Eagle Hill Neighborhood Association Meeting Tuesday at 7PM

I've received the following announcement from Ray Moran -

There will be a meeting of the Eagle Hill Neighborhood Association on Tuesday night at 7pm at the Eagle Point Elementary School at Western Ave and Russsell Rd. We will have the monthly reports from Rick Romand, APD, on police matters and from Chris Kollias, AFD, on safety and code issues.

There is also the matter of the proposed dormitories on the southeast corner of the UAlbany campus. The resolution below is being prepared for the city's Common Council. As you will see, the proposed dorms should be a concern for all city tax payers. One has to wonder where all the conservationists are when SUNY proposes to build on an area that their own consultants have labelled as wetlands.

Please join us to offer your comments and your support for the resolution and the council persons presenting it.



DRAFT

A RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT ALBANY, THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, THE NEW YORK STATE DORMITORY AUTHORITY, AND OTHER INVOLVED AGENCIES OF GOVERNMENT TO REFRAIN FROM BUILDING STUDENT HOUSING ON AN APPROXIMATELY ELEVEN ACRE SITE ADJACENT TO TUDOR ROAD, ALBANY.

Whereas, the University at Albany has a large student population and

Whereas, many of the students come to the University from outside of the Capital region therefore requiring local student housing and

Whereas, the University has a capital plan which calls for the building of a campus dorm to house five hundred students and

Whereas, one of the primary locations proposed for of this large student dorm is an approximately eleven acre plot of land located adjacent to Tudor Road in the City of Albany and

Whereas, the City of Albany is impacted in many ways by the University, providing to it fire and safety services, EMS services, streets and traffic services, water and sewer services, and other necessary services and

Whereas, the University is largely an autonomous operation, independent of the City of Albany regarding planning functions and tax support and

Whereas, the resident neighbors of the University have expressed serious concerns regarding the impact of such large proposed student dorm on their neighborhood and

Whereas, the section of Western Avenue in proximity to the proposed site for this student dorm, has been the location of numerous accidents in recent years, including three fatalities and

Whereas, the development of this currently wooded approximately eleven acre area would cause additional storm water runoff into an area of Western Avenue which is already prone to flooding and

Whereas, the closest sanitary sewer line to the proposed site is only a twelve inch diameter pipe and

Whereas, the combined downstream storm water capacity is already inadequate to handle the current overflow, causing sewer back ups even in down stream areas remote from the University Campus and

Whereas, the existing conditions already necessitate a SPEDES permit for the overflow discharge of sanitary sewerage into the Krumkill Creek at the City of Albany’s Woodville Pumping Station and

Whereas, the City of Albany must through property taxes bear an unfair burden of supporting the infrastructure and services to the disproportionate number of public and private institutions which pay no taxes and

Whereas, the University has already designated itself as its own lead agency in determining whether or not to conduct full SEQRA environmental review regarding the proposed construction project and

Whereas, the University is exempt from obtaining City of Albany permits for this development which will impact the City’s infrastructure and services and

Whereas, the ideal of a University is to foster cooperation and understanding between academia and its host community

NOW, therefore we call upon the State University of New York at Albany, the University of the State of New York, the New York State Dormitory Authority, and all other involved governmental agencies, to refrain from building the proposed student dorm on the approximately eleven acre site adjacent to Tudor Road in the City of Albany, and to consider other sites which will have less negative impact on the City of Albany and its neighborhoods.



--
Ray Moran, President
Eagle Hill Neighborhood Association
12 Glynn St
Albany, NY 12203
482-9336
eaglehillNA@gmail.com