ALTAMONT—Developer Troy Miller has gotten the go-ahead from the planning board for an eight-unit senior housing complex in the middle of the village.

At a meeting, on Monday, after a site-plan review, the board approved the project.
"Any issues we had, we alleviated at the meeting," said Stephen Parachini, planning board chairman. "That’s not to say we had many issues"It was a pretty clean process."

Prior to submitting his plan, Miller worked with the village to ensure the project wouldn’t require any variances. He was trying to follow the rules to have a speedy approval, he told The Enterprise in February.

A village moratorium, adopted while a comprehensive land-use plan is being written, doesn’t affect the project because it applies only to subdivisions and Miller’s land is a single parcel.

Before Miller can begin construction, he still needs approval from the village board for a sidewalk.

About six months ago, Miller purchased, from Thomas and Sarah Ketchum, a 16,000 square-foot vacant lot on Park Street, across the road from the post office. In the early nineties, the village designated that land for senior housing, and it remains the only land zoned specifically for that purpose, Miller said.

His plans call for a two-story building made up of eight 800-square foot apartments, each with one bedroom. Elevators will be installed to accommodate the elderly.

Senior housing has been in high demand in Altamont for the past few years. Elderly residents hoping to stay in, or near, the village but not keep their houses, have said there is no place for them to go.

Another developer, Jeff Thomas, is planning a much larger complex than Miller’s—72 units—just outside of the village, on Brandle Road, called Brandle Meadows. Though there has been a lot of interest from area seniors hoping to move into Brandle Meadows, the project has gotten bogged down in litigation over drawing water from the village water system and a village well also planned for Brandle Road.

Miller said this week that construction on his project can begin when he gets approval for the sidewalk and the weather gets warmer.