Save the Pine Bush is a not-for-profit community group which came into being on February 6, 1978. Its mission is to stop development of the Albany Pine Bush in the Capital District of the U.S. state of New York.
An Albany Court Judge rules the challenged approvals of a future Costco near Crossgates Mall and the development of more than 200 apartments on nearby Rapp Road “arbitrary and capricious, null and void.”
Save the Pine Bush and the Guilderland Coalition for Responsible Growth says they’re pleased to announce this court victory against the Guilderland Planning Board.
Save the Pine Bush and the Guilderland Coalition for Responsible Growth are pleased to announce a court victory against the Town of Guilderland Planning Board. Supreme Court Justice Peter Lynch stated in his decision that the Town of Guilderland Planning Board’s SEQRA process for the Rapp Road Residential/Western Avenue Mixed Use Redevelopment Projects “violated SEQRA procedure and the ‘hard look’ test, rendering the . . . approvals arbitrary and capricious, null and void.”
The 77-page decision meticulously reviewed the entire State Environmental Quality Review (SEQRA) that the Town of Guilderland Planning Board applied to this project proposed by Rapp Road Development, LLC (aka Pyramid). Throughout the decision, the judge noted the many places where the actions of the Board were “arbitrary and capricious” and did not take the SEQRA required “hard look” at the proposed project.
The criticism began almost immediately, with the decision stating “On scrutiny, the record herein is replete with conclusory self-serving and equally troubling representations made by the project sponsor [Pyramid], without the support of empirical data, which, unfortunately, the Planning Board relied on. That is not the stuff that the SEQRA hard look test is made of.” [emphasis added]
The decision noted in great detail how the project would harm the Rapp Road Historic District and the Westmere Terrace neighborhood. Several times, the decision observed that the project sponsor merely stating that their proposed project was allowed by the zoning, that did not constitute a “hard look.”
The lawsuit was brought by four residents of the Westmere neighborhood and Red-Kap sales.
Charlie Touhey, whose proposed office complex at 300 Washington Ave. Ext. was voted down by the Common Council last summer, is proposing yet another development for his 12-acre site in the Pine Bush. There is a twist to this one, though.
Usually, developers never want the neighbors to know what they are doing. In all my years of working for Pine Bush preservation, not a single developer ever voluntarily notified the neighbors about a proposed project. This time was different.
Last summer, Mr. Touhey said that if he didn't get his office complex, he would build low-income housing. The residents of the Dunes housing development took that as a threat, as houses with significantly lower value would lower the value of their houses.
It is with great sadness that Save the Pine Bush announces the passing of one of its founders and long-time leader, Rezsin Adams.
Rezsin, born in Brooklyn on Feb. 13, 1927, died peacefully on Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2020, at the age of 93.
Rezsin met her husband, the late Dr. Theodore Adams, while attending college at the University of Rochester. After marrying in 1947, and receiving a master’s degree in physiology, Rezsin and her family moved to the city of Albany’s Center Square neighborhood in 1959.
Rezsin was a member of the activist community. Other than a few short jobs when she was younger, including running an art school in Buffalo and lobbying against nuclear power, Rezsin lived her life as the dedicated volunteer.
Protesters are gathering in Guilderland on Wednesday for a demonstration against construction for expanded retail locations near Crossgates Mall. Activists behind the protest are calling to “Stop the Pyramid Scheme,” a play on words implying negative intent behind the project, proposed by Pyramid Companies, which owns Crossgates.
