A Mystery Wrapped In An Enigma

by David Flint
Berlin Town Supervisor Rob Jaeger said after last week’s referendum that he believed another party might have beaten the Town to the punch and made an offer to buy the Berlin Lumber property but that he had seen no evidence of a sale pending. It appears now that a sale is pending. A spokesperson at the Kinderhook Group realty company would not reveal who had made the offer but did confirm that a sale is pending. Town Clerk Anne Maxon, who had spoken out in favor of the purchase by the Town, said she did not know who was competing to buy the property. “We can just hope for the best and see if it goes through,” she said. Others have reported that Berlin’s competitor is the S.M. Gallivan company of Troy. However, repeated calls to Sean Gallivan, President of the company, have not been returned.
The S.M. Gallivan company is engaged in truck transportation, snow removal, concrete and asphalt crushing, wood waste recycling and the manufacture of landscape supplies including mulch and lawn feeding products. They have recently applied in the Town of Brunswick for designation of a Planned Development District (PDD) for 71 acres that they own on Oakwood Avenue. The company has been operating in this area the past few years but there were questions regarding the zoning and whether the original site plan approval for an adjoining 5 acre parcel applied to the expansion area. With the PDD they seek to resolve that issue. There has been strenuous opposition to this action from neighbors, especially those living in an adjacent residential area called the North 40. The opponents have complained about excessive noise and objectionable odors apparently coming from the mulching operation. At a public hearing in May the company pledged to mitigate the noise with construction of a berm and by eliminating backup alarms on equipment. They would also reduce odors by considerably reducing the time that grass clippings and leaves would be stored on site. The company also emphasized the beneficial aspects to the economy of their presence, noting that they have paid out $260,000 in sales tax in the past year and $3.5 million in wages.
The proposal is currently undergoing review under the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA). The scope for an Environmental Impact Statement is being prepared for which Town of Brunswick residents can submit comments up until August 5.