Draft Environmental Impact Statement DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT for Avila House Independent Senior Campus Lead Agency: City of Albany Planning Board 21 Lodge Street, Albany, New York 12207 Contact: Nicholas Dilello (518) 434-2532 ext. 28 Project Sponsor: First Colun1bia, LLC 26 Century Hill Drive Latham, New York 12110-2128, (518) 213-1000 Report Contributors: Hershberg and Hershberg 40 Colvin Avenue Albany, New York 12206 Responsible for "Pine Bush" Contact: Daniel Hershherg (518) 459-3096 Transportation Concepts, LLP 152…
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Resting on a leaf, click on photo to see larger picture. So much controversy over such a tiny butterfly-the Karner Blue, Lycaeides melissa samuelis. A beautiful pale blue, this tiny creature only lives in its adult form for one to two weeks. Named by Vladimir Nabokov (probably better known for his writing than his lepidoptery), there were once so many butterflies that all one could see were clouds of blue. Now, only a few hundred survive in the Pine Bush….
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They Have Their Niche Memo From The PB Commission They Have Their Niche Memo From The PB Commission By Daniel Van Riper What is the Albany Pine Bush Commission, where did it come from, and what does it do for the Pine Bush? Back in 1989 Save the Pine Bush filed suit to stop the 25 acre expansion of the Albany Pine Bush Dump, which is euphemistically referred to by officials as "the landfill." Because the State of New York…
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A snow-covered field near Crossgates Mall may become a battleground over the effect of building in the Pine Bush and on that ecologically fragile area’s bellwether symbol, the Karner blue butterfly. Environmentalists are trying to fend off the nation’s largest independent hotel developer, which wants about four acres west of the mall’s movie theaters for a 124-room project. A fight is brewing because that site along Washington Avenue Extension is next to a protected preserve — surrounded by the mall…
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by Lynne Jackson The first part of this series was printed in the February/March, 2005 newsletter and is a summary of a presentation given by Neil Gifford at the October, 2004 SPB lasagna dinner. The Karner Blue Butterfly Federal Recovery Plan has three priorities. In New York State, scientists are focussing on priority one, which is doing those things necessary to prevent extinction of or the irreversible decline of the species, everything from monitoring populations to creating and implementing a…
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A recent date to speak about Nabokov’s blues in Albany, New York — the state’s capital — afforded me a chance to visit what is left of old “Karner”, New York. Karner is the little hamlet that, in common parlance, has attached its name to Nabokov’s famous endangered species Lycaeides melissa samuelis, the “Karner Blue”. Karner got the nod for samuelis’s common name because Nabokov chose specimens of samuelis from Karner for his type series (the specimens he used…
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COLONIE – Save the butterflies, burn the forest was the Pine Bush Preserve’s approach on Thursday. The controlled burn creates the needed openings for the blue lupine, which is the endangered Karner blue butterfly’s only food plant while it’s a caterpillar, said Christopher Hawver, executive director of the preserve. Fire rejuvenates the plants, which adapted to burning, Hawver said. “Nowadays you don’t have natural fires, or if you do they’re put out quickly. What we do is mimic natural fire.”…
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ALBANY: Shawn Morris, candidate for Common Council President spoke at the July Save the Pine Bush dinner at the First Presbyterian Church. Four candidates are running in the Democratic Primary for Common Council President; all were invited to speak, but only Shawn Morris attended the dinner. Shawn began by describing the Common Council President’s roll in city government. The President has three functions: 1) to preside at the Common Council meetings, 2) sit on various City Boards and 3) to…
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by Lynne Jackson ALBANY, NY: The First Presbyterian Church was the location of the March Save the Pine Bush vegetarian dinner which featured the excellent presentation on biodiversity and Lyme Disease by Kathleen LoGiudice, PhD. Dr. LoGiudice opened her remarks by saying that the battle over Crossgates Mall made a big impression on her in high school. She was pleased that Save the Pine Bush was still fighting after all of these years. In the beginning of her presentation, she…
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ALBANY, NY: The Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Third Judicial Department decided against the Karner Blue Butterfly and for more construction in the Pine Bush. Save the Pine Bush had brought suit against the City of Albany Planning Board over its approval of an upscale senior housing facility proposed by the Roman Catholic Dioceses behind the Teresian House on Washington Avenue Extension. The proposed 30-acre site is adjacent to the Albany Pine Bush Preserve, contains native Pine Bush species, contains good…
