Feeling squeeze of city’s growth
New dense development a challenge for Albany after rezone, residents say
The merits of denser development in the city are in the walkability, affordability, environmental benefits and stronger vibe, its advocates say.
But some of the changes in Albany, with its unique urban attributes, are meeting pushback, with traffic, parking and quality-of-life effects being the key concerns.
Common Council member Judy Doesschate said it’s the excessiveness with some projects.
“It’s the level of development with developers looking to squeeze every square inch out of a lot of land to develop it and also, building up higher than is otherwise allowed,” she said.
“I think there’s a strange aversion to density on certain projects,” Albany Planning Commissioner Chris Spencer said.
A citywide rezone paved the way for developers to take a chance on Albany. The rezone was guided by Albany’s comprehensive plan adopted in 2012, the blueprint for future city growth, Spencer said. The new zoning took effect in 2017.
Denser development’s selling point is efficiency – more people in one area accessing shops and less need to spread out infrastructure. But with that also comes challenges for finding nearby parking, congested roads and, inevitably, taller buildings.
And Albany is a city unto its own. People have moved to the suburbs in recent years. It’s burdened with a tax-
exempt property rate of 64 percent. Changes from the 1960s to create the Empire State Plaza still reverberate.
Eagle Hill’s experience
In the uptown neighborhood of Eagle Hill, a proposed six-story apartment complex at 1211 Western Ave. has faced opposition. Last year, Mayor Kathy Sheehan called for a halt to the process until neighbors’ concerns were addressed.
For years, proposals have been thwarted by those living on residential streets in shadows of the University at Albany and the state Harriman Campus — job hubs that developers often use as reasoning for denser, residential projects.
Council member Tom Hoey said the developers haven’t engaged the neighborhood.
“We’ve got to give the taxpayer some kind of say,” Hoey said. “You can’t just say no to everything, but I think there should be a little bit more input from the neighborhood.”
Growing pains
Park South Neighborhood Association President Andrew Harvey said not all of Albany’s residents understood the implications of the rezone.
“They’re learning the hard way about what rezone is meaning for their
community,” he said.
Harvey is all too familiar with the growing pains of denser development. Parking is a top issue in his neighborhood where Albany Medical Center Hospital sits.
When the neighborhood created its urban renewal plan in 2006, residents knew that density would be necessary, Harvey said.
“In order to support a vibrant commercial sector, you need to have
a denser population,” he said.
Park South’s population was mostly transient and in need of new investment, so there wasn’t the pushback on projects there, Harvey said.
Where growth happens
Education and medical centers have influenced development like the large apartment complexes and dorms rising along Washington Avenue Extension across from Ualbany and a recent proposal for a housing complex across from St. Peter’s Hospital on New Scotland Avenue.
While many cities will initially see outward growth in their downtowns, the Empire State Plaza wiped out thousands of downtown homes decades ago, leaving the capital city in a unique situation, said Ray Bromley, an urban planning professor at Ualbany.
“Albany is this very strange city because of this hollow downtown and having such a high percentage of governmental and commuter employment,” he said.
Developer Ryan Jankow said his company is renovating and expanding a mixed-use building at Pearl and Pine streets. Between a smaller residential population and more lenient zoning requirements, he said they felt less resistance.
“Businesses are generally in favor of residential projects because they are looking to expand their customer base,” he said.
On the flip side, the developer was met with resistance from some Pine Hills neighbors when Jankow initially proposed the redevelopment of the former Playdium Bowling Center site at 363 Ontario St.
Jankow said residents’ input was taken into consideration in the planning for three four-story buildings with 109 apartments and 6,000 square feet of retail space.
“We do our best to address all of the major concerns while ensuring the project meets the requirements of the planning (and) zoning boards,” he said. “With the Playdium project, for example, we moved the building back off the road and pulled back the fourth floor so when you view it from one side of the road it appears to better fit in the neighborhood.”
The city currently is going through the more than 300-page document to make minor adjustments and for clarity. Council members have also proposed adjustments.
In the city’s prior zoning, those looking to make changes to their property or build something new often had to apply for variances or special use permits, leading to unpredictability on whether a project would get approved, Spencer said.
“To some degree, neighborhoods liked that
because it gave them a chance to show up and oppose something, give feedback, and oftentimes derail projects,” he said. “A lot of council members feel that the neighborhood should vote on these projects,” but if they did, there’d be little investment in Albany.
Planning Commissioner Spencer said the city encourages developers to reach out to the community to get feedback.
Some agreement
Some Albany residents recognize that denser development can help alleviate the concerns others express.
City resident Jen Ceponis, who owns a home near the Playdium project, said people don’t realize parking and traffic problems are caused by people who commute to Albany.
“The point of building dense near the colleges and universities is so that people can live nearby and not rely on cars,” she said. “My family welcomes new development and housing choices, especially those that are nearby transit and can benefit from the city’s walkability and services like bike and car share.”
For others, the disconnect might be in people misunderstanding the zoning itself, said Helderberg Neighborhood Association board members.
The association didn’t have enough advance information late last year when a medical tattoo business wanted to open at 372 New Scotland Ave. Neighbors expressed concerns that it wouldn’t fit in a residential area.
“Sometimes the voices in opposition appear to be a little bit louder than the ones that approve of something,” said association chair Samantha Curry. “We have been working hard to encourage more attendance to our neighborhood meetings to act as a channel of transparency and communication between parties.”