Town of Guilderland Planning Board Public Hearing May 13, 2020
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Town of Guilderland Planning Board Public Hearing May 13, 2020 Steve Feeney Okay, I would like to the welcome everybody to the May 13th, 2020 meeting of the Town of Guilderland Planning Board this evening. We are going to hold a public hearing on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Rapp Road residential Western Avenue mixed- use Redevelopment Project Draft Environmental Impact Statement. All right, so we'll be taking phone calls on that. Ken if you want to give us a brief rundown on how we are going proceed here. Ken Kovalchik Sure, so we are in this process. We are in the public comment period for the Draft Environmental Impact Statement. The public comment period commenced on February 10, 2020. It will end on May 26, 2020 at end of business for a total of 96 days of a public comment period. From the public hearing date of the lead agency has 45 days to prepare the final environmental impact statement. To date as of 4:30 this afternoon. The town has received 360 written comments on the draft environmental impact statement. Steve Feeney Okay, anything else you want to say on the process as far as taking calls. Ken Kovalchik The guidelines set for the public hearing this evening are the members of the public were encouraged to submit written comments and they are encouraged to summarize their written comments in 3 to 4 minutes per comment. I will give a warning at three minutes and 30 seconds. At four minutes I will ask the speaker to end their call and then we will go to the next call. Given the number of public comments we are expecting this evening we want to give everybody a fair chance to provide their comments. The public hearing will end at 11:00 this evening if we have callers still on the line. 1 Steve Feeney All right, I guess with that Terry you want to read the public notice? Terry Coburn The Town of Guilderland Planning Board Notice of Public Hearing. Please take notice that the Planning Board of Town of Guilderland as SEQRA agency has determined that the draft environmental impact statement. DEIS for the type one action and entitled Rapp Road Residential/Western Avenue mixed-use Redevelopment projects is complete and adequate with respect to its scope and content for the purpose of commencing public review and comment and will conduct a public hearing on May 13th 2020 at 6 p.m. at the Town of Guilderland Town Hall, 5209 Western Turnpike Route 20 Guilderland New York pursuant to 6 NYCRR 617.9 to obtain public comment regarding the DEIS. The proposed action generally consists of the following site: Site 1) development of 222 one- and two- bedroom apartments and 3,900 square feet of commercial space on a plus or minus 19 Acre Site. Site 2 development of a plus minus one 160,000 square feet Costco retail use with Associated fueling facility located on plus or minus 16 acres and Site 3 conceptual development of plus or minus a 1,500 square feet of retail 50,000 square feet of office space and 48 apartments on 11.34 acres. The proposed action is located generally at Rapp Road, Crossgates Mall Road and Western Avenue in the Town of Guilderland. The public comment period will expire at close of business on May 26, 2020. A copy of the draft environmental impact statement has been posted on the Town of Guilderland’s website at HTTPS://www.TownofGuilderland.org/planningboard/Pages/environmental impact statement Rapp Road residential Western Avenue mixed-use. The planning board will hear all persons desiring to be heard at this public hearing on the DEIS. Pursuant to Governor Cuomo's executive order 202.8 which bands large meetings due to the coronavirus the covid-19 an executive order to 202.1 which suspends the open meeting laws. The meeting will be held electronically by a conference call instead of a public meeting open for the public to attend in person. Members of the public may listen and view the meeting live on Verizon Channel 34 and Spectrum Channel 1303 on the town website and may dial 518-579-3721 to participate in a conference call. Minutes of the meeting will be transcribed and posted on the town's website. For further information, 2 please contact the Guilderland Town planning board in care of Kenneth Kovalchik, Town Planner Guilderland Town Hall 5209 Western Turnpike Route 20 Guilderland, New York 12084 at 518-356-1980. Steve Feeney Thank you, Terry that was a mouth full. We will start with the first phone caller. Ken Kovalchik Good evening. You're on with the planning board. Could you please state your name and address for the record and then start with your comments, please. Caller #1 Good evening. I’m Tom O'Connor, vice president of government relations for the Capital Region Chamber. The chamber represents over 2,900 businesses and organizations throughout the region and employs more than 160,000 area residents. The members include large corporations and small family-owned businesses. We are the largest and most diverse Chambers in the region. On behalf of the capital region Chamber I fully support the Pyramid Management Group’s proposed residential development as well as the construction and location of Costco on land already owned by Pyramid. These projects will provide the housing and retail diversity that our region demand. Pyramid has developed these plans in good faith with input from stakeholders including Pine Bush, neighborhoods and local governments, and adjusted these plans were appropriate. These projects will have a positive impact on the region's economy, including both short- term and long-term jobs. They will also bring much-needed revenue to our local government in the form of new sales and property taxes. The chamber places a high value on companies that are responsible and engaged members of our community. As an example, just this past weekend Crossgates hosted a veteran’s food drive working with local veteran’s organizations, military units and local businesses and first responders. Enough supplies were collected for our veterans to fill a 520 truck. This is exactly the type of corporate citizenship our region needs. As vice-president of the capital region chamber and long-time resident from the Town of Guilderland, I support Pyramid’s 3 development plans and I respectfully request that you provide approval without delay. Now more than ever when our region looks to reopen after a devastating crisis we must ensure that these types of projects move forward. Thank you in advance for your consideration from the chamber’s perspective. Ken Kovalchik Thank you, sir. Hello, good evening. You're on with the planning board. Could you please state your name and address for the record and then begin your public comments? Caller #2 Danielle Walsh. My address is 409 State Street, Schenectady, New York 12305. My name is Danielle Walsh. I'm the executive director at the Guilderland Chamber of Commerce. I am in support of the Rapp Road Residential Western Avenue mixed-use Redevelopment project from an economic development and local economy standpoint. Crossgates and Pyramid Management have continually thought to diversify their offerings at Crossgates to ensure the mall continues to be a vibrant and successful destination for the region. Over the years they have added more restaurants, entertainment venues and even a hotel. Crossgates is a vital part of our local economy. The redevelopment projects are anticipated to create an influx of jobs providing construction jobs, and once completed new employment opportunities. On top of the benefits to the local economy, the project will also be an economic development driver for the region. The residential project proposed includes 222 new units that will provide an attractive addition to the Guilderland housing market for young professionals and empty-nesters. The residential project will also allow Guilderland to compete with other local destinations to retain residents and attract new residents to live, work and spend money in the local economy. The potential of bringing a Costco to Guilderland will create a draw to our town from around the capital region and beyond. The addition of Costco to the retail Market in Guilderland will potentially attract new visitors and customers to the town who will in turn patronize other businesses along Western Avenue. Now more than ever we need to support economic 4 development projects that will provide an influx of jobs and tax revenue to the town. That is why I wanted to voice my support for the Rapp Road residential and Western Avenue Redevelopment project being proposed by Pyramid Management. These projects are anticipated to provide jobs to the community throughout the process and provide an important tax revenue to the town all of which the town and business community will greatly need as we emerge from this crisis. Thank you for your time. Ken Kovalchik Thank you for your call. Good evening caller. You're on with the planning board. Could you please state your name and address for the record and then begin your comments. Caller #3 Jason Derulo, Livingston Energy I just wanted to mention I put a letter in allowing the development and I like some of the donations of land that they were proposing giving. I like giving the local residents options of where they want to shop and I think Pyramid has done a good job of pin-pointing what the local needs are as far as shopping options. Otherwise, they wouldn't be as successful as they are today.