GUILDERLAND — A frequent critic of the Black Creek Run development proposal, Michael Moak, who lives next door, recently took the town board to task for a last-minute rescheduling of a public hearing due to be held on the project.

Supervisor Peter Barber said early in the Aug. 19 Guilderland Town Board meeting that, when the board scheduled the public hearing in June, “I didn’t check to see what people’s availability, schedules, and vacations were. Unfortunately, I had a couple of staff members who were really working on other things, including grants and the [comprehensive] plan.” 

The board rescheduled the hearing for Sept. 16.

Barber told The Enterprise by email on Aug. 21 that  “the public hearing's postponement was posted on the website on Thursday,” Aug. 14.

Black Creek Run, which has been in development in one iteration or another for a decade and a half,  is now envisioned as a 46-unit Country Hamlet: eight twin townhouses, 24 single-family homes, and 14 senior apartments.

Located on 34.8 acres in a Rural Agricultural District across School Road from the Guilderland High School, about 60 percent of the land — much of it unbuildable due to wetlands — would be conveyed to the town. 

The Guilderland Town Board is the lead agency for all Country Hamlet project applications. When the proposal was before the town board in June, multiple council members were critical that more changes hadn’t been made.

Matthew Falvey, vice president of development for Rosetti, told board members at the time that “we’ve done our best” to address neighbors’ concerns.

The proposed stormwater basin, which had been planned to be adjacent to Heidi and Michael Moak’s farm on Cerruti Road, has been “pushed as far away” as possible, Falvey said.

Moak, whose project concerns The Enterprise has been documenting for at least a decade, has in the past expressed worries that the new development could further increase the possibility of flooding, which already happens with a regular rainfall. 

“So what is the difference between the presentation you’ve made to us previously versus the wetland delineations you’ve shown here on this map?” Councilman Jake Crawford asked on June 17, and went back and forth with project engineer Nicholas Costa more than half-a-dozen times, trying to get an answer to the question.

On Aug. 19, Moak noted that Black Creek Run’s public hearing had been scheduled during that June 17 meeting, and that “over the subsequent two months, it became apparent to me that the residents of Guilderland Center were unaware of the impending hearing.”

Moak said he “decided to take matters into my own hands as I felt this was an issue that demanded public awareness.” He said that he put together an information packet, had several copies printed out, and hand-delivered them to 75 homes in Guilderland Center.

Moak focused on residences that would be most affected by the development, he said, in particular those near the high school as well as homes along the Black Creek. 

“Occasionally, I had the opportunity to speak with my neighbors face-to-face and, without exception, none of them were aware that this development was back on the table, and no one knew of the upcoming public hearing,” Moak said.

He encouraged people to attend the public hearing, including in his packet the time, date, and place of the hearing. 

Moak then read through to the board the legal notice for the hearing. “Let me emphasize one part,” he said. It says ‘will be held,’ not ‘is scheduled to be held,’ or ‘might be held.’”

Moak said there’s “no link advising people to check the agenda prior to the meeting to confirm that the hearing will, in fact, be held. Instead, just a few days prior to the hearing, it simply disappears from the agenda without explanation.”

A version of the agenda sent to subscribers of the town’s email alerts on Aug. 14 does not contain an agenda item for the public hearing.

An email alert that went out Saturday, Aug. 19, and was titled “August 19, 2025 Updated Town Board Agenda” included an item that said, “At 7:15pm Public hearing on the proposed Black Creek Run Country Hamlet (postponed and to be rescheduled for Tuesday, September 16 at 7pm).”

Concluding his remarks to the board, Moak said, “Civic engagement is a virtue to be encouraged. Instead, this experience may discourage many people from attending any hearings in the future. Perhaps that was the intent all along.”