The ongoing redevelopment of the former New Paltz Savings Bank in the Village of New Paltz is still underway, though it was revealed last week that plans to convert the basement into a martial arts studio had fallen through.
The property at 27-29 Main Street was purchased in late 2021 by Wells Fargo NP LLC, with a primary John Joseph, owner of Warwick-based Southern Realty & Development. It was last used as a bank by Wells Fargo, though they moved out several years ago. Wells Fargo maintained an ATM at the property until recently, said village officials.
Joseph intended to appear at a planning board meeting on Tuesday, April 1 to amend a site plan presented over a year ago to allow for a martial arts studio to occupy the basement space, with the idea that the business would make sense in a building which has a branch of 24-hour gym Anytime Fitness upstairs opening soon. But Joseph was unable to attend that meeting, and just hours before the April 15 meeting he was notified that the prospective tenant planning to open the martial arts studio he sought a site plan amendment for had canceled their plans.
“We do not have a tenant for the basement area,” said Joseph. “I have an office user and several other people interested.”
The property falls within the village’s B2 zoning district, or core business area. Unlike the B1, or limited business zone, there’s a lot of leeway with allowable property uses. But as a village official pointed out, it isn’t anything goes either.
“What was proposed as a martial arts studio, which under our code by direct definition is an instructional use,” said Mike Baden, the village’s director of planning, zoning and code enforcement. “If you read the definition of instructional use, martial arts studio is listed in the definition. And that requires a special use. Offices and other things…some might be special use, some might be just (approved with the) site plan. Either way, it would need site plan review.”
In addition to Anytime Fitness, which will take up roughly two-thirds of the street-level space, Hudson Valley Credit Union (HVCU) is also planning to open in the building sometime this year. And according to the planning board, those are currently the only two approved uses.
“And the parking and the landscaping and everything (is) associated with that plan,” said Baden. Meaning that whether a martial arts studio, office space, or anything else occupies the basement level of the building, it will require a thorough review.
Baden said that in anticipation of a martial arts studio, the recommendation was for six additional parking spaces.
“Right now it has five over the required amount, but it would need one more if the board agrees with our six,” he said. “But if the use changes, the amount of parking could very well change. Different types of uses have different type of parking requirements.”
Baden suggested that if the drive-thru Wells Fargo ATM was no longer in use, more parking space could be found with the removal of that structure.
“If (HVCU) is at the other end, (the ATM) is at the end of the gym,” Baden said. “I’m not sure how a drive-thru benefits a gym.”
Planning board member Rachel Lagodka said she wasn’t sure whether office use was a good fit for the basement. “I mean, there’s no windows,” she said. “I can’t imagine putting somebody down there.”
But Baden said some uses, like office spaces, are allowed in windowless areas according to village code.
“You can have spaces without windows,” he said. “Bedrooms have to have windows. Office spaces, as long as they have legal access, don’t. And that’s up to the building inspector to determine if it has legal access.”
Joseph said he was hoping to get a sense of what would and would not be allowable within the space as part of a site plan amendment, described by planning board member Nikki Koenig Nielson as “a’la carte,” to enable him to seek prospective tenants without seeking approval from the planning board every time the space was vacant. Emily Svenson, an attorney representing the board, suggested there is precedence for that option, but it would still have to conform to code.
“What we’ve done in these projects on Chestnut Street is we’ve approved it with a list of potential uses,” she said. “We’ve sent lists of space it can be used for. “And when you come with one of those uses, you have to calculate the parking…So we could do that if we had a list of potential uses.”
Planning board member Terry Dolan said he believed that qualified as a pre-application question, even with the rest of the building already approved and leased.
“I’m trying to find out what (Joseph) proposes is the tenant, and he’s giving me a vague idea,” Dolan said. “He hasn’t told me what it is…I think our job is to react to an application.”
Baden agreed, asking Joseph to return with a list of potential uses for the space rather than being directed by the planning board.
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