GUILDERLAND — The Guilderland Zoning Board of Appeals recently approved a 3,000-square-foot multi-tenant retail building with enough parking for 90 vehicles. 

The 90 spots approved for 1671 Western Ave. are nearly triple the number of spaces the town’s zoning code allows but resolve what had become a persistent operational problem for the popular restaurant The Scene, also located at 1671 Western: overflow parking that spilled onto neighboring streets. 

Bill Lia, owner of The Scene, purchased the vacant lot adjacent to 1671 Western Ave. to address the issue, merging the two parcels and proposing a comprehensive site redesign that would accommodate both the existing restaurant and a new retail structure

The new building is designed to be multi-tenant, divided into two 1,500-square-foot retail spaces, though no specific retail tenants have been identified. 

By combining a restaurant and a second retail use on a single lot, the property was reclassified under the town’s zoning code as a “local shopping center,” which triggered a parking cap that allowed for a minimum of roughly 33 spaces and a ceiling of approximately 41.

During its Feb. 18 deliberation on the parking request, the zoning board reasoned that the variance was substantial, but that substantiality was a product of the formula used to determine the number of parking spaces — 4 spaces per 1,000 square feet, which is applicable to projects from 6,500-square-foot site all the way up to a 250,000-square-foot retail complex — not an overreach by the applicant, and unanimously approved by the board.