TOWN OF FLORIDA -- Real estate developers are mulling plans to house a national student transportation provider on Verbraska Avenue.
Eric Miles of Syracuse-based Ironhorn Enterprises on Monday outlined preliminary plans for the 3.9 acre site at the corner of Verbraska Avenue and Daniel Street seeking feedback from the Planning Board.
The real estate development company bought the site from R.L.R. Investments, LLC for $625,000 in August 2023, according to Montgomery County property records.
"Our intention with it is to find a new home for First Student Transportation, largest school bus company in the country," Miles said. "We thought this might be a good fit for them."
First Student is bidding on the Greater Amsterdam School District's student transportation contract, according to Miles, who indicated development of the site depends on the company securing an agreement with the district. A decision is expected within the next 60 days.
"We work with them closely. We've got close to a dozen sites with them around mostly the Northeast," Miles said. "They usually don't go this far without feeling pretty good about something, but it's not done till it's done."
The existing property is largely undeveloped with only a smaller parking lot along Verbraska Avenue. The site near Route 5S and the state Thruway is in the town's industrial business park zoning district.
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Rough plans call for the development of a parking area spanning approximately 2-acres for the 45 school buses expected to be housed at the site with space for the personal vehicles of staff.
A 3,700-square-foot office and fleet maintenance building would be constructed at the site, which would have around 60 employees, including bus drivers and monitors. Site traffic would primarily be in the early morning and afternoon following student transportation schedules.
Planning Board members had no objections to the concept, noting the potential use is consistent with ongoing operations across the street at Swift Transportation, a trucking and logistics company.
"It's like businesses in the area," Chairman Stephen Viele said. "The tractor trailer traffic is already on 5S, so it's not like the traffic increase of 60 employees is going to disrupt traffic."
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"It's out of the way, you don't see it except from the Thruway," alternate board member Cindy Schultz added.
Ironhorn Enterprises is expected to direct its environmental and engineering firm to proceed with a full site plan in the coming days. The real estate developer will return to the Planning Board to proceed with the project review process once design work is completed.
"We're going to do our best to get it ready as soon as possible and we'll return over here and show you what we have," Miles said.
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