GUILDERLAND — The public will have a chance to weigh in on proposed zoning changes for properties along Guilderland’s major thoroughfare, busy Route 20.

Since the pandemic, the town planner notes, there has been less demand for office space, and both requests for zoning changes are spurred by the applicants’ need for tenants.

The town board has scheduled two public hearings for July 15 — one at 7 p.m. and the other 15 minutes later.

The hearing at 7 p.m. is on an application to rezone a 3.8-acre parcel at 2093 Western Ave. from Business Non-Retail Professional to a Local Business district.

The property is across Route 20 from Hamilton Square, which is zoned General Business.

“If the town planner at least says it’s worth having a hearing, we can have a hearing,” Supervisor Peter Barber told the town board on June 3 as the hearing was being scheduled. “But I’m not making any promises as to whether this rezone is appropriate.”

The property at 2093 Western Ave. is owned by Jennifer McClaine of Yelnah Reality and is used, according to a document submitted to the town, as a retail and commercial space including a hair salon, spa, dog groomer, chiropractor, and personal trainers. It was formerly used for medical offices and as a yoga studio.

McLaine wrote to the town’s planning department on May 8 that she is requesting the zoning change to Local Business, stating, “A change to LB zoning will allow more business possibilities in the building. I am planning on continuing my own business in the building for many more years and would like to have the opportunity to have other complimentary businesses lease here. Right now with the current zoning I am limited to the type of business I can have and am finding it difficult to lease out my space.”

Kenneth Kovalchik, the town’s planner, noted for The Enterprise McClaine’s “mention she is having trouble finding a tenant for the uses allowed in the BNRP District” and went on to say, “The BNRP District is heavily weighted towards smaller office uses and the demand for office space has declined significantly since the pandemic.”

Kovalchik also noted, in an email answering Enterprise questions, that the reason for applicant Christopher Laviano’s zoning change request is similar. “There has not been much demand from potential tenants to lease the BNRP space,” he said.

McClaine's parcel is located within the “Eastern Gateway” area of the Guilderland Hamlet Neighborhood Plan that was completed in 2007, Kenneth Kovalchik, the town’s planner, wrote in a May 28 memo to the board.

The plan characterized the Eastern Gateway as the most intensely developed section of the hamlet, which includes the Star Plaza, 20 Mall — now Hamilton Square — and Price Chopper — now Market 32 — as well as large residential developments: Regency Park Apartments and Brandywine Apartments. 

“Overall,” Kovalchik notes, “there are limited options for new construction as most of the land in the Eastern Gateway is already developed.”

The hamlet neighborhood plan notes that, since the Eastern Gateway is generally built-out, most development will be reusing or renewing current structures.

“Major change or enhancement of this area will require significant private investment,” the plan says, urging that the planning board work to property owners to expand or modify existing sites since no major renewal projects are in the offing.

Six years ago, Kovalchik notes, the town board changed the zoning for two parcels to the west of the parcel to become General Business districts. He also notes, “The proposed LB District is not out of character with other zoning in this area of the hamlet.”

The hearing at 7:15 p.m on July 15 is for a zoning change of two parcels — totalling just 0.31 acres — at 1859 and 1865 Western Ave. again from Business Non-Retail Professional to a Local Business district.

“This is for a much smaller parcel; it’s actually two parcels,” said Barber. “They measure about a third of an acre … It’s my understanding the actual zone splits the building in half.”

Surrounding zoning consists of properties located in the Local Business district to the west; Business Non-Retail Professional district to the east; Single-family Residential district to the north; and Local Business district to the south, across Western Avenue.

Laviano Properties, LLC recently built a mixed-use building on those parcels and two neighboring parcels as part of a special-use permit approved by the zoning board in 2023.

Christopher Laviano told The Enterprise in April, “I wasn’t getting much traction for office space,” so he has filed with the town for a rezone that would allow retail.

“I have a few contenders that are interested in that space as retail,” said Laviano.

“​​The western half of the building is located in the LB District,” Kovalchik wrote in a memo to the town board. “Changing the zone district for the eastern half of the building will have little to no impact on surrounding uses. 

The property is located within the “Central Segment” of the study area for the Westmere Corridor Study that was completed in 2016, Kovalchik notes.

 That study characterized this segment of Western Avenue as small-scale retail and offices flanking single-family residential neighborhoods, characterized by small lot sizes, smaller block sizes, and an interconnected street network.

The zoning for this segment is generally “Local Business,” reflecting the small-scale commercial strips and converted single family homes.

Both of the applications will be reviewed by the Albany County Planning board since Route 20 is a state road.

If the town board accepts the applications, they will be referred to the planning board for review and recommendations before returning to the town board.

Other business

In other business at its June 3 meeting, the Guilderland Town Board:

— After a hearing during which no member of the public spoke, unanimously approved a local law  to amend town code on flood damage prevention, changing the local administrator to the town’s chief building inspector and zoning administrator.

Barber had said earlier that the program allows town residents who have properties in flood zones to get flood insurance.

A review by the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation said “we’re doing a fine job,” Barber reported, but “suggested that we switch the local administrator from being us, the town board, to the chief building inspector … who keeps all the flood zone maps and deals with the people”;

— Approved the schedule for paving town roads this summer. According to a memo Highway Superintendent Robert Hawver  wrote to the board, Guilderland has 175 miles of town roads with the goal being to pave each mile every 10 years.

“My request is much less than that paving only 6.5 miles,” Hawver wrote. The paving is to be paid for with $455,000 in state funds, $220,000 through the highway tax levy, and $210,000 through escrow accounts, he wrote.

This does not account for perhaps another $175,000 to grind and patch roads not being paved this year.

The roads being paved this year include Kennewyck Circle 1 and 2 along with Pinkster Lane, and Lydius Street East from Route 146 to Coons Road. Barber also named a third group of roads “in the upper Carmen Road area.”

While those are the expectations, Barber added, “Sometimes things can come up out of the blue like a washout of a road where they have to redeploy some of their resources”;

— Agreed to participate in the New York Cooperative Liquid Assets Securities System, known as NYCLASS, for investing part of the town’s idle funds and authorizing the execution of the NYCLASS Municipal Cooperation Agreement.

“How much are we investing in this?” asked Deputy Supervisor Christine Napierski. The answer, Barber responded, is “Depends.”

He also said,”These are very secure funds,” which may be more financially beneficial than municipal bonds. “These are funds that usually are in what you might call the fund balance, which is undesignated funds that are not in reserves … that are simply waiting to be used.”

He estimated that the town puts aside 25 to 35 percent of its appropriations every year to use “in the event of a rainy day, as they say,or a very, very rainy day.”

The move to NYCLASS was recommended by an audit team from the State Comptroller’s Office, Barber said. “So the idea is that you have funds available in the event the sky was to fall”;

— Adopted a complaint policy required by the federal Americans with Disabilities Act for town-provided transportation service. The policy says the town shall not exclude anyone from using transportation services because of a disability and sets out a process for filing complaints, which are to be made to the town attorney.

The policy also sets out an appeals process through the state’s Department of Transportation;

— Appointed Brian Carr to the board of the Guilderland Industrial Development Agency to fill a post vacated by Paul Pastore;

— Heard from Barber that a Hometown Heroes Banner ceremony will be held on Friday, June 13, at 10 a.m. at the Guilderland Performing Arts Center in Tawasentha Park; and

— Heard from Barber that town buildings will be close on June 19 in observance of Juneteenth,