NEW SCOTLAND — Supervisor Ed Clark is running on his reputation and record against Elizabeth Stewart, who says she offers a proactive, go out and get’m approach.

Clark who was the mayor of Voorheesville for 17 years first ran for supervisor on the GOP line in 2000 and won.

Deomcrat, Elizabeth Stewart, a business development manager who is a 30 year resident of New Scotland, is an eager challenger.

The full-time supervisor’s post carries a two-year term.

Clark’s salary this year is $49,400.

Ed Clark

Supervisor Ed Clark stood in his office facing a map of the town’s water districts. He pointed to the blue, yellow, and red district lines as he highlighted his long-term hopes for water in New Scotland.

He envisions a water-development plan that takes on a regional approach.

He wants to see if the water systems on the north side of town could all eventually be combined into one large district, through extensions and connecting loops, interconnecting, and combining even with the village’s districts as well. And then, from there, he envisions also connecting, New Scotland with Guilderland and Bethlehem pipes.

The southern side of town is excluded from this vision because it is so rural, Clark said.

But the one gap in his puzzle had always been a middle chunk, right where the Kensington Woods development is proposed. With those developers planning to supply their own water and build their own waste-treatment plant, Clark said, the space to travel to connect New Scotland’s water all together is more manageable.

It’s not a far reach from the Front Grove water system to Hilton Road to the Voorheesville Water District, up Swift Road to Route 85.
"Water is such an important commodity to a community, it shouldn’t be done in bits and pieces but together" paying for infrastructure, Clark said.
"I understand this is a leap, but it makes sense and it’s something we should be inching towards over the course of time," Clark said.

To secure water from Albany and a transmission agreement from Bethlehem, Clark said, he is going to continue to set up meetings, and to keep moving forward.

He wants to make water available at a reasonable cost.

Behind all of this, there is desire for water for the commercial development to attract commercial interest, Clark said.

As supervisor, he said, it is his responsibility to recruit desirable businesses into town. His administration inherited an economic enhancement plan that has stayed untouched for three years, Clark said. He doesn’t think the document has enough substance to attract businesses.
The economic plan, in essence, says, "Come out to New Scotland, check out the community; you’ll love it here," Clark said. But the plan does not mention what makes businesses work: water, electricity, and sewer — infrastructure, Clark said.

The town can’t attract businesses without good transportation and an audience, Clark said. If the town wants businesses that provide services, then the town has to have residents first.

Clark said he sees a commercial future for New Scotland in eco-tourism, with scenic vistas, hiking trails, Thacher Park, and Bennett Hill Preserve, but this requires a commitment of resources. Clark said that he really hopes the county’s hike-and-bike trail on the old railway bed comes to fruition. New Scotland has rich rural resources, he said.

The town needs to develop its resources first, then the people will come and business development will follow, Clark said.

In terms of affordable housing, town officials can encourage development, Clark said, ‘by using the pressures the planning board has. The planning board can get developers to dedicate a portion of large developments to affordable housing.

This is not an easy struggle, Clark said. The developer wants his deal to get passed through the process, and the planning board is informing the developer what the community wants.

That’s why the town needs to upgrade its comprehensive plan, he said.

The document, created in 1994, was never adopted, but even that would have to be updated, Clark said.
A comprehensive plan lays out all the policies of the community, which would include encouraging affordable housing, Clark said. "So the zoning board, and planning board can then use that as rationale dealing with developers so it is not perceived as arbitary," he said.

Clark’s hope for a comprehensive plan is one of the reasons he wanted to have a professional planner on the planning board, he said. A comprehensive plan needs to be reviewed at least every five years, he said.

A master plan will describe in some detail what an outcome of a development should be, and certain characteristics that will lead to these objectives, Clark said. It would include methods to preserve the character of the community, and to make and create amenities, such as sidewalks for ease of shopping, and recreational facilities, Clark said.
"I’m very hopeful to revive RPAC committee’s energy," Clark said. The report produced by the Residents’ Planning Advisory Committee was "resisted inappropriately by some people," Clark said.

The residents on the committee had no agenda, and no thoughts of a moratorium, he said. Clark is not sure where this public opinion came from, or why the committee was perceived in that way, but nonetheless people became fearful of losing their land rights, Clark said.

For the comprehensive plan, Clark wants to use the same thought process used by the residents’ committee, not necessarily the same people, Clark said.
In terms of zoning changes, Clark said the northeast section of town could stand another look, since it currently has conflicting zoning — density and low-density. He would like to make it more uniform, and look at changing the high-density to lower-density, he said. "I’m not sure right now that’s the right thing to do, but it’s worth considering, he said.

In terms of his budget, Clark said that he didn’t see anything that should be cut, but stated that he will be careful about incurring additional expenses.
"I’m very careful about salary increases," Clark said, and about benefit increases like health insurance.

He is wary of administrative expenses, in particular technology.
There is now computerization for everything, Clark said, networks, cell phones, Xerox, all of which need continual upgrades; "I watch that very carefully," he said.

There is a trend by people to buy anything when it comes to the newest technology, but then, Clark said, the town won’t see results in saving manpower. Often, when people come before him with a technological purchase proposal, they promote the product by saying that it will save them so much time, but, Clark said, he has found , it just makes the person capable of doing more things.
One technological advance that interests Clark said is putting the assessment rolls on the Internet. "I think it will be a better service to the public and increase the public’s confidence in the process," he said.

