Dear Neighbors and Friends,

First a huge THANK YOU to the 35+ members, neighbors and friends of the West Latham Neighborhood Association (WLNA) who came out to Tuesday’s Town of Colonie (TOC) Planning Board meeting and stayed for 3 hours to send a strong message in opposition to the Summit at Forts Forts Ferry to the board, as well as Supervisor Mahan and the four Town Board members who were in attendance. Ten community members spoke at the meeting, all in opposition to the proposed development. No Town Board member spoke during the meeting.

The proposed Summit at Forts Ferry project concept was approved by a 4-3 vote by the TOC Planning Board and was a very big disappointment to the WLNA. The concept approval was decided despite broad opposition from those in attendance, backed up by both strong legal and engineering data, and there seemed to be pressure to move this project through concept approval by the board. Issues raised by the WLNA included the appeal submitted to the Zoning Board of Appeals, false and incomplete information on the Environmental Assessment Form submitted by the developer, a lack of any plan to deal with storm water and multiple issues raised regarding traffic and safe exit from the development.

Here is a summary of what was covered in the three-hour discussion of the Summit at Forts Ferry:

1 - The applicant agents (Nigro not in attendance) re-presented the project proposal. There were no significant changes to the last proposal: one three-story apartment building and one two-story 30,000 sf office building.

The only new information that was shared includes:

- The apartment building height did in fact exceed the 40-foot restriction. The building was 45 feet and the cupola added another ten feet. They explained that they are removing the cupola and reducing the height from 45 feet to 39 feet, 8 inches. They did not explain how they would accomplish this.
- They propose a second emergency ingress/egress to the south of the office building. It will not be a full-service entrance as preferred by emergency departments.

2 – Town Designated Engineer summarized the application with few issues and concerns. He discussed sidewalk connectivity between Omega Terrace and Wade Rd.

3 – Members of the community spoke including:

Erich Smith – reiterated that the traffic exiting this project will most likely take a right and go down Omega Terrace due to timing of the light at Forts Ferry and Wade Road. Erich pointed out how improper it would be to have the large project ingress and egress directly across the street from a residential property with children.
John Drake – began by stating that the current zoning verification is being appealed and asked the board to confirm that they received copies. He requested further action on proposal application be stayed. The board confirmed that they have the letter informing them of the appeal and board chair Peter Stuto asked the board counsel (Kathleen Marinelli) if the stay needed to happen. Her opinion was that case law was clear that if did not need to happen. John explained the reason for the appeal and that the 2007 law that enacted the enhanced buffers could not legally be reversed through a Town Board resolution and therefore was still in effect.
Mary Cox – presented the review letter from Sterling Environmental Engineering to the board and highlighted the areas of the letter that were most significant – including concerns over storm water management (and the significant proposed condition changes to the property including increase of 4.5 acres of impervious surface, loss of 7 acres of existing forest cover and loss of .78 acres of wetlands, elimination of wet lands and the height of the building (potential to be different from side views than front view).

Other community members who spoke include John Fahey, Cindy Methe, Jeff McGlynn, Todd Drake, Jim Callister, Susan Weber and one additional resident from the Byrnes Whitney area.

Items that were addressed either by the community or the board included:

Stuto - How will property legally be designated over 55? Atty. Marybeth Slevin advised that the age restriction will be an approval condition and that only the TOC Planning Board y could reverse that restriction.
Stuto – wants town to look into the problem with light at Forts Ferry and Wade Rds. (even though traffic engineer and neighbors who spoke with DOT told him that it was purposefully tied to Wade Rd/Route 7 traffic light.)
Austin – mentioned that the brick face square office building should look more like the apartment building in design.
All board members – want entrance moved away from the McGlynn property (traffic engineer indicated the reason for location was the hill on Forts Ferry in order to maximize visibility. It was not clear that all board members fully understood the ‘hill’ reference.
Jim C. – wants renderings from all sides of property, not only Forts Ferry Road.
Austin – asked why they can’t change one-three story building to several lower rise. Slevin responded (as she has before) that this is their project and no changes arepossible.

Below is each Planning Board Member’s Vote on the Summit at Forts Ferry concept acceptance:

Brian Austin – made a motion for concept approval – voted Yes
Kathleen Dalton – made a motion not to vote until the neighbors’ zoning appeal had concluded – voted no
Steven Heider – voted yes
Susan Milstein – voted no
Louis Mion – voted yes
Craig Shamlian – voted no
Peter Stuto – voted yes

We are still moving forward with the appeal to the Zoning Board of Appeals, and will share information as that process moves forward.

Chairman Stuto indicated the need for an interim project review before the end of May to ensure all the errors, issues and questions raised are resolved before the final project is reviewed. We will continue to push to ensure the Planning Board follows up on the interim review.

Read the Colonie Spotlight's article about the meeting, proposed project and property brief history.