MALTA — After months of review, the town is entering the final phase of deliberations on the zoning changes sought for the proposed Advanced Micro Devices computer chip factory in Luther Forest.

“The Town Board is interested in bringing the AMD legislation to a decision,” town Supervisor Paul Sausville said at a workshop meeting Thursday.

The Sunnyvale, Calif.,-based chipmaker is planning a $3.2 billion factory in the Luther Forest Technology Campus where about 1,465 people would work. If the much-anticipated plant comes, it is widely expected to spur a lot of other high-tech development around the region.

AMD would like decisions on the zoning changes it seeks by Aug. 18, its attorneys said — and a town consulting engineer said that schedule can be met.

“I think we are in a good place in terms of meeting AMD’s schedule,” engineer Stuart Messinger of The Chazen Companies said.

Sausville said he thinks there needs to be another hearing, which could slow that schedule.

The town has held a public hearing and dozens of other meetings with AMD representatives on application issues since plans were formally submitted to the town in February.

At Thursday’s workshop, Town Board members and consultants for both the town and AMD narrowed the remaining unresolved issues to four. Those issues will be discussed in-depth at another workshop at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.

The changes under discussion would modify the Luther Forest Technology Campus zoning law adopted by the town in 2004. AMD would be the first and anchor tenant of the 1,350-acre campus in Malta and Stillwater, where other high-tech companies are also expected to set up shop.

AMD wants to eventually build three 980,000-square-foot plants, rather than the four somewhat smaller plants the campus developers originally envisioned. That change needs town approval, but isn’t in dispute.

Messinger said the remaining issues don’t involve AMD’s impact on the environment as much as how the town will monitor any impacts. He said the impacts of AMD’s plant won’t be any greater than was foreseen in 2004, when Luther Forest legislation allowing semi-conductor manufacturing was first approved.

“From an environmental impact point of view, we are in a good place,” Messinger said.

The biggest remaining issue between the town and AMD is this: Will the town have access to results of outside audits AMD will do of the plant’s environmental compliance, or whether there’s another way for the town to be assured the plant is operating cleanly. Town officials hope to resolve it Tuesday.

At Thursday’s meeting, town officials agreed that AMD can begin clearing its 230-acre site after it receives zoning approval, but before final construction plans for the factory have been reviewed.

AMD hasn’t yet made a final commitment to build the plant. When that commitment will come remains unclear, but AMD’s lawyer said no work will start before that.

“We will not submit a site plan approval application or disturb soil until there has been a commitment by AMD,” said Matthew Jones of Saratoga Springs, one of AMD’s local lawyers.

AMD has until July 2009 to break ground under an agreement with the state to qualify for $1.2 billion in incentives.

Company officials have said the Malta plant will be part of its “asset light” manufacturing strategy, intended to address the company’s ongoing financial struggles, even though they haven’t spelled out details of that strategy.

On Tuesday, AMD Executive Chairman Hector Ruiz, who retired as company president just last week, met with U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, in Washington to discuss the plans.

“Senator Clinton reaffirmed her support for the project and its potential to spur economic growth in Saratoga County,” according to a statement from Clinton’s office.