GUILDERLAND — Almost a year-and-a-half after Jeff Thomas told the town board he needed land re-zoned immediately so he could build a senior-housing complex on Brandle Road, the town’s zoning board approved the project.

As many elderly Altamont residents continue to wait for a home in the complex known as Brandle Meadows, the zoning board said its special-use permit is only good when Thomas and the village work out legal and water issues.

The project is proposed to be built in Guilderland, just over the Altamont border.

Thomas faced a hurdle with the project when, earlier this year, lawsuits were filed between the village of Altamont — which promised him water — and Michael and Nancy Trumpler, the couple that agreed to sell their land, with wells, to the village.

On Nov. 10, an acting Supreme Court judge dismissed a summary judgement filed by the Trumplers over village water. (See related story.)

Re-zone history

In August, it appeared that the Guilderland Town Board might revisit its earlier decision to re-zone land for Thomas.

Last July, the town board re-zoned the Brandle Road parcel from Agricultural to Multi-Family Residential for Thomas to build a senior housing complex.

Thomas’s plans at the time — to develop 14.6 acres with 80 housing units — represented a tenfold density increase over what would have been allowed in an agricultural district. The town board approved the re-zone at the same meeting it also approved a moratorium on building in the rural western part of Guilderland.

Councilman Bruce Sherwin voted against the re-zone because, he said then, it was interfering with the town’s planning process. He also told The Enterprise then that he was hesitant to approve Thomas’s re-zone because it wasn’t clear that there would be enough water for the complex.

At the Aug. 23 town board meeting, Sherwin suggested the board revisit its re-zone decision.

Supervisor Kenneth Runion was open to a discussion, while Councilman David Bosworth was apprehensive about looking at an issue in the middle of litigation. Councilman Michael Ricard said he was against revisiting the board’s original decision and Councilwoman Patricia Slavick remained silent.

Still, the board agreed to ask the village of Altamont for an opinion before its Sept. 6 meeting.

The Wednesday evening after the Tuesday board meeting, however, Runion called The Enterprise to say he had thought it over and reconsidered. As part of the normal zoning process, the village would give an opinion on the senior housing, Runion said.

Discussion of the re-zone for Thomas came after the town board created a law requiring that certain planning and zoning decisions in the town first get an opinion from Altamont, an incorporated village with its own elected government, located within the town of Guilderland.

Any proposals for land in Guilderland that is within 1,200 feet of Altamont’s border or its infrastructure would first be reviewed by a village committee.

Last month, the committee, headed by Mayor James Gaughan, said water should be granted to the senior-housing project only after the village water supply is proven adequate.

In January, an earlier administration had granted water to the project with no conditions attached.

Project plans

The senior-housing complex will be on 14.6 acres on rural Brandle Road, near the Altamont fairgrounds and Altamont Elementary School. Thomas purchased the land from the Altamont Fair for $250,000.
Francis Bossolini, Thomas’s civil engineer, told the zoning board earlier that Brandle Meadows will have 72 living units in eight buildings, the maximum allowed by the zoning law. The buildings will be designed to have a "Victorian feel," Bossolini said.

The project will include several detached garage buildings with 72 parking spaces. It will have another 72 parking spaces outside the garage area.

The complex will have a gathering center, a swimming pool, walking trails, and a community garden area. For guests, there will be five more parking spaces.

Asked last Wednesday if this is enough parking, Bossolini said he anticipates that many of the residences will use one parking space, rather than the two that each unit is allotted. A total of 108 parking spaces are required and the project will have 149.
Over 60 percent of the area will be kept as green space, Bossolini said. This undeveloped land will be owned by a homeowners’ association and kept "forever wild," Bossolini said earlier.

The homeowners’ association will also take care of the roads in the complex and hire someone for snow removal, he said last Wednesday.

The board had raised concerns earlier about residents of the complex having easy access to Altamont. The board asked that sidewalks be placed on Brandle Road, to connect the development to Main Street.
Bossolini said last Wednesday that, after examining the access issue at great length, it is "physically impossible," to put sidewalks on Brandle Road. The street has a 33-foot right-of-way, he said.

However, Bossolini said, he found a couple routes the residents can take, through the Altamont fairgrounds or across the elementary school playing fields, to get to the center of Altamont.

Bossolini met with Lindsay Childs, of the Guilderland Pathways Committee, who had village access concerns. Bossolini reported that, after long meetings and walking the area together, Childs seemed satisfied with the alternate routes.

Addressing other worries that the development would ruin the aesthetics of Brandle Road, Bossolini said trees and shrubs will be planted to shield the buildings from the road.
"We feel we’ve addressed all the issues that have been brought before us," Bossolini said.

Rob Osterhaut, of town-designated Boswell Engineering, told the board he agreed. He asked Bossolini to make minor clarifications for areas like stormwater management, he said, but he feels comfortable with the project.

But, Osterhaut said, the larger issue is interface with the village. This, however, is out of the domain of his review. The village has an engineer who is reviewing the water issue, he said.
"Public verses private ownership of the utilities has to be worked out with the village," Osterhaut said.

Ed Breitenbach, an elderly resident who has spoken in favor of Thomas’s project before, told the board last Wednesday the project is long overdue.
He has had friends who lived in Altamont their whole lives, but were "forced to move out," because no senior housing was available, Breitenbach said.
"This is a good and tremendous project," he said. "Please do the right thing and approve it tonight."
"There is a tremendous need for it," Greg Goutos, of Community Caregivers, said of the project.

Thomas had earlier promised the not-for-profit organization a large office in his housing complex. Community Caregivers recruits volunteers who, among other good deeds, assist elderly residents with such chores as shopping, cleaning, and going to medical appointments.

Since Community Caregivers can’t wait any longer for a new home, Thomas is now purchasing property on Gun Club Road for the group, said Paul Wein, Thomas’s lawyer who is on the Caregivers board.
"Jeff is true to his word," Wein said.

The zoning board then unanimously approved the project. Alternate Tom Remmert voted in place of Patricia Aikens, who was absent.