In the Town of Gardiner, 2023 was a year in which one long-running legal battle finally reached a compromise resolution, while another continues to drag out despite clear decision making on the part of municipal leaders. Infrastructure issues that HV1 has been following for several years have made noteworthy progress, with completion targeted for next year. Clearing the decks of some of these time-consuming concerns is now making it possible for supervisor Marybeth Majestic and the Town Board to focus more on pressing housing issues in 2024. Here’s a roundup of issues recently put to bed or due for resolution in the near future, plus some new priorities on Majestic’s radar looking forward:
Lazy River Campground
In March of 2023, Gardiner decided to grant the request by Lazy River Resorts, LLC to establish a Campground Floating District — a new category added to the zoning code by the Town Board in 2020. For its part, the campground’s operators had to accept a permanent ban on any expansion beyond the doubling of its size that occurred in 2014, though they will be allowed to keep their existing oversized Park Model RVs and most of their existing campsites. Most importantly to neighbors who have been complaining for years about noise and light pollution, the Town Board’s March resolution prohibited amplified sound.
“Residents most impacted by the campground expressed to the Town Board that this past summer was the best summer they had in years,” Majestic reports. “Currently Lazy River is before the Planning Board for site plan approval focusing on several items, but specifically landscaping and lighting.” Lazy River Resorts, LLC will also be required to apply for license renewal with the Town on an annual basis, so there will be a regular mechanism for monitoring compliance.
Awosting Club
In 2021, local environmentalists raised the alarm that unlicensed construction and operation of “glamping” sites in an ecologically sensitive area on the flanks of the Shawangunk Ridge was underway at the former Girl Scout camp on Camp Ridge Road, now known as the Awosting Club. A long standoff ensued between property owner Camilla Bradley and Gardiner’s building inspectors, code enforcement officers and the Town Board. In February 2023, the Board rejected Bradley’s campground license application as incomplete due to her protracted unwillingness to provide requested documentation. She responded with an Article 78 lawsuit, which Ulster County Supreme Court Judge Kevin Bryant dismissed in June.
Bradley continues to fight compliance with the Town, however, and the ongoing litigation means that Majestic can’t say much publicly about the prospects for resolving the issue in 2024. “The Board is currently working and has been working with legal counsel to address this situation. There is a process that needs to be adhered to,” the supervisor says. “Recently affidavits have been submitted by me as supervisor, as well as the building inspector and code enforcement officer.” Stay tuned for more developments as this dispute works its way through legal channels.
Cannabis dispensary zoning
There’s happier news for Gardinerites who have been patiently awaiting the opening of local dispensaries for recreational cannabis. A series of lawsuits challenging New York State’s parameters for awarding licenses preferentially to several categories of State residents, which had put licensing on hold in the Hudson Valley region for months, have finally been settled. “The Town Board passed a local law that will allow dispensaries wherever liquor stores are permitted,” Majestic reports. Local entrepreneurs were finally able to begin submitting their applications to operate dispensaries in late 2023, and at least one shop in Gardiner, Honey’s Cannabis CBD and Accessories, is expected to receive its license early in the New Year.
South Mountain Road cell tower
The approval process for the Town of Gardiner’s second cell tower lasted several years and caused bitter divisions among citizens, with many neighbors of the Town-owned Highway Department Garage site on South Mountain Road strongly opposed to the project. The application by Wireless Edge Towers II, LLC was greenlit by the Planning Board in August 2022, and construction finally got underway in 2023.
It isn’t quite operational yet, however. Here’s the latest update from Supervisor Majestic: “The cell tower has been erected on the Highway Garage property; the antennae have been installed, but there seems to be a delay with Central Hudson for the required transformer.”
Benton Corners traffic light
Following years of lobbying the Ulster County and New York State Departments of Transportation to alleviate the pattern of deadly automobile and motorcycle collisions at the intersection of Route 44/55 and Bruynswick Road, a stopgap measure was put in place in 2023 and a full-fledged traffic light is on the drawing board for this coming year. “We are still waiting for the traffic light to be installed at Benton Corners,” Majestic reports. “The flashing stop signs that the County installed on Bruynswick are beneficial, and with the new business [Full Circle, LLC] going up on that intersection, my concern grows stronger. I check in with the NYS DOT regularly and share any progress made. We hope the light will be installed and operational in 2024.”
Community Choice Aggregation
After about three years of discussion of the pros and cons, the Gardiner Town Board agreed in 2023 to sign on with a dozen municipalities in the region to contract with Hudson Valley Community Power to obtain a greener supply of electricity: a type of buying consortium known as Community Choice Aggregation. According to Majestic, “The Community Choice Aggregation program is going strong. There are some residents that contacted me to opt out, and I have assisted them with their requests.”
Sewer infrastructure improvements
Following the completion of engineering studies on the aging municipal sewer system in downtown Gardiner, in 2023 the Town accepted a bid to fix the most pressing deficiencies, and work is already underway. “The Town is currently working on correcting the problems identified in the Inflow & Infiltration study done in the hamlet. The work includes relining a small section of pipe, replacing septic tank risers and some manhole covers,” Majestic says. “Beginning in October, the work should be completed this spring. We also did a rebuilding of the Dusinberre Road pump station.”
Housing issues
Like all the rest of Ulster County, the Town of Gardiner has been struggling in recent years with skyrocketing housing costs that are making it extremely difficult for local residents to continue living in the area on the kind of wages that local businesses are able to pay. One area of concern was the explosion in conversions of existing residences to lucrative short-term rentals, but a proposed STR Law was withdrawn in 2022 in the face of highly organized opposition from property owners.
Now that some other time-consuming issues are off her plate, Majestic is setting her sights on much more progress on housing issues in 2024. The recent hire of a part-time building inspector should take some of the pressure off full-time code enforcement officer Trevor Hults.
“A major concern and focus in 2024 is the housing crisis. Availability, affordability and senior housing are all needed,” Majestic says. “The Town Board has committed to establishing a Housing Advisory Group (required by the municipal code since 2008), and to working with the Ulster County Planning Board to become familiar with the tools available to us. We recognize the need to readdress short-term rentals and stop allowing investors the opportunity to take our community and make it their commodity.”
Call for volunteers
What needs to happen, in order for the good intentions of municipal leaders to come true in 2024? According to Majestic, more Gardiner residents need to step forward who are willing to roll up their sleeves. “There are many facets to the housing crisis, and we will need dedicated residents to serve on this committee [the Housing Advisory Group] to work with the Town Board to come up with solutions,” says the supervisor. “In 2024 I would personally like to continue to support our Building Department to effectively deal with code enforcement issues, and to launch a new financial management system.
“One of Gardiner’s biggest challenges is that we are a beautiful town in close proximity to a major metropolitan area. With the implementation of the Natural Resource Inventory, Community Preservation Plan and Real Estate Transfer Tax, we will have tools available for us to continue to preserve open space. We will continue the work we are doing to align the goals and recommendations of the new Comprehensive Plan with our municipal code.
“Gardiner has incredible beauty, but more importantly, we have very well-educated, vocal residents who are really our greatest assets. Please consider being involved by serving on any of our boards or committees. We need volunteers to staff the Housing Advisory Group and the Community Preservation Advisory Group, and to fill vacancies on our Environmental Conservation Commission, Board of Assessment Review and Ethics Board. There is a great deal of work to do, and I am confident that, together, we can keep Gardiner the magnificent place we call home.”
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