{ title: 'The Altamont enterprise. (Altamont, N.Y.) 1983-2006, June 05, 1986, Page 1, Image 1', download_links: [ { link: 'http://www.loc.gov/rss/ndnp/ndnp.xml', label: 'application/rss+xml', meta: 'News about NYS Historic Newspapers - RSS Feed', }, { link: '/lccn/sn86011850/1986-06-05/ed-1/seq-1/png/', label: 'image/png', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/sn86011850/1986-06-05/ed-1/seq-1.pdf', label: 'application/pdf', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/sn86011850/1986-06-05/ed-1/seq-1/ocr.xml', label: 'application/xml', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/sn86011850/1986-06-05/ed-1/seq-1/ocr.txt', label: 'text/plain', meta: '', }, ] }
Image provided by: Guilderland Public Library
The Altamont Enterpri Our 1C Serving the Guilderland, New Scotland, Bethlehem, E kickidlng A&amomt, VosrksssvSs, Westmere, GuUdefkmd Cei Number 46 Thursday, •'l /'i-l.;i' l '.' '•TV d Rensselaerville tnd Surrounding Area* 25 Cents Village Rezoning: Some Are Patient, ByJOHNADDYMAN Altamont trustees are finding that the zoning controversy, like an obnoxious relative, is something that always manages to show up at the most awkward lime. For instance: Charles and Ann Vlahos bought the Cowley property ,jSph Western Avenue; just inside the village line, last. fall.. They made the dosing just'in time, im'fact, to see the village's moratorium denying apartment construction and single- family dwelling renovation go into effect. What Happened During Village Memorial Service? ByJOHNADDYMAN When Altamont looked at the possibility of combining the activi- ties associated! with the ..Apple Blossom Festival with the long- standing traditions^of Memorial . bay, : lhe match seemed^a good one for all concerned. \There wouldbe more people in the village that day,\ said Mayor James Caruso. \It was agreed that all vendors and all the commotion in the park would stop for the duration of the ceremonies. Unfor- tunately, some of the vendors honored that, and some did not. \We saw definite benefits in having the larger number of people at the Memorial Bay ceremony in the park, but there were some drawbacks because of the commo- tion' in the park at that time, too.\ On May 18, members of Boyd Hilton VFW Post competed with a carnival atmosphere as they tried to hold their Memorial Day ceremony. And the members were not pleased. In a May 20 tetter to the board of trustees, the officers of the VFW post asked the village board to make sure no other activities are scheduled in the park on the day of theMemorialDay ceremony, and if requests for other activities are. received by the village and are considered by the board of trustees, that the commander of the post be notified of any discussions. \Our organization is very community-oriented,\ the veter- ans wrote the board. \But first and foremost, we take great pride in helping our fellow comrades and (in) honoring our deceased veter- ans. \It has been our custom here in the Altamont village to hold the . small ceremony in the park on the day of the Memorial Day parade. Our ceremony normally consists of introducing our mayor, one of our local clergy, our post commander, our auxiliary president, and the students who have won the essay contest sponsored by the post. In addition, we have someone who is carefully chosen as speaker for this day. Last, but most impor- tantly, we perform the significant (Continuedon Page 12) The moratorium has denied the Vlahos family of something they'd wanted to' do for a long time — build a home and use a portion of it for an apartment for their daugh- ter. Thelandon Western is idle, the building season is approaching prime time, and the Vlahoses are worried that they're not going to see that home for at least another year. So Ann and Charles wrote to the trustees Tuesday, asking if the board might somehow accelerate the zoning clock and rezone the area at the end of Western so the Vlahos family could have its home. The trustees sympathized. The moratorium went into* effect to prevent the kind of problem the Town of Guilderland 1 anticipated and headed off with a. zoning change. Some home lots in the village and the town readily qualify forapartment construction or even new homes on lots of 20,000 square feet where one dwelling unit alreadyexists. • - Had many property, owners taken advantage of their right to add dwelling units, some areas of the town and the village would have seen a measurable and intolerable jump in population density. But peoplelike the Vlahos family and their plans to build two dwelling units on 100,000 square feet of property got caught in the squeeze. The village needed the moratorium to give the planning board, board-of trustees and zoning board of appeals time to come up with a new zoning code. That code has been in the hands of Guilderland Town Planner Matt Delany, who should be making his first full report to the trustees and the public at 7.p.m., June 17. But here another problem arose. Zoning Board Chairman John Hukey, who was at Tuesday night's meeting of the board of trustees, said that Delany doesnft return phone calls and has been-all but incommunicado. And Hukey wants to offer suggestions for the zoning changes Delany plans. The trustees told Ann and Charles Vlahos that after the June 17 meeting, things could move a little more rapidly to get the zoning problem resolved, or at least temporarily settled. \Wa'd like to build,\ said Charles Vlahos. \There can't be much more construction in that area; there isn't any land.\ \There will be just three people on two and a half acres,\ said Ann Vlahos. \That's not very dense.\ ' Mayor James Caruso told Mr. and Mrs. Vlahos that the zoning \isn't going to change that much, and we're moving along as quickly as we can.