January
• A task force at the Pruyn House saw to the creation of new signs in order to bring visitors back to the sight. The Friends of the Pruyn House created the task force to develop informational material to highlight the historical and cultural significance of the house from when it was built in the 1830s.
• Town of Colonie employees took their oaths of office at Memorial Town Hall on Jan. 2. Town Supervisor Paula Mahan and members of the town board took their oaths given by New York State Supreme Court Judge Joseph Teresi while also welcoming David Green, who began his first term this year after Daniel Hornick stepped down.
• Colonie town officials were set to shutter the Skylane Motel, 1927 Central Ave., after an investigation turned up a long list of violations, including mold-covered walls and ceiling tiles, outlets oozing a mysterious substance and exposed wiring. This came after a resident fell through the floor of the motel in December 2013, giving the town probable cause to search the motel. Alex Patel, owner of the Skylane, would later face potential criminal charges for the alleged removal of placards at the motel, placed to notify residents of the motel’s closure, and at least 75 more violations from an ongoing investigation. Patel’s pleaded not guilty to a total of 254 violations. Patel’s second motel, the Blu-Bell, came under scrutiny for substandard conditions. A search warrant was obtained when inspectors noticed renovations being done at the motel without proper permits. A welfare investigator with Social Services was suspended after the poor conditions at the Skylane went under-represented.
• The North Colonie School District received an increase in state aid, about $380,000, a 2.2 percent increase, along with an additional $750,000. District officials still worried the increase would not some education initiatives by Governor Andrew Cuomo.
February
• The Planning Board met Feb. 11, to hear from ABD Engineering, which asked for concept acceptance to build a 13-lot subdivision at 301 Sand Creek Rd. Board officials unanimously approved the plan on the condition that the developers include drainage plans to address concerns neighboring residents had over flooding.
• The Village of Colonie saw its first contested election in nearly 20 years with three candidates vying for two trustee seats. Candidates included incumbent Tom Tobin, Albany County legislator Patrice Lockhart, and Lawrence Warner, whose petition to run on the Conservative line was initially denied since he was already listed on the Independent line. The Albany County Board of Elections later reversed the decision. Betty Film, who served on the Village Board since 1979, did not seek reelection.
• The state Department of Transportation (DOT) held a public hearing Feb. 25 at Sand Creek Middle School to discuss the proposed replacement of the I-87 bridges crossing Albany-Shaker Road.
March
• The Town of Colonie Zoning Board voted on March 6 not to rezone the property beside Memorial Garden to Afrim Nezaj for his sports complex after several months of deliberation. Nezaj did not meet the requirements needed for the board to reclassify the zoning of the property. The decision impacted the plans of a potential hotel to be built on the sight.
• On March 14, Colonie Central High School students honored the death of a popular social studies teacher, Donald Walton, who died of brain cancer on March 9.
• Patty Lockhart became the Village of Colonie’s first new trustee in more than a decade after she and incumbent Tom Tobin were elected March 18.
April
• The Town Board passed a resolution on April 10 authorizing Town Supervisor Paula Mahan to execute and submit paperwork for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation regarding planned expansion at the Colonie Landfill, allowing Colonie’s Solid Waste Management Facility to remain on track to open new cells in 2018.
• Shaker High School held its first Holocaust Remembrance Ceremony featuring Eugenie Mukeshimana, a Rwandan genocide survivor on April 29. Mukeshimana founded the Genocide Survivors Support Network and spoke about how important it is to remember such events.
May
• Parents and bus drivers voiced their concerns over the cut in pre-k bus runs following the 2014-2015 budget adoption at the May 6 budget hearing. The South Colonie budget saw $2.7 million cut in state aid from last year, forcing reductions in departments, including the transportation department for the first time. Drivers expressed concerns over staffing cuts, but the board of education stated the drivers dropped from full to part time would retain their health benefits.
• The Town of Colonie agreed to pay a $6,000 settlement with the Department of Environmental Conservations for not reporting that it exceeded the action leakage rate at the landfill.
• At a 2-to-1 ratio, North Colonie residents passed a $101.3 million budget. The budget increased the property tax levy 3.63 percent, the maximum increase allowed under the school district state-mandated tax cap. The vote also elected three unopposed candidates to the school board—Pennie Grinnel, Avidah Sadaghiani and Patrick Masson.
• Colonie Central High School held its first one-of-a-kind Raiderfest on May 31. Organized by the high school’s iCare team, proceeds from the carnival event went to the American Cancer Society.
June
• Blue Creek Elementary student Brady Rudnick hosted a basketball game with the Harlem Wizards om June 2 to raise money to build a new playground in honor of Vincenzo Rizzo, a friend who died January 2013. Rudnick’s goal was to raise $100,000 with already $80,000 raised.
