Additional information about the planned wedding venue at the former Lynch’s marina has been discussed with the village planning board by code enforcement officer Eyal Saad and Scott Reynolds, a representative of propertyowner Tom Struzzieri.
Mayor William Murphy reported at the most recent village board meeting that he has recently talked with Struzzieri. The site will be developed in three phases, Murphy said. The first will be the wedding and event venue. The second phase, as he understands it, will create a restaurant; that project could begin next year. The third phase will create a walking path with benches and possibly a park along the creek.
Saad said he has talked with Struzzieri’s representatives about music levels and traffic being kept to a minimum. Murphy said village law required loud music be turned down or off at 11 p.m. He and Saad have suggested that parking should be at Diamond Mills, of which Struzzieri is co-owner, if no large event is also taking place there. Under that proposal, guests could be shuttled down to the marina wedding site.
Saad has also recommended that music only be played inside the building and not outside.
Reynolds told planners that Struzzieri would be working with the state office of Historic Preservation during the project to make sure everything at the site is in keeping with the historic nature of the buildings that were once home to Saugerties’ bustling steamboat port.
Once the project is done, Reynolds added, Struzzieri will seek to have the site added to the National Historic Register.
Saad said the “food truck” being proposed will actually be a large enclosed space with a food preparation area rather than the traditional-looking food truck. He said it falls under his purview and not under that of the planning board.
Alex Wade, who’s in charge of special projects for the village, said Struzzieri had “a huge amount of work that he needs to do down there.” He has a state Department of Environmental Conservation permit to repair the bulkhead and dredge the marina area.
The Waterfront Advisory Committee, due to meet this week, will also come up with recommendations to the planning board. Those expected recommendations will be taken into consideration by the planning board.
When the Saugerties village planning board writes up its anticipated approval for Struzzieri Properties to convert one of two buildings at the former Lynch’s marina into a wedding and catering venue, village trustee Patrick Landewe will be recommending a one-year use permit that can be renewed in subsequent years.
Struzzieri, who owns HITS and is co-owner of Diamond Mills, wants to use the other building as an office for the marina and storage for kayaks and for the Saugerties Rowing Club. He needs a special-use permit.
Penelope Milford, who lives near the planned wedding venue, told village trustees at their May 16 meeting that she was “happy with the project,” though she would prefer the rundown marina be developed, however, as a waterfront restaurant than as a wedding venue. Milford said she and her neighbors were worried that amplified music from weddings and traffic on the narrow roads adjacent to the marina will disrupt the quality of life along the lower Esopus Creek.
Several letters to the editor about the project will appear this week.
Saugerties village planners have set a May 31 date for three public hearings, including Struzzieri’s plans to revitalize the lower Esopus Creek waterfront. The hearings begin at 6 p.m. in the meeting hall at the uptown firehouse at 43 Partition Street.
The other two May 31 public hearings involve conversion of a Partition Street home into a B&B and construction of a duplex for two cancer survivors.
Stephanie Hatzakos will ask to turn a residence at 44 Partition Street into a four-to-six-room B&B. The building, which is across the street from the Saugerties Fire Department’s Partition Street firehouse, was once a B&B, albeit an illegal one that has since been closed down. Hatzakos is applying for a special-use permit, and planners have said they like the idea.
The other application is from Al Riozzi. who wants to build a duplex on the Mill Lane Extension that would be shared by his wife’s mother and his mother. As part of the plan, Riozzi said he would construct a sidewalk along his property that would lead to the high school/middle school property. Students already cut through the yard to get from that section of the village to the school, and Riozzi wants to give the students a safer place to walk.
The public hearings date was set at the planning board’s May 11 meeting.
Join the family! 
