Saratoga Hospital wants to leave the door open for additions to its planned urgent-care facility in Malta

By MICHAEL CIGNOLI
mcignoli@saratogian.com
Twitter.com/MCSaratogian

MALTA — When ground was broken on a $17.5 million urgent-care center at Northway Exit 12 last fall, officials said there were no immediate plans to construct additional medical buildings at the site.

That’s still the case, an attorney representing Saratoga Hospital said Monday, but the hospital is seeking some Town Code amendments related to Saratoga Medical Park at Malta’s long-term plans.

The Town Board in 2009 conceptually approved a 140-acre former horse farm at the northwest corner of the interchange for a large-scale medical complex that could eventually include a nursing facility, mixed-use retail and office space and another hospital, should a future need for one arise.

Attorney Matthew Jones appeared before the Town Board Monday night and requested four “technical amendments” to the local law that approved the project.

They wouldn’t change its scope or nature, he said, but they would lay the groundwork for future growth.

As an example, Jones said, the site plan for the medical park’s first building — the urgent care center — includes a “heli-stop,” which is essentially a concrete slab where helicopters can take off and land.

The heli-stop has been approved, but Saratoga Hospital is contemplating changing that heli-stop into a medevac heliport, which can include auxiliary facilities for maintenance and refueling.

That’s not allowed under current zoning law, but the change is designed to give the hospital the option to build one.

Zoning amendments — like the heli-stop — fall under the Town Board’s jurisdiction, but that particular one would also require Planning Board and Federal Aviation Administration approval if the hospital elects to pursue one.

“We won’t do that for quite some time,” Jones said, “but we may at some point.” Continued...

The Town Board will vote on whether to accept the application during its meeting next Monday. It’ll then head to the town and county planning boards, which will offer their recommendations before it returns to the Town Board for final approval.

The process is expected to take between one and three months.

Town Supervisor Paul Sausville said it looked like a “routine cleanup” of the legislation, but said “there could be some issues at the Planning Board level.”

Other amendments include a wording correction that would allow the hospital to build a parking garage adjacent to its urgent-care facility, something that is currently only permitted if the structures are erected concurrently.

Another amendment covers the hospital’s payment for fire protection services and requires Saratoga Hospital to negotiate a new payment formula when it seeks to move forward with a hospital at the site, though there’s no timetable for that.

The final change deals with Saratoga Hospital’s plans to lease the plot the urgent-care center sits on to Columbia LLC.

The developer will own the building, then lease it back to Saratoga Hospital and Albany Medical Center, which will staff the urgent-care center with emergency-trained physicians 24/7.

Crews have been installing water and sewer lines at the 60,000-square-foot, two-story facility that will rival a hospital emergency room.

A building permit for the site should be issued within the next couple of weeks, Building and Planning Coordinator Anthony Tozzi said.

It could open by December or January.

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Saratoga Hospital wants to leave the door open for additions to its planned urgent-care facility in Malta