Archive » March 2024 » News

Guilderland delays adopting law on short-term rentals

by Melissa Hale-Spencer

“We need housing and you don’t, in my opinion, want people who aren’t going to live in a house to own a house and then just rent it out short-term a week at a time, a weekend at a time, a wedding at a time,” said Robert Randall at the public hearing. “The people living next to them no longer have a neighbor; they have strangers living next to them.”

With Quiet Zone funding hung up for years, Voorheesville tries new tact

by Sean Mulkerrin

“If this were coming in for an initial approval, we would have to look at the noise implications for SEQR. We would have to try and remedy those noise implications, and that’s effectively what we're trying to do,” village attorney Rich Reilly said on Feb. 27. “And for an environmental project, we don’t actually have to own it. It just has to be sponsored by us.”

New Scotland sets sessions on energy-storage bill and resource tally

by Sean Mulkerrin

During its March 13 meeting, the town board agreed to an April 10 public hearing for proposed Local Law E of 2023: Regulating Battery Energy Storage Systems and to a special meeting to present the town’s new resource inventory project. 

On the ballot: Selling Cobblestone Schoolhouse to town for $10K

by Melissa Hale-Spencer

Guilderland Supervisor Peter Barber described the building as being “frozen in time” and said he’d also like to acquire from the district the “big pot-belly stove” and the original desks and chairs that had been in the school until recent years because he’d like to “recreate what a school looked like at that time.”

Carey Institute to re-open this summer, possibly under new banner

by Noah Zweifel

The Carey Institute for Global Good will once again host “a series of learning workshops and small public and private events,” beginning in the summer, according to a release that described this as a “transitional time” for the beleaguered not-for-profit.

What to do on April 8: Avoid scams, don’t look at the sun without proper glasses — but how about school?

by Melissa Hale-Spencer

Local libraries and Thacher State Park are offering programs about the eclipse as schools are taking “a potpourri of approaches,” Guilderland Superintendent Marie Wiles told her school board on March 12.

Farmers urged to fill out rental-rate survey

The Capital Area Agriculture & Horticulture Team and Cornell University are calling on farmers and people involved in agricultural businesses to fill out an anonymous survey.

Strip mall planned at site of former Route 20 bowling alley

by Sean Mulkerrin

Project applicant David Zhang was before the Guilderland Planning Board at its March 13 meeting with a proposal to reconfigure 1975 Western Ave.

Owner of home that went up in flames after crash grateful for quick work of firefighters

by Noah Zweifel

A driver crashed into a Rensselaerville home early Sunday morning, causing it to go up in flames. The driver and an off-duty paramedic who assisted in the rescue both suffered only minor injuries while the occupants of the home were uninjured. 

Voorheesville chief: ‘The road they’re going down is paid fire departments’

by Sean Mulkerrin

Firefighters in Albany County number 1,680 volunteers and 369 career, with another nearly 400 non-firefighting volunteers, like fire police, accounted for by federal data. 

A special ed class and flag football have been added to GCSD budget plan

by Melissa Hale-Spencer

Superintendent Marie Wiles told the board members at their March 12 meeting, that, by creating a third Comprehensive Skills section next year, “The hope is spreading those students out over three sections, recognizing the wide range of age levels that are served there, [ages] 14 to 22, will give us a lot more opportunity to meet those individual needs, customize the programs for those students as they age through the program and their journey here.”

With latest court settlement, GCSD owes Crossgates $4.4M

by Melissa Hale-Spencer

“I mean it’s crazy,” said Guilderland School Board President Seema Rivera. “We’re asking for things for our kids … nothing exorbitant. And then … we have to send money to Crossgates. I think it’s insane.”

Three Trojans charged in armed robbery

GUILDERLAND — A Guilderland man using a dating app was identified as a target for armed robbery through the app, according to a release from Guilderland Police.

Capital Region BOCES students enter SkillsUSA Competition

by Melissa Hale-Spencer

More than 70 high school students will represent Capital Region BOCES on March 18 in a regional competition that challenges the professional skills of more than 350 students from the Capital Region, North Country, Hudson Valley, and beyond.

GCSD mulls buying two electric buses for free

by Melissa Hale-Spencer

“If the net cost is zero, why wouldn’t we purchase more?” asked school board member Rebecca Butterfield. “It comes down to being able to store them, charge them, and run them …,” responded Andrew Van Alstyne. “While free buses would be good … districts have seen them break down.” He said he hoped the technology will be more advanced before Guilderland turns over its fleet to electric.

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