Tannery Commons Update: Planning Board Gives Favorable Advisory Opinion 

The proposed 168-unit apartment complex in the Village of Ballston Spa’s Central Business District has received a favorable advisory opinion from the Village’s Planning Board. 

The project calls for three buildings: two four-story structures, one along Gordon Creek and one at the rear of the property, and a three-story building facing Bath Street.

The developers, Blue Ridge Cascade, need a special use permit from the zoning board of appeals to construct residential units in the business district and are yet to receive site plan approval from the planning board. 

Before the zoning board of appeals make their decision, the planning board gave their advisory opinion as part of the special permit process.

The planning board homed in on special permit condition 205-72(a) under the village code in their advisory opinion, which states the development’s size and character must be in harmony with the surrounding district.

“The Board considered harmony not simply as visual similarity to neighboring buildings, but as the appropriateness of the relationship a proposed development establishes with its surroundings and the Village as a whole,” wrote Scott Burlingame, Chair, Village of Ballston Spa Planning Board on behalf of the Planning Board.

The surrounding housing on Bath Street includes a two-story apartment complex across the street and single-family homes.

During the Oct. 14 planning board meeting, Blue Ridge Cascade reaffirmed their intentions to make sidewalk and crosswalk improvements along Bath Street and towards Hamilton Street, connect the Tedisco trail perpendicularly to Bath Street along Gordon Creek, and have availability of a proposed community room for gatherings and events. 

On Wednesday Oct. 28 the public had a chance to comment on the proposal at the zoning board of appeals meeting, which was overwhelmingly negative and focused on a perception that the development was not in harmony with the surrounding district. 

Attorney, Betsy Brugg, representing Blue Ridge Cascade, asserted during the meeting that the same project would be in accordance with the Village code were it a hotel.

“The central business district allows for 30, 40 and 50 foot buildings. On this site, we could build this identical project as a hotel. We could slap Hilton on the wall, and you would have no jurisdiction over it.” Therefore, Brugg reasoned, “by definition it is in harmony with the zoning and the district.”

Speaking to the Zoning Board of Appeals Members, Brugg stated:

“The standard of review for your decision if it were to end up in a court would be whether your board acted in an arbitrary or capricious manner in making a decision. The decision has to be made based upon the actual evidence in the record.”

At the Aug. Zoning Board of Appeals meeting member, Kamran Parwana submitted a list of questions pertaining to the traffic study conducted in 2024 which was conducted for a previous version of the project. The study, conducted by Greenman-Pedersen Inc., concluded that the development can be accommodated by the current transportation network.

Specifically, Parwana questioned if the 0.5% annual growth rate was still applicable considering that since 2024 many new developments have been approved including the Mill Town Center, a 500-apartment complex currently under construction off Rowland Road in Milton. 

Michael Wieszchowski, professional engineer and professional traffics operation engineer for Greenman-Pedersen Inc., responded to Parwana’s questions in a letter.  

“The traffic study was prepared using industry-standard methodologies for both existing traffic volume adjustments and future traffic forecasting,” said Wieszchowski. “The traffic counts used in the analysis were collected less than two years ago, which is well within the generally accepted timeframe for traffic studies.”

Wieszchowski also stated that at the outset of the study in 2024 the village was contacted to identify any pending developments to be considered, to which the village gave none.

In a July 13, 2026, technical review memorandum by Creighton Manning, the village’s traffic engineering consultant Manning stated, “the supplemental information provided by the applicant has addressed our comments.” No further concerns regarding traffic were raised by Manning in the memorandum, indicating the Village’s satisfaction with the study.

At the Zoning Board of Appeals meeting, Parwana stated that in his view, his questions were not given proper answers.

“I feel like I have very specific questions and, in some cases, I got some specific answers, Parwana said. “In a lot of cases, I feel like it was just ‘the traffic study is sufficient and we follow procedures,’ but it doesn’t answer the specific questions.”

Further discussion about the traffic and harmony implications of the development will be discussed at a workshop between the Zoning Board and Blue Ridge Cascade on Wednesday Nov. 25 at the Elk’s Lodge, 10 Hamilton Street.