After a tumultuous September 8 public hearing, what’s next for the proposed Historic Huguenot Street (HHS) visitors’ center in New Paltz?
According to Mike Baden, director of planning, zoning and code enforcement for the Village of New Paltz, the recently proposed 7400-square-foot Historic Huguenot Street (HHS) visitors’ center will require two approvals: site plan approval from the planning board and Historic Preservation Commission approval (because it is located in a National Register area). Each approval is separate and distinct. One approval could precede the other.
The HPC has no authority to review parking, access, stormwater, etc. These are the functions of the site plan, reviewed by the village planning board.
State environmental quality review (SEQRA) must be completed first. Will the project have significant environmental, historical or cultural impacts? The applicant must prove that they can mitigate those impacts or provide a community benefit that outweighs the negative environmental and historical impacts. The lead agency on the SEQRA process has not been decided. According to Baden, it is expected that the planning board, which at this point has had only a very preliminary presentation of the project, will be the lead agency.
Baden said the HHS has asked “to be removed from the planning board agenda until they develop changes to the plan.” The public hearing will “likely remain open while the applicant decides what, if anything, to modify on their project.”
The Historic Preservation Commission will likely close the hearing when it determines the public has had opportunity to comment on the final version. “That doesn’t mean minor changes,” explained Baden, “but I believe the applicant is weighing the public comments and will return at some time in the future TBD by them.”
HHS president Liselle LaFrance said the day after this week’s hearing that it had “already begun the process of appearing before the planning board, having presented the project at their last meeting.”
The cost of the building is difficult to pinpoint at this time due to numerous factors, she said. The project is still in the early stages of development. No local or county government funding is sought. “Of the funds raised to date,” she said, “an overwhelming amount is from private donations, and two modest grants from New York State.”
The public hearing was not the place to provide a more detailed explanation of how the HHS came to design and propose a building and project of this magnitude, LaFrance explained. HHS welcomed the opportunity to go into more detail.
Several residents at the hearing had expressed concerns over the archeological sensitivity of the site where the building is being proposed. The State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) will be involved,in this process. “We have already reached out to them,” LaFrance disclosed, “and are undertaking archaeological investigation, as we are well aware of the sensitivity of the site and as always we are committed to protecting the integrity of archaeological resources.”
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