Who's tearing down the woods?

UPDATED INFO BELOW

PHOTOS BY BILL DOWD

 

That's the question on the minds of numerous Terrace residents after seeing the large swath of once-heavily-wooded land being cleared opposite the Highpointe Road entrance onto Oakwood Avenue (Route 40).

That parcel is located in the Town of Brunswick. I researched minutes of the town's Planning Board for the past 12 months (and the past 16 months of the City of Troy Planning Board) and no mention was made of any project there.

When I called the town Building Department today (April 28) to get information, neither department head John Kreiger nor his assistant, Ron Neissen, had any idea of what was going on.

I noted that it now has been home to all sorts of wildlife, including deer, Canada geese and a variety of small birds. That habitat now has been destroyed.

Neissen promised to check into (a) the ownership of the land, (b) what work might be going on, and (c) get back to me before our May 3 membership meeting.

He did note that the land, which long ago was the site of the City of Troy incinerator, is zoned industrial.

UPDATE FROM BILL DOWD:

The land in question is, according to the Town of Brunswick Building department today (April 29), NOT approved for any project.

It is owned by Mainello and Murley, but there is no record of anything having come before the town Planning Board for developing it. The town has put in calls to both men to investigate what they are doing.

According to my further research, Tom Murley did get most, if not all, of the needed approvals in 2005 for the Brunswick Meadows condominium development nearby, fronting on Route 142 (Grange Road), but my contact at the Building Department says the two plots of land are separate parcels.

The map below shows the current land-clearing activity (wavy line along Oakwood Avenue). The arrows show the proposed Brunswick Meadows development).

More to come at Monday night's meeting.