1 1 TOWN OF BRUNSWICK PUBLIC HEARING 2 --------------------------------------------------- 3 4 HIGHLAND CREEK PLANNED DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT 5 APPLICATION 6 7 --------------------------------------------------- 8 Brunswick Community Center Keyes Lane 9 Troy, New York 12180 10 Monday, November 28, 2005 6:30 p.m. 11 12 APPEARANCES: TUCZINSKI, CAVALIER, BURSTEIN & COLLURA, P.C. 13 54 State Street Suite 803 14 Albany, New York 12207 BY: ANDREW W. GILCHRIST, ESQ. 15 16 ALSO PRESENT: Mark Kestner, Kestner Engineers Mark Gregory, Traffic Engineer 17 Lee Rosen Bob Marini 18 19 TOWN BOARD MEMBERS: Patrick Poleto, Deputy Supervisor Sue Sherman, Town Clerk 20 Tom Cioffi Sam Salvi 21 Carl Clemente Carolyn Abrams 22 23 24 AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 2 1 MR. POLETO: I want to welcome everybody 2 here tonight to the public hearing. I want to 3 call the meeting to order. If we'd all rise 4 for the Pledge of Allegiance. 5 (Pledge of Allegiance recited.) 6 MR. POLETO: At this point we're going to 7 call on Sue, our Town Clerk, to read the notice 8 of public hearing. 9 MS. SHERMAN: Public Notice: Notice is 10 hereby given that a public hearing will be held 11 by the Town Board in the Town of Brunswick on 12 Monday, November 28th at 2005 at 6:30 p.m. at 13 the Brunswick Community Center, Keyes Lane, 14 Troy, New York, pursuant to Section 10 of the 15 Zoning Code of the Town of Brunswick and also 16 pursuant to the State Environmental Quality 17 Review Act and its impleting regulations at 6 18 NYCRR Part 617, to allow public comment on the 19 applications submitted by Landmark Development 20 Group, LCC for the proposed Highland Creek 21 Planned Development District, PDD, which is a 22 proposed 190 lot residential subdivision 23 consisting of 39 traditional single family 24 homes, 21 manor homes and 130 carriage homes AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 3 1 and located on 210.13 acres of lands situated 2 on the northeast side of McChesney Ave. 3 Extension, south of its intersection with 4 McChesney Avenue. The property is currently 5 zoned agricultural, A-40. The application has 6 been submitted pursuant to Section 10 of the 7 Zoning Code of the Town of Brunswick for a 8 Planned Development District. A Draft 9 Environmental Impact Statement, DEIS, has been 10 prepared by Landmark Development Group, LLC for 11 this action pursuant to SEQRA. The Town Board 12 of the Town of Brunswick, as SEQRA Lead Agency, 13 has accepted the DEIS as adequate for public 14 review and a notice of completion has been 15 filed. The public hearing will allow comments 16 on the PDD application and the DEIS. Copies of 17 the application materials and DEIS are 18 available for public inspection during regular 19 business hours at the following location: Town 20 of Brunswick Town Office 308 Town Office Road, 21 Troy, New York, 12180. In addition, a copy of 22 the DEIS is also available for public 23 inspection during regular business hours at the 24 Brunswick Community Library 605 Brunswick Road, AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 4 1 Eagle Mills, New York 12180. All interested 2 persons will be heard at the public hearing. 3 Dated November 15th, 2005 Brunswick, New York. 4 The Town of Brunswick Town Board by Patrick 5 Poleto, Town Board Member do want to mention 6 that the offices have moved to 336 Town Office 7 Road. 8 MR. POLETO: Thank you, Sue. Tonight when 9 we have comment from the public, we only got 10 one working microphone at this point. This is 11 it. So if you want to come up, we'll have it 12 over here on the podium and if you could talk 13 into the mic, we need your name, address and 14 then we can go from there. At this point I 15 want to call on Andy Gilchrist to give out what 16 the game holds are where we are in the process. 17 MR. GILCHRIST: Good evening. My name is 18 Andrew Gilchrist and I've be retained, as you 19 know, by the Town Board to advise them on this 20 application as well as the other applications 21 pending in the town. As Mr. Poleto said, this 22 is the opening of a public hearing on Highland 23 Creek, one of the planned development district 24 applications currently pending in the town. AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 5 1 The purpose of the meeting is to accept 2 comments from the public on the PDD application 3 itself, as well as the Draft Environmental 4 Impact Statement that was submitted by 5 applicant and accepted as adequate for public 6 review by the Town Board. I want to make sure 7 that the record reflects where we are in the 8 possess and so that everyone in the room 9 understands as well, this application was filed 10 pursuant to Article 10 of the Town Zoning Code 11 for a Planned Development District. In 12 connection with the application, a full 13 environmental assessment form was filed as 14 well. Now, there are a number, as you may well 15 know, a number of public agencies which need to 16 pass on this application which need to review 17 it and issue any permits or approvals. When 18 that happens with this type of application all 19 of these public agencies need to coordinate. 20 As you know this application went through 21 what's called Lead Agency coordination. What 22 would be the one agency to lead the 23 environmental review? This Town Board sent out 24 the Lead Agency coordination notices AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 6 1 identifying that it wanted to be the Lead 2 Agency and direct the review of this, both 3 pursuant to their zoning code as well as SEQRA. 4 And after those notices went out the Lead 5 Agency was established, the Town Board assumed 6 the Lead Agency duties on this. When they 7 reviewed the application materials and the 8 environmental assessment form the Town Board 9 adopted a positive declaration, which as you 10 know as well means that there may be one 11 significant adverse environmental impact from 12 the action. When a positive declaration is 13 adopted the applicant must prepare a Draft 14 Environmental Impact Statement. In order to 15 ensure that everyone was on board with what 16 issues needed to be addressed in the DEIS, in 17 the draft DEIS, this Board went through a 18 formal scoping process. That scoping process 19 including the opportunity for members of the 20 public to comment on what issues needed to be 21 addressed in the Environmental Impact 22 Statement. Once all those comments were 23 received from the public as well as other 24 agencies, the public agencies involved in AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 7 1 review of this project, a final scope was 2 issued by this Board as Lead Agency. Once the 3 final scope was issued, then the applicant 4 prepared its impact statement addressing each 5 and every issue that was identified in the 6 scoping document that needed to be examined and 7 assessing those impacts in the document. That 8 went into -- that was submitted to the town for 9 review, there was a series of review of that 10 document for completeness purposes. I review 11 that as counsel, Mark Kestner who is here from 12 Kestner Engineering reviewed it. Mr. Kestner 13 is, as you know, the review engineer on the 14 project. We've also retained Mark Gregory, who 15 is a traffic engineer, to review the traffic 16 impact issues associated with that, this 17 action, as well as the others pending in the 18 town. After review of the document and having 19 it supplemented, as you heard earlier, the Town 20 Board accepted the DEIS as complete. What that 21 means under the SEQRA regulations is that the 22 document was deemed adequate for public review 23 and comments. We made this a point at the 24 public meeting of the Town Board and we're AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 8 1 going to make it tonight. This does not mean 2 that the Town Board necessarily agrees with all 3 of the conclusions reached in that document. 4 What it means is that the applicant has fully 5 addressed the issue and now it's going to be 6 subject to your review and comment as well as 7 the Town Board's consultants review and 8 comments. When this process is completed the 9 applicant must respond to each and every 10 comment received. This is the opening of the 11 public hearing tonight. There have been issues 12 concerning enough time for the public to have 13 reviewed this rather extensive impact 14 statement. The Town Board is cognizant of 15 those comments and has informed me after having 16 discussed this, that the public hearing will be 17 held open. There will be adequate time for the 18 members of the public to review that document 19 and provide comment. The opportunity to 20 provide comment is not limited just to the 21 public hearing itself. You must realize that 22 there is always the opportunity to submit 23 further comments on the document and on the 24 application. That written comment period will AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 9 1 be held open at least ten days after the close 2 of the public hearing so that everyone has an 3 opportunity to hear all comments submitted at 4 the public hearing, consider them in connection 5 with the application documents and have a 6 period of time after the close of the public 7 hearing in which to submit written comments. 