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Town moves
ahead on water
tank project
    ROTTERDAM — Town officials approved another study to advance the project to build a new water tank in Rotterdam Junction.
    Board members OK’d a $5,700 contract with Barton & Loguidice last week to provide a base mapping, topography and boundary survey for the new tank. The study is the latest development in the town’s push to replace a decadesold tank off Leggerio Lane.
    Supervisor Steve Tommasone indicated the study is the next step in moving the project forward. He said the town is in final negotiations with a property owner to secure an ideal location for the tank.
    “It’s really just the next step and the tasks associated with siting the new tank,” he said Tuesday of the new study. “We’re not just spending more money.”
    Tommasone said the tank is estimated to cost between $1.5 million and $2 million. He anticipates the project will start sometime during the spring.
    In November, the engineering firm returned a study that determined an expandable ground-level tank built at the wellheads in Rot terdam Junction would be the best alternative and cost $1.37 million. However, due to a number of environmental circumstances, building a tank by the wellheads would require an investment of roughly $39,200 to maintain over a 30-year period.

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ROTTERDAM
Signs along river trail will educate about native plants
Rotary Club, artists offer help with project
BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter
Reach Gazette reporter Justin Mason at 395-3113 or jmason@dailygazette.net.

    Patrick Clear has a habit of picking up a few stragglers every time he teaches his Mohawk River Program in the spring.
    As part of his four-day class exploring the habitat along the Mohawk-Hudson Bike-Hike Trail, the executive director of the Environmental Clearinghouse of Schenectady sets up dozens of temporary signs along a one-mile stretch between Lock 8 and historic Lock 23 on the original Erie Canal. Each sign displays a picture and gives his fourth-grade students a brief description of the various plant species growing on the riverbanks, but also has the effect of luring a few curious hikers down the path.
    “I usually have a small group of people that follows along and read them when I put them up,” he said.
    Last year, Clear’s signs drew the attention of former county legislator Mike Iacobucci, who noticed the signs while on a walk with friends. After reading a few with great interest, Iacobucci was struck with an idea: Why not create tasteful signs that could be posted on the trail year round?
    “It’s very educational not only for children but for adults also,” he said. “A lot of these plants you’re not aware they are just growing wild.”
    Iacobucci and Clear are now leading an initiative to post 31 permanent signs marking species that are often unknown and undetected by people using the trail. Each of the 8-by-10-inch signs will feature a picture of the species drawn by local artists and a brief description of its place along the Mohawk.
    So far, Iacobucci said the effort has received support from the Sunshine Rotary Club, which will help raise roughly $3,200 needed. He said the signs will be made of “vandal-proof” material and mounted in areas of the trail near where the plants grow.
    “So not only can you look at the sign, but you can have an opportunity to look at the plant itself,” he said.
    Clear said artists Pauline Bono of Clifton Park, Pat Goodale of Saratoga Springs and Union College junior Reed Olsen volunteered to create color renditions from photographs.
    Clear said about 25 of the signs will identify plants native to the riverside, including bloodroot, a perennial flowering plant that is protected in New York; staghorn sumac, a deciduous shrub that produces berries with a tart lemon-like flavor, and stinging nettle, a nutrient-rich plant with a variety of applications in herbal medicine.
    Other signs will show some of the invasive species now causing problems for native plants. Clear said these include garlic mustard, wild honeysuckle and purging buckthorn.
    Once the signs are complete, Clear said the town of Rotterdam has agreed to help mount them along the trail. He said similar signs are placed along a small trail leading down to the river near the Rexford Bridge.
    “Only this is a much longer stretch in an area that gets much much more use,” he said.
    Once the signs are in place this spring, Iacobucci is planning an outreach effort to local schools and youth groups so they are aware of the resource. He hopes the sign will raise awareness of the Mohawk ecosystem among both youth and adults.
    “This will actually bring people to see what the canal has to offer,” he said.

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Workshop set
tonight on use
of Exit 26 land
    ROTTERDAM — Officials from the town and Capital District Transportation Committee will host their second Exit 26 land-use and transportation workshop tonight.
    The workshop will again be hosted at the Rotterdam Junction Fire Department on Main Street, starting at 7 p.m. The committee is developing guidelines to help enhance the multimodal potential of the area.
    The scope of this study includes the area bordered by the Mohawk River to the east; the state Thruway to the west; Mabie Lane to the north and undeveloped land just south of the Exit 26 interchange ramps. Located within the study area is a portion of Route 5S, the Mohawk-Hudson Bike Trail and the Kiwanis Park.
    Consultants will present proposed changes and collect comments from residents and interested parties. These comments will be used to make any necessary changes and then ultimately finalize the proposed changes for inclusion in the study area plan.

