Dear Neighbors and Friends,
Many, many thanks to the approximately 25 neighbors and friends (including those from SAVE Colonie) who attended last evening’s Zoning Board of Appeals meeting. We feel that Atty. Tingley represented our neighborhood with integrity, professionalism and obvious hours of research and preparation.
The “public” hearing was very shocking and disappointing. Of the six appeal issues on the agenda, the Zoning Board would not allow the public to speak regarding our appeal only and would not even allow John Drake, a petitioner party to the appeal, to speak. Microphones were not used, or minimally used by the Board members, and it was sometimes difficult to hear what they were saying.
The Board permitted the Neighborhood Association’s attorney, Jonathon Tingley, to present our appeal, the land owner’s attorney and the developer’s attorney to present their rebuttals to the appeal and then for the most part turned the meeting over to Town of Colonie Attorney Michael Magguilli. Mr. Magguilli told the Zoning Board that everything was done correctly regarding the buffer and zoning at 33/45 Forts Ferry Road and there was no reason for the Zoning Board to consider an appeal. Only two members of the Zoning Board asked a question and they were all responded to by Mr. Magguilli, who again assured the Board that everything was done correctly and there was no reason for the Zoning Board to consider our appeal.
Our Neighborhood Association’s attorney again requested that they allow John Drake to speak and the Board declined although they did not state why they would not permit him to speak before them. At that point, Atty. Tingley submitted John Drake’s written comments (see attached pdf) to the Board for the record and told the Board that he has never been to a zoning appeal’s public hearing where the public was not allowed to speak and where a party to an appeal was not allowed to present.
The Zoning Board attorney, Michael Garry, then repeated most of what Town Atty. Magguilli said and instructed the Zoning Board members to consider only whether the building department properly approved the developer’s project application based upon what the Town attorney said is the correct zoning. The Zoning Board unanimously agreed the application was approved correctly and rejected our appeal. The Board members did not even take the time to read John Drake’s written statement before rendering a decision.
While this result was unexpected and illustrates that Colonie does NOT have an independent Zoning Appeals Board, the Neighborhood Association officers expect to meet with counsel next week to discuss what further action can and should be taken.
We are very close to our goal to pay our most recent outstanding invoice of $3,500 to our attorney for his counsel. A check for $1,600 was paid to the firm on April 25th and right now we are just $75 away from collecting the additional $1900 needed to pay the balance.THANK YOU again to EACH ONE OF YOU for contributing to our Legal Defense Fund for our cause. After last night’s meeting, we feel it would have been impossible to participate without legal representation.
If you would like additional information, please contact WLNA President Erich Smith at esmith15@nycap.rr.com.