To the Editor:

We were very disappointed to read of interest Stewart’s may have in opening a shop within the hamlet of Berne. Three issues immediately come to mind:

— 1. The hamlet’s very limited historical “business” district at the intersection of routes 443 and 158 is not appropriate for a facility the size and scope of the typical Stewart’s Shop, and any other site within the hamlet would have a negative impact on existing homes in terms of increased traffic, glaring lights, noise, and odors;

— 2. The hamlet of Berne currently enjoys a wonderful small business — the Fox Creek Market. The Cecunjanin family serves great pizza and sandwiches, and provides a real contribution to our historic hamlet in terms of a place where people can stop by for a cup of coffee and greet friends. I am not intimately acquainted with the details of their profit margin, but they certainly don’t need competition from a corporate entity that does not provide any of those features, and would likely put them out of business;

— 3. Even more important than those issues though is the possible impact on the very viability of the hamlet because of the potential impact on the water supply. The houses in the hamlet of Berne are served by private wells. The water supply is limited, and alternative water sources are nonexistent. There are no plans on the part of the town of Berne to provide a municipal water supply to the hamlet, making the threat that the presence of a gas station and the potential gas spills, small or large, would present totally unacceptable.

While we expressed concerned about the potential effect on drinking water of a gas station in the hamlet 10 or more years ago when Stewart’s previously expressed interest in locating here, that concern has been exacerbated by the goings-on in Hoosick Falls.

We’ve watched that community pay a very high price for business profits, and residents suffer when the people they elected to look out for their best interests did everything but. We’d like very much to avoid repeating that scenario here in the hamlet of Berne.

Our family has been Stewart’s customers for many years, buying all of our gas, milk, ice cream, and many other items from their shops in Albany, Altamont, Delmar, Clarksville, Glenmont, Middleburg, New Scotland, and Schoharie. There is no shortage of handy Stewart’s Shops for us to patronize — we don’t need one in the hamlet of Berne!

Emilie D. Wright

Roger M. Wright

Berne
 

On Apr 28, 2017, at 4:37 PM, wrote: