"Should I be elected, I will not vote for any tax increase," Democrat Wayne LaChappelle promises his supporters. "How can you justify tax increases when people can’t pay their oil bills"...We must find other ways to cut," said the retired police officer who now owns an excavation business. If it’s a cut in his salary, so be it; he doesn’t care, he says.

He said he sees himself as the candidate for the working-class people.
"I’m so concerned and worried about the future that I really want to be involved, I really do," said LaChappelle, who is making his second run for office in New Scotland. Two years ago, he was defeated in a bid for supervisor.
"Little if anything has been done with the water districts in six years...Nothing has happened," LaChappelle said.

He added that he believes residents served recently by public water can be counted on one hand.
"That’s unbelievable in this day and age," LaChappelle said.
"It’s maddening to me," he said,that people can be 1,000 feet from a water line and not have water. "It’s egregious," he said.
"I will flex every available muscle the town has," he said, to extend the public water service. A bond issue is critical, he said; New Scotland needs some type of assistance. He said he’ll first poll for state grants that might be available.

LaChappelle has served on the town’s water committee in the past, and is currently on the town’s zoning board.

Developers want to come in, LaChappelle said; it’s up to them to split the bill for water in some districts.

LaChappelle lives in Feura Bush on a small horse farm that he built with his wife; they do not have town water.

If New Scotland is able to secure water from Albany, a master water plan is needed, LaChappelle said.

Unionville is one area in need that he would like to address first.
Everyone is afraid of development, LaChappelle said. He doesn’t want the town to become like Clifton Park either, he said, but development is knocking at the door and "we can’t be like an ostrich and have our head in the sand or it will bite us right in the rear end."

He has land in Feura Bush that he has just sold as three building lots, LaChappelle said, which he made sure would be used for affordable development. It’s up to both landowners and the town government, he said.

The town can’t demand affordable housing, LaChappelle said, but the town board does need to encourage the development of affordable housing.

LaChappelle thinks that, along with a developer’s housing proposal, the town should request a certain area of that development be used for affordable housing.

This encouragement can start early on in the application process, he said.

He would like to have a town-board-appointed committee review the application from prospective builders of large projects.

The committee would look over the application as soon as it is submitted and make recommendations to the developers as the application is being finalized before the proposal even goes before the planning board, he said.

If a developer wants to build on 40 acres, the committee would ask the developer if there is somewhere in that acreage for affordable housing, LaChappelle said.

This additional review is not to, and would not, delay the process, LaChappelle said. He thinks this committee can work in conjunction with the building department.
"We are not taking advantage of the 85 and 85A corridor," LaChappelle said. "I am passionate about this."
"I get so frustrated that we are relying on a residential tax base and it’s not there," he said.

The town needs clean commercial and industrial growth, like nano-technology, LaChappelle said.
"Why play second fiddle to Bethlehem"" he asked.
"I love the way New Scotland is and the rural aspects...I think, in the right area, nice clean industrial growth is not intrusive to the majority of the town," LaChappelle said, adding that the corridor is a great place for that.

Without an economics-development officer, the supervisor’s office needs to pursue desirable business, LaChappelle said. The town should work with other chambers of commerce, he said.

Some bad ideas that came out of Residents Planning Advisory Board, LaChappelle said. When he read the recommendation, of permitting only one house per 40 acres in an agricultural area, he said he didn’t believe that was given any thought. A farmer’s land is his 401k Plan, LaChappelle said; it’s his bank account.

He’s all for green space, LaChappelle said, but he also loves to quote Ronald Reagan’s philosophy of not over-regulating.

Another thing that bothered LaChappelle about the RPAC report was most of it focused on the northeast quadrant of town and he would prefer a town-wide approach.
As for adopting any of RPAC’s recommendations, LaChappelle said that the town already has a comprehensive plan from 1994. "That covers it all," he said.

LaChappelle said the town’s senior services really only apply to people over the age of 72. He said he watched Bethlehem’s senior service program evolve over time, and, while New Scotland cannot afford such an extensive full-time operation, he would like to see transportation be offered to seniors to get them to their medical appointments. Buses for seniors is not something in the near future, LaChappelle said, but smaller transportation arrangements could be made.

He would like the town’s senior programs expanded with volunteers, he said.