\ He said the June 17 meeting will be the warmup to the official public hearing, where the matter could come to a vote. Board Counsel James Roemer suggested to the Vlahoses that they get the plans for a single-family dwelling before the \building in- spector to get permits so work can get started. \You can always amend them later,\ he said, \and (Continued on Page 10) tt ' S Aliumoni tinier prise — .llob^Hugyaid EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION CENTER staged a balloon day Tuesday behind the Guilderland Elementary School building. The center, now 16 years old, 1 enrolls about 40 handicapped children up to age 3. On hand were Dick Byron (far right) on behalf of Guilderland Elks Lodge 2480, which sponsored construction of the center playground a year ago as well as this year's event; on platform With clowns is Bettye Fedor, center director. Finders of the balloons are invited 1 to write the center at the address given.on tag, indicating location. * . Gravel Pit Hearings Put On Hold ByBOBHAGYARD Public hearings on the Tall Tim- bers mining issue have been put on hold indefinitely by the Town of New Scotland. As reported in Bryce Butler's story below, the Town Board con- sidered a request to hire its own hydrogeologist tostudy the matter. That request came from the town planning boardi which began hearings on May 27. Before that board is a request by William M. Lamed 1 and Sons, Inc., of Schenec- tady for a town permit to dig up sand and gravel 1 from 27 acres of the former country club east of Voorheesville. .. Walter Miller, planning board .member and town building inspec- tor, predicts no resumption of the hearing sooner than \late July, at the earliest.\ Once fixed, the date wouldbe advertised in the legal no- tices section of this, newspaper. Meanwhile last Sunday night, neighbors formally organized un- der themameof Concerned Citizens for the Town of New Scotland. Though they haven't yet obtained not-for-profit corporation status, a fund drive has begun to support the cost of legal counsel. Bob Morrison of Voorheesville will serve as the group's president and John Sgar- lota of New Scotland' as treasurer. Contributions to* Concerned Citi- zens for the Town of New Scotland may be mailed to P.O. Box 352, Voorheesville', N.Y. 12186. Not mentioned in last week's hearing, report was the Village Of Voorheesville's official opposition to soil mining at Tall Timbers. A village board resolution pre- sented! by Mayor Ed Clark stated the trustees \see numerous possi- bilities for harm to our community 'threatened iby such operation, not the least of which are noise and 1 air ipollution,-dangerous truck traffic and 1 even immeasurable and irre- parable damageto our aquifer...\ The northwest-to-southeast aqui- fer is what geologists call the Colo- nie Channel 1 ; the village water wells near the high school roughly mark its western endl From there it runs through the village and thence downhill to the Town of Bethlehem. Along the way it cuts a few hundredfeet south of the Tall Tim- bers site. , New Scotland Will Foot Bill For Hydrogeologist By BRYCE BUTLER The New Scotland Town Board agreed last night to a planning board 1 request for an engineer to study the effect of the soil mine proposed for the Tall Timbers property on the underground water in the area. William Lamed and Sons, Inc., brought their proposal before the town planning board last week. Wayne Smith, attorney for Lamed, said- his client would pay any reasonable charge the town might incur for an engineer, according to Fred Riester, town attorney. The-town would find the en- gineer, Riester said, and submit his estimate to Lamed. The com- pany would then set aside enough money to pay for the engineer. \I have some trouble with that,\ said Supervisor Steve Wallace. He said anyone who paid for a study might want some input into choos- ing the expert. \I'd like to havethe town pay the bill,\ Wallace said. \I'm afraid of setting a prece- dent,\ Councilman Herb Reilly said. \If someone else causes a problem, then the town has to pay to solve it.\ Riester said the board's action wasn't a legal precedent. \We've spent money to search for water,\ Wallace said. \What's the difference if we spend some to save it?'-' The board voted unanimously to retain an engineer at town ex- pense. A request from neighbors of the proposed soil mine for a non- binding resolution stating the board's position was not granted. Wallace said he was glad the matter had been brought up. \I've read in the paper that certain members of the board have signed petitions (against the soil mine),\ Wallace said. \I wasn't offered the petition. Neither was Wyman Osterhout or Allyn Moak.\ Wallace said he probably would- n't have signed becausethe matter will probably end up in court and he would want to be able to appear as a witness. Both Wallace and Osterhout emphasized that the planning board is independent of the Town Board, and that it would 1 be improper for the Town Board to try to influence it. In answer to insistence from the floor -that the board give its posi- tion in a matter of great impor- tance, Wallace said: \This board has talked about this. I can say (Continued on Page 13) Bulletin Fire destroyed the Altamont Ag- way building as this week's issue went to press. The blaze was spotted at about 12:30 a.m. Thursday; firemen arrived less than five minutes later to find the main building a mass of flames, spreading to the retail area fronting on Prospect Terrace. Monday night a fire, likewise of suspicious origin, damaged the fertilizer storage area in the rear of the main building. ''**'/ ' .'' 'I I 1 I 1 I ! 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