A three-building, 261-unit apartment building is in talks to be built on New York 17K, just west of Scott’s Corners, but Montgomery residents have concerns.

The proposed build, “Sheffield Gardens” will be a large residential space consisting of three 3-story buildings hosting 261 apartments. There will be 36 one-bedroom units while the rest will have two bedrooms, making this a primarily two-bedroom complex. Each rental unit is entitled to two parking spaces.

Gerald N. Jacobowitz, the applicant and owner of the property, participated in a public scoping session on Monday, November 28 along with members of the board and the audience.

A further explanation of the project showed a possible bank and 24,000 square feet of retail space as possibilities to be built on the property as well. “We would come into this site and it would split the commercial property into two parcels. One we’ve got a pad site for a bank and the other on the east side is a retail facility. These are not part of the application but these are placeholders that we’ve put on there as part of the SEQR (State Environmental Quality Review) process,” said Jacobowitz.

He also mentions a sewer treatment plant that would service the buildings in this area.

“Sewer for the property [would be] through a sewer treatment plant along 17K on the eastern side of the property that would service the three buildings in residential use as well as the two commercial buildings as part of the environmental impact statement. We’re going to look at alternatives to onsite sewer but we are proposing a plan as our preferred alternative at this time,” Jacobowitz mentioned.

Audience member Stacey Hillman asked about the sewer plant.

“We’re talking about the sewer, and then the septic system. Will others be able to tie into that? Will immediate neighbors be able to tie into something like that?”

Montgomery resident Don Berger piggybacked on a lot of public comments already made. “The ladies are right. There’s so much vacant space here in this town and village, why are we making more? We have this happening all the time.”

There was also a large discussion about traffic concerns as many locals stated traffic is already rough in the area.

“It seems from my point of view, the traffic studies done by the applicants are not sufficient enough. We have a severe problem with traffic on Route 17K going into the Village of Montgomery from the railroad tracks stop light all the way up to Scotts Corners,” Berger added.

The scoping session concluded with words from Chairman Fred Reichle, who explained the next step for Jacobowitz. “The applicant will be preparing a draft environmental impact statement based upon the scope. Everybody’s going to be notified and we’ll do this again,” said Reichle.

The planning board, in accordance with SEQR, issued a positive declaration and ordered a draft environmental impact statement.