To the Editor:

This is an open letter to the Altamont Planning Board.

The Dec. 12, 2018 vote to rezone 107-109 Helderberg Avenue we believe to be misguided. The simple fact that it contravenes Altamont’s comprehensive plan should give us all pause.

Our comprehensive plan represents the work of many residents who labored long to prepare a document in defense of the best interests of the village. It is a reflection of the will and long-range vision of the people of Altamont and was presented with the understanding and hope that it would serve as a guide to a generation, at least, of successive trustees, mayors and municipal planners. A document of this sort should be contravened only in extreme circumstances, and only with equally painstaking deliberation.

The argument that the board’s vote was simply a move to return the property to its original zoning is misleading, since the business that once occupied 107-109 Helderberg Avenue and that had motivated the earlier “commercial” designation — until the comprehensive plan moved it to residential — was a home-based venture with no customer parking, no noise, no lights, and little else indicative of a business.

It was always a residence, and is to this day. We believe it should remain this way, and that the property should be returned to its “residential” designation.

The idea that the 3-to-2 rezoning vote was done to facilitate the demolition of the house is astonishing. The demolition of a sound, perfectly serviceable century-old residence that is integral to one of the oldest neighborhoods in our Village — the Helderberg Avenue-Severson Avenue neighborhood — simply does not make sense.

It is a structure built more solidly than many modern homes, with a beautiful stone foundation and framing of stable, old-growth lumber, and most importantly, it is a place that is a family’s home. It is a duplex with the potential to be home for another hundred years or more to many more young families and others on modest incomes who come in search of the same dream we’ve all found in Altamont: a safe, comfortable, neighborly, and visually pleasing place to live and raise a family.

We believe that the planning board and Stewart’s should explore alternative arrangements for rebuilding the store on the existing store lot. The current floor plan put forth by Stewart’s would be larger than the Stewart’s store on Route 20.

We implore the planning board to invoke our comprehensive plan and reject such a development so out of scale for a village our size, and so unwise for a location as busy and potentially dangerous as those five corners.

In addition, we urge the planning board to seize the opportunity to carefully evaluate the impact that a radical, from-the-ground-up rebuild on that corner could have on Altamont’s central business district. The planning board should work with Stewart’s to create a design that is in keeping with the historic architectural styles and traditions of the village.

The Stewart’s corporation has already demonstrated a willingness to do precisely this in its expansion in Troy, at its Hoosick Street store, where it adapted its façade to better reflect the surrounding 19th-Century homes of the neighborhood. There, Stewart’s (and the Brunswick Planning Board) went to great lengths to respect the community’s esteem for its architecture, by moving a building to an adjacent lot and then donating the building to the Troy Land Bank.

This show of community engagement is documented in the YouTube video produced by the company, “Troy Grand Opening Hoosick Street”; the village should hold Stewart’s to these same high standards.

We urge the planning board to work with Stewart’s to create a design reminiscent of the lost George Severson Inn, which once stood where Stewart’s is now. A photo of the original inn can be viewed in the Library of Congress “Historic American Buildings Survey” collection at www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.ny0018.photos.

Historic Altamont Inc. stands willing to assist with the production of such a design, one that meets the business needs of the company while simultaneously capturing the essence of the building that first stood in that place. This proposal is not unrealistic.

The McDonald’s corporation designed a thoughtful and creative commercial presence in Freeport, Maine, adapting its design to the character of the community, as can be seen at https://youtu.be/tUbMSYv5v_A , “There’s a McDonald’s inside this 150-year old mansion in Maine...”

Altamont should require no less: By honoring the history of the site it occupies, Stewart’s could contribute in a deeply significant way to what makes Altamont truly unique and valued as the place we call home.

Historic Altamont Inc. was formed in September of 2018 with the hope of restoring the historic Dr. Frederick Crounse house at the corner of Gun Club Road and Route 146 in the former Knowersville area. Our mission is to promote the preservation of historic sites and buildings in and around Altamont.

Thomas Capuano

Martin Burke

Kristin Casey

Paul Scilipoti

Board of Directors

Historic Altamont Inc.