EAST BERNE — Nan Stolzenberg, the planner hired to help East Berne create a vision for its future, will present her findings to the public this fall.

A handful of residents of the rural hamlet has objected strenuously to changing its character, but Stolzenberg says there has been misinformation in the community about the study.
"We’re still putting final touches on things," said Stolzenberg, of Community Planning and Environmental Associates. Stolzenberg was contracted through the Capital District Transportation Committee to conduct a study on traffic and pedestrian conditions in the hamlet.

Stolzenberg often works with communities in the Capital Region on their comprehensive land-use plans.

The East Berne hamlet, located just less than five miles east of Berne near a small lake, is zoned as mixed-use, with businesses and residential use. Houses, businesses, a church, and a firehouse line its main street.

Stolzenberg hopes to meet in September with Berne’s town and planning boards and to present the results of the study to the public.

At the public meeting, she will explain her team’s recommendations, and a public comment period will follow. She plans to then make copies of the study available to the public at the Berne library and at the town hall.
Last year, two community meetings were conducted that included visioning and identification of issues; both were attended by over 40 residents, she said. "We had two very well-attended meetings."

Funded by the town and the CDTC, the study is part of a linkage program, which aims to help municipalities study and understand the relationship between their roads and pedestrians.
The linkage program is available to small and large communities in the four Capital District counties — Albany, Schenectady, Rensselaer, and Saratoga, according to Jason Purvis with the CDTC. Purvis said the linkage program "helps a community create a vision."
The CDTC is funding half of the $12,000 study. Once the study has been reviewed, it will be posted on the committee’s website on its "Final Reports" page, Purvis said.

The East Berne study is part of the town’s methodical look at its hamlets; it started with a study of the Berne hamlet three years ago, Stolzenberg said.

The Berne hamlet was rezoned in 2005 after a year of planning and heated debate; the town board, in a 3-to-2 vote, rezoned the hamlet from largely residential to traditional neighborhood mixed use.
Supervisor Kevin Crosier likened the East Berne hamlet to "downtown Beirut" during his first campaign for supervisor. Crosier has fond memories of a bustling hamlet, where his mother and father owned a grocery store.
The hamlet study, Stolzenberg said, is not like a comprehensive land-use plan, which has to be approved. She described the study as "a toolbox" and "food for thought." The study could be adopted as a supplement to the town’s comprehensive land-use plan, she said.
"It’s totally up to the town," Stolzenberg said, adding that it is not the intent of the process.

A small group of Main Street residents opposes sidewalks, added signs, a bike trail, and street lights. Roy Lamberton, who lives south of the hamlet, has written letters to the Enterprise editor in opposition to the study. Peggy Warner, who chairs Berne’s Repulican committee, has also scrutinized the East Berne study.
In a letter to Lamberton, Stolzenberg’s attorney, Jonathan E. Cohen of Hudson, cites a November letter to the Enterprise editor written by Lamberton’s group and advises Lamberton "to cease and desist from making any further false and/or defamatory statements."

Stolzenberg’s website — www.planningbetterplaces.com — lists many of her clients’ documents. After a draft has been reviewed and shown to the public, she posts the documents at a municipality’s request.
Stolzenberg said she "would be very glad to answer any questions" and address residents’ concerns and fears.