Planning Commission recommends denial of proposal to allow 60,000-sq.-ft. school buildings in Neighborhood Commercial zone

The Saratoga Springs Planning Commission voted 6–0 on April 16 to recommend denial of a code amendment that would allow school buildings up to 60,000 square feet in the Neighborhood Commercial (NC) zone.

Senior Planner Austin Roy presented the developer-initiated request and said the proposed change was prompted by an interest from Beehive Academy in siting a new charter school near 2000 S. Ring Road. The applicant’s representative, Chris McCandless, said the school plan met all site requirements except for the building footprint and referenced a Hales Engineering memorandum stating a school would generate more favorable traffic impacts than typical commercial uses. The applicant proposed the following text for the Land Use Regulations: "The NC maximum footprint size of 15,000 sq. ft. does not apply to schools. School buildings can have a maximum footprint of up to 60,000 sq. ft." (applicant-proposed wording presented to the commission).

Residents who spoke in person and in writing urged commissioners to preserve the existing zone limits, citing traffic congestion on Ring Road and nearby streets, emergency access and parking concerns, and the risk that a citywide amendment could allow other commercial uses in neighborhood locations. Planning Director Sarah Carroll told the commission the Ring Road parcel is about seven acres and said it would be difficult to accommodate extremely large buildings there; she also noted the city had not independently reviewed the applicant’s traffic figures.

Commissioners discussed legal and practical alternatives including limiting any larger footprint to schools through a narrowly worded asterisk, pursuing a development agreement that would obligate the site to be a school, or leaving the code unchanged and allowing multiple smaller buildings. Assistant City Attorney Rulon Hopkins advised that the updated proposed provision could be considered by City Council if the commission forwarded it, but that variances and conditional uses under state law offered limited options in this case.

Commissioner Virginia Rae Mann moved to forward a recommendation for denial with the Findings and Conditions in the Staff Report; Commissioner Scott A. Hill seconded. The motion passed unanimously (Yes: Rachel Sprosty Burns, Scott A. Hill, Virginia Rae Mann, Colton Miles, NH Rather, Chris Roman). The recommendation will now go to the City Council for final decision.