8 That will afford members of the public an 9 adequate time to have reviewed and digested all 10 the information in the impact statement, and 11 not only an opportunity to provide comment at 12 the public hearing, but through written form as 13 well. And it is recommended if you do have 14 comments, by all means provide them at the 15 public hearing, but if you'd like submit them 16 in writing as well. As we said, the applicant 17 will need to address each of those comments in 18 a subsequent document which will be prepared, 19 which is called a Final Environmental Impact 20 Statement, in essence as a responsiveness 21 document to address the comments that have been 22 received by the public. The Town Board will 23 establish the date for the reconvening of a 24 public hearing. That will be on additional AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 10 1 notice and you will be on notice of when the 2 hearing will be reconvened. There will be 3 adequate time. 4 Now, in terms of tonight, the Town Clerk 5 did read the notice of public hearing, which 6 was published in the newspaper, was posted at 7 Town Hall. As the notice indicates, copies of 8 the application documents are on file at the 9 Town Clerk's Office. The full DEIS is on file 10 at the Town Clerk's Office. A full copy of the 11 DEIS was also placed at the Brunswick Community 12 Library and remains on file there. A copy of 13 the DEIS was provided to Brunswick Smart Growth 14 and I know that Mr. Clemente also gave his copy 15 to one interested member of the public to 16 review, as well. He now has that back to 17 review, but provided that to a member of the 18 public at his request as well. The DEIS also, 19 a complete copy of that document, got 20 distributed to all of the other involved 21 agencies that I mentioned earlier that went 22 through the coordination process, and I want 23 everyone to hear the number of agencies that 24 are involved. All of those agencies obviously AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 11 1 need to review the application, but also have 2 the opportunity to comment on the impact 3 statement. Each member of the Town Board 4 clearly had a copy of the impact statement. 5 Each member of the Planning Board and each 6 member of the Zoning Board in the town received 7 a copy of the application. The Superintendent 8 of Utilities and Inspection, John Kreigher; the 9 Highway Department, Doug Eddy; the Water 10 Department, Myron VanDyke; the Town Historian, 11 Sharon Zankel; and the Town Assessor, Sylvia 12 Rooney, all received a complete copy of the 13 impact statement for review and comment. At 14 the County level; the Rensselaer County Health 15 Department, the Rensselaer County Highway 16 Department, the Rensselaer County Sewer 17 District and the Rensselaer County Department 18 of Economic Development and Planning received a 19 complete copy of the impact statement for 20 review and comment. At the State; the New York 21 State Department of Environmental Conservation; 22 the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation 23 and Historic Preservation, the New York State 24 Department of Health and the New York State AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 12 1 Department of Transportation received a 2 complete copy of the impact statement. The 3 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on wetlands issues 4 received a complete copy of the impact 5 statement. All of the fire departments within 6 this area, likewise, received a copy. Not 7 simply the department in which this property is 8 located, but for mutual aid purposes of all 9 them received one. That includes, Mountain 10 View, Sycaway, Center Brunswick, Eagle Mills 11 and Spiegletown, all received a complete copy 12 of the impact statement for their review and 13 comment. The Brittonkill School District did 14 receive a complete copy of the impact statement 15 for their review and comment as well. As 16 indicated earlier, Brunswick Smart Growth 17 received their own copy of the impact statement 18 for review as well. So all of these agencies 19 now have the opportunity to review the complete 20 impact statement and provide comments as well. 21 Notice of this hearing is also -- has also been 22 sent to all property owners within 500 feet of 23 the project site. It's not a requirement of 24 the town code, but the Board has asked that AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 13 1 that be done. So all members -- strike that. 2 All individuals owning property within 500 3 feet of this project site, likewise, received 4 notice through the mail of the public hearing. 5 The purpose of the public hearing tonight 6 is to receive comments on the document. It is 7 not just the DEIS, but on the underlying 8 application as well. This Town Board has not 9 made any decision on this application or any 10 other application that's pending under Article 11 10. I've advised the Board that they should 12 not do that until a complete record is made. 13 The complete record in this is not just the 14 application, it's not just the DEIS, it will be 15 the Final Environmental Impact Statement, there 16 will ultimately be a finding statement made 17 under SEQRA as well. And until that record is 18 complete, and that includes all the comments 19 received from the public as well as the other 20 public involved and interested agencies, I have 21 advised the Board not to render judgment on the 22 application. To do so without a complete 23 record being created would not be appropriate 24 under the law. I've advised them not to do AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 14 1 that and they have not done that. They have 2 not come out publicly. These members who will 3 vote on the Highland Creek Planned Development 4 District had said that any decision, any 5 determination on this application has been 6 made. That I will continue to advise the Board 7 on that. 8 Now, for purposes of tonight we do have a 9 stenographer here. As Mr. Poleto said if you'd 10 come up and state your name and address for the 11 record, a complete stenographic transcript of 12 all comments will be made. And that, likewise, 13 will be available for the public to review. I 14 mentioned earlier the opportunity to submit 15 comments in writing, please do so. That is 16 from this point forward until the close of the 17 written comment period, which will be ten days 18 following the close of the public hearing. The 19 applicant is present, will make a presentation 20 as to what the proposal for Highland Creek 21 Planned Development District is, so that 22 everyone is working from the same information 23 about what the project is. The purpose of the 24 public hearing is not a question and answer AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 15 1 session, nor is it a debate session. It is one 2 to receive comments from the public, let the 3 Board members hear those comments, let the 4 applicant hear those comments, and they will be 5 formally responded to in the Final Impact 6 Statement. If there are issues that the 7 applicant is preparing to responding to this 8 evening, they may do so. But this is not a 9 debate forum nor a question and answer session. 10 With that, I will pass back to Mr. Poleto. 11 MR. POLETO: I think we go this microphone 12 going at this point, so we'll put the stand out 13 in front. Can you hear me with this one? 14 (Yeh's) 15 MR. POLETO: Because I can't. As Andy 16 said, that we have made agreement that we are 17 going to extend the public hearing. Okay. 18 We're not going to close it tonight. We're 19 going to keep it open. My game plan is keeping 20 it open till December 29th at that point. The 21 Town Board has an end of year meeting usually, 22 and it's usually around the last -- very close 23 to the end of the year to pay bills and stuff 24 like that, to pay any outstanding bills that we AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 16 1 have. My idea was, seeing that it was short 2 notice between the Town Board meeting when we 3 set the date tonight, and that the Town Hall 4 was also in the flux this past week, that we 5 moved from the old building to the new building 6 and it was a little chaotic, the move and 7 everything, and with Thanksgiving we plan on 8 keeping the public hearing open until 9 December 29th, which at that point we'll 10 reconvene the public hearing and give anybody 11 else who hasn't made comment tonight, the 12 chance to make comment after review of the 13 documents. All right? Probably 6:30, yes, 14 that we'll have the public hearing and more 15 than likely be up at the new Town Hall. By 16 then we'll be ready for crowds and have 17 everything in order for holding meetings up 18 there. 19 At this point I'd like to turn the meeting 20 over to Landmark Development and have them do a 21 little presentation for everybody. 22 MR. ROSEN: Thank you very much. My name 23 is Lee Rosen, and with me tonight is Bob Marini 24 of Marini Builders, Ivan Zydral who is the AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 17 1 project engineer. I think I will stand here. 2 I don't know if everybody can see but I would 3 like the public to see. Okay. What I would 4 like to do is make a brief presentation about 5 the project, about the site, then Bob Marini 6 will make a further presentation about the 7 types of homes that we would like to build 8 there and then turn it over to the public. 9 Just so everyone knows where the site is, I 10 believe it's been discussed, but this is a 210 11 acre parcel that's located on McChesney Avenue 12 Extension, which I'm pointing to here, which is 13 about three quarters of a mile south of the 14 intersection of McChesney Avenue with McChesney 15 Avenue Extension. And here you see Route 7 up 16 here. The site is, again, bordered by 17 McChesney Avenue Extension here on the east. I 18 mean on the west. I apologize. And stretches 19 back to the east, all the way back to the golf 20 course here that's bordered on the north by 21 vacant lands and lands owned by Niagara Mohawk. 22 And here on the south is the Sweet Milk Creek. 