GUILDERLAND — Looking to help five area men live independently, the Center for Disability Services has submitted plans for a new assisted group home.

At Tuesday’s town board meeting, the center proposed converting a house at 25 Velina Dr. into a home for the five men, aged 29 to 39, with 24-hour supervision. Velina Drive is located between Western Avenue and the New York State Thruway, between Crossgates Mall and the Albany Pine Bush Preserve.

The matter was before the board because of a concern over too many group homes in town.

There are currently 11 group homes in Guilderland, including the three in Altamont. The center, formerly known as the Center for the Disabled, runs seven out of the 11.
"They are men who have lived in the Capital Region in suburban communities very similar to this one," said Alan Krafchin, chief executive officer and president of the Center for Disability Services. "Each of the men will work Monday through Friday and will be doing other activities on the weekend."
The men’s mental disabilities range from "mild to moderate mental retardation," according to the center’s programs director, Donna Lamkin.
"A saturation of group homes"that would be the only area we would be looking at," Supervisor Kenneth Runion told presenters at Tuesday’s town board meeting. "The Center for Disability Services always were good at working with neighbors on either landscaping or parking issues"to make them look like single family housing."

Runion told The Enterprise there does not appear to be a saturation and that all of the construction and parking issues will be left to the regulations of the town’s building codes and zoning board.
Krafchin told the board that the house would be supervised 24 hours a day with a manager living in an in-law apartment and would have additional staff "on-call."
"As for parking"," Krafchin said, "the house will have four to six vehicles at any given time." The off-street parking is "adequate" and a garage is attached to the house, he said. An estimated three to five employees could be at the house at any given time, he added.

The vehicle most likely to be designated to the house would be a mini-van, he said.

Renovations to the house deal mainly with health and safety features, and the footprint of the structure would not be altered or increased, said Krafchin.

The outside of the garage will also be renovated to match the rest of the house, Lamkin told the board.

Only one Velina Drive resident spoke at the meeting, saying he had just heard about the proposal two days earlier.
"As neighbors, should we expect to interact with these individuals"" asked Bill Stoecklin of 21 Velina Dr., after asking about what disabilities the men had.
"We certainly hope so," answered Lamkin. "However your community currently interacts, we hope these men will be a part of that."

Stoecklin also asked Lamkin if the men were moved from house to house and how long would they be residing at the home.
"These placements are very long-term"We provide a life-time commitment to them," Lamkin said of the Center’s clients.
When asked about a time frame, Lamkin said that the closing for the house was scheduled for mid-February, but there were "a variety of approvals" needed from state agencies before construction could begin.
"Particularly with a change in the administration, it could take a very long time; a couple of months," Lamkin told Stoecklin.
Lamkin said Center for Disability Service officials are "always available to meet with all of the neighbors," and that the center provides tours of its facilities. She reiterated that the house would have 24-hour supervision and that someone would "be awake all day."
Runion wished Krafchin and Lamkin well at the end of the presentation, and ended by saying to Stoecklin, "I know the center has always been available for questions."