McKownville
Improvement Association
McKownville property and the State University of New York at
Albany
The State takeover in 1961
of the land owned by the Albany Country Club
to build a new campus for one of the four University centers of the
State University was a landmark event in the history of McKownville.
The neighborhood was considerably changed by the rapid metamorphosis
of a rural club and golf course reserved for the recreation of the
Albany rich, into the site of what was then said to be, for a short
time, the world's largest poured concrete structure, intended for
the higher education of the children of ordinary citizens of New
York.
The McKownville Improvement Association was
active in keeping residents informed as to the intentions of the new
University, and was quick to invite one of the senior University
officials to speak at a public meeting, on 21 May 1963. The
Assistant to the University President, Colonel Walter Tisdale spoke
on the building activities and the plans for student and faculty
growth. As part of his presentation, it was reported that he assured
the meeting that the University had no plans to take over any houses
of McKownville, for faculty housing, or fraternity/sorority
accommodation. He was quoted in the report in the
Turnpike Record as saying McKownville homes would not be
needed by the University "in your lifetime or mine". [but see below, Potter Club] [and also below, house purchases 1965-68]
Effects of the University on McKownville properties
A number of faculty and university staff have over the years since
chosen to buy a house and live in McKownville, especially for the
great convenience of not having to drive or take public transport to
work, but the neighborhood has never become an academic enclave.
Because the campus was designed to provide accommodation for many of
the undergraduate students, (even to the extent of having an
on-campus "Rathskeller", and a bowling alley, both later closed)
McKownville has been affected less than was perhaps first
anticipated by the usual student off-campus activities. Only one bar
was built in McKownville near the campus on Western Avenue and it
was, besides, effectively a replacement for a smaller one on the
same site (Vincent's Tavern next to the old Country Club Garage,
both demolished in the early 1970's for the Across the Street Pub).
Two others also offering bar food already existed (Son's Tavern) or
appeared at about the same time (Sutter's) just across the City of
Albany line. However, there has never been organized or large-scale
off-campus student housing in McKownville or, until very recently,
nearby.
Assignment of residential zoning to the part of the University
property in McKownville
In 1985, the Town of Guilderland reassessed the
zoning codes assigned to certain properties in McKownville.
The largest of these areas was the 118 acres in the Town of
Guilderland belonging to the State of New York and occupied by the
State University. Previously, no zoning code was attached to this
land; the Town Board at that time assigned it a residential R-15
code. The Town recognized that it had no enforcement power on the
State for this zoning, but explicitly stated that it was acting in
order to have such residential zoning legally attached if ever the
University were to sell or otherwise relinquish its possession of
part or all of this property to private (non-state) owners.
University declined to purchase 1257 Western Avenue
In 2002 the University considered
purchasing from a non-resident developer a 1 acre lot at 1257 Western Avenue,
containing a house then in dilapidated condition; this lot is among
eleven others east of Knowles Terrace all containing residences and
zoned R-10 residential. The tentative plan announced was for a
combined classroom/faculty office building. Officers of the
McKownville Improvement Association met with the University
president to present the Association's opinion that this would be an
inappropriate change of use for this residential lot. The University
decided not to buy the property. In 2003 the Town of Guilderland purchased
the property and condemned the house, which was then
demolished, and leased the lot long-term to the McKownville Fire
Department.
University purchase of the Holt-Harris
property
The University in December 2015 purchased a significant piece of
additional property in McKownville, from the heirs of John
Holt-Harris, a New York State judge, and a long-term Trustee of the
State University of New York at Albany. This consists of 8.7 acres
in two adjoining, mainly forested lots each zoned for one
single-family residence when they were sold to the University, and
each containing one house at that time. These lie east of the upper
part of Norwood Street and north of Waverly Place; the forested
nature of the area provides a significant screen for the residential
neighborhood from the noise, traffic, and lights of the University
sports facilities. This property was much earlier, from 1909 to
1920, the property of William
Barnes, and where he built his Lodge, later repurposed and
used as the University Chapel House until the structure burned in
1985. [A
detailed ownership history of this property from 1881]
Judge Holt-Harris was well-known for his views on the value of
preserving the natural forested condition of his property, including
its service as a screen, for the McKownville residential
neighborhood adjacent, from the activities of the University sports
area. It can be added that the noise and light from that area were
significantly less intense and events causing this less frequent in
Holt-Harris' lifetime than they are now.
This sale caused the McKownville Improvement Association to petition
the Town of Guilderland to protect it from potential inappropriate
use of this property and the Town in February 2016 passed
a resolution affirming that the property should not be put to
any use departing from the low-density residential zoning assigned
to it (news report
of this Board meeting and resolution). The McKownville
Improvement Association issued a position statement
following the passage of the Town Board resolution. The University
had the two houses (photos here, and
here)
demolished in May 2016, claiming that they were in such poor
condition as to be not economical to repair. (The University has
prior form in the demolition of historic houses; the Woods
house nearby was a previous victim).
Since that time, the property has remained unoccupied by any
structure, and still sustains the mature forest nurtured by John
Holt-Harris during his life. The University has always claimed in
communications with the McKownville Improvement Association to wish
to be a good neighbor; in this case, McKownville residents,
especially those who own houses nearby, firmly express the opinion
that the way to be such a good neighbor is for the University to
leave the property in its present condition, or at most to replace
no more than the two single-family residences which used to be in
it, and for which it is zoned, and without removing any significant
number of the trees.
