With new zoning in New Scotland, development is coming. This calls into question for many residents how the school systems and roads will be affected.
As the board members presentation at the Thursday, July 30, meeting confirmed, rather than having student overflow, it is usually the problem that schools in New Scotland do not have enough students to fill classrooms. They said additional students could be a bonus.
Board members at the meeting also refuted as false the rumor that there were talks of building a new elementary school. The Voorheesville school system, they say, will be able to handle any increases in population that new zoning brings.
Many of the changes in population will be up to developers, said Marian Hull, project manager for the zoning changes. The only thing that zoning can do, Hull said, is make certain provisions to bar developers from making changes that residents would not like.
Cul-de-sacs, for instance can be avoided in favor of more through traffic, as advisory committee members thought cul-de-sacs might cause slow traffic, a problem that residents often complain about at present.
Since 2011, the Zoning Board has worked through a grant from the Capital District Transportation Committee (CDTC) Linkage Program to improve the area’s zoning. Building Inspector Jeremy Cramer said the laws haven’t seen major changes in more than 20 years.
New zoning can only make New Scotland more appealing to developers, said Hull. The goal of new zoning is to make the town more developer-friendly in a way that the town is happy with. As she and her team have been trying to accommodate everyone’s needs, the process has been slow.
Many residents, however, have been frustrated with the slow zoning process. “People are workshopped out,” said resident Sharon Volke. “Where are the results?”
Paul Kelly, a Zoning Board Advisory Committee member,described, the slow, planned change is better than New Scotland becoming “a new Latham.”
“And no one wants that,” he said.
Hull estimates about 128,000 new car trips at peak and 60,000 during the weekday traffic.
It is her hope that new zoning will make the town a more walkable place.
“Right now I can walk from my house to Stewart’s and the Windowbox Café, and that’s about it,” she said at the meeting.
New zoning, especially in the new hamlet zoning area designed to be a town square, should make the town more walker-friendly. Thus, dense zones of development are planned for the zones surrounding the planned new hamlet, as well as mixed use zones.
Those present at the July 30 advisory meeting agreed that Delmar is a model of the sort of walkability they are looking for.
A final advisory meeting will be held Sept. 10, with an open public meeting set for Sept. 24. There will be a focus group meeting which the 200 residents who will be most affected by new zoning will be invited to attend.
“I don’t want people to suddenly learn at the open meeting that their houses will be affected,” said Hull.
This meeting will be a private meeting between Hull and the residents affected.
