs.
Kelly: “When I came into office, it was on my list of priorities and I’d spoken with Commissioner of Public Safety Peter Martin, and he said he was going to run with this priority. After a year or so, I didn’t see any movement on it, so I talked to Yaddo, to private land owners, and I talked to the New York Racing Association (NYRA).”
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These are all properties on the eastern plateau the City.
Kelly: “So Yaddo didn’t work out; too much money involved in that; private property is very limited on the eastern plateau and so NYRA,, at the time I started this conversation, the previous CEO did not want anything to do with this. In comes new CEO, Dave O’Rourke, and he loves the idea.
“It works well for them, it keeps the barns, which are all wood, it’s a win-win.”
••• For those who don’t know where this land is, we are speaking of a parcel set back on Henning Road, across and slightly south from the F. Donald Myers Education Center, referred to as BOCES.
Kelly: “This is on the Oklahoma side of the Saratoga Race Course, which is part of the New York Racing Association and the property is owned by New York State.
“So through the process, Dave O’Rourke approached the NYRA Advisory Board, and the NYRA Board; they approved and then we just got the approval from the Franchise Oversight Board (FOB, formed to oversee NYRA’s financial operations) today and that says that the City and all these parties will now work together to create some type of lease so we can get that sealed and start building the building. This just came out this morning; that’s all I can say. This is going to be expedited.
“Commissioner Madigan will speak to the financial aspects being worked out.”
Madigan: “I’ve been here eight years, and we’ve been working diligently on trying to find a parcel for a third fire/EMS station for the eastern plateau, for the neighbors on the east side.
“The last Commissioner of Public Safety, Chris Mathiesen, Deputy Commissioner Eileen Finneran worked very hard to find a parcel. A few times, we though we might be successful with finding a parcel.
“I’d always said ‘This is a three phase project. If we had the land, the City would have the funds and be able to move forward, amend the capital budget, and come up with the funds to start design and come up with a building the third fire EMS.’
“I give a lot of credit to Mayor Kelly, because I watched the previous Commissioner go through six years trying to find a parcel and it was not for a lack trying, but he didn’t find it.
“A little bit of background and history: the previous finance commissioner actually went out and bonded to build a fire EMS, and we are still probably paying that back to the taxpayers, because once you bond something, you have to use those funds within three years.
“We had residents showing up at my early, first City Council meetings just beside themselves that we never took this project far enough and those funds basically went to waste.
“I never go to bond until I know it’s a done deal. So, I didn’t want us to be in that situation again. I still won’t go to bond. Once these details are established, I will then expedite and set public hearings to amend the capital budget.
“There looks like there is going to be an additional facility on this land.” Kelly: “It’s one facility.” Madigan: “It’s one facility, but the cost has gone up quite significantly. It’s going to be more than just a fire EMS station. It will include a command center for the
Saratoga Springs Police Department.
“Mayor, correct me if I’m wrong, but one of the reasons this is so attractive to NYRA is the notion of having a centralized location for police and fire station departments-very close to the race course during their busy summer season and our busy summer season.
“Part of the deal here is to have a command center for the police department as well as the fire department. It might be one building; that’s fine.
“Those design details, I don’t know, but more square footage has to be allocated for this command center.” ••• Let’s clarify for the readers: There will still be the Police Department located at 5 Lake Avenue with the calls often coming in for both police and fire in the same place.
Kelly: “This will have a fire truck and an ambulance to serve the eastern side and the central part of the City, so it’s not just going to be for out there. If they get called, it’s going to be dependent on what is available at the two other fire houses.
“This is all about response time to the eastern side. Right now, we’re about eight to nine minutes for the fire and police to get out there. This will take it down for the fire and ambulance to four to five minutes.” ••• My understanding, particularly after what happened in December 2018 at the Sarazen Street fire is
that the National Fire Protection Association says travel time should be under four minutes. It’s good to hear it will be closer to that.
Kelly: “We are within the standards, it’s not just out on Union Avenue; this is going past Lake Avenue out Route 29. This is the perfect location to go either way, out both routes. I don’t think you can find a better location to serve both.”