23 We've superimposed the site on this picture so 24 that you can see, but it is probably difficult AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 18 1 to see from the back. Okay, Bob. What we're 2 proposing is a variety of single family homes 3 that would be marketed to different segments of 4 the home buying market. First, as you see here 5 we would have 130 carriage homes which are 6 designed for the empty-nester buyer. Now, 7 that's a person who desires to have single 8 family residence in the town, but does not want 9 to have the maintenance of a large lot, all of 10 the landscaping and snow plowing that goes 11 along with that. So this empty-nester product 12 would come with a landscaping package where the 13 exterior grounds would be maintained, the snow 14 plowing would be done, the shoveling, et 15 cetera, and there would be 130 of those home. 16 The next type of home we would have would 17 be what we call traditional single family 18 homes. There are 39 of these and these are for 19 first time or move-up home buyer. These range 20 in size from 1800 square feet to 3100 square 21 feet. Basically your traditional single family 22 home. 23 The third type of home what we call our 24 manor homes, which are a little more upscale, a AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 19 1 little more luxury type home, larger lot, 2 larger amenities, more amenities, and we would 3 have 21 of these types of homes. I would like 4 to go to the next slide and just show you how 5 the site works. Here again is McChesney Avenue 6 Extension, which is the main entrance to our 7 site. The homes here we would have a very well 8 landscaped entranceway here, and as you can see 9 the homes here are pushed back several hundred 10 feet or 500 feet or more from McChesney Avenue 11 Extension. As you move into the community we 12 have our collection of the carriage homes here. 13 You can see the street detail, the landscaping, 14 and as we will describe further, various site 15 amenities and characteristics of the site to 16 define it and give it some flavor. We would 17 also have a second road which would bring us 18 back to the traditional single family homes 19 which are located in this area, and then back 20 to the manor homes which are located in this 21 area. Now, these homes are designed and 22 clustered together on approximately 75 acres of 23 the 200 acre parcel, leaving the balance of the 24 site, which is about 135 acres, as Open Space, AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 20 1 which would be owned by a homeowners 2 association that would be set up and 3 established specifically for this community. 4 Within the Open Space we would have lands that 5 would remain permanently undeveloped, preserved 6 in their natural state, as well as areas for 7 passive recreation which would consist of 8 walking trails through the woods, that sort of 9 thing. As well as active recreation area, 10 which is here, a tennis court and a basketball 11 court, as well as a little community gathering 12 area that's up here on the ridge so that the 13 entire community can take advantage of these 14 views. So by clustering the home together 15 we've left the remainder of the site 16 undeveloped, preserving views and preserving 17 these areas in their undeveloped state. Again, 18 this just describes in summary what we've left. 19 There's 135 acres left over. They create a 20 natural parameter of buffers from neighboring 21 properties, they will include our passive 22 recreation, active recreation. And I think the 23 most important thing is that these areas will 24 be owned by the homeowners associated AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 21 1 established for the community, that way we can 2 better guarantee that these areas will be 3 preserved, will remain natural, they won't be 4 used for dumping, they won't be used for people 5 putting their clippings back there and that is 6 a better way to protect these areas. 7 Just turning back to the site. This is a 8 blow up of that main area of the carriage 9 homes, and as you see we get more and more 10 detail on the site. This really turns into 11 sort of a village community of the carriage 12 homes. What you see in this detail is a 13 roundabout which acts as both a traffic calming 14 pattern as well as in here we would have a 15 gazebo that would create sort of a community 16 gathering area. We would have street trees 17 lining all of the streets. There would be 18 sidewalks connecting these streets together and 19 leading to this area. So this way we create an 20 environment that's conducive to walking to 21 create a community rather than just numbers of 22 homes. Again, these homes would come with a 23 landscaping package where the homeowners 24 association would be responsible for the lawn AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 22 1 mowing, the landscaping, as well as the snow 2 plowing on the driveways and these sidewalks. 3 Bob will get further into that detail as he 4 describes the community. 5 As it was explained before, we have at the 6 direction of the Town Board prepared an 7 Environmental Impact Statement which is very 8 detailed and voluminous. We're not going to go 9 through that all tonight, but I just did want 10 to highlight on some of the items that we 11 address as the Town Board directed and as the 12 comments that we received asked us to. These 13 are some of the resources that the town would 14 expect to have addressed and things that we 15 would look at in the natural course of 16 preparing our land plan. Geology, we look at 17 soils, we look at rock, topography, water 18 resources including ground water, surface 19 water, air quality, the list continues. 20 Terrestrial and aquatic ecology, transportation 21 which is a very significant issue that we look 22 at, existing land use and how this fits in with 23 the town's plan and town's needs, and also 24 community services. Impact on public schools AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 23 1 in particular is something that we've 2 addressed, and which I would like to highlight. 3 We've looked -- next side, please. In 4 addition, we've looked at cultural resources. 5 That is how this site is going to look from the 6 road, it's impact on any historical or 7 archaeological resources and impacts on noise. 8 Just as a list of things that we looked at. 9 Now, again, I'm not going to mention all of 10 these, and there's three volumes of how we 11 address the impact, but I do want to touch on a 12 few of them. First, transportation. When you 13 hear that there's going to be 190 homes, well, 14 you think that's going to be a lot of cars. 15 And you think in your mind, well, if they're 16 going to leave the site all at one time, it'll 17 be a big mess. Well, of course, that's not how 18 traffic works and people leave at different 19 times, they go different ways. And the impact 20 of 190 cars may be significant in certain 21 areas, it may not be. We have done a traffic 22 study and it has looked at various 23 intersections as people would choose to utilize 24 from our community and, in fact, the level of AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 24 1 -- the increase in vehicle delay at any of 2 these study intersections is no more than four 3 seconds as the result of this site. You know 4 you laugh, but let me say that we're talking 5 about people -- in particular from our 6 community these are not, in particular, from 7 the people that are going to be residing in the 8 carriage homes. These are not people who live 9 on the clock, they're your typical commuters. 10 So we expect many of these, even the delays to 11 be even less than what is predicted. Because 12 these people basically leave, not on the clock 13 as I said, but when they desire to leave. But 14 we have a voluminous traffic study, which I'm 15 sure many of you have read, and it shows how 16 people utilize existing roads and the impact at 17 the area intersections is not significant. One 18 additional point I would like to make is that 19 anybody who utilizes that road knows that 20 existing Bonesteel Lane, that site distance 21 near where Bonesteel Lane is presently is not 22 that great, it's at the bottom of a big hill. 23 We would be relocating that existing road, 24 which would be used only in emergency and that AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 25 1 would improve the site distance at existing 2 Bonesteel Lane. 3 Another key issue that we looked at was 4 the impact on the schools. Now, again, the 5 type of development that we are proposing being 6 geared to primarily to the empty-nester 7 community is really the type of development 8 that has perhaps the least amount of impact on 9 schools. And in our environmental impact 10 statement we have calculated or projected the 11 number of school aged children that would 12 reside in this community and attend public 13 schools as approximately 100 students. Now, 14 these would not necessarily all be new 15 students. They might be students moving from 16 other parts of the town, what have you, but 17 there would be approximately 100 school aged 18 children projected to reside in this community. 19 In terms of revenues, because we have the 20 carriage homes, the empty-nester homes, we 21 would expect their -- we project that there 22 would be approximately $262,000 of excess 23 revenues over costs generated by this 24 community. And that again is because of the AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 26 1 type of homeowner that we're targeting. What I 2 would say is that if we would have 190 3 traditional single family homes it would 4 probably double the number of school aged 5 children that would be projected to live in the 6 community. And if we had as few as 80 homes, 7 well, of traditional single family homes you'd 8 probably have the same number of students. 9 Again, by targeting to the empty-nester we are 10 reducing the impact on schools. Just in terms 11 of -- I just want to go back. We were in touch 12 with the superintendent of schools. As far as 13 the capacity, while we project 100 school aged 14 children to reside in the community, there is 15 existing capacity for those students based on 16 current capacity of the schools. We also met 17 several times with the fire departments and to 18 make sure that we had adequate fire protection. 19 Again, the main source of fire protection will 20 be that we are extending a 12 inch water main 21 through the community. There is substantial 22 fire flow at the hydrants. And again, we would 23 be generating a significant amount of revenue 24 to the fire district. So we've also looked at AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 27 1 the impact on the existing fire protection 2 services. 