Planning Board - Regular Meeting

It is 6 6:06. Today is the March 10th meeting and hearing of the Albany Planning Board. Planning. Okay. Uh joined by my colleagues Rachel and Shan. We have one, two, three. That's it. Three items. Oh, three items for today's agenda. Um look forward to getting through them in proper fashion. Um, without further ado, I guess we can do 222 Spruce Street for development plan review. Mr. Hersburg,

thank you, Mr. Chairman. want to for the group and for the record in my new role as deputy mayor we did receive a call to uh consider this project for this month's agenda which it did make it from Patrick but no thank you in this weird place where I'm on both sides of the uh process now but wanted to disclose that uh again we did receive a request request to advance 222 Sploo Street and um planning staff found it in order. So it is on the agenda today. So Mr. Hersburg, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Daniel Hsburg, Hersburg and Hzburg. I'm here today representative Patrick Chu 222 Spru Street LLC. Project's in MU zone. The description is a little bit wrong because it's been cut down to a twotory addition to the existing building. Originally had four stories shown here. has cut down two stories which will still have a total of 44 dwelling units. Uh on the next sheet I show the project location and the zoning. Uh, quiet.

You'll get there. Okay. Is that

It's Excellent. There we go. Um, so this shows the project location. There's an aerial photo on the left which shows the large concrete uh warehouse on 222 Sploo Street which is the function that we are going to take care of. It's it's consu zone. Uh and this is the existing additions and uh that's the building and the next one shows the site plan. Doesn't look much different because the building it's going to take place inside. Um the next slide shows that's a storm water management system which again is not very impressive because it's all done on a roof. We're putting a blue roof on a building to hold the storm water. Um so consequently uh we won't have any um impact on the

outside. It'll reduce the flow to the combined sewer in the area. Uh this is the existing building. Um, it doesn't look particularly attractive building to live in, but the next slide shows what what we will try to have it look like when it's done. This will be the the next slides are that's the elevation view. You can see the onestory portion of the old building, two stories above it. Uh, and that'll be that'll be done with an attractive treatment.

And these they're elevations from the side and back also. Um, those are all elevations.

What's that? This is 135. It's Bradford Street. If you can see the fine print on the slide. Oh yeah. Doesn't look like the other drawings. Well, why don't we go to the rest of the drawings and skip the elevations?

Elevations are important. Those are the floor plan for the forest.

There we go. Now we got it. Thank you.

This is this is three stories four. This is a revised elevation. This is a four-story building. I'm sorry I got confused with Ontario Street which is another project by Patrick 2 and it maintains uh some parking on the left portion and the parking also has risers where cars are are raised up to the second

are raised up to the second floor. So it's multiple parking there. It's a fourstory building. Uh uh and those are the elevation views and floor plans are pretty much the same other than the first floor.

There they are. So I think that's all I have then for this app for this presentation. They prepared to answer any questions which the board may have. I'm confused. Any uh there are no questions from the from the public written or otherwise. Do we have any questions from the from the board? The um so you said it was being cut down to two stories. So how many units would that

Sorry, who are you? Say your name, your address. Dan Platt, 187 Elk Street. Elk. Elk. Okay. So, uh you said it was getting cut down to two stories. The questions are addressed to the board, not to the Okay, never mind that. Okay, that was a description from the wrong project. It's going to be four stories, right?

We'll turn it over to commentary from the staff. This might clear up any any mishaps between what was presented our technology staff the experts here. So, who's Yeah.

Yeah. So the elevations that were shown in that last Adobe PDF are correct and that's what the description in the agenda is as well. It's four story edition on top of the existing one story um with garage and turns on the first story where there's existing um garage doors. So there have been previous iterations of this exact same project board um in February 2024 and then again in December um and then it kind of went away and came back. So this is technically the first presentation but truly nothing has changed as far as elevations or plans or flight plan because there is really much of a flight plan. It's just going up the building and changing the utilities. Um it was referred to Aldi County Planning Board. Um and they had recommendations to include um for review by New York State Office and historic preservation and review by Al County Department of Health for water supply, waste, water discharge and other requirements. Um based on the project scope, there's minimal any ground disturbance as I mentioned. If any it would be in the right away to change out utilities. Um, so it doesn't have a need for archaeological and or historic resource review. There aren't any public funding sources on it. So again, that doesn't require coordination by the planning board and the project is not located historic resource overlay. Um, is not in a historic district here. State does show that the site was within an eligible building district um like a couple decades ago. um it was listed but not actually locally listed just eligible um and the viability of that listing was jeopardized due to demolition 5 years ago in the other building on the same block which is which was still remaining eligible was then redeveloped apartments by the developer here the next slide we're still talking

