At the meeting, four city council members voted unanimously to adopt the ordinance and amend the Saratoga Municipal Code so that a loophole in the city's building laws could be plugged. Mayor Ann Waltonsmith was absent from the meeting.

It was 8 a.m., but the administrative conference room at City Hall was packed with interested Saratogans.

A few days before, at a regular city council meeting on Nov. 17, the council had adopted a resolution of intent to amend the code. The idea was to ensure that the design review conditions and plan approvals for buildings remain valid beyond the construction of the project. Council members had been concerned that until a new permanent ordinance was put into place, homeowners with completed projects could change their plans without being subject to the conditions of the original design review process.

The citizens, almost all of whom live on Ronnie Way, had first alerted the city about the loophole. They allege that Ronald J. Haas, the owner of a new residence on their street, had his building approved by the design review process and then subsequently obtained an over-the-counter permit to make changes to the original plan once he had moved in. The additions did not violate any zoning requirements.

As city staff and attorneys researched the code, they found that there were no clear answers about how long the design review code could be enforced after construction was complete and a final inspection had been done at a property.

The interim ordinance changes all that. It requires compliance with prior design review approval. Projects that want to deviate or change from the original approval would still be allowed but only when the changes have been approved by the original approving authority.

The ordinance takes effect immediately.

As a result of the ordinance, costs of some building permit applications would rise. "The interim ordinance will also increase cost to applicants for some future proposed improvements which would have qualified for over-the-counter permits," says the staff report that was presented during the meeting.

"The emergency ordinance buys us some time to do some more research. But it will become tougher to get over-the-counter permits," Vice Mayor Kathleen King said.

She said that the council was trying to be reasonable and protect the rights of property owners as well as neighbors.

"I feel that a time-out is needed in order to review our existing

ordinances to make sure there isn't a hole. If it is necessary, we have to fix it," Councilman Norman Kline said. "We might find that a different approach to design review may be needed, such as a design review committee made up of planning commissioners and city council. This is done effectively in other cities and allows a more informal, educated way of working through design issues."

As for the neighbors on Ronnie Way, they say that the city council is proceeding in the right direction.

"I applaud their effort. They have realized the importance of the issue at hand," David Mighdoll said. He feels that the city still needed to make some amendments to the emergency ordinance and be more specific.

Mighdoll said that they were still going to object to the approved construction on Ronnie Way.