If you were to ask any of your neighbors how they would feel about a towering, eight-story parking garage in their backyard, I imagine most would share the same opinion. This is the scenario dozens of residents now face in Park South, where Albany Medical Center, the city's largest private employer, is seeking major amendments to the Park South urban renewal plan enacted in 2006.
One of the proposed changes includes construction of such an aesthetically unappealing garage, which would be almost double the size of what was envisioned. The garage would be far taller than many of the surrounding buildings and residences.
Not only is such a large garage unnecessary, it is also not representative of the vision city planners and neighborhood stakeholders had when the plan was created. One need only look at renderings to see how out of place such a large garage would be in this densely populated neighborhood, not to mention hundreds more cars in an already congested area and residents having to look at such an ugly structure.
Because of these and many other reasons, it should have come as no surprise that Park South residents and stakeholders voted down the idea.
Little data or empirical evidence have been provided by Albany Med or the contractor, Columbia Development, to justify such a large structure. Even more disturbing than the lack of information has been Columbia's "take-it-or-leave-it" approach if it doesn't get its way, as many neighbors were led to believe at a recent meeting. Threatening residents and city leaders into voting in support of such a drastic change for fear of deep-sixing the entire project is inexcusable, and such hard-line negotiating tactics should be rejected.
The changes requested allowing a larger garage should rise or fall on the merits of the proposal and the facts necessary to support it. That has not happened here.
The City Council would do right by Park South and surrounding neighborhoods to delay this approval until a revised plan with a downsized garage is put on the table. If such a compromise isn't put forth, then this amendment to the plan should be rejected.
The author is the Albany County legislator for the 5th District, which includes much of the Park South neighborhood.