Schenectady County to use eminent domain for road project

Schenectady County will go forward with an eminent domain proceeding to acquire property from Pan Am Railroad in Glenville for road construction.

Over the past few months, the county has been looking to obtain a 6.2-acre parcel of land from the business along Maple Avenue in order to complete a road realignment project.

The county Department of Engineering and Public Works received federal funding to realign a portion of the road to increase highway safety in the area. The project is expected to cost around $1.1 million, according to county Director of Communications Joe McQueen.

The 109th Air National Guard base is located across the street from Pan Am’s property.

“Anyone who has driven there or lives in that area knows that’s a tough corner, it’s very tight,” McQueen said Tuesday. “They [the Air National Guard] were looking to create a better parameter around the base at that intersection and having the road realigned to help improve their access into the base.”

The county signed a contract with the base for federal funding for the road realignment in January 2013.

“That opened up the opportunity for us to realign Maple Avenue,” McQueen said. “It will improve safety on that road that we know to be an issue, especially in inclement weather.”

The project is expected to eliminate the curves in the road, as well as add turn lanes into Ronald Reagan Way, the road headed into the guard base.

To proceed with the project, the county was looking to purchase the land from Pan Am Railways, but the purchase has been delayed because they haven’t been able to agree on a price.

The county had RK Hite & Co., a local engineering firm, conduct two appraisals of the property and valued it at $38,600.

Pan Am, the selling party, has valued the land at $136,238.

The foundation of the historical Stevens’ Family site sits on the property, but the structure is no longer there, McQueen said. The foundation will be protected and preserved.

“RK Hite & Co. have undertaken an exhaustive purchasing process with Pan Am Railroad, and have been unsuccessful in obtaining a reasonable agreement,” County Manager Kathleen Rooney wrote to the Legislature late last month.

“This railroad just wants more money and they’re trying to hold up the project,” County Attorney Chris Gardner said Monday. “We’re kind of at the last resort … Hopefully, the impact of this [eminent domain] will permit us to negotiate a fairer deal from the taxpayer’s perspective.

“It’s not like we’re just 15 or $20,000 dollars apart here,” he added. “There’s a significant spread.”

With the eminent domain, the county is going forward with the condemnation of the parcel for the amount the county wants to offer Pan Am.

The company can challenge the price, Gardner said.

“That burden is on them,” he said. “I’d expect them to challenge it, unless we can negotiate something, but we weren’t able to before.”

Pan Am did not return calls for comment.

The county Legislature voted to go forward with the eminent domain at its regular meeting Feb. 9.

The vote was 11-2 with two legislators absent.

Republican legislators Brian McGarry and James Buhrmaster voted against the resolution.

At the meeting, McGarry said he didn’t feel his questions about the property were answered. He said he would be interested in looking into other ways to go forward, such as an easement.

The purchase should be settled by June, according to Gardner.

“So the project shouldn’t see any long delay,” he said.

The road safety realignment project is scheduled to begin this summer, and be completed by the end of the year.

Reach Gazette reporter Kate Seckinger at 395-3113, [email protected] or @KateSeckinger on Twitter.

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