Posted on: 05/28/08 Ross Marvin, Spotlight Staff email: marvinr@spotlightnews.com
The Capital District Transportation Committee has detailed a number of improvements that could be made to the land and infrastructure off Route 5S in Rotterdam Junction, an area pinpointed by the town for future development and park space.
James Levy, a planner from Wilbur Smith Associates, presented the results of the eight-month land use and transportation study of commercial, residential, industrial use and undeveloped land from the Interstate 890 exit to the intersection of Mabie Lane at Route 5S to the Town Board on Wednesday, May 14, at the Rotterdam Junction firehouse.
Levy said several groups, including community members, Schenectady County, CDTC, the state Department of Transportation and the town of Rotterdam combined to make recommendations about the study area.
The CDTC’s executive summary includes a number of recommendations, including the realignment of an intersection at Lower Gregg Road and Route 5S, the addition of a sidewalk and grass strip to both sides of Route 5S between Mabie Lane and the Mohawk Bike-Hike Trail and provisions for improvements to the Mohawk Hudson Bike-Hike crossing over Route 5S.
Levy cited the “known safety issues at the bike crossing” on Route 5S as a primary concern. Seventy-three-year-old Alan Fairbanks was killed at the crossing in November 2006, and a group known as Friends of the Mohawk Hudson Bike-Hike Trail has campaigned for changes to the crossing ever since.
Levy said increased signage could be an interim step to improve safety and that various grant opportunities could help leverage funds for other safety improvements.
Levy also said that planners and engineers involved in the study saw the possibility for an expanded mixed-use office and residential district in Lower Rotterdam Junction.
“There’s the possibility of expanding a village concept out further from Rotterdam Junction as well,” said Levy.
Another suggested land use change surrounds the Baan Farm area immediately west of I-890.
Levy said the area could be rezoned into a Planned Business Development District due to its highway access and solid transportation infrastructure. The new district could allow for several types of uses, including agricultural, warehousing, transportation, freight and distribution facilities.
The study doesn’t only recommend development though.
CDTC recommends the inclusion of a river shoreline buffer in the area. The buffer would provide for an undisturbed area along the Mohawk River with potential public access.
“The land could be created as park space, passive area or open space,” said Levy.
Levy said the study provides recommendations for open space throughout the corridor by extending the undeveloped acreage adjacent to the river.
Supervisor Steven Tommasone said the area could also benefit from a $150,000 state Brownfield opportunities grant.
He said the grant could be used to increase historic tourism and increased park space in the area, especially along the river.
He cited the recent listing of Erie Canal Lock 23, off Rice Road on the National Register of Historic Places as a model site for future tourism in the area. You can contact marvinr@spotlightnews.com
Posted on: 05/27/08 Ross Marvin, Spotlight Staff email: marvinr@spotlightnews.com
The Rotterdam Planning Commission showed unanimous disapproval for a proposed project by Michael Marotta, whose property off Route 5S has been called an illegal junkyard for years.
The project, which calls for a special use permit to allow for a contractor shop and equipment yard on Marotta’s 4.8-acre parcel, will likely not get off the ground, given the planning commission comments on Tuesday, May 20.
Marotta did not attend the meeting, but was represented by Mark Blackstone, of Blackstone Land Surveyors.
Blackstone said Marotta’s petition for a special use permit stems from a court order earlier this year.
“(Mr. Marotta) is complying with directives,” said Blackstone, who was hired by Marotta on Monday, May 5, and said he did not have enough time to prepare a site plan for the commission. He said he was unaware how long the development of a site plan would take.
According to Blackstone, Marotta is attempting to “exhaust all approval processes to legitimize any use of his property on Route 5S” by pursuing a possible special use permit.
The court order stems from a town code violation cited in April. Marotta pled guilty to the violation and was ordered to clear the property by Monday, July 14, unless he could gain a special use permit from the planning commission.
Marotta currently uses the site to store various pieces of construction equipment and vehicles, including dump trucks and bulldozers.
Blackstone said that if the new site were approved, Marotta might not be the occupant of the site.
Blackstone said he was well aware of the uphill battle the project faced because of its location on a sensitive aquifer overlay area.
Planning Commission Chairman Larry DiLallo led the charge against the project, citing the potential public health ramifications of storing equipment above the Great Lakes Aquifer. DiLallo also labeled Marotta a “scofflaw” and said he would not be supportive of a potential site plan.
