GUILDERLAND — The Albany Country Club is seeking a zoning change that would allow for the development of 254 housing units on over 400 acres of land that the club owns off of Wormer Road. 

The club recently submitted formal plans to the town of Guilderland seeking to change the zoning of 300 Wormer Road — in addition to another 16.5 acres adjacent to the 844-acre property — from rural agricultural (779 acres) and single-family residential (81 acres) to that of a Country Hamlet District.

The country club is proposing a total of 254 units:

 — 88 single-family homes; 

 — 116 townhomes; and

 — 50 condominiums.

The total development would be approximately 404 acres, according to the project narrative, and be developed into five general areas:

— “A”' and “B” would be 192 acres containing 254 housing units; 

— “C” would be about 203 acres of restricted open space;

— “D” would remain two existing single-family residences, which total 3.6 acres; and 

— “E” has been offered up as 5.4 acres of town park, contiguous with the Nott Road Park. 

Of Albany Country Club’s remaining 456.5 acres, 81 are being offered to the town as a park, with the rest of the land being either the existing golf course or remaining undeveloped.

The project was proposed to Guilderland’s development planning committee in November 2019. 

At the time, the Albany Country Club proposed changing the zoning of 549 acres from Rural Agricultural to Country Hamlet for a 290-unit development, which required changing the property’s zoning multiple times to get to the club’s intended proposal.

Planned-Unit Development zoning (PUD) for the Weatherfield development was granted in 1973. In 2005, plans for Weatherfield’s 82-acre fourth phase were withdrawn.

In 2019, the country club requested that the town board withdraw the PUD-zoning designation for the 82 acres of property the club owned on Relyea Road, which the town board did in November 2019, reverting the zoning back to 20-acre residential zoning.

Once the PUD zoning reverted back to the original R20, the club was able to then apply to change the zoning to rural agricultural (RA3) because, to change the zoning of a parcel to Country Hamlet, it has to already be zoned either RA3 or RA5.

“There have been many proposals over the years to develop ACC’s property, including the Toll Brothers’ efforts in 2010,” the project narrative states, “none of the proposals have come to fruition due mainly to the challenges of bringing sufficient water to the site.”

But the narrative says, in 2018, the club partnered with the town on an engineering analysis that determined the new development could tap into Weatherfield’s existing water and sewer systems at a cost of $3.6 million in infrastructure upgrades. 

A traffic study included with the submittal package measured two-way traffic volume near the site between April 26 and May 6 at 385 vehicles per day, with 24 vehicles during the weekday morning peak hour — 8 to 9 a.m. — and 43 vehicles during the weekday evening peak hour — 5 to 6 p.m.

The proposed project, according to Creighton Manning’s traffic study, will generate 158 new vehicle trips during the a.m. peak hour and 194 new vehicle trips during the p.m. peak hour.

Construction is expected to begin in April 2025, with completion estimated in December 2030, according to the project’s environmental assessment form.