Brewpub proposal drawing opposition
CLIFTON PARK, N.Y. » Druthers Brewing Company, a popular Capital Region beer brewing and restaurant business, has submitted plans to open a location in the Town Center irritating residents living in a condo building nearby.
Since opening the first Druthers Brewing establishment in Saratoga Springs in 2012, the company’s partners have expanded the business with locations in Albany and Schenectady. In July plans were submitted to the Town Planning Department to bring the business into southern Saratoga County with a location in Clifton Park.
Plans call for constructing a 10,000-square-foot building on a vacant fiveacre lot at the corner of Maxwell Drive and Southside Drive. The lot, which is owned by DCG Development, is on the western edge of the Village (Hannaford) Plaza across Southside Drive from a Staples store.
The site is also across
Maxwell Drive from the planned, 37-acre Town Park.
The building will contain brewing equipment, dining areas, kitchens, and bathrooms.
According to the narrative submitted to the town as part of the proposal, plans include an extensive outdoor dining area that will provide opportunities for a play area, causal seating, music, and private events.
There will be parking for 120 cars with 130 overflow parking spots land-banked
for future use.
Though the plan has yet to appear before the Planning Board, residents of the Bentley Condominiums, a multistory 55+ condo building on Wall Street, have peppered the Board with letters stating their opposition. On Aug. 9 Susan DeLaCroix, a resident of the building and an owner of one of its condominiums said in a letter to the Board that she was very concerned with the plans for the brewpub.
“I am convinced that our present living quality will be lost due to the noise level from traffic and entertainment,” she wrote. “The quiet and the wildlife are enjoyed by many of us. The access road is an especially big concern. I do not want this road to be a public access to the Bentley.
“My want is that you will find another location for this establishment.”
In a Letter to the Editor of this newspaper Joseph Nial, another resident of the Bentley, took issue with the brewpub saying it was not compatible with town’s goals from its 2015 Town Center Plan to create a more-vibrant center of activity throughout the day and night with a reasonable mix of commercial and residential uses supporting one another.
“The proposed five-acre restaurant and brewery complex in the Town Center is not compatible with the goal of more attractive mixed-use commercial center of activity,” he wrote.
In his letter Nial noted the proximity of the site to the Shenendehowa School District’s Shatekon Elementary School, its athletic fields, the Bentley, the Clifton Park YMCA, and the Town Park.
“It is not a restaurant it is an entertainment complex,” he wrote.
The proposal was to have been presented to the Planning Board for the first time at the Board’s Aug. 11 virtual meeting but was later removed. According to Planning Board Chairman Rocco Ferraro, the appearance was pulled to allow time for a discussion to take place between officials from Druthers and residents of the Bentley.