Madigan: “Think of all those neighbors on Magnolia, Aurora…” Kelly: “Schuylerville.” Madigan: “That’s very far out. The City will be ready to expedite this once the details of the lease are ironed out. It’s not an insignificant sum of money. An anticipated three-six million dollars, ideally including the land and the cost to build is a significant amount of money.
“The first thing I’ve asked the fire department to do is send out an RFP (Request For Proposal) to actually scope it out better. You need to identify the land first before you can scope out what can be built there. Half the land around here has, you now, water on it. This is an ideal piece of land.” ••• I believe you said parcel is 2.6 acres.
Madigan: “Yes; it’s a decent piece of land. The first thing we’ll need to have happen and I’ve asked the fire department to start doing this sooner than later, to send back us their RFPs we ‘ll get several back that show us what a design/ build looks like and how much it would actually cost to do that design/build.
“We have an idea of what it will cost, but could it cost less or more? We need a better, actual number because the taxpayers are going to be on the hook for this.
“I don’t know what the cost of the land is…”
Kelly: “We’re not there yet.”
Madigan: “I don’t have any details other than NYRA is willing to work the with us. That’s a terrific partnership. But now, there could be a cost for the lease, a cost to build, and to make sure it’s staffed adequately. All these numbers have to be looked at. I’ll be taking a strong, fiscally conservative look at it.” ••• Because you have shared openly about all the other attempts in the past, why are you particularly hopeful this time?
Kelly: “Because it’s on NYRA property and they see the benefit to NYRA and to the City.” ••• What is the next step? Kelly: “Within a couple of weeks, I’ll be calling Rob Williams, who is the chair of the Franchise Oversight Board and CEO of NYRA Dave O’Rourke to set up meetings to see if we can figure out the lease options.” ••• NYRA wins because of a reduction in liability due to proximity to fire and police.
Kelly: “Sure. It’s a safety thing.You can save lives, save horses. This is something that is right on their property, so the response time will really drop.”
Madigan: “Yeah, now we tend to have a makeshift command center over there, but it’s not adequate. They hang out in the parking lot.”
Kelly: “You know where the Reading Room is? An old white house on the corner of Nelson and Union Avenues on NYRA property. During the Alabama, the Travers, the Whitney-the big racesthey have Homeland Security, Sheriff’s Office, the NYS Troopers, all those cars.
“That’s where the command center is now. They don’t like it because they’re taking parking and because they are so visible. They want to move into a more secure place.”
Madigan: “All our visitors that come to Saratoga Springs-when American Pharaoh was here, the City ballooned to 100,000 people.” ••• Is there anything else you want the readers and voters to know about this news?
Kelly: “With the team I have at City Hall, it’s critical, CRITICAL that people know that we are working together to bring this home and it happened in a very, very short window that I did this with my team.” ••• Who belongs to that team?
Kelly: “The team is Commissioner Madigan and myself, Skip Scirocco; the three of us looked at different properties in the City. When I asked the two of them to work with me, they came right on board, sitting down, talking about it; each of us ran with it.
“Michele did the fiscal side, the police and fire chiefs, assistant chiefs, members of the City Council.”
Madigan: “This is not the first parcel we looked at; there were a couple of others that we determined in the end were going to be cost prohibitive.”
Kelly: “The three of us worked tightly together and with NYRA and now the Franchise Oversight Board. We are very, very hopeful to move this forward. If we get the same team in here, we can bring it home.” ••• Comments of the news of the tentative agreement for a third FIRE/EMS station:
Fire Chief Joseph Dolan: “This will improve coverage to the eastern plateau of the City. I have done unofficial tests and it will reduce response time considerably.”
NYRA Director of Communications Pat McKenna:
“We would like to thank the Franchise Oversight Board (FOB) for its support of a new fire and EMS station near Henning Road on the Oklahoma side of Saratoga Race Course.
“NYRA is an enthusiastic advocate of this project. NYRA brought this matter to the FOB after being approached by City leaders earlier this year who had expressed concern about the need to improve emergency response times for our neighbors on the east side of Saratoga Springs.
“We look forward to the addition of this fire and EMS station which will enhance the health, safety and welfare of the residents of the City of Saratoga Springs, the backstretch community and our fans.”