Town Planner Kenneth Kovalchik wants to encourage the development of senior independent-living facilities along Western Avenue, where residents could walk to doctors’ offices, coffee shops, and bus stops.
On May 15, the Guilderland zoning board approved a 256-unit senior independent-living proposal that was the catalyst for the birth of a grassroots group urging “responsible development.”
GUILDERLAND — The town is considering changes to its zoning code, including one that would clarify where senior independent-living facilities can be built. This may stymie the Viscusi Builders’ hope of building a facility at 493 Church Road.
The Ballet Barn, for many years the home of a thriving dance-education program run by local doctor Jane DeRook, is now bounded on two sides by senior projects
Ken Harris, executive director of the Albany Guardian Society — a not-for-profit organization that seeks to improve the lives of senior citizens and their families and caregivers — recently called the explosion of proposed senior-housing projects in Guilderland “by far the biggest growth of any community in the Capital District.”
The building’s management company says the seniors were allowed to use the property’s clubhouse for classes and activities as a kindness while the senior center was being repaired, and that too many people had crowded into the elevator.
GUILDERLAND — The zoning board of appeals unanimously granted a special-use permit and a variance in July for Riitano Senior Apartments, a planned 72-unit residential independent-living facility for people aged 55 and older at 6232 Johnston Rd. in Guilderland.
In New York State, only one in 44 cases of elder financial abuse are ever reported. Local police were instructed Monday on ways to ferret out elder financial abuse.
