To the Editor:

I’m glad I live in a community where residents care enough to become publicly engaged when proposals like the Stewart’s expansion and the ridgeline cell tower crop up.

My worry now is that Altamont residents might be distracted just as the most consequential development in a generation potentially looms on the horizon.

Specifically, developer Jeff Thomas last month outlined to the village planning board his idea to construct three buildings with 26 apartments and commercial space in the 1.6-acre triangle of land tucked between Park Street and the railroad tracks. The development would be adjacent to the village’s post office and library. [The Altamont Enterprise, Dec. 201, 2016: “Jeff Thomas proposes 26 apartments for the center of Altamont.”]

As described to the board in a pre-application hearing, the largest two-story building would run along a currently wooded stretch of Park Street. Another would be built cheek-to-jowl with the historic train station that houses the Altamont Free Library. Developers envision one- and two-bedroom apartments with no larger, family-friendly units.

Based on their interpretation of a 1964 easement, developers would use the municipal lot fronting the library as an entrance and exit to Main Street. This would effectively transform an already tight parking lot into a busy thoroughfare — up to 30 additional cars an hour by the developer’s own estimate.

There are other concerns. It would reduce parking even more in the heart of the village. It would draw on the village’s finite water supply. But most importantly, crowding three buildings and a 49-spot parking lot in that small space would dramatically and irreversibly alter the look, feel, and composition of our village.

Thomas talked to the board about his “vision” for the center of Altamont. With respect, I think what matters most with a development of this magnitude is the collective vision of the community’s residents. Is this what we want?

Thomas’s plan was forwarded right before the holidays with the minimum legal notice. The potential danger now is an application process that moves too quickly and too opaquely.

At the very least, ample time must be given for officials to carefully review the impact of any future application on traffic patterns, parking, pedestrian safety, library-patron safety, historic preservation, water use, drainage, light pollution, green space, and the impact on neighboring homes and businesses.

And residents need more time to familiarize themselves with this latest plan to alter our village.

Michael Hill

Altamont

Editor’s note: Michael Hill notes that he is writing as an individual. He is a former member of the Altamont Free Library Board of Trustees and his wife, Christine Carpenter, is the board’s current president.