Protect Spa Track, put it all in historic district
7/25/2007 Editorial, Schenectady Gazette
It’s hard to imagine that anyone taking over the operation of New York’s thoroughbred race tracks would want to mess with the formular for success developed over more than a century at Saratoga Race Course. But the same thing was probably once said about Churchill Downs, and a few years ago its operators created a genuine aesthetic nightmare by constructing luxury boxes that dwarf the track’s famous twin spires.
So even though each of the applicant’s for the state’s thoroughbred racetrack franchise due to be awarded by January insists they’ll do nothing to hurt Saratoga, it would be an excellent idea for the city to take some precautions.
One that has surfaced lately is to expand the historic district that now includes the main buildings of the fabled race track, but few of its surrounding buildings or land. Doing so would make new construction or major modifications subject to approval by the city’s Design Review Commission.
The city saw earlier this year with the Saratoga Gaming and Raceway addition that its interests and those of the state do not necessarily coincide. The VLT racino on the outskirts of the city substantially expanded its operation over the objections of some city officials who were worried about the impact of added traffic on the surrounding neighborhood. Unfortunately, they were given no formal say in the matter. That can’t be allowed to happen again, and certainly not at the historic race track, which is right in the middle of the city.
Granted, there may be no intentions at present by track franchise bidders, or the state, to put VLTs at Saratoga, or to construct luxury boxes anywhere on the site. But never is a pretty long time; minds may change the next time there’s a financial crisis. The city needs to make sure it has some control.
Group wants oversight of racecourse
Saratoga Springs Preservationists call on governor to allow input
By MADELINE FARBMAN
mfarbman@poststar.com
Published: Friday, June 01, 2007
SARATOGA SPRINGS — A newly formed group is asking the governor and legislature to ensure the local community will have input into any changes or modernization that could alter the Saratoga Race Course.
Members of the Race Course Preservation Coalition said they do not have concerns about any of the organizations bidding for the franchise to operate Saratoga, Aqueduct and Belmont racecourses, but they expect some modernization and maintenance in the future and are trying to make sure a system is in place to oversee any changes.
“Everybody has good intentions. Let’s formalize it,” said Carrie Woerner, Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation Director.
The Race Course Preservation Coalition is made up of the city preservation foundation, local businesses, residents and elected officials, including Mayor Valerie Keehn and County Supervisor Joanne Yepsen.
As a cautionary tale, organizers of a press conference Thursday afternoon laid out pictures of changes made to Churchill Downs, where historic buildings were changed to create a much more modern look.
“The modernization that they see has ruined their signature — has ruined their ambience,” said Yepsen.
The group is suggesting that a procedure for protecting the Saratoga Race Course be incorporated into the franchise agreement. The first step would be a complete inventory of historic buildings and landscapes and their current conditions.
Then the group suggests the Union Avenue local historic district should be expanded to incorporate the Oklahoma track and barns north of Union Avenue. The third step is to draw up a facilities management plan and design standards.
The final step would be to set up a local oversight process to review renovations, additions and demolitions. The Saratoga Springs Design Review Commission would oversee architectural and landscape changes.
The entire racecourse is on the State and National Registers of Historic Places, which gives the State Historic Preservation Office some oversight, but not full power to approve or disapprove changes, Woerner said.
Woerner said the coalition has presented its position to a representative from Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s office, but that there has not been a discussion of the issue.
Paul Larrabee, a spokesman for Spitzer, said he was not familiar with the initiative, but that “the governor recognizes the value and the history of Saratoga Race Course.”
To learn more about this initiative, go to www.historicsaratogaracecourse.org.
Group wants local oversight of historic racing complex
By TED REINERT, The Saratogian
06/01/2007
SARATOGA SPRINGS – Under a sky pregnant with thunderhead clouds, community leaders gathered at the front gate of Saratoga Race Course on Union Avenue Thursday afternoon. A trio of horses craned their necks out of a trailer heading into town, peering at the crowd discussing the future of their athletic grounds.
That future is in the hands of the state, but the Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation and Supervisor Joanne Yepsen are trying to give the city and local community a greater say as they announced the formation of the Race Course Preservation Coalition. The coalition aims to protect the historic qualities of the racing complex and establish local oversight in any structural modifications of the race course’s buildings.
Preservation Foundation Director Carrie Woerner said that while preservation of the course was a goal shared by nearly everyone in the community and state, “Good intentions are not enough.”
“Thoroughbred racing and our racetrack are important parts of what make Saratoga Springs special,” said foundation president Christine Carsky. “It connects all of us to our past.”
Yepsen said that modernization ruined the ambience at Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby, concerned that Saratoga could face the same fate.
“We all expect this track to modernize,” said founding Preservation Foundation Director Julie Stokes. “It is very important that we’re involved in this process.”
The foundation outlined a four-pronged approach which would:
- Inventory all buildings, landscape features, and their current conditions.
- Incorporate all buildings and landscape features of historic, architectural or cultural significance into the local Union Avenue Historic District, which presently does not cover the north side of the road where the Oklahoma Training Track is located.
- Prepare a facilities management plan include design standards for the course.
- Establish a local oversight process which would give the city’s Design Review Commission authority over architectural changes as elsewhere in the city. The city currently has no regulatory power over the track.
Accounts Commissioner John Franck said he plans to ask the City Council for a zoning change to expand the Union Avenue Historic District on the agenda at Tuesday’s meeting.
