Because the applicant (Rapp Road Development, LLC, which is a front company for Pyramid Company that owns the Crossgates Mall) did not post supplemental notice placards according to Guilderland Town Law adopted on Dec 3, 2019, the Guilderland Planning Board was forced to continue the October 14th Virtual Public Hearing to this coming Wednesday, Oct 16th at 7:00pm.

They were seen the day after the public hearing, October 15th, posting the notice which should have, according to the law, been posted all year.

After the Guilderland Planning Board has completed this Virtual Public Hearing they are likely to move to consideration of the site plan for approval to build 222-unit apartment and townhome development with 3,900 square feet of commercial space on the currently wooded lot on Rapp Road, south of Gipp Road.

Please virtually join us at this next meeting of the Rapp Road Working Group where we will review where things stand now with Pyramid's over-development proposals and discuss our next steps.  Click here for the Working Group Meeting Agenda and access instructions (pdf).

Because on Friday, November 20, 2020 Supreme Court Justice Peter Lynch ruled that Town of Guilderland Planning Board’s SEQRA process for the Rapp Road Residential/Western Avenue Mixed Use Redevelopment Projects “violated SEQRA procedure and the ‘hard look’ test, rendering the  . . . approvals arbitrary and capricious, null and void.”

This will likely be our last meeting of the Rapp Road working group.

Our agenda will be to celebrate, answer questions, and review what we have learned from this long and arduous process that we can apply to other projects in Guilderland.

On Wednesday, Oct. 14, the Guilderland Planning Board will be holding a Virtual Public Hearing and "possible" consideration of the site plan for approval to build 222-unit apartment and townhome development with 3,900 square feet of commercial space on the currently wooded lot on Rapp Road, south of Gipp Road, by Rapp Road Development, LLC, which is a front company for Pyramid Company that owns the Crossgates Mall. 

Click the following link for 10/14/20 Agenda Packet For Planning Board and to watch the Virtual Public Hearing online: https://play.champds.com/guilderlandny/event/68

Please virtually join us at this next meeting of the Rapp Road Working Group where we will review where things stand now with Pyramid's over-development proposals and discuss our next steps.  Click here for the Working Group Meeting Agenda and access instructions (pdf).

We also need to raise more money for experts to review the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) and prepare for the future since these proposals continue to steamroll through Guilderland boards.  Please make a donation to support this effort at: http://rapproadgofundme.org/

Please virtually join us at this next meeting of the Rapp Road Working Group where we will review recent events, the status of Pyramid's over-development proposals and discuss our next steps.

The detailed agenda for this meeting has not yet been created for this meeting, but when it is we will post it here and send it out to our email list.

We also need to raise more money for experts to review the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) and prepare for the future since these proposals continue to steamroll through Guilderland boards.  Please make a donation to support this effort at: http://rapproadgofundme.org/

The GCRG and Save The Pine Bush are planning a socially-distanced, mask-wearing "Stop The Pyramid Scheme" protest at the Guilderland Town Hall at 6:00 pm on August 26th to greet the members of the Guilderland Planning Board as they arrive for a specially scheduled meeting to issue their findings statement on the "overdevelopment" Rapp Road, the Mall Ring Road and Western Avenue.  

This is the second special planning board meeting to accommodate Pyramid (Crossgates), which is currently suing the town of Guilderland because they do not want to pay their full share of taxes.

Please join us to make one more strong plea to this board to put the environment and residents first.  

If you don't feel comfortable being outside with the crowd, you can still attend and express yourself from your vehicle in the parking lot with signs on your car or holding them out the window, flashing lights, etc.

We ask that you bring your own sign and typical gear for being in public (i.e. mask, and hand-sanitizer or gloves).

