Parking Lot - Counter Proposal

This drawing illustrates how the Fort Orange Club could retain the historic structures at 118-120 Washington Avenue (removing the later rear additions) and still add 18 parking spaces to their private lot.

parking-counter-proposal-0608 - Upload a Document to Scribd

Read this document on Scribd: parking-counter-proposal-0608

Forum on Fort Orange tonight

TIMES UNION
Staff reports
First published: Tuesday, July 15, 2008

ALBANY -- A proposal by the Fort Orange Club to demolish two Washington Avenue buildings will be the subject of a public forum today.

The session will be held at 6 p.m. at the Westminster Presbyterian Church Auditorium in Albany. Those interested in attending may enter at 85 Chestnut St.

The private social club wants to remove the two-story office buildings at 118-120 Washington Ave., next to the club.

The demolition would be part of a $4.75 million plan to increase its parking from 51 to 73 spaces and add squash courts and a weight room to an expanded athletic wing. A panel discussion will include Sandra M. Baptie, a managing principal of Envision Architects; Tricia Barbagallo, research associate at the State Museum's Colonial Albany Project; Tony Opalka, Albany City historian; and Walter R. Wheeler, architectural historian.

The panel's presentation will run from 6 to 7 p.m. An hourlong panel discussion will follow.

The proposal has drawn opposition from neighborhood groups and nine Common Council members.

The club, next to the Alfred E. Smith Building, wants to add a wrought-iron fence, stone and mature greenery to block the view.

The plan, which requires approval from multiple city agencies, is being opposed by the Center Square Association, the Hudson/Park Neighborhood Association and the Washington Park Neighborhood Association.

The building was built in 1810 as a private home. The club renovated it and occupied it on July 1, 1880, five months after the club's founding.

The club says the two connected buildings it wants to demolish are of no historic value. The Historic Albany Foundation has said the current front facades may not be historic, but the underlying structure may date from before 1840.

FORUM 7/15 -- Help Wanted!

Hi Friends and Neighbors --

On June 25, dozens of us turned out at City Hall to voice our strong opposition to the Fort Orange Club's plans to tear down two historic buildings at 118-120 Washington Avenue to provide additional private parking for Club members.

Since that time, a number of us have been working to refute statements made by the Fort Orange Club in their applications and in testimony before Albany's Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA), namely that the buildings were "not historic," "not as significant as the Fort Orange Club," or needed to be torn down in the name of "preservation," so the Club could increase its membership!

On July 9, the BZA agreed to defer its decision on the Fort Orange Club's requests that threaten historic buildings at 118-120 Washington Avenue, possibly due in part to our upcoming COMMUNITY FORUM.

We've lined up the panelists, we've secured the location, now we need your help!

Please join us on Tuesday, July 15, at 6 p.m., at the Westminster Presbyterian Church Auditorium (enter at 85 Chestnut Street.)

Your presence in, and participation in, this discussion will let the Fort Orange Club, the BZA, and other decision-makers know that residents of Albany don't think it's EVER a good idea to tear down viable buildings to create surface parking lots!

We hope to see you on Tuesday at the COMMUNITY FORUM!

Cheers,
Colleen

PS: Please visit http://neoalbany.blogspot.com/ to review photos of the endangered buildings, the Fort Orange Club's plan, a proposed alternative site plan, recent letters to the editor of the Times Union, and many documents providing background on the issues. You can also print out a flyer with details of the event.

PPS: Please help us get the word out about the COMMUNITY FORUM! Send an email to neoalbany@gmail.com or leave voice mail at 518-462-1900 if you can take just one hour this weekend to pick a block and pass out flyers! I need to know how many copies to order!

PPPS: PASS IT ON!

Revised Flyer for FORUM

Please download and share this flyer! (Click on "iPaper" in the gray bar and print from there.) Or, leave a message at 518-462-1900 if you want multiple copies to distribute in your neighborhood. THANKS!

flyer-118-120-washington - Upload a Document to Scribd

Read this document on Scribd: flyer-118-120-washington

Knocking down buildings would hurt downtown

TIMES UNION
First published: Monday, July 7, 2008

The Fort Orange Club is offering a proposal to demolish buildings to make way for a parking lot. It should be turned down for a number of reasons, including: the destruction of historic buildings, the elimination of street-level retail space but, mostly, because it is a very bad idea.

Several years ago, as the result of faulty directions, I had the misfortune of visiting the heart of downtown Cleveland at noon on a weekday. While you would expect that with tens of thousands of people working in the offices that surrounded me it would be mobbed; it wasn't.

It was deserted. I had to walk several blocks to find another human to get directions.

Let Cleveland be a lesson to us. The core of the problem was a complete lack of street-level retail. It is all office towers, and most of them have blank walls abutting the sidewalk -- for "security" reasons. There is no reason whatsoever to leave your office and go outside. You can't buy lunch, a snack or even a newspaper.

Once I got new directions and headed toward my destination, Playhouse Square, I noticed that as the number of shops on the street increased, the number of people on the street increased.
The Fort Orange Club is proposing to demolish a building that has the potential of housing several businesses, and replace it with a surface parking lot and a fence that would be landscaped. Parking lots do not draw people to our downtown, nor do fences.

If we want a vibrant downtown, then you must have places for people to go and that means spaces for retail businesses. If the Fort Orange Club wants to build a gym for its members and needs additional parking, then let it explore the creation of a parking garage, either above ground, or underground, but leave the streetscape alone.

