GUILDERLAND — As it appears to be the local trend during hearings on the topic, just a handful of residents spoke during a recent town board meeting as to whether pot shops should be allowed in Guilderland.

One speaker had more to say on property-tax refunds to major landowners while another sought an update on some long-awaited road construction.

The state’s Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act of 2021 was signed into law in March. Recreational marijuana use was legalized for people 21 and older in New York State, while selling it would be permitted once regulations were established. 

Municipalities now have until Dec. 31 to opt out of allowing retail dispensaries or licenses for on-site consumption.

Four residents — two in favor, one against, and one who favored a wait-and-see approach — spoke about the issue during the public comment period of the Guilderland Town Board Sept. 21 meeting.

John Haluska, who had more to say about the town’s infrastructure, “didn’t have a problem” with pot shops.

“If we can sell tobacco — we could sell firearms if we had a need to, or mind to —  I don’t see any problems selling this stuff,” he said.

Christopher Longo “urged” the board to come up with a law that prevented dispensaries in town.

Longo said, even with access to new revenue, it wouldn’t benefit the town financially. “Inevitably there are new governmental social-service programs necessary to counteract rises in substance-abuse counseling, child neglect [and] endangerment, impaired driving, [and] accidents,” said Longo, a member of the town’s planning board. 

Any tax revenues Guilderland is likely to see will come from its own residents, “so that resident is really just experiencing another tax,” Longo said. “Now they have less take-home earnings.”

Guilderland residents wouldn’t be forced to buy marijuana. 

Longo said the major issue is that pot shops would be a detriment to the town’s children, who would have increased access to it. 

 He used the slippery-slope argument: If pot’s legalized, then who’s to say cocaine, heroin, or prostitution couldn’t be next. 

Longo also noted that area municipalities — Colonie just passed a law allowing shops but not on-site consumption — are allowing the shops, so “why would we have to just mindlessly follow suit just because someone can buy it the town over.”

Meadowdale Road resident Charles Klaer wanted to know about the process. 

Klaer said, if the town board approves either pot shops or on-site consumption, then, in the future, the town could come back and disapprove it; however, if the retail or on-site use is disapproved, the town “never has the opportunity to change our mind and approve it.”

He was told it was the other way around: If the town opts out, it can opt back in; however, if Guilderland opts in, it can’t opt out. 

Klaer then said the town should take a wait: Opt out and learn from other municipalities that have opted in.

A resident who called himself Wesley from Pinewood Drive was “all in favor.”

“The concerns that crime will increase, access for minors will increase,” Wesley said, “that’s just simply been proven otherwise in other communities.”

He said a government ID has to be shown every time a person walks in the door; it would be difficult for a minor to do that. 

People are still going to access and use marijuana, “so why wouldn’t we welcome it in our community since it’s going to happen anyways,” he said. 

At the close of the comment period, Supervisor Peter Barber said the board is likely to put the marijuana legislation on its Oct. 5 agenda, to consider scheduling a public hearing on the opting-in or opting-out of the law, but said, “We’ll get some more details once we get that agenda set up.”

Roundabouts 

Haluska asked about the abandoned Nedco Pharmacy and when it would come down. The building’s demolition is related to the roundabout construction on Carman Road at East Lydius Street

The state Department of Transportation will be awarding the $3.25 million contract by the end of the year, Barber said.

Barber said another roundabout is being built further up Carman Road near the I-890 intersection in Rotterdam; they’re about a half-mile from each other.

The plan is to first construct the Rotterdam roundabout, sometime in spring 2022, Barber estimated, then the Guilderland one right after.

Tax refunds to major property owners

Resident Robyn Gray asked about tax certiorari cases and said $25 million was being refunded to “corporations or apartment buildings because they were trying to sue us and, in lieu of suing, what happens is the cases get settled.”

The town board at the Sept. 21 meeting signed off on lowering the assessed value on four properties — as it has for a number of other properties over the past year as well. 

The four properties had their collective assessed values reduced by $7.1 million for tax years 2019 and 2020, with their respective owners splitting a total of about $26,000 in refunded property taxes. 

“All new settlement reductions are higher than the 2018 Assessed Value,” reads town Assessor Heather Weinhold’s memo to the board, referencing values before the town-wide property revaluation. “After the reductions stipulated in the settlement, the town is still gaining $12,499,400 in taxable value.”

Barber explained that, when the assessor has to assess the commercial property or apartment building initially, the owner doesn’t provide any background information. “We don’t have their income and expense,” he said.

But, when the property owner brings Guilderland to court, those documents have to be provided to the town, which the town then uses to come up with an appraised property value that is a more accurate estimate of the property’s value. 

Gray said the property owners are costing the town time and money with the litigation. 

“Unfortunately, that’s the way the state has set up the system,” Barber said. 

When the town revalues properties, approximately every 10 years, it has no power to compel property owners — residential, commercial, or other — “to give us any information.” So what the assessor does is look at publicly-available information, Barber said, like rental guides and she makes her “best guess.”

But, when someone sues over their assessment, that’s when the litigant has to open the books. 

Other business

In other business, the town board:

— Approved using federal American Rescue Plan funds for the purchase of an ambulance, $222,350; five defibrillators, $73,040; an advanced-life-support first-response vehicle, sometimes called a fly car, $50,000; and five stair chairs, a sturdy chair with wheels to move patients, $18,059.

Guilderland received about $3.5 million in American Rescue funds, Barber said; and 

— Set an Oct. 5 public hearing on whether to extend the programmable digital signs moratorium from Oct. 6, 2021, to Jan. 6, 2022.