KNOX — Following a complaint filed by a resident last month, the Knox Town Board will not be forwarding a proposed multi-use recreation district to the Albany County Planning Board this month as originally planned.

At its meeting Wednesday night, the board never mentioned the public integrity complaint, which Brigitte and Shaun McAuliffe said they had submitted to the state attorney general’s office, stating that the supervisor and town board had voted to forward the proposed district to the county and town planning boards without properly informing the public first.

The district was proposed by Supervisor Vasilios Lefkaditis in June when, after residents’ protests, he switched courses to retract plans for a business district near the intersection of routes 156 and 157, which he had been fighting to establish for years.

The town board in August voted, 4 to 1, to send the proposed multi-use district, also near the intersection of routes 156 and 157, to both the town and county planning boards. An email from the McAuliffes, which was sent to town officials as well as The Enterprise, stated that the board did not provide a map or an opportunity for  public input.

At Wednesday night’s meeting, Lefkaditis said that town attorney Javid Afzali recommended that the State Environmental Quality Review be completed in its entirety for the proposed district before it is sent to the county planning board.

“I think, when you read the county’s feedback the last time this was submitted,” said the supervisor, referring to the proposed business district rather than the multi-use district, “I got the feeling they were kind of caught off guard; they didn’t know what the heck we were trying to do.”

The town’s planning board had twice recommended against the proposed business district, citing concerns about pollution through karst topography and traffic safety issues.

The county planning board had voted to disapprove the proposed business district in April, stating in a letter to the town that this was due to the “incompatibility with surrounding land uses and community character,” potential traffic impact, inadequate infrastructure or plans for it, potential environmental impacts, and inconsistency with the town’s comprehensive plan.

Lefkaditis suggested that the second and third parts of the SEQR be completed at a separate special town board meeting next month.

Councilman Earl Barcomb suggested further notifying the public as well. He had cast the sole dissenting vote against sending the proposed multi-use district to the planning boards. At Tuesday’s meeting he also asked that the town renew its work on updating its quarter-century-old comprehensive plan.

“I think it should be the guiding principle,” Barcomb said, of using the comprehensive plan to guide planning and zoning decisions.

He later added that updated technology called for using new data and digitizing the plan.

The town had surveyed residents and was in the process of updating its comprehensive plan when the long-time supervisor was ousted by Lefkaditis. The town board member who had been spearheading the revisions, Amy Pokorny, ran against Lefkaditis for town supervisor in the last election and lost.

Lefkaditis said at Tuesday’s meeting that he did not see the point in continuing with the proposed draft, which he described as one-sided and authoritarian.

“I would scrap it, my personal opinion,” he said.

Councilman Kenneth Saddlemire said he didn’t think the original plan needed to be thrown out, but could be reviewed. He and Barcomb agreed to review it with planning board Chairman Tom Wolfe and resident Raymond Hand.

Garbage

The board agreed on a sixth-month moratorium for commercial dumping at the town transfer station. Lefkaditis said that a town law allows commercial dumping by permit, but that the permit can be rejected by the town board if there is “an undue burden” placed on the town facility.

Someone who collects trash for the Green Acres trailer park had been applying for a permit, he said.

Councilmen Dennis Barber and Saddlemire agreed to meet with workers at the transfer station Thursday night to review new standard operating procedures that are being developed by the board.

Land discussion

The town board decided to decline an offer from a prospective buyer of a 3.8-acre parcel of town-owned land off of Route 156. The land, listed as a town park, was sold to Knox for $1 by John DeBruyn 24 years ago, and is currently assessed at just over $9,000 with a full market value of $15,600. It is located at a clearing just past the intersection of Zimmer Road with Route 156.

The board also discussed property located off of Quay Road under the tax parcel 35.-3-47, which has no information listed on it on the tax rolls. Lefkaditis said he discovered in when researching a neighboring parcel of land simply marked as a cemetery.

Lefkaditis determined that the Dot family owned that parce but, when the land was subdivided, it had not been listed on the tax rolls since 1968. At only one-third of an acre, the board decided not to pursue back taxes, and would give the information gathered to a potential buyer of the land.

The board also discussed an alleged encroachment of materials at the town transfer station onto the neighboring Winn Preserve, owned by the Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy. Mark King, the executive director of the conservancy, told The Enterprise because Tuesday’s meeting that the the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation had notified the conservancy that someone had observed the encroachment, but that it was still not determined if any boundaries had been crossed or not. King said that this would be investigated further by the town and the DEC.

Afzali said at the meeting that he would need to set up a meeting with DEC.

At the meeting, Lefkaditis said that he had discussed having the town split the costs of a surveyor with the conservancy and that King had said he would look into it; the supervisor added that he took that to mean “no” and would wait for a response from the DEC.

“It’s kind of an odd spot,” King told The Enterprise, explaining that there is a steep slope where the town and the conservancy’s properties meet. He added that he is not especially concerned now, as an intrusion hasn’t even been determined yet.

Other business

In addition, the board:

— Announced that a proposed flu clinic that was to be held at the town hall on Sept. 22 was canceled due to a lack of interest;

— Heard from Altamont Library Director Joe Burke, who said that the library is surveying its patrons to prepare a three-year plan, and wants to hear in particular from Knox residents;

— Discussed the intersection of Knox Cave Road and Pleasant Valley Road. Barber said there have been two accidents there in the last two weeks, and Saddlemire said the fire department had responded to seven there in the last four years;

— Discussed establishing a fee for vacant properties in the town’s recently enacted law on blighted properties; and

— Heard from Saddlemire that a $130,000 state grant, which is being awarded to Knox for energy conservation, is still in the works after a staff change at the Capital District Regional Planning Commission.