The Manlius Town Board unanimously approved a special use permit for the proposed Resort Lifestyle Communities independent senior living center at their last meeting on Wednesday, April 22.

The project, called a ‘cruise ship on land living experience’ by representatives from the company, will be an 18,000-square-foot, three-floor senior living facility that includes 130 units of one-, two- and three- bedroom apartments located on the corner of Medical Center Drive and North Burdick Street in the town of Manlius. The minimum age for residents would be 55.

As was mentioned at the April 8 meeting of the board, the special use permit will be in place as long as the company is able to meet certain stipulations set in the resolution. According to Manlius Town Attorney Tim Frateschi, these include construction being limited to certain hours and no blasting being allowed at the site.

The project must also go back to the planning board for site plan approval, a full stormwater prevention plan would need to be developed before approval and the execution of an additional traffic study to determine the need for a right turn lane on Medical Center Drive after the business has reached 90 percent occupancy would be required, Frateschi said.

The stipulations to the special use permit also include that the unused area of the parcel owned by Resort Lifestyle Communities, about four acres located next to Starview subdivision, will have to be kept free for 18 months after construction or once the business reaches 90 percent occupancy. This was put in place to assure there would be space to put additional parking if it is determined to be needed.

This stipulation was something Matt Napierala, from Napierala Consulting, the engineer firm involved in the project, felt was unnecessary.

“I want to make the town board fully aware that our client strongly feels the 166 parking spaces in the plans for this project is overkill,” Napierala said. “The existing facilities by this company show the additional parking will not be needed.”

According to Napierala, existing senior living facilities in the area have parking spot to unit ratios comparable to what Resort Lifestyle Communities would have. Currently, Maple Downs has 144 spaces for 115 units and Wynwood of Manlius has 44 spaces for 80 units, said Napierala, while Resort Lifestyle Communities will have 166 for 130 units.

Kathleen Bennet, the project’s attorney, said Resort Lifestyle Communities expressed interest in being able to sell the four acre parcel of their land, but ideally wouldn’t want to wait until it has been determined it wasn’t needed for parking, which she said could take up to four years. Bennet suggested that the company be allowed to discuss with representatives from North Medical Center the possibility of leasing additional parking off-site.

After some discussion, the town board agreed to allow the additional parking stipulations to be addressed in the site plan review process by the planning board in order to give resort Resort Lifestyle Communities some time to consider alternative options.

The town board voted unanimously to approve the special use permit for Resort Lifestyle Communities as amended.

Before construction can start, which is estimated to take about 18 months, the project must go back to the Manlius Planning Board for site plan approval.

Hayleigh Gowans is a reporter for the Eagle Bulletin. She can be reached at [email protected].