Queensbury sets two public hearings
The town of Queensbury set two public hearings for Dec. 20.
The first is the change to a Planned Unit Development just west and north of Queensbury High School. The Indian Ridge PUD was first approved in the late 1990s, in the Farr Lane area, and included approval for 75, single-family homes, and some senior living. On a one acre parcel at the corner of Farr Lane and E. Farr Lane, the development was supposed to have gotten a community center. However: “Nobody’s had any interest in this lot,” Supervisor John Strough said during the town’s meeting Monday Dec. 6.
The developer is asking that the lot, and therefore the full PUD, be changed. That parcel changes from commercially zoned to residentially zoned, two homes per acre, making the total homes in the area 77.
The second of two hearings covers the West Glens Falls EMS station. The EMS service, which is a separate entity from the town, has provided services to the vaccination clinic at Aviation Mall.
The first round of vaccinations has come to a close at the mall, but the EMS station has yet to be reimbursed from the county. The second round of vaccinations at the mall began last week, and the EMS station is at the ready, Stough said. The EMS company fears it will be cash short if they are not paid.
The public hearing on the topic will ask the town to make an earlier-than-usual payment to the EMS company to cover near-term expenses, Strough said. The amount the town pays in total will not change.
“It’s $50,000 ahead of time,” Strough said. If the town hears from the public and then votes to make the payment on Dec. 20, “They [town staff] can cut them a check for $50,000 on Dec. 21.”
Springs: Two projects get extensions
Approved at the Saratoga Springs City Council meeting Tuesday Dec. 7 were extensions of two projects.
The Department of Public Works requested and was granted the extension to Jerson Construction Group of Waterford, N.Y. That company is replacing large intake piping at the city’s water plant near Loughberry Lake. The overrun will cost the city an additional five months and $54,126 for a total of about $2.06 million. Work is expected to be largely completed by May 31, 2022. The contractor faced "unknown conditions" at the work site, city documents say.
In the other extension, CFI Contracting of Johnstown, N.Y., was granted a 212-day extension for work they are completing on the city’s wastewater pump stations. The final price, $956,200, remains the same. Completion is set for July 15, 2022. Stilsing Electric of Rensselaer, N.Y. was granted the same extension on this project. Both companies faced "delivery issues," the paperwork says.