The redevelopment of the former New Paltz Savings Bank in the Village of New Paltz is moving forward, though moving forward through the parking lot still has the potential for headaches.
The building at 27-29 Main Street most recently held a Wells Fargo branch, but that was shuttered several years ago; the bank has maintained ATM service in the building ever since. The property was purchased by Wells Fargo NP LLC, with a primary John Joseph, owner of Warwick-based Southern Realty & Development in late 2021.
27 Main Street is the home of In Good Taste, a wine and liquor store, and that will not change. 5,978-square-feet of the vacant bank would be converted into an Anytime Fitness gym, with a variance necessary due to village code requiring that no individual retail use be greater than 3,000-square feet. Plans initially included space for two two-bedroom apartments, and one studio apartment; a third two-bedroom apartment has since been added to the proposal. Wells Fargo would continue to operate its ATM services.
While a consultant from DTS Provident called a traffic study provided by Warwick-based Southern Realty & Development “conservative,” they ultimately “were fine with the traffic overall.”
According to Brian Haggerty, the traffic consultant engaged by the village planning board, the study considered information gleaned from a New York State Department of Transportation’s traffic data viewer, which showed minimal congestion around the property, adding just a small percentage of additional vehicles during rush hour.
“We were comfortable with their conclusions on the traffic study,” said Haggerty.
Members of the Village of New Paltz Planning Board were unconvinced.
“One thing I didn’t see much discussion on in the traffic study was…how would the cars entering and exiting that parking lot, which is already fairly crowded, affect the traffic?” said planning board chairman Zach Bialecki. “Was that intersection studied at all?”
Haggerty confirmed that no intersections were studied for the traffic study, but as there were no changes planned for the existing driveways, it didn’t seem prudent.
But planning board members have expressed concern about Wells Fargo NP LLC’s plans for the parking areas since a meeting in mid-May. While developers found that their parking plans worked within the standards for the Gateway District, board members objected to paving over grass on the east side of the property for the sake of parking spaces. Those concerns remained during the latest meeting, held on Tuesday, July 2.
“It’s a huge expanse of asphalt right in the middle of the village, and it absorbs 90 percent of the sun’s heat and it retains the heat at night,” said board member Rachel Lagodka. “And I think it would be a big loss. You’re walking down the street, it’s sort of the only green space on that side of the road, on that side of (Route) 299.”
There continued to be issues with circulation in the parking area, which includes a 24-space lot across Main Street also owned by the developer. Issues were initially primarily related to deliveries, but have since included concerns about the flow of traffic within the parking area, which is sometimes used as a conduit by drivers coming through from adjacent commercial properties.
Board member Rich Souto said the lot was poorly lined, with contiguous traffic coming through in different directions, suggesting a one-way sign, which even though unenforceable by law enforcement, might discourage the current free-for-all approach.
Ultimately, the planning board said they would rather see a thorough proposal update rather than one that’s incomplete.
“We are doing a lot of things in real time in these meetings with you,” said Souto. “In other words, you’re saying, ‘Well, what if I did this?’ And that’s not typically the way this board operates. Typically this board responds to a documented application that is consistent.”
None of that means the project isn’t moving forward. The board requested that in the next submission, the proposal include the removal of a lot line to show a single property, an accurate count of the planned apartments and subsequent required parking spaces, a walkway to a storage area for residents, and anything that might help mitigate issues in the parking lot.
In June 2022, the basement of the former Wells Fargo bank was raided by authorities following an investigation by the Ulster Regional Gang Enforcement Narcotics Team (URGENT) and a task force under the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James.
In the raid of the basement and a separate alleged stash house, police recovered a combined eleven kilograms of cocaine with a street value of about $1.2 million, over 20,000 pills, 39 firearms and $120,000 cash. Among the 12 people arrested were Village of New Paltz resident Christopher Pulichene.
“When I acquired the building, the previous owner had the right to continue to use the basement for a period of time because he had a lot of things stored there,” Joseph said at the May planning board meeting. “I acquired the building in the December of 2021; the drug bust happened shortly thereafter.”
Joseph said the locks had since been changed and the basement cleared of debris. There are currently no plans to use the basement in the renovation proposal.
Join the family! 