about county planning award um all applications minor and major are referred to all the department of water and water supply for review and comments. Um, and those comments are addressed prior to being recommended for approval by the planning board. Um, the intent of all this is to say for the record that the recommendations that were included by Albby County Planning Board are essentially addressed in baked into the review of projects. Um, they wouldn't necessarily need to be an additional condition of approval because they should be reviewed and addressed prior approval which they are. Um, so it doesn't meet our scope or threshold, but because they're actual recommendations, they either need to be incorporated by the planning board or overruled. We do not have a super majority here. Um, it would have to be 3 plus one. So if and when we get to the recommended actions, those two only county planning board recommendations have been folded into the planning board condition for the record to say that um the actual project itself is an unlisted action on your speaker. Um we did prepare the part two and three of the short environmental assessment form for your review with recommended approval uh and the issuance of a deck. DGS engineering and fire has also signed off on the project. Um as I mentioned there was previous iteration review. So it was mostly pretty cursory um comments that were outstanding. There are water comments that need to still be addressed um from a letter about a month ago and there's three planning comments um related to the entrance of the garage. There's convex mirrors that have been proposed and I think said that they would be included but just didn't quite show up on the site plan yet. Um and

then there's a discrepancy in the site plan for plan that's been the case for a while regarding either a recess or monumental stair. So the flight plan just need to match up as far as what that actual entrance would look like. Um and then if there's any exterior lighting that would be adjacent to the residences to the rear side. We wanted to see that on a photo of the candle. So it's just the water and comments. Um it does look like a lot of conditions. It's uh technically three slides. So I can either read all the conditions out or if you want to make a motion someone should for the recording and then the water and then the um conclusion of the second County Planning Board. And then just a note regarding affordable housing. Um it's what we have currently may not be what's in place in the near future. So we're just saying something kind of baseline that um they would comply with whatever is prevailing at this time of construction. Those are the four recommended conditions.

Thank you. Before we process the motion, um, do we have any update on the comments from the water department?

Yeah, the water department comments were although there were a lot of comments, they're relatively simple to address, we actually are reducing the flow of the combined sewer, which is the main element there by putting the blue roofs in and our storm water management system is entirely contained within the building. Um, roof drains, comes down, goes into the sewer. Consequently, it's it's a significant plus compared to the water department comments. The rest of the comments we think we were addressed. They need what I didn't have was the plumbing plan which they wanted to have a copy of. We didn't have the plumbing yet.

All right team, we have two motions to process. Let's do the first one which is easy. Just one quick question. Sorry, I'm in the report that we have um regarding the impervious coverage, it says that the the allowable amount is 90% and the site plan proposed is 97.6%. That the existing building that that's the existing site is 97.6% and purpose. We intend to leave it alone. Okay. ing through it again.

Good. Good shot. Good. All right. Um, is there a motion to make a declare negative declaration under SEAR for DPR 2025-44? Motion. Is there a second? Second. It's been moved and seconded for a negative declaration. All in favor say I. I I

and the second one, a motion to conditionally approve development plan DPR 2025- 44 with the following conditions prior to issuance of building permit. Outstanding revisions listed in the Department of Planning and Development staff report must be addressed. These recommendations include a devise site plan to reflect applicant Comment response letter dated 12825 which indicates comments mirror at 7 ft will be installed both inside and outside the garage. This should be accurately reflected and labeled on the site. B update site plane to indicate all ingress and egress to the building elevations. include a recess entrance to the residential units and the monumental stair proposed at the far right of the building frontage. This entrance is shown on the elevation drawings but is still not on the revised site plan C. The elevation plan shows exterior lighting. Revise site plan to identify the locations of proposed exterior lighting proposed flood metrics and details. Two, prior to the issuance of the building permit, final approval shall be obtained from the department of water and water supply. Note that as per city standard requirements of the county department of health for water supply, wastewater discharge and other required permits. Three, note that if proposed, scope boards change to include ground service outside right away reviewed by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation for potential

