To the Editor:

I am a Guilderland resident, living near the Watervliet Reservoir, and recently learned that the same developer who attempted to build a construction storage site next to the reservoir at 4478 Western Turnpike, is now attempting to build a three home development at the site.

As with the previous project, the developer is seeking a variance to build beyond the 500-foot setback to the reservoir for buildings and septic systems.

Currently the matter is scheduled to be addressed at the July 17 hearing of the Guilderland Zoning Board of Appeals.

I am opposed to the project as I see no legitimate reason to encroach on the setback. Variances, in my opinion, are intended for unique cases that are not correctly addressed by zoning law, such as a homeowner seeking to build an in-law apartment off their garage for their elderly parents.

Instead, the developer appears to have abused the zoning law by knowingly purchasing, at a significant discount, a plot of land that could not be developed. There is plenty of other land that the developer could build on elsewhere in the town, but at a much higher price.

I fear, if this variance is granted, the precedence that will be set. Other developers will be encouraged to buy land next to the reservoir and other waterways, expecting to receive variances, while the zoning board will have less justification to deny those variances.

In the end, the 500-foot setback will become defunct in practice, threatening the primary source of water for our town and the city of Watervliet.

Pete Scofield

Guilderland