For rent: a three-bay garage on Plattekill Avenue in New Paltz, large enough to squeeze in four fire trucks if the drivers are careful. Once volunteer firefighters finish packing up six or seven decades’ worth of equipment, files and memorabilia and move it to the new headquarters next to the town justice center on Putt Corners Road, that garage space could be leased out or otherwise utilized to benefit the community. The mayor thinks that offering up this 2,500 square feet of water-and-sewer-ready space with 14-foot ceilings in the B-2 zone could generate a lot of interest, and would like to publish a request for quotes (RFQ). By using an RFQ process, Village leaders would not be committing to accepting any of the pitched ideas.
Deputy Mayor Alex Wojcik is clear that soliciting ideas from community members — which an RFQ would allow — is the key first step to determining how to utilize this public space. Rogers pointed out during the May 11 discussion that this could generate rental income, but it’s not apparent that this is a priority shared by a majority of the trustees, as the mayor is the only one who mentioned it.
Reorganizing how Village Hall space is allocated once the firefighters move out will result in a lot of space. Even if the garage bays are rented, it will be possible to hold public meetings in a ground floor location, and also to offer space for some Town offices as those officials consider how finally to get out of the trailers that were rented on a temporary basis more than ten years ago.
The mayor is not planning on considering the Halloween parade — which has ended at those garage bays since its inception in the 1950s — while reviewing any quotes for using the space. Rogers believes that those are details which should not be addressed this early in the process.
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