GUILDERLAND — A part of East Old State Road that is largely overlooked is at the center of a neighborhood controversy. Just past Oak Tree Lane, heading toward Kings Road and Route 155, there is a little triangle of land and a dead-end spur where police cars often sit behind the trees, looking for speeders. But for the residents of that stretch of East Old Street, whose properties back up against the Thruway, it’s home, and an area with zoning they hope to protect.

So when developer Steven Sbardella’s request for a variance came before the planning board on Oct. 26, almost 15 neighbors came out to oppose it. The 1.28-acre property is zoned R-40, but Sbardella wants to subdivide it into two lots, neither of which would meet the minimum required 40,000 square-foot lot size. The board ultimately agreed, 5 to 1, that the plan met health-department requirements for septic, so the variance — and the concerns raised by neighbors — will now be considered by the zoning board.

Sbardella addressed those concerns by phone with The Enterprise. He emphasized that he “beautified the neighborhood” when he bought and then renovated, to code, the existing house at 5958 East Old State Rd., which he said, and many had mentioned at the meeting, was previously rundown and an eyesore.

“I took one of the worst houses in Guilderland,” Sbardella said this week, “that was completely abandoned for many years, and put a lot of time and hard-earned money into renovating it. I also took down a 30-by-30-foot dilapidated garage on the same property.”

Sinkholes

Kristen Ruby of 5960 East Old State Rd. said at the meeting that she lives on the dead-end spur and said that the road “already has issues.”

Ruby said that, when her family bought their house, they were told by the previous owners not to park on the road, for fear that it would collapse. Located beneath the road are, she said, “old and aging aqueduct pipes” that are no longer used. She said that there is one large hole — two feet wide, she estimated — that opens up every year in front of the property now owned by Sbardella — and two more, each about a foot wide, in front of her property.

Every year, she said, town workers come out to patch them, only to see them open again the next year. She told The Enterprise this week that a part of the road had started to sink in when she was standing on it a few days earlier.

“What is the impact of increased traffic on this road?” she asked at the meeting.

Steve Oliver, the town’s highway superintendent, said this week, “There have been sinkholes there over the years, yes,” and confirmed the area beneath that road is filled with old, disused wooden pipes from “the old Watervliet water line.”

Sbardella responded through The Enterprise, “The road is the town’s responsibility.” He added that one house “is not going to affect the traffic patterns or anything.”

Lot size and septic concerns

Ruby also said that the residents along that area of Old State Road are families, many of which have lived there for years. The properties, she said, were originally part of much larger swaths of farmland, before being cut down by the state when the Thruway was put in behind them; her land, for instance, she said, was 16 acres.

Ruby said that, while it is true that there are several small properties nearby, these were grandfathered in. One resident, about 20 years ago, she said, went to the town wanting to subdivide a one-acre property; the town denied that request and established the R-40 zoning at that time. She said, “To allow for smaller houses now makes no sense.”

Ruby also said adding in more small houses would increase risks of fire. There are no hydrants in the area, she said, and nowhere for fire trucks to turn around. With more houses packed closer in, she said, the risk that fire would spread would also increase.

Ruby worried about precedent. Once the town approves one such request, how will it deny others, she asked. “If this goes through, I can imagine it’s going to look like New York City in there, with all the houses on top of one another,” she said.

Mike Gammans, who lives at 6044 East Old State, said, “The problem is water and septic. If you cram another house in there, we might have a problem with our septic, and we don’t want that.” He added, during a visit to the site last week, that everyone in the area has shallow wells.

At the site last week, Jim Fuller, who lives at 6045 East Old State Rd., said, “A septic system only lasts for about 20 years, and then you have to move it. Where are you going to move it to?”

His daughter, Nancy McClearnan of 6032 East Old State Rd., said at the site, “I don’t think our water system can handle any more houses.” She added, referring to Sbardella’s property or a neighboring property, “If something happens and you have to extend the leachfield, say, there may not be any room to do that.”

Neighbor John Binseel, who lives on the other side of Old State Road, right across from Sbardella’s property, said at the meeting that the zoning change to R-40 was “specifically done so there would be no more of these.” He added, “If there was a plan to bring municipal water out there, I think most of this opposition would go away.”