impacts or archaeological or historic resources should be required per Alb County Planning Board recognation. And four, prior to the issuance of the certificate of occupancy, the applicant shall implement an affordable housing compliance plan in compliance with the prevailing section of the uh USD section 375-415 C. Got it. All of that being read and transmitted, is there a motion to conditionally approve? So move. Is there a second? Second.

It has been moved and second to conditionally approve DPR25-44. All in favor, please say I. I. Oppos. Motion carried. Thank you. And you're welcome. JC, you can come on in now. Now it's your turn. No, it's not. No. No. Oh, 161 now. He doesn't want

Oh, he's at the end. Okay, thanks. my uh opposite order 161 Washington Avenue extension demolition proposed demolition of existing one-story commercial building 2600 square ft of out parcel of 161 Washington app extension.

Hi Larry Edler with Brew Team New York. We're the uh franchisee that handles most of upstate New York from Rochester to Albany and down to the Hudson Valley. And we're in we've made a deal u to take over this location and uh in order to accommodate our development, we'd have to uh demolish um the uh kitchen 216. It used to be a it was built as a noodles and company and you know our what uh this is for a seven brew coffee which is a drive-thru only beverage only uh coffee stand. We um the building is about 510 square ft and we have a a freestanding uh cooler and storage area and uh the building that's there is located such that the drive-thru won't work and it it it just is overly costly. this the building that we're looking to demolish is 2600 square ft and again we're only 510 square ft and about 380 square ft for our cooler. So it it just doesn't we couldn't make it work to keep the building there and so we uh need to demolish it. um in in talking with uh Anna, you know, we we've gotten the contractor to agree that he'll salvage as much as he can. Um you know, they'll take out the the duck work that's uh worthwhile. Um some of the furniture and fixtures and anything that they could um you know, reutilize. Um the building is is I think it's only like 10 years old. I think it was built in um yeah 15.

So just about 10 years old and it's you know it's a prototypical noodles restaurant. That's what it was. So that the slide up now shows the existing uh building to the right there, the 2600 square ft. And the next slide shows our uh proposed concept plan. And again, it's only drive-thru only. So, u the public doesn't go into the building. So, we have uh parking on premises and the right to use some of the other parking um that the property owner has. you know, the other thing. So, it so it's a pre-fabricated building. So, um we're hoping to get started sometime around June and we would open up uh 12 to 13 weeks later. So, it we're hoping to get, you know, demolish the building and then reopen uh by the fall.

Thank you. Any questions from the board? You may not have an answer to this, but what the hell happened to kitchen 216? I I don't I don't know. But I put the same question. Huh? I only have the same question. I'm like, okay. I mean, I only asked cuz I was like there maybe a month ago. Well, they may still be open. I'm not quite sure. I think they are, but there's an arrangement with their landlord that I understand they're at least a once a month lease and would be looking to relocate.

Okay. All right. I figured they would spill too. If it been too bad, they would have let me know when I hired them to cater twice in the last month, but Okay. Staff, it's all on you. Well, I can just address the comment quick. Um, obviously it does require a demolition review. Um, our noticing standards for demolition only require posted notice. So, the letter um letter mailed notice to adjacent properties and posted in the times unit aren't required for demolition reviews. So, in light of that, um, we still did reach out to Pine Bush Commission using the Pine Bush overlay. Um they discussed it at their recent meeting I think last week. Um they didn't have comments on the demolition itself. They just asked that when we do receive the van application that they get a copy of that. Um yeah otherwise um it wouldn't be noticed for kind of public comment in that way necessarily. Um and it it would fall under a minor development plan review when it was resubmitted. So that also wouldn't be with the planning board. um it would just be an internal administrative review. So just as a reminder, there are nine criteria under the demo review standards. So I mentioned that a little bit more later. Um as you mentioned, it's just a 2600 onetory commercial building. It's on the small out parcel. So it's about half acre but within the 28 acre parcel that's most of common. Um as I mentioned in the fine bush overlay, um the two uses restaurant um and then the proposed restaurant with drive-through are permitted in the MUC. Um the demolition action will be classified as unlisted um and they're provided a part one of the short DF in

