GUILDERLAND — More than 30 residents turned out for the public hearing Tuesday night — which stretched to three hours — on the future of the languishing Mill Hollow development.

The town board had been expected to vote on Buck Construction’s application to lift the requirement that elderly people live at the complex, situated at 5060 Western Ave.

In 2006, the town board had rezoned the property from local-business to multiple-residential use, requiring each unit in the development to have at least one resident who was age 55 or older.

Residents from either side of Mill Hollow turned out in droves to express their concerns about lifting the age requirement and about the plan to change from condominiums to apartments. On one side of Mill Hollow is Twenty West, a development of luxury single homes. On the other side is Frenchs Mill Road, where the entrance to Mill Hollow is located.

The board members listened to these concerns and questioned at length Steve Buck of Buck Construction, as well as owner James Verseput and attorney Mary Beth Slevin. By near the end of the hearing, the board had largely abandoned its usual protocol of allowing speakers to talk only to the board, instead allowing free discussion among Buck, Verseput, and residents.

Residents cited concerns including the more “transient” nature of renters; people of all ages having access to Frenchs Mill Road and pedestrian access to Twenty West; fears that parking is insufficient and that there will be overflow parking in Twenty West; and worries that the complex will not find renters at “luxury” prices and that Buck will soon lower prices to suit the market, meaning that he will later not have enough funds to properly maintain the complex.

One resident asked the board if the pedestrian cut-through into Twenty West could be closed off, so that renters who were out walking or biking would not have access. Supervisor Peter Barber replied that it could not, and that town policy was to encourage free access to all town streets.

A number of residents in Twenty West and on Frenchs Mill Road said that they had bought their houses when the Mill Hollow project was still anticipated to be senior condos, and that they would not have bought there if they had known that it would instead be apartments for people of all ages.

The town has no say on whether the buildings are condominiums or apartments, but the board does have the power to lift the age requirement.

If the board does not lift the requirement, Buck said at the meeting Tuesday, the developers will be forced to abandon the project.

If this project does not go in, board members pointed out, Local Law #3 from 2006 specifies that the land can revert to its original business zoning, which means that the site could be used for any kind of commercial property, including a hotel or a strip mall.

Buck explained that his long-range goal is to turn the project into condominiums, but that the buildings need to be built first, in order to attract buyers. “We’re in business to make money,” he said. “We make a profit when we sell these as condos.”

Verseput said that, in order for the first condo unit to actually close, there needs to be a “live” homeowners’ association. In order for the association to go live, he said, the developers need a total of 14 signed contracts for condo purchase. In the past three years, with mostly only plans, and no buildings, to show, they have been able to get 10 or 12, but then several would back out and they would add more, but the numbers never reached 14.

The plan, they explained, is to start construction within 60 days of the age requirement’s being lifted. They would then complete the building of the complex and bring it to 90 percent occupancy within two years. Ninety percent of the units would need to be occupied for one year in order to achieve “stabilization,” which lenders also require, they said. At that point, assuming that they had 14 signed purchase contracts in hand, they could take the Homeowners Association live and begin to close on the condominium contracts.

The condos will be priced, Steve Buck said, between $279,900 and $379,900.

They will be building 84 units, among 13 buildings. Verseput said that they would try to turn one building at a time into condos, so that they would avoid having, for instance, an owner sandwiched between two renters.

The average monthly rent would be $2,000. Rental contracts would be year-to-year, rather than month-to-month, Verseput said.

“We’ll have income requirements that are probably four times the rent,” he said. “We’ll have background checks. There won’t be people with items outside with tarps over them,” he said, addressing a concern one resident had raised, that the design does not include enough storage and that lawns were likely to be strewn with grills, bicycles, and lawn chairs.

Councilman Paul Pastore asked how the developers plan to “incentivize” renters to buy units in the complex. For instance, he asked, are there any plans to include language in the rental lease offering that a portion of the rent go toward the purchase price?

Verseput said that this language cannot be included in the rental contract until there actually is a live homeowners’ association. He said that the plan would be to offer renters a new contract once the association goes live, which would include incentivizing language.

Pastore and Barber said that they would like to see examples of this language.

Pastore also asked why Verseput and Buck had not made any efforts to contact surrounding residents to hear their concerns, when he had advised him at the March 15 town board meeting to do so. Verseput responded, “I don’t know. I just didn’t.”

Slevin suggested that she had thought the board meant that the developers should listen to residents’ suggestions as the buildings are built, about, for instance, the landscaping buffer around the building. Pastore said that he respectfully disagreed, and believed that they needed to speak with residents much earlier in the process.

Barber came up with what he called a “potential solution”: Postpone the vote by a week, giving the developers time to meet with the residents, so that developers can hear and perhaps even begin to allay residents’ concerns.

He will see that town building inspector, Jackie Coons, also attends, so that the developer doesn’t promise things that cannot be done and also to clarify for residents just what the developer is already required to do with regard to issues such as landscaping.

That week will also give, Barber said, the developers time to come up with the language to be built into the new lease-to-purchase contracts that will be offered after the homeowners’ association is established.

Barber also wants more specific steps laid out as to how the town will know when the complex has achieved various “markers,” such as 90-percent occupancy or stabilization.

The board will then hold a special meeting on Tuesday, April 12 at 7:30 p.m. and will likely bring the matter to a vote that evening.