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Owner of Pattersonville property cited again
Thursday, March 6, 2008
By Justin Mason (Contact)
Gazette Reporter


Photographer: Meredith Kaiser
A truck and several trailers sit Wednesday on property along Route 5S in Pattersonville owned by Michael Marotta of Rotterdam Junction. marotta was recently cited by the town of Rotterdam for allegedly violating its ordinance regarding outdoor storage and junk on properties.

PATTERSONVILLE — Michael Marotta is facing new legal troubles regarding the condition of his property on Route 5S.
Town Attorney Patrick Saccocio said Marotta was cited under Rotterdam’s ordinance governing the outside storage of junk and vehicle. The violation carries a maximum fine of up to $250 and up to 15 days in prison.
Saccosio said the town documented a number of noncompliant items on the vacant land, including trailers, unregistered vehicles and mechanical parts. He said the violation didn’t include any offense against county Intermunicipal Watershed Board regulations.
In January, Marotta pleaded no guilty to the offense and is scheduled to reappear in April, town court officials indicated. Andrew Healey, Marotta’s attorney of record, could not reached today.
For nearly two years, the town and the county have wrangled with Marotta over the use and condition of his vacant property, located near the intersection of routes 5S and 160. Both the county Health Department and Intermunicipal Watershed Board filed charges against Marotta, saying the old machinery and vehicles stored on it could pose a threat to a sensitive recharge area of the Great Flats Aquifer.
Schenectady County officials are moving ahead with a lawsuit against Marotta, intended to allow them to lease out a portion of his land to recoup roughly $15,000 in fees incurred from a cleanup of the property in May. The county is also in the midst of foreclosing on three properties owned by Marotta adjacent to his blighted land.
“We’re going forward with our actions,” County Attorney Chris Gardner said Thursday.

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ROTTERDAM
Landowner cited over junk on property
County cleaned parcel last summer; neighbors upset
BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter

Michael Marotta is facing new legal troubles regarding the condition of his property off Route 5S in Pattersonville.
    Town Attorney Patrick Saccocio said the landowner was cited under Rotterdam’s ordinance governing the outside storage of junk and vehicles. The violation carries a maximum fine of up to $250 and up to 15 days in prison.
    Saccocio said the town documented a number of noncompliant items on the vacant land, including trailers, unregistered vehicles and mechanical parts. He said the violation didn’t include any offense against the county Intermunicipal Watershed Board regulations.
    In January, Marotta pleaded not guilty to the offense and is scheduled to reappear in April, town court officials indicated. Andrew Healey, Marotta’s attorney of record, could not be reached for comment Thursday.
    For more than two years, the town and the county have wrangled with Marotta over the use and condition of his vacant property, located near the Route 160 intersection with Route 5S. Both the county Health Department and watershed board filed charges against Marotta, citing that the old machinery and vehicles stored on it could pose a threat to a sensitive recharge area of the Great Flats Aquifer.
    County officials funded a $15,000 cleanup of the property last summer and have since filed a lawsuit against Marotta to recoup the cost under a seldom-used provision of public health law. If successful, the county would assume control of Marotta’s land and then lease it to a third party until they could recover their money.
    County Attorney Chris Gardner said the case should be resolved or go to trial later this month. He said the county is also intending to seize three of Marotta’s other properties near the blighted land for unpaid taxes.
    “We’re going forward with our actions,” he said Thursday.
    Gardner said the county Legislature will consider a resolution Tuesday in support of a state law strengthening penalties for violations that threaten water supplies. Shawn Schultz, a neighbor of the property and a member of Friends of the Aquifer, said the steady procession of junk moving onto Marotta’s land hasn’t stopped. She said Marotta brings the trailers in late at night and then leaves them for months at a time.
    “These are not things coming in and out,” she said. “These are things that have been there for months and months.”
    Since the fall, Schultz and members of her organization have logged the steady movement of trailers onto the property and submitted the lists to the town. She said at least eight trailers are now on the property.
    “He just brought one in three days a go,” she said. “It’s just mind boggling.”

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Isn't it just amazing how the powers to be will go for the jugglar of a private citizen when it comes to protecting the aquifer, and yet just ride down Campbell Road and look at all of the past and present developments APPROVED by the past and present powers to be. AMAZING!!

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Both the county Health Department and watershed board filed charges against Marotta, citing that the old machinery and vehicles stored on it could pose a threat to a sensitive recharge area of the Great Flats Aquifer.

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Gardner said the county Legislature will consider a resolution Tuesday in support of a state law strengthening penalties for violations that threaten water supplies. Shawn Schultz, a neighbor of the property and a member of Friends of the Aquifer, said the steady procession of junk moving onto Marotta’s land hasn’t stopped. She said Marotta brings the trailers in late at night and then leaves them for months at a time.
    “These are not things coming in and out,” she said. “These are things that have been there for months and months.”
    Since the fall, Schultz and members of her organization have logged the steady movement of trailers onto the property and submitted the lists to the town. She said at least eight trailers are now on the property.
    “He just brought one in three days a go,” she said. “It’s just mind boggling.”