• The Town Board approved a resolution to enter into an agreement with Albany County and the City of Albany in a countywide communications system that will save the town up to $130,000 a year. A $6 million Albany County grant paid for the upgraded communications system, which enhanced the effectiveness of the 911-call system.
• Whole Foods opened June 18, taking over a portion of the Colonie Center floor plan previously occupied by Sears. The new store created 227 jobs and sells more than 50 area products.
• Assembly members Patricia Fahy, Phil Steck and John T. McDonald III announced three bills to address risks posed by oil trains. One bill requires storage facilities to have insurance, while the other two address injuries and penalties in the event a train blocks area roadways.
• The Town Board came up with a special use permit that should ease development for zoning businesses. Local Law No. 8 passed, approving special use permits in areas that might not be business zones. Now, if a business meets qualifications for a special use permit and the zoning board approves of the permit, the business is allowed to the next step of the process.
July
• Loudonville business owner and local comedian Greg Aidala was inducted into the Friars Club based in New York City. Aidala joined the ranks of renowned comedians such as Billy Crystal and Jerry Seinfeld.
• Hoffman’s Playland owners David and Ruth Hoffman prepared to close their amusement park, a staple in the Colonie community for 62 years in September. The park’s closing would allow the Hoffmans to retire. Word of the Hoffmans’ retirement began in 2013, but sales negotiations and finalizing plans caused the delay.
• The Environmental Protection Agency announced the end of a two-phase cleanup project targeting the former mercury refinery bordering Colonie and Guilderland that began the week of July 14. The project cost $9.3 million and was projected to end in 2014 after beginning in October 2013 at the Mercury Refining Superfund Site. The soil contained mercury from operations at Mercury Refining, Inc., which operated from 1956 to 1998. The plan included removing the contaminated soil and treating the soil below with cementing materials and sulfur to stabilize the mercury.
• The Town Board approved the acceptant of a $50,000 grant to purchase fixed license plate readers. The readers were placed on Fuller Road to monitor traffic going in and out of Albany. Colonie police hoped the plate readers would gather data so that officers could pinpoint where a vehicle was in event of a crime. The readers would store data on a server for five years, and afterwards could only be accessed with a court order.
• Siena College received $687,876 for the Siena Plan for Attracting and Retaining Scientist program (SPARCS) from Congressmen Paul Tonko and senators Kristen Gillibrand and Charles Schumer on July 29. SPARCS helps to get more students to continue with STEM programs, recruiting and retaining computing majors in high school and the first two years of college. The grant was awarded by the National Science Foundation to aid with the growing program.
August
• Afrim Nezaj returned before the Colonie zoning board to get approval for a proposed soccer complex at 969 Watervliet Shaker Road, adjacent to Memory Gardens Cemetery. The planning board initially turned down Nezaj’s request earlier this year after public hearings revealed residents felt the complex would disrupt the serenity of the cemetery. After the Town Board passed a resolution easing hurdles new businesses had to endure to open in town, Nezaj was set to return before the zoning board at the Aug. 21 meeting.
• South Colonie received a grant from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority to install over 5,700 solar panels at 11 district locations, making South Colonie the first school district in the state to take on such a largest project. The grant will save the district over $60,000 in the first year and about $1.7 million in energy costs over the next several years. Monolith Solar Associates was chosen as the vendor.
• The North Colonie Board of Education approved a tax levy increase of 2.55 percent, down from the 3.36 percent the board predicted in April. The Town of Colonie approved final figures, and the tax cap levy set by the state will place the 2014-2015 tax rate at $24.728 per $1,000 of assessed value. This comes after taxpayers have seen increasing rates for the past several years due to reduced public school funding.
• The Town of Colonie decided to add an assisted living center and apartments for the town’s increasing population. The Planning Board approved the final site plan for the Peregrine Assisted Living Facility on Aug. 26. The complexes will include 56 units with 64 beds in a building of 35,759 square feet. The building will have limited exits and entrances for patients to ensure safety for people with dementia or Alzheimer’s.
• South Colonie School District adopted the final tax levy increase of 2.37 percent for 2014-2015 for the Town of Colonie after a year of difficult budgeting. The new rates are $27 per $1,000 assessed value for South Colonie, meaning good news for homeowners by way of rebates.
September
• A public hearing at the Albany County Executive Office Building Sept. 10 resulted in 20 people signing up to speak about Local Law D, which would prevent stores with pharmacies from selling tobacco products. Only three of the 20 people at the hearing spoke out against the law with the majority in support. However, executive Dan McCoy vetoed the legislation.
