GUILDERLAND — After the town board heard complaints about developer Anthony Serafini’s zoning violations and The Enterprise ran a front-page story on the violations, Serafini has since been making progress in correcting the problems.

Rodger Stone, Guilderland’s zoning-enforcement officer, said this week that Serafini has been cooperating with the town. His tickets to clean up all of his property or appear in court have been lifted, Stone said.

At last month’s town board meeting, Andrew Linehan said he and his neighbors were upset that Serafini had been violating the zoning code for years without punishment. Unsatisfied with the zoning department’s response, Linehan asked the town board for help.

Serafini owns part of the upscale subdivision where Linehan lives — Williamsburg, off of Fuller Station Road.

For years, Linehan said last month, Serafini has had construction debris and unregistered vehicles and trailers on the property.

Stone told The Enterprise then that Serafini has been in violation of the zoning code for a long time. Stone said the town has been trying to work out solutions with Serafini and he said that, if Serafini didn’t remove the debris and trailers by Sept. 26, a judge in town court will decide his punishment.

At the time, Serafini told a much different story. The developer said in early September that he knew nothing about the Sept. 26 deadline or about having to remove the debris and trailers from his property.
"I’m a very clean person. I’ve never even had a parking ticket," Serafini said.

This week, Stone told The Enterprise that Serafini never had to appear in court. The day the front-page story ran on his zoning violations, Serafini and his wife met with Stone and Donald Cropsey Jr., the town’s chief building inspector an zoning administrator, Stone said.

Serafini had already removed one tractor trailer by that Thursday, Stone said. Two days before that, The Enterprise took a picture of the two tractor trailers that were in violation. Most of the length of the vehicles were in the woods, surrounded by tall shade trees.
On Sept. 15, the town decided to give Serafini more time to remove the other trailer, Stone said. That’s because it is filled with "finishing materials for the interior of a home," Stone said; Serafini needs to find a place to store these materials.

Linehan also complained about a small office building on Serafini’s property. The office’s building permit is dated Dec. 1, 1987, Linehan told the town board, and was only good for six months.

Of the small office, Stone said then that the building permit did expire in 1988 and no new permits have been issued.

The office is a small, clean-looking building surrounded by a neatly-trimmed lawn. The office is across the street from a backyard that is surrounded by a tall, wooden fence.

Stone said this week that Serafini applied for and was granted a new building permit for his construction office.

Construction supplies and brush are strewn about the property, Linehan and Stone both said earlier. The only debris The Enterprise saw was a pile of what appeared to be branches and yard brush near the tractor trailers. This is in a wooded area, not in the direct view of any houses.

Stone said this week that most of this rubbish was under the tractor trailers and Serafini is working on removing it.

Serafini also had two signs that didn’t conform to the town code and permits for those were supposed to be renewed every six months, but weren’t.
Stone said this week that Serafini took the "junky" sign down and applied for a new permit for the "nice" one.

No specific date has been set for Serafini to comply with his remaining violations, Stone said, but he agreed to do it before winter. No neighbors have complained since, Stone said, and he feels confident that the town and Serafini are working things out.