For the second straight month, the Altamont Village Board pushed off its decision on rezoning 107-109 Helderberg Ave.

Stewart’s Shops has announced that, for the first time in company history, it is suing a municipality because of what it claims is a “targeted effort to prevent Stewart’s” from building a new shop on property it owns at 112 Maple Ave. in the village. 

Citing the need for further review, the Altamont Board of Trustees made no decision on the rezone of 107-109 Helderberg Ave.

At its September meeting, the Altamont Board of Trustees has a chance to finally lay to rest a problem that has roiled the village, its residents, and Stewart’s Shops for much of 2019. 

The lawsuit filed by a group of Altamont residents over the village board’s 2018 rezone of 107-109 Helderberg Ave., has triggered an entire review of Stewart’s application. On Monday, the planning board got its chance to weigh in on the proposal. 

Less than a year after the Altamont Board of Trustees approved the rezoning of 107-109 Helderberg Ave. so that Stewart’s could expand its Altamont Boulevard shop, the village board will again take up the rezone request. 

Stewart’s Shops is looking revamp its store with gas pumps in Feura Bush, and with its variance requests approved, the company appears to be on its way to updating its shop at 1360 Indian Fields Road.

At a special meeting, the Altamont Zoning Board of Appeals unanimously  overturned a decision made by the village’s building inspector on Stewart’s proposed Altamont Boulevard project. Zoning-board member Kathryn Provencher was part of the unanimous decision, two weeks after Stewart’s Shops had asked that she recuse herself because, the company said, she was biased against the proposed project.

A request for an interpretation as to what the proposed Stewart’s project on Altamont Boulevard should be designated as — a convenience store or a gasoline service station — was left unanswered by the Altamont Zoning Board at its monthly meeting due to an out-of-left-field request made by Stewart’s.  

VOORHEESVILLE — The second public hearing on the proposed updates to Voorheesville’s zoning code, again, brought out representatives from Stewart’s, who offered a preview of what the company was prepared to do if changes to the zoning code were approved.