• The Town of Colonie officials shuttered a Latham building at 470 Troy Schenectady Road owned by Ala Shanghai Chinese Cuisine owner Kim Chee Chun. It was deemed uninhabitable due to electrical and structural issues. The building’s seven to 10 residents were forced to leave and the two businesses on the first floor made to close.
• The Town of Colonie proposed a $85.46 million budget with spending increased nearly $2.3 million, or 2.76 percent. The proposed budget stayed within the town’s state imposed property tax cap, but it holds a net tax rate increase of about $3.69 annually for taxpayers. The town’s aging sewage system is the largest factor in the increase.
October
• Hoffman’s Playland owners announced a deal with Huck Finn’s Warehouse and More to keep the park’s rides in Albany County. Huck Finn’s Playland will cost $1.8 million to open with $650,000 provided in grants. David and Ruth Hoffman had plans to sell the Playland’s rides to several buyers after their retirement, but with an outpouring of community support, Huck Finn’s bought the rides and equipment, allowing the park to remain in the community.
• South Colonie School District residents voted to approve $13.8 million funding for first two phased of the district’s capital project. The project will improve energy efficiency and repair structures in district schools. All buildings will also see updated technology to keep up with high-tech teaching methods. The project is projected to begin in summer 2015 and end in fall 2017.
• Incumbent Phil Steck, Democrat, and Tom Jasiewicz, Republican, vied for the State Assembly seat for the 110th District. Both candidates ran on issues surrounding Common Core, the SAFE Act and tax breaks for local businesses. Jasiewicz criticized Steck for being a “career politician,” while Steck disagreed with Jasiewicz’s pro-SAFE Act policy.
• The Albany-Colonie Regional and Schenectady chambers of commerce voted to create a joint task force. The task force will discuss creating an umbrella organization. The Albany-Colonie Regional Chamber and the Schenectady Chamber would not fully merge, but would agree to share staff and resources. The task force was designed to evaluate the plan for the new organization with projected decisions made in early spring of 2015.
November
• Democrat incumbent Phil Steck was reelected to the 110th Assembly District with 59 percent of the votes. Steck came away with 11,794 votes, over 2,000 more than his opponent, Republican Tom Jasiewicz. Steck said he would begin his second term by seeking to lower property taxes in the district.
• The Town of Colonie offered Skylane and Blu-Bell Motel owner Alex Patel a deal that would forgive the more than 600 violations found in both motels in early 2014. The violations totaled about $750,000. In exchange, the town demanded that Patel demolish both motels with the property not to be used for living facilities in the future. Patel refused the offer and pleaded not guilty to the violations. His case will go to trial.
December
• ThermoAura opened its high-tech facility in Latham and expects to bring new jobs and business to the area. Founded by students from and begun in RPI in Troy, the business specializes in creating thermoelectricity, a clean source of energy by converting heat into energy, using nanomaterials. ThermoAura was also one of seven business ideas to receive start-up funds form Eastern New York Angels, and received another $100,000 from the group to further development.
• A Countywide Shared Highway Services Study recommended three major pilot projects that could potentially save Albany County and its municipalities $300,000 if town officials decided to adopt the projects. The towns of Bethlehem and Colonie would be largely affected with two of the projects proposing that Bethlehem and Colonie both swap snowplow routes with Albany County where the routes intersect, which would save both time and money. The contract for Colonie also proposed to shut down the Department of Public Works Maintenance Substation housed in Colonie, saving the county a significant amount of money.
• Monolith Solar Associates and New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) partnered to install solar panels at all statewide NYSUT offices. Monolith projected that in the NYSUT Latham headquarters alone, the union would save over $70,000 over the next 20 years.
•Paul Mahan, son of Colonie Town Supervisor Paula Mahan, was arrested Dec. 19 for using a spotlight and bow to try to hunt deer. The New York State Environmental Conservation Police charged Mahan with use of an artificial light and an unsecured cross bow, about use of an artificial light on lands within 500 feet of a dwelling. Guilderland police charged Mahan with criminal possession of a controlled substance and traffic infractions. Mahan was arrested in 2013 on similar charged with a settlement made early December 2014.
• The Town of Colonie Town Board members heard from several local businesspeople and residents about how new local laws pertaining to boarding facilities would affect the area on Dec. 18. The laws would define extended stay units and prevent hotels and motels from becoming substandard apartments. Motel owners expressed concerns of how the laws would affect business with employees needing to stay for training, or for an extended construction work project. Supervisor Paula Mahan ultimately suggested extending the public hearing until Thursday, Feb. 12, with the town taking suggestions on the laws until Jan. 22.