ALBANY — 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 impacts the key concerns.

Common Council member Judy Doesschate said it's the excessiveness with some projects that some find hard to take.

"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 affect in 2017.

Denser development's selling point is efficiency – more people in one area accessing retail and commercial shops and less of a need to spread out water, power and sewer 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 out 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 to the point where, last year, Mayor Kathy Sheehan called for a halt to the process until their concerns were addressed.

For years, proposals have been thwarted by those living on residential side 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.

Councilmember Tom Hoey said the developers haven't engaged the neighborhood, and questions whether residents' concerns are actually being considered.

"We've got to give the taxpayer some kind of say," Hoey said, pointing to the major investment people make in purchasing a home. "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, with parking being 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," Harvey said.

Park South was in a unique position where the population was mostly transient and in need of new investment, so there wasn't the pushback on projects that other, more stable, neighborhoods have, Harvey said.

Where growth happens

Education and medical centers throughout Albany have influenced where new development has taken place, with large apartment complexes and dorms rising along Washington Avenue Extension across from UAlbany and a recent proposal for a large 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.

Denser development in downtown Albany would be easier to pursue, Bromley said – something that developer Ryan Jankow, of Jankow Companies, can attest to.

Jankow said the company is renovating and expanding a mixed-use building at Pearl and Pine streets downtown. 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. "The city is actively looking to revitalize downtown, so the process tends to be streamlined when there is an active effort to bring new life to an area."

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 alley 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 upwards of 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 their own adjustments.

In the city's prior zoning, those looking to make changes to their property or build 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 councilmembers 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 local community where they're proposing projects to get feedback.

Some agreement

Not all Albany residents have pushed back against the denser development, instead recognizing that more of it could 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 development outside the city, where people commute each day into 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 board members of the Helderberg Neighborhood Association. The association fell victim to not having all the information late last year when controversy ensured around a medical tattoo business taking up shop at 372 New Scotland Ave.

"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."