Glenville senior housing zoning gets OK

PHOTOGRAPHER: Michael Goot

A proposal to build a new senior apartment and assisted-living complex off Dutch Meadows Lane got a boost by receiving favorable recommendations on a zoning change required for the project.

The Glenville Planning and Zoning Commission has recommended that the town change the zoning on a 10.5-acre property from professional-residential and general business to multi-family housing. Glenwyck Development LLC wants to construct a 104-unit independent-living senior apartment complex and a 92-unit assisted-living facility at the vacant site about 200 yards west of Walmart.

Attorney Mary Elizabeth Slevin, who is representing the Glenwyck Manor project, said there is an unmet need in the area for this type of housing.

“The idea is to allow people to age gracefully without the burdens of a home,” she said. “The expectation is it’s going to be folks living locally or who have family locally that are going to be living in these units.”

There will be a relatively small cafeteria on site for residents’ use. Town planning officials have said previously that the complex would also include a fitness center and indoor swimming pool.

Slevin said the developer would like to begin construction next spring. The project would be built in two phases, according to Slevin, with the apartments first and the assisted-living component second. The first phase would cost about $4 million to $5 million.

“We’re still researching exactly the level of care that would be provided in the assisted living,” she said.

Board Chairman Michael Carr said the rezoning is consistent with the town’s master plan in moving to a less-intensive use for the property. He asked how this project relates to Schenectady County’s Glendale Home or the Baptist Health and Rehabilitation Center.

Slevin said the facility would not compete with those facilities as there is sufficient demand. The idea is for people to go from the independent living to assisted living.

The seniors in the apartment complex would have their own cars and can come and go as they please. As they need more care, they would move to the assisted-living portion of the site.

Engineer Michael Tucker of Creighton Manning said the apartments would take up about 6.5 acres of the site with the remaining portion the assisted-living complex. The project would tie into existing water and sewer utilities.

Although the entire site is 21.55 acres, Tucker said the applicant only seeks to rezone this portion of it. The development will also encroach onto 0.007 acres of federal wetlands to provide the loop road for the property. “The site was designed so all buildings fall outside it,” he said.

In addition, sidewalks will be constructed that will connect to the Walmart property.

With the favorable recommendation from the both the Glenville Environmental Conservation Commission and the Planning and Zoning Commission, the zoning change now heads to the Glenville Town Board on June 20 for its approval. Then, the project would go back to Planning and Zoning for site plan review.