Planning board supports first country hamlet in Guilderland

GUILDERLAND — Neighbors warned against the two-lot subdivision of eight acres on Berne-Altamont Road because of worries that their properties would flood, but the planning board here approved the proposal.

The planning board also supported a rezone application for Dutchman Acres on Depot Road to go from rural with a three-acre minimum to a country hamlet, a first in the town.

Jeff Perlee, who lived next to his parents in the village of Altamont for years, said that he purchased a home outside the village at 1189 Berne-Altamont Road to have more room. The parcel is zoned for rural use with a minimal five acres. Perlee wants to subdivide the parcel into five-acre and three-acre lots. On the smaller lot, Perlee wants to build a home for his parents, who are in their 80s, so he can continue to care for them.

Perlee apologized to the board and his neighbors for “erring to appear” at the last meeting. He noted that the area around his home has many parcels that do not meet the minimal zoning required. Perlee said that seasonal groundwater from Knox runs to the bottom of the escarpment in his neighborhood, but that he plans to keep the large white pine trees on the property.

Board Chairman Stephen Feeney said that Perlee’s plan should show where the water line runs across the property, and where wetlands behind a pond and creek lie.

“I was actually surprised how dry it was out there,” Feeney said about his initial inspection of the property.

George Marshall, of 1129 Berne-Altamont Road, took issue with Feeney’s assessment of dryness, and gave a PowerPoint presentation to explain otherwise.

“That driveway acts as a creek,” Marshall said. “I’ve had to sandbag my garage.” He said that three to four inches of standing water is outside his garage, with two inches inside, and he showed photos of the water.

Feeney said that new construction must meet the town standards, which do not allow a developer to create a worse condition. If possible, he said, the developer can make a condition better.

Other neighbors worried about what they called a “mud field” there, and how close Perlee could build to the pond.

Feeney said that a building must be 100 feet away from the pond and that, if Perlee’s plan will disturb more than one acre, he will need to file a full storm-water prevention plan and receive a state Department of Environmental Conservation permit.

Country hamlet

Gregg and Chris Meyer, and their co-owner, Rob Kohler, asked for their Depot Road property to be zoned as a country hamlet. The board dealt with the confusion of whether or not it should give an opinion on the rezone or approve the concept plan before it.

The 41-acre property is near Guilderland High School and could allow path connections between neighborhoods. The country hamlet designation would allow the Meyers to have a greater-density housing subdivision. Chris Meyer said that 75 percent of the parcel would remain as green space, and that 45 units would be built. Of those, Dutchman Acres would have 25 single-family homes, one 12-unit building for seniors, and four two-unit buildings.

Meyer said that a traffic study by Creighton Manning Engineers found that traffic would not be affected in the area, and that emergency access could be obtained from School Road.

Feeney noted that, on a small parcel on the property, the town had sold its right-of-way to access.

“It doesn’t make sense to me,” he said.

The proposal will go before the town board on May 6 for a public hearing.

“I think we are in concept,” said Planning Board Attorney Linda Clark.

“This is concept review,” Feeney said. “The statutes are pretty clear.”

Town planner Jan Weston said that the confusion could stem from a premature hearing before the town board.

“They can’t have their hearing until we give our statement of findings,” Clark said. “Clearly, this is concept review for the applicant.”

Board member Terry Coburn said that the amount of parking for the 12-unit senior building was too little. The board agreed that the proposal has many unresolved site planning issues.

“We get 45 days to craft a response,” Feeney said.

Other business

In other business, the planning board:

— Approved Phil Crisafulli’s site plan for a 9,000 square-foot medical and office building at the intersection of Hague and Western Avenue, in front of Windmill Estates.

“It looks residential,” said board member Paul Caputo. “You did a nice job.”

The board asked that a sidewalk be installed on the eastern end of the parking lot, curb end islands with landscaping added, a landscaping plan provided, street trees along Western Avenue added, a landscape screen added, and a Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan filed because of disturbance of more than an acre;

— Approved Patrick Chip and Christopher Smith’s site plan to open an audiologist’s office at 1728 Western Ave., the site of a former hair salon.

“I’d like to renew my request,” Caputo said. “If the zoning department can just give us a little paragraph about what the [application] entails, so all residents in town are treated equally.”

Caputo has said before that some plans with no use changes come before the planning board, while others do not, and he has asked for a brief accounting of the reasoning from the zoning department; and

— Approved a request for an in-law apartment on Spawn Road. The board said that the use by a relative must be documented with the town each year.