Planning board reaffirms SEQRA and approves amended site plan for Liberty project after design and funding changes

The Saratoga Springs Planning Board on a unanimous vote reaffirmed the prior SEQRA negative declaration for the Liberty site‑plan amendment and approved the amended site plan with a set of conditions, after the applicant described changes aimed at reducing environmental impacts and closing a funding gap.

Applicant representative Stephanie Ferradino (Speaker 9) told the board the project team had negotiated design changes that would reduce clearing by about an acre and lower impervious surface from roughly 4 acres to about 3 acres. She said the project had been "announced for a pro housing grant of $2,500,000" and that the applicant planned to allocate 10 units at the lowest AMI level for a county organization (described in the presentation as "Captain") that will serve youth aging out of foster care.

Civil engineer Sarah Drury (Speaker 10) described technical changes: removal of roughly 112 parking spaces, conversion of remaining parking to porous asphalt, reduction in the cul‑de‑sac and removal of the internal bus drop, maintenance of the conservation easement and mature screening trees, and a net increase in the percentage of required water‑quality volume provided (reported in the presentation to rise from ~123% to ~128% of the requirement).

Board members examined whether the unit increase (from 212 to 216 units by interior reconfiguration) and other changes required a new SEQRA review. After an incremental screening discussion staff and several members concluded the changes did not cross the threshold requiring a new SEQRA review. The board then voted to reaffirm the prior SEQRA negative declaration and proceeded to site‑plan review. Conditions the board attached to approval included a final county sewer will‑serve letter (after DEC signoff on pump‑station improvements), verified covered bike‑parking capacity in submitted building floor plans, a waiver/adjustment for a parking‑island move and related parking‑row limits, and submission of the letter of credit at building‑permit issuance (with no site work to commence before that letter of credit is in place).

Ferradino said the applicant had discussed the CDTA service change that eliminated Route 451 and that CDTA had offered to include a stop at the project on its Flex‑on‑Demand program once construction is completed. The board also requested that the applicant consider relocating the playground away from utility/dumpster adjacency if that can be done without engineering or major cost barriers.

The motion to reaffirm SEQRA and approve the amended site plan with the listed conditions passed unanimously.