3 As far as the master plan goes, we also 4 read that and discussed how this plan fits 5 within the master plan. And the master plan, 6 while it's a working document, does encourage 7 clustering of homes, higher density where there 8 is services available. Now, we could not do 9 this community without having public water and 10 sewer available. That is essential to the 11 community. We have services nearby. And by 12 having these existing utilities we're able to 13 cluster these homes to preserve much of the 14 site as natural Open Space. So that is one of 15 the tools recommended that we utilize through 16 the master plan. What that tool enables us to 17 do is to set aside that land, and not just the 18 land that will be Forever Wild, but land that 19 will be used for recreational facilities as 20 well as lands that -- as well as the 21 architectural quality of the buildings. We are 22 able to put deed restrictions on that by use of 23 the homeowners association and to create a 24 community rather than a development. One where AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 28 1 there is pedestrian circulation, one that is a 2 new community that we would be proud of and 3 that the residents of Brunswick would be proud 4 of. 5 Okay. Bob, I'll turn this to you. 6 MR. MARINI: Thank you, Lee. My name is 7 Bob Marini, Junior and I am the CEO of Robert 8 Marini Builders, Inc. I am a third generation 9 home builder. My family has been doing this in 10 the Capital Region since 1947. We have 11 experience. We've built over 2,000 homes in 12 the Capital Region in more than 30 communities. 13 And I'd like to say that when I got here 14 tonight I heard something from one person in 15 the room to another, a gentleman over here on 16 this side of the room got out of his chair and 17 walked over to a gentleman over here on this 18 side of the room and said hello neighbor. And 19 that's something you don't see very often 20 anymore in traditional land plan in traditional 21 subdivisions. The results of the land planning 22 regulations over the last 10 to 15 years have 23 made home lots larger, they pushed them back 24 from the road, they've made the streets wider AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 29 1 and they have encouraged people to stay to the 2 themselves. And the types of communities that 3 we're building now reverse that trend and bring 4 people closer together. We have an opportunity 5 with every piece of property, it's a blank 6 piece of paper, we look at things and say what 7 is good development and what is bad 8 development. I'm interested in creating a 9 place that I can go back to years after it's 10 built and be proud of the fact that I created a 11 places that's desirable to live in. I don't 12 think of myself as a builder of roads and a 13 builder of homes. I think of myself as a 14 creator of living environments in places where 15 people want to live. There are things in my 16 mind that make up good development and bad 17 development. Good development expands the 18 range of the choice of housing, and bad 19 development focuses on a single product. That 20 single product over the last 10 to 15 years has 21 been large luxury move-up homes for the 22 baby-boomers. The baby-boomers are starting to 23 age and they want to scale down and we are at 24 the front end of a trend that's going to AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 30 1 continue for the next 25 years. In 2008 the 2 baby-boomers become large sellers or net 3 sellers of large luxury homes and net buyers of 4 a primary emphasis of what we would like to do 5 here in Highland Creek, which is carriage 6 homes. Smaller lots, smaller homes, all of the 7 maintenance is included, one monthly fee takes 8 care of your lawn mowing, your snow plowing, 9 your landscaping, your fertilization and so on 10 and so forth. We look to take an inventory of 11 a site and develop an innovative plan that 12 preserves Open Space. In a bad development you 13 can put roads anyplace and you can create ugly 14 products and you can arrange them in ugly ways 15 and I can leave or any builder can leave and 16 we're done and that's not really what we're 17 interested in doing. Good development creates 18 trophy winning projects that become the rule 19 and not the exception. Recently we had a 20 project in the area that we had done that was 21 looked at as a role community, a role model 22 community as a planning tool for others towns, 23 and we're proud of that and we will like to be 24 able to produce what we call trophy winning AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 31 1 communities. In a bad development the outcome 2 detracts rather than enhances the quality of 3 life. The development sprawls all over the 4 landscape, the roads are all over the place and 5 it increases the cost of infrastructure for the 6 town many years down the road. Good 7 development and good developers and builders 8 self-impose landscaping standards to ensure 9 attractive street scapes. We don't walk into a 10 community and just plant houses on the soil and 11 leave. We put in sidewalks, we put in street 12 trees. We actually create plans in a PED, the 13 landscaping plans, that become part of the 14 approval. So even if I didn't do the project 15 and somebody else did, at least there's a 16 standard built into that plan that ensures that 17 it's going to get built the way we said it was. 18 Bad development is land planning -- I'm sorry. 19 This microphone is going back and forth. Land 20 planning that has little regard for how people 21 want to work, play and live. You have your 22 half acre or one acre lot and what happens with 23 that land is that the boat comes in and then 24 the trailer comes in and then the garbage AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 32 1 starts to stack up in the backyard, and 2 ultimately without proper deed restrictions, 3 without a homeowners association to maintain 4 all of that you have a development that really 5 is not attractive. Good development, emphasis 6 on the community. Bad development is on 7 emphasis on the home. Again, we're trying to 8 bring people together within a community to 9 foster a neighborhood, to foster that community 10 feeling. Good development has a wow factor 11 when you drive in. Is there a sense of 12 arrival, is there something there that wants to 13 draw you home every night. Bad development is 14 large lots that don't preserve the Open Space. 15 And we're getting back to traditional 16 neighborhood design. In bad development you 17 keep doing things the way you have because 18 that's just the way you're doing them. As part 19 of my job I get to go around the country and I 20 look at innovative land plans and I look at 21 innovative product for the last 10 or 15 years 22 and we bring back ideas, the good ideas that we 23 see from good development we try to apply them 24 to what we're doing here. AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 33 1 Next slide. Some examples of the types of 2 homes that we intend to build are manor homes, 3 our luxury homes. They're the move-up homes. 4 They are on larger home sites, average two 5 thirds of an acre. We have minimum 100 foot 6 lot widths. But the average size in the land 7 plan that we've created here is almost 30,000 8 square feet for the average size lot. The 9 homes will range between 2000 and 3500 square 10 feet. This is an example of a model home that 11 we have decorated of what a manor home, the 12 interior of a manor home looks like. And this 13 is just another elevation. We use a lot of 14 different materials in our home so that they're 15 not all created to look alike. We use brick, 16 we use clapboard siding, we use shake siding, 17 stone. In our traditional homes we have 39 of 18 them proposed. These are for the first time 19 home buyer and the first time move-up buyer. 20 They are 1800 to 3100 square feet. They are on 21 90 by 130 foot minimum home sites. And my 22 slide is cut off, but the average home site 23 that we have for the manor homes is larger. I 24 don't know exactly -- .4 acres. What we AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 34 1 propose for the manor homes is we stack five 2 foot minimum side yards on one side and we 3 follow that down the street. And what that 4 does is it allows for an average, that will 5 give us a 30 feet on the other side, so that we 6 can put side entry garages on so that the 7 street scape is more appealing and it creates 8 an average distance of about 35 feet between 9 homes. An example of what the inside of a 10 traditional home would like, everything is kind 11 of open. It's cozy, it's warm. Everything 12 flows together; kitchen, breakfast, family 13 room. And this an example of another 14 traditional home. The use of stone. This is 15 actually a craftsman style that we create. It 16 uses clap and shake siding with stone to kind 17 of emulate that old craftsman look. And then 18 the largest part of the market or the largest 19 part of the community that we're proposing are 20 the carriage homes. Every day I get a phone 21 call from people who want to move out of their 22 large home that they've had for so many years 23 and move into something that they don't have to 24 maintain, something that they can take care of AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 35 1 that's not overwhelming. By design our 2 carriage homes are designed towards the 3 empty-nester or what I would call the active 4 adult market. Those are those folks that are 5 between 50 and 75 years old. They want a 6 master bedroom on the first floor. They don't 7 want to go up and down stairs anymore. Most of 8 the homes, four out of the five models that we 9 have are all one story. We have another model 10 that has a master down with two bedrooms up. 11 They range in size from 1400 to 2200 square 12 feet, and that extra footage coming from a 13 pop-up room that comes above the first floor 14 that becomes a loft over the family room so 15 that when the grandkids come back to play, they 16 have a spot for them or if they have a guest 17 that wants to say overnight or the grandkids 18 want a bunk area to go to, we have a loft area 19 that pops up above the first floor. The 20 minimum home site -- or the average home site 21 that we have here is 55 feet wide by 130 feet 22 deep. It averages, according to the land plan 23 that we put together, most of the lots are 24 larger than the minimum that we set, is 7,960 AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 36 1 square feet or 22 acres. The homes are 40 feet 2 wide and that leaves an average of 15-foot 3 spacing in between homes. 