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Glenville Considering New Comprehensive Plan

The Schenectady County Town of Glenville is set to vote on a comprehensive plan. If approved, the document would be the first central planning document adopted by the town in nearly three decades.

The last time Glenville approved a comprehensive plan was 1990.

Town supervisor Chris Koetzle said the town board thought it was time to make an update. While population has grown slightly over the years to about 30,000 residents, Koetzle says the largest change has been with local businesses.

“There is some growth for a Schenectady town, it’s growing pretty quickly. But the biggest growth has been in the commercial sector. You know, the new businesses coming in, the new stores, the retail…”

The town is approximately 50 square miles.

Glenville has seen growth at its Business and Technology Park, as well as the West Glenville area. New apartment buildings have also opened in recent years, in East Glenville and the Village of Scotia.

Town officials held 14 public meetings over three years where residents weighed in on the planning document. Koetzle is confident in the draft.

“It’s really been a bottom-up community-driven process. And I think because of that it really meets the needs of the town and has been really widely embraced by the residents,” said Koetzle.

At Wednesday night’s town board meeting, residents were able to share their thoughts on the plan at a public hearing:

“One thing I don’t seem to have much of acknowledgement of is the flood plain…”

“I don’t think that you can do a high-density multi-family development down in the marina area, industrial park area and still preserve the character of Alplaus…”

“I would like to ask the town board if they could help us with dealing with the county by reopening Wolf Hollow Road...”

The Comprehensive Plan notes a desire expressed by residents — “We don’t want to become Clifton Park or (Wolf Road)” — in surveys leading to the document in 2017 and 1990. The references are to the busy commercial sectors in both Southern Saratoga County and Albany County.

A three-pronged Community Vision Statement included in the plan addresses three characteristics. Residents want a livable, diverse community that is also “on the rise.”

In the future, the plan seeks to encourage reinvestment in the Town Center and Business and Technlogy Park areas, accommodate pedestrians with sidewalks and trails, and focus on the town’s heritage ahead of its 2020 bicentennial.

Recognition and promotion of the town’s rural and agricultural areas is a focus, as well as adopting new technology, such as solar energy, to promote businesses.

Koetzle said the town board will put finishing touches on the document at an October 11th work session.

He hopes the plan will be adopted at the next regularly scheduled town board meeting on Wednesday, October 18th.

“We have a lot of work ahead of us once it’s adopted because we have to do a review of the codes and review of the zoning and bring them in line with, now, the new comp plan,” said Koetzle.

Lucas Willard is a reporter and host at WAMC Northeast Public Radio, which he joined in 2011.
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