Condos
Changing the face of suburbia

Glass Works Village, planned for Western Avenue near the library; Dutchman Acres, proposed between Depot and School roads near the high school; and Lynnwood Court, planned for the Stutz farm on West Old State Road — were all before the town board on Tuesday night.

After detailed review of the “Findings of Fact for Glass Works,” the final step in the State Environmental Quality Review process for the largest of the three developments, the board voted unanimously to accept it.  The $100 million project would develop the last large piece of vacant land along Guilderland’s busy Route 20.

The developers describe it as a New Urbanist project, combining residential and business space.  The plan is for 327 residential units and about 190,000 square feet of business space.  The findings’ document covers the expected impacts on traffic, environment, and infrastructure in the area.

At the request of Councilman Warren Redlich, the board discussed the document at length with Glass Works representative Jim Schultz and a cadre of the development’s planners, including the architect and the engineer. 

Redlich had suggested several changes to the document as it was presented by Schultz, and, while the majority of the typically adversarial board was at first hesitant to delve into the details of the plan, board members from both parties ended up suggesting various changes and agreeing to an amended version by the end of the over-four-hour meeting.

Earlier in the evening, the board scheduled a public hearing for April 15 on Dutchman Acres.  Chris Meyer, one of three owners of the School Road property, was before the board with rough plans for the development.  It is the have 12 apartments for senior citizens, four two-family houses, and 25 single-family houses.  The developers want to change the current Rural Agriculture 3 zoning to Country Hamlet.  They plan to emulate the architecture of a hamlet, clustering the houses in one corner of the 41-acre parcel.

A public hearing was held, and then continued until the next meeting, for the Lynnwood Court development.  Several neighbors of the site came before the board to express concern over water management in the area — it floods several times a year, they say. 

“You can take a look at it now or you can take a look at it later,” Todd Gifford, the town’s highway superintendent, told the board when asked for his opinion on the water drainage issues.  He agreed that there is a flooding problem in the area, which requires his attention every year.

“We’re all aware that the property is going to be developed,” said Angelo Serafini, a local developer who owns land adjacent to the West Old State Road property. 

Serafini was the first to approach the board about the drainage problems on Tuesday and reiterated that he wasn’t against construction on the land.  He stands to gain a .65-acre plot if the development is approved.  This would require a change of zoning from Residential 30 to Townhouse for most of the land and business non-retail professional, for his partial acre.

In other business, the board:

— Voted unanimously to have Joseph E. Mastrianni, Inc. administer the town’s Section 8 housing program.  The federal Housing and Urban Development program helps low-income families;

— Decided to hold off on voting on the Northeastern Industrial Park’s finding of facts until the next meeting;

— Voted unanimously to award a bid for gravel to Carver Sand & Gravel, a bid for manhole riser rings went to East Jordan Ironworks, and a bid for cold planning went to Hudson River Construction Co.;

— Voted unanimously to award a bid for granulated activated carbon to Calgon Corp.; and

— Voted unanimously to spend $20,000 of surplus funds for improvement to an existing sewer line along Johnston Road while the county is doing work in the area.