Latham location will join Colonie, Clifton Park sites as region’s third ALDI store, 137th in state
LATHAM—A proposal to construct a new ALDI grocery store at 829–831 Loudon Road cleared its final hurdle Tuesday night, as the Colonie Planning Board voted to approve the site plan along with required zoning waivers and a determination of no significant environmental impact.
The planned 20,664-square-foot store would occupy a long-vacant lot previously home to a hotel and restaurant. The two-story building would include 103 parking spaces, access via Loudon Road and Old Loudon Road, and a landscape design to screen the site from neighboring properties, including the adjacent Latham Fire Department.
Traffic concerns dominated public discussion. Amy Dake, a traffic engineer with Passero Associates, said their projections were based on conservative modeling using national data for supermarket traffic, which typically overestimates trips for ALDI stores. She told the board the store is expected to generate about 27 southbound and 10 northbound vehicle trips per hour on Old Loudon Road during peak weekday hours. Truck traffic would be restricted to Loudon Road, with no access permitted from the rear.
Residents raised concerns about increased volume on Old Loudon Road, describing it as a residential corridor ill-suited for commercial traffic. One resident urged the board to limit the rear access point to an exit-only design to minimize disruption. However, town officials said multiple configurations were studied and concluded that full access on Old Loudon Road is necessary to balance the distribution of site traffic. They maintained that restricting that access could force additional vehicles onto Route 9, creating other issues.
Board members also addressed design concerns raised in earlier meetings. Additional architectural panels were added to the rear and sides of the building to improve its appearance from public rights-of-way. However, ALDI declined to place metal panels near the truck loading area on the eastern elevation, opting instead for additional landscaping. Town planners said they were satisfied with that trade-off, noting substantial improvement in overall site design.
The board approved two zoning waivers related to the project—one to allow the building setback to exceed 25 feet from the roadway, and another to permit parking in the front yard. Both were characterized as minor and consistent with similar commercial developments in town.
Tuesday’s vote followed several rounds of design revisions and reviews since the project was first introduced in March 2024. A negative declaration was issued under the State Environmental Quality Review Act, meaning the project is not expected to have adverse environmental impacts. Final conditions require the applicant to resolve remaining technical comments with town departments before a building permit is issued.
With approval secured, the Latham location is set to become ALDI’s 137th store in New York State.
