COLONIE —The Planning Board will address four projects on Tuesday, Jan. 9.
The largest is at the Starlite Theater site, nearly 58 acres located roughly at the intersection of Routes 9 and 9R.
Phase I of the project is a five-story, 138,000-square-foot office building where Ayco, a Goldman Sachs company, wants to consolidate three Capital District office locations. The plan also includes a road that will bifurcate the site and run from Route 9 to Route 9R. The Galesi Group applied for a $5 million state grant to help build the road but that money was not included in the latest round of funding through the Regional Economic Development Councils.
Galesi is looking for concept acceptance, which is the first time the public will get to weigh in on the plan and if an approval is granted it “enables the applicant to go forward in design leading up to a final approval on the project for construction,” according to Joe LaCivita, head of the town’s Planning and Economic Development Department.
Galesi is also looking for some $12 million in tax breaks from the town Industrial Development Agency but while the application is pending, the IDA will not make a decision until the project is further along in the planning process.
The Ayco project was by and large welcomed by town officials and the public, another project slated to go before the board Tuesday, On the Farm Estates, did not get the same reception.
Located on a swath of land at 261 Troy Schenectady Road and running north behind an ice cream stand by the same name, the plan calls for building 61 homes on nearly 49 acres.
In October, 2017, the board sent the project back to the drawing board and said the applicant should apply for a conservation overlay district, which would allow for smaller lots than the standard, 18,000-square-foot.
The applicant, Dean Marotta, initially rejected the idea of smaller lots but on Tuesday he is slated to ask for a sketch plan review, which is a step before a concept review, and he will likely present a design layout based on a conventional subdivision and that of a conservation overlay subdivision.
Another project that has had less than a smooth ride through the process is also back for concept acceptance.
DePaula Auto was to go before the Zoning Board of Appeals in May, 2017, with its plan to build a Maserati/Alfa Romeo auto dealership/repair shop at the intersection of Troy Schenectady and Mill roads but it was withdrawn.
The plan was initially rejected by the town Building Department because it failed to meet the required 200-foot setback between land zoned for a single family residence and a commercial building.
The fourth project which has flown largely under the radar is a three-story office building at 1209 Troy Schenectady Road and it is slated for concept acceptance.
Read more about each project on the town’s website by clicking here.
And, check our website at spotlightnews.com for updates from the meeting, which took place after this paper went to print.
