Local residents came before the Village of New Paltz Planning Board earlier this month to share reservations about a proposed three-story restaurant and hotel at 184 Main Street.
First proposed by Milton residents Violet and Ahmad Jamal in 2019, the 3,586-square-foot three-story building would include two floors of hotel rooms atop a ground floor restaurant, with a roof deck, plus a 25-space parking lot. The project is designed to look like a converted brick factory, but would be a completely new build.
The project has already had to overcome a variance hurdle due to its height exceeding the zoning regulation of a maximum of two-and-a-half stories, as well as the need for a special use permit for restaurants in that zone. But in August 2022, the project failed to secure a variance of half of a required 10-foot rear yard setback from the Village of New Paltz’s Zoning Board of Appeals, who suggested developers go back to the drawing board.
While the project has addressed some of its outstanding issues, concerns from its neighbors remain, as demonstrated during a public hearing at a meeting of the Planning Board held on Tuesday, August 1.
Stephen Ford, who lives on nearby Millrock Road, said that in a village where street parking is often at a premium, it was “ridiculous” that the project can use public parking in their calculations.
“How does a private entity use public parking as part of their plan?” asked Ford. “I understand this might be part of the code. I don’t know how it is, but it’s ridiculous.”
Anson and Lisa Stewart own the property at 180 Main Street, in which they both live and run their business, the Awareness Shop, called on its website “New York’s oldest & most trusted metaphysical store.”
“Our property’s a beautiful old Victorian structure of great character, known to many of the locals is the Purple House, the many corners of our building filled with light, especially in our apartment’s kitchen on the second floor of the eastern elevation,” said Anson Stewart. “Enjoying our morning coffee in this sun-filled haven is one of our favorite things, as is relaxing on our front porch watching the world go by.”
With the development’s planned three-stories topped by a roof deck, the Stewarts feel their sun-filled haven is in jeopardy.
“The striking nature of New Paltz’s Mohonk Ridge Skyline has spawned a flurry of planning applications from developers seeking to construct ever taller buildings, often topped by roof decks in order to leverage these iconic views to their pecuniary advantage,” Stewart said. “Unfortunately, and ironically, in doing so, the structures themselves greatly detract from the scenic business of the village.
Stewart asked that the Planning Board also consider the character of the village when the project application is reviewed, calling it “a massively tall, and with all due respect to the architects, borderline ugly rectangular box (that) has no place on upper Main Street. It’s completely out of character with the surrounding structures, the proposed brick facade being suited to the heavily developed section of Broadway in Kingston, rather than like this largely open and unburdened area of New Paltz.”
Stewart also echoed concerns of stormwater runoff raised by neighbors during the August 2022 ZBA meeting.
“New Paltz has a major stormwater runoff problem caused largely by the topography of Main Street, which runs downhill in a westerly direction to the Wallkill River,” Stewart said. “The retail plaza to the east of 184 Main Street, together with the subject property itself are almost completely covered with impermeable surfaces, which creates significant runoff during times of heavy rainfall. Our cellar and yard often flood, and on occasion, the wastewater treatment plant on Huron Street becomes completely overwhelmed with stormwater, causing it to discharge raw sewage into the Wallkill River.”
Another neighbor, Will Hermes, also expressed concerns about stormwater runoff, as well as the likelihood of increased traffic in an already busy part of the village.
“It’s not an abstract problem for me,” Hermes said. “In 2020, I was hit by a car on (Route) 299, about five doors down from where this project has been proposed, in broad daylight crossing a clearly marked crosswalk on my way to town on a weekday morning,” he said. “I’m still struggling with disabilities as a result of that accident and frustrated with the fact that there isn’t better traffic control on this road, which apparently is due to as I understand it, that it’s a state controlled roadway and we’re limited with the type of modifying crosswalks or traffic signal additions that might help address this problem…I know I’m just one of many pedestrians and cyclists who have been injured in traffic accidents on this road in recent years.”
The public hearing on the proposed development at 184 Main Street will stay open during the Planning Board meeting scheduled for Tuesday, August 15. The project is also slated for an application review later in the meeting.
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