JP 606 LLC first presented the application at the April 2 meeting and it was carried over. The property at 606 River Road is adjacent to the Hess gas tanks, Undercliff Avenue, and Archer Street. It is currently a vacant lot.

Some of the requested variances included the setback from the road, impervious coverage amount, floor area ratio, and building height.

Conrad Roncati, the developer’s architect, said in April that the design was sensitive of the homes on Undercliff Avenue. The lot has a natural drop of about 30 feet. The garage will be buried into the back of the site and appear to be one story, he said.

"The site is really a natural for this proposal," Roncati said.

Carmine Alampi, the developer’s attorney, said the developer proposed a large residential building three years ago but withdrew the plans and decided on the office and garage proposal.

Roncati said the garage would have separate entrances on each level because of the different heights surrounding it from River Road, Archer Street, and Undercliff Avenue. They won’t connect with ramps, saving space for more spots, and are, in effect, more like separate parking lots, he said.

A traffic engineer for the developer said the multiple entrances should prevent new traffic problems.

Board members asked the developer to change some of the plan. A few of the requests were adjusting the River Road entrance area and gating it on weekends, adding greenery to the top level of the open garage, and making sure the traffic pattern doesn’t heavily impact the neighborhoods.

Alampi said it was happy to work with the board on its requests and was also ready to handle whatever state-required affordable housing shares it had to contribute as a result of the jobs created on the site. Under the Council on Affordable Housing laws a certain amount of affordable housing units have to be built when either new housing or new jobs are created. JP 606 won’t be the one to build the affordable housing units since its project is strictly commercial.

"We see this as an opportunity to build a high ratable and beautiful building," Alampi said. "The five stories is not too unusual as you see taller buildings on River Road."

The Board unanimously approved the application.

"We have the opportunity to see a project for something (the property) is actually zoned for," said Robert Christiansen Board chairman. "The applicant came in with a modest, at least to me, office building."

Alampi said the next step will be getting all the permits in place during the summer.

The application was started about a year and a half ago, he said.

"The economy is bad now and it’s worse than it was a couple of years ago," Alampi said.

The applicant will look for multiple tenants or one large company to use the facility.

"We’re hoping for a world-class tenant who wants that New York City skyline view," Alampi said.