From One Brunswick Board To The Other, The Angst Continues
By Doug La Rocque
At a public hearing on Thursday, August 2, the Brunswick Planning Board got an earful about plans to build a 201-unit apartment complex on land behind the Planet Fitness building on Route 7 (Hoosick Road). So much so, the public hearing had to be suspended, to be re-opened at an upcoming meeting. Several of those speakers attended the Town Board meeting last Thursday night, August 9, to continue to push for the proposal’s denial. Noise, the additional traffic on the already heavily traveled Route 7, and the impact on Elementary School 13 in the Troy City School District, where children who might live in the apartment would attend, were some of their biggest concerns.
Developer David Leon currently has a Special Use Permit and a Site Plan in front of the Planning Board, which also requires a detailed Environmental Impact Study. Mr. Leon’s argument is that the newly revised zoning regulations in Brunswick, allow for the construction of the multi family complex on the site. The Planning Board however, could still deny or delay the proposal, should they determine it does not meet the requirements of the Special Use permit, or that it would have a significant impact on the environment.
Earlier this year, the Planning Board sent a letter to the Town Board, expressing their concern about the population density that already exists in the area, and asked the Town Board for some guidance. Town Supervisor Phil Herrington tells The Eastwick Press, both zoning and the density issue is something they are going to have to revisit, and hopes to have more to say about it in the near future.