Albany’s parking plan slammed
City wants 11 downtown parcels, but local family that owns property objects
Plans by the city of Albany to acquire 11 parcels of land downtown from a local family by eminent domain for the proposed Liberty Park project are being blasted by the family ’s attorney.
William Keniry, an attorney for the family of the late Paul Chambers, who died in 2003, said during a public hearing Wednesday by the finance committee of the Albany Industrial Development Agency that the proposed land seizure was being done illegally.
Details of the public hearing, streamed on Youtube, were first reported by the Albany Business Review.
The IDA seeks to acquire the land — less than an acre in total space — on behalf of Capitalize Albany Corp., the city ’s economic development arm, as the final piece of a roughly eight-acre area that surrounds Liberty Square in lower downtown.
City and state officials have
envisioned the area for what’s being called Liberty Park, a potential $100 million mixed-use construction project that would include residential, commercial and retail space, replacing an otherwise blighted area mostly used for downtown parking. The site had at one time been planned for the city ’s convention center, which was ultimately built on another site next to the Times Union Center.
The IDA has reportedly been trying to negotiate the sale of the 0.88 acres owned by Chambers’ family for the past two years, although Keniry said Wednesday during the public hearing that his clients were never presented with a written offer.
Keniry, the only person to speak during the hearing, held via Zoom, said Chambers’ widow and her family use revenue from the land — leased by an affiliate of Capitalize Albany for parking — to pay their bills. “They do not want their property condemned and taken from them,” Keniry said.
A group of parcels owned by another part of the Chambers clan that was about a half-acre in total was acquired by Capitalize Albany last year for $3.3 million. The money was part of a $15 million grant from the state to help Capitalize Albany acquire the land needed for the Liberty Park project. The project has wide support from business groups and civic leaders.
Keniry said the concept for Liberty Park is still vague, and the city has no standing to acquire it through eminent domain.
“The fact is, the property is simply not abandoned, and it’s not blighted,” Keniry said. “It’s actively used.”
Keniry also alleged that the public was not given ample notice of the public hearing, and the language used in the hearing notice was too vague, calling the project only a “concept” with no details.
“The meeting and public hearing are unlawful,” Keniry said.
Joe Scott, the IDA’S attorney, was in meetings all day Friday, but he told the Business Review that the IDA was following the law and that the Chambers would receive a fair price for the land. The full IDA board is scheduled to meet next week.