Categories: News, Saratoga County

A 24-lot housing development has been proposed for the former Kelts Farm in Niskayuna.

Town Planning Board members will continue discussions on the project — which would be located at 2538 River Road, across from Jeff Blatnick Park — during their next meeting on Monday, March 9.

A public hearing on the proposal will be held at the meeting, which begins at 7 p.m.

“The purpose is for the public to see essentially the configuration of the subdivision and to provide input to the Planning Board on their recommendation to the Town Board,” said town Planner Laura Robertson.

Joel Bisailon of Bisailon Properties LLC is seeking permission for a major subdivision and a special use permit for an average density development. He hopes to construct nine duplex townhouses and six single-family homes on the property, which town historians say dates to 1860.

“It’s kind of like a conservation subdivision,” Robertson said of the average density development.

“You can reduce the size of the lots and keep the houses kind of smaller and you can do attached houses like twin town homes and stuff like that,” she said. “Then you have a much larger undisturbed space which has, I would say, probably a decent amount of benefits, so you’re reducing the amount of clearing that’s done, you’re reducing the amount of lawn, you’re making more natural areas. Everybody kind of benefits from a bigger buffer.”

The property is zoned residential, is already connected to town sanitary services and is near Windsor Drive.

“Windsor is currently connected to the Kelts farm property with a stub road that ends on the lot line,” Robertson said. “The developer would build the roads within his parcel and eventually dedicate them to the town.”

Bisailon is proposing a forested buffer between the new houses and the existing neighborhoods.

People may also email comments on the project to Robertson at [email protected]

Contact staff writer Jeff Wilkin at 518-395-3124 or at [email protected]