Route 9 seniors project close to OK in Wilton

PHOTOGRAPHER: Stephen Williams

The county Planning Board is recommending approval for a 226-unit independent living senior citizen complex that would be built on Route 9 near the Wilton-Greenfield town line.

The three-story, four-wing building proposed by Wilton Holdings LLC of Williston Park requires only a special use permit from the Wilton Town Board, said county Senior Planner Michael Valentine. The county planners, meeting Thursday in Ballston Spa, recommended its approval, but the final decision is up to local officials.

The proposed site is on Route 9 in Wilton, opposite the intersection with Smith Bridge Road. The back of the 69-acre property stretches west across the town line into Greenfield, but Valentine said the town of Wilton is expected to lead the land use review.

If the special permit is issued, it would also require the Wilton Planning Board to review the plan’s details. The project is expected to be built in three phases, according to the development application.

It sits on a heavily developed section of Route 9 north of the Saratoga Springs Middle School, opposite Smith Bridge Road.

County planners said traffic from the senior citizen project could impact the intersection, which is already difficult because Smith Bridge is the main access to several residential developments, and Route 9 is consistently busy.

“Smith Bridge is a tough intersection now. Vehicles stack up on Smith Bridge,” said county Planning Board member Stephen Porto, who lives in Wilton.

The county Planning Board didn’t make a recommendation on whether a traffic light or similar improvements should be made at the intersection.

In another proposal that would impact that intersection, the town of Wilton is also reviewing Belmonte Builders’ plans for a 63-lot conservation subdivision at Smith Bridge Road and Davison Drive. If that’s approved, it would be the largest new subdivision Wilton has seen in several years.

On Thursday, the county Planning Board also discussed, but made no recommendation on, a Verizon Wireless request for a permit to build a 100-foot cell tower on the Joseph and Patricia Peck farm on Wagmans Ridge Road in the town of Saratoga.

The tower would be on agricultural land in an area just east of Saratoga Springs that has poor cellular phone service, and the tower may be “disguised” as a farm silo.

“We’re trying to get them to do it as a silo,” said town of Saratoga Planning Board Chairman Ian Murray, who is also a member of the county Planning Board.

Murray said Verizon Wireless is proposing the tower in the middle of a field, but the town Planning Board would like to see it moved closer to the existing agricultural buildings.