NEWS: Friends of the Mahicantuck win rezoning appeal in troy
“This entire process over the last close to five years has been truly a community lift… I find myself saying many hands make light work and many roads lead to Rome.”
In a unanimous 5-0 decision last Thursday, an appellate court overturned Troy City Council’s rezoning of the city’s last untouched forested land for proposed apartment development at 1011 Second Avenue in Lansingburgh.
The ruling vacates the city’s previous environmental impact findings, which were deemed insufficient given the site’s historic and cultural significance to the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican Tribe whose ancestors used the land as an indigenous shale quarry site for tool making. The Appellate Division Third Department found that the Stockbridge-Munsee Community were not properly consulted as part of New York’s State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) and has ordered the city to complete a full environmental review of the proposed project site before development can move forward.
The contentious project has drawn the attention of local residents, Native American leaders, and environmental advocacy groups, who have all cautioned City Council members that the project threatens “an important indigenous-cultural site and the last undisturbed riverfront forest.” Due to the absence of any prior development, which suggests that all archaeology to the site is completely preserved from a pre-contact age, the site at 1011 Second Avenue is National Register eligible with archaeological reports of artifacts from the site dating back to 3000 BC. The court’s decision to reject the rezoning ordinance and environmental findings came mere days ahead of what would have been the project’s site plan review by Troy’s new planning board. City Council members will need to reevaluate the possibility of beginning the SEQRA process again and weighing the cost to reintroduce plans and re-apply for a zoning change – an expensive and time-consuming endeavor.
The decision marks an important turning point in the nearly five year battle fought by residents to the area, as well as those outside of it, who say the land is too unique and important to disturb. Jessica Bennett, co-founder of the advocacy group Friends of the Mahicantuck (which also includes Sarah and Leo Bachinger) who filed the appeal, is heartened by the court's recent decision and hopes that going forward, the City Council will take community input into account in good faith.
“This entire process over the last close to five years has been truly a community lift,” Bennett says. “I find myself saying, ‘many hands make light work and many roads lead to Rome.’”
That sentiment can be seen reflected by the many individuals and groups who have shown up in a variety of ways, whether virtually or physically attending planning board or town hall meetings, calling and emailing local representatives, writing letters of reference, or simply donating time and expertise to the cause. Throughout the process, Friends of the Mahicantuck has partnered with geologists, wildlife ecologists, systems biologists, stormwater PhDs, legal experts, and conservation advocates from all over New York state – all those involved are invested in preserving what they see as a unique piece of history and important habitat. Putting the property into preservation also opens up the possibility for it to be used by members of the artistic community.
Bennett attributes the win in part to the myriad of plant surveys and species reports that had been collected by experts for years, lending even further evidence and legitimacy to residents' concerns.
Though cautiously optimistic, Bennett is hopeful: “The goal to me is we have to preserve this, we have to get this bought. We have to get an offer accepted somehow.”
For more information on Friends of the Mahicantuck and how you can help their organization, please visit http://www.friendsofthemahicantuck.org/