ALBANY - Albany County again rejected plans to rezone a dead-end city street lined with single-family homes for an apartment complex behind the SUNY Polytechnic Institute.

The Planning Board on Tuesday unanimously agreed on a negative advisory “without prejudice” to rezone Sandidge Way (formerly Loughlin Street) off of Fuller Road from single-family residential to multifamily residential village.

In July the board issued a negative advisory on the Sandidge Way Apartments project when it was slated to be rezoned multifamily high-rise residential. City officials went back to the drawing board and tweaked the zoning to more accurately reflect the proposed 173-unit apartment complex sited for the area.

The new designation would allow for buildings up to five stories. The multifamily high-rise residential allowed seven- to eight-story buildings. The zoning also incorporates two more city residences on Fuller Road.

Rezoning is necessary for the project, proposed by Colonie-based Dawn Homes Management, to advance. The Planning Board action requires the Common Council to approve the rezone in a supermajority vote.

Opposition to the project -- featuring six buildings rising as high as five stories housing the apartments, administrative offices and fitness amenities -- has been strong from neighboring McKownville residents in Guilderland. They fear increased traffic and storm water issues.

Guilderland Town Supervisor Peter Barber recently wrote a letter to Planning Board members urging them to disapprove the rezone plan, noting the five-story buildings are inconsistent with other property in the area.

“The proposed area is bounded on the west by two-story multifamily buildings, on the north and east across Fuller Road by three-story multifamily buildings and on the south by single-family residences,” Barber wrote. “The proposed action is an anomaly by allowing five-story residential buildings in this setting.”

Mayor Kathy Sheehan attended Tuesday afternoon’s board meeting countering that the project and rezoning is consistent with the city’s comprehensive plan as well as Guilderland’s plan.

“This project is held by one individual,” she said. “And the ability for us to control our own destiny and have a project that would be taxable, (with) housing in close proximity to major employers and retail is development that ours and Guilderland’s comprehensive plans” seek.

“It’s unrealistic to think that this going to end up remaining single-family homes,” Sheehan added.

Sheehan said traffic and flooding concerns would be addressed in the site plan review.

McKownville resident Carol Waterman, who lives on Warren Street, said she doesn’t have faith in the city’s review. She’d like to see the single-family home characteristic remain.

“They don’t represent the interests of anybody other than the city of Albany,” she said. “Albany is not an island unto itself, we are your neighbors.”