To the Editor:

Thank you for your continuing news coverage of the Pyramid Corporation's proposed 220-unit residential project in the Pine Bush ecosystem in Guilderland. Like any large project, this one should be subject to a full environmental impact statement and the Town of Guilderland, as lead agency, should require it.  Mandating preparation of an EIS allows for greater public inclusion in the review process, a more complete record, and a more transparent review.

Important issues to be analyzed in the EIS include traffic and air pollution, noise, which plants and animals now live on the property each month of the year, impacts a project this size would have on lands already preserved, and that the project site is in the Pine Bush.

I favor inclusion of this site in the protected zones of the Pine Bush. Preserving this site will retain a plant and wildlife corridor and prevent fracturing the Pine Bush Preserve into segments that hastens the demise of plants and animals.

I oppose granting any industrial development agency tax breaks. Pyramid is a wealthy corporation. When tax subsidies are provided to those who clearly do not need them, unnecessary tax increases occur for everyone else. Local taxes are high enough now.

Tom Ellis

Albany