This e-mail is not being sent to news media or government officials because we want to make sure any potential technical problems are resolved before that step.
This is a brief account of what The Friends to Preserve Historic Saratoga Racecourse has done.
First - the plans for trailers are going to be hard to fight since they will just drive them in on semis and claim they aren't structures. Since they will have a major effect on the aesthetics of a historic place, placing them on the property should still be subject to the State Environmental Quality Review Act.
Second - the announcement of the plans for trailers seems to have to some extent been a smokescreen to distract anyone from looking closely at a major construction project altering numerous buildings on the National Register of Historic Places.
On Wednesday, the Saratoga Springs City Planner's Office issued building permits for NYRA's 2.8 million dollar construction project. NYRA claimed to be exempt from the planning review process and they were not challenged. Since many people who have expressed interest are in Saratoga, you should know that Design Review Commission and the Planning Board have meetings nextweek. The City's web site is at http://www.saratoga-springs.org, you can find details on the city governemtn there.
On Friday we, Dick Sanzen and I (Josh Kuperman) met with the Mayor Ken Klotz. He said that Terry Meyocks had talked with him and acknowledged that in the past NYRA had not been as sensitive to the historic significance as they might, but that Meyocks did claim NYRA is exempt from the review process. He asked us if we would meet with Terry Meyocks if he could arrange it. Of course we will be happy to. Our goals are that NYRA should obey the law, be sensitive to the historic significance of the track and the environment. Dick and I had a chance to see the plans and also to talk to Tony Izzo the City Attorney. The Mayor, The City Attorney, Dick and I are going to find out if NYRA is entitled to any exemption. NYRA had been sued in the past and agreed to be subject to the State Environmential Quality Review Act. They have filed under that act for past construction projects.
We did have a chance to see the plans. One major change is to replace the existing extrances on Union Avenue and Wrright St with permanent buildings. We are not criticizing the plans, per se; only NYRA's failure to submit them to the SEQR review process as they are required to and agreed to in the settlement of a 1985 lawsuit.
We reveiwed the folder on the track and the Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation. The most interesting thing we found was a leter from Julie Hoxsie to the NYS Thoroughbred Capital Investment Fund complaining of NYRA's failure to comply with the stipulations they agreed to. Dick made phone calls to Encon and the Dept of State ad nauseum.
Our understanding is that NYRA is not complying with SEQR and that they are obligated to do so. If they are avoiding this by not going through the New York State Thoroughbred Capital Investment Fund, they are using money they were obliged to turn over to the state according to the terms of their franchise.
We are putting as much stuff about this as time allows on the web site at http://www.racing.saratoga.ny.us. We will put more information up there as I find it. Our immediate plans are to find out:
1. What buildings were included in the application that placed the track on the National Register of Historic Places by getting a copy of the original application.
2. What NYRA has done in the past. Currently we believe that they have been selectively complying with some laws as some times and ignoring them at others. It is quite possible that they applied for a building permit in order to avoid complying with SEQR. It is quite possible that they have no idea what their obligations are.
3. Finally, to find out how to stop construction when the review process has been improperly circumvented.