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Design Review Board finds existing garage at 3/26 Finley Street not historically significant; discussion continues on proposed 71-unit RISE housing project
Summary
The Saratoga Springs Design Review Board determined that a small masonry garage at the 3/26 Finley Street site is not historically or architecturally significant and approved its demolition, while requesting additional neighborhood-scale renderings and technical detail for RISE'9s proposed 71-unit redevelopment.
The Saratoga Springs Design Review Board on May 28 determined that an existing small masonry garage at the 3/26 Finley Street site does not have architectural or historic significance and approved its demolition, clearing one regulatory step for RISE'9s proposed residential redevelopment. The board heard a 90-minute presentation and more than an hour of public comment on the larger redevelopment proposal.
Reform Architecture'9s JT Pollard and RISE Executive Director Sybil Newell presented a plan to demolish a disused auto garage and construct a three-story, U-shaped residential building of about 69,000 square feet with roughly 71 units and accessory community space adjacent to Findlay and Union streets. The proposal would include rooftop placement of mechanical condensers and 32 on-site parking spaces; RISE said the project'9s modeled parking demand is lower than typical per-unit ratios because the target population often uses transit.
On the required significance determination for the existing one-story garage, the board reviewed historical Sanborn maps and photographs and concluded the current small garage is not the 19th-century structure previously on the lot and does not retain sufficient integrity to be deemed architecturally or historically significant. The board voted that determination and then discussed SEQR (state environmental quality review) considerations; the board deferred coordinated SEQR review to the Planning Board and noted that Planning Board staff would undertake a fuller environmental and traffic analysis under site-plan review.
Public comment was robust and largely opposed to the proposed project scale and potential tree loss. Dozens of nearby residents from Spa Drive, Livingston Avenue and other adjacent streets urged the board to require additional visual simulations that show the project'9s massing from Spa Drive and Livingston Avenue perspectives and asked for further detail about tree removal, stormwater handling and traffic impacts. Several speakers warned of property-value impacts and asked the board to consider the neighborhood'9s long-standing low-rise, wooded character. The Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation submitted comments about the massing'9s effect on the extant historical building footprint and wrote that the proposed massing "would substantially alter the appearance of the historic building."
Board members said the proposal should show additional neighborhood context: the applicant agreed to provide three-dimensional massing and pedestrian-perspective renderings showing sightlines from Spa Drive, Livingston Street and the rear yards. The board also asked for clarification of parking, stormwater management, tree protection measures and whether the applicant could shift or reduce building footprint or entry placement to maintain larger vegetative buffers.
The board classified the demolition request as a Type II (exempt) SEQR action for the demolition itself, but emphasized that coordinated SEQR review on the full project would be part of planning board site-plan review. The RISE team will return with more contextual renderings and technical materials to support the planning-board review.
