Carman Road condos"
Board waits on re-zone hearing



GUILDERLAND — A developer asked the town board Tuesday for a public hearing to discuss his plans to build condominiums at 3633 Carman Road. The town board, however, asked Zelindo Viscussi for more details before it sets a public hearing.

Viscussi wants to re-zone the land from General Business to Multi-Family Residential.

In comments to the town board, town planner Jan Weston wrote that Viscussi’s proposal for six units per acre seems appropriate. But, she said, the board should be provided with greater details about the project.
"A more imaginative and detailed site plan should be submitted," Weston wrote.

Joe Bianchine, of ABD Engineering, told the board of Viscussi’s plans. He wants to re-zone 13 acres to Multi-Family Residential and build condominiums with 78 housing units, Bianchine said, taking up slightly less than six units per acre.

A condominium association will take care of maintenance of green space and roadways, Bianchine said. The development will have two entrances, one on Carman Road and one on Lone Pine Road, he said.

Three acres in front of the project will remain zoned as General Business, Bianchine said. Viscussi wants to build businesses there such as a bank and a flower shop, he said.

A proposal came to the town board for this area a few years ago, said Councilman David Bosworth. Many neighbors were explicit about their opposition to development, he said.
"This is less dense," Bianchine said.

Still, Bosworth said, neighbors had concerns about lighting, traffic, and other issues.

Viscussi is trying to reach out to nearby residents, Bianchine said. Later, one neighbor told the board that he has concerns with this project.
Supervisor Kenneth Runion suggested that Bianchine and Viscussi meet with Weston to discuss her concerns. Runion didn’t want to schedule a public hearing yet, he said, "because neighbors see a public hearing and think it’s a done deal."

Councilwoman Patricia Slavick asked Bianchine to also create a rendering of the condominiums.
"The board would like you to do a little more work before you come back to schedule a public hearing," Runion said.

Bianchine and Viscussi agreed.

Engineers to review reservoir

Also at Tuesday’s meeting, the board agreed to hire the engineering firm Barton & Loguidace to review the city of Watervliet’s proposal to raise the level of the Watervliet Reservoir.

The reservoir is Guilderland’s main source of drinking water. Watervliet is asking for permission to put a gate on the Normanskill dam to raise the water level a few feet.

By doing this, the amount of water in the reservoir will more than double, from 1.7 billion to 3.5 billion gallons, Jim Besha, president of Albany Engineering Corporation, told The Enterprise earlier.

After the project is complete, the city will have more water to sell to other municipalities, like Bethlehem, New Scotland, and Duanesburg, Besha said.

The Enterprise reported on the reservoir project in detail in April. Then, environmental activists Thadeus Ausfeld and Charles Rielly said that the reservoir should be dredged and cleaned up, before more water is added to the supply.

Ausfeld and Rielly co-chair the restoration advisory board, founded years ago by the Army Corps of Engineers to advise on the cleanup of the old Army depot in Guilderland Center, which had used the Black Creek to remove waste; the creek feeds the reservoir.

Ausfeld, who runs Guilderland’s water-treatment plant, also worried that raising the reservoir will add more pollutants to the water supply. He says this will cost Guilderland because it has to purify the water before it can be piped to Guilderland homes and businesses.

Besha told The Enterprise then that the reservoir is not polluted and is "one of the cleanest water bodies." Many more studies will be conducted before the project begins, he said.

Besha told the town board earlier that, in September, public hearings and information sessions will be held to discuss the project.

Other business

In other business, the board:

— Transferred $18,000 from the town’s assessment revaluation reserve account to pay for the 2005 revaluation;
— Agreed to install "No Parking" signs in a cul-de-sac on Sandpine Lane, as recommended by the town’s traffic safety committee;

— Awarded a bid for burner service and agreed to re-bid for diesel fuel and heating oil, as recommended by the town’s highway department superintendent;

— Authorized the superintendent of the town’s transfer station to take bids for the sale of a surplus tub grinder, at a minimum of $10,000, and for a utility truck;

— Appointed Bonnie Jean Johnson as a full-time paramedic and John Brayer as a part-time paramedic;

— Authorized warrant adjustments for 3124 East Lydius St. and 10 New Karner Road; and

— Appointed Thomas Roberts as the Democratic party representative for voting machines for this year’s election.