Incompetence or something worse

To the Editor:

You’ve got to be kidding. Let me get this straight [The Altamont Enterprise, Dec. 5, 2019, “Hiawatha Trails hits potential fire-code snag”].

The developer of the planned age-restricted apartment complex on the Hiawatha Golf Course, who is also the chief of the fire department of the district in which the project has been granted approval, is not aware of the state fire code requirement concerning access to multi-residential buildings that he wants to build?

And, neither did the engineer with ubiquitous developments ongoing or proposed in the town of Guilderland? And, neither did the highway engineering company that is repeatedly hired by the project engineer? And, neither did any of the boards in town that review and give approval for site planning and zoning, or their associated town departments?

This is not simply egg on their faces; it is incompetence or something worse.

Regardless of wherever the blame lies, the developer, engineer, and law office must now decide if they can make a second access roadway down the slope on a much more dangerous portion of Route 155, scale the project down in scope (and also height) from the original mega-proposal, or pick up their pieces and move on.

If they opt for requesting yet another variance, I would hope that the Department of State exercises a level of judgment that the town was incapable of and says no.

Frank Casey

Guilderland

Editor’s note: Frank Casey lives in Presidential Estates across Route 155 from the proposed Hiawatha Trails development.

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