By Emily Gabert
After months of conversation, the Brunswick Town Board approved Local Law #3 during its monthly meeting on Thursday, May 13. It establishes a registry for vacant buildings, sometimes referred to as zombie properties. Currently there are 32 vacant properties within the town.
The public had one last opportunity to voice opinions on the proposed law before the regular meeting took place. Nobody came forth with any more questions or concerns and the public hearing was adjourned.
Local Law #3 requires those that own these buildings will have to follow maintenance requirements and it declares penalties for those who violate this law. Owners of these vacant buildings will have 90 days to file with Brunswick’s Code Enforcement Officer and pay a registration fee of $250 and additional fees that are dependent upon the building’s square footage.
If a property becomes vacant after this law goes into effect, they will have 30 days to register the building. If the owner does not live in Rensselaer County, they must find somebody who can take charge of the property and make decisions for it.
For those who do not comply with this law, the town has the right to contract out or do the needed maintenance work to these properties itself. If the fines or registration goes unpaid, it can be charged back against the owner’s tax bills.
“We took our time with this law and changed it a few times,” said Town Supervisor, Phil Herrington, following the meeting. “I think this is going to be good for Brunswick for safety reasons and it’s not going to infringe on anybody’s rights.”
He said in crafting the law, they took time to define what qualifies as vacant and what doesn’t. They wanted to make sure that a building really was vacant and not that an owner had just left the area temporarily.
Brunswick Acres
The Town Board set the public hearing to consider the application regarding the Brunswick Acres Planned Development District. It is set to take place at the town board’s next meeting on July 11 at 6:15 pm. The hearing will allow the public the opportunity to voice concerns and opinions on the environmental impacts of the project before it is reviewed.
A resolution was adopted to have the Town Board act as lead agency for the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA).
The project was announced last month at Brunswick’s Planning Board meeting on May 2. It has been deemed a Planned Development District (PDD) and needs to be approved first by the town board. It’s been proposed to take up about 44 acres of land on which 26 new homes will be built, and is located off Brunswick Road near the Heather Ridge Development.
Another Land Transfer Extension
The Brunswick Plaza Planned Development District asked for an additional two months to transfer real estate property to the state of New York, for proposed work on NY Route 7. Documents to get the transfer rolling to the NYS Department of Transportation (DOT) were finished in April, according to Eric Redding of the Bergmann Associates, who said they are now waiting on other DOT approvals. The Brunswick Planning Board has already given its blessing to the site plan proposal.
Supervisor Herrington said he had concerns about the workflow of the project and voiced other concerns over what would happen when the last of the permitting was completed. He had fears that the group would take another three months to get the transfer finalized.
The Town Board ended up accepting the resolution to grant the Brunswick Plaza Planned Development District a two-month extension.
Public Hearing on Local Law #4
This is described as “A Local Law to Amend Chapter 139 of the Code of Town of Brunswick in Relation to the Alternative Tax Exemption for Veterans.” It was introduced by Councilman Dan Casale and a public hearing was set for July 11 at 6:15 pm.
Since the State has made adjustments to real-estate tax exemptions for veterans, the Town of Brunswick is making some changes on the town level. It would allow residential real estate property to be exempt from taxation for up to 15 percent of whatever the assessed value of the property is. The exemption would not exceed $45,000 or $45,000 multiplied by the state equalization rate for the town, whichever is less. It would also allow for veterans who have served in a combat theatre or combat zone of operations, as documented by any awards or honors, to be exempt for up to 10% of the assessed property value. This cannot exceed $30,000 or $30,000 as multipled by the state equalization rate for the town, or whatever is less.
Disabled veterans who have received compensation from the United States Veteran’s Administration or the Department of Defense will be eligible for a tax exemption of the assessed property multiplied by 50% of the veteran’s disability rating. This would not be able to exceed $150,000 or $150,000 multiplied by the state equalization rate. Those who have a service-connected disability would receive a compensation rating of 100%.
Gold Star Parents would be eligible for this exemption if the property will be a primary residence. It would also extend to the spouse of a veteran or an un-remarried surviving spouse, as an exemption when they sell a property or purchase a property in the same county. It would be transferred for the remainder of the year where the exemption would be applied.