Ken Runion

At the July 7, 2009 Guilderland Town Board Meeting, we will be discussing a number of important issues affecting the quality of life of Town residents.  A brief synopsis of the issues is contained below:

1.  The Town adopted a Comprehensive Plan in 2001.  The plan called for a series of neighborhood studies and a review of the Town's Zoning Law.  We will be finalizing the last neighborhood study, hopefully in September.  At this Town Board meeting, I will be asking the Town Board to approve the formation of a Zoning Law Review Committee.  I had discussed this Committee at a Town Board meeting several weeks ago.  This will be a bi-partisan, non-political committee made up of residents, business members, and community representatives.  No one political party will have a majority on the committee in order to insure that it is non-political in nature.

2.  Flooding and poor storm drainage has plagued several areas of town over the last couple of years.  In the Curry Road area, a subdivision and neighboring properties have seen a rising water table and poor storm drainage.  This has caused flooded streets and basements.  In McKownville, a deteriorated private system has caused flloded basements, sink holes and flooded back yards.  At this meeting, I will be asking the Board to retain an engineering firm to conduct preliminary engineering to alleviate the storm darainage issues.  As I wan to insure that the engineering is meaningful, I will be asking the Board to commit to bonding these projects in the future.  We will continue apply for grants when available.  We will also look at a 3-5 year plan utilizing town workers in order to reduce the costs of the projects.

3.  Over the last several years, we have worked with the State and private enterprise to come up with a plan to control, to a certain extent, the flooding on Route 20 near Stuyvesant Plaza.  Currently this area floods several times a year.  We are looking at a project which will reduce the flooding and make it less frequent.  This fix will not eliminate flooding completely.  We will be receiving and awarding bids at this town board meeting.

4.    For the last several years, we have been looking at alternatives to depositing solid waste at the City of Albany Landfill.  Most alternatives involved trucking to the Syracuse area which would require a large investment of capital and expensive trucking costs.  Recently, we were able to negotiate an agreement with the Town of Colonie to bring our solid waste to their landfill.  Their landfill has a longer life than the City of Albany's and the town will not be contributing to the complaints many have had with the Albany landfill.  The cost to take our solid waste to Colonie is comparable.

Submitted by Ken Runion