To the Editor:

I am writing because I feel compelled to address the issues that Ms. [Theres] Bohl raises in her letter to the editor in last week’s edition of The Altamont Enterprise [“Foundry Square project is my last hurrah”].  To say that the letter is appalling, self-centered, and egregious is an understatement.

Let’s have a little history lesson regarding this property. The property was purchased by Ms. Bohl/family as an investment, with the full knowledge that it was a brown site and needed remediation.  The purpose was to flip the property purely for monetary reasons.

Several of the proposed deals fell through for a host of reasons I am sure. In the interim, the site continued to remain contaminated, and the contamination continued to spread toward the Hungerkill Creek as well as a tributary. The cleanup for this property has been, and continues to be the responsibility of Ms. Bohl and the company she represents.

She claims that this will be the final time she will attempt to sell the site. She claims she has solely managed and paid taxes on the site trying to protect her family legacy. This is her last hurrah.

Well, bully for you. As a property owner, you have the responsibility to pay your taxes as levied by the town. This will continue to be your responsibility if you don’t sell the property. The rest of the public who live in Guilderland pay their taxes as levied on an annual basis as well.

You claim that the implications of approving the site will have the brownsite remediated by private funds; fix a turn lane on Route 20, which is a need; redevelop a blighted site on the main corridor of Guilderland; the possibility of workforce housing units if the Industrial Development Agency approves financial relief.

If these are only possibilities, why even mention them unless you are trying to bully the town into getting what you want? Are you holding the town hostage for your personal needs? The firm representing the developer has made it clear that there would be workforce housing, not the possibility of it. Remember, this is your albatross, not the town of Guilderland’s.

If your project is not approved, you claim the following:

Abandoned site for at least 10 years as courts process bankruptcy, $600,000 in lost tax revenue, estimated $2.5 million in remediation (more if the Department of Environmental Conservation handles it), and that it will be paid by taxpayers. Brownfield left as is for 10-plus years, continued accidents on Route 20/Foundry Road with no turn lane.

Just as a point of information, just because you may file for bankruptcy of this property, it does not discharge your responsibility for the cleanup and in fact it is exempt from bankruptcy proceedings, meaning that you will still be responsible for the cleanup. Stop threatening the town to get what you want.

You say you are running out of time for government funding etc. etc. Well, Ms. Bohl, if you had taken the responsibility of remediating the site many years ago, you would have paid less, probably could have asked more in a sale, and would not have created an unsafe situation for the neighborhood behind the property with the spread of the plume from your property.

Greed gets you nowhere and it returns tenfold.

The look of the buildings is important, especially to those of us who live here. You do not and have not lived here for many many years.

We care about this town and the town’s character is important to us. Your attitude toward this is typical of a developer who comes in, buys up property, and then does a quick turnaround sale for only financial gain.

The issue you cite with the apartments near the Rapp Road historic district as well as the Costco development by a huge corporation were the subject of five lawsuits. Although those apartments are unsightly and look directly into the homes on Westmere Terrace, we do not need to continue this type of building just because one site is built like that. Those apartments are at least off the main road of Route 20.

The apartments you want to see built will be right on Route 20 are unsightly and will cause more traffic issues than the road can handle at that intersection. Of course you wouldn’t comprehend the pushback — you have no idea of what goes on in this town; you don’t live here.

You own property that you want to sell for financial gain with no interest in trying to preserve or expand the Guilderland Hamlet, which this falls under.

The town board’s legacy is that they will look at this project, see the pros and cons, and make their decision based on what the town residents want. They were elected to represent us, those who live here and drive these roads every day.

Your legacy is that you purchased this site with sole intent of turning it over for financial gain. You have had over 10 years to clean it up as required by the DEC and as outlined in their letter to you.

The fact that this is your last hurrah shows negligence on your part, and that is what your legacy is — you only care about what has affected your finances and not the neighborhood behind your property. You did not once talk to your neighbors about your project or seek to gain any support for what you want to do. 

That is what communities do, this is what neighbors do when they are contemplating a project that may affect their neighbors or neighborhood. You clearly don’t care, and that, too, is your legacy.

Robyn Gray

Chairwoman

Guilderland Coalition

for Responsible Growth

Editor’s note: Theresa Bohl lives in Guilderland.