The public weighed in on recent bickering by the Guilderland Town Board. During the public comment portion at the start of the Tuesday, March 18, meeting, Harry Mesick of Guilderland made known his feelings about the contentious nature of recent meetings.
I’ve heard nothing but disdain for one another and a lack of cooperation. Before the gentlemen, Redlich and Grimm, were elected into office, we never had this problem, said Mesick, referring to Republican councilmen Warren Redlich and Mark Grimm, who were elected to the Democrat-dominated board in November.
Mesick praised Supervisor Ken Runion’s work and pleaded with board members to `get to the business at hand and get the job done.`
Runion adjourned the Tuesday, March 4, Town Board meeting when it appeared infighting among board members and the supervisor would keep them from accomplishing anything.
Republican Party Chairman Ted Danz was quick to speak on behalf of the GOP councilmen, pointing out both were elected by an overwhelming majority in November.
`I think we finally have some diversity on the board as far as opinions go. There’s supposed to be dialogue; there’s supposed to be talk, and we encourage change,` said Danz, adding both parties need to work together to accomplish the people’s business.
With that, the board embarked on a polite and productive meeting. The board approved the minutes of the previous meeting, with Redlich abstaining from the vote.
A proposal by Amedore Homes Inc., to rezone land on West Old State Road for a townhouse project was approved for a public hearing in a unanimous vote. The 22-acre plot of land is zoned for residential use and currently contains a house and farm buildings. Amedore Homes hopes to have the property re-zoned for 42 townhomes and local business use. Runion suggested business non-retail professional use zoning might be more appropriate for the project.
The luxury townhomes would be available with either two or three bedrooms, range from 1,900 to 2,100 square feet and be priced from $325,000 to $350,000, according to John Bossilini, a project manager for Amedore Homes. The plans call for an additional 80 percent of the land to be preserved for recreational use.
`They’re designed for 50 and up,` said Bossilini referring the age-bracket the company hopes to target. `We are marketing toward the empty-nesters who desire to stay in Guilderland but want to sell their larger homes.`
In a letter to the Town Board, town planner Jan Weston said she had no objection to the rezoning but requested the builder include additional sidewalks in the plan, a measure Bossilini said they would consider. A public hearing on the project has been scheduled for Tuesday, April 1, at 8 p.m.
In other development projects, Glassworks Village submitted its final environmental impact statement, which the board accepted unanimously.
At Councilman Mark Grimm’s request, the board discussed providing closed captioning for televised meetings. The discussion follows a debate at a previous meeting regarding the minutes and whether they should be summarized by the town clerk or transcribed word for word.
`There may be minimal interest and then there may be more than we anticipated,` said Grimm of closed captioning. `It would be interesting to put it out there and see what happens.`
`We have had discussions with Time Warner (in the past),` said Runion. `It would be added equipment to what we already have.` The town currently pays $25 an hour to broadcast meetings on Time Warner cable. According to Runion, new closed-captioning equipment could range anywhere from $7,000 to $60,000 and would not include an hourly fee for the service. `The charge just to do Town Board meetings would be somewhere in the range of $30,000 a year,` he said.
Board members also discussed having the meetings transcribed and posted on the town Web site. Both Grimm and Runion urged the public to contact the town supervisor’s office if they would be interested in either service. “