(Credit: Luke Mosseau, 2023)
Subway restaurant at 1471 State Route 9 in Queensbury.
Site plan approval has slowed for the Subway restaurant and self-storage facilities planned near the Lake George Outlets due to a list of county staff and planning board concerns. The project includes construction of a new Subway restaurant where the current one stands at 1471 State Route 9 and two, 12-unit, self-storage buildings of 1,740 square feet each behind the restaurant.
“A new building will be built with multiple tenants and Subway will be one of them," Subway franchisee and developer Russ Faden wrote in an email to FoothillsBusinessDaily.com. "Not sure of the other tenants as of yet.”
Faden operates multiple locations throughout the region.
[Read more about Faden and his Subways here.]
During the Queensbury Planning Board meeting on Tuesday April 25, Land Use Planner Laura Moore listed off several key issues with his current site plan yet to be addressed.
These issues include updated clarification on site landscaping, signage dimensions, discussions with the sewer and water department about connection, updated floor plans and elevations, a discrepancy on the amount of parking spaces, and a clarification on whether the required special use permit is for the self-storage facilities, according to Moore.
The Fire Marshal also left a comment to the planning board that a large amount of debris behind the existing building on the site must be cleaned out by April 28.
The Planning Board agreed that these clarifications must be submitted and resolved before any site plan approval was granted.
“I would feel more comfortable if we had answers to those before we put it to a vote. I think there’s enough that I have a concern with the site plan right now. I like the site plan but I’d like to have answers before moving forward,” said Planning Board Secretary Michael Dixon.
Board Vice-Chairman David Deeb agreed with Dixon.
“I think we’re putting the cart before the horse here,” Deeb said.
Board member Bradley Magowan complimented Developer Russ Faden on the project’s design and the “genius” of having storage facilities in the area. However, Magowan also had his reservations with approving the project until everything is sorted out.
“I’m just a little shocked with everything you’ve done here in Queensbury that all this wasn’t taken care of tonight,” Magowan said to Faden.
“All your other properties have come out nice and I appreciate you picking Queensbury for all this,” Magowan added.
This project has been delayed before due to wetland issues, said Moore. Construction will occur within 100 ft. of a wetland and stream. The project was granted a variance by the zoning board in a close 4 to 3 vote at the meeting on April 19.
The Queensbury Planning Board voted to table the project until their June 20 meeting to give Mr. Faden an appropriate amount of time to submit his updated site plan.