6 — The proposed student housing project comprises of two apartment buildings and one, six-story parking garage.
195 — The two apartment buildings would have a total of 195 units.
543 — Represents the number of beds the proposed student housing project would accommodate.
$800 — The monthly rent is estimated to be $750 to $800.
44 — The number of post-graduate students enrolled at SUNY Polytechnic as of last fall.
201 — The number of undergraduate students enrolled at SUNY Polytechnic as of last fall.
An application for a student-living community sparked debate among the planning board, drawing questions at the language for the planned development district legislation.
To meet requirements for student housing in the area, representatives for Collegiate Development Group presented a plan for student housing on the border of the towns of Guilderland and Colonie. While the applicant requested planned development district (PDD) zoning, some board members questioned whether the project truly met PDD intent, or if rezoning the area might be a better plan.
The student housing project would lie at the intersection of Fuller Road and Railroad Avenue. Although no structures would be in Guilderland, a portion of the property crosses the town line.
Donald Zee, representative for Collegiate based in St. Louis, said this project is a collaboration with the national developer Campus Apartments. The housing would consist of three buildings, two buildings for residences and one six-story parking garage. The 195 unit apartments would house 543 beds.
“It’s a luxury apartment complex tailored and geared toward the student demographic,” said Brandt Stiles with Collegiate.
Each bedroom would have its own bathroom, with each apartment having a common area. Collegiate also proposed fitness areas, outdoor lounges, study areas and computer labs. A manager and security would be on-site at all times.
Zee said Collegiate targeted the Fuller Road area, currently zoned industrial, because it is close to the University at Albany and SUNY Polytechnic Institute and is on a bus line. The rooms are not limited to students, but geared toward the SUNY students, faculty and associates.
According to Zee, since breaking from SUNY Albany, SUNY Polytechnic has been expanding. In the next years, more academic facilities will be added, taking away from on-campus housing.
Zee said that each bedroom would be around $750 to $800 to rent per month, plus utilities. Each bedroom would be rented out to individual students, with plans for units with one to four bedrooms each.
Planning and Economic Development Department Director Joe LaCivita said that he felt the project would bring new life to the current industrial area and help support surrounding businesses.
The project is “looking to regenerate or revitalize the industrial area,” said LaCivita. “It talks about potential possibility (and) using that industrial fabric to help revitalize some of the businesses.”
Planning Board Chairman Peter Stuto, however, questioned whether the project correctly fits the PDD intent.
According to section 190-65 of the Town of Colonie’s Land Use Law, PDDs “provide a procedure for allowing flexible land use and design for parcels where the objectives of Colonie’s zoning and planning documents can be achieved by creative planning and design.”
PDDs should be “innovative” in its design to take in environmental, cultural and physical aspects of the surrounding area, while also benefitting pedestrian and community development, and preserving natural features and open space resources.
While Stuto said he this project could be good for the area, he was unsure of the housing community met all PDD intent, specifically the section referring to natural features.
“I personally don’t think this is what PDDs were designed for,” he said. “People come in with these projects on the PDD legislation, which I don’t think meets the intent or the spirit, or the letter of it. It keeps putting more and more pressure on us on the justification, and you just keep getting worn down after awhile.”
Town designated engineer Joe Grasso agreed. He said the board needed to, and should, ask whether or not such projects would be “accomplishing what the town’s vision was for PDDs within the town.”
Stuto suggested that the Fuller Road/Railroad Avenue area might need to be rezoned in order to allow for such businesses like the student housing community to be built and aid in community growth.
According to Zee and Stiles, Collegiate and Campus Apartments usually looks for underdeveloped areas like the Railroad Avenue area in order to help boost businesses and community development. Since the property is the gateway to the town, part of the project would include signage for the town, said Zee.
No decision was made at the meeting, but the planning board decided to have Collegiate craft a narrative more extensively addressing PDD intent. This project will appear again before the board in the coming weeks.
More information on the Town of Colonie’s Town Code can be found at www.colonie.org/pedd.