the application materials and we provided a short form part two and three um that could be adopted with deck. Um it was referred to the Alb County Planning Board. Um and they recommended they well they just said it wouldn't have any impact but they did have an advisory comment that they also wanted to see the plan once it was um submitted for site plan review. Um they specifically mentioned that they the indicative drive details ingress egress building layout and floor plan. So obviously we do have the concept plan um and their traffic study is also encouraging included which you have spoken to about um and I think you have pretty demonstrative like numbers from your existing locations in the area for both opening week and onward what that look like in peak hours. So we would expect that with just the middle of the time review. So these are part of the nine criteria just kind of um going through some of it. Um the comp plan does call for stabilization reuse of the existing structures wherever possible but as Larry mentioned due to the franchise nature um reuse of the existing structure was not really considered a viable alternative. Um property is obviously not in the HRO. It's in the plaza in the building is not particularly aesthetically or culturally significant. So that doesn't necessarily apply. The redevelopment would be not any more or less um architecturally aesthetically or culturally significant. As I mentioned, it's in the bush overlay and he did provide separate notice. Um it didn't have comments on the demo but would like to see when submitted. We also did provide notification to common council member for 12 um receive comment back. Um one of the other criteria

hardship um So it's not created as the demo is proposed due to the prototype that it's followed. Um again there's no documentation provided that condition the structure requires stabilization or deteriorated you know just 10 years old. Um and we don't expect any portion of the building to be retained but again it's not distinctive historically or architecturally. There's not a significant that we would require or recommend maintaining. This is just demolition come back.

You said we'll come back.

Oh, okay. So, this is demo only. Yeah. Okay. We just got the survey last week before. So yeah, they're working on the motion to approve the demolition plot. Second. So moved and seconded to approve the uh demolition review and all in favor please say I

was pretty simple thank you very much no problem sorry Mr. J C earlier but

somebody tweeted we have a concept review of a development plan 10tory 180,000 square foot building frontage on state and convert do a conversion for 2 through 10 existing building multi-unit A total of 120 units coupled residential Ryan J companies.

Mr. Chairman, Daniel Hersburg from Hersburg and Hersburg. With me today is Ryan Jenko from Django Companies, the applicant. U this plan that shows the project review looking from Green Street. It's hard to get pictures of this building from the streets because it's it's so tall. I've been looking straight up. So, that's the best picture I could get. This is existing conditions which show which shows the um the uh lot which actually crosses over um a city street and that's the existing conditions of the site. Uh and the proposed site plan looks miraculously the same since uh we don't plan on changing uh any of the features of the building. Um so this is the upper floors looking from State Street. This is the upper floors looking from Beaver Street. And around the corner there, there's actually a a drive-in with a loading dock and some parking. And there's some parkings on her entrance off Norton Street. Also,

this is the building with a gym in it. Yeah. And that's the first floor plan, which came in very faded. I got to tell Dan Sanders to put more ink in his plotter. That's the way it came through. So, I I apologize for it, but the first floor basically stays the same. um commercial uses and the parking how remain on a first floor. The second floor plan shows some amenities for the site. Um and uh what are the amenities? I can't read it.

Uh there's if you Think we have a fitness center. We have some co-working space. We have library speaking. Yeah. Indoor.

Danny's looked at the bathroom. Is that the old taste? No. Other building. Other building. Okay. Are the are the supposed to be existing?

And then I uh took some other floor plans but above the third floor and up uh are apartments and they look pretty much the same. uh third through 10th floor uh have uh various apartments on them and there's there's a mix of units on it primarily studio one bedroom and one bedroom with a den. Where do all these people park green garage

which amazingly where it is it's still significantly underused on a daily basis. the uh authority garage.

