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Legislator Seeks Approval of Comprehensive Plan
Submitted by Kevin Harrington, RCL Dist. 2
Rensselaer County Legislator Kevin Harrington is urging the North Greenbush Town Board to formally adopt the Comprehensive Plan as delivered to the town last December after two years of community input, hard work and a $52,000 grant from Rensselaer County.
“I am concerned that the town board has not moved to quickly adopt the Comprehensive Plan and may squander a golden opportunity to acquire the federal funding needed to achieve a key objective of the document, the construction of the I-90 Connector”, stated Harrington.
Harrington noted that an effort to adopt the plan in December failed because of the absence of the third supporting vote. The Town Board agenda for this Thursday February 14th has a resolution to appoint new members to the Comprehensive Plan Committee. Harrington asked what in the document does the town board object to that they would move to appoint new members to a committee that has completed its work. Why are they not instead adopting the finished Comprehensive Plan as written?
Harrington noted that North Greenbush and Rensselaer County stand to benefit from implementation of the Comprehensive Plan’s recommendations and objectives. The construction of the I-90 Connector will guide future development in North Greenbush and relieve traffic on RT 4 preventing another “Wolf Road” on its narrow confines. It will also conform to the Master Plan of HVCC and the Rensselaer Technology Park. Master plans which promises tremendous future development and job opportunities to North Greenbush and Rensselaer County.
The Town Board must realize that our ability to lobby for the federal funds needed to build the connector will be greatly diminished with the retirement at the end of this year of Congressman McNulty. Mike brings North Greenbush 20 years of Congressional seniority that will be lost if the Town Board fails to act to adopt the Comprehensive Plan and lobby for the funds needed to build the connector.
Harrington called on the Town Board to recognize the opportunity presented by the adoption of the Comprehensive Plan, the ability to obtain the federal funds needed to build the connector and the countless jobs that will come to the town and county by aggressively implementing and marketing the benefits that will arise by promptly adopting the completed document.
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