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"Man has disrupted the natural order in the Pine Bush with roads, developments and suppression of fires," said Stephanie Gebauer at the December Save the Pine Bush dinner. Ms. Gebauer, the first director of the Albany Pine Bush Preserve Research and Management of the Eastern New York Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, went on to describe how fires benefit the Pine Bush. Fires used to occur in the Pine Bush every five to ten to fifteen years. Particularly since the…
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For Immediate Release: December 10, 2002 For Further Information: Contact Lynne Jackson at 434-1954 or 366-7324 ALBANY, NY: Save the Pine Bush volunteers demonstrated today over the destruction of the Pine Bush for the building of Avila House. Avila House is proposed to be built in the rare Pine Bush ecosystem. The Pine Bush is home to the Karner Blue butterfly, a federally-listed endangered species. The Federal Government has stated that the decline in the population of Karner Blues is…
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Love Of Money The Root Of All…? Love Of Money The Root Of All…? By Daniel Van Riper That’s All? Sheesh. The shoddily built retail travesty known as Crossgates Mall is squawking over paying their fair share of taxes to the town of Guilderland. Recently, the mall doubled in size, an operation which cut into the famous Karner Blue Butterfly hill that was set aside as a condition for putting the big money mall there in the first place. The…
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Willow Street Again Crossgates Follies The Government Plays Catch-Up By Daniel Van Riper Yerbury Flip-Flops Guilderland Supervisor Jerry Yerbury, who is up for re-election this November, has publically turned against the ravenous Pyramid Corporation and their plan to double the size of Crossgates Maul. Yerbury was quoted in the Daily Gazette as saying on Feb. 3rd, “I am personally opposed to the further expansion of Crossgates and I promise the residents of Guilderland that as long as I am…
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Willow Street Again Guilderland Holds Steady History In The Making? By Daniel Van Riper The people have spoken, and the politicians are running to catch up to reality. Nobody with even a shred of self-respect wants to see the evil and rapacious Pyramid Corporation expand Crossgates Mall and possibly eventually plant a mega-casino. The effects on the Pine Bush ecosystem and on the regional economy are too horrible to think about. Meanwhile, Pyramid waits for it’s chance, brooding over…
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Exploring Bus Service to the Pine Bush Exploring Bus Service to the Pine Bush by John Wolcott One can reach the Pine Bush from Albany by bus. However, it is, at one point, difficult and unsafe. At another point, it is awkward, and, as yet, uncertain. A couple of weeks ago, I tested part of the bus system in person. I took the Number 12 Crossgates bus to Wall-Mart on the Washington Avenue Extension. This is the nearest stop to…
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Willow Street Again The Devil In Skaneateles Wealthy Developer Deplores Development By Daniel Van Riper There is an unconfirmed report that the Albany Pine Bush Devil has received approval from the planning board of the picturesque town of Skaneateles in western New York to build a ten million square foot shopping plaza, hotel, parking garage and casino. Skaneateles, which up until now has not allowed strip malls and fast food emporiums, is home to Robert Congel, owner and director…
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by Grace Nichols, July 26, 2009 The survival of the Federally Protected Karner Blue Butterfly in the Albany Pine Bush Preserve is in doubt here in Albany – its numbers have been critically low for at least ten years. This butterfly was first named by Vladimir Nabokov, the famous writer, and became one of the best known insect species on the East Coast. It is a beautiful brilliant blue color when it spreads its wings, while the undersides of…
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NEW SCOTLAND — A man of principle and passion, Peter Henner worked for causes he believed in with the same logic and commitment he used when playing chess. He tackled his legal work as he tackled mountains on climbs with his wife — with a sense of adventure. “He always told everything straight,” said Nancy Lawson, his wife. Mr. Henner died at his Clarksville home on the evening of Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016. He was 64. The pages of The…
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by Tom Ellis ALBANY, NY: After a rousing introduction by Carol Waterman, Don Reeb spoke at the February 19 SPB dinner about “Cities and the Environment.” Don, now 80 years young, is a retired University at Albany economics professor, was co-leader of the Stop Crossgates mall campaign, and has been President of the McKownville Improvement Association for many years. He said he can remember the Depression well. He is one of 11 children; the family lived in a three-room apartment,…
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Pyramid is Back! Hoblock Makes A Deal Pyramid is Back! Hoblock Makes A Deal by Daniel W. Van Riper, July/Aug. 92 Pyramid Corporation, hiding behind an entity called Albany Commons Associates, wants to buy prime Pine Bush from Albany County and build strip malls. The acreage threatened with destruction, located along Washington Ave. Extension, is supposedly part of the 2000 acre Pine Bush Preserve that the State has ordered the city of Albany to set aside. In a sleazy backroom…
