To the Editor:

I can appreciate Supervisor Peter Barber’s desire to have business as usual, but at this time of a global pandemic crisis when literally all non-essential businesses are shut down by government mandate in New York as well as around the world and people are obsessed with how to survive it both financially and without catching it and possibly dying themselves, it is by definition not a time to for business as usual.

Indeed, our own local town of Guilderland government is not operating as usual. I know because I tried to reach Supervisor Barber and Town Planner Ken Kovalchik by phone on Thursday, March 26, when the Pyramid Companies were illegally clear-cutting trees on the site for the yet-to-be-approved Costco.

If you need further proof, all town meetings have been canceled since March 11 and the town board meeting and public hearing scheduled to be held virtually on April 7, limiting public participation to a remote call-in system, has been canceled and postponed to April 21; presumably also held virtually, limiting public participation to a remote call-in system. Indeed currently all town meetings are now canceled until the week of April 21 and it will remain to be seen if the town can still open for “business as usual” then.

Yet somehow the Pyramid company was able to notify the town that it intended to violate the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act in order to avoid additional environmental laws that would go into effect on April 1.

Section 6 NYCRR 617.3(a) of the New York State SEQRA prohibits any physical alteration and the regulation definitions at 6 NYCRR 617.2(ac) clearly says “Physical alteration includes, but is not limited to, the following activities: vegetation removal, demolition, stockpiling materials, grading and other forms of earthwork, dumping, filling or depositing, discharges to air or water, excavation or trenching, application of pesticides, herbicides, or other chemicals, application of sewage sludge, dredging, flooding, draining or dewatering, paving, construction of buildings, structures or facilities, and extraction, injection or recharge of resources below ground.”

Clearly it was the Pyramid company’s intention to violate the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act in order to avoid additional environmental laws that would go into effect on April 1 until Oct. 31 each year to protect Northern Long Eared Bats as can be seen by the notice and explanation for the tree cutting posted on the town’s website on March 26 at 10:17 a.m.

On that page is “Tree Clearing Report” from B. Laing Associates dated March 24. I don’t know when this was received by the town, but obviously it was sometime before March 26 at 10:17 a.m., yet the town did nothing to stop Pyramid until it issued a temporary cease-and-desist order in the afternoon on March 27 — a full day later — and the irreversible damage was already done.

It is the quintessential example of “too little, too late.”

The actions of the town beg the questions:

— Who put the notice on the town website and when was it received by the town?

— When did Supervisor Barber, the Guilderland Town Planner Ken Kovalchik, and Guilderland Chief Building and Zoning Inspector Jacqueline Coons learn of the clear cutting?

— Why did none of them act sooner to stop this illegal activity?

— Isn’t it their job, indeed their responsibility, to know the regulations of SEQRA and unbiasedly enforce them when they are violated?

— How can the residents of Guilderland believe that they are getting an unbiased SEQRA review by the planning board under these circumstances, especially when the board is advised by the town planner?

— What, if anything, will be done to remedy the problems this incident exposes?

At the very least, it is time for the Guilderland Planning Board to relinquish its role as lead agency for the SEQR process and turn it over Albany County or the DEC who was the lead agency when Crossgates was originally built.

The size of this development is nearly as large as that original project, which was not revealed until after the Guilderland Planning Board had already assumed lead-agency status when “the only thing” being proposed was a large-scale apartment complex on 19 arces of land designated for partial protection by the Albany Pine Bush Preserve Commission.

Now we have about 46 acres to be developed including the Costco regional attraction and its gas station in a sensitive environmental area being considered.

Other measures should be considered as well when we know the answers to the questions I listed above.

To add insult to injury, Governor Andrew Cuomo issued another mandate on March 27 shutting down all non-essential construction. Had this order come out two days earlier, we would still have a small forest on the corner of Rapp Road and Western Avenue.

Thank you for providing me the opportunity to share these additional thoughts on top of all the coverage you have already given to the issue and if your readers want to help support the fight for a fair process I would direct them to www.RappRoadGoFundMe.com for more information and to make a donation.

Steve Wickham

Steering Committee Chair

Guilderland Coalition

For Responsible Growth

Editor’s note: Supervisor Peter Barber responded, through email, to the list of questions: “Neither Ken nor Jackie are available and I’m almost here alone.  Here’s what I know about the incident. A day before the tree cutting, Ken and Jackie became aware of Pyramid’s plan to cut certain trees at the Costco site. Pyramid said that DEC regulations intended to protect the long-eared bats required the cutting before April 1st.

“Despite the COVID-19 shutdown, both independently reached the local DEC permitting office who said that the tree cutting alone (no removal of stumps or the felled trees) was allowed under DEC regulations during the Planning Board’s review of the Draft Environmental Impact Study. One or both informed Pyramid of DEC’s limits and obtained a copy of the B. Laing arborist report and a delineation of the area. Ken was able to quickly publish the news, arborist report, and map on the town website which was sent to email subscribers.”