SILVER CREEK — As was described by Mayor Jeff Hornburg as “archaic at best,” the Silver Creek village zoning laws are being updated to accommodate the old Silver Creek school building at 60 Main St.

Under the previous zoning laws, two-thirds of the building were zoned for commercial use, while the last third of the building was zoned as residential.

“The back third is in a residential area, and the parking lot in the back is also in a residential area,” Hornburg said. “So we’re going to rezone the entire property as commercial.”

When the Silver Creek School was operational as such, there were no zoning laws, which led to the confusion with how it is currently zoned. Hornburg said that the issue came from the school’s distance from Main Street.

“What happened is Main Street and Central are both zoned commercial zones,” Hornburg said. “But it goes from the center line back 180 feet, and then behind that is a residential zone. It works both ways on Central and Main.”

The purpose of rezoning the building in the first place is for Region Nine Construction out of Brunswick, New Jersey to continue with its plans of transforming the old school building into an assisted senior living center. Region Nine’s purchase of the school building is expected to be completed in December 2023.

“We’re going to rezone the entire property as commercial for Region Nine Construction to get their paperwork together and do their due diligence to reconstruct and reopen the facility as the senior assisted living center,” Hornburg said.

The building had been unoccupied for decades, going all the way back to 1978 and has since served as an eyesore for the community. Instead, in the near future, the building will have 47 apartments for people ages 55 and older. Currently, there are no plans for any other commercial entity to operate inside the building, other than Region Nine.

“To the best of my knowledge, nothing else will be in there other than the assisted living facility,” Hornburg said. “There will be a common area, an assembly area, and maybe a small cafeteria, but all of that will be for the residents. Unless they establish something else down the road, there will be no other commercial entities.”

The motion to rezone the property on 60 Main St. was adopted during Monday’s regularly scheduled board meeting, following the public hearing on the rezoning.