Glenville's first hotel gets the green light

A rendering of the proposed casino in Schenectady, released July 9.

A 100-room riverside hotel planned for Freemans Bridge Road got the green light this week during a Planning and Zoning Commission meeting — the second meeting that night.

The first was a special Zoning Board meeting at 6 p.m. Monday during which the board approved more than 20 use variances related to parking spot sizes, lot size, landscape islands and setbacks.

Then the commission met at 7 p.m. and gave the project unanimous site plan approval.

“We believe this is going to be the turning point to Lower Freemans Bridge Road and I was glad that we were able to work together to get through the process and get the approvals needed to get started on it,” Supervisor Chris Koetzle said.

The final vote allows work to begin this fall on the $15 million hotel, which is being developed by Queensbury-based Oakfield Hospitality on land owned by Pat Popolizio.

The hotel is meant to complement Popolizio’s Waters Edge Lighthouse restaurant, banquet hall and boat launch, and will overlook the Mohawk River.

Popolizio said site work could begin later this month and demolition permits for three small buildings on the property are being sought from the town.

“I’m excited,” said Popolizio, who first announced plans for a hotel on his property in April 2013. He announced a partner for the project in Oakfield Hospitality in June. “We’ve been working on it quite a while, and it’s great news.”

Popolizio thanked Koetzle and the town for working with him on the project and allowing for construction to begin this fall as planned.

“It’s been a pleasure working with the town of Glenville,” he said.

The zoning variances approved Monday included reducing minimum lot sizes and minimum number of parking space for all three parcels, and reducing minimum parking-space dimensions, green space and internal landscape islands for all three lots. They were needed because Popolizio wanted to separate the lot into three tax parcels — one 0.9-acre lot for the restaurant, another 2.25-acre lot for the hotel and a third 2-acre lot for the marina.

“It makes it a lot easier one, to operate, and two, if I ever decide to sell some of the businesses, they’re already divided,” Popolizio said previously.

Landscape islands make snow removal more difficult, Koetzle said, and also reduce the number of parking spaces. He noted that the green space, overall, will increase thanks to planned landscaping enhancements.

The project also received a height variance from the Zoning Board in July allowing the five-story hotel to be as tall as 68 feet, nearly double the 35 feet allowed by town code.

The hotel, a Homewood Suites by Hilton, will be Schenectady County’s first extended-stay hotel and the town’s first hotel of any kind.

Popolizio said he wants it to be completed before a casino is constructed across the Mohawk River in Schenectady.

“We want to do as much as we can in the wintertime because the restaurant, we get quite busy in the summertime,” he said. “And we also would like to have everything pretty well squared away before all the excitement of the casino and everything else that’s going to be coming around.”

Reach Gazette reporter Ned Campbell at 395-3134, [email protected] or @nedcampbell on Twitter.