ALTAMONT — At the end of this week, the village board will have a preliminary comprehensive plan for Altamont, said committee Chair Dean Whalen.
Informing the plan are the results of a survey that the committee sent to village residents and business owners last summer. The summary of those results is now available to the public. "It’s not leading the plan, but it’s a basis," said Whalen.

The committee, appointed by the village board has also had meetings with groups ranging from teens to seniors as it plans Altamont’s future.
"I was a little surprised that there was the residual issue with the police department," Whalen said of the survey results. A third of respondents said that they were not satisfied with the police department and, in another section, the police department was listed as a negative feature of the community.

Citizens had complained two years ago about excessive police presence in Altamont. In 2005, a new public safety commissioner was hired; Anthony Salerno reorganized and scaled back the police department.
"Not everyone is going to like the police," Salerno said after hearing that 33 percent of respondents weren’t satisfied with the department. "When you have a department that acts within the law, you’re going to have that percentage," he said.

Roughly 26 to 28 percent of village residents participated in the survey, Whalen estimated. According to the results, less than 5 percent of respondents were under 30 years old and less than 3 percent were over 81 years old.
"We understand why there’s a tone here," Whalen said of the results of the survey and the bias towards middle-aged residents. "It’s just kind of the nature of a survey from what I understand," he said.

Topping the list of most-needed businesses in the village were more restaurants. In the moderate-to-somewhat-strong need category, respondents called for an antiques shop, a bakery, a bookstore, a card and gift shop, a drugstore, a grocery store, and evening and weekend hours for businesses.

An incentive zone is one way that the village might attract some of these new businesses, Whalen said. Offering a tax incentive is a possibility for attracting a doctor to the area, he said. Lack of a local doctor was at the top of the list of negative features of the village.

The Altamont Fair, beauty, safety, walkability, and location were among the most positive features of the village, according to the survey results.
"This village has a tremendous opportunity to become a recreational center," Whalen said. Altamont, situated at the base of the rural Helderberg escarpment, is close to both Albany and Schenectady. Whalen cited the potential for bike trails, which could double as cross-country ski trails in the winter, to bring in more business for local shops while attracting new ones.

Whalen expects that the village trustees will have the plan, which is 48 pages with an appendix of roughly 60 pages, by Thursday or Friday and they will have two work weeks to review it before meeting with the comprehensive planning committee. Nov. 21 is the tentative date for the meeting.
He hopes that the plan will be adopted by the board by January. Once that happens, he said, "Then it becomes an official document to work from."