NEW SCOTLAND HEARING

 

Hon. Thomas Dolin, Supervisor

and Members of The Town Board    

Town of New Scotland, N.Y.

 

                                                                            Statement for Entry into

                                                                            May 7, 2008 Public Hearing Record

                                                                            

 

This statement is made in support of proposed Local Law D - a moratorium pertaining to large scale commercial development,

 

and in opposition to the proposed big box store and regional shopping center on the former Bender melon farm at the junction of Rtes 85 and 85A, Town of New Scotland.

 

The moratorium is a prudent action to provide Town residents and Town government time to review and revise

land use planning and zoning in response to changing local, state, national economic  and demographic conditions.

 

The rising price of gasoline is not a temporary event. Rationing and unavailability of gasoline and fuel oil (at any price) may not be far off.

 

The rise in oil prices has triggered significant price increases for food and the basics of 

life.

 

We are on the cusp of a major change in our way of life and standard of living.

 

It makes no sense to approve building another big box store and regional shopping center at this place at this time. It will destroy viable farm land that may be needed for local food production in the near future.

 

The land in question should be rezoned from commercial to agricultural. Locally produced food will be necessary to offset costs and unavailability of food produced and transported from the far corners of the country.

 

There are more than enough big box stores and commercial plazas already in existence in the Capital District. Without gasoline, how will people go shopping or commute to work? How will commercial locations be supplied?  It is not hard to envision a landscape littered with abandoned big box stores and shopping plazas....just like the ghost towns found in the American West.

 

Municipal services, snow plowing, garbage pick up, police/fire protection and school bussing are also at risk.

 

More attention should be given to reestablishment of rail transport to Albany and other  local cities,

 

After 9-11, life as we knew it has changed forever. To survive, we must change our thinking and our ways.

 

                                                                 

                                                                    Joseph P. Sullivan, President

                                                                    Buckingham Pond/Crestwood

                                                                    Neighborhood Association, Albany.