February 3, 2009 Town Board meeting

Much discussion centered on the vote to use a line item transfer in the senior services department to fund a $7,000 contribution to Community Caregivers. At the annual budget meeting in November, Supervisor Runion and board members Pat Slavick and Paul Pastore voted down a motion by Councilman Mark Grimm. Grimm's motion hoped to restore the Caregivers' money that had been cut and which had been in previous years' budgets. With community pressure, the money was finally restored. Click for more on the issue.

For the second time, a representative for Store Away, a storage facility on Wagner Road, came before the board hoping to get approval for a sign. Dan Hershberg of Hershberg & Hershberg was asked again to come back with another proposal.

The Board unanimously approved the appointment of Carly Staubach as telecommunicator. Congratulations to Carly.

January 20, 2009 Town Board meeting

The Town Board

- authorized an agreement with Western Turnpike Rescue Squad for billing of advanced life support provided by the town
- accepted the sewer easement from the Walgreen's property at routes 155 and 20
- set a public hearing for a re-zone request for Dutchmen Acre

October 7th Meeting

The principal item at the meeting was discussion of the proposed Glass Works Village project, a planned mixed-use development on 57 acres of land near the town library and YMCA. A public hearing to solicit input was set for October 21st at 8 pm.

May 6th Town Board Meeting

The three finalists for the police chief opening were interviewed prior to, and after, the Town Board meeting. A decision should come soon.

Several residents spoke about concerns involving a proposed development on 41 acres at 17 School Road near Guilderland High School. They said flooding was already a big problem in their basements and wanted to ensure the development doesn't add to the problem. The initial approval for the development was delayed by the Board, pending more study by the developer.

A former summer employee at the Western Turnpike golf course spoke at public comment period complaining he was not re-hired this summer. John Adamovich said he was told there was "a new policy" that only Guilderland residents can work there now. Supervisor Runion said there is a "preference" given town employees but there is no residency requirement. Runion said he made the cut in order to save money. Mark Grimm and Warren Redlich said they should have been informed about the supervisor's actions.

April 1st Town Board Meeting

Three key items:

1 - The Board took about two hours to review the Findings of Fact statement presented by developers of the Glass Works Village project. A so-called "urbanist village" development on a 57-acre parcel behind the Town library is proposed. The most significant discussion concerned the traffic impact on Route 20. The Board eventually approved an amended version of the findings.

2 - A public hearing on a request to rezone the Stutz property on West Old State Road resulted in strong resistance from neighbors complaining about the flooding problems already associated with the property. The developer, Amedore Homes, was asked to return to the Board at a later date with plans to mitigate the problem. No vote was taken on the rezoning.

3 - A Northeastern Industrial Park representative presented their Findings of Fact statement regarding its request for zoning changes at NEIP. Since additional memos regarding the findings were not incorporated into the findings statement itself, the representative was asked to return on the April 15th Board meeting with comments incorporated into the document.