GUILDERLAND — The town board here will consider another moratorium on building as it is poised to begin its review of the recommendation made by a citizens’ committee, working with a consultant, to update its two-decades-old comprehensive plan.

The subject was broached at the board’s Jan. 7 meeting by Robyn Gray, who chairs the grassroots group Guilderland Coalition for Responsible Growth.

Gray had pushed the board for the first moratorium last year, which was adopted in May and ended in November.

To encourage affordable housing and also to protect the town’s water quality and quantity, the moratorium law said, there would be a six-month moratorium on subdivisions of five or more lots, apartment complexes of 25 or more units, and residential-care facilities of 50 or more units.

“Where are we with that?” Gray asked the board on Jan. 7.

Supervisor Peter Barber responded that neither the town’s water department nor its planning department had requested the moratorium be extended.

“The water department did not need any additional time because they’ve already rolled out their water meters and they’ve already gotten contracts lined up,” said Barber.

At its Dec. 10 meeting, the town board agreed to hire Core & Main to install about 10,000 water meters in homes across town for just under $5 million.

Barber continued, “On the planner side, there have been no issues. There have been no applications There have been no concerns.”

Barber concluded, “I got no request from any department head about any need for an additional moratorium.”

The first public hearing on the updated plan proposal will probably be held in early February, Barber said.

“I think you’re missing the point or I’m not understanding ….,” said Gray. “How long is this process going to take? It’s not like this comp plan is going to get approved 100 percent, like, right away.”

The process, overseen by the town board, will probably take several months, Barber said. “The town board is the board that could issue a moratorium,” he added.

Deputy Supervisor Christine Napierski asked what would happen if an application came to the town now that conflicted with proposals for the updated comprehensive plan.

“Shouldn’t we have extended it until the comp plan was finished?” she asked.

“Well, again,” said Barber, “nobody raised that —”

“Well, I’m raising it,” interjected Gray.

“We’ll consider it down the road,” said Barber. “I can’t do it today,” he said, citing the need for public hearing.

At the close of the Jan. 7 meeting, Napierski suggested that “extending the moratorium” be put on the agenda for the board’s next meeting, Feb. 4.

“I don’t think there should be a problem,” said Barber.

Fees

Gray also quizzed the board on Jan.7 about changes to the town’s fee schedule.

On Dec. 10, the board held a hearing on a 22-page list of various town fees, which garnered quite a bit of comment, primarily about new fees for replacing roofs, windows, or siding or for doing plumbing work or installing electrical vehicle chargers or solar panels.

“We set some new fees every three or four years,” Barber said at the time, explaining that increases in costs have to be passed on to residents.

Guilderland resident Karen White said the table of changes shows “most of them seem reasonable, just small incremental things that are not too out of line.”

However, she noted a list of a dozen items that, for the first time, will require a building permit — such as $200 for a permit to replace a roof, $75 to replace a window, $100 to replace siding, $100 to put in a standby generator, $300 to put in solar panels, $100 to put in an EV charger, and $50 each to put in plumbing or fire sprinklers.

“All of these are pretty pricey things for homeowners to tackle to begin with,” said White. “And this seems kind of like adding insult to injury to make people pay” just to have a broken window replaced.

James Melita, the town attorney, said at the Dec. 10 meeting, “This is pretty standard in a lot of other municipalities. I was surprised to learn it didn’t occur here.”

Subsequently, Albany County legislator Mark Grimm, a Guilderland resident, wrote a letter to the Enterprise editor, terming the town’s fees “an extraordinary intrusion into residents’ everyday lives” and calling for a repeal of the new fees and for a citizens’ committee to evaluate the entire fee system.

On Jan. 7, Gray called for clarification of the newly adopted fees.

Gray said the coalition had done its own study of local municipalities and found that only Rotterdam and now Guilderland charge for things like replacing windows.

“Are you going to charge 75 bucks for each window to be replaced?” Gray asked.

“It’s $75 whether it’s one or 20,” answered Barber. “And it’s only for alterations …. No building permit is required for repairs …. You have to look at the building code, not the town code, to find that out.”

“Plumbing is not defined,” said Gray.

Barber said that plumbing repairs would not require a permit. “If plumbing alters the building in any way,” he said, then a permit is required.

Barber went on, “The town doesn’t require any building permits … It’s all required by the state building code … There’s usually an inspection requirement to make sure that there’s insurance that’s in place, workers’ comp, liability.”

The state is now requiring building inspections for doors and windows, if they alter the building, to make sure they are energy efficient, Barber said.

“We’ve had a number of shoddy installations,” he said.

“Oh, yeah,” rejoined Gray. “We’ve had it, too, at our house so I understand."

“I can happen to even very intelligent people,” said Barber. “[They] can be taken.”

Another problem, when people put in new windows, Barber said, is “not understanding that sometimes the window is now more narrow," which can make it difficult to get out of the house if there is a fire, he said.

“Anytime you need a building permit … there needs to be an inspection that goes along with that, correct?” asked Gray.

“Exactly,” rescinded Barber.

Gray then asked if residents paying these new fees will have someone from the town inspecting the work.

“Exactly,” Barber replied again.

Gray said she’d had two instances at her house where that wasn’t the case.

“We can talk about that later,” said Barber. “But again, all I know is they have to be inspected because it gets filed then with the assessor’s office … I can’t say it’s perfect.”

Other business

In other business at its Jan. 7 meeting, the Guilderland Town Board:

— Approved a slew of appointments and promotions largely because of recent retirements.

Because C.J. Gallup retired as director of Parks and Recreation, Andrew Huggins is moving up, from parks foreman, to that post while Jeff Valletta is moving up to become foreman.

The town’s golf course has been separated from the rest of the park system and Andy Ostrowski was named golf foreman, “akin to superintendent of golf,” said Barber. Kevin Keegan who was a part-time laborer at the golf course is now full-time.

Ted Raymond, who retired as chief fire inspector, was replaced by Paul Miller, who had been second in command.

Jonathan Schlutow was promoted to foreman of Water/Wastewater Maintenance.

Jay Tyler retired as director of Guilderland Emergency Medical Services so Sean McGaughnea was named acting director of EMS while Bonnie-Jean Johnson moved into McGaughnea’s old post and is now acting director of EMS Operations while Alex Downey is filling Johnson’s former job as acting senior paramedic supervisor.

Barber said their titles all include “acting” because Tyler is on the payroll until the end of March. “Everyone’s kind of moving up one spot,” he said;

— Appointed David Robinson, whom Barber said “has a very extensive military career as a payroll specialist,” as a town payroll specialist;

— Appointed Emily Shafer as a laborer in the water department;

— At its reorganizational meeting, held just before the Jan. 7 meeting, adopted a GEMS fee schedule for 2025 where the charge for basic life support goes from $1,250 to $1,300 and advanced life support goes from $1,750 to $1,900;

— Accepted donations for the Western Turnpike Golf Course of a reel grinder, with a value of about $10,000, from the Long Island National Golf Course, and a skid street grapple attachment, with a value of about $1,000, from the Cold Spring Country Club.

Ostrowski said in a memo to the board that this will allow for more in-house maintenance rather than contracting with an outside vendor;

— Authorized the golf course to issue requests for proposals for two fairway mowers and a turf grass sprayer; and

— Waived the building permit fee associated with fire damage at 6640 Fuller Station Road. The barn at the Albany Therapeutic Riding Center had burned in November.