4 This is another example of a carriage 5 home. This home has a master bedroom on the 6 first floor and two bedrooms and a loft 7 upstairs. From the product that we're 8 designing for Highland Creek and other 9 communities that we are doing, we had an artist 10 put together a rendering of the homes -- of the 11 character sketches of the homes that we have on 12 the drawing boards right now, and this is an 13 artist's rendering of what a typical street 14 scape would look like. We have sidewalk on one 15 side of the road, we have street trees in here, 16 we try and narrow the road widths down, create 17 a sidewalk, pull the houses a little closer to 18 the road and create that neighborhood feeling, 19 that village feeling that was built many years 20 ago, encourage the pedestrians to walk on the 21 sidewalks instead of in the roads. There are 22 character sketches of the homes that we have in 23 concept right now. It kind of gives you an 24 idea that not everything looks the same in the AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 37 1 communities that we built. We mix the 2 elevations up, we use different materials and 3 we come out with a feeling that everything is 4 custom. We don't build the same style home 5 next to each other. We don't build the same 6 color home next to each other. So when we're 7 done we have a feeling, a street scape that is 8 quite pleasing. 9 This is a typical floor plan of a carriage 10 home with the front elevation. This is a two 11 bedroom and a den with a family room, two car 12 garage, master suite secluded all to itself 13 with an option to come out on a covered porch. 14 Family room, dining area and kitchen are all 15 together. Covered front porch. All of our 16 front porches are covered because we have 17 something around here called snow. Again, 18 getting back to the character of the community, 19 we create pleasing entrances that has a sense 20 of arrival. This is actually taken from a 21 community that I was out visiting last week in 22 Plymouth, Massachusetts. It's a 3,000 acre 23 master plan community with many different 24 neighborhoods built inside, and this is just AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 38 1 one entrance of one neighborhood within that 2 community. And this an example of how when you 3 landscape and you use fencing and you use 4 certain ideals that the houses don't really 5 have to look all that close together. Bad time 6 of year to take photos because the leaves have 7 already fallen off the trees. 8 I mentioned briefly about our master 9 landscape plan. This is an example of what we 10 do that becomes part of the approval document, 11 the PDD. It's part of our plans. We hire, we 12 engage a professional landscape architect to 13 come out and inventory the land, take an 14 inventory of what is there and what's not there 15 and propose a solution to make the place look 16 like it's been existing for some time. We have 17 natural areas in our developments. We protect 18 them, we mark them so that they don't get 19 destroyed down the road. And this is an 20 example without any regard to where the houses 21 get placed on the lots, the types of 22 landscaping that goes back. We try and 23 development greenswards so that there's not 24 houses on every part of the available street AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 39 1 that there's there to build on. We create 2 greenswards in the backs of the lots, so that 3 the lots -- every person who lives in these 4 homes has an opportunity to get to a sidewalk 5 or a greensward. That's just a common area 6 where there's no development. We create 7 developments with entrances that have a sense 8 of arrival. We do spend the money to create 9 nice living environments. And this is one 10 example of an entrance sign that we have in 11 another community. Next slide. We also try 12 and take elements of that sign that we've 13 created and move it around the community, so 14 that if you have other areas that are not part 15 of the main entrance, you create other elements 16 so that all these other streets are all tied in 17 together so that you know when you're driving 18 through the community that everything is part 19 of the community. And this an example of a 20 boulevard entrance, these are the house in the 21 background and how we've carried this white 22 fencing and the stone columns throughout the 23 community. In our common areas we have at the 24 highest part of Highland Creek we proposed a AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 40 1 gathering area and this is an example of a 2 gazebo that we would install there. And I 3 think it's also important to note that within 4 Highland Creek everything is connected. 5 They're connected with sidewalks, they're 6 connected with paved walking trails so that you 7 can literally get throughout the entire 8 community without having to walk on the road. 9 You can get to the natural areas, there's some 10 paved trails, there's some natural trails that 11 meander through the woods. And these are 12 elements of passive recreation that we try to 13 incorporate into every community. 14 And with that I'd like to say thank you 15 very much. 16 MR. POLETO: We heard from the developers. 17 Now it's your turn to come up and tell us what 18 you think. If you come up we'll do it in an 19 orderly fashion. We'll start with your name, 20 address and you can make your statements. All 21 right. 22 JOE DURKIN: Joseph Durkin, Eagle Mills. 23 And I want to thank the Board for extending the 24 time period to give us an opportunity to get AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 41 1 more comments in. By the way, I'm the person 2 that Mr. Clements gave the extra copy to and 3 thank you very much, Carl. I want to say one 4 thing. I want to read a statement from the 5 comprehensive plan, and this is from February 6 of 2001. "Brunswick is a town on the verge of 7 large scale change. It succumbs to urban and 8 suburban pressure of the Capital District." 9 And that's from page eight of the comprehensive 10 plan. Highland Creek together with the other 11 four planned development districts that are 12 currently before the Town Board present 13 significant issues for the town, whether 14 there's a question of cumulative impact under 15 SEQRA for compliance with the town's 16 comprehensive plan. What must be kept in mind 17 that the Town Board is being asked to amend the 18 town's zoning ordinance so that these five 19 projects may be built as proposed. Under SEQRA 20 the Board must determine whether its action, 21 that's amending town ordinance, will impair the 22 character of the community. Similar to zoning 23 regulations, must be made in accordance with 24 the comprehensive plan to promote the general AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 42 1 welfare and to take into consideration the 2 character of the district. The town's own 3 zones regulations for Planned Development 4 Districts require that the Board of Appeals 5 shall consider the need for the proposed use in 6 the proposed location and the existing 7 character of the neighborhood. The Highland 8 Creek DEIS does not adequately address the 9 change and the character of the community. It 10 does state that -- the Highland Creek DEIS does 11 not adequately address the change and the 12 character of the community. It does state that 13 the Planned Development District are permitted 14 and encouraged and that clustered development 15 is in line with the town's comprehensive plan. 16 What is not discussed is that the town's 17 comprehensive plan officially recognized that 18 the character of Brunswick as rural and the 19 residents of Brunswick deserve to preserve that 20 character. In this regard, the DEIS is 21 deficient in its discussion of the growth -- in 22 this regard the DEIS is deficient in its growth 23 producing impacts of the project, and these are 24 twofold. First of all, it's the extension of AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 43 1 the water and sewer line along McChesney 2 Avenue. This will certainly facilitate future 3 development along McChesney Avenue. The other 4 growth inducing impact is the authorization of 5 less than a quarter acre lots. This will set 6 the stage for further dense development 7 throughout the town. A significant component 8 of the Highland Creek development is the 130 9 houses that are being built to less than one 10 quarter of an acre lots. This is a density 11 that's not seen anywhere else in Brunswick. 12 According to the current zoning map there are 13 only two areas in Brunswick with less than one 14 quarter acre lots, also along the Troy border. 15 By amending the zoning ordinance we'll be 16 introducing urban density development deep into 17 Brunswick. And please bear in mind, the first 18 project is the first project that changes the 19 character of the community. Not the last 20 project. The time to discuss what the 21 character of the community is and should be is 22 when the first project is proposed. After you 23 allow these small lots in this neighborhood, 24 how are you going to be able to say no to the AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 44 1 next developer who proposes to build on less 2 than a quarter of an acre. I don't think you 3 can because you'll have already changed the 4 character of the community. 5 Another deficiency in the DEIS is that it 6 fails to discuss the cumulative impact of the 7 other four Planned Development Districts. If 8 all of these were approved it will dramatically 9 change the character of the community by moving 10 the line between the urban and rural space over 11 one mile into Brunswick. As previously stated, 12 the town's comprehensive plan acknowledges the 13 town's rural character. But while which 14 governs the town comprehensive plan says, among 15 the most important powers and duties granted by 16 the legislature to a town government is the 17 authority and the responsibility to undertake 18 town comprehensive planning and to regulate 19 land use for the purpose of protecting the 20 public health, safety and general welfare of 21 its citizens. The Town Board has a duty to act 22 on behalf of all of its citizens, not just the 23 land owner in question. The Town Board should 24 do more than simply follow suggestions of the AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 45 1 land developer who have their own interest at 2 stake. Now, the land may belong to the land 3 owner, but the town zoning ordinance belongs to 4 all of us. What the town should do is look 5 into all of these five proposed developments in 6 a comprehensive planning manner and not in a 7 piecemeal fashion. I understand that the Town 8 Board a currently considering engaging the 9 services of a professional consultant to 10 undertake the change in the current zoning 11 maps. Now, while these Planned Development 12 Districts currently being considered, why not 13 wait until that study is completed, incorporate 14 these five development districts into that 15 study and then see whether or not the map 16 should be changed to allow these districts. 