COLONIE — A request to modify a plan to develop 28 acres off Lincoln Avenue was introduced to the Planning Board by Luizzi Brothers Contracting.
Adam Frosino, of McFarland Johnson, the engineers on the project, said the front portion of the project, a 10,000-square-foot and a 25,000-square-foot warehouse/office buildings, is under construction. The back 10 acres was set to be a storage yard for the construction company but they now want to develop that land with a 120,000-square-foot and a 55,000-square-foot warehouse/office buildings.
The exact configuration is not yet determined but will solidify after tenants are found. A unique feature for potential tenants is access to a rail spur.
The site, zoned Industrial, was an old railroad yard formerly use by D&H Railroad Company for the storage of materials. The railroad company abandoned the land, which is between Lincoln and Ninth avenues on the border with Watervliet, has sat vacant for years ago.
Joe Grasso, the Town Designated Engineer for the project, said there should be efforts made to screen the surrounding residents and all access to Ninth Avenue should be eliminated. Traffic generated from the site, he said, should be from Route 155 to First Street.
The 120,000-square-foot footprint is the worst case scenario, said Chuck Pafundi, a representative for Luizzi Brothers, but depending on the tenants it could be smaller.
A road is currently under construction with an access on First Avenue which would wind through the site and be turned over to the town.
Access to the site was a topic of discussion and will be worked out as the project moves forward.
“We are looking at about half a million square feet of light warehouse use and depending on the tenants you can be looking at a tremendous truck traffic volumes and the route of those trucks to arterial highways is something we need to understand and be comfortable with so we do not create access issues or impacts on non-industrial properties,” Grasso said. “The ultimate development of this property could be limited based on the traffic impacts it could generate if all the traffic goes to First Street without another access point.”
He said the access right now, with the current construction of the smaller warehouses is suitable but anything larger will need another access point.
Planning Board member Steven Heider said construction of a another road on Route 155 is possible, but it won’t change the direction trucks will travel and it will just complicate traffic matters on Route 155 and in particular near the high school or they all go out First Street.
“The board has to realize there are no other choices,” he said. “We don’t want them all going out on First Street, but that’s the only way to get to an interstate highway. You surely don’t want them all on 155, but I don’t think that entrance on 155 is going to help.”
Planning Board member Lou Mion said he was not in favor of a truck turn around along Ninth Avenue that interrupts a berm that would help screen the residential neighborhood.
It was only a sketch plan review to introduce the project to the Planning Board and there was no action taken. Luizzi will take the comments into consideration and come back before the board to conceptually accept the site plan and then at least one other time for final site plan review.