To the Editor:
It’s not the Hunger Games. At least it shouldn’t be.

And sadly, that was my takeaway from the Guilderland Town Board public hearing on Tuesday night, Aug. 17, outlined in the article “Amendment approval paves way for affordable senior housing in town” in the Aug. 19 edition of The Enterprise.

There was a definitive feel that what was playing itself out was a competition between community concerns.

In one corner, there was affordable senior housing. It is heartening that there is more serious recognition of the insufficiency of affordable housing in Guilderland. For many of us, this is preaching to the choir.

For every luxury/market-value development project that has glutted this town over the recent years, targeting all age demographics including seniors, there has been an outcry demanding greater proof of need in the absence of affordable options.

And the patented response has been, “Market value means affordable.” Bravo that there has now been an awakening that Guilderland’s market value couldn’t be further from what corresponds to an actual definition of affordable.

In another corner, insufficient options for our elderly population with challenges to their self-sufficiency. Ensuring that they are provided a place to continue to engage actively in the community, not just exist in place.

In Guilderland, we are additionally charged with a unique challenge not faced by other communities — that of protecting and sustaining a nationally recognized landmark and natural resource, the Pine Bush. Yet another corner.

Many of the town board members seemed genuinely to be grappling with the intricacies of the multifaceted aspects of what was being put before them. Councilperson Paul Pastore had a lengthy discourse with Lynne Jackson of Save the Pine Bush.

Councilperson Rosemary Centi spoke from a personal perspective in being as insistent as she could be to garner that the continuum-of-care phase of the project be actualized. Councilperson Laurel Bohl spoke of a genuine struggle reflective of all of the concerns, before issuing her opinion.

What was disquieting to me in the conveyance of his opinion on moving forward by Supervisor Peter Barber, was the call to singular immediacy in the face of all else.

In point of fact, this Pine Bush Senior Living Facility is not the same as the one that was originally proposed in 2015 and which garnered a change of zoning approval to permit its construction in 2017.

The residents that will be its inhabitants now will be, of greater proportion, a population with limitations on their mobility. The revised reduction in resident parking capacity speaks directly to that fact.

This is not a facility that is ready to open its doors. It hasn’t even received the funding that will enable it financially to proceed.

Under those conditions, wouldn’t it have been prudent to take a moment to reassess the suitability of this particular location as optimal for residents who have a need for ease of accessibility? No, it’s not just about the number of beds.

In the city of Amsterdam, a project very similar to what is now being proposed as the Pine Bush Senior Living Facility recently broke ground. Coordinated by the New York State Homes and Community Renewal Program (the same as is now coordinating the Pine Bush project), the mayor designated vacant and blighted structures on Amsterdam’s East Main Street to be torn down to make way for a three-story, 62-unit building.

Derelict properties in Guilderland? Yet another corner of concern.

Creative thinking can impact a plurality of issues of concern that we need to come to grips with. But first we need to stop pitting those of different passions against one another and choose collaborative problem-solving over favoritism.

At the end of the day, the things that people care enough to raise issue over, are things that are and will be to the greater good of everyone.

Iris Broyde

Guilderland