Lots of buzz lately about the proposed Dollar Tree (DT)  MILLION-PLUS SQUARE FOOT warehouse locating within 200 feet of an established Schodack neighborhood. Over 50 homes in Birchwood Estates (Richwood Drive, off Route 9 south of the 9 & 20 split) are now threatened by the Dowds administration’s unchallenged decision about their future. With expected Planning Board approval, they’ve encouraged this new business, under the guise of building our tax base.

DT will receive tax abatement under the County IDA program, where most of the tax revenues will go. Warehouses typically have lower assessed value because the structures are inherently less valuable. If DT’s approved, everyone in Birchwood Estates will likely challenge their assessments: their property values will plummet by approximately 30 to 40%. What the Town expects in taxes from DT could ultimately be a revenue loss for Schodack.

DT would locate directly over our aquifer. The building and blacktop will cover over 60 acres in the recharge area. Birchwood Estates gets its well water here, where the soils are sand and gravel. Anything rain washes off pavement, trucks, and rooftop will go into the aquifer. By their own admission, DT will only be filtering out the solids in their detention ponds. Any dissolved substances, like road salt and de-icing compounds, go directly into the aquifer and their wells.

Noise created by this 24/7 facility is unfixable. DT expects 165 trips daily, many of them double tandems, if approved by NYSDOT. DT has proposed mitigation, but when fork-lift back-up alarms sound at 3:00 a.m. do we really believe 200 feet of distance and a 10 foot noise-abatement fence will block the beeping?

This project will change our town irrevocably and steer future development in one direction.

Last November, I wrote a letter to the Advertiser stating that Schodack Democrats support businesses in town, as long as they comply with our laws (e.g.Aquifer Protection) and don’t destroy neighborhoods. Who knew this project was then pending and had been for some time prior to last year’s election?

This situation is a direct result of one group of people in charge with no one in elected office to challenge their decisions. Birchwood Estates pays the consequences.

Elizabeth Gable, Schodack resident and Town Democratic Committee Chair