Sbardella said, “Maybe we do need to have public water and public sewer there. I would love that. It is one of the only areas in the town that doesn’t have it.”

Access

At the meeting, George Mitchell of 6048 East Old State Rd. asked the board if any members had been out to the site to walk the property.

After the board had closed the public hearing and begun to discuss the proposal, member Tom Robert, spoke directly to the neighbors, saying, “I apologize that none of us has been out to the site.”

Chairman Stephen Feeney agreed, saying, “One of us usually does.” Feeney added that he was “very familiar” with the area and remembered the dilapidated old house that Sbardella had since renovated.

Members of the board asked Sbardella’s representative at the meeting, Ted DeLucia, if Sbardella would be amenable to eliminating the access to the properties from the dead-end spur, and simply have a wider shared driveway on East Old State Road; DeLucia said that Sbardella is completely flexible about that.

Sbardella echoed this by phone this week, saying, “I’m totally flexible about where the access to the property would be. I’m willing to work with the town to do what makes the most sense for everyone.”

What’s next?

During the board’s discussion of the concept, Feeney said that the only issue the Planning Board was to consider was whether the project meets the Department of Health requirements related to septic systems, and it does, he said.

Whether a variance should be granted; if it would set a bad precedent; or if the nature of a project is in keeping with a neighborhood or not, are all questions for the Zoning Board of Appeals, Feeney said. He noted that the project complies with the regulations on setbacks, but not with the size of the lot.

During the vote, two board members — Michael Cleary and Herb Hennings — expressed reservations about the project but said that they would leave any decisionmaking to the zoning board and voted to approve the concept. Board member Bruce Sherwin voted “opposed.” Member Terry Coburn was absent, so the vote was 5 to 1.

Sbardella said this week that he now has an updated site plan that he has been working on since the meeting. He said that he has invested more time and money since the meeting, adding, “I am going to move forward and try to develop my property, because that’s how I think, in terms of free enterprise. It’s a minor project, a one-lot subdivision. I will be making a lot of jobs by creating that house, for everyone from the roofer to the guy who makes the windows and the guy who cuts the granite for the countertops. I think the neighbors will be happy to see a nice new property someday.”

Other business

In other business, the board:

— Held a public hearing on and unanimously approved the final plat to split the existing 4.16-acre parcel at 1881 Western Ave. into two lots. There were no comments or questions. The building in front is occupied by Pioneer Bank, and the building in back is home to a former supermarket now used as an office building; the idea, said Feeney at the meeting, is to “create a separate lot for the bank”; the property is zoned light business;

— Discussed the revised concept, presented by Mark Schafer, for a proposed two-lot subdivision of a 25.6-acre property on West Old State Road, at the corner of Route 158, behind 2273 West Old State Rd. Since the last meeting, owner Schafer had decreased the size of the proposed new lot from five-plus acres to three, moved the western property line eastward, and moved the house about 30 feet away from the water line; all of those changes were made to keep the party who is interested in buying the property from having to take on issues of liability for and maintenance of wells, Schafer said.

Neighbor Michael Della Rocco complained that those changes had not been included in the documents on file with the town hall, where he and others had gone to review it just days earlier; Della Rocco said that his main concern was the potential for contamination of the wellsprings. The board assured Della Rocco and several other neighbors present that the new maps and documents would be added to the file, and that it would re-advertise and hold a public hearing at a later date, to give neighbors time to review the changes;

— Held a public hearing on and unanimously gave final approval to the subdivision of 112 acres owned by the Beliveau family on West Old State Road, in the vicinity of 2099 West Old State Rd., to create one new lot for the existing old house on the property and allow for lot-line adjustments on the three existing properties, in order to maximize the land that can be farmed by different family members. There were no comments or questions from the public; and

— Continued its concept review of a 55-lot clustered subdivision of single-family homes on Fuller Station Road proposed by JTR Realty, asking presenter Jamie Easton to reconsider his site plans to add more open space for communal use by residents and to meet with Timothy McIntyre, the town’s superintendent of water and wastewater, to discuss how water and sewer would get to the property.