The University campus property west of Fuller Road
There is also another part of the original 1961 land taken for the
University at Albany that adjoins McKownville, the area west of
Fuller Road north of Warren Street, extending north from the
Guilderland - City of Albany boundary. The southern part of this
area is also forested, and provides a valued shelter and screen from
the traffic noise of the nearby interstate highways and Washington
Avenue Extension, and the major highway interchange ramps. This area
also holds the detention pond for drainage directed from the
buildings farther north on this property. Those buildings at first
consisted just of the low-rise apartments of Freedom Quad, providing
graduate student housing for the University at Albany, and then a
single new building was added next to Washington Avenue to contain
the Atmospheric Science Research Center (ASRC), and the Albany
office of the National Weather Service. The University at Albany
grounds maintenance warehouse was also located on this property.
After 1995, the first building of the new Nanotech College was
placed next to the ASRC, and then in a few years this college of the
University at Albany engineered a divorce from the University it was
originally set up to benefit, and was established as a wholly
separate State University Polytechnic Institute. More and much
larger SUNY Poly Nanotech research and engineering buildings have
arisen since, parking lots expanded, part of Washington Avenue
relocated to accommodate these buildings, and the University grounds
maintenance operation and warehouse expelled. It is now quite
obscure which parts of this land remain under the control of the
University at Albany, and, of particular concern to residents of
McKownville, whether any more of the forested area is threatened
with destruction, and to what purpose.
Additional note: the Potter Club
purchase, and the consequences for the McKownville Fire Department
When Colonel Tisdale made his statement in May
1963, the University's Faculty-Student Association had already
violated this assurance by purchasing two adjacent houses in
McKownville (1248 and 1250 Western Avenue) on 24 and 25 May 1962.
The Faculty-Student Association then sold these to the Potter Club
Alumni Association on 14 September 1964, for $40,000, after being
driven to get a State Supreme Court judgement that this was a
legally permissible transaction (see the deed, end of page 2).
This fraternity applied to the Town in March 1965 for a zoning
change for these properties from residential to local business, and
was granted this change in early April, intending sale to a Syracuse
developer for demolition of the residences and construction of an
office building on the site. The developer later announced the
intention to lease this building to an IBM data processing
subsidiary company. In May 1965 the Town granted a special use
permit to allow this not very local business in the property
recently granted Local Business rezoning. [clips
from the Altamont Enterprise covering these first events in 1965]
All this happened very quickly, despite the fact that the Town
officials must have been aware that the McKownville Fire District
Commissioners had, after extensive search, identified this site as
the only one available in McKownville suitable for a planned new
firehouse, and that the Fire District were about to hold a bond
issue special election, to authorize purchase, or
condemnation, of the property, and the estimated cost of building of
a new firehouse. This took place on 15 June 1965, with voters
approving the bond issue. The Potter Club and the developer refused
the Fire District's offer of $55,000 for the property. The Potter
Club then sold it to the Syracuse developer for $67,000. [clips
from the Altamont Enterprise covering this interval]
In October 1965, the dispute over the price of the now condemned
property was handed to a State Supreme Court commission of
appraisal, who returned an opinion in July 1966 that the Fire
district must pay $102,000 for the 120 by 200 ft lot. It is
astonishing that the appraisal commission thought reasonable a 50%
increase in value only 6 months after the sale to the Syracuse real
estate speculator, and the Fire District Commissioners expressed the
firm opinion that it was "unreasonable and excessive". Nevertheless,
the decision was upheld after further appeal to the State Supreme
Court. [clips
from the Altamont Enterprise covering these last events]
Another special election for a supplement
to the bond issue was held 26 January 1967, to cover the
additional unanticipated inflated cost of the property, and for an
additional fire engine. Voters approved this, perhaps recognizing
that there was little choice if a new and adequate firehouse was to
become a reality.
So it is the case that the arrival of the University, and the
failure by the Town Board to resist a rezoning conversion from
residential use, cost the Fire District, and McKownville taxpayers,
at least $35,000 more than it ought to have done to obtain a modern
firehouse.
second additional note: Faculty-Student
Association purchase of houses for new faculty 1965-1968
In 1965, the Faculty-Student Association started purchasing houses,
mainly in McKownville, for some of the newly arriving faculty
necessary to fill the rapidly expanding academic programs. Eleven
houses were purchased in McKownville, and another nearby on Loughlin
St (by the cemetery on Fuller Road), and two more farther away in
Albany. This also violated the assurances given to McKownville by
University officials that they would not do this. The record
of a meeting on 16 May 1966 of officers of the McKownville
Improvement Association with Mr John Buckhoff an official of the
University contains this item:
" Private homes have been acquired by the Faculty-Student Service
Corporation on a temporary basis for certain professors, because
suitable rented premises could not be found. The Faculty-Student
organization continues to pay all taxes due, as it is not an
official unit of the New York State Government. It is expected that
these homes will be sold to private buyers eventually."
The University (or the Faculty-Student Association) did do this;
these houses were all sold, between 1971 and 1974, to become
owner-occupied houses again.
These properties included the house at 1429 Western Avenue, on the
corner of Waverly Place, sold back to private ownership 13 April
1972. This house therefore cannot be the structure on Waverly Place
which the University is recorded as intending to convert to offices
in a
document dated in early 1974. It must have been the Woods House
that was considered for this purpose, and opposed by the McKownville
Improvement Association as an inappropriate intrusion by the
University into the residential area of McKownville.
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