Omni can wait
Miller gets OK to hook into sewer for senior housing

VOORHEESVILLE — A small, local developer hopes to have senior housing built in the village a year from now.
"We’re planning on building in the spring," Troy Miller told The Enterprise yesterday of plans for nine condominiums. "Twelve months from today, people could be living there."

Miller still has to get approval for the project from the village planning board, but he cleared a major hurdle when the village board gave him the go-ahead for hooking up to the municipal sewer system.
"I wanted to have all my ducks in a row before I went to the planning board," said Miller. "The mayor really wants to see senior housing in Voorheesville."
Tired of waiting for a large senior-housing complex to be built in the village, the board reached an unofficial consensus at an Oct. 12 workshop, that, in the words of the village attorney, access to the municipal sewer system will be on a "first come, first-served" basis.

Two years ago, Omni proposed a large complex on property owned by St. Matthew’s Church on Mountainview Road. Mayor Robert Conway said no written commitments had been made by the village to supply the development with municipal sewer service.

The board agreed that a letter will be sent to Omni stating that, if the 48-unit slots available since the sewer system was upgraded are filled, Omni would be required to fund a study to determine the plant’s capacity.
With the Omni project "out of the mix," as the mayor put it, Miller and residents of Moss Road would be next on board.

Miller plans to build nine condominiums at the corner of Maple Avenue and Stonington Hill Road, at the entrance to the Salem Hills development. He is building a similar project for seniors in Altamont, which he hopes will be completed in early February.

The 900-square-foot Voorheesville condominiums will each have one bedroom with separate laundry and storage facilities and the cost may range from $165,000 to $180,000, Miller said.
After the project got village approval, the mayor said, "It ran into a glitch with the septic system."

Miller had planned to put the system in the front yard, which Albany County said was not acceptable unless the village took over the septic system, he said.
"The bottom line is, if the system fails, they need someone to go and repair it...We’re not taking on a septic system," said the mayor.

A homeowners’ association isn’t considered suitable, he said.
"Albany County only allows an individual to own a septic field," Miller told The Enterprise.

Miller plans to bore under the creek and hook into the municipal sewer system, he said.
"We know we have capacity in the sewer system," Conway told the trustees at the workshop.
"We have a window of 48 units we now can put on...then you have to do a study," said Trustee John Stevens.
Since the Salem Hills system was upgraded, seven of the 13 houses on Mountainview tied into the system, Conway said, and the elementary school is "on board." But the large senior housing complex proposed by Omni is "still up in the air," said Conway.

A letter was sent to Omni on Sept. 28, the mayor said, requesting a timeline on the project but there had been no response. Conway said yesterday that Omni has not yet responded to the letter and the village is unaware of its plans.
"Do we keep saying no to people on the off chance Omni or whoever will build"" Conway asked the trustees.
"It’s two years out, and they still don’t have a signed contract with the church which owns the property," said Stevens, while Troy Miller is ready to build.

The mayor suggested Omni pay for the study of further sewer needs, which, six months ago, was estimated to cost $7,500.

Voorheesville currently has no senior housing complex.
Senior housing is needed "for the public good," said Conway. "But the plans are so vague," he said of the Omni proposal, "I’m reluctant."

Several residents of Moss Road got the go-ahead from the board during the workshop for also accessing the sewer system, contingent on developer Eric King’s allowing them to hook into a sewer line that would come through their neighborhood if he builds on six plots of land as he has proposed.
"If Mr. King doesn’t go forward with the project, there is no sewer," said Mayor Conway.
"We’re telling you tonight there’s room for you four people," said Trustee William Hotaling to the three Moss Road residents and one resident of nearby Crow Ridge Road, although he worried about "opening Pandora’s box" to "the rest of the people on Crow Ridge."
"You’d work it with Mr. King...and pay the village the yearly fee to hook into the system," said Stevens, indicating the fee is $540 a year.
"If he tells you to jump in the lake, give us a call," said the mayor.

Water as a wedge

The board also spoke with Michael Canfora, a resident of Locust Drive, who had presented a petition to the board in August, urging it to use water as a bargaining chip to keep a proposed Colonie Country Club development at least 50 feet away from houses on his road. Locust Drive is in the decades-old Scotch Pine development that abuts the country club.

Amedore Homes development company has proposed building 37 houses on the golf course with selling prices that will start at $400,000.

Canfora asked the village board about a recent meeting with town of New Scotland officials. Conway said he and Trustee Hotaling and Will Smith, head of public works, met to discuss water for the proposed housing development at Colonie Country Club.
"The village is always willing to talk...It’s not a commitment to do it," said Conway. "We mentioned concerns about a buffer zone and traffic...They would not be able to proceed without us unless they drop wells."
He also said, "If they come up with something totally goofy, not in the village’s best interest, we’ll say no."
"Tar and feathers stick to us," said Trustee John Stevens, regarding villagers’ sentiments.
"They haven’t even made an application to us," stressed Hotaling at the end of the meeting.
"Someone in New Scotland Town Hall said this is a done deal," alleged Canfora. He declined to tell The Enterprise afterwards who the person was.
"If you hear it from us, you can take it to the bank. If you hear it from them, no," said Hotaling.

New Scotland Supervisor Ed Clark told The Enterprise last week that the town is not in a position to give water to Voorheesville.
The Northeast District is the town’s nearest water source to the village, said the supervisor; it serves Orchard Park residents and some homes on Route 85A and is "maxed out," Clark said.
The developer is looking for water from other sources, said Clark, adding, "We would love to cooperate."

The development at Colonie Country Club has been proposed, said Clark; Amedore Homes has submitted a plan, but it has not been approved and has to work its way through the town’s planning process, said the supervisor.
"We are willing to buy the water from Voorheesville if they are willing to sell it," Clark concluded.

— Rachel Dutil contributed the comments from Ed Clark to this story.