After more than a year without a buyer, the owners of a so-called “shovel ready” site on Kings Highway next to the Army Reserve Center would like to sell building and landscape materials on the site until a buyer is found. The site is the first in an Ulster County program called “Ready2Go,” which is designed to speed up the approval process for businesses wishing to locate in the county.
Plans for a building of up to 100,000 square feet at the 12.5-acre lot on 997 Kings Highway were approved a little more than a year ago. Leading Edge Developers representative Ed Cooper asked the Planning Board to extend that approval.
The board will take it up at its Feb. 18 meeting, but initial reaction was positive. Board Chairman Howard Post said the board should grant the greatest extension possible for the plan while the owners seek a suitable tenant.
Cooper said the site would be used to sell “mulch, stone, topsoil. Things of that nature.”
The business would be along the roadside next to an adjacent parcel that houses Leading Edge’s equipment and maintenance shop, and would consist of concrete-block bins to hold the products.
“I want to still keep this site plan good, but while we wait for someone to come along and purchase the property, we’d like to get some use out of it.” Cooper said.
The board would need a site plan, so it would have something to review and approve, said planner Dan Shuster. Its approval would have an expiration date.
The idea of creating “shovel ready” projects is to shorten the approval time for any specific industry. Preliminary surveying, studies and environmental impact statements are completed at public expense, which should make sites more attractive to businesses looking to relocate.
Well-known Saugerties contractor John Mullen is a partner in Leading Edge Developers.
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