The town assessor proposed a program to put the assessments on-line at last month’s town-board meeting.

Clark said he was just updating the data base of senior citizens on his office computer, which currently has 2,000 names. The number of seniors is growing, Clark said, and the town needs to be getting ready now for the growth. He said he would like to see the registered-nurse program expand a little.

Further down the line, in later years, Clark said he would like to offer, seniors transportation, although this would be very expensive because of the town’s rural geography.

Elizabeth Stewart
The current administration has been "asleep at the switch," said Elizabeth Stewart, Democratic challenger for supervisor.

Stewart. a business development manager, went to visit Bethlehem Supervisor Theresa Egan in June, and, back then, there was no problem with working out a water-transmission agreement, but Ed Clark just sent a purchase proposal to Albany last month, Stewart said of her opposition.
"I’ve been toting this the whole time," Stewart said. "Water is not an issue"; it’s just a matter of paying the transfer fee and contacting Albany, Stewart said.

She can’t believe a proposed purchase agreement hadn’t been sent out earlier, she said.

Stewart promises her supporters that she will be pro-active rather than reactive.

She will actively keep in touch, and build better municipal relations with other towns and the village of Voorheesville, she said.

The town of New Scotland needs inter-municipal water for emergencies, Stewart said. She has already spoken with Voorheesville Mayor Jack Stevens, she said.
The town needs to have something in place, just in case, Stewart said. She also asked, "What about fire hydrants""

Everyone wants municipal water, and the only thing New Scotland can’t do is go over the debt limit, Stewart said. So, once elected officials know what the debt limit is, the town can then proceed from there. Stewart said she’ll create a plan and do a little bit every year.

For the proposed Kensington Woods project, Stewart’s main concern is the aquifer and how it is affected by the old pit mines, which were dug about 15 years ago, two to three feet above the water table, she said.
"My concern is for the environment and the aquifer," Stewart said with such a high density of houses.
It takes an aquifer 100 years to recuperate from pollution, she said. She worries about so many houses and foundations with concrete additives. "I have to protect the citizens of New Scotland from pollutants," Stewart said.
Stewart’s more general thoughts about development, she said, are: "I do not want New Scotland to look like a Colonie."

A town supervisor has to talk to developers and make sure that there is going to be a good mix, Stewart said, because the town does need development and affordable housing.

Stewart has heard people say that they don’t want development at all coming into town, but, she asserted, a large number of volunteers come from housing developments.
The helping hands at the local school come out of the developments, she said. If a town doesn’t welcome development, it’s like "cutting off your life line," cutting off the people who bond a community together in an effort for children, Stewart said.

So development can be a good thing, she said; it’s the density that is really the issue.

The enrollment at the school is down compared to years past, so there is room at the school, Stewart said.
But, she went on, "I don’t want an infrastructure crump."

Stewart’s eldest daughter lives in Hilton Head, S.C., a town that has not addressed infrastructure; there are just two lanes on roads going in and out of town, she said.

Hilton Head’s elected officials did not address traffic or pollution along with the development and it caught up to them, she said.
"We have to be looking at infrastructure," Stewart said. "Can we add additional roads in a certain area of proposed development" What will the traffic patterns be" These are things that need to be considered," she said. "We do not want to look like Western Avenue."

Stewart said that she is in favor of the planned unit development on Route 85, and that she sees it as a good opportunity for empty-nesters, who wouldn’t be adding to traffic during peak commuter hours.

As for the PUD taking some of the town’s commercial space, senior housing is a win-win situation, Stewart said, not burdening the school, but increasing the tax base.

Although she supports the PUD planned for Route 85, Stewart is concerned about the high density proposed for Kensington Woods, she said.
In response to the report produced by the Residents’ Planning Advisory Committee, Stewart said, "This is not Nantucket; this is New Scotland; we want clean green area in our developments."

She doesn’t think that aesthetic guidelines are needed, however, because she believes that developers try to fit their architecture in with what is already in the town, Stewart said.

She said developers consider the flavor of a community’s character when they propose a project.

To give guidelines on what color a house should be or whether a builder should install wooden shutters is too restrictive, Stewart said,

RPAC’s zoning recommendations, such as mixed use, are already happening with the PUD, Stewart said; she doesn’t think the recommendations have to be adopted.
"We do want green spaces for people to enjoy," Stewart said, agreeing with that particular recommendation.

A number of residents have expressed a desire for a town pool, Stewart said. While she knows it would be costly and would add liability, she said she is going to look into getting grant money for a town pool.

Albany just got $6 million to revitalize its waterfront, said Stewart, asking why New Scotland couldn’t get similar funding. The town’s elected officials would have to apply in order to get such funding, Stewart said.

Another complaint Stewart has heard from people is about the lack of cell- phone reception across town, she said.

Parents are not able to reach their children because of poor reception, she said.

For senior services, Stewart said, she would like to make more use of county-wide programs.

A town should never create a duplicate program, she said.

For example, she said, the county already has visiting nurses. Additionally, Stewart said, she is uncomfortable with the town’s liability of having a nurse.

A seniors’ advocate who happens to be a nurse, that’s a different story, said Stewart, indicating she would reorganize the program.

She said she knows one of the things the town nurse does to assist seniors is to take their blood pressures, but there are volunteer groups that do that, Stewart said.