GUILDERLAND — The Guilderland Planning Board has determined that the plan for a proposed 42-lot subdivision across from Tawasentha Park will not have a significant adverse impact on the environment. 

The negative State Environmental Quality Review Act declaration places the project one step closer to the developer’s ultimate goal of subdivision approval. The applicant, BM Guilderland LLC, still has to come back before the board to finalize project details and address any outstanding comments from engineering reviews.

The project was first presented as a 70-lot subdivision in September 2022, which was then pared down just a couple of months later, to 66 homes. The planning board then tabled the proposal in February 2023 after Chairman Stephen Feeney made it clear that BM Guilderland’s 66-lot proposal would not be accepted as presented. 

The developer then came back in March of this year with 42 lots: 36 homes on an extended-to-Route-146 Concord Hill Drive and 6 lots on Posson Road; seven of the lots come by way of a density bonus, which is based on the percentage of open space, public access to conservation areas, and the protection of historically significant resources. 

The pared-down proposal still has very active residents raising concerns over the project similar to their initial concerns.

The Dec. 11 meeting also acted as a public hearing for the proposal.

Posson Road resident George Kozer voiced his concerns about the large number of children in the area and the impact additional traffic would have, noting there’s a day-care center on the corner of Posson Road and Western Avenue.

“And everyone was also aware that there are homes that have probably 30, 40 Little Tikes, children’s toys, out on the lawn on the other side,” Kozer told board members. “So I want to be on the record that I oppose this. It’s dangerous. It’s hazardous to my neighborhood and my block.”

Resident John Thomas asked the board to consider cordoning off the existing subdivision from the proposed developments. 

Thomas asked that the developer be made to “install a crash gate between these two developments. I implore this board to consider the use of a crash gate at that connection point between the two developments. At a very minimum, this allows you to have your emergency services, connections for pedestrians, [and] the connections to the developments.”

The increase in traffic has been an issue since the project was first proposed over two years ago. 

BM Guilderland’s traffic engineer undertook more than one traffic study to determine there would be minimal cut-through traffic between Route 20 and Route 146 via Hague Drive, Concord Hill Drive, and Halfmoon Drive, with three vehicles during the two-hour morning peak period — 7 to 9 a.m. — and seven vehicles during the two-hour evening peak period — 4 to 6 p.m. 

It was noted by residents that the study wasn’t conducted during the school year; when a survey was conducted then, it identified three additional vehicles in the morning — 7 to 8 a.m. — and four vehicles during the afternoon dismissal period — 2:15 to 3:45 p.m.

The study also said that building 42 single-family homes would generate an additional 34 trips during the morning peak hour and 44 trips during the evening peak hour.

But Concord Hill Drive resident Dominic Paratore was skeptical of the studies. Paratore said he was “probably one of the first neighbors,” having purchased his home in 1996. “So you could do all the traffic studies you want,” he said. “I’m not buying it. I live it.”