Yeah. Yeah. For many years they've been trying to get people to park there, but again it's still underutilized. I I guess it gets only utilized when there's events at MVP where people can park there, but all the reserve parkings are are are underutilized. Uh and if you go a little further, I request for public comments. Both floors are very similar from each other. It has a total of 120 units.

Um I think mostly it looks like one bedrooms and two bedrooms. So one bedroom, one bedroom with a den, one bedroom, one I know. I know. Where's Where do you like how do you store your trash in this building? Well, on every floor there will be a trash collector collector room right by the right. Okay. So, like a shoot. We'll either do a shoot or we just put trash bins on every floor. Oh, that's so stinky though. We do it on our other buildings.

Doesn't smell that much cuz they get pulled out like three times a week. We met with the Taiwanese government today and they said that they go and they pick up the trash five times per day. Yeah. Like three times per I wasn't shocked. Their labor rate different than ours. Their labor rates different than ours. Yeah, but a shoot. We looked at a shoot. It's We're debating if we can fit a shoot down there with a shoot down there with a compactor. Yeah, but we got to get through existing structure.

This is the first time we're seeing this, right? Yeah. Okay. I haven't seen it. It's a concept. Just like what is the space currently used for? Mostly vacant office. Vacant office. No grocery store in there. Huh? Tough to get downtown right now. Really? Listen, I see stuff on the other side.

It is. It is tough, but I've seen the proposal. Yeah. Not for Oh, at least we cleared not. Okay. So the green street parking is totally separate from you. It's just that the tenants there will utilize that parking. The green street. Yeah, that's all parking is already open. So when when are you aiming for construction? Like I know you're in concept now, but like when is your May June?

Okay. So that quickly. Yeah, we're not touching the exterior of the building. It's just really fun. It's all no different if we're doing apartments and office out for us. Pretty similar.

Social club opening up across the street right here. Huh? Yeah, I heard it's going to open up soon. Rachel, any questions? There's no action, right? No, it's a look see. All right, look see from us. Words from staff. Yeah, go ahead.

Um, once complete, which will be soon and receive the application fee. Um, So water engineering and forestry fire look my guess would be that majority of departments don't have to make comments you know um I think the comments really back and forth with water whatever proposed as far as connections for existing connections um so that would be my guess as far as um timing and um you know comments back and forth. Um I think Dan noted but just to reiterate the first floor would remain as disposal and you saw in the survey but it is just a little odd that two parcels

they consolidated that last year so it's going to show up on the new tax r someone the previous owners that did it. Yeah, we had consolidated previously. I don't think the tax records have come up with it yet, but we filed it consolidation map. Had Brad sign it and filed it. So, the survey shows it. Yeah, you should have a copy of it someplace. Okay. Just because it showed two big red squares on it, so it looked like there were two separate parcels. Um, is it under 52 or 54? I believe it's still under 52-56, which is the original address for it. Okay. It was never called 54, but everybody calls it 54. So,

yeah, the other parcel is just called Green Street, which make um obviously the downtown is also in the historic resource and archaeological resource overlay. Um again, we wouldn't expect any ground disturbance except for in the right way with utility connection changes. Um the Tur building was started in 1971. Um just as background it was for the National Commercial Bank Company which is directly adjacent to it on the right. That's the store building. Um it has front end on state and green and it spans Norton and has access also onto street. So touch um street that one way. Um it does require a major DPR over 50 units in NUDT. It's under 20. Um referral was required to county planning board. So we were able to do that. Now that we have the survey, we sent that out with the March meeting and the project would be classified as type two under seeker just building um and you know don't have too much under the code compliance review yet but just to note that all the existing uses are permitted in MET and the two use specific standards for the dwelling multi met as you saw the entire floor space they obviously meet that requirement. Um and laundry is shown for plans as well. So maybe some additional planning comments but concept review too much to go off of.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. See no other business. Is there a motion to adjourn? So moved. We journ the planning court meeting at 6:50 p.m. 47 minutes.