NEW SCOTLAND — A new town board will see the conclusion of New Scotland’s moratorium on large-scale development.

In a 4-0 vote, with Councilwoman Margaret Neri absent, the town board voted on Monday to extend the moratorium until Feb. 1.  Supervisor Thomas Dolin and councilmembers Deborah Baron, Richard Reilly, and Douglas LaGrange all voted for the extension.

Half-a-dozen members of the public, many from the citizens’ group New Scotlanders 4 Sound Economic Development, urged the board to pass the extension during a public hearing on Monday.  Nobody spoke against the extension.

After the roughly 10 minute hearing, the board voted without discussion.

The town’s planning board had recommended against the extension, which was in keeping with its previous two recommendations — against enacting it and extending it the first time.

First introduced in May of 2008, the moratorium was a response to Sphere Development’s plans to build a shopping center in the town’s commercial district, which is currently used primarily for agriculture.  At the time, the planning board, in a 4-to-2 vote, recommended that the town board forgo the moratorium.

The Albany County Planning Board recommended that the town extend the stay on large-scale development and work to update its zoning code.

Neri, a Democrat, chose not to seek re-election this November and Republican Councilman LaGrange and Democratic Supervisor Dolin are up for election.  The new board will be seated a month before the end of the moratorium.