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Council refers Saratoga Hospitalplan for new medical office building to planning boards
Summary
Saratoga Springs city council on voice vote found merit for review of a Saratoga Hospital Planned Unit Development amendment to replace a 10,000-sf building with a 60,000-sf Center for Successful Aging, and will refer the zoning-text amendment to county and city planning boards for advisory review.
Saratoga Springs city council voted to determine that a zoning-text amendment proposed by Saratoga Hospital merits further review and should be referred to the county and city planning boards.
The proposed amendment would transfer a portion of the remaining development area in Zone A to Zone B and allow construction of a roughly 60,000-square-foot three‑story medical office building on the hospital campus, replacing an existing 10,000-square-foot structure. Matt Jones, attorney for the hospital, and hospital CEO Jill Van Curren said the project — which Van Curren described as a "Center for Successful Aging" — would co-locate specialty services, imaging and same‑day appointments to improve access for an aging population.
Jones told the council the amendment includes technical updates to the PUD (to match the city's current Unified Development Ordinance), a request to permit future structured parking in Zone E, and a proposal to allow daycare as a permitted use on the campus. He said parking calculations follow the city standard of one space per 300 square feet of medical office space and that the amendment envisions roughly 200 parking spaces associated with the new building, with some spaces distributed through the campus rather than concentrated at the new facility.
Council members asked about neighborhood outreach, the number of medical offices and parking impacts. Van Curren and the hospital team said they had convened recent meetings with neighbors — with another session scheduled — and pledged to continue public engagement as the application moves through the formal review process. Neighbors at public comment urged full environmental and traffic review and asked that no elements be excluded from the scope of review.
Mayor moved that the council determine the amendment has "merit for review" and refer it for advisory opinions to the Saratoga County planning board and the city planning board; the motion was seconded, called, and passed by voice vote. The referral starts the formal review process; the council did not approve the zoning change itself.
Next steps: the planning boards will issue advisory opinions and the council will hold subsequent public hearings before any final zoning action. The council recorded the vote by voice (ayes and nos) and the motion passed; no numeric roll-call was read into the record.