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Needing to be rewarded for denying patrons the right to wear anti-war T-shirts and for building a shopping maul on Karner Blue butterfly habitat, the Pyramid Company sought $600 million in tax incentives from the State of New York. Pyramid was seeking tax breaks and cash from the New York state to expand Crossgates Maul’s cousin, Carousel Center in Syracuse, into the biggest resort/retail complex in North America. According to a June 10 article in the Times Union, “a senior…
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ALBANY, NY — Save the Pine Bush and the Alliance for Environmental Renewal have filed a notice of intent to sue Pyramid Crossgates over its violation of its waste water permit for the past three years. Pyramid Crossgates has a State Pollution Discharge Elimination System (“SPDES”) Permit 0107930 to discharge sodium into the Krum Kill. During the winter months for the past three years, Crossgates has exceeded its permit limits. Save the Pine Bush (SPB) and the Alliance for Environmental…
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by Lynne Jackson ALBANY: John Poorman, Executive Director of the Capital District Regional Planning Commission spoke at the July SPB vegetarian/vegan lasagna dinner. Mr. Poorman began by describing what the Capital District Regional Planning Commission (CDTC) is. The CDTC is the designated “Metropolitan Planning Organization” (MPO) for four counties, Albany, Rensselaer, Saratoga and Schenectady. Under federal law, the CDTC’s responsibilities are to provide a forum to discuss transportation needs and develop transportation plans in the context of social, economic and…
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By Grace Nichols Albany County is home to many bats, from the rare Myotis genus species, so vulnerable to White-nose syndrome for which we were a ground zero, to the more common Large Brown Bat, Hoary Bats, Red bats, Silver-haired Bats and Tri-colored bats. They come in a variety of sizes and colors and they are agile flyers, plucking insects from the air, hunting with both eyesight and special echolocation, using calls far above the frequency of sounds audible to…
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by Lynne Jackson, Mar./Apr. 92 The Karner Blue has been proposed to be listed as an endangered species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. If the butterfly is listed as an endangered species with a designated critical habitat, any developments proposed within the habitat would need to have a federal permit in order to be built. Obtaining a federal permit is a much more rigorous and difficult process to go through than the zoning changes or Planning Board approvals-and…
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Christopher M. Walker, Legal Intern for the The Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic wrote comments for the proposed project. Here is an excerpt from his comments sent to the Guilderland Planning Board. You can view the complete comments and the appendicies online at: http://www.savethepinebush.org/Cases/Crossgates_Expansion/index.html The Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic submits the following comments on behalf of our client, Save the Pine Bush, in response to the proposed Draft Environmental Impact Statement (“EIS”) on the Rapp Road Residential/Western Avenue Mixed Use Redevelopment…
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What is the Pine Bush? The Pine Bush is the only sizable inland pine barrens sand dunes in the United States, and is recognized world&endash;wide as a unique pine barrens ecosystem. It contains over 300 species of vertebrate animals, over 1,500 species of plants, and over 10,000 species of insects and other invertebrate animals. Many of them are rare and restricted to the Pine Bush habitat. Its most famous occupant, the Karner Blue Butterfly, is on the Federal and State’s…
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So much controversy over such a tiny butterfly-the Karner Blue, Lycaeides melissa samuelis. A beautiful pale blue, this tiny creature only lives in its adult form for one to two weeks. Named by Vladimir Nabokov (probably better known for his writing than his lepidoptery), there were once so many butterflies that all one could see were clouds of blue. Now, only a few hundred survive in the Pine Bush. There are no laws to protect an ecosystem. But there are…
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Save the Pine Bush has been in almost litigation to preserve the Pine Bush since February 6, 1978. The seven cases we have litigated in courts since 1997 can be found on NY Supreme Court’s Web Civ by searching “Save the Pine Bush”. Court YearFiled Index Number CaseStatus Plaintiff FirstPlaintiff Firm Defendant FirstDefendant Firm Justice Albany Supreme Court 1997 7685-97 (0007685/1997) Disposed Save The Pine Bush Lewis B. Oliver Guilderland Dennis C. Vacco GEORGE L. COBB Albany Supreme Court…
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Home April / May 2023 Newsletter Down to Earth PowerPoint – April 2022 Presentation Podcasts Volunteer Donate Planning Board Agendas 253 acres forever lost in the Pine Bush between 2010-2020. Join our Mailing List Follow on Facebook Court Cases Land Use/PropertyResearch Newslettersby Subject Newslettersby Date SpeakersList Search our Newsletter Archives: The Karner Blue Fire! Virtual Exhibit Cartoons Sally’s Recycling Corner About SPB Our Friends: South End Butterfly Sanctuary Guilderland Coalition for Responsible Growth Historic Action Network Friends of Stanford Home…
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