GUILDERLAND — Neighbors voiced their concerns to the zoning board on Feb. 18 over a proposed warehouse in their industrial corner of town, which is zoned residential.

The owner of an industrial park on the Guilderland border with Rotterdam is looking to place more warehouses on his property. In his application to the town, Sal Minucci says he wants to expand his current facility at 310 Wayto Road by adding a new 22,000-square-foot warehouse building with a possible future 8,250-square-foot expansion.

The project narrative goes on to say that “in a potential future phase, the applicant would propose five (5) warehouse building(s) totaling 105,150± SF,” and that “a zoning change from R40 to Industrial will be needed for the future phase.”

During public comment, Robyn Gray, who chairs the Guilderland Coalition for Responsible Growth, was first to go. 

Speaking to the environmental forms filled out by the applicant, Gray said, “[For] what is actually being asked for here, there are a number of differences in warehouse size. I’ve heard 8,000, I’ve heard 10,000, I’ve heard 22,000. I think we need to know exactly what the building square footage is going to be. That’s number one in terms of the [State Environmental Quality Review] form.”

She then moved to site infrastructure. 

“In terms of septic and water usage, that whole area is full of septic,” but  “when you look at the SEQR form it talks about 117,000 gallons of water and sewage a day in a septic tank,” she said. “When you look, you’ve got a neighborhood right behind there that’s all on septic. Where are all these septic fields going to go and where is all this water going to go?”

Elizabeth Lott, who chairs the zoning board, told Gray the stormwater issue would have to be dealt with by the project engineer. 

Gray then noted that construction would only exacerbate existing issues at the site. “We know the fencing is poor; we know the road’s in poor shape,” she said. “There’s sound and light issues. I mean there’s even sound and light issues now that have been, you know, raised with the town and nothing's been done about them, and now you’re proposing to add more to this?”

Debbie Dederick of Nancy Lane, which is adjacent to the site, said of the sound of trucks using their air-compression Jake Brakes, “Sometimes you get shaken to the core because they’re hitting their Jake Brakes, and we just jump out of our skin.”

She said her neighbors who live on the corner of Wayto Road and Nancy Lane have “three little children under the age of 8. It’s just so much traffic.”

 William Delanoy told board members, “I’ve been almost hit [on] three separate occasions walking my dogs down Wayto Road over the last 14 years.”

Delanoy said he wasn’t looking for sympathy; he was looking for the board to act. “We’re working-class people," he said, “and we rely on you guys to protect us.”

Shirley Guzewski, who gave her age as 77, said double-trailer-long trucks run right across her lawn in their attempts at taking the area’s tight turns. “We're just numbers,” Gazowski said. “We’re not people.”

The board, citing Minucci’s need to clarify what he’s actually proposing and the planning board having to weigh in on what whatever that is, took no action on the application.