NEW SCOTLAND — The New Scotland Town Board this month adopted its long-in-the-works Open Space and Natural Resources Protection Plan.

The plan will now be folded into the town’s 2018 comprehensive plan and “used as a reference tool in the development, management, and protection of the Town’s natural resources, and in making future land use decisions,” the resolution adopting the plan states.

During the April 9 meeting, planner Nan Stolzenburg, who previously worked for the town, noted that language was added to emphasize that the plan was only a plan “and not a law, and that anything that deals with regulatory things are laws that would come later with its own process.”

Stolzenburg also noted that the plan now includes recommendations to study the town’s groundwater and karsts. Portions of Bethlehem’s water supply are located in New Scotland and were recently threatened by a local farm’s use of biosolids, a carcinogen. 

The open-space plan details how various forms of development — residential, commercial, and industrial — cause habitat loss and fragmentation, add impervious surfaces that alter water cycles, encourage sprawl, and increase pollution.

The plan offers strategies to mitigate these development impacts, such as: 

— Overlay districts to preserve aesthetic qualities. An earlier version of the plan included an agricultural overlay, but the committee that came up with the plan, Stolzenburg told town board members on April 9, determined it was an unnecessary addition and that the planning board could address the issue when projects come before the town; 

— Revising subdivision laws to reserve open space in developments and promoting clustered growth where infrastructure already exists;

— Controlling density and relocating high-impact uses such as hotels from residential-agricultural zones to areas better equipped to handle them; and

— Preserving open space through the use of financial tools like the transfer of development rights. 

The plan also addresses issues related to farmland abandonment, pollution, and climate change. 

The plan highlights the risk of abandoned agricultural fields transitioning into shrublands or forests  — a process that diminishes open meadow habitats essential for biodiversity. It suggests maintaining and enhancing these landscapes through zoning measures, overlays, and incentives (such as conservation easements and density bonuses).

Pollution sources like runoff, leaking septic systems, and deicing salts are identified by the plan as major concerns. The response includes implementing low-impact development standards, enhancing stormwater retention and infiltration practices, expanding stream buffer zones, and undertaking a town-wide groundwater study to protect water quality.

Recognizing climate change as a significant threat, the plan incorporates resiliency strategies. These include adapting recommendations from the Albany County Climate Resiliency Plan, preserving large contiguous natural habitats, enhancing vegetated stream buffers, and encouraging green infrastructure — like green roofs — to better manage changing weather patterns and extreme events.

Other business

In other business, the town board:

— Accepted a $31,009.50 bid from Burke Electric to install two dual-port electric-vehicle charging stations (four plugs in total) at the Joseph P. Hilton Park;

— Approved a mini-excavator capital project with a budget of $90,000. The approval allows the town to proceed with bonding for the purchase;

—  Approved a paving schedule for the upcoming season, with the work to be done by Callanan Industries. 

The following roads are on the list: Douglas Lane, Forest Drive, Westview Road, Highmeadow Lane, Deer Cliff Road, Hemlock Ridge Road, McGarr Lane, Upper Flat Rock Road, Brownrigg Road, and Tygert Road.

Highway Superintendent Ken Guyer was asked if any paving was in jeopardy because the federal government continues to pull funds from states. The program funding, Guyer said, comes from New York state, but he added that he thought some of that money flowed to the state from the federal government. 

 If the money isn’t there, Guyer said, then the town could just eliminate the projects without issue; 

— Approved an Advanced Life Support services contract with the Albany County Sheriff’s Office for $423,251.45. During budget season, the town had been looking at an 8-percent increase in its ALS contract, but that number got negotiated in half and then to 3.27 percent. Since 2023, however, the town’s ALS costs have increased by more than a quarter; 

— Heard from Councilman William Hennessey that work on the Hilton Barn is scheduled to wrap this month or next; and

— Heard from Supervisor Douglas LaGrange that a movie from Hollywood icon Danny Devito’s production company had filmed in town. The film stars fellow Hollywood icon John Stamos, famous for portraying Uncle Jesse and his con-man cousin, Stavros Katsopolis, in the early ’90s comedy juggernaut Full House. 

LaGrange said he was initially wary of the tax credits offered by New York state to attract the entertainment industry, but “it turns out they spend a lot of money. And I know a couple of our local food places were part of that. Robinson’s [Hardware] down the street, got a lot of business.”