Albany sells Coeymans land to the state DEC

State buys Coeymans land that city of Albany once considered for a landfill

Over 300 acres of what could have become a landfill in Coeymans will instead become a wildlife management area.

For decades, Albany staked claim on 363 acres of vacant land in Coeymans, eyeing it for city landfill expansion.

Now the city is getting the property off its books, selling it to the state Department of Environmental Conservation for $814,000 so the DEC can turn the land off Old Ravena Road into a wildlife management area.

It would be called the Coeymans Creek WMA. The management areas can be used for hunting, hiking, fishing, trapping, bird watching, and crosscountry skiing.

After a private sale fell through, DEC officials said they offered buy the land from Albany earlier this year. Mayor Kathy Sheehan this month signed a purchase agreement with the state entity, finally determining the fate of the land the city had been paying Coeymans about $100,000 annually in taxes. The city grieved the assessment and won, reducing its tax burden to about $18,000 annually beginning in 2017.

“We’d like to thank our partners at the DEC,” said Sheehan’s Chief of Staff Brian Shea. “This is obviously good news for taxpayers in Albany, who are no longer paying property taxes on land that can’t be put into productive use from a development standpoint.”

The saga of the acreage owned by

out in committee that didn’t address policing and traffic congestion. Residents and board members debated timing and location before the plan was finally tabled.

“No one is saying no, but can we just have all the information?” said board member Denise Murphy Mcgraw. “We’re trying to make her successful.”

The board created a survey to see if the town needs the market, although Syed and the proposed market manager Ben Wallach said they have already heard from many residents and vendors in person and online that they want it.

Wallach said he would open the market next May

not on town property, since it proved to be too complicated.

“My mistake was that I didn’t understand the tensions. I thought the supervisor pushing it would be enough. I knew there were problems. I didn’t think they were this bad,” Wallach said. “Everything is with controversy.”

Niskayuna Chief Court Clerk Barbara Pidgeon said the farmers’ market is just one example of how she believes the board has acted against Syed for political reasons.

“Even if it’s something that they think it a good idea, they turn it around

My mistake was that I didn’t understand the tensions. I thought the supervisor pushing it would be enough. I knew there were problems. I didn’t think they were this bad. Everything is with controversy.” Ben Wallach, proposed manager of farmers market

so that it’s not Yasmine’s idea,” Pidgeon said. “Their plan is to not get anything that’s passed that is Yasmine’s baby. At the end of the two years they can sit back and say that she hasn’t accomplished a thing. There is no working together. It’s the town board working against her.”

But board member John Della Ratta cited lack of communication, as well as late agendas and resolutions submitted with errors.

“We’re having difficulty governing because we can’t get the supervisor’s office to get agendas and resolutions to us in a timely manner,” Della Ratta said. “Now it’s falling on board members to basically do the supervisor job. We’ve been doing it all year.”

Town Attorney Robert Hess said his office tries to distribute agendas for board members’ input by the end of Friday for a Tuesday meeting. Hess’ office is currently short-staffed and looking to hire a deputy town attorney.

Andrew Bigness, assistant to the supervisor, said Syed tries to make every meeting she can and meets with department heads routinely, although she ended a regular schedule because the heads themselves said the number of meetings weren’t productive.

Despite differences, both sides said scores of less controversial resolutions have been passed this year that showed successful collaboration — and they want to see more.

“I’m just going to keep trying to do the best for the residents that I can possibly do,” Syed said. “As long as I stick to that and have the town and the residents as my focus, hopefully they’ll come on board and start working with me a little better.”

Mcgraw said she likes Syed personally and they have a “very collegial and productive relationship.”

“Whether we like it or not, we are in an arrangement and want to do what’s best for this town,” Mcgraw said. “Things have run very well and they will continue to run as well as they possibly can, because everyone wants that.”