“This is something I’d like to just see go away,” said DiLallo.
His fellow board members agreed.
Commission Member Thomas Yuille said he’d been following the progress of the Marotta dump-site in the media, and had yet to hear a positive comment from the public or town officials about the recently proposed project.
“The only person that seems to be in favor of this project is Mr. Marotta himself,” said Yuille, who noted that Marotta had been cited by the town, Schenectady County and the Schenectady Watershed Board for violations of county health laws and watershed rules.
The planning commission also received letters, advising against the proposed project, from the Rotterdam Board of Fire Commissioners, the Friends of the Aquifer and Rotterdam’s Conservation Advisory Committee.
“We have been fighting to force Mr. Marotta to clean up his property since Jan. 12, 2006, when he hauled in truck load after truck load of junk from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.,” wrote Shawn Schultz, president of Friends of the Aquifer.
Marotta is expected to be sentenced in July for his town violation. The violation carries a maximum fine of $250 and up to 15 days in jail.
County Attorney Chris Gardner said the county is currently in litigation with Marotta, in an attempt to recoup nearly $17,000 in cleanup costs and fines stemming from violations of public health regulations.
Gardner said the county is also in the process of attempting to take control of Marotta’s property.
“We’re in court right now,” said Gardner last week. You can contact marvinr@spotlightnews.com
Mr. Marotta is a nice circus side show for now,,,,but the town has bigger fish to fry......as for Mr. Marotta---the answer is just plain NO,,,,CLEAN UP YOUR S#$% AND HERE IS ANOTHER FINE.......AFTER THE 3RD FINE THE STATE SHALL BE CONFISCATING YOUR 'THINGS'....KIND OF LIKE PARKING ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE STREET DURING SNOW REMOVAL TO THE CITIES AND TOWNS......YOU GET TO PAY TO GET YOUR STUFF OUT OF STORAGE......HAVE FUN......
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
Posted on: 06/11/08 Ross Marvin, Spotlight Staff email: marvinr@spotlightnews.com
In an attempt to move forward with the construction of a new water tank for Rotterdam Junction, the Rotterdam Town Board on Thursday, June 5, hired staff from Barton & Loguidice engineers to provide final design and public bidding services.
The board voted 3-to-0 to retain Barton & Loguidice for $86,800. Town Board members Michael Della Villa and Joe Signore were absent.
Supervisor Steven Tommasone said the funding for engineering services will come from unreserved funds budgeted in Water District 3.
As part of the final design, engineers will conduct topographic surveys, start the state’s environmental review process and prepare a map and plan.
Barton & Loguidice will also submit an informational package on the project to the SI Group board of directors on Tuesday, June 17. Tommasone said the SI Group board needs to take formal action to allow the tank to be built on company property off Route 5S.
The proposed tank would replace the deteriorating 200,000-gallon tank off Leggerio Lane, which currently serves water districts 3 and 4 in Rotterdam Junction and Pattersonville.
The current tank holds nearly 60,000 gallons less than the area’s daily usage, according to Clark Collins, water plant supervisor.
Collins said the new tank will also reduce pressure on the town’s water pipes and improve water pressure.
In a public meeting last month, staff from Barton & Loguidice unveiled preliminary plans for a 500,000-gallon, glass-fused-to-steel elevated water storage tank. The expandable tank would be built on a concrete pedestal.
An access road will need to be built to the tank, and a single water transmission main will need to be connected to the existing water main on Route 5S.
Cost estimates of the construction project total $2 million.
Tommasone said that if the town doesn’t act now, costs of construction could continue to rise.
Collins said the deteriorating tank is simply no longer reliable.
“Sooner or later, something bad is going to happen,” said Collins. “I’d much rather see the town build a tank where it’s in control of the costs.”
The project has the support of the entire town board, including lone Democrat John Silva, who said he felt confident with Collins’ recommendation that a new tank should be built.
Tommasone said he hopes development in Rotterdam Junction or potential cell phone towers on the tank could help defray the costs. He also said the town plans to dedicate connection fees toward lowering debt service of the project.
Public hearings for the project could begin this summer. If funding is approved construction could begin before year’s end, said Tommasone.
Public hearings for the project could begin this summer. If funding is approved construction could begin before year’s end, said Tommasone.
COULD??
