NEW SCOTLAND — At a recent New Scotland Town Board meeting, members approved a $279,243 payment voucher for Hilton Barn roof contractor Mid-State Industries.

 “They say 83.28-percent complete,” Councilman William Hennessy said during the Jan. 12 meeting of the barn’s new slate roof. “Whereas they’re really more like probably 90-percent done. They only have another about five [square] feet of roofing to go from top to down before they’ll be complete with this project.”

In 2016, the town saved the massive historic barn when a developer was going to tear it down, by moving it across Route 85A. Joseph Hilton had Frank Osterhout build the barn on his New Scotland farm in 1888. Parkland now surrounds the barn, which is adjacent to Albany County’s popular Helderberg-Hudson Rail Trail.

The barn’s roof — slate like the original it’s replacing — is costing about $513,5oo, approximately $61,000 over the project’s original cost. 

Mid-State has about $107,000 left on its contract. 

The $61,000 change order, Hennessy explained, was due to unforeseen additional structural improvements that had to be made once the original roof was taken off; deterioration to what Hennessy, an engineer by training, called structural members. Those structural members had to be repaired or replaced, he said.

Hennessy said the $60,000 extra is part of the budget for the $1-plus million project. “It’s all part of that,” Hennessy told The Enterprise. “We have some contingency funds in there and the availability to utilize town forces for part of our share of the work so we can save money that way, toward the overall project budget.”

Hennessy said Highway Superintendent Ken Guyer and his crew will be able to do the site work for a skating rink and final construction of the trail network in addition to other site improvements such as the grading for an amphitheater and an additional parking area at the curve of Maple Avenue.

As for what will go in the barn, Hennessy said the town continues to receive inquiries from cafés and “similar type uses.”

During a candidates’ forum this past October, Democrats touted the barn as a destination for a microbrewery or distillery, but Hennessy, a Democrat, said, “We are restricted to certain recreational uses because of the grant we did get with the state, but cafés and restaurant-type uses are OK, because those are consistent with recreational and park facilities throughout the state.”

A microbrewery or distillery had never been proposed or inquired about, he said. Hennessy did say there are certain adjacent activities — like a tasting room — that are acceptable under the grant, but the town hasn’t pursued them. 

The goal for this year is to get the inside of the barn built-out so the public can get a view of the interior, he said, but as for having a business in place in 2022, Hennessy couldn’t say. 

Voorheesville to annex part of New Scotland

The town received a petition for the annexation of territory from New Scotland to the village of Voorheesville. 

The area in question involves a few parcels of land in the West Street area “that are struggling with water… And the only way that they can get water financially is to be a part of the village, and the village will run the main and provide it,” Supervisor Douglas LaGrange said during the Jan. 12 town board meeting. The village already plows West Street for the town, he added. 

The properties looking to become part of the village are 44 West St., 50 West St., 51 West St., and 101 Altamont Road.  

A joint public hearing on the petition will take place on Jan. 24.

New contract for planner

On Jan. 11, the board approved an agreement with its consulting planner, Nan Stolzenburg, for a sum not to exceed $60,000. 

The spring retirement announcement of New Scotland’s code-enforcement officer led to rare dissent among town board members over who should be helping with the direction of the town’s future planning and zoning. 

At issue for the board was whether to continue to allow the town’s building  inspector, Jeremy Cramer, to handle all things planning and zoning and hire a full-time replacement for the retiring Jeff Pine, or to make Pine’s post part-time and hire the town’s first professional planner on a part-time basis, which is what the board ultimately chose to do. 

In June, the town hired two part-time code-enforcement officers to take over for Pine — Lance Moore, who had been Altamont’s code-enforcement officer and building inspector, and Timothy Lippert, Rensselaerville’s building inspector. A few months later, the board decided to make its longtime consultant planner, Stolzenburg, a contractor. 

Agreement for sewer 

The board approved an agreement to extend sewer service to the new 3.2-acre development project on Route 85A called the Grove At Maple Point, which is located between Fred the Butcher and Stonewell Plaza.

The town initially had an agreement to extend the water district, “which has now been accomplished,” town attorney Michael Naughton said on Jan. 11. And the Grove had originally planned to use an on-site septic system, Naughton said, but that plan has since changed and the town has agreed to extend the sewer district.

The project was given conditional approval by the planning board in September 2017, with its building permit renewed for a third time this past September. Originally proposed in 2o16 as a mixed-use development with 30 apartment units and 16,000 square feet of retail space, the project was scaled back, leaving the retail intact. 

Contracts for fire and ambulance

Board members signed off on agreements with Onesquethaw Volunteer Fire Company for fire protection services for $276,350 and ambulance services for $52,367, and with the New Salem Volunteer Fire Department for fire protection services for $312,000.