ALTAMONT — The Altamont Zoning Board of Appeals is giving residents more time to weigh in on Troy Miller’s variance requests for his proposed 11-lot subdivision off of Western Avenue. 
A public hearing held on May 23 was kept open until the board’s next meeting, currently set for June 28.

Miller, through his CM Fox Living Solutions LLC, is requesting variances from the zoning board to allow for the creation of four new keyhole lots, each with approximately 16 feet of road frontage. The minimum road frontage requirement for a keyhole lot is 30 feet.

But signing off on the variances, explained Stephen Walrath, Miller’s land surveyor, would only be one approval the proposal needs. “The granting of the variance does not approve the project,” he said; the board will still need to review the proposal and make a decision. 

Miller wants to build 10 new homes on the 11 subdivided lots (one lot has an existing home) located on 13 acres of land bounded by Western Avenue, Schoharie Plank Road West, Gun Club Road, and Marian Court.

Three properties would be accessed by a shared roadway located between 133 and 137 Western Ave; another three would be accessed directly from Western Avenue; and the remaining four lots would be accessible by a road placed between 115 and 117 Schoharie Plank Road West.

Public comment

In public hearing comments and in letters, residents have largely been against granting the variance. 

Joseph Connors, whose Guilderland property abuts the proposed project site, told zoning board members on May 6 he opposed granting the variance for three reasons: 

— It would have a significant environmental impact. 

Connors said the property is located in a floodplain, and the proposed housing would increase the risk of flooding. 

— It’s not necessary. 

Connors said Miller hadn’t demonstrated that he could not build the proposed development without the variance; and 

— Granting the variance would set a bad precedent. 

Former village trustee Dean Whalen’s comments also focused on the precedent-setting nature of granting the variances, while acknowledging it was a “very clever use of the property, given the limitations of the property.”

Whalen said keyhole lots were an anachronism in the village code and, by granting them, the board would set a precedent for other developers looking to create keyhole lots with even less road frontage. 

Whalen said, “The intent of allowing keyhole lots in the village was to address very odd conditions that may have been created previously with farmland. This is still somewhat true here, but a 30-foot right-of-way is required at a minimum.”

Sunoco

With Sunoco “re-imaging their whole image,” in the words of Lauren Simons, who was speaking on behalf of the owners of the 200 Main Street location, the shop was before the board on May 6 seeking approval for a new sign. 

“It’s not a tremendous change from what we have,” Simons said. “It’s just cleaning things up and making things look tidier.” She said the Main Street location would receive new pumps in addition to “completely renovating inside and out.”

The station is looking to replace its current freestanding sign with either a somewhat similar one or one that includes digital pricing, and is also looking to add an illuminated Sunoco sign to its gas canopy. 

The board had concerns about the brightness of the new signs, which Simons said could be reduced, and that one was being proposed for the gas canopy. 

The board also had concerns about the precedent that would be set by granting the canopy sign. Chairwoman Deborah Hext noted, with the upgrade to Stewart’s on Altamont Boulevard, across the street from the Sunoco station, “We did not allow them to put anything up on the canopy.”

Hext said, “This isn't something that’s going to be approved or disapproved tonight …. We’re going to have to have a public hearing on it anyway.”

A public hearing on the request is set for June 28.