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Bill inspired by Pattersonville junkyard case gets Assembly OK BY BOB CONNER Gazette Reporter
A bill toughening penalties for contamination of public drinking water supplies was passed by the Assembly Tuesday, after being approved by the Senate earlier this year. The bill was in part prompted by the frustration experienced by Schenectady County officials in dealing with an illegal junkyard on Route 5S in Pattersonville. The county Legislature and town of Rotterdam supported the bill, which was sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Hugh Farley, R-Niskayuna. Susan Savage, D-Niskayuna, chairwoman of the county Legislature, said the existing penalties are so low that there was no incentive for the property owner to cooperate with the county in cleaning up the site. The county did eventually take it over and is cleaning it up, she said. A Farley statement said the bill “was prompted by concerns over pollution of the Great Flats Aquifer in Schenectady County, which serves Schenectady, Glenville, Niskayuna, Rotterdam, and Scotia.” The legislation would subject polluters to civil fines of up to $200 per day for each violation, and would allow the courts to impose a $1,000 criminal penalty and up to a year in jail, along with reparations. “The previous penalty, a flat $200 fine, failed to deter polluters, who treated the penalty as a cost of doing business,” according to Farley’s statement. Another bill receiving final legislative passage Tuesday corrects a technical error in last year’s referendum on a $62 million rehabilitation of Amsterdam schools. Greater Amsterdam School District Superintendent Ron Limoncelli said the bond counsel failed to include in the language of last year’s proposition a reference to the fact that approval would mean the district would exceed its statutory bonding limit. The referendum passed, and Limoncelli said the error has not resulted in delays of the construction work. And the district’s credit rating remains strong, he said. But if the bill had not passed, Limoncelli said the district would have had to hold another referendum on the project, at a cost of $7,000 to $8,000. The bill’s Assembly sponsor is George Amedore, R-Rotterdam, whose spokesman, Matt Ossenfort, said the measure would likely be the first sponsored by the freshman assemblyman passed into law. Another bill passed by the Senate this week, and moving through the Assembly, would ease the way for a disabled Schenectady police detective to retire. The bill makes the detective, Michael Kelly, eligible for the state’s Optional Twenty Year Retirement Program. Kelly is currently not eligible to collect retirement benefits until he has served 30 years on the force, and is currently credited with 27 years. He has been out sick for most of the past three years, because his feet have been injured and infected as a result of diabetes. Under a prior contract agreement with the police union, Kelly is entitled to unlimited sick time. More recently hired officers in Schenectady are not entitled to unlimited sick time. The bill was approved Tuesday by the Assembly’s Governmental Employees Committee, and referred to the Ways and Means Committee. It had been requested by the city of Schenectady.
ROTTERDAM Replacement water tank project moving ahead BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter
Town officials advanced a new study aimed at completing the planning process for a new water tank in Rotterdam Junction. The Town Board agreed to hire Barton & Loguidice to prepare fi - nal design, engineering and bidding services for the proposed tank during an agenda meeting. Supervisor Steve Tommasone said the $86,800 study will complete all the planning to advance the project to replace the aging and inadequate tank off Leggerio Lane. Tommasone said board members are expected to declare the town as the lead agency in the project during their meeting next week. That will allow the town to schedule a public hearing on the project sometime in July or early August, after which board members would vote. "Then we'll begin funding the project through what reserves we have in the water districts," he said Wednesday. Tommasone said the new tank is expected to cost upwards of $2 million. Most of the cost is anticipated to be bonded through the districts to be served by the 520,000 gallon glass-lined tank. Officials from the SI Group are deciding where the tank would best fit on their manufacturing facility off Route 5S. "We're in discussions with the town to decide where to locate it right now," said SI Group Vice President William Scheffer. The recently approved water tank study is among four funded by the town since Conrady Consultant Services was paid $15,100 in 2003 to inspect all of Rotterdam's water infrastructure. "We found that there were some severe problems with our water tanks," Tommasone said of the Conrady study. The town has funded $23,000 worth of engineering studies to determine a type and location for the tank, excluding the most recent study. Tommasone said the studies are necessary to ensure the project is properly designed. "When the town has to approach an institution to borrow funds ... or where a bond is necessary, they're going to look for documentation to back up why we need to borrow those funds," he said.
The town has to spend money to do a study on every project it does or every development that's built because it doesn't have an engineer on their payroll. This town has spent enough money on studies in the last couple of years to hire 2 engineers.
