GUILDERLAND — The quest for the town board to rezone a property at 2444 Western Ave., so that Cumberland Farms can build there, continued at a meeting on Dec. 2, and will continue again at a meeting on Dec. 16.

The applicants, Tri-Way Services and Cumberland Farms, have been appearing before the town board, the zoning board, and the planning board for nearly a year, asking the town to change the parcel’s zoning from “local business” to “general business.”

Currently zoned for local business, the 1.35-acre parcel would allow a convenience store, but not a gas station. The property is located at the intersections of routes 146 and 20, across from a Stewart’s store with gas pumps.

The proposal for the Cumberland Farms includes a 4,513-square-foot store with a six-pump island-style filling station.

The town board put off making a decision on the rezone, again, this time for two reasons — because of the lack of commitment to cleaning up the adjacent property, also owned by Tri-Way services, where an abandoned bank stands, and so an environmental impact statement can be assessed.

At a town board meeting in June, members had cited concerns with traffic, including the driveway for entering and exiting the station being too close to the intersection of Western Avenue and Route 146, and congestion created by left-hand turns from Western Avenue into the parking lot.

In November, the planning board considered the proposal, and included in its consideration a letter from the New York State Department of Transportation.

The DOT must approve the location of the driveway because Western Avenue and State Route 146 are owned by the state.

The Regional Director of the DOT, Mark Kennedy, recommended that the driveway be located further east, to avoid “negative traffic implications,” but, he said he thought the DOT could conditionally approve the proposal as it was written. The condition would be that a traffic evaluation be conducted two years after construction is finished on the project, and, if any “negative traffic implications” had occurred, Tri-Way Services would be required to make changes.

The planning board recommended that the town board approve the rezone, but wrote the two-year-evaluation condition into its recommendation, despite the fact that Thomas Burke, the president of Tri-Way Services, said he believed the driveway is properly located.

At the town board meeting on Tuesday, Supervisor Kenneth Runion read a statement from the town’s planner, Jan Weston, who said it was her opinion that, for “general business” zoning to work on the site, both properties owned by the applicant should be rezoned and used for the proposed purpose.

Weston’s memorandum stated that the vacant lot has been an eyesore for more than a decade, and the applicant had done nothing to address the issue, other than saying he was interested in marketing the adjacent property for a bank and using the same driveway as the convenience store.

Stephanie Bitter, a representative for Cumberland Farms, said that using both parcels for the project would not be “fiscally achievable at this point.”

Burke said the memorandum from Weston is “just an opinion, and not a recitation of facts.” He said it “cherry picks items from the proposal and highlights them in a negative way.”

Burke told the town board he had been actively seeking a tenant for the property next to 2444 Western Ave., and had been in discussions with two different parties.

“She very cutely says we’re interested in marketing the property,” said Burke, of Weston’s memo. “To say we’d like to redevelop it in the future is not an accurate characterization of the situation.”

He went on to say that he did not think the adjacent property was relevant to the Cumberland Farms proposal.

“It has nothing to do with the matter before us tonight,” said Burke. “It should not influence your decision to allow us to develop the corner piece.”

John Haluska, a resident of Lone Pine Road, whom Runion called the town’s self-designated “expert on derelict buildings,” spoke at the public hearing and said there were three options for the proposal – outright deny it, approve it without regard to the adjacent lot, or approve it on the condition that the derelict building be demolished or a long-term lease be established.

“Outright denial is wrong and to approve the application without consideration of the existence of the bank building is unacceptable,” said Haluska. “To provide bland representations which indicate there will be future development is not enough.”

The third option would be the best one, he said.

Runion told Burke that he did think the vacant lot was relevant, and that Burke should prepare a formal response to Weston’s comments for a future public hearing.

“It is my intention to demolish that building,” said Burke. “As a property owner who pays taxes on these lots, it serves no purpose for me not to have a tenant paying rent.”

Runion said that, even if Burke did not find a tenant for the lot, there were things that could be done to improve the appearance of it, including trimming the trees and generally cleaning it up.

“You could soften the appearance,” said Runion.

Burke agreed that he could do that, and would consider it.

“I am out there every day trying to get a user for that site,” he said.

After taking a five-minute break, the town board decided to continue the public hearing until Dec. 16 at 7:30 p.m., so that the town’s attorney could go over the environmental impact assessment.