A small expansion at Crossgates Mall is planned to make way for two new restaurants and two entertainment attractions, but Guilderland planning board members were concerned about the lack of information provided at a recent meeting.
The Town Planning Board on Wednesday, Dec. 11, unanimously approved a preliminary site plan to construct a two-story, 20,860-square-foot addition at Crossgates, which would expand the mall’s space to lease by 2,100 square feet. Several conditions were attached to the approval, which generally included providing a more detailed site plan before the Zoning Board of Appeals reviews the project.
Robert Sweeney, the lawyer representing Crossgates, declined to disclose any potential businesses outside of being two restaurants on the first floor and two “entertainment venues” on the second floor. He also would not disclose if any agreements have been reached for any of the proposed spaces.
There was little time for board members to review the proposal, with it placed on the agenda just the day before the meeting.
“I think the board has seen this sketch plan for about five minutes now,” Planning Board Chairman Stephen Feeney said. “I have had no time to look at this at all.”
Sweeney said he submitted information to the town and was placed on the agenda, but he did not indicate if the developer pushed for an expedient process.
Board members also commented on the lack of information included in the plan presented, with even the number of parking spaces before and after not readily available.
“It is unclear what’s being proposed is actually what’s going to happen,” Feeney said. “We are looking at such a sketch plan it is hard to say what is really happening.”
Sweeney said the plan presented was intended to be the site plan and not a more preliminary sketch plan.
“We are willing to develop a specific plan in response (to conditions of the planning board) for the Zoning Board of Appeals,” Sweeney said.
Board members were mostly concerned how the expansion would impact parking, along with efforts to improve traffic flow in the two affected parking lots. The addition would be in front of the entrance in between Dick’s and the doors leading to the escalator up to the food court.
Sweeney said a rendering of the proposed addition was not completed yet, but the exterior of the mall would be renovated to a “more appealing” design through a “pop-out” style entrance.
The overall size of the mall is 1.6 million square feet, with recent changes reducing the amount of leased space through the reuse of two department store locations. The new businesses are occupying less space than the former uses, which results in the expansion adding just over 2,000 square feet of space to lease.
Sweeney said the two parking lots would have spaces laid out differently to better suit the mall’s design.
“I think that it is a pretty universal opinion that it is both inefficient and doesn’t work very well to have the parking spaces perpendicular to the shopping center,” Sweeney said.
Some of the board’s conditions for approval included identifying the number of parking spaces reduced or added in the affected lots, providing appropriate curbing within parking lots to better direct traffic and increase landscaping, identifying the amount and type of material planned for landscaping, and eliminating the proposed new parking lot access.
The approval also hinged on developers consulting with Capital District Transportation Authority on what, if any, impacts the expansion would have on bus terminal access. The bus stop is currently located in front of the expansion.
Sweeney said developers have discussed the expansion with CDTA and said it would not affect access to the bus stop.
“There always is ongoing discussions with CDTA and [these] dimensions, I don’t think, accommodates fewer buses,” he said. “The bus area has to be able to accommodate the same number of buses.”
There will be a public hearing on the proposal at an upcoming Zoning Board of Appeals meeting, with next scheduled meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 18. An agenda for the meeting was not available before going to press.