Yes they probably could have hired 1 or 2 engineers with all the money spent on studies. But look at it this way....at least we won't be paying lifetime health and pension benefits for the private studies employees.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
The private studies people are making enough money off the studies that they do for the town to retire to a life of luxury. It all boils down to you can pay me now or you can pay me later but in the end we're going to pay. If we had a town engineer maybe some of the water problems that the town is facing could have been solved by the builder when the development was built.
The private studies people are making enough money off the studies that they do for the town to retire to a life of luxury. It all boils down to you can pay me now or you can pay me later but in the end we're going to pay. If we had a town engineer maybe some of the water problems that the town is facing could have been solved by the builder when the development was built.
That would depend on who's home they had pasta dinner at the night before.......
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
Let's study it further if you will. I wonder who is pushing for the studies of the water tank in the Junction? A developer or maybe M__ __zi's who own a ton of property there? Steve needs to wake up and get back to the roots of who he was back in the day when he was shining the light on Constantino and Deangelus and his crew, Now he tries to put off and delay each day further into the next.
Let's study it further if you will. I wonder who is pushing for the studies of the water tank in the Junction? A developer or maybe M__ __zi's who own a ton of property there? Steve needs to wake up and get back to the roots of who he was back in the day when he was shining the light on Constantino and Deangelus and his crew, Now he tries to put off and delay each day further into the next.
You hit that one right on the head. And if it is M__zi's...it should be stated as such.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Taking flight ROTTERDAM JUNCTION Society near deal to buy key parcel Historical group eyes land near Mabee Farm Gazette Reporter
For more than three centuries, the Mabee Farm has overlooked the banks of the Mohawk River. The view of the river from the farm’s rolling green fields and historic buildings is much as it was in Colonial times, and members of the Schenectady County Historical Society hope to keep it that way. The historical society offered $257,017 for 9.2 acres of surplus state Canal Corp. property on the Glenville side of the Mohawk. The group was the only one to put a bid on the property during a sealed-bid auction that ended this week. Historical society President Ed Reilly Jr. said the main goal in acquiring the property is to maintain the historical character of the land surrounding the Mabee Farm. Once the purchase is complete, he said the wooded land will likely be kept in its natural state. “That’s the reason we wanted it,” he said Wednesday. “It oversees the expanse we need to protect the principal view of the farm.” Reilly said the acquisition is also in accord with the directives set in the will of George Franchere, the Mabee descendant who deeded the farm to the historical society in 1993. Franchere’s will asks that the historical society acquire contiguous property near the farm whenever possible. Reilly said the Canal Corp. property was once part of the farm nearly a century ago. He said the state seized the land through eminent domain sometime after the barge canal was constructed in 1914. Canal Corp. Director Carmella Mantello said the canal board is expected to decide whether to accept the bid during its meeting in September. If accepted, the sale will also face review by the offices of the state comptroller and attorney general. “This process could take up to six months,” she said. Mantello said the minimum bid on the property was $240,000 when the Canal Corp. opened the auction last month. She said a developer had expressed interest in the property last year, but never submitted a bid. Developer Ray Marshall of Delmar pitched plans for a massive riverfront development on 46 acres near the Canal Corp. property in 2006. Called Glencove Harbor, the development was projected at 432 condominium units, 39 town houses, a marina, technology park, hotel and banquet hall, which would be located almost directly across the Mohawk from the Mabee Farm. Historical society officials and preservationists balked at the plans, fearing the construction would disturb the rural charm and serenity of the historic farm on Route 5S. The project also rests within the Mohawk River flood plain. Marshall’s original plan encompassed the piece of land the historical society is set to acquire. However, the developer has previously indicated the project could advance without that property, although it would have given him a contiguous stretch along the river. Glenville Planner Kevin Cocoran said the town hasn’t heard from Marshall in more than a year. He said Marshall has already acquired the 43-acre Gay Valley Airport, the 10-acre Elks Lodge property and 5 acres west of the airport. Part of the original project included Marshall purchasing two parcels of Canal Corp. land on either side of Washout Creek, one of which is now being bought by the historical society. Corcoran said the pending sale is likely to prompt a downscaling of Glencove Harbor, with specifi c regards to its marina. “It was certainly a big component of his project,” he said of the property. “It will certainly result in a down scaling.” Marshall did not return calls for comment Thursday. Reilly said funds for the purchase will be taken from a balance set aside for the historical society’s $2 million education center being planned on 27 acres recently acquired from Schenectady County. He said the historical society will continue to raise funds for the new construction while it is in planning. “Everything is in line for us to close on the property in about a month,” he said.
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