TROY — A proposal to transform a church building into eight apartments has fired up Hillside residents who don’t want a zoning variance granted to allow the units in a neighborhood of single-family and two-family homes.

The motivated Hillside neighbors successfully turned back another apartment project proposal Thursday when the City Council agreed to sell a vacant lot at 168 10th St. to the developer of a single-family home instead of the multi-unit project.

Hillside residents plan to be back at City Hall Tuesday night at the Zoning Board of Appeals meeting for the third time in their fight to stop the development of the United Armenian Calvary Congregational Church at 144 Ninth St.

Amy Halloran said neighbors have gone to great lengths to secure the R-2 zoning classification to protect the neighborhood’s character of homes and prevent commercial intrusion from Hoosick Street and any additional student apartment buildings. Hillside is between the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute campus and a commercial strip that encompasses Hoosick Street from the Collar City Bridge east into the town of Brunswick.

The church would be converted into eight apartments containing a total of 27 bedrooms and there would be 13 parking spaces, according to plans filed with the ZBA. This is smaller than the proposal submitted in December which called for 12 apartments and 48 tenants.

“This is a much-needed project for the city and the neighborhood,” said Michael Ginsberg, the proposed purchaser and developer of the church, which has been closed for seven years.

“I view this as a positive project with a large influx of much needed capital into the neighborhood. If the building isn’t turned into housing, it won’t be turned into anything,” Ginsberg said.

Halloran described the variances for unit density and insufficient lot size as spot zoning if the ZBA grants them. She said the variances would undermine the action the City Council took to rezone the neighborhood to protect its quality of life.

So far, the proposal to change the church into apartments has not won ZBA approval. At the board’s February meeting, there was a 2-2 split vote on the project.

At the February meeting, according to the ZBA minutes, Ginsberg and his real estate agent “presented arguments that the proposal will not create a negative impact, that it is unfeasible to redevelop except as an apartment building, that it is not feasible to develop as a single or two-family house, and that the hardship was not created by the congregation that owns the property.”

Ginsberg said the apartments are open to anyone not just students. He said the units would have separate entrances and there would be enough parking.

Halloran said she didn’t agree with the stance that there were no other uses for the building. She pointed to the former St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church at 138 12th St. which has been converted to studio space.

The ZBA meets at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 433 River St.