Bulldozing the Albany Pine Bush

The city used eminent Domain to condemn the lands at 502, 504, 506 Rapp Road on December 15th.

Most likely the city was told by DEC they have to buy land in the Pine Bush by December 31st for a transfer station or their landfill permit is going to be revoked. The thing is the city doesn't have to develop in Pine Bush, they could site their transfer station somewhere outside of Pine Bush (which they never seriously considered), or built it on the footprint of the existing transfer station at landfill but that would require them to downscale their operations by 40%, to roughly 300 tons a day from 500 tons a day their accepting at landfill, 80% of which is commercial haulers and other municipalities. The city says it's not economically viable to build a 300 ton a day transfer station, as without the additional tipping fees, they can't operate the facility at a profit.

After the hearing, at end of meeting they condemned those parcels late at night. However, the city still has to get a transfer station permit, which is certainly not guaranteed. The residents who live on those now condemned parcels have until September 2026 to move out, maybe the best hope is we can stop the larger transfer station and have the condemned properties added to the preserve. Green areas are current State-owned Constitutionally Protected Nature and Historic Preserve, including that small green isolated parcel which would require two successive legislatures to alienate but the city isn't planning on touching.