17 Now, I would like to make one observation 18 on the Open Space. It occurred to me in 19 looking at the Environmental Impact Statement 20 that about 80 acres of space is not capable of 21 being developed. There's 60 acres of federally 22 protected wetlands and probably 20 or 30 acres 23 of steep slopes and creeks. Now, I think that 24 taking those constraints into consideration, AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 46 1 probably the maximum density that could be 2 achieved under the current zoning ordinance is 3 about 100 homes, not 190. And with that I 4 think I'll end. Thank you. 5 MR. POLETO: Next. 6 BERNARD FLEISHMAN: My name is Bernard 7 Fleishman. I live on Colehamer Avenue, Troy, 8 New York, 12180. I have been a resident of the 9 town in the same house for 46 years. I want to 10 support the point made by the previous speaker. 11 In particular the issue of overall and overall 12 look at the various projects that are proposed. 13 It just isn't possible to adjudge the 14 consequences of each development in turn as 15 they come one by one down the road. The 16 overall planning has not been done here. It 17 had been proposed in the previous hearing, that 18 the town hold up on these individual 19 developments until there is an overall plan 20 made as to where it is best to develop in the 21 town and where it is best to keep the 22 environment open and undeveloped. 23 Another issue that I want to address is 24 that of transportation. The 2001 comprehensive AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 47 1 plan, and in that comprehensive plan a 2 recommendation was made by the consultants that 3 there be a transportation commission or a 4 committee set up by the town. As far as I know 5 no such committee was set up. Another point of 6 neglect on transportation planning. The 7 Regional Planning Transportation Planning 8 Agency, the CDTC, which has to clear all 9 projects to ask for state or federal funding, 10 that agency has a linkage programming under 11 which it invites municipalities; cities or 12 towns, when they have development plans to come 13 and consult with them as to the transportation 14 aspects of the proposed development plan. The 15 fact is that today in the planning industry and 16 need for decades, it has been almost a first 17 principle that you do not use -- do land use 18 development without transportation planning at 19 the same time. I learned that because I was on 20 the Capital District Transportation Authority. 21 I was a member of that Authority for Rensselaer 22 County for 19 years. And we learned over and 23 over again that when we were asked to supply 24 transportation service to a community, as often AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 48 1 as not, we found ourselves boxed in and found 2 it impossible to do an adequate job because the 3 community development had been done already. 4 The buildings had been done, the houses sited 5 in accordance with the developer's plan and 6 then we were asked to come in afterwards to 7 figure out how to supply adequate 8 transportation for that community. In this 9 case what's required in the Town of Brunswick 10 is that there be a transportation plan 11 alongside of an overall comprehensive land use 12 development plan. And I urge that the Board 13 hold up on all of these projects until these 14 broad plans are made for the town so that the 15 various parts of the town can contribute to the 16 formation of a vision for the future that will 17 serve us best. Thank you. 18 SUSAN HAYNES: My name is Susan Haynes. I 19 live at 11 Westlane Road. I -- under SEQRA we 20 have to show public need and benefits. But 21 according to this Environmental Impact 22 Statement I only see that we're talking about 23 develop benefits to the people who would 24 potentially move here and not to the benefits AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 49 1 of the people in the town. It seems to me that 2 they get attractive liberty, they get a range 3 of recreational opportunities, they get an 4 opportunity for shopping and employment and 5 essential services. But what does the town 6 gain with these developments. I don't really 7 see that addressed in the statement at all. 8 Thank you. 9 MR. POLETO: Next. 10 HEDRICH MEDICUS: I'm Hedrich Medicus. I 11 think it's a wonderful plan, but it only has 12 one fault. This is for the Town of Brunswick 13 instead of town of Colonie or Menands. We 14 really have to decide do we want to keep our 15 rural character. If we want to keep our rural 16 character and do it for 50 years, people 17 possibly will come to us and go, gee, that's a 18 town that really has preserved it's nice 19 character. Please keep that in mind. 20 MR. POLETO: Next. 21 MIKE HART: My name is Mike Hart. I live 22 on Ford Road. You can hold the applause until 23 I'm done. Here's an opportunity for the town 24 to actually take a look at the development of a AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 50 1 neighborhood and actually have the input on it. 2 I don't think you should just throw everything 3 away just based on a lot of traffic studies and 4 things like that that still need to be done and 5 verified and quantified. The fact that you 6 have a Planned Development District, and you 7 will have the input as far as street lighting 8 or sidewalks and whatever, I think there's an 9 opportunity there and I think the town should 10 embrace that. 11 MR. POLETO: Next. Mic's available. 12 JAMIE MEEHAN: My name is Jamie Meehan. I 13 live on Carrolls Groove Road in the Town of 14 Brunswick. I've lived here for a long time. 15 I'm on the School Board and first I want to 16 talk a little bit about the effect on the 17 school. I know I looked over their draft EIS 18 and they basically said that this project would 19 generate $1,162,000 in revenue. And we know 20 with a school that right now we're at about 21 1400 students and if we get to about 1600 22 students that would be a critical period and 23 we'd probably have to build a new school. So 24 to build a new school maybe just for this AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 51 1 project, and don't forget there's a few other 2 projects out there with many possibly other 3 hundreds of kids coming to our school, that 4 would mean an even bigger school that we would 5 have to build. So this $1.1 million would not 6 go very far in just paying the debt service for 7 the building we would have to construct, let 8 alone to pay for teachers. You do need 9 teachers when you have more kids, you know. 10 You do need more custodians, you need more 11 buses, you need a lot of things. So I think 12 that the effect of all of these developments 13 needs to be looked at. So that's one thing 14 that I want to talk about. 15 Now, I'm going to talk off my School Board 16 hat and I'm going to talk about me as a citizen 17 in the Town of Brunswick. I want to point out 18 that in a draft EIS under community services 19 there is potential impacts on -- impact on 20 public schools, impact on police, fire and 21 ambulance services, impact on recreational 22 facilities, impact on solid waste, impact on 23 utilities; water, sewer, electric, natural gas, 24 telephone and cable, and impact on municipal AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 52 1 revenues. Now, those are all potential 2 impacts. But the only thing that they say that 3 can possibly be something bad coming out of it, 4 they say the project will construct 5 improvements to existing Hoosick Street pumping 6 station to increase it's capacity. That's one 7 thing they said about -- all those things I 8 just read off, this is the one possible bad 9 thing that might come. And then they also say, 10 no other impacts to community were identified 11 which would require litigation, which I kind of 12 take exception to. I don't understand where 13 they could've come up with that one, with over 14 190 homes in just this one project alone. I 15 also wanted another -- one of the guys spoke 16 about the traffic and he's talked about this 17 four second -- that it might take you four more 18 seconds to go through some of these 19 intersections they they're talking about were 20 like Mulon and Route 2 is one. And I'm not 21 sure if I read this exact, but it said 22 something like they spent an entire 15 minutes 23 doing that study at that intersection. So that 24 was pretty impressive. I also -- I know that AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 53 1 they say that they spoke with the fire 2 companies. I don't know if they, but I know 3 they -- the only thing I could see in the draft 4 EIS was that they sent a letter to all of the 5 ambulances and the fire companies and they 6 basically just said forward any comments you 7 have and we'll see that they are included in 8 the EIS. So we they didn't get a reply from 9 anybody so it seems a little strange that they 10 wouldn't get a reply from anyone when they 11 asked the fire companies and everybody else if 12 190 new homes is going to have any effect, you 13 would think there would be at least a slight 14 effect there. And those are just a couple of 15 things that I -- I didn't have a lot of time to 16 look through the EIS, but just for those few 17 points alone it looks like the document needs a 18 lot more work and we need to take a lot closer 19 look at this whole project and to all of the 20 other projects that are going to vastly alter 21 the landscape of our town. And I know at the 22 last session that we had back in August, I kind 23 of