Panel OKs SCCC dorm plans

Finally, dormitories are coming to Schenectady County Community College.

The city’s planning commission formally approved the plans last week. The four-story dorm is expected to be done in time for the 2012 fall semester.

It will be built in what is now a parking lot across the road from the college at 117 Washington Ave. The location could tempt students to try to cross the road, which is used as an on-ramp to the highway, but plans call for a fence to stop jaywalkers.

The fence will line the entire avenue on the dormitory side. A sidewalk inside the fence will lead to State Street, where students will cross to get to the college. The distance is less than one block.

The dorm will have rooms for 260 students and will be run by United Group of Companies, which owns many dormitories. It will be called College Suites at Washington Square.

The dormitory has been a long time coming. Another developer tried to build dorms in 2008, but the project was canceled when the collapse of the financial market made financing difficult and expensive.

The construction will be part of a new effort to redevelop lower State Street, local officials say.

The city recently won a grant to redo Liberty Park, a half-hidden hilly park next to the Greyhound bus station. A small replica of the Statue of Liberty stands there now.

City officials plan to hold public meetings this fall to create a new design for the park. Work is expected to begin next year.

The county is also demolishing an abandoned gas station at 101 Washington Ave.

The new dormitory will run up the edge of that property.

Metroplex Development Authority Chairman Ray Gillen is also hopeful to get federal and state funding for a new streetscape along lower State Street in 2014.

The Capital District Transportation Committee cited the area as a regional priority for funding, but grants are subject to the availability of federal funds.