GUILDERLAND — Dozens of single-family homes are slated for approval at an upcoming Guilderland Planning Board meeting.

The board at its Jan. 13 meeting set a Jan. 27 public hearing for a 58-lot single-family cluster subdivision proposed for 2745 Old State Road. 

The board on Jan. 13 also adopted a negative declaration for the State Environmental Quality Review Act for the project, meaning the proposed subdivision does not require in-depth environmental review.

The 58-lot subdivision stretches over two parcels, together consisting of approximately 100 acres of land located in a residential single-family zoning district. About 34 acres of the site are to be permanently-protected open space.

 Three of the lots will be directly accessible from Fuller Station Road while the remaining 55 will be accessed from a new town road within the subdivision; the new town road will be accessible from Fuller Station and Old State roads.

The design of the 58-lot subdivision is being proposed under the town’s cluster subdivision code requirements — with minimum lot sizes of 16,000 square feet and minimum frontage. The initial lot-size proposals were for 20,000 square feet with 100 feet of minimum frontage. About half the proposed lots are now smaller than when they were proposed in June 2020.

JTR Realty presented the development as a concept five years ago this month, applied in November 2017, and was before the board in June of last year with an update on the project, having previously appeared on its agenda in April 2017, when the board expressed concerns about how water and sewer would be brought to the site.

Jaime Easton, the engineer speaking on behalf of JTR Realty during the Jan. 13 meeting, said part of the reason for such a lag was that the developer had to obtain permits from the Army Corps of Engineers for a proposed wetland disturbance on the project site, which “took a little longer than anticipated.” 

A buffer-disturbance permit from the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation was also needed, Easton said. The permits were needed so that JTR could prove to the planning board that the land is, in fact, buildable and usable, he said.

Another delay was due to the waterline improvement, The line is being run from Old State Road up three-quarters of a mile to the existing residents of Fuller Station Road, who currently have shallow wells and water problems. Sewer installation will be similar to the waterline, Easton said, allowing existing Fuller Station Road homes to tie into the town’s services once the new homes are online.

JTR had to obtain easements from all the homeowners on Fuller Station Road to install the eventually-town-owned infrastructure, he said.