GUILDERLAND — For more than three decades, this growing suburban town on the edge of Albany has had plans that define open space and means of traveling. Now, Guilderland is involving the public as it works with a group of University at Albany graduate students to shape its parks and trails.

The first of two sessions was held at the town hall on Monday night. About two score people listened as Supervisor Peter Barber said the town is interested in the “connections between where people live and where they want to go — without cars.”

“You always want to understand what’s been done,” Kate Maynard told the crowd; she teaches master-degree students in the geography and planning studio course at the University at Albany. In their final semester of a two-year program, the students are working for the town of Guilderland to understand more than a dozen town plans — made from 1987 to  2018 — to see what is still relevant.

“Here we are in 2020 … What’s new?” asked Maynard. “What makes sense for current times? … It’s conceptual in nature.”

Maynard is the director of planning and economic development for the Capital District Regional Planning Commission. She called the master’s program at the University at Albany “really a very professional planning program designed to prepare students in both philosophical and policy matters.”

The students are working with the town of Guilderland, she told The Enterprise, without pay but their many hours are being logged so that the town can use that information when applying for grants to bring their recommendations to reality.

The students are working with town staff and stakeholders to review and integrate existing neighborhood studies; to inventory existing open space, park, and trail locations; to identify potential on-road and off-road connections to open space, parks, and trails; to identify opportunities for walking and bike trails; and to assess connections to points of interest.

In presenting a long list of parks and open spaces that the students are assessing, one of them, Shannon Clark, told the crowd, “We’re kind of the advocate for our own parks and open spaces.”

Nathan Seper told The Enterprise he had explored the town’s Vosburgh trail. “It’s a good trail but not pedestrian-friendly enough,” he said. “There’s nowhere to park to reach it; you have to walk a mile with no sidewalk.”

Clark said that trails could connect not just to parks but to “points of interest” like schools or shops, the library or the YMCA.

“That’s something you all have to tell us … ,” Clark told those in the gallery, so that the trails can connect residents “to everyday needs.”

“It’s our legacy work,” Clark said of providing town staff with “scope-related deliverables.”

Public response

After the presentation, residents were encouraged to circulate around the perimeter of the meeting hall to make their views known. A large white sheet of paper was blank so they could write “what you want for trail amenities,” explained one of the students, Greg  Isoldi.

He encouraged residents to put stickers on the maps at the back of the room to indicate the trails they liked.

“Feel free to mark those maps up,” said Clark.

“Place a dot if you feel it’s still a priority in 2020,” said Maynard.

“We hike, we bike, we have kids,” said Guilderland resident Theresa Smolen of her reasons for attending Monday’s session. She told The Enterprise, “It would be nice to have more recreational trails and green space. A lot of apartment buildings are going in.”

Developers creating large projects in Guilderland often agree to put in sidewalks or paths to help them get their projects approved.

“What disturbs me about the maps,” Guilderland resident Brian Ladd told The Enterprise, “is that the paths are all going to parks. That implies they are only for recreational use. They should be going to schools and businesses.”

Cyclist Bert Schow of McKownville said that Guilderland has only a few traffic corridors and those corridors have, in recent years, become “so backed up” with traffic that it makes it hard for bicyclists to navigate.

“I took my training in Manhattan,” he said, indicating that, while he may be able to cope with the traffic barriers in town, it is more difficult for others.

Since there are so few feeder roads in Guilderland, he said, the side roads are now starting to fill up, with traffic coming from surrounding towns, too.

“The traffic barriers are only going to increase,” he concluded.

Super’s view

Supervisor Barber said that the town, through a patchwork of projects over 20 years, has built a “pretty extensive network” of trails.

“Our goal,” he said, “is to make it a more walkable community.”

Barber highlighted upcoming changes, such as a roundabout that will be built at Carman Road and Lydius Street, with a sidewalk going to nearby Pine Bush Elementary School. Town Planner Kenneth Kovalchik also noted there will be a sidewalk going from Carman Road to Lynnwood Elementary School.

“We’re constantly looking to get money for sidewalks,” said Barber, complimenting the town’s grant writer, Donald Csaposs, with the success he’s had doing that over the years.

Asked about the timeline on the trails project, Barber told The Enterprise that the students’ work would end with their semester, in May.

“We’ll have the recommendations then,” he said. Some will be easy for the town to carry out, he said, giving the example of trail signs, which the planners call “wayfinding.” Clark called this “low-hanging fruit,” meaning it would be easy for the town to install trail signs.

The students’ study and recommendations, Barber said, “will give us a good framework to apply for grants.”

When asked how likely it is that residents of a suburban community like Guilderland will give up their cars to walk or bike, even if bike paths and trails are provided, Barber said, “You’re already seeing it at CDTA bus stops. Bikes are attached to the front or rear of buses. They call it ‘the last mile.’ With global warming, people are biking to transit centers and then riding their bikes to work when they get off the bus.”

Barber is most excited about an upcoming project that will build sidewalks along Route 20, Guilderland’s busiest thoroughfare, to the public library.

“I’ve seen people in wheelchairs and pushing strollers on the goat paths leading to the library,” he said.