GUILDERLAND — After months of citizen protests over a planned unit development on what is now the Hiawatha Trails golf course on Route 155, the developer withdrew his application for the PUD but still plans to build four four-story apartment buildings on the site.

A two-story building on Route 155 with 30,000 square feet of office space has been eliminated from the original plan. On Tuesday, the town board formally accepted the withdrawal of the rezone request.

At the same meeting, Supervisor Peter Barber mentioned interest in the last remaining swath of undeveloped land along Route 20 in the heart of Guilderland — once slated for a development to be called Glass Works Village. He believes the Massry family, owner of Tri-City Rentals, is interested in developing the property.

Barber said on Wednesday that, about 10 days ago, he received an application for a development project on the acreage but there are not yet any documents available to view.

The town’s assessor, Karen Van Wagenen, looked at old paperwork since she has not received anything about Glass Works since the original project — a new urbanist community combining both retail and residential space — was abandoned 2008.

The project was to be located on 58 acres currently consisting of two parcels. Both parcels, Van Wagenen said, are owned by MRP Development Company LLC with a mailing address of 255 Washington Avenue Ext., which is also Tri-City Rentals’ address.

Tim Owens of Tri-City Rentals did not return a call or email asking for comment by press time.

Glass Works Village was a planned-unit-development project that was approved almost a decade ago for a massive mixed-use residential-and-business complex bounded by Western Avenue, Winding Brook Road, and Chancellor Drive. On the east, the Lia family owns vacant land between the project and SEFCU, according to Van Wagenen.

The original project was to include the building of a road connecting Mercy Care Lane and Winding Brook Road. The project fell through during the economic downturn.

Barber believes the current application is for “some sort of mixed residential and commercial development.” He said it would probably be “similar, to some extent,” to the approved Glass Works Village project. “My assumption is that they will try to work off of that project,” he said. “But, obviously, things have changed in 10 years, so it’s going to get a fresh review.”

Barber assumes that this, like the old approved project, would be a planned unit development; if it were, it would first go to the town planner, he said.

“Once we get the town planner, I think they’ll be ready to have a more formal presentation made to the planning board,” Barber said. Guilderland is in the process of hiring a town planner since the last town planner, Jan Weston, retired on Dec. 31, 2016 after 28 years on the job.

Tri-City Rentals owns, in Guilderland, the Woodlake and Fairwood apartment complexes. It worked with Albany Medical Center to develop the Park South Apartments next to the hospital. In the Capital District, it owns 23 other complexes; in the Buffalo and Rochester areas, it owns another 19, according to the company’s website.

Hiawatha Trails PUD application withdrawn

Hiawatha Land Development, LLC originally proposed developing the 44-acre Hiawatha Trails site with 256 independent-living apartments for people aged 55 and older arranged in a cluster of four buildings, each four stories tall, with a one-story building in the center.

In documents on file at the town hall, Ira Mark Dean of RDC Equities in New York City is named as a contact person for the LLC.

The office building had not been allowed within the current zoning district of R-40 and, so, had necessitated a rezoning request.

Terresa Bakner of Whiteman, Osterman and Hanna, the attorney for the developer, has submitted a letter to the town stating that the developer intends to work with the town to obtain the special-use permit and area variance needed to proceed with the apartments, but that the office building will no longer be part of the plan.

The footprint of the apartments remains as it was in the PUD application, Bakner said, and no other type of residential units is being proposed.

The developer still intends to dedicate about 20 acres of the parcel to the town for use as a recreational trail, said Bakner on Wednesday.

It also plans to pay for and install a traffic light that will allow pedestrians to cross Route 155 in front of the apartments, Bakner said, something that will greatly improve the safety of children who currently cross that road with only a crosswalk.

Future discussions will involve only the planning and zoning boards, since residential independent-living facilities are allowed within the zoning district, with a special-use permit. Bakner said she hoped that the matter would be on the planning board’s agenda for either June 25 or a meeting in July.

Stephen Feeney, chairman of the planning board, said he did not know when the matter would be on the agenda, because he didn’t know when the new application would come in.

A grassroots group called Guilderland Citizens for Responsible Growth had grown up in response to the PUD request and had gotten more than 500 signatures on an online petition that urged the town to turn down the request, particularly since the position of town planner has been vacant for a year and a half.

Dr. Frank Casey, part of the grassroots citizens’ group, spoke at Tuesday’s meeting, asking, among other things, how the donated land would actually be accessed by the public, since it is landlocked between swaths of privately held land.

Bakner said on Wednesday that the donated land would be accessible from Route 155 through either an easement through the property or a piece of land donated outright to the town.

She agreed that the land would not currently be accessible from Winding Brook Road but said there is a long-range plan to create an open-space corridor that leads from main roads to destinations such as the YMCA, which is on Winding Brook Road.

The open space has been designed, she said, so that it currently makes a loop around the property. Access could be extended to Winding Brook Road if, in the future, the town gets the right to access that road from the recreational trail, Bakner said.

The Guilderland Town Library is also located on Winding Brook Road.  

On Wednesday, Casey told The Enterprise that he wonders what kind of tax relief the developer of Hiawatha Trails will seek from the Guilderland Industrial Development Agency. He wrote in an email, “It should be reasonably assumed that they would want to follow the example of the Mill Hill project and then to what extent does the IDA keep wanting to help fund the removal of green space from the town environment.”

His email continued, “After all, part of the town Master Plan (which we feel is in need of update after 20 years) seeks to preserve green space.”

Casey said on Wednesday that the Guilderland Citizens for Responsible Growth would continue to act as a watchdog in proposed expansion projects within the town.

He also reiterated a suggestion he made to the town board Tuesday night, that a developer of residential senior living should look at the area on the west side of Crossgates Mall as a possible site that could allow its residents easy access to everything the mall offers including the transit center that the Capital District Transportation Authority and mall management are planning there.

Town planner

Barber said Wednesday that the town has tentatively selected a candidate for the position of town planner and expects to make the offer this week.

If accepted, the selected person will undergo a background check that should allow for an appointment on July 17, he said.

“We haven’t hired too many town planners, but I think it’s just out of an abundance of caution,” Barber said of the background check.

A town planner has access to a great deal of confidential financial information about, for instance, developers’ plans, Barber said. He said the background check was “good practice for a more senior position like that.”

Earlier, Barber had said that he hoped to announce the hiring of a town planner at one of the two town board meetings held this month.