Former nursing home site proposed as park BY MICHAEL GOOT Gazette Reporter
Land that at one point was proposed for a new county nursing home would be protected as forever wild under legislation proposed by Schenectady County Legislature Chairman Susan Savage. Savage seeks to dedicate as parkland the open space adjacent to Glendale Home on Hetcheltown Road. County officials had originally considered constructing a new home elsewhere on the county property. However, neighbors were concerned about the loss of open space, which is used as walking trails and a sledding hill. The fields are also home to turkey, deer, birds and other wildlife. An organization calling itself Save the Indian Kill Field spoke out at various county and town meetings. Then, Savage on Aug. 25 announced that the county would not be building the new nursing home at the site because of engineering challenges. Among the sites being considered are a piece of county-owned land near the airport and the vacant Curry Road shopping plaza. Following the announcement, neighbors said they were still worried the county land surrounding Glendale could be developed some day and lobbied for it to be permanently protected. Kathleen Collar, one of the neighbors, said Thursday she had heard about Savage’s proposal and hoped that the efforts of the residents were part of the reason for its introduction. “I’m just very encouraged by it. I applaud the legislation,” she said. She had invited Savage to a neighborhood meeting next week. “We’d like to find out the details of the legislation and a little more about the process,” she said. Other county legislators, however, had not heard about the idea. “I guess there’s no transparency in our Legislature any more,” said Legislator Jim Buhrmaster, R-Glenville. “It’s good news but it’s sad news that it’s done without our knowledge at all.” Buhrmaster said he and his Glenville Republican colleague Robert Farley have been listening to the concerns of the neighbors and told them they were happy to introduce legislation to preserve the land. “Obviously, [Savage] jumped on that realizing that she has a political storm in that part of Glenville,” Buhrmaster said.
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