The Troy Zoning Board of Appeals approved five area variances Thursday for a proposed expansion at 61 13th Street, allowing a 10,000-square-foot addition and related site changes that the applicant said will move loading onto private property and add parking.

Brian Semperly of Verity Engineering told the board the site, owned by Energy Catalyst Technologies, is zoned Mixed Use 1 with a Neighborhood 2 intensity overlay and that the existing building pre-dates the zoning. Semperly said the project would increase gross floor area to 28,518 square feet, require a front-yard setback relief because the building projects into a front-yard plane measured from an alley, and seek relief from the code's ground-floor transparency requirements for what will remain a warehouse use.

"We're proposing to move the loading out of the right of way and interior to the parcel," Semperly said, adding the addition would reduce the need for loading in the public way and provide banked parking for future employees.

Board members asked technical questions about plan orientation and stormwater disturbance. In response to a question about state permitting, Semperly said the site disturbance will be under one acre and therefore not subject to DEC GP-025-001 permit coverage.

Following staff recommendations, a board member moved to find the project an unlisted action and issue a SEQR negative declaration; the motion carried. The board then considered the five area variances tied to the addition — maximum gross floor area, front-yard setback relief, side-yard setback relief, accessory/parking setback relief, and the ground-floor transparency requirement — each of which a board member moved to approve, citing the project's scale, the existing nonconforming building, and the project's removal of street loading.

Board members recorded approvals on each motion, with some abstentions recorded in the audio during roll calls. The board's packet includes a zoning-board-of-appeals addendum summarizing factual evidence and justifications entered into the record by the applicant.

The board did not identify additional conditions beyond standard permitting and plan review. Semperly said the project's special-use permit from the planning commission expires in March 2026 and that the zoning-appeal approvals are needed to proceed with site-plan approval.

The board moved on to its next agenda item after the votes.