COLONIE – The Planning Board saw a sketch plan on Tuesday, Feb. 6, for Phase II of Century Hill Plaza, a 390-541-square-foot office complex that includes four new buildings to complement the existing 14 Plaza Drive.
The plan to develop the 18-acre parcel, zoned Commercial Office and located to the east of the Northway just north of Exit 7 and to the west of Route 9, was first presented by First Columbia in 2010.
The plan includes the three-story, 54,711-square-foot 14 Plaza Drive which, when built, included extending a road and underground utilities to the site and the construction of a storm water retention system to accommodate new buildings.
The four proposed buildings are:
—16 Plaza Drive: a four-story, 67,830-square-foot building
—13 Plaza Drive: a two-story, 40,000-square-foot building
—15 Plaza Drive: a five-story, 114,000-square-foot building
—17 Plaza Drive: a five-story, 114,000-square-foot building
It also includes a two-story parking garage.
While there are not any tenants signed up for the buildings, the estimated number of employees is 1,679. The hours of operation are projected to be from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, with an estimated 516 vehicle trips at the afternoon peak hour.
At full capacity, the plaza could be home to 1,952 employees, or one person per 200-square-foot of gross floor area.
Joe LaCivita, director of the town Planning and Economic Development Department, said the board approved a similar concept in 2010 and noted similarities to that project and the latest submission. The board will likely address a submission for concept acceptance towards the end of the month, he said.
In other business the Planning Board:
On the Farm Estates
Granted concept approval to the re-vamped On the Farm Estates, a plan to construct 63 residential homes on 48.8 acres on the north side of Troy Schenectady Road behind the ice cream shop by the same name.
The board initially turned down a proposal to subdivide the land in the conventional sense, but was more amenable to a Conservation Overlay District, which allows for greater density in order to preserve more open space.
A conventional subdivision would have allowed 61, 18,000-square-foot lots with a width of 80 feet as opposed to a COD, which allows for 15,000-square-foot lots with a width of 60 feet.
“The conservation layout does preserve as open space approximately 18.4 acres which will preserve the majority of existing trails that lead to the school parcel located in the northerly quadrant of the parcel,” according to the narrative in front of the Planning Board. “The conservation layout does achieve the reduction of the impacts to the large wetlands that exist at the northerly quadrant of the site and it also reduces the length of roadway that will need to be constructed.”
In addition, the applicant, Halfmoon Materials Group, opted to eliminate a connection to Harding Avenue and limit access to Sylvan Avenue to just emergency vehicles.
Concept approval allows the applicant to move forward with the project and hire engineers to draw detailed construction plans. The board, though, must grant final approval before construction can start.
Huntington Associates Medical Office
The board granted final approval to Huntington Associates to construct a two-story, 53,910-square-foot medical office building at 123 Everett Road.
It is a companion building to a two-story, 40,310-square-foot medical office building constructed at 121 Everett Road in 2006.
The 123 Everett Road site is 5.38 acres, and it will share access and some parking with the building next door.
Tenants of the new building are projected to operate in the same manner as the existing building with office hours roughly from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. There are an estimated 75 to 100 employees expected.
