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ROTTERDAM
Town wants to update land-use regulations
BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter

    The patchwork of zoning around Rotterdam’s three major highway connections is up for modernization.
    With the town’s loose and archaic zoning classifications, developers have little guidance for the type of development Rotterdam residents support or where they envision future growth. That could change with the adoption of three land-use transportation studies as part of the town’s comprehensive plan.
    The Town Board today is expected to forward the studies to the Planning Commission for review before adopting them into the comprehensive plan. Each study includes recommendations for future growth and standards that would help modernize the town’s dated zoning laws, which were last updated in 2001.
    “Right now, our zoning classifications are too old,” explained Supervisor Steve Tommasone. “They’re really a one-size-fi tsall and they’re too broad.”
    Town Planner Peter Commenzo said the goal is to have the studies adopted by the end of the year, and followed by other comprehensive plan updates. These include elements such as the addition of design and performance standards as well as new zoning classifications.
    The three studies focus on Rotterdam’s three connections along the state Thruway. Each document focuses on areas town officials consider ripe for development, including Hamburg Street off Exit 25, Burdeck Street and part of Route 7 near Exit 25A; and Route 5 by Exit 26.
    These areas have remained largely untouched by large commercial and industrial development due to a lack of sanitary sewers. Having the studies in place would offer a guide for future development if sewer connections are eventually brought to these areas, said commission Chairman Lawrence DiLallo.
    “It says this is what the town wants for these particular areas,” he said Tuesday.
    The Exit 25A study completed in 2004 suggested the vacant land along Burdeck Street and Route 7 was a prime space to establish a commercial corridor. This area of town is the focus of an effort to build a private sewer line extending from Rotterdam’s sew- age treatment facility off Campbell Road along Burdeck Street and to the Princetown border.
    Negotiations over the sewer line have been going on for more than four years, with no end in sight. However, this hasn’t stopped developers from acquiring tracts to be marketed for large-scale projects.
    The Kingston-based Win Morrison Realty is marketing 47 acres of former farmland between Interstate 88 and Route 7 for largescale development. Morrison Realty also closed a deal that sold the 24-acre Crounse farm by the I-88 interchange to Flying J Inc., a Utah-based company that specializes in developing truck stops.
    Development pressures haven’t been as robust in the area included in the Exit 25 study, which also includes parts of Curry Road and Carman Road. The 2006 study suggested the town craft zoning regulations that would convert the area along Hamburg Street into a pedestrian-friendly commercial district.
    Hamburg Street is another area that could one day have sewers. The town has previously discussed a private and public venture with the county Metroplex Development Authority and the city that would extend a sewer line into the city.
    The Exit 26 study recommends a lower-density development extending from the interchange along Route 5S in Lower Rotterdam Junction. Completed in May, the study suggests promoting a “village concept” of development that would encourage recreation uses in the area, which includes Kiwanis Park, a segment of the Mohawk-Hudson Bike-Hike Trail and the town-owned Bonded Concrete site.
    Tommasone anticipates a number of public hearings in advance of the comprehensive plan update. He said the town wants to include as much public comment as possible before ratifying any changes.
    “The public input portion is not completed yet,” he said.     

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this here is another thing to hurt the town and make the big businesses come in and take over while rasing the taxes here

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ROTTERDAM
Figures indicate development boom
BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter

    Rotterdam’s construction industry is booming, according to 2007 building permit figures released by the town this week.
    The town added more than $53.7 million worth of projects last year, even though the total number of building permits dropped from 532 to 522. This figure dwarfs the town’s previous 10-year high of $39.2 million in 2005, when 575 building permits were on record.
    “This administration has been going out there and attracting positive development,” said Michael Griesemer, the town’s public works coordinator. “When you bring in big positive growth, these are the numbers you see.”
    A d d i - tions, alt e r a t i o n s , and repairs represented the majority of the total c o n s t r u c - tion cost, accounting for $20.9 million in 2007. The town issued 393 permits, representing a slight increase over the previous year’s figure.
    The town also saw 78 new residences built, totaling $19.6 million of new construction. Rotterdam added 14 new businesses, representing $13.2 million.
    Building permit fees jumped from $112,536 in 2006 to $136,980 last year. This was more than during the previous four years, according to figures provided by the town.
    Supervisor Steve Tommasone said the increase in total construction value shows the town’s continued growth during a time when other areas are witnessing the effects of a cooling market. He said the outlook in Rotterdam seems to suggest the trend will continue.
    “In Rotterdam, we’ve been relatively stable over time,” he said, “In the last few years, we’ve seen a tremendous growth.”
    More construction also means more money for the town’s parkland fund, which is bankrolled through new development fees and is responsible for improvements to park facilities. Tommasone said last year’s construction boom added more than $70,000 to the fund, which now amounts to about $116,000.
    But while Tommasone endorsed the construction numbers, he cautioned the town must improve its infrastructure. He said proposed projects such as the Burdeck Street sewer line and the Rotterdam Junction water tower are necessary to maintain reasonable growth.
    Tommasone also stressed the need to finish updates to the town’s comprehensive plan, so that development can be positively guided. He said performance standards could be adopted as early as this summer and the comprehensive plan update by the fall.
    “Without a plan, the town will go where we’ve been,” he said, “There is a future that exists beyond today.”

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Exclusive: Legislator Claims Run For Office Led To Firing
Santabarbara was fired from Chazen one day after disclosing Assembly plans
By John Purcell
As of Tuesday, February 21, 2012 -12:27 p.m.


  #Schenectady County Legislator Angelo Santabarbara is claiming his state Assembly aspirations have led to him being fired from his job.

#The Chazen Companies on Tuesday, Feb. 14, fired Santabarbara, who has worked as a senior project manager and project engineer with the company for more than five years. It was one day after he informed his superiors in a letter of his intentions to run for a seat in the state Assembly.

#According to Santabarbara, the construction consulting firm told him he was let go because his department was being restructured and his position eliminated, but Santabarbara said he believes his decision to run for office played a part in his sudden termination.

#“I think it is important that people are not afraid to run for public office,” Santabarbara said. “I don’t think that’s right and I don’t think that’s fair.”

#Upon arriving to the office on the afternoon of Tuesday, Feb. 14, Santabarbara said he was called into a room with Senior Principal Daniel Stone, Senior Director of Business Development David Ardman and Vice President of Human Resources Lauren Gillett.

#“I sat down, and they said that this was about me running for office and I explained to them my intentions,” Santabarbara said on Thursday, Feb. 16. “Dan Stone, the owner, immediately said, or as soon as I was done … ‘running for office and you working here is not going to work.’ That is his exact words that I remember.”

#According to Santabarbara’s account, Stone said, “We are going to have to part ways.” July would have marked Santabarbara’s six-year anniversary at Chazen.

#Santabarbara said Gillet then said the reason for his termination was a restructuring of his department. Santabarbara said he was unaware of any restructuring efforts before the meeting at which he was fired..........................>>>>....................>>>>.....................................................http://www.spotlightnews.com/news/2012/feb/21/exclusive-legislator-claims-run-office-led-firing/