ended my talk with saying to the Town Board, 24 did you want to leave your legacy as leaving AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 54 1 the Town of Brunswick as an open rural 2 community or do you want to leave you legacy as 3 turning Brunswick into Clifton Park. Thank 4 you. 5 DONNA FOSTERING: Can you hear, because 6 there's about a hundred people outside. My 7 name is Donna Fostering and I wanted to 8 follow-up on what Jamie Meehan just said. I am 9 a member of Brunswick Smart Growth. I live on 10 McChesney Avenue Extension, so I feel very 11 close about this project. But today in the 12 paper -- we've been talking about cumulative 13 effect. And in the paper, in the record, our 14 supervisor, Phil Herrington -- this is a quote 15 question, the accuracy of the 253 student 16 projection that's been going out. Now, we took 17 those figures directly from the two DEIS's; 18 Hudson Hills and Highland Creek. Hudson Hills 19 was 70 percent of 215 students that would go to 20 Brittonkill. Highland Creek only said 100. I 21 think this points out that we need the town to 22 correlate information on all of the projects, 23 when it's not happening at this level. We've 24 talked with other towns and they have planners AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 55 1 who are doing it. Not just on one project, but 2 on all projects in front of them. And I 3 think -- I made a list. But certainly we need 4 a projection of school enrollments, school 5 taxes. I'm a single homeowner. My school 6 taxes, if they go with a balloon because 7 Brittonkill needs to build, it's going to 8 affect me greatly just like senior citizens and 9 other lower and moderate income families. We 10 also need a traffic, a good traffic study, a 11 real study. They said 190 cars for 190 homes, 12 and Hudson Hills said the same thing. One car 13 per apartment. We know this is not realistic, 14 and we know as drivers that we're already 15 heavily impacted. Thanksgiving Eve after 16 Hoosick Road was done, I couldn't get up 17 Hoosick Street. I had to turn around. So did 18 my neighbor, so did another friend of mine. 19 The traffic was backed up all the way to 20 Burdett Avenue. So we need some real 21 information about traffic here. Fire 22 department, the number of volunteers. I know 23 that they're wonderful and basically handle 24 things on our own, but we don't want to see our AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 56 1 community grow beyond their capabilities, 2 either in terms of equipment or manpower. 3 We've got to support the volunteer aspect of 4 our community because it's a vital part. Those 5 were my lists. I know there's many other 6 things, especially people with technical 7 background can add to that. But we really feel 8 to the Town Board, give us the information so 9 we can help you make a good decision. I grew 10 up here but I lived in Monterey County in 11 California. I've seen in California the good, 12 the bad and the very ugly. Monterey was good 13 and largely because the public was involved and 14 there was extensive discussion. So I hope and 15 I'm encouraged what I see here, so let's keep 16 it up. Thank you. 17 MR. POLETO: Next. Anybody else? 18 CHARLES HAYNES: My name is Charles 19 Haynes. I'm a resident of Westlane Road in the 20 Town of Brunswick. And the concern that I have 21 is that we are acting in the Town of Brunswick 22 as if we were an island. And somewhere along 23 the way in school I was taught no man is an 24 island, and I suspect no town is either. We AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 57 1 are talking about creating a significant amount 2 of increased waste and water runoff. And last 3 time I heard things tend to run downhill in 4 life. The City of Troy is your neighbor and 5 we're acting like they don't exist. Last 6 winter, if you remember, their sewers, some of 7 which are over 100 years old, were cracked and 8 backed up and houses were being flooded. And I 9 have a suspicion that some of that water and 10 some of that sewage that backed up down there 11 wasn't just coming from Troy, but from areas a 12 little higher up like the Town of Brunswick. 13 We have a regional situation here and it 14 appears that our population in general in this 15 greater area is going to grow and grow, and we 16 need some regional solutions. My question is, 17 are we doing anything to coordinate our efforts 18 with regard to growth and development with our 19 neighbors so they don't impact us negatively 20 and we don't impact them negatively. I think 21 that needs to be taken very seriously as we 22 develop our town plan. Thank you. 23 MR. POLETO: Next. 24 DAVID LITTLE: Dave Little, 17 Mickle Hill AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 58 1 Road. I stayed out of it thus far, fellows. 2 Haven't been involved up until this point. But 3 unfortunately, the situation as it has existed 4 so far requires it. Tonight is a perfect 5 metaphor for the way that we've approached 6 planning so far, as 100 people staring into 7 windows from outside is no way to plan the 8 future of our town. We've got the facilities 9 to be able to hold a proper hearing on this, we 10 got places. There's nobody in the school 11 auditorium tonight. We need to have a night 12 when everyone can be adequately heard and 13 everyone can adequately hear what's going on in 14 the town. I'm concerned from what I have been 15 able to glean thus far this evening. First, 16 from the developer who indicates that these are 17 empty-nester homes, and I am interested to find 18 out. I understand that you aren't answering 19 questions, but I am interested to find out at 20 some point whether or not there are going to be 21 restrictive deed covenants for these houses to 22 prevent the inevitable children from these 23 empty-nester houses. I spent a long time -- I 24 mean I'm not unknown to you folks. I spent a AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 59 1 long time, nine years on Brittonkill School 2 Board, four years as your County Legislature 3 from this area and four years on the Capital 4 Regional Planning Commission, so I know a 5 little bit about this subject and I know that 6 the Town Board, by letter from Mr. Herrington, 7 has rejected the school's request for a 8 demographic study of this issue. I now work 9 for Public Education at Large, the New York 10 State School Board Association, and so I work 11 with school districts all the time about the 12 pressures of development. I know that it's 13 often been said in this debate that all of this 14 is an attempt to keep town taxes down. And I 15 can tell you that keeping the town taxes down 16 by this method is in direct disproportion to 17 increasing the school taxes. 18 I can tell you a couple of things without 19 doing your demographic study, things that we 20 know for certain. If you're planning 80 homes, 21 that means 100 kids. 1.2 kids at the very 22 least. I can tell you of those kids, 18 23 percent will have special needs. They'll be 24 high cost public educational students. I can AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 60 1 tell you that there's a square footage 2 requirement that the State of New York has for 3 each and every student. And so you need to 4 find where the school stands in their square 5 footage requirement. I know from having done 6 building projects at Brittonkill that you 7 aren't putting anymore buildings in the swamp 8 back there. There is no place to go and I know 9 that those structures would have to be torn 10 down to the ground and started over with a new 11 foundation because they weren't built for a 12 second floor. So if you require building, I 13 know that 100 kids requires some traffic 14 routes, I know that 100 kids requires at least 15 two extra elementary teaches, it requires the 16 18 percent of high cost needs, and a 17 conservative estimate of that cost would a 18 million and a half dollars a year. Not just 19 the first year, but each and every year. If 20 you reduce the amount of property taxes that 21 this particular project would bring into the 22 town for school taxes, you're still talking 23 about a million dollars a year. A million 24 dollars a year to the Brittonkill Central AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 61 1 School District, not just the Town of 2 Brunswick, but the Town of Brunswick comprises 3 about 70 percent of the school district. A 4 million dollars costs the town residents and 5 the others within the school district, the 6 other four towns that are within the school 7 district, every $75,000 is a one percent tax 8 increase in this school district. So you're 9 talking about a 13 percent tax increase each 10 and every year based on the project if those 11 costs aren't ameliorated and if they aren't 12 planned for. If you have a million dollars in 13 costs of that 13 percent tax increase per year, 14 you have to put that on top of the already 15 inflationary increase that the school district 16 faces; health care, pension costs, fuel oil 17 costs, all the things that are likely to drive 18 costs, inflationary costs, upwards of seven 19 percent a year by themselves. 20 percent -- the 20 two put together means a 20 percent school tax 21 increase. A 20 percent school tax increase. 22 We don't have to go any further then walking 23 seven miles that way to Averill Park to see 24 what happens to a school district when you AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 62 1 start asking the residents to absorb 20 percent 2 school tax increases per year. Development 3 there changed the character of the town, it 4 changed the quality of the school and it was 5 not planned accurately. It wasn't planned 6 appropriately. I applaud you for opening the 7 public comment period longer. And you need 8 to -- well, I don't want to tell you to do the 9 right thing. What I do want to tell you is 10 that to adequately perform your duty as a 11 public servant in this particular case, you 12 need to study what the impact is before you go 13 further. I'm not telling you to build this 14 thing or not build this thing, but please plan 15 it. Okay. There are people who do this for a 16 living, and the cost that you'll spend for a 17 demographic study probably willingly shared by 18 the School District if the two of you go 19 together, then you can adequately find out what 20 the future of this town is going to be like 21 with either the singular impact of this or the 22 cumulative impact of all of this. My kids are 23 here and I hope my grandkids are here, but I 24 want them to have a town that at least has had AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 63 1 the foresight and the community interest to 2 figure out what their life is going to be like 3 here before they just decide on something. So 4 I would just appreciate that. Thank you. 5 PAUL GOWER: My name is Paul Gower, 6 G-O-W-E-R. 1792 Route 7, a/k/a Hanersville. 