Douglas LaGrange, a Republican, is an eighth-generation Feura Bush dairy farmer. "I’m not a politician...I have no aspirations beyond the town board," he said, going on to add that he’ll be able to "put all that party garbage aside."

His Enterprise inverview was interrupted by the birth of a calf; a cow doesn’t know it’s campaigning season, said LaGrange.

He has learned a lot over the last two years about the town’s government, as a planning board member, LaGrange said, and by attending town-board meetings regularly.
"I know what’s the coming slate for the town," he said. "I’ll be hitting the ground running."

LaGrange ran for a town board seat in 2003, and lost by 22 votes. He has also served on the Residents’ Planning Advisory Committee.
"From my understanding, consolidation was a part of the agreement for the bond issue... if that’s the case it’s something we need to do right away," LaGrange said of the proposed Clarksville water project.

His one concern about the proposed extension is the cost to homeowners to hook up from the town water lines.
"Before we pass out petitions...I would like some sort of study done to give folks some idea how much it will cost," he said.

A lot of families don’t have any water to waste, but they also are not able to afford $5,000 to run the line into their house, he said.

The road where the extension is proposed is not called Flat Rock Road for nothing, said LaGrange; it will be expensive to put water lines through rock. He would just like homeowners to be informed of what the additional cost will be as the town’s petition to form the district is being circulated.

As for Albany’s water, LaGrange said there are areas of town that have genuine needs while residents in other areas have wants, and it’s important to get water to sections of town were wells are polluted.
When he was on the campaign trail, talking to people at their houses, LaGrange said those in rural areas would ask him, when is water going to be coming up and around us" Then he saw four vacant lots to the left and more vacant lots to the other side and he asked them, do you want houses to pop up all around you"
"You know, my well isn’t that bad," is the response he would get, LaGrange reported.

LaGrange listed a number of areas in town known for poor water quality, as areas of need. But , LaGrange said that his first objective for the Albany water is to supply Route 85 and help service the commercial area, because it will be an asset for the whole town.

The trick for opening up affordable housing is to offer more middle-price housing, LaGrange said.
In New Scotland, he said "We either have moderate or very pricey homes;" there are not very many houses in-between, he said. People living in moderately-priced homes, in the $100,000 to $200,000 thousand dollar range, have told LaGrange that they want to move up to a $300,000 to $500,000 hundred thousand dollar homes, he said.

If they are given that opportunity, then it opens up the older, more affordable housing to younger first-time homebuyers, LaGrange said.

With the Kensington Woods project, which he understands is proposed to have three stages, including top end expensive homes but also middle-priced housing, his concern is the very high density.
"I don’t think that road or our school systems can handle that type of development," LaGrange said.

The project is way too ambitious, he said, but some sort of development in that area will entice business, LaGrange said.
Of the planned-unit development on Route 85, he said, "I have no problem with senior housing in the commercial area" as long as it remains strictly senior citizens and no children are allowed. But what he would like to see with the townhouse development is more affordable housing, LaGrange said.
"I don’t want to ship our seniors out of town," LaGrange said. What the planning board has tried to do is get the developers in the mindset of less expensive senior housing, LaGrange said.
There is definitely a need for senior housing in town, and it may have to start with this project, he said. But, he would also like to see more attempts at subsidized senior housing. It comes down to "how much we want to push them," LaGrange said of the developers.
The town doesn’t have a definitive comprehensive plan, LaGrange said. Planning board Chair Robert Stapf uses the 1994 plan for direction, LaGrange said. But, as a planning board member, he said, "I know I never received one...If that’s what we should be working off of, then it should be adopted." At the same time, now is the time to revisit the 1994 plan and take what the Residents’ Planning Advisory Board learned and maybe apply some of it, he said.

The industrial zone on the corridor should not be changed just for the sake of changing it because the railroad is no longer there, LaGrange said. There is plenty of industrial development that is not intrusive, LaGrange said, such as a cheese factory, which is no longer an opportunity for the town, but is still a good example, he said.

He would like to see multi-use, but it most certainly would need a lot more input, LaGrange said.
"There is some merit to having some sort of aesthetic guidelines, but the planning board has conceptual knowledge of what people want," LaGrange said.
He stands by what the planning board did with the Stewart’s on Route 85. " I think it looks fine," LaGrange said and, when residents see the Omni medical office building, they will understand how the planning board is able to work with developers to make construction aesthetically pleasing to fit in with neighborhood character.

Overwhelmingly, people in New Scotland do not want things to change, LaGrange said, and he is conscious of the desire to maintain New Scotland’s rural character.
"Do we need to spell out, including shades on a building"" he asked, answering himself, "That’s a little overkill." But general aesthetic guidelines, LaGrange said, he could supply, to give to the new appointees that come onto the planning board.

One way LaGrange plans to curb spending in the town’s budget is to vote down all stipends.

Just because an employee is taking on a new responsibility or an additional job description, if that person isn’t taking on any more hours, then that doesn’t warrant a stipend, LaGrange said.

This comment come after the recent debate in a budget workshop on how much more money the town clerk should receive for taking on the old tax collector’s responsibilities.
Senior services is "one of the few places, I’d like to expand the budget," LaGrange said.

The way he sees it, a town has four responsibilities: the town’s highway department, good planning, support for the volunteer fire and ambulance squads, and a viable senior program.