As always, this report is not official or designed to be complete, but rather contains impressions of members who attend these meetings.
(I got home at 10 PM. Good thing the Town is slowing down development approvals (Magguilli said…) pending the completion of the Comp Plan.)
Still no overhead or video projection; air conditioning not working; mics in use only sometimes, no explanation of new terminology:”public hearing” vs Final Approval.
Thanks for reading…and attending! Your comments are always welcome! And remember our SAVE Colonie Facebook Page and Web Site.
Present PB members: Stuto, Milstein, Dalton, Austin, Mion, Shamlian, Attny Marinelli; LaCivita; TB Rosano, Murphy, Carey.
1. On the Farm Subdivision: Public Hearing will be held on July 10th.
Donna Drive Subdivision: Public Hearing will be held on July 24th.
2. Rosetti Apartments, 57 Vly Rd (Entrance on New Karner Rd.) Concept Acceptance (NO VOTE TAKEN)
This project generated a lot of negative comments from neighboring single family homeowners concerning excessive traffic already on Vly & New Karner; insufficient parking/garage spaces; high water table with flooding of nearby basements “24/7/365”; low water pressure currently in area; concern re noise during construction; fencing & light pollution mitigation needed; site preferable for commercial devel; how has TOC allowed site to be clear-cut prior to Bd approval?
Planning Bd: Project too dense for site; insufficient info presented to PEDD & Bd; need elevations and amenities for apt. residents; “Just because you have the property doesn’t mean you have to pack it full!” said Austin; scale down, must lower the impact on neighborhood; dev. cannot use green space on other parcels he owns to meet requirements here; need pedestrian accommodation; developer should meet with Vly Rd neighbors; required waiver for bldg orientation is questionable.
TDE Voss: Project now reflects Bd comments & May 24th TDE comments (too bad we can’t have the TDE comments!).
LaCivita stated that clear cutting is allowed under a grading permit. This is contrary to town law which holds that no clearing can be done prior to final Planning Board approval. This strange reading of the law is why we have the Maxwell Village debacle, by the way.
Result: TABLED. Developer to return with better info and revised plan to lower density, height, impact.
3. Radtke Mixed Use: PDD Sketch Plan Review (so public comments were not welcome) TABLED
This project would rezone 23 plus acres of Single Family Residential actively farmed lands (which, under current zoning, would support approximately 40 single family residences) to allow 1. 204 apartments (7 buildings) & 61 assisted living/memory care units, 2. a long-planned connector road from Maxwell Rd roundabout to Aviation Drive, parallel to Wolf Rd. with developer “dedicating” 2 acres for this road.
TDE Grasso had many negative comments, as did PB members. PB unanimously disapproved of high density, inconsistency with neighborhood, height & orientation of buildings, density to add to area’s traffic congestion. Most favored Bickford assisted living/memory care proposal but not its proposed Albany-Shaker Rd access.
Among PB comments: Density “too full”, layout & height “unfriendly to Rustyville Rd neighbors”, “where is the public benefit justifying the PDD?”, design & density of apts is “over the top”, make these on-site wetlands an integral part of the design rather than a problem to overcome,
NB: If the “connector road” is necessary, that can be achieved without this dense and discordant development. There are ways, TOC!
4. Starlite Mixed Use “Public Hearing” Comments welcome.
Phases 1 & 2 would result in 1500 cars, 300,000 sq ft of office buildings, impacting 8 + acres of TN-11wetlands and buffer. A connector road between the Johnson Rd intersection and Rt 9 north of the Rt 9R intersection. (There will be more “Phases,” since Galesi owns 2 more contiguous parcels which are possibly inaccessible w/o the connector rd. AYCO, a Goldman Sachs subsidiary, is also seeking tax abatements and other public benefits from NYS and the TOC IDA (pretty cheeky, as one of the richest corporations ever!!!)
Probably in recognition of the “done deal” aspects of Starlite and the multiple hours of negative comments already expressed on Starlite, public comments this time were few and focused upon the obvious untenable traffic increases. SAVE members Tom Sorenson and Paula Weiss spoke about the terrible current congestion. Tom presented new data refuting the Creighton Manning data & revealing its shortcomings. He noted the problems for fire responders created by the plan to reroute and close off Old Loudon Rd access to Rt 9. Paula cited current backups, especially if the Northway was blocked, reminded PB of increased landfill truck traffic, and warned of the danger to school children from added traffic. Neighbor Tom Dembroski urged alternative sites without the obvious traffic impacts, challenged the rectitude of giving taxpayer subsidies to this project, urged requiring off-site parking and busses to the AYCO site.
No vote taken.