Troy planning board tables variance request to convert 2119 Burnett Ave. to dormitory; requests re-notice

The Troy Planning Board on Sept. 1 tabled an application that would convert a commercial dental office at 2119 Burnett Ave. into student housing and asked staff to re-notice the proposal specifically as a dormitory.

Suzanne Collins, the property owner/applicant, told the board the two-parcel site (addresses 2119 and 2117 Burnett Ave.) has been on the market for more than 600 days and was most recently used as a dental office. Collins said a prospective buyer intends to live at 2117 and convert 2119 into a shared student residence. “There is a prospective buyer who would like to convert it to student rental, and he would be owner occupying 2117 right next door,” Collins said.

Jordan White, a designer who said he works in commercial real estate and is vice president of TAP Architecture in Troy, described the building footprint, parking and egress. White said the building could be adapted internally into roughly six or seven bedrooms, and that the lot includes a rear parking area with about 16 spaces. “This building here, it looks tiny at the front, but it's elongated toward the back… it opens up to a 16 car parking lot,” White said.

Board members and staff discussed multiple regulatory and practical issues: whether the advertised notice adequately described a dormitory use, the local definition of “dormitory” versus “rooming house,” the property’s current grandfathered commercial status as a dental office, potential sprinkler/fire-safety requirements for shared sleeping areas, parking and shared-driveway ownership between the two addresses, and whether limiting the variance to student housing could be written as a condition. Chris Marini, the city engineer, advised that a dormitory is a more specific residential subtype and that re-noticing would inform the public accurately.

The board voted to table the application for the next month, directing staff to reword public notice to seek a use variance specifically for a dormitory. Board members also advised the applicants that a sprinkler system requirement is likely once the building is converted to regular sleeping units and that site-plan review with the Planning Department will be required after the use-variance stage. Applicants were told they may proceed with planning-board site-plan applications once the variance process is re-noticed, but that it is prudent to confirm fire-safety and financing implications before proceeding.

No final use-variance decision was made at the Sept. 1 meeting; the application will return at the next scheduled hearing with revised public notice and any additional materials the applicant chooses to submit.