Meeting Tonight on UAlbany Student Housing Project

From the original letter from UAlbany -

A Draft Generic Environmental impact Statement (DGEIS) has been completed and accepted for the proposed action described below. Comments are requested and will be accepted by the contact person until January 22, 2010. A public hearing on the DGEIS will be held January 14, 2010 at the Hall of Fame Room, SEFCU Arena, University at Albany, SUNY campus at 7p.m. Copies of the DGEIS are available on the University at Albany, SUNY web site at: http://www.albany.edu/facilities/dgeis/ and at hard copy repositories located at the University at Albany, SUNY Facilities Management Office and the Main Library on the Uptown Campus,the Guilderland Public Library, and the Hawley Library on the Downtown Campus.

Back to the soapbox -

Please attend this meeting to give voice to your concerns and to hear the concerns of your neighbors!

The meeting tonight should be recorded by a stenographer, and videoed. Under law, UAlbany is obliged to hear all the comments about its proposed action tonight and in any written comments filed by January 22nd.

Based on these comments, the Draft Statement must be revised to answer all expressed concerns to become final. UAlbany expects that this part of the process will be done by the end of February.

The Harriman Research and Development Technology Corporation has made it clear that it won't take any actions, including any land transfers, until UAlbany finishes this Environmental Review Process. This includes both the 3.3 and 11 acre land transfers.

If UAlbany finds 'no significant impact' from its construction program, construction of the Student Housing will begin this spring.

Let UAlbany and HRDTC know that the Student Housing project will have 'significant impact' so that more reasonable development may occur!

Steve Sokal