RIC CHESSER
Albany

Westminster Presbyterian Church will host FORUM

We have secured a location for the FORUM on 118-120 Washington Avenue on Tuesday, 7/15!

We will gather in the Auditorium of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Albany. I'm sure many of you have been to meetings or presentations there before, but for anyone who has not ... The entrance to the SANCTUARY is on State Street, but the entrance to the Rectory is at 85 Chestnut Street. A revised notice is pasted below.

*Forum: 118-120 Washington*

WHAT: A discussion of threatened buildings on Washington Ave.

A panel of experts will provide their professional opinions on several issues that have been raised and debated regarding these structures, currently threatened by the Fort Orange Club’s expansion plans, including:

• what is the age and significance of the buildings at 118-120 Washington,
• did the Fort Orange Club ever really stand alone as a “pastoral” estate, and
• can a compromise solution be reached to preserve the streetscape?
  

WHO: Participants will include

• Sandra M. Baptie AIA LEED AP
• Tricia Barbagallo, Research Associate at NY State Museum’s Colonial Albany Project
• Tony Opalka, Albany City Historian
• Walter R. Wheeler, Architectural Historian, Hartgen Archeological Associates
  

WHEN: Tuesday, July 15
Panel Presentation – 6:00 to 7:00 p.m.
Discussion – 7:00 – 8:00 p.m.

WHERE: Westminster Presbyterian Church Auditorium
enter at 85 Chestnut Street

Albany's Fort Orange Club has applied to the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) for area variances for a comprehensive plan to expand their facility. The club seeks to raze these buildings, which could date to the 1830s, as part of that plan. Concerned residents are convening this meeting to support a grassroots effort to preserve these buildings.

Please visit http://neoalbany.blogspot.com to review photos of the endangered buildings, the text of the Fort Orange Club's plan, a proposed site plan, recent letters to the editor of the Times Union, and many documents providing background on the issue.

If you have questions about this forum, please leave voice mail at 518-462-1900 or email neoalbany@gmail.com .

Community Forum on 118-120 Washington Ave.

*** SAVE THE DATE ***

WHAT: A panel of experts will provide their professional opinions on several issues that have been raised and debated regarding these structures, currently threatened by the Fort Orange Club’s expansion plans, including:

• what is the age and significance of the buildings at 118-120 Washington,
• did the Fort Orange Club ever really stand alone as a “pastoral” estate, and
• can a compromise solution be reached to preserve the streetscape?
  

WHO: Panelists will include

• Sandra M. Baptie AIA LEED AP
• Tricia Barbagallo, Research Associate at NY State Museum’s Colonial Albany Project
• Doug Bucher, Restoration Architect, John G. Waite Associates
• Tony Opalka, Albany City Historian
• Walter R. Wheeler, Architectural Historian, Hartgen Archeological Associates
  

WHEN: Tuesday, July 15
Panel Presentation – 6:00 to 7:00 p.m.
Discussion – 7:00 – 8:00 p.m.

WHERE: Location to be determined

Albany's Fort Orange Club has applied to the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) for area variances for a comprehensive plan to expand their facility. The club seeks to raze these buildings, which could date to the 1830s, as part of that plan. Concerned residents have convened this meeting to support a grassroots effort to preserve these buildings.

Please visit our blog, http://neoalbany.blogspot.com/, to review photos of the endangered buildings, the text of the Fort Orange Club's plan, a proposed site plan, recent letters to the editor of the Times Union, and many documents providing background on the issue.
If you have questions about this forum, please leave voice mail at 518-462-1900 or email neoalbany@gmail.com .

Joni Mitchell should visit the Fort Orange Club

TIMES UNION
First published: Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Albert Paolucci's comments (letter, May 14) regarding the proposed Fort Orange Club's parking lot expansion suggests we are not paving paradise but can actually create one by putting up ... a parking lot. That is as long as you like looking at the paradise through the wrought-iron fence of a private club.

Install mature greenery, really? Truly "mature" plant life doesn't transplant well and cares even less for pavement on top of its root system and can leave a lot of debris on a member's automobile.

And, yes, thank you, Herb Schultz, for the sacrifice of obliterating your valuable commercial buildings from the tax roll and depositing them in a landfill.

Albany has big yellow taxis. Why not take one to the Fort Orange Club?

MELANIE ERNST
Clarksville

Another parking lot is last thing Albany needs

TIMES UNION
First published: Tuesday, July 1, 2008

While no one disputes the rich history and contributions of the Fort Orange Club in Albany, the thinking on its ill-conceived plan for growth is backward, with the idea that the destruction of buildings to create parking space is a good thing.

The very last thing Albany needs is one more building knocked down to make a surface parking lot, regardless of who's doing the knocking down. Years ago, in the interest of "progress" for Albany, many buildings downtown were demolished to create nothing in their places but big surface parking lots that physically and psychologically damage the city fabric.

Where are the city officials and the planning committees, who need to come up with a rule that if an organization wants more parking in the city, it has to come up with a parking structure to do it? This may not be cheap, but it's also not radical. Cities across the country have guidelines in place for this today. But here in Albany, surface lots are still an option, incredibly.

This has to change. Albany is not and will never be a better place because of the many parking lots created in the interest of "progress" or "urban renewal."

DUANE BARKER
Albany