(Credit: Envision Architects via Glens Falls, 2023)
Street views
(Credit: Envision Architects via Glens Falls, 2023)
Firetruck access
Mallin and Loyola
The design of the proposed Glens Falls Market Square, also called the Yellow Birch Leaf Building because of its shape when seen from above, lept one more hurdle on Tuesday March 7 and is on track to be approved next month.
The Glens Falls Planning Board made the nearly-final move by declaring itself lead agency for the SEQR environmental review of the project, a state-mandated step that all projects go through.
The planning board must review a project for various environmental impacts that run from ecological issues such as storm-water mitigation through quality-of-life issues such as traffic impacts for those around the project.
The Glens Falls Market Center was presented to the board last August, where comments were collected and addressed. The primary question that the planning board had for the Market Center’s design team at the March 7 meeting pertained to the seasonal usage, and the cost-benefit analysis of that.
Devon Telberg, with Envision Architects, noted that the building will be low energy, which means it will not be heated during the winter. However, heaters can be brought in for certain events that wish to use the space in the winter. The design is meant to reflect the organic, sustainable low energy identity of the building, designers said.
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Planning Board Member Brigit Culligan also proposed more green space for the property.
“We are certainly open to more plantings, and potential green space around the building,” said Landscape Architect Peter Loyola of CLA SITE Landscape Architecture.
The Market Center is a core component of the $10 million Downtown Revitalization Grant the city received back in 2017, said Jeff Flagg, the economic development director for Glens Falls.
The project is now on its fourth iteration in almost seven years of progress, Flagg said.
“We tried to design this to be as multi-purpose as possible, while also keeping in the budget that the state has given us,” Flagg said.
[Read more about the DRI projects here.]
The project also fits with the way that projects in the city become more walkable. The location will have only two parking spaces, both dedicated to handicapped vehicles. Development on South and Elm streets under the DRI plan includes nearly 100 apartments.
The proposed use for the site according to project documents states: “The site will be developed into a vibrant, pedestrian oriented community gathering space hosting a multi-purpose building and outdoor plaza areas. Primary use is for farmer market events, and other community events, as determined by Glens Falls.”
Parking has been a sore point for the Glens Falls Farmers Market. The market will use the building on weekends, but to do so the vendors will have to drop their materials at the market and park elsewhere. No one from the Farmers Market spoke on Tuesday. One person spoke about parking, but the planning board took little time to discuss it.
Delays due to the pandemic, rising interest rates, and cost of materials have slowed the process down considerably.
“We got a great project. It’s a 6,000 square foot building in the shape of a birch leaf,” said Peter Loyola.
Correction: We listed the wrong architect from Envision Architects when we first posted this story. The correct name is Devon Telberg. We apologize for the error.