To the Editor:

I attended and spoke at the Guilderland Zoning Board of Appeals public hearing on July 16 with regard to the variance request brought by Guilderland Devco LLC on behalf of Costco, for signage in overage of that permitted by the zoning code. 

This hearing was a continuation from the meeting on June 4, in which the applicant’s original request for signage totaling 1,500 square feet was roundly denounced by the board for being unnecessarily excessive [“Costco to come up with plan for fewer signs,” The Altamont Enterprise, June 9, 2025].

The applicant requested the continuance to confer with their client taking into account the board’s input and to make adjustments to their variance request.

At issue, primarily, were five Costco logos, each scaling 259 square feet that were to adorn every facade of the warehouse, two on the south facade fronting Western Avenue.

I reviewed the revised proposal and, while there had been concessions to scaling back, I was struck by what could only be called extraordinary callousness in what continued to be put forward. 

I had spoken before the board in June, reviewing the original variance proposal and stated that the western side of the warehouse and that proposed 259-square-foot logo would be visible from the homes on Westmere Terrace. What I failed to point out at that time but did on this occasion was that there would be six spotlights illuminating every letter on that logo from above. 

This is the side of the building that comprises the tire center and signage with a spotlight above that entranceway. Members of the board pointed out in June that already having this demarcation made the additional Costco logo seem unnecessary. 

In looking to reduce their mammoth signage footprint, the applicant chose to remove the logos from the southeastern and eastern sides of the building. To have had this opportunity and not tried to make it less intrusive to the residents of Westmere Terrace speaks volumes. 

Outside of the insult, from a purely logistical perspective, if patrons are seeking Costco from the north via Washington Avenue Extension or the south via Western Avenue, they will clearly see those facades. There really is no need for a sign on the western facade of this warehouse. 

Everything that has been acknowledged regarding the challenges of this project, the traffic, the noise, the congestion, and the lights, will be shouldered most prominently by its neighbor, Westmere Terrace. Quality of life that is being compromised for the greater good of Costco. The notion that a business should be given every avenue to self-actualize regardless of how it will impact those in its vicinity is a very poor community model.

What was proposed remained excessive, 878 square feet of signage. Logos on the north, south, and western facades as well as an addition to the monument sign fronting the Western Avenue entrance. 

This was my commentary to the board followed by a plea to envision not just driving past or around the Costco, but to imagine living with it in the viewshed of your home every day and illuminated at night. Because for some of us, that is what the Costco experience will be. 

That proximity, unwanted and foisted upon us, should have at the very least counted towards greater consideration of standing in evaluating the necessity for granting approval to what was proposed.  

It did not. When it was time to offer a rendering, the chair referred to the criteria by which a variance request is subject to analysis. To the point of causing detriment to nearby properties, the declaration was that “because the warehouse is part of a large shopping mall, in a TOD [Transit-Oriented Development] zone in our largest commercial district, the benefit to the applicant outweighed any detriment to the neighborhood.”

Removing the logo from the western facade. One simple thing that would have compromised Costco not at all save for self-serving aesthetics and made the behemoth visible from Westmere Terrace slightly less obnoxious.

Instead, there was a condition placed that the lighting would have to be extinguished at the close of business, 8:30 p.m. Thanks for that.

Not all of the zoning board members were present for this determination. Board member Kevin McDonald had to recuse himself and member Sharon Cupoli was not in attendance.

For the four who were there and could not bring themselves to do one thing for a neighborhood consistently cast aside as collateral damage in a barrage of residential and commercial development, shame on you!

Iris Broyde

Guilderland

Editor’s note: Iris Broyde lives on Westmere Terrace. See related story.