Face the music
Woodstock musician Mike Mulvey has put his thoughts about the lack of progress on a proposed new noise ordinance into song. Addressing the town hoard recently, he painted an auditory picture of what the town could be like when all the musicians were gone. He put the blame squarely on regulations that restricted when and for how long musicians could play outdoors.
“Livin’ round here can really get artists down. It ain’t easy in this million-dollar one-horse town,” he sang. “Nobody knows you when you’re gone. Now, some people want to pull the plug on Woodstock songs. We the people have a right to sing out strong. Pete Seeger sang that strong, right here in Woodstock back in our youth.”
Mulvey accused the board members of not even reading a counterproposal the artist community and Chamber of Commerce had penned. Supervisor Bill McKenna said that wasn’t true. Mulvey said he was glad to be corrected.
Councilmember Anula Courtis later said she too had read it.
The numbers of complaints about loud live music have increased. A task force formed to come up with a solution angered many musicians by proposing restricting amplified outdoor music to two nights per week.
Mulvey said a discussion was needed “amongst all the stakeholders, not just the few that have a personal ax to grind.”
People had to think about the welfare of town as a whole, its economy, its jobs, he said. “What generates the money for housing?” Mulvey asked. “Where these things are going to come from? They’re going to come from the artists’ colony.”
— Nick Henderson
Woodstock looks for parking
Woodstock’s planning board recently approved a site plan to bring Station Bar & Curio into compliance after Covid-era changes were made permanent. The square footage required an additional four parking spaces, which the business does not have.
Businesses can pay $900 a year for needed spaces. The money is supposed to go toward improvement and expansion of town-operated parking lots. Supervisor Bill McKenna said the fee money goes into a trust and agency account “solely for the creation, preservation and maintenance of the parking.”
There’s a need, all right. Councilmember Laura Ricci said parking was tight even in the off-season and on a weekday. This past Columbus Day weekend, the center of the town was packed with seasonal visitors used to paying more than a few bucks to park their cars. Though on-street parking was scarce, locals knew enough to circle a block a couple of times to find a just-vacated spot.
McKenna noted that the Mountainview parking lot had been a “free-for-all.” The town used money from payments in lieu of parking to delineate the parking so it could accommodate many more cars. A similar upgrade could be made to the Lower Comeau lot. He speculated that a vacant lot between Silvia and Pearl Moon might accommodate 30 cars.
Councilmember Bennet Ratcliff said he had received several complaints about the disrepair of town parking lots.
McKenna said the fees paid by businesses go into a trust and agency account “solely for the creation, preservation and maintenance of the parking.” The highway department performs maintenance and repairs, and the special account reimburses it.
The highway department, which grades the Mountainview lot, has . already done that job twice this year, McKenna said. “It’s an ongoing battle, especially with the heavier rains, so I suspect that at some point we’ll have to pave that parking lot.”
— Nick Henderson
Woodstock library election
Voters approved the Woodstock Public Library District budget by more than a two-to-one margin and elected four incumbents and a write-in candidate to the board.
The $767,000 budget passed 185-65. Trustees Karen Chesley, Leslie Gerber, Howard Kagan and Chloe Leader, who all ran unopposed, will return. Catherine Johnston won a fifth seat as a write-in candidate. Dorothea Marcus, whose term is up at the end of the year had decided not to seek re-election after a decade on the board.
The budget represents a 5.39 percent increase, resulting in a 4.77 percent tax increase. Most of the additional spending was for new materials and services needed for the new, larger building at 10 Dixon Avenue, and for the possibility of having to pay $4000 per month rent at the existing 5 Library Lane building beginning in February until the new building is ready.
Bearsville Center owner Lizzie Vann purchased the existing library.
— Nick Henderson
Short-term rental study
Woodstock is seeking input on changes to its short-term rental regulations.
The town’s zoning revision committee is conducting a survey to gather opinions on current STR regulations. It also wants to know how residents think STRs impact the community.
The current regulations put a cap on the number of STRs allowed. They place an annual limit on when non-owner-occupied STR can be rented to 180 days and 26 weekends. Owner-occupied STRs do not have a limit on the number of days their units can be rented.
The survey is available online at www.tinyurl.com/2024strsurvey.
— Nick Henderson
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