Editor, The Spotlight;
As reported in last week’s front page Spotlight article, although Normanside Country Club has agreed to pay for the relatively inexpensive widening of an emergency channel in the Normans Kill Creek, that is just a temporary band aid. Let me state what this “agreement” is, or, more importantly, what it is not. No agreement has been reached regarding who will pay for the much more expensive permanent remediation of the landslide disaster, which the State DEC and DOT say will be required. As a reminder, the DOT estimates these remediation costs may total up to $7.8 million, and it is very possible that this bill may wind up in the lap of the Town of Bethlehem and you the taxpayers. Here’s why.
As reported in the Times Union, the City of Albany has filed a legal claim against the Town of Bethlehem accusing the Town of negligence for its part in causing the landslide. Indeed, the few facts we know so far relating to the Town’s involvement in this disaster are alarming. During the summer and fall of 2014, residents along Salisbury Road observed hundreds of dump trucks of dirt being brought to the country club and alerted the Town to the dumping and asked if the club had a permit for the work. The club had no permit. In spite of that fact, it appears that for months the Town did little or nothing to halt the work. Eventually, work on the slope was temporarily stopped. Then in January, the club applied for, and received from the Town, a permit approving a plan for dumping millions of pounds of additional fill on the already unstable slope. As reported in the Times Union, this permit, issued by the Town on March 6, 2015, was the basis for the City of Albany’s claim against the Town that it violated its own Town Code in issuing the permit and did not use “care and skill” in approving it.
Despite these facts demonstrating clear failures in his administration’s management and oversight of work along the Normans Kill, Town Supervisor (John) Clarkson wants you to believe that he is “not concerned that this will end up impacting taxpayers.” As a taxpayer, are you so sure? The City of Albany has already taken steps to sue the Town for its role in causing the landslide, and others may soon follow. Clarkson’s administration helped cause this mess, and unfortunately we, the taxpayers, may end up paying for it.
Jim Foster
Bethlehem
Editor’s note: Jim Foster is the Republican candidate for Town Supervisor.
