When a story comes across our desk, we don’t just follow it until it’s no longer of any interest. We follow it to its conclusion.
Several storylines played out in 2013, one of which was the controversy surrounding a proposed youth soccer park on Watervliet Shaker Road next to Memory Gardens cemetery. Issues were raised when the proposal went before the Town of Colonie Zoning Board of Appeals in November, which led the ZBA to postpone a decision until January. Noise and traffic from the complex — which would include four lighted outdoor soccer fields and a domed structure for two indoor fields — were the biggest concerns raised by supporters of the cemetery, many of whom flooded our inboxes with letters to the editor denouncing the proposal.
As we wrote at the beginning of December, we understand the concerns cemetery supporters have about the complex, but we also believe that the two entities can coexist.
When the ZBA addresses the issue later this month, you can be sure we will be there to give you news about the latest developments.
If the soccer complex is allowed to move forward, it will be one more business added to the town’s landscape. As has been the case in previous years, development was another major storyline in Colonie.
One of the biggest stories on the development front centered on the long-neglected Latham Circle Mall. Demolition of the nearly vacant mall at the intersections of routes 2 and 9 began in March, which cleared the way for a series of “box stores” to be built in its place. Among the stores confirmed for the new Shoppes at Latham Circle are Dick’s Sporting Goods and Wal-Mart. JC Penney and Lowe’s are the two remaining stores from the existing mall site.
Revitalizing Latham Circle is a big step toward bringing life back to one of the iconic business addresses in Colonie. Latham Circle Mall was a popular destination in the 1970s and 1980s before Crossgates Mall in Guilderland and a revamped Colonie Center on Wolf Road gradually took customers away. And once Latham Farms opened in the 1990s, Latham Circle Mall was largely forgotten. Perhaps The Shoppes at Latham Circle can drive some business traffic back to the intersection that shares a name with the new development.
Colonie didn’t forget its resident canines in 2013, as it announced plans to open two dog parks in July. The first one at the Colonie Mohawk River Park was opened in November, while the second one adjacent to the town golf course on Consaul Road is slated to open early in 2014.
The two parks will allow dogs to run unleashed within a fenced-in area, but as we discovered, canines have the ability to run around elsewhere in the town without leashes thanks to a law that allows them to be free as long as they are in the “immediate control” of their owners, who must be 16 years of age or older. The law is too vague, since people have different definitions of what immediate control means — whether it’s the ability for the dog’s owner to control the canine’s behavior with verbal commands, or if the dog must be within a certain radius of its owner. We think the town should revisit its leash law before an incident arises where an unleashed dog attacks another dog or a human. They will have their places to run free in the town with the new dog parks.
Finally, Democrats continued their domination of Colonie politics as Paula Mahan was elected to her fourth term as town supervisor by a decisive margin over Republican challenger Todd Drake. Democrats Linda Murphy and David Rowley were elected to the Town Board, along with Republican David Green.
While Democrats hold the majority of seats of power in Colonie, we feel they must listen to the Republican minority and the people of the town in order to maintain a balanced approach to governance.
This is only a small sample of all the stories we followed in 2013. There was a lot more going on in Colonie over the last 12 months, and we anticipate there will be many more stories for us to follow in 2014. You can be assured we will follow every story to its conclusion.