Copy of a letter sent to the Town of Ballston on March 21,
2019
By David W. Christensen
I don't
think commercial development or dense apartment complexes are a good fit for
Middleline Rd. or Kingsley Rd. either, but I'll focus mainly on
Middleline.
On balance, Rt. 50 seems a better
fit for such development and is probably a natural evolution.
Residential
two (2) acre lots for the rest of it sounds good to me.
Zoning
ordinances were originally implemented for a reason -to preserve the character
of a community by preventing unmanaged development. Residents apparently thought that was a good
idea at the time -and is what attracted me to the town.
If I didn't
care much about high density & high traffic, I may have moved to somewhere
like Clifton Park.
If the current
residents of the town no longer feel as I do about the topic -if it came up for
a vote and was carried, I'd be disappointed, but I would find a way to accept
it and move forward.
The town government,
as is, doesn't work that way. We have a
small handful of elected officials who admirably give their time to weigh these
issues and decide -based upon, (I would like to think) the collective will of
the people who voice their opinion.
As well as
the populace at large, it is, I think, a safe assumption that there are a small
handful of landowners and developers who have been whispering 'sweet somethings'
in their ear.
I fully
understand there may well be a handful of landowners situated in a place where
they could cash out of their holdings and walk away.
Couple that
with the likelihood of a small handful of developers who already have options
on some of that land and, perhaps even, financing in place and blueprints in
their hands.
It puts the
board in a sensitive position. It is not
possible to keep everyone happy. Not even close.
The board's allegiance,
I think, should be for the good of the many.
Why?
It seems
like a lofty goal.
Anyone who lives
in this town and needs more talking points -things to ponder . . . reasons why
it might not be such a hot idea to give the proposed zoning the green light,
-here are a couple that come off the top of my head. There are probably more:
In case you
hadn't thought of this, it goes much further than whether or not a PUDD will be
allowed to re-characterize Middleline Rd., (as an example of just one spot on
the map).
If the
proposal is passed, in less than 20 years our esteemed elected officials' names
will be long forgotten while town residents will still be subjected to the
lingering negatives that come along with 'Clifton Park type' development.
If these
proposed zoning changes are accepted for the benefit of a small handful of
landowners and pathological developers,
you should expect to see these four (4) lingering negatives come your way:
• 1. Apartment
glut
Pathological developers, in my mind, are those who would
build a hotel in the middle of the Sahara Desert -if they could get the
financing. At some point it morphs into
the embryo of a slum.
There will
likely be high vacancy rates (if there isn't already) among the many apartment
complexes within a five (5) mile radius of Ballston Center -leading to some of
them falling into disrepair, becoming unsightly properties and/or being
foreclosed upon.
It's a
downward spiral. The various properties
race toward the bottom as they compete with continually lower rents. The lower rents attract a different
demographic that you may not want to live next door to.
The above
scenario would be accelerated if the Malta chip plant gets placed in mothballs
-which some feel isn't that much of a stretch.
[SIDEBAR] How about this idea? ** A moratorium on apartment complexes for 3-5
years to let the dust settle.**
• 2. More Schools Needed
Bond issues
will be floated to pay for more schools and expand existing schools and
facilities. All those apartments bring
in lots of young families with kids.
Translation: higher taxes.
• 3. Sewer and Water Districts
More bonds
will need to be issued for developing water and sewer systems up and down our
roads. Whether you want/need them or not, you'll share the cost in the form of
higher taxes.
• 4. Wider Roads and more traffic signals
Think
Clifton Park.
A four-lane
Rt. 50 or a four-lane Middleline Rd. is not much of a stretch of the
imagination.
Also,
developers like to deed roads to towns after they are developed. I can see an increase in the expense of road
maintenance and snowplowing. More
trucks, personnel, equipment, salt, sand.
Translation: higher taxes.
Our elected
officials are feeling the heat from all sides.
They are not
'all-knowing' and do not always make the right decisions regardless of who they
are.
A case in point:
Approximately
45 Years ago, the same type of good people serving on the council in
Schenectady, NY thought it was a great idea to demolish the old historically
relevant train station (which in my eyes looked like a mini Grand Central
Station).
Yes, it was
in disrepair but could have been fixed.
It was torn down in the spirit of the then current wisdom of 'urban
development' and replaced with a plain vanilla glass and steel structure that
was, itself, replaced recently with a new building -looking strikingly like the
old historic original.
You would be hard-pressed to find
someone who was around at the time that thinks it was a good idea to demolish
the old train station.
So, what's the point? [Parts 1, 2, 3]
Elected
officials are under pressure.
They do not
always make the right decision.
The people
of the town will be living with the consequences of their decision long after
their names are forgotten.
• A Better Way
The possible
exception to that thought could be this:
if they dig in their heels (to a lot of fanfare) and seek to improve the
town zoning in ways meant to preserve -and, enhance the town's character.
Those types of changes more often
lead to remembrances and celebrations of those who usher in such policy.
Instead of floating bonds to build
schools and water/sewer districts -how about floating bonds to buy up and
preserve open space?
There are
ways to do this. A particularly robust
example of this is on the island of Nantucket, Mass.
There is a
tax levied (a point or 2 of the purchase price) on every exchange of real
estate, the proceeds of which go into the Land Bank for just that -to buy up
and preserve open space. That land bank
has been a huge success out there, by any measure.
I trust the
elected officials will do their homework and be fully aware of which side of
history they would prefer to be remembered.
This letter was submitted to the Town of Ballston as a written statement for the public hearing on proposed zoning.
Dave has lived on Charlton Road in Ballston since 2003