7 One of the few things that I haven't heard with 8 regards to this, and I'll keep it real brief, 9 is what kind of commercial impact this type of 10 development is going to have on Route 7 itself. 11 And one of the issues that I'd like you to keep 12 in mind with this is the issue of imminent 13 domain with regards to the town in taking over 14 some of the property along Route 7 to develop 15 commercial needs for this project. Thank you. 16 MR. POLETO: Next. 17 NORMAN FIVEL: My name is Norman Fivel. I 18 live on Will Rose Lane. I want to address a 19 couple of things, but first it occurred to me 20 when I was reading the DEIS, and this is 21 follow-up to something someone said before 22 about fire protection. Apparently there was 23 concerns raised by the Center Brunswick Fire 24 Department and the Brunswick Fire Department AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 64 1 concerning additional emergency access to this 2 site. Right now the only access is from 3 McChesney Avenue. The concern is raised that 4 an additional emergency access was needed that 5 was apparently explored and it was determined 6 that access through either of these streets, 7 which was Freeman Avenue or Harris Avenue was 8 not reasonably practical for whatever reason, 9 topography or whether the applicant doesn't 10 have any rights to the property that would be 11 necessary for that access. Additionally there 12 was a request about consideration of a possible 13 water main grouping to Harris Freeman Road, 14 which would be desirable from the standpoint of 15 eliminating dead end water main and providing a 16 source of water from two directions. That also 17 was determined not to be practical. Then the 18 DEIS stops. It occurs to me that something 19 further is needed to respond to those concerns 20 of the fire department. Nothing was said in 21 terms of the DEIS in terms of how they're going 22 to mitigate those concerns of the fire 23 department. The next issue that I wanted to 24 mention has to do with the empty-nester AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 65 1 projections. The developer is saying 130 2 carriage homes are targeted for empty-nesters. 3 I would assume that if a family having a child 4 wants to buy one of those carriage homes, they 5 are not going to be turned down. And someone 6 mentioned the idea of getting deed restrictions 7 in terms of limiting those homes to 8 empty-nesters, that's just not going to happen. 9 We have on the table the Hudson Hills project 10 which is proposed for 1100 units targeted for 11 empty-nesters. Where are all of the 12 empty-nesters coming from? If the traffic 13 projections and the students population 14 projections are based on empty-nesters, then I 15 think the study is flawed. Because there's no 16 guarantee, there's no way the developer or the 17 owner of the apartment complex can guarantee 18 that the empty-nesters are going to occupy 19 those residences. So the traffic study, the 20 student study I believe are vaguely misleading. 21 Not vaguely. They are much misleading in terms 22 of impact that these projects are going to have 23 on our community in terms of traffic and 24 students, not to mention some of the other tax. AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 66 1 But this brings up the issue of cumulative 2 impact. These projects cannot be looked at in 3 isolation, one from the other. And here's a 4 perfect example. You have two major projects 5 targeting the empty-nester market. And if that 6 doesn't occur, the impact is going to be vastly 7 different than what is projected in the DEIS. 8 So for that reason I believe that further study 9 is needed and options have to be explored as to 10 what happens if these empty-nester projections 11 don't follow through. Thank you. 12 MR. POLETO: Someone in the back have 13 their hand up? 14 JENNY FALUSZCZAK: My name is Jenny 15 Faluszczak. I live on Route 7 by Agway. I'm 16 not very good at public speaking, but in coming 17 to this meeting tonight I also -- my bias is 18 emergency services; police, fire and EMS. I've 19 worked for Colonie's Emergency Service System 20 for 12 years. They obviously have a lot of 21 resources. I choose to live in Brunswick. I 22 could have a better job in Colonie being it's a 23 civil service position. My husband could have 24 a promotion if he was a Town of Colonie AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 67 1 resident, as it's a civil service position. We 2 chose to live in Brunswick. We moved here 3 about 20 years ago. We liked the character. 4 I'm not anti-development. Careful development. 5 I have concerns as stated as many other people 6 stated tonight about the multiple projects 7 being looked at in segments as opposed to a 8 whole. But my question is, I know Brunswick is 9 served police wise by state police and the 10 sheriff's department. We have a contract with 11 Mohawk Ambulance. I'm sure they do a wonderful 12 job. I work with many of those people. And we 13 have two volunteer fire companies. The 14 demographics are changing. Can our volunteers 15 keep pace with the growth of our town. And the 16 other gentleman also discussed regionalization, 17 have we looked at how our emergency services -- 18 can our emergency services keep up with 19 development. Thank you. 20 MR. POLETO: Somebody over here in the 21 middle. 22 REBECCA KAISER: Good evening. My name is 23 Rebecca Kaiser. It's kind of nice to wait a 24 little while to speak because then you get to AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 68 1 process what some other people have said. But 2 on the other hand, the mind kind of starts 3 spinning. But I do have a couple of comments, 4 first of all, that I just thought of when 5 everyone else was talking and I'd like to 6 address those to the developer if I could. In 7 my opinion, I'm a member of Brunswick Smart 8 Growth, good development is sustainable 9 development that adds to the economic base of a 10 town while not sacrificing quality of life. I 11 would suggest maybe considering adding that to 12 the list. And in that regard, in my research 13 on this general topic of development over the 14 last ten months or so, one thing I was 15 astounded to learn was that a new residential 16 development does not give us the benefits 17 financially that we think it might. For every 18 dollar that new residential development brings 19 in in property taxes, it costs us $1.23 in 20 services. And that, by the way, is a piece of 21 information that came from a very in-depth 22 study done by the American Farmland Trust. 23 One thing I'd really like to talk about 24 just for a minute here and it's very pertinent AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 69 1 to this project and also to the other proposals 2 going on in town right now, Brunswick Smart 3 Growth has been petitioning for the past 4 several weeks. And personally I'm a 5 petitioner. It's very, very important for me 6 to do this. I consider it a privilege. When I 7 started it was a chore. We knew we had to do 8 this because Wal-Mart had their petition out. 9 What were we going to do. You know just sit 10 around and wait. So we got our petition 11 together and we go door to door and I'm telling 12 you it is such a privilege to hear from the 13 concerns of our town's people. To have people 14 invite you inside and tell you about the 15 history of their communities and their homes 16 and their family. And then finally you get 17 down to the fact, well, okay. Would you like 18 to sign our petition. And let me tell you what 19 usually happens. This is the typical afternoon 20 of petitioning. In an hour and a half to two 21 hours I might make contact, I knock on the door 22 and talk to 15 to 17 people. Typically two 23 people might decline to sign a petition because 24 they don't have information. They're AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 70 1 new-comers to town. Maybe one will refuse to 2 sign because they are in favor of the 3 development projects, or at least one of them 4 or something like that. All the rest sign and 5 thank me. And this is our experience town 6 wide, and I just can't express to you what a 7 feeling it is to be able to provide people with 8 an avenue to express themselves. And so 9 anyway, I'd like to quickly read our petition 10 to you so that you have an understanding of our 11 viewpoint in development in general. Not this 12 project and others. We cannot possibly speak 13 about any of these projects in an isolated 14 segmented fashion. They are intimately 15 connected with each other. And so what we are 16 trying, we're trying to encourage people, and 17 the Town Board also, to take a very hard look 18 not at just each individual project, but their 19 cumulative impacts. And this is what we're 20 asking the Town Board to do. Right now we have 21 about 1500 signatures, and the petitioning is 22 ongoing. We'll be doing it for months I 23 assume. This is the petition. "We, the 24 undersigned, believe in preserving the quality AMF Reporting Services (518) 452-1795 1-877-NYS-DEPO 71 1 of life enjoyed by Brunswick residents through 2 a comprehensive plan which guides future growth 3 and avoids suburban sprawl. Such plan should 4 identify specific Open Spaces to be preserved 5 and establish priorities for residential and 6 commercial development in town. This petition 7 expresses our concern that pending development 8 proposals before the town would dramatically 9 increase town and school district costs, 10 exacerbate traffic congestion and substantially 11 change the character of our town.