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Design Review Board approves balcony shades at 19 Washington Street with HOA letter required
Summary
The Saratoga Springs Design Review Board approved exterior-mounted fabric shades for a third-floor terrace at 19 Washington Street, conditional on an administrative letter from the building HOA confirming a single approved system and reuse standards.
The Saratoga Springs Design Review Board on May 28 approved exterior solar/shade screening for a third-floor condominium at 19 Washington Street, with conditions requiring a written HOA confirmation of a single, standard make and model before a building permit will be issued.
Homeowners Kathleen and Robert Bush presented revisions to an earlier application, including interior-mounted casings that locate the shade hardware behind the building'9s stone piers and a mock-up showing the casing would be minimally visible when shades are retracted. The applicants said an HOA representative had verbally backed a single standardized system and that they had requested written confirmation but had not yet received it.
The board'9s discussion centered on precedent and visual consistency. Several members said the revised design resolved earlier concerns by keeping the shade casing behind the columns and preserving the visual prominence of the original masonry piers. Member Chris Bennett, however, said he would vote against approval if the application remained incomplete and urged written HOA confirmation of both the HOA'9s intention to adopt a standard and the proposed make/model/color to avoid future mismatches. Board Chair Tammy Anger said a permit should not be issued until the administrative letter is received.
Board member Grit Savage raised concerns about how the screens would read across multiple bays and floors and whether some floors (notably the fifth) could fit the system behind stone piers; several board members said those units would have to return for individual review if owners later sought screening that would not fit the approved configuration. The board agreed that individual owners seeking different configurations would still need to appear before the board so the group could maintain quality control.
The board voted to approve the application with the condition that the HOA submit, administratively, a letter acknowledging that the shade system and its make/model/color would be adopted as the standard for future balcony shades, and that no permit be issued until that letter is received.
The applicants were advised they may apply for a building permit but the permit will not be issued until the administrative HOA letter has been received by city staff.
