A large contingent of Clapper Road residents responded with a resounding No to the proposed Selkirk bypass at a Tuesday, March 11, public hearing at Bethlehem Town Hall. However, most of the residents agreed that improvements to the town’s existing stretch of Route 9W were needed.
At the hearing, engineers and the town planner presented findings of the Route 9W Corridor Study to the public and discussed options for making traffic flow easier on the busy thoroughfare and other improvement concepts. Increased truck traffic is also a concern for the roadway.
Suggested improvements to Route 9W included the possibility of several roundabouts; new traffic signals; adding a second northbound travel lane from Feura Bush Road to the Delmar Bypass, or installing a second travel lane in both directions; and installing a raised or flush center median along several different sections of the roadway.
The residents crowding Town Hall did not shy away from giving their input.
Several suggestions from residents included creating the town’s open space plan before making a bypass plan; making sure money is in place from corporate sponsorship before construction begins instead of hoping that economic development occurs; and asking if a bypass was really necessary at all.
`Shouldn’t the town make the open spaces plan before making a bypass plan?` one resident asked.
The town announced in February that it would appoint the Citizens Advisory Committee on Conservation (CACC) to help work on an open space plan, but several area farmers and large landowners have been critical of CACC because they say they are not properly represented in the advisory group.
At the next day’s town board meeting on Wednesday, March 12, Supervisor Jack Cunningham said the town might create a subcommittee made up of farmers and landowners.
Several residents also expressed concerns that their opinions and comments were either not being documented or taken seriously by the town, and some asked where the money for the proposed improvements would come from.
Jim Donovan, a senior landscape architect with WilburSmith Associates, presented the plans during the public hearing and fielded many of the questions from residents.
`Transportation systems are an important component of the community,` Donovan said during the presentation’s introduction. `It’s assumed that a lot of future development of the town will occur within the 9W corridor.`
He said all of the proposals were consistent with the town’s comprehensive plan, but, he said, the town might want to consider the residents’ recommendation that the open space plan be in place first.
Steven Wiley, who lives off of Route 144, said he was worried about the cost of the project.
`It seems to me that we need to get real about taxes in this town and in this state,` Wiley said during the meeting. `We’re talking about spending $20 million or so to move trucks with the hopes to pay it off with the promise of future economic development.`
Town Planner Jeff Lipnicky told residents the truck traffic has been an issue for years and that the neighboring municipalities of Coeymans and Ravena did not want the trucks on their roads, either.
`We’ve had no success in asking them to take our trucks,` Lipnicky joked at the meeting. `We’ve been working on this for 20 years.`
Donovan told residents that a new bypass route would reduce the traffic burden on Route 9W, which would divert at least 200 vehicle trips and lessen the need for major capital improvements on the road.
Cunningham said the current study has been going over a year and that it is only a series of recommendations, not a finalized plan. He said currently there is no money for the suggested improvements and that a plan needs to be put in place for when finances can be secured.
`These are a series of recommendations to be implemented over time (if approved). Unfortunately, there’s no money set aside for it,` said Cunningham. `Once this plan is approved and adopted, we can forward it to the DOT.`
The approved plans would then be used as a tool to apply for state grants and allow the county Department of Transportation to budget money for it.
`These projects would be way, way too expensive for the town taxpayers alone,` he concluded.
The recommendations from the study suggested that a new Thruway interchange could be constructed to divert the heavy truck traffic from the area, but several residents pointed out that there are no such plans with the New York State Thruway Authority.
Lisa Evan, who lives near Henry Hudson Park, asked why the bypass was necessary at all.
`Why not look at no bypass and look at the routes that currently exists and improve them and use them,` she said at the public hearing.
Bill Hillman, who lives off of Clapper Road and described his family as farm owners for the past 85 years, said that landowners have to disclose the possibility of a road coming through their property to potential buyers.
`Imagine your property or business is in line with this bypass which may or may not happen in 20 years,` Hillman said. `Close your eyes tonight and imagine you are in line with this road.`
Hillman said that the proposed plans have `already snatched a multi-million dollar property deal from my family,` because of disclosure problems with a possible bypass.
Residents also asked if the bus service from Albany’s south end, which Donovan said has more than doubled in recent years, was a viable solution to traffic woes and whether or not it was necessary.
A CDTA bus, number seven, goes from Albany to the Towne Center Plaza’s Wal-Mart and to the neighboring Price Chopper.
`If we look at the law enforcement costs,` one resident said, `I don’t know if we need bus services.`
Donovan said more bus lines could be implemented with more frequent stops to help alleviate traffic on Route 9W.
`If the comprehensive plan was so great, we shouldn’t have to re-zone,` said another resident about the proposals. `The Selkirk bypass has worried the residents of Bethlehem for far too long. So I say remove it, make it dead, and let’s not create another bypass again.`
He also said that the bypass should not appear on any maps or proposals for disclosure purposes.
Town clerk Kathleen Newkirk, who described herself as a resident first, and said plans need to be in place for inevitable development that will occur in the area.
`As advancements come and development comes,` Newkirk said. `We have to prepare for that.`
John Vadney of Selkirk expressed his frustrations over the bypass plan and said letters and comments from previous public hearings were not being heard.
`Stop calling it the Selkirk bypass because we don’t want it,` he said. `I sent in petitions with between 750 and 800 people and everyone said they did not want the bypass. Why did we send those letters? Where do we turn? If this sounds like rhetoric, I think I’m learning it from [attending] these meetings.
Comments about the project or requests for more information about it can be sent to [email protected], or to the town planner at Town Hall.“