Saratoga garage foes invite public to forum

The Saratoga Springs City Center is shown in a 2011 file photo.

A new citizens group that opposes the controversial High Rock parking garage proposal will hold a public forum Sunday in the community room at the Saratoga Springs Public Library.

The Citizens for High Rock open house will run from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. The group has invited public officials, architects, builders, developers and other interested citizens to attend and discuss ideas for the land next to the Saratoga Springs City Center where the five-story parking garage is proposed.

“People are very invested in this special piece of city-owned land and want to be heard, hence the need for a public forum,” said Julie Cuneo, chairwoman of the new advocacy group.

She said the group will be more focused on the single issue than established groups like Sustainable Saratoga that have spoken out against the garage, which would be built on the site of a city-owned surface parking lot between Maple Avenue and High Rock Avenue, just east of the City Center.

“We want to get everyone to the table to talk,” Cuneo said.

City Center officials have said they need the additional 480 parking spaces the $10 million structure would provide to keep the center competitive in the regional convention market. Few dispute that downtown Saratoga Springs needs more parking, but opponents have objected to the massive size of the structure and its failure to include other uses, such as ground-floor retail.

“The current City Center design is a massive structure that will cut off inviting and beautiful streetscapes that we have worked so hard to create,” said Cuneo, a stay-at-home mother of four and recent graduate of the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Saratoga training program. Her family moved to Saratoga five years ago for its urban charm, she said.

After the Mouzon House restaurant next to the site put up solar panels, the city Zoning Board of Appeals in March denied a zoning variance for the garage that would have allowed it to cast a shadow on those panels.

“The Zoning Board of Appeals decision back in March has granted our citizens and community another opportunity to decide what is the best use of our city-owned land,” Cuneo said. “While the need for parking in downtown exists, we can do this in a quality, comprehensive, multi-use approach.”

Last week, however, a 3-2 majority of the City Council voted to consider a zoning change that would exempt properties in the downtown area from the shadow provision of the city’s solar ordinance, a move aimed at reviving the garage proposal, supporters said.

Cuneo said Citizens for High Rock, which she estimated has 15 to 20 active members, favors a multi-use project on the High Rock parcel that includes parking, residential opportunities, office space, retail and green space.