Seeing Scotia-Glenville students walking down a street in the neighboring industrial park could be history if a town plan to provide a safe walkway takes off.
Glenville Supervisor Christopher Koetzle said he had received calls from residents concerned about high school and middle school students walking down Access Boulevard in the Glenville Business and Technology Park. He said the shoulder of the road is rough and has potholes, so students walk in the roadway instead of off to the side.
“We agreed that it was a public safety hazard,” Koetzle said. “We are trying to work towards a solution to make that a safer situation for our students.”
The town owns the road in the industrial park, which Koetzle said is “unusual,” and it has tried to maintain it with crushed stone. Eventually the gravel gets washed out or plowed away during the winter months, so he wants to find a permanent solution.
“We want to find an affordable way to have a safer walkway for students,” he said. “The students can’t continue to be put in danger and I am committed to getting this fixed.”
Koetzle said the town has been talking with the Schenectady Metroplex Development Authority for help in paying for the improvements. He said one of Metroplex’s missions is to improve business areas, so he thought the project might be a good fit.
Ray Gillen, chairman of Metroplex, said the authority has gone to the site to observe conditions and there was another meeting on the proposal Wednesday, Dec. 7.
Gillen said he “didn’t have any details to give” on the project, because it is still in “very preliminary stages.”
Koetzle said he hopes to start work as soon as possible and have it done before winter kicks into full swing.
Koetzle said he is looking into moving the fence separating the high school’s fields from the adjacent Access Boulevard back 10 to 15 feet. He said this would create space to provide for a walkway away from the road.
Robert Hanlon, spokesman for the school district, said the concern isn’t anything new, but since the school doesn’t own the land there is little it could do to rectify the situation.
“We have had parents bring concerns to us in the past about walking along the roadway that leads to the middle school,” said Hanlon. “We welcome anything that would improve our kids’ safety as they get to school every day.”
He also pointed out sidewalks are sporadic throughout the area because villages tend to have ample sidewalks while towns often have fewer.
For instance, on the Scotia end leading to the front of the high school there is a sidewalk, but there isn’t a sidewalk for students coming from the Glenville side of the school. The sidewalk stops at the school and doesn’t continue down Sacandaga Road.
