Saratoga News

Odd Fellows told it's all or nothing

Commissioners ask for combined plans for expansion project

By Clarence Cromwell

To ensure that any project the city approves for the Odd Fellows property is actually built, the Saratoga Planning Commission on Jan. 9 asked the Independent Order of Odd Fellows to incorporate the two phases of its development plan into a single, five-year project.

The Odd Fellows originally asked for city approval to renovate their 83-year-old residence hall and build a new nursing center. The organization wanted to hold off as long as 10 years before deciding whether to build 19 duplex units and two new apartment buildings proposed as Phase II of its expansion.

But commissioners said they don't want to approve a plan that might or might not be built a decade from now.

"This project has been going on for many years," Dick Siegfried said. "We would like to bring it to a close once and for all."

Siegfried said he has dealt with development at the site on and off since 1978, when he joined the Planning Commission.

Siegfried added that certain parts of the project's first phase do not seem to make sense because they rely on parts of the second phase that may not be built. He said he wanted to make sure that whatever is finally constructed is acceptable on its own and that the Odd Fellows won't change their collective mind and decide to build something else.

"We want to be sure the whole project is going to look ultimately as proposed," Siegfried said. "We're doing certain things in the first phase to accommodate the second phase, and we want to make sure they're more closely tied together. We want some assurance that Phase II will be built as proposed, that we won't have some other proposal in five years."

Alfred Abshire said he just considered 10 years too far down the road to plan.

"In my case," Abshire said, "it's just practical experience that you can't plan 10 years ahead. Too many things happen in 10 years. From a practical pragmatic standpoint, all you can do is plan ahead three years."

Eight residents of Crisp Avenue and Via De Marcos, near the Odd Fellows property, showed concern about the second phase of the project as well, sending the city a letter stating that they would support the project under three conditions: They asked that the cottages (slated for 10-acre section of the property near their homes) be included in the first phase of the project, that no further development be allowed there, and that landscaping be used to block the view of the new buildings.

Clyde Vaughn, administrator of the Odd Fellows home, said it is possible that both phases of the project could be completed within five years, but only if the Odd Fellows' statewide board will approve the extra funding sooner.

The Odd Fellows are scheduled to present the new plans at the Planning Commission's Jan. 24 meeting.