Where is the Town of Colonie headed in 2012? That’s the question a panel of local officials tried to answer at “Colonie in 2012,” held at Colonie Center on Friday, Jan. 6, by the Colonie Chamber of Commerce and sponsored by NBT Bank.
“I’m confident that the next two years are going to be even greater progress for Colonie,” said Supervisor Paula Mahan.
Mahan touted her New Year’s message that 2011 had been a “productive” year and said the inherited deficit of about $21 million is gone and the town’s financial house is in order, putting Colonie on a good path for development and growth in the coming year.
“We need to be very conservative as we progress in to the future. … We’re on a more stable ground that we will be able to begin to build some surplus,” said Mahan. “We’ve certainly worked very hard to make Colonie a business friendly community.”
Business friendly
Joe LaCivita, director of planning and economic development for the town, said the town is attracting more businesses largely because of efforts to restructure development processes.
“When we entered into office (in 2008) we were primarily in a reactive mode to development. We heard from the developers, heard their frustration, heard it from engineers and we knew the processes that were inherited were flawed,” said LaCivita.
It took too long to develop within the town because “no one knew the reasons why” certain steps and processes were there.
“What we really had to do was break through the processes that we inherited and start to move at the speed of business, not at the speed of government,” said LaCivita. “Fast forward to 2011 … primarily on a day to day basis we are in a proactive approach to development. We are seeing developers come back to the town in anticipation.”
Development projects have gone from taking years to complete, to mere months.
“We’ve seen some major projects happen in four months. That’s concept to final approval to shovel into the ground,” said LaCivita. “Before, that was unheard of in the town.”
A local redevelopment law passed within the town has also created incentive to set up shop in Colonie. Under the law, certain sites deemed ideal for redevelopment are given priority.
“Those sites that were once prosperous but are now blighted, we’re looking at those sites to be priority sites and projects,” said LaCivita. “If a developer chooses to redevelop within that site we’re looking at expedited approval time frames.”
Collaborating with businesses and embracing small businesses has also added to Colonie’s growing commercial community.
“We developed a small business advisory council … partnered with the business community to assess their needs,” said LaCivita. “We’re in the process of developing a toolbox for when businesses enter into the town.”
Cutting down on crime
The town itself isn’t the only collaboration businesses have been embroiled in lately. Chief of Police Steve Heider said the police department has stepped up its interaction with retailers.
“[We] try to work a lot with local businesses to make things better for them and the town as a whole and we’re very proud to be in this partnership,” said Heider.
One facet of that partnership has been bringing business leaders together to brainstorm ways to thwart crime.
“There are between $3 million and $5 million a year of thefts from companies by their own employees and trusted agents,” said Heider. “A new initiative we started last year is really unique and shouldn’t be. We brought together 40 of the biggest retailers in town … because crime doesn’t read the name of the store on the way in.”
Since property crimes or burglaries are most common in town, Heider said finding solutions is imperative.
“A criminal is very mobile today, they can be in Albany one minute and the Town of Colonie the next,” said Heider. “We’ve asked merchants to get together to talk about trends, talk about the bad guys that are traversing the town.”
The police department also “made about 118,000 new friends” in 2011 through traffic tickets and continued to address the issue of drugs.
“We are one of the few agencies that still does the DARE program. We know the DARE program is not the do all end all to solve drug problems but we have four officers who get into every school in our community and they meet every child,” said Heider.
With more than 10,000 students in Colonie, Heider said that small interaction can be a big first step.
“They’re a very viable part of our population,” said Heider.
The town used to rank No. 1 and boast the title of “Safest Town in America,” but now it sits at No. 7. Heider said that’s not cause for alarm.
“People think our crime is way up but in actuality our crime was down in 2011 about 5 percent,” said Heider, adding that out of about 80,000 calls a year, only about 50 are considered violent crimes. “That follows a national trend we’re proud to be a part of.”
Colonie’s next generation
Keeping with the morning’s theme of working together, the superintendents of the North and South Colonie school districts took a moment to share some of their joint efforts.
“School districts are part of the bigger global, national and state so we have to react locally,” said Joe Corr, North Colonie superintendent. “Our job is a very important one and that important job is to go out and prepare students to live, work and thrive in this global economy.”
South Colonie Superintendent Jon Buhner said offering more advanced placement courses is one of the ways the districts are preparing students for their futures, as well as keeping an eye on “at risk” students.
“Some of our at risk kids who live in shelters and hotels; those kids, if they stay in our system and are not transient, not only are they graduating but they’re graduating with advanced regents diplomas,” said Buhner. “They’re going on and being successful.”
Good neighbors
New to the “Colonie in 2012” docket this year were the mayors of the Village of Menands and the Village of Colonie.
Village of Menands Mayor Meg Grenier said 2011 was “exciting and challenging” and that the village continues to pursue some large-scale projects.
“We’ve undertaken several initiatives that will improve the quality of life for residents and business owners,” said Grenier. “We have nearly completed the first of several infrastructure projects that will upgrade and improve sewer and water service in various neighborhoods.”
Frank Leak, Village of Colonie mayor, said he was looking forward to working closely with the Town of Colonie.
“We work good together and we want to maintain that and we
