GUILDERLAND — Developer Jeff Thomas’s senior-housing complex, proposed for the site of the old Bavarian Chalet, is one step closer to being built.

The planning board here last week approved the site plan review for Mill Hollow, for which Thomas had requested a special-use permit. Thomas is on the way to building 86 condominium units for seniors at the site of the former Bavarian Chalet at Frenchs Mill Road.

While board members worried about old-growth trees and the materials used to create pedestrian paths through the community, they praised the plan, presented by engineer Francis Bossolini.
"You did a nice job on this. Very nice," said board member Paul Caputo.
Thomas is excited about the plans as well. "It’s a great design. It has a village feel," he told The Enterprise this week. It is one of three area senior complexes he is planning; the others are in Berne and just outside of Altamont.
Thomas explained the name of the complex, Mill Hollow. There was once a mill at the site, he said, and, he went on, "There’s a beautiful hollow in the 60 percent green space we’re maintaining."
Asked about his timetable for completing the project, Thomas said, "Our engineering’s complete and we expect approval in the next month." He said he hopes to begin construction within the next year.

At last week’s meeting, Bossolini said that a pump station would be placed at the lowest point of the parcel, and that flow meters will be installed to gather further information for more engineering.
He said that the trees the board referred to are not "old growth" because they were planted in a straight line.
"A handful, perhaps, can be saved. Disturbed areas are going to be restored," Bossolini said.

The senior homes will be 1,200 square-foot two-bedroom condominiums on one floor, stacked above one another. Some will have garages attached under, he said. Including more than 80 garages, the community will have almost 170 parking spaces, he said. Chairman Stephen Feeney said that parking spaces planned for the front of the subdivision must be removed.

Sidewalk plans were not ready for the planning board, but were to be displayed at a town meeting this week, Bossolini said.

The senior center and the community center will be housed together in the current structure on the parcel.
"The association will own the building, and some kind of agreement with the town" will be arranged for town use, Bossolini said. Earlier, the town requested a 4,000-square-foot senior center on the site as a condition of approval.

Site plan approval was conditional on the submission of a landscaping plan showing the sizes and types of plants proposed, and the preservation of as many old-growth trees along the eastern side of the site. The plan must show which of the trees will be preserved.

The plan must also show the limits of the disturbance to wetlands and the amount of land affected. Feeney said that, if the disturbance is greater than .10 acre, the developer must notify the Army Corps of Engineers. Feeney said that, in that case, the zoning board is advised to wait for a response from the Army Corps before deciding on the Mill Hollow application.

The plan should also show pedestrian access to the neighboring Twenty West subdivision, and the access to the pump station and along that route. That access to the community may also be used for emergency vehicles to reach the adjoining subdivision, town planner Jan Weston said.

The board said that the sidewalk plan should show, minimally, paths around the parking-lot perimeter and the condo units, with a direct connection between the senior parking lot and the seniors’ community center within the site.

The board said that the garbage Dumpster must be moved from its proposed northeastern position. The plan should provide a better buffer between the Dumpster and the single-family homes slated to be constructed to the east, Weston said.

The development must also receive a state Department of Transportation permit for sidewalks in the DOT right-of-way.

Romano requests

Attorney Timothy Elliott represented applicant Lisa Romano for two projects; one would allow her parcel on Western Turnpike to be subdivided, and the other would enable her to open a business out of a basement at 1847 Western Ave. Both applications were continued.

The plans submitted for the subdivision called for a four-lot division of 14.83 acres near the Watervliet Reservoir. The area is zoned for agriculture, with a minimum three-acre lot. Romano’s plans divided the existing home on the property onto a 4.46-acre parcel, and left the others varying at slightly over 3 acres each. The majority of the parcels proposed would not allow 500-foot setbacks from the reservoir, as town standards dictate. Elliott said that the plans were designed to meet state Health Department regulations, which require 300-foot setbacks.

Portions of the proposed parcels left keyhole sections, that could not be included in the setback calculations, Feeney said.
"There is room in our code to allow some of these issues to go away, and still give you your three lots," Feeney said.

Weston said that three lots could be clustered on smaller parcels to leave a larger, undisturbed area nearer the reservoir.

Future plans should show limits of grading and clearing, a storm-water pollution prevention plan, and the possible locations of wells, the board said.

The second Romano application was for a mortgage-consulting business in an area zoned for mixed use. The site would allow a tenant in an upstairs apartment, with the business on the first floor. The site has a garage and a long driveway that can hold up to six cars, but there is no access to the rear alley, Elliott said.

Board member Michael Cleary said that the application would be better if it showed three usable spaces, rather than six that are difficult. Weston said that the driveway would stack cars bumper-to-bumper, and require drivers to back out onto busy Western Avenue.

The plan called for a turn-around in the front of the building, but the board asked that a revised plan remove the turn-around and include the possibility of a connection to the alleyway that feeds onto York Road. The drive could then be one-way in.
To accommodate the drive, the board recommended that the garage be razed, but Elliott said, "The garage does have value to it."
"We don’t want cars stacked," Feeney said. "We don’t want cars parking on the sidewalk. Mixed use is a good idea — something we would encourage."

The board said that parking for five vehicles should be provided at the rear of the property.

Elliott requested that the board continue the site plan review until he returns with a professionally-drawn plan.

Other business

In other business, the board:

— Approved Richard Capron’s concept presentation of a three-lot subdivision of more than 50 acres on Curry Road. There is no public water or sewer on any of the lots, but one lot has a log home where Capron lives, and another has a small home.
"It’s all one farm. We have horses there," Capron said.

A portion of the property is bounded by the Albany Pine Bush, and the Pine Bush Preserve Commission is negotiating with Capron about accepting or purchasing one of the three lots, he said. The property is in an area designated for full protection by the commission.