Temporary ban on new development in town gateway area faces hearing
NEW PALTZ >> The Town Board will have a public hearing Thursday, Oct. 20, on a proposed nine-month moratorium that would temporarily halt new development along a section of state Route 299 east of the village.
The hearing will be at 7 p.m. at the Community Center on Veterans Drive.
Under the proposed moratorium, about 25 parcels would be included in a “gateway” area extending a little over a mile of Route 299 east of ShopRite Plaza.
“It is the way that people enter and first experience our town,” town Supervisor Neil Bettez said.
Officials said the moratorium is expected to put on hold about six projects proposed for the gateway area.
“We have one chance to do this right,” Bettez said, “so, if we do nothing, we’re stuck with the zoning and planning that everyone isn’t really happy with right now. We can have the same fight that we’re having with CVS with every single one of these projects for the next five years ... or we can be proactive, make the changes that the community wants after having public meetings, and then we can get these projects done faster and cheaper with less chance of a lawsuit.”
The public hearing was scheduled in a 3-2 vote that had Bettez, Councilman Daniel Torres and Councilwoman Julie Seyfert-Lillis voting in favor and councilmen Jeff Logan and Marty Irwin opposed.
Logan argued that it was inappropriate to set a public hearing and spent much of the hour-long discussion peppering other board members with questions about what they felt was wrong with the current zoning law.
“What is in the permitted uses that we have right now that you don’t like?” he asked. Irwin voted against setting the public hearing after saying he wanted to know what it will cost to develop new zoning regulations. He estimated it would cost $56,000 to make the changes, but said he was willing to modify the figure based on information from other board members.
“I am not opposed to the moratorium, but I believe it is fiscally irresponsible to do anything further until we know what an estimate is for what it would cost,” he said.
Under the moratorium, town officials would not be able to review site plans, special permit applications, area variances, use variances or subdivisions, except for residential developments of five units or less and non-residential structures comprising 2,500 square feet or less.
Seyfert-Lillis said the moratorium would give the town an opportunity to review changes to land use regulations that will allow the town to maintain its “small town” character.
“We’re a very wonderful active community. People care. I’ve been listening,” she said. “People want to have good planning. We don’t have a planner.”
An ad hoc committee concluded that much of the proposed developed in the gateway area had not been anticipated in the town’s 1996 comprehensive plan.
“While there are individual examples of recent positive development due to the community-mindedness of key businesses like Ulster Savings Bank and the Hampton Inn, our town’s codes have no requirements to ensure that this type of coordination and design input occur,” the committee said in its report.
“This area is the primary gateway to our community,” the committee said. “Virtually all of us who live, work/ commute, go to school and visit New Paltz routinely navigate the Route 299 corridor from Ohioville to Putt Corners. Simply put, how this part of our community develops affects us all.”