Also, we need to raise more money for experts to review the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) and prepare for the future if the Planning Board doesn't do the right thing.  Please make a donation to support this effort at: http://rapproadgofundme.org/

Please join us for this meeting of the Rapp Road Working Group.  At this meeting where things stand currently for this proposed development on Rapp Road and building a Costco and plan our next steps accordingly.  Click here to download the agenda and for instructions on how to join this meeting.

On July 29, 2020, the Guilderland Planning Board accepted as complete the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) and its accompanying appendices.   A Notice of Completion was filed with the NYSDEC Environmental Notice Bulletin (ENB) on July 31, 2020.

Now the Guilderland Planning Board, which is the lead agency, finalize a Findings Statement within 30 days from the filing of the Notice of Completion with the ENB.

• The State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) requires that the lead agency, and all other involved agencies must wait for at least 10 days after the filing of the FEIS before making their findings and final decisions.
• This period is not a public comment period is time for the involved agencies and any interested parties to consider the FEIS.
• However, concerned parties, or other agencies, may comment in writing to the Guilderland Planning Board on the FEIS, but the lead agency has no obligation to respond to comments on a FEIS. 

The Guilderland Planning Board is allowing until 4:30PM on August 14, 2020 (14 Days) as the review period for the FEIS and has scheduled a special meeting for August 26, 2020 for the Board to issue their Findings Statement.

All comments should be submitted to Kenneth Kovalchik, Town Planner via email at kovalchikk@togny.org or by mail to Town of Guilderland Planning Department, 5209 Western Turnpike, Guilderland, NY 12084.

A hard copy of the FEIS is available for public review during normal business hours in the Planning Department at the Guilderland Town Hall.

We need to raise more money for experts to review the FEIS and make comments.  Please make a donation to support this effort at: http://rapproadgofundme.org/ (Updates coming for this page.)

On July 29, 2020 the Guilderland Planning Board accepted as "complete and accurate" the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) and its accompanying appendices.  On July 31, 2020 a Notice of Completion was filed with the NYSDEC Environmental Notice Bulletin (ENB).

Now the Guilderland Planning Board will be meeting on August 26th to finalize a Findings Statement which they must do within 30 days from the filing of the Notice of Completion with the ENB. It is the only item on the agenda for this specially scheduled meeting.

The GCRG and Save The Pine Bush are planning a socially-distanced, mask-wearing "Stop The Pyramid Scheme" protest for this meeting at the Guilderland Town Hall at 6:00 pm on August 26th.

Please join us at this meeting of the Rapp Road Working Group on August 25th to discuss finalizing plans for the protest the following night and our next steps after that.  Click here to download the agenda for this virtual meeting and instructions on how to join it.

Also, we need to raise more money for experts to review the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) and prepare for the future if the Planning Board doesn't do the right thing.  Please make a donation to support this effort at: http://rapproadgofundme.org/

This is an added special of the meeting Guilderland Planning Board that was not on the original calendar for the year. The agenda for this meeting has one item, "DECISION ONLY - Consideration of Adopting the State Environmental Quality Review Findings Statement for the Rapp Road Residential/Western Avenue Mixed Use Redevelopment Projects"

This is the second special planning board meeting to accommodate Pyramid (Crossgates), which is currently is suing the town of Guilderland because they do not want to pay their full share of taxes.

The dedicated page for the Environmental Impact Statement - Rapp Road Residential/Western Avenue Mixed Use Over-development Projects on the town's website says that this meeting will be used for the Guilderland Planning Board to issue their findings statement.

GCRG and Save the Pine Bush will be demonstrating outside of the Town Hall starting at 6:00pm socially distanced and with masks.  See "Stop the Pyramid Scheme" Protest for more details.

Please join us for a special meeting of the Rapp Road Working Group.  The Guilderland Planning Board has scheduled a special meeting to consider accepting the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) as complete.  

At this meeting we will  be discussing what was decided and plan our next steps accordingly.  Click here to download the agenda for this meeting.

Don't forget you can also make donations to support this effort at: http://rapproadgofundme.org/