GUILDERLAND — Developers for a project on Grant Hill Road received planning-board approval last week after a year-long wait.

The proposed clustered subdivision caused neighbors and board members to worry about wetlands on the property, and to worry about odors from both a nearby farm and a wastewater treatment plant.

Pat and Frank Marotta want to create 14 lots on 41.4 acres with 3-acre agriculture zoning. Kay Kambe-Stone, of Charles H. Sells, Inc. engineering, said that 30.5 acres would be conserved.

Kambe-Stone said that an eight-inch sanitary line will run from Grant Hill Road and through the development. Access to the line will be from a walking trail open to the public, she said.

Board member Lindsay Childs noted that the proposed path is on top of wetlands, and board Chairman Stephen Feeney said that the plan shows a creek there. Charles H. Sells engineer Mark Jacobsen said that his office will check on how to provide access.

Kambe-Stone said that most house sites will need to be back-filled, and that the house basements will be at ground-water level.

Jacobsen said that a structural wall will be erected along one property edge. Feeney said that the final plan submitted to the town must show the details of the wall proposed.
"I was hoping for some landscaping in there," Feeney said.

Jacobsen said that climbing ivy will be the only type of landscaping possible.
"It simply wouldn’t be an option. It’s too steep to hold trees or shrubs," Jacobsen said.

Jacobsen said that the plan called for a wooden guide rail, but that a less maintenance-intensive choice of material would be chosen with the town highway superintendent.

Feeney noted that there is no drainage easement with the town, but Jacobsen said that there probably needs to be.
"I’m trying not to be too picky, but it’s picky time, right" Preliminary"" Feeney said. "I just worry about these easements between lots that become problematic down the line."

The plan must be approved by the town-designated engineer, the town highway superintendent, and the town water superintendent. Future deeds must note the presence of agricultural activity, the waste-water treatment plant, and a nearby shooting range. Culvert and trail designs will need town approval, the board said.