County Legislature OKs environmental review, Farley questions funding
County Legislators are another step closer to beginning construction of the new Glendale Nursing Home in Glenville.
More than a month after the Glendale presentation by county officials on Jan. 26, which included concept plans and an overall footprint, a negative declaration was granted on the State Environmental Quality Review for the project during the County Legislature meeting on Tuesday, March 8. In the SEQR Environmental Review Form the sledding hill next to the property is stated to remain undisturbed and the concept plan appears congruent to the current direction.
`We presented a plan for public feedback and the feedback has been overwhelming positive, so the Glendale home will be built where we always envisioned it being built,` said Susan Savage, Chairwoman of the Schenectady County Legislature. `There was never any plan to touch the hill and there was never any plan to touch the field, although we were happy to listen to neighbors concerns about the field.`
Savage contested while concerns were raised about the adjacent field, which some residents dubbed `The Indian Kill Field,` there wasn’t a plan to build on the field, but the option did remain open during discussions in the Legislature. Proponents to preserve the field and sledding hill came out in support of the Legislature’s SEQR application retaining the open space.
`By choosing the place the new Glendale Nursing Home in front of the existing structure you have taken into consideration the importance of maintaining the open space of the sledding hill and adjacent meadow,` said Kathy Sen, who lives on Cedar Lane, adjacent to the field. `It is hoped you will include the field along with the sledding hill before it is submitted to New York State. I presume this was merely an oversight.`
Raymond Collar, also a Cedar Lane resident, said he would `deeply grateful` if the application was stated as not disturbing the field before it was approved and sent to the Department of Environmental Conservation.
Residents also asked Savage to bring legislation she drafted to declare the field as forever wild for a vote, but after the meeting Savage said when the time is right she’d present the resolution for a vote. She said the process of converting an area into parkland takes more than `a few months.`
There were no amendments presented before voting on the SEQR determination, which passed 10-1 with Minority Leader Robert Farley voting against the resolution and four legislators absent. Ray Gillen, commissioner of the county’s Economic Development and Planning Department, said the SEQR application states the home will be built in front of the current facility and won’t affect the open space concerning residents.
`I think the site plan shows we don’t come anywhere near the field. The actual impact of the home is less than the current home,` said Gillen. `We are building in front, so we are as far from the hill as you can get now.`
While nothing was stated to be `concrete` at the presentation given in January, Gillen said the site plan was presented at the meeting, which was the overheard layout of where the building would be placed.
`It was as detailed as the site plan gets,` said Gillen about the material presented at the meeting.
At the same earlier meeting, County Manager Kathleen Rooney said there wasn’t a site plan, because the county is only at the beginning level of the design, but it appears what was presented is what the county is using as a site plan.
`This is the project, this is the project that is moving forward,` said Gillen about the discussed concept presented at the meeting, which was followed through in the SEQR process.
Savage said construction is hoped to begin in the spring or summer, which entails moving Hetcheltown Road in front of the building out 90 feet to meet town requirements and create a buffer space for safe removal of the old facility.
`There are more approvals that have to be achieved before actual construction of the home can begin. There won’t be a disruption to people that use Hetcheltown Road, because the current road will remain open till the new road is completed,` said Savage.
Farley questioned whether the funding for the over $50 million project will materialize and was concerned about county taxpayers being left with the burden to front the bill.
`The environment of the state of New York has been to cut Medicaid and to cut it deeper than it’s ever been contemplated being cut,` said Farley. `If we had a firm commitment out of the state that they were going to pay for the whole thing, maybe I would look at it differently. At the end of the day that commitment is not there and every sign that I see in state government points us in a different direction.`
Farley also said with the proposed tax cap, if funding is cut, the county might be in tight fiscal restraints to pay for the project.
`If you turn around and obligate yourself to a 20 percent tax increase with a 2 percent tax cap, I don’t quite know how that computes unless you take the Ohio model and file Schenectady County for bankruptcy,` said Farley.
Savage after the meeting said she didn’t foresee the bleak picture Farley suggested as a possibility.
`Bob Farley can’t be for it and against it and that is what his comments seem to say,` said Savage. `There will always in these times be concerns about state funding we all have to wait and see what the final process is and this year is no different from any other year. We believe there will be more than adequate resources to complete what is currently being discussed.`
Legislator Karen Johnson said at the meeting she too is concerned about the possible cuts to Medicaid, which will primarily fund the project.
`I think a lot of us are concerned about the cuts in Medicaid not only because of the nursing home, but because of the impacts it has on our residents in many, many areas,` said Johnson.
Farley also shared a conversation he said he had with some employees of the nursing home after the community presentation in January.
`Walking out of the meeting we had at the nursing home I had the pleasure to be accompanied by three lovely nurses that serve our patients there every day and I was kind of shocked what they said to me,` said Farley. `They looked at me and said, ‘Bob, this is a boondoggle. It is never going to happen why can’t you guys build something that is in the zone of reality.’`
After the meeting, Savage questioned the authenticity of Farley’s anecdote.
`I don’t believe that that is a conversation that has ever happened. People that worked in the nursing home that heard that comment believe that never happened. I would question whether that conversation ever happened,` said Savage.
Johnson said the condition of the nursing home is reason enough to correct the living quarters of residents.
`I know a lot of us would like to see the nursing home built, because we look at the nursing home we have and we frankly should be ashamed of the condition that it is in. We realize that the least expensive alternative to that is building a new nursing home,` said Johnson.“
