GUILDERLAND — On Western Avenue, two signs, one nearly in front of the other, bear conflicting messages, one reading “For Sale” and the other “This property is not for sale.” 

The green vacant lot looks like one property, but is actually two. The “not-for-sale” sign in the front is set one sign’s width to the west of the other, and is located on 2266 Western Ave., property owned by Laurel Bohl, a candidate for Guilderland’s town board. 

The other property, a one-third-acre lot that is for sale, is owned by “Bohl, Charles Inc.” and holds the “for sale” sign. Charles Bohl, a retired attorney, is Laurel Bohl’s uncle. 

Laurel Bohl, an attorney with the New York State Attorney General’s Office, has been an outspoken critic of the pace of multifamily development in the town and an advocate for a pause to consider the cumulative effect of the many projects currently in the works. 

Her 16.9-acre property is mostly set back, off Western Avenue, with a narrow leg that runs  up to the state road. It is bounded on several sides by parcels that are for sale or where residential complexes are proposed or planned. 

People had been asking her if her property was for sale, she said, and she wanted to clarify the situation, so she put up a sign.

She has a right, Laurel Bohl told The Enterprise, to not have anyone place “for sale” signs on her property. 

The current blue for-sale sign appears to straddle her property, which goes to the sewer line, she said. 

“This could all easily be resolved,” she wrote in an email, “if my uncle would just move his blue sign over onto the Bohl Corp. property.” 

According to police documents, both sides have called the Guilderland Police over the dispute. Charles Bohl told police and reiterated to The Enterprise that several “for sale” real-estate signs previously posted on 2260 Western Ave. had been removed, and he told police he thought Laurel Bohl had taken them. No tickets were issued. 

Real-estate agent Chris Farrell of Vanguard-Fine LLC told The Enterprise that a couple of signs had previously disappeared. He said he had no information about what had happened to them. 

The Bohl Corp. also owns the environmentally problematic properties at Foundry Road and Western Avenue that include the site of a defunct gas station and dry cleaner’s. To date, issues with costly chemical cleanup have prevented them from selling. 

A developer had hoped several years ago to buy the 13-acre corner properties to build an assisted-living facility called Concordia and had offered to donate part of the land to widen Foundry Road, but backed out over a disagreement about who would commit to paying for the cost of cleanup. 

Karen Van Wagenen, Guilderland’s assessor, said she was unsure what could potentially be built on the one-third acre lot at 2260 Western Ave., the lot that is for sale, given the need for parking and setbacks.

The property has 91 feet of frontage on Western Avenue, and is 164 feet deep, according to Van Wagenen. It is currently classified as residential vacant land, she said. 

 “A small office building, maybe?” she said of its possible use. 

Laurel Bohl has no direct interest in the properties owned by the Bohl Corp., although she serves as a trustee for the one-third share of her brother, who lives out of state; the other two-thirds are held by Charles Bohl and by a cousin of Laurel Bohl.