NYRA’s contract to run the track expires at the end of the year and the state has yet to decide on who will be in charge next year. NYRA itself and three other groups, Excelsior, Empire Racing, and Capital Play are competing to operate Saratoga Race Course, as well as Aqueduct and Belmont on Long Island.
Yepsen reiterated the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors’ support of the nine points of the Concerned Citizens of Saratoga Racing, which included keeping all three tracks bundled together under one franchise and requiring the approval of local authorities for expansion of Saratoga Race Course. She looked forward to a “great potential partnership between the franchise and we, Saratoga.”
Mayor Valerie Keehn and Downtown Business Association President Dawn Oesch also spoke.
Keehn offered her full support of the coalition and said her efforts to lobby the Spitzer administration will continue. She also said the city would fill the position of administrator of parks, open lands and historic preservation in the next couple months. She said the job would include lobbying the state on preservation issues. Created in the 2001 charter, the position has yet to be filled.
“The racetrack is our lifeline,” Oesch said. “The health and well-being of the track is imperative to the health and well-being of the downtown.”
Mayoral challengers Gordon Boyd, who has won the endorsement of the Democrats, Keehn’s own party, and Republican Scott Johnson were among the crowd.
Boyd applauded the foundation and Yepsen for the initiative but added the reason they were there “at the eleventh hour” was that Keehn had failed the city when she served on the nine-member ad hoc commission which eventually endorsed Excelsior for the new contract.
“We’re picking up her dropped ball,” he said, arguing that local land use board control should have been included a year ago.
Keehn said the committee had the prospective franchises explain how they would ensure preservation and involve the local community and because she was only one voice on the committee she could not insist on something the others were not ready to support. She said she took offense at Boyd for “slandering” the committee’s thorough efforts.
“I thought all the ideas were very well presented, perhaps a little bit overdue,” Johnson said. He said it might be difficult to get concessions from the state for local control, but the city “might as well go for the brass ring.” He questioned the need for the parks administrator position, arguing that its responsibilities were those of the mayor’s office.
Empire issued a press release Wednesday calling for Saratoga Race Course and nearby racing properties, including the Oklahoma Track, to be specifically listed on the state and national register of historic places. The race course is part of the Union Avenue Historic District and is thus protected. However, Empire said this was not enough.
“As a former member of the Saratoga-Capitol State Park Commission, I learned that specific historic buildings within a larger historic district should themselves be specifically designated,” Empire CEO Jeff Perlee said in the release. “That’s not been done by the current operator and, frankly, it’s something that should have been done long ago.”
Keehn, to whom Perlee also sent a letter, disagreed, asking why it would be necessary since the track was already on the register.
“Logically, they’re not all listed separately,” she said. “I’m not really sure what’s going on and what’s behind this letter and this press release.”
Raymond Smith, regional National Register representative for the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, said while the track didn’t have any lesser status, it was presently designated as being more locally than nationally significant.
A case would need to be made of its national significance in relation to the history of racing, but if so, it might have better chances for Save America’s Treasures grant.
Reach Ted Reinert at treinert@saratogian.com or 583-8729 ext. 221.
City DBA discusses future of racetrack
By KEVIN GOODWIN, The Saratogian
05/19/2007
SARATOGA SPRINGS – Securing the future and historical value of Saratoga Race Course dominated discussions at the monthly Downtown Business Association meeting held Wednesday at Circus Café.
Michele Funicello spoke on behalf of the Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation that they are forming a coalition to balance modernization and preservation at the thoroughbred track.
“Each of us has personal memories of the race track,” Funicello said. “We’re all committed and drawn to our racecourse.”
With the decision of what firm will run Saratoga Race Course next year still up in the air, Funicello said this is the time to form a coalition to preserve the historical integrity of the track. The position paper that has been drawn up is four-pronged – inventory, protect, plan and oversee.
Funicello said there are more than 200 buildings on the 350 acres of the race course. She said a survey identifying all buildings in their current condition is being done. To protect the buildings, Funicello said everything of historic, architectural or cultural significance needs to be incorporated into the Union Avenue local historic district.
“We all know how important the racecourse is to this town and economy,” Funicello said. “We need to assure the right thing is done.”
She added that the Design Review Commission must have the authority to review all proposed additions, renovations or demolitions at the racecourse.
Some members of the DBA said they were hesitant to go that route because preservation regulations can restrict certain needs for the horses at the racecourse. Funicello said that’s why they need to balance preservation and modernization.
She doesn’t want to see the Saratoga Race Course become another Churchill Downs, with the new construction dwarfing the once-dominant steeples at its grandstand.
Dorothy Knowlton of Saratoga Soles, who attended the meeting, is also a horse owner. She said she thinks the Preservation Foundation’s heart is in the right place.
She said you have to stay current, and everything needs to be safe for the horses and pedestrians.
“Somebody has to decide what has historical value and what doesn’t,” she said.
Knowlton said she thinks the racino will safeguard against video lottery terminals being installed at the racecourse because that facility is nearby.
In other business:
Roger Goldsmith gave updated information about arts night in the city. It will now be the first Saturday of every month, so visitors in town can engulf themselves into all the arts of Saratoga Springs.
“We’re filled with out-of-town guests on the weekend, so now they can come downtown and see the entertainment and culture,” Goldsmith said.