GUILDERLAND — The planning board laid down more stipulations and offered suggestions for the proposed Mill Hill development on Route 155 last week, but the developer held back on promises to wholly comply. Even so, the board approved the Mill Hill site plan.

Town Planner Jan Weston said that a traffic study is needed; it could lead to a traffic signal due to reduced sight distance and pedestrian traffic at the site.
"Let us look at that in a holistic way," said Mill Hill representative Terresa Bakner, of Whiteman, Osterman and Hanna in Albany.

Weston also noted that the proposal showed no recreation area for residents, or room for the Guilderland Ballet, which already established on the site, a condition of a previous agreement.

Mill Hill is seeking a revision to the planned unit development plan approved in 1993. The plan was to be built in stages: Phase one was a 100-bed senior residence that has already been built. The current phases include 88 multi-family units, 24 townhouses, and a Stewart’s convenience store. Phase four includes a 12,000-square-foot office building and nursing home.
"The ballet school is on a piece of that, and it will be transferred to the town," Bakner said. "We have no one interested in phase four." The planning board said that the footprints for these potential buildings need to be shown on plans submitted.
"This site is next to the town park, and the residents can’t get there without driving a mile," said board member Lindsay Childs, who is also a member of the town’s pathways committee.

Bakner said that the developer wants to have flexibility about where to put sidewalk paths. She said that they will re-evaluate where to put a recreation area.
"We’re not seeing anything; you say it’s going to come," Weston said.
Bakner said that Mill Hill will put what it wants to do regarding sidewalks and recreation areas on materials it presents at its "next level of approach to the town."
"Maybe there’ll be a community garden"" Bakner speculated. "We’re going to look at a whole range of things."

Bakner and her associates brought more than a half-dozen drawings, maps, and renderings, but the planning board members said that they were not at the level of engineering detail needed to see where storm water, paths, or recreation areas could be. Aerial photos of the area seem to show swamp land, the board said at its agenda review.

Stewart’s at Mill Hill

A similar problem plagued Mill Hill the night before at the town board meeting, when a sketch of a proposed Stewart’s convenience store could not be produced.

Bakner and Stewart’s representative, Tom Lewis, brought one to the planning board. The building, designed to fit in with the homes and townhouses, faces Mill Hill Court, with its side toward Route 155.
"We’ve been very shy of hiring outside architects. We really do like our roof"it’s like signage," Lewis said. He said that Stewart’s builds its usual red-bricked buildings in towns that are "less discerning" than Guilderland.
"We want access on [Route] 155. We’re not going to get access, no point in asking," Lewis said. Because the building will not be recognized as a sign, he said, Stewart’s will ask for a sign.
"I don’t think it’ll take long for the news to spread," said board member Terry Coburn.

Childs asked Lewis to provide a sketch of the angle of the canopy over the gas pumps. The only sketch available last week was of the front of the proposed building.

Planning board Chairman Stephen Feeney said that the town wants a visually-appealing structure.
"It sounds to me like we’ll get there," he said.

Concerned neighbors

One resident said that his backyard is next to the proposed store.
"We’ll be looking at Stewart’s. We’re counting on you. We’re concerned about landscaping, and our view"and lighting and noise pollution," he said.

Feeney explained that the application needs a special-use permit, and that it must go before the zoning board of appeals and the town board, where those issues would be addressed.
"We’ll certainly work with Jan [Weston] and whoever you want us to work with," Bakner said earlier.

Deed restrictions

The board gave final approval for the application of Mark Schafer, who wants to divide a 33.7-acre parcel on Settles Hill Road into two lots. The properties, 20 acres and almost 14 acres, will be deed-restricted for no further subdivision.
"I don’t believe in putting a deed restriction on a property forever. I don’t agree with that principle," Schafer told the board. "You’re asking me to decide something for 50 years from now."

Board member Thomas Robert considered Schafer’s viewpoint. He asked the board if the deed restriction would hurt a parent’s plans to build a home for a child on a property.
"You start locking yourself in, at some point," Feeney said. He said that, if the properties were ever sold to one person, then "everything is back on the table."

The property division must reflect the new RA-3 zoning, with a minimal three-acre lot size on subdivisions, in place for that part of town.

Schafer’s property already has a private driveway that will be shared between the lots. The drive has a greater slope than the 10-percent grade requested by the town, but it flattens out as it approaches the road. Robert said that, when he visited the site, the slope was not problematic.

Other business

In other business, the planning board recently:

— Gave concept approval to Maurice McCormick for a two-lot subdivision of 53.7 acres on Depot Road. One parcel, with 12.8 acres, has a house and barn that McCormick plans to sell. The other 41-acre lot has a high-pressure gas line running through it. McCormick said that public water is accessible at the road.