GUILDERLAND — A developer is proposing a dozen-and-a-half units of senior housing on Carman Road, directly across the street from 12 senior-living units currently under construction.

The Guilderland Zoning Board at its Feb. 4 meeting was presented with a proposal from Robert Abbatiello to build 18 units of housing for people 55 and older at 3400 Carman Road.

The 18 units would be spread across two buildings — in 10- and 8-unit townhouse-style structures, each with an attached garage. The board was told the housing would look  similar to an Abbatiello development on Curry Road in neighboring Rotterdam, where the rent is about $2,000 per month.

Abbatiello is seeking a variance to allow for the structures to be built within 100 feet of the single-family lots on either side of the parcel; the request is for 15 feet of buffer. 

Andy Brick, the project’s attorney, presented the proposal to the board, telling its members, “We can place a project on the property with 21 units, [which] would be the max we’d be able to place without the need for any variances.”

He said, “I’ve been practicing in the field of zoning and planning jurisprudence for 30 years. I’ve been to a lot of ZBA meetings. And usually, when I appear and request a variance, it’s to ask for more than what’s allowed by code. So tonight’s a little unique for me. We’re actually here to ask for variance to allow us to proceed with a project that will actually be smaller than what we can do by the existing code.”

Brick said the town code allows for 21 units in structures as high as 35 feet.

“What we’re proposing is a project that is more fully spread out across the property, but lower. Two-story, it’s 30 feet to one of our peaks, [but] the average is well less than that. So it’s significantly less building height-wise, which is much more in keeping with the neighborhood and the corridor. But, in order to spread it out, to bring it down — we get too close to the residential lots on either side, and that triggered the need for the variance.”

He concluded, “So that’s why we’re here, not to ask for permission to construct it. We can construct it. We’re actually here asking for your consideration of a variance to allow us to construct a smaller project that, in our opinion, is much more in keeping with the character of the neighborhood and the corridor.”

The project received positive remarks during the public-comment period, with John Haluska of Lone Pine Road speaking in favor of the proposal. Stating that he was a frequent traveler of Carman Road, Haluska praised the plan for replacing a “very ugly, vacant lot” with a low-impact development that preserves green space. 

Board members had little discussion of the proposal, tabling the application since procedure dictates it wait for the Albany County Planning Board to weigh in on the project before it can take any action.