LaGrange touts "youthful energy"


NEW SCOTLAND—Douglas LaGrange says that it is important to have leadership and a "youthful energy" in a town supervisor. He is running for the post on the Republican Party line against Democratic challenger, Thomas Dolin.
LaGrange is a lifelong New Scotland resident. He is running for supervisor "out of necessity for the best interest of the town," he said.
"We didn’t have a candidate that had the current experience necessary to lead the town in the right direction," he said. "I gladly take it on, and I’m well-equipped to do it."
He is an eighth-generation Feura Bush dairy farmer. LaGrange has developed a strong work ethic on the farm, he said. "When I get involved with something, I do it."

LaGrange, 48, and his wife, Anita, have two daughters ó Kristy, 25, and Amy, 20.

He has been a member of the town board for two years, and was a member of the planning board for the four years prior.
"I firmly believe you should have some years on the planning board and/or the town board, to have a better overview of town issues," said LaGrange. Serving on the boards has given him "a greater respect for what’s coming at us and how we can approach it," he said.
LaGrange said that he attends numerous town meetings each month: planning board, zoning board, comprehensive-plan review committee, and water committee. "I firmly believe that, after I’m supervisor, I should continue to attend them," he said.
"It’s a leadership role," he said of the town supervisor. "In our climate of change in town today, you have to have a leader in that role," he said.
LaGrange appreciates Dolin’s service to the town over the years, but, he said, "It’s experience that happened too long ago to be up to speed.
"I’ve got a lot of respect for how the Mayans built the pyramids, but would I ask them to build a skyscraper for me"" No," LaGrange said. "You have to be up to speed on current issues," he said.
If elected, LaGrange said he would be "more than full-time." That means being accessible and getting to late meetings, he said.

Town issues
Water is a "double-edged sword," said LaGrange.
"It’s not a flip of a switch," he said. You have to create water districts, have access to water, and have enough people who are willing to use it and still come within the comptroller’s limits, he said. "We’ll continue to be aggressive in identifying those areas," he said.
"You bring in water, you bring in development. They go hand-in-hand. You’ve got to be careful," said LaGrange. "We’ve got a great water committee," he said.
"I’ll be at Bethlehem and Guilderland’s doorstep. My more youthful, aggressive energy will get it done," he said of working with neighboring towns on shared water. "It’s an arduous process. We have to be diligent and keep working toward an end," he said.
Regarding zoning, LaGrange said, the town has a "pretty solid" zoning ordinance.
"It needs tweaking in conjunction with the comprehensive plan," he said.
"One of the reasons Ed and I have tried to update the comprehensive plan is to bring everything together," said LaGrange, referring to himself and Supervisor Ed Clark, who is retiring.

LaGrange said he doesn’t think there are any major problems with the town’s zoning.
"When we have an issue in an area, like the Hilton Road residents who wanted the zoning changed, it has to go through a process where we listen to the people," he said.
"I’d like to get back to the fact that we’re public servants," he said.
LaGrange said that he doesn’t claim to "know everything about everything" but readily looks to experts for advice on an issue.
"As we do the comprehensive plan updates, we need to come up with good, educated reasons for making changes," he said.

Affordable housing is an issue that should be addressed, said LaGrange. There are two ways it happens, he said.
"If you have people in houses in the $200,000 to $250,000 range as they leave the more modest home, that opens up affordable housing," LaGrange said.

The other way, he said, is incentives for developers.
"When a developer comes in, we want to be able to give incentives, maybe densities to give them the opportunity to add affordable housing," he said.
LaGrange was a member of the Residents’ Planning Advisory Committee, he said, "as someone concerned with private property rights and planning."
As a member of the town board, he said, he was "focused" on implementing some of the recommendations. He has been able to do so with two recommendations, he said.

The right-to-farm law was passed, and he initiated the formation of a comprehensive plan review committee, he said.
"Were going in the right direction," he said of implementing the recommendations. "We can move a lot faster with a group of like-minded candidates," he said. "We’ve put together a tremendous slate of candidates for town board," LaGrange said of the candidates running on the Republican line.
"We need to be proactive instead of being reactive all the time. RPAC was the genesis for being proactive," said LaGrange.
Public input is part of the planning process, he said. "When you discuss any type of planning, you need public input," LaGrange said. There is always something to be drawn from ideas, he said.
"I’m here to listen," said LaGrange.
"I’ve sought out planning experts," he said. It’s important to consider the public input with the expert input and make educated decisions, LaGrange said.
"We need to open up our town government that much more," he said.

For example, with the proposal for a senior-housing law, people gave good input, he said.
"I asked the opinion of experts." I took their thoughts and further developed my thoughts," said LaGrange, adding that public input also helped him.
The comprehensive plan "is a sound foundation of a plan," said LaGrange of the 1994 plan, "It certainly was well done initially.
"Twelve years is a long time when it comes to issues such as impending development," he said. "We need to update numbers, mapping a lot of road-use figures," he said.
"We have to revisit the comprehensive plan," said LaGrange. "The comprehensive plan needs to be addressed before zoning," he said. "We need to look at these issues in a general sort of way for these specific areas, and then adjust the zoning to reflect the comprehensive plan," he said.
LaGrange said that the town has "no planning focus." He said he has had several landowners approach him and ask, "What does the town want in the area of my property""

Together, he and Republican town-board candidate Charles Voss came up with a strategy for the route 85 and 85A corridor, said LaGrange.
"It is an economic engine for this area," he said.

It would be a mixed-use zone, possibly with affordable apartments, he said. You need rooftops to help entice more commercial development to come into the town," he said, adding that New Scotland has less than a 5-percent commercial tax base.
"You have to be able to say, "This is what the town wants,’" he said.

In order to develop a commercial tax base, said LaGrange, you need to have business people involved.
"We have to bring business owners together along with developers and form an economic-development committee, said LaGrange.
"I don’t want to make any hollow promises," he concluded.