0, to address the planning commission’s recommendation to approve two zone changes submitted by the Saratoga Resort and Spa, Chris Shannon, co-owner of Orion Point, LLC, said he was opposed to any zone change on property north of Pic Pike Road from RD 7200 to Retail Business (resort).
The Resort applied for zone changes from RD 7200 (residential) to Retail Business for two parcels of property. One 17-acre parcel includes the main buildings of the Resort and the property north of Pic Pike Road including the driving range.
The other is a three-acre piece around the maintenance building on the golf course.
“We’re not opposed to the zone change of the Saratoga Resort proper,” Shannon said. “I think the Saratoga Inn is one of the premier properties in the state and it needs to be able to improve, enlarge or whatever they need to do.”
But Shannon said the zone change on the property including the driving range would open it up to retail activities that did not need to be there and hurt property values in Orion Point’s subdivision.
The subdivision, known as the Saratoga Inn Overlook, is just to the east and north of the driving range.
Councilman Steve Wilcoxson said he had trouble understanding that objection since the sawmill, zoned heavy industrial, sits near the property already.
“Neighboring a retail business district has a detrimental effect on property values,” Shannon said. “Even though we’re already next to heavy industrial, it’ll just further diminish our property values.”
Shannon said it did not make sense to go around and change zoning on individual properties so the town winds up with a patchwork map of zoning. He suggested rethinking the map in its entirety and creating a master plan that would consolidate areas in question.
“This is very permanent – it is not like a variance, it is not like adding somebody’s porch,” Cindy Bloomquist, co-owner of Orion Point, said. “This is a zone change, and you can’t go back afterwards.”
Susan Wallace, general manager of the Resort, said she submitted the zone change proposal on behalf of the Resort because she wanted to comply with the town and help it clean up some of its zoning ordinances.
“They told us that’s what they would like to do is get some zoning cleaned up, and we had some property that needed to be rezoned and so we complied with that and we are here today because of those issues,” Wallace said.
Shannon also objected to what he said was the improper way the Resort submitted the zone change proposal.
Included in the Resort’s zone change application to the planning commission were two petitions. The second petition had different wording than the first, but had the signatures from the first petition copied or pasted onto it.
“The petition was not followed correctly, the signage was never posted publicly,” Shannon said.
Wallace said she had no experience with applying for zone changes and attributed the mistakes to lack of knowledge.
“I came before the planning commission, (and they said) ‘Susan, you need to go back and do this again’, ” Wallace said. “They would object to things, and it finally came down to the planning commission saying, you know what, let’s just do it this way because everybody thinks the Resort is being shady in some way, and we weren’t trying to be shady, it was just a lack of the general manager knowing what was going on and how to handle a zone change.”
The planning commission told zoning officer Chuck Bartlett to send letters to the adjacent property owners to confirm their assent to the zone change. Once the commission had a majority of owners in favor of the change, the commission recommended the zone change to the town council.
Wallace said when property owners received those letters they had an opportunity to object then.
“Nobody ever once said there was any fraudulent activity going on,” Wallace said.
Bloomquist said her attorney disputed the validity of counting lots rather than owners when polling adjacent property owners, but Town Attorney Tom Thompson said it was standard in his experience that lots, not property owners, determine the number of votes.
Homes are the largest investment for most people in their lifetimes and people rely on that investment value, but that zone changes that reduce property values have a big impact on homeowners,
Saratoga resident Glee Johnson said.
“I’m sure that most of us would rather not have a retail business across from our residential area,” Johnson said.
Wilcoxson said he hoped the zone change would not affect property values and hurt Orion Point’s business, but that building businesses in the area west of the driving range would be beneficial to the community. He added the zone change would eliminate the nonconforming status the Resort is currently in.
“To me that is a win-win situation,” Wilcoxson said.
Regardless of the pros and cons of business development in the area, Shannon said the council was missing a step.
“I’d like to reemphasize that this ordinance has not been followed from day one and we are proceeding as if it were,” Shannon said.
The town council, during their regular meeting, voted unanimously to approve the zone change. Councilman Mike McWain abstained since he was not present at the public hearing.
Bloomquist would not comment on whether Orion Point planned to appeal the council’s decision to district court.
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