As the Town of New Scotland makes way for future development, the first developer to approach the board has been met with setbacks that are taking years to resolve.
Bruce Boswell of Boswell Engineering first proposed the housing development six years ago in 2009. Several years have now passed and the town board has yet to approve the extension of Miller Road that he has proposed. A majority of issues brought to the town’s attention have concerned road problems and the increased traffic due to the road’s construction.
Boswell plans to extend Miller Road and create a cul-de-sac that would hold 16 housing plots. Construction negotiations with the Planning Board have progressed steadily in those six years, yet all of the work he and town officials have put forth could be for naught if the town board does not approve his road extension.
“After 12 years (of planning) I want to agree to anything just to get the project off the road,” said Boswell at the Tuesday, July 7, planning board meeting.
While the road has yet to be approved, the actual construction plan is now close to approval, according to the Planning Board.
Several years have been devoted to negotiating the site’s considerable water and sewage problems. Pipes on the site are over 90 years old, and as the ground lies upstream from the Five Rivers Environmental Education Center, fastidious plans were made to ensure the prevention of sewer leakage.
Boswell Engineering and the planning board have now agreed to a plumbing plan that would ensure environmental protection, and Boswell has already negotiated with the Town of Bethlehem for water supplies.
Boswell Engineering would pay great expense for this large dual plumbing system, and the company would also pay construction costs for the planned road extension, should the town board approve the plan.
“We have to work with the systems that are in place,” said Planning Board Chairperson Charles Voss, “It seems like now would be the appropriate time to tackle this road issue, but that’s up to the Town Board.”
A number of developers are also looking at sites in the same area as Boswell’s, but are watching the long approval process and waiting to know the board’s final decision before they move forward with plans of their own.
As the first developer to approach the board with plans, Boswell has without a doubt dealt with the brunt of complaints from residents. With environmental concerns now quelled since the planning board’s announcement their environmental stamp of approval at the last meeting, the only remaining grievances concern the road problems.
“The traffic is out of control” said resident Sharon Volke at the meeting. “Already this summer my mailbox has been hit twice. I am really, really concerned.”
The planning board, however, has already determined adding these houses would not “tip the scale” of traffic. Right now New Scotland road is operating at a B traffic rating, with D being the lowest rating.
“We have acknowledged that there will be an increase in traffic,” said Voss. “And if improvements need to be made to the road we’ll make them.”
Two years ago the board conducted a traffic study that determined although the construction would increase traffic, this increase would not be significant enough to require major road changes to be made.
Another concern the New Scotland Town Board will no doubt have to deal with when they are making their final decision on the road’s approval is resident Eion Connolly. Connolly, who lives at the corner of New Scotland South Road and Miller Road, would see his house circumnavigated by the new proposed road’s construction.
“I’m becoming an island,” he said, “and not in a good way. I don’t think it’s reasonable to put the road in as its shown, and Mr. Boswell has acknowledged that it’s generally not a good idea.”
The Town of New Scotland is also in the process of creating major changes to the area’s zoning and roads to allow for development in the town. Because these plans are in the approval process, Connelly is worried about approval of the new road, only to have to pave over it with a new road later down the line.
Residents of New Scotland are already worried about the impact this development would have on the community, but these worries are far from surprising. After residents shot down plans for construction of a Target in 2008, the Town of New Scotland became notorious for its fierce objection to major developments – a conviction this project has met with throughout its approval process.
The board now says they are close to making a decision about whether to approve Boswell’s project or not. Final approval will come after a vote by the Town Board at a future date.
