Troy board clears variances for renovated gas station with app‑based pickup window despite neighbor concerns

Roger Keating of Lobel Associates opened the meeting by summarizing the project: a previously approved 2022 site plan to reopen a former gas station at 5th Avenue and 125th Street has been altered during construction and now requires a series of variances under the newer zoning code.

Keating and the applicant described a pickup‑window operation run through an app rather than a conventional drive‑through. The applicant, Al (the property owner), said customers will pay via the app and receive a notification before pulling up to a dedicated window to collect a ready order. Keating presented vendor data from Nashville Chicken showing a range of about 26 to 48 pickup‑window transactions per day at comparable locations.

The meeting shifted into a detailed technical review: staff and the applicant said they will close two curb cuts on 125th Street, add sidewalks and green space, redefine Northern Drive access geometry to discourage cut‑through movements and change canopy and building lighting to downward fixtures. Keating told the board that fuel tanks removed from the site were inspected by the state and replaced with fiberglass tanks; the applicant said the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) had inspected and approved the tank work and would continue oversight.

Neighbors pressed the board during public comment. Martin Opoca, who lives behind the property, said he expected spillover parking, school‑drop‑off conflicts and a marked increase in local traffic; he warned that vehicles could back onto local streets and called the intersection “complicated.” Other residents asked for clearer plans for garbage pickup, snow storage, hood ventilation and hours of operation. A few residents supported the owner’s investment in a formerly blighted site and said improved lighting and activity could reduce crime.

The board considered multiple formal votes. It first found the application to be an unlisted environmental action with sufficient information for a negative declaration. The board then approved the use variance for the pickup window (application PLZBA‑2026‑0032) on a 4–0 roll call (one member had recused). Following that decision, the board granted a package of area variances, including reduced front setbacks for parking, relief to allow fuel pumps 4.2 feet from the right‑of‑way where 25 feet is required, canopy illumination relief near traffic signals, higher permitted foot‑candle levels at certain edges, reduced ground‑floor transparency where necessary for kitchen and cooler walls, relief for rooftop mechanical screening and reduced entrance/intersection distances. The board also approved relief from the code‑required 120 feet of drive‑through stacking to the applicant’s proposed ~65.8 feet, with the board and applicant citing the app‑based operational model and vendor transaction data in support. Each variance passed by recorded vote or unanimous roll call as read into the record.

The applicant repeatedly said the pickup window is intended to be low‑impact and that the app can be turned off during high demand periods. "If there's a lot of cars or traffic, nobody would want to stop by," Al said; "in case we want to control the traffic, we can just control it from the app." Keating stressed that the vendor data — 26 to 48 daily pickups at 22 other locations — indicated low additional traffic from the pickup operation.

Board members and staff emphasized that planning board site‑plan review remains required and will address operational details such as delivery timing, trash collection frequency and hours; planning review was noted as the forum to attach conditions if warranted. The chair closed the meeting after the final vote and thanked speakers for their input.

The zoning board’s approvals remove the major zoning obstacles to opening the renovated station but leave final operational approvals and any planning‑stage conditions to a future planning board site‑plan hearing.