Waterfront fix?

Lloyd considers waterfront business zone

By Mark Reynolds
Posted 8/12/20

Lloyd Councilman Lenny Auchmoody said there is a proposal to change property on the riverfront back to Waterfront Business, a designation that lapsed a decade ago. He said reviving this today would …

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Waterfront fix?

Lloyd considers waterfront business zone

Posted

Lloyd Councilman Lenny Auchmoody said there is a proposal to change property on the riverfront back to Waterfront Business, a designation that lapsed a decade ago. He said reviving this today would allow for the long closed Mariner’s Harbor Restaurant property to be demolished, “and we can get that eyesore out of there and the owner can start anew whenever he is ready to go.” He said without the zoning change the owner would have to leave the foundation and footings, “so if we change the zoning we can clean up the riverfront altogether.”

Building Department Director Dave Barton said a map of this proposal will be posted on the town’s website showing the properties that will be affected. He and town attorney Sean Murphy will have a new local law ready for the August 19th board meeting and a public hearing would be scheduled in September. Following that, the proposal would then be referred to adjoining towns for their input and sent to the Ulster County Planning Board for their review and comments.

“I don’t think it’s an onerous lift to put it [zone] back and I don’t think we’ll get any push back from the county but Sean and I will coordinate on that for your next meeting,” Barton said.

Barton said the use table will stay intact, as it allows such establishments as restaurants and waterfront recreational businesses in the zone.

“So if somebody wanted to put docks in or something along those lines, that would be an allowed use down there,” he said. “Currently it does not, because the use has expired because there is no map representing the zone.”

PRRD Zone
Barton said the Planning Board is still reviewing the provisions the Town Board put in the Planned Residential Retirement District [PRRD] zone. He said he wants to see it get to a place, “where everybody feels not totally uncomfortable.”

Mazzetti said despite differing viewpoints on the board, “I believe that the entire board, even people I sometimes have argued with, really has the best interest of the community at heart. I believe we all had input on the plan and the Planning Board put it together with us; we brought it back and we all felt that this was the plan that met our town the best and we all put it forward. I find it perplexing if we couldn’t get a super majority [to over-ride the county planning board’s comments] since we all wrote it together and we all agreed to send it forward and believed in it.” He acknowledged that councilman Lenny Auchmoody had a different take on this matter early on, “but the rest of the town board did have input and believed in that plan.”

Town Attorney Sean Murphy said the board could vote on keeping the original provisions after the Planning Board completes their review and sends it back to the Town Board. Mazzetti and Guerriero said they would vote on the unchanged zoning plan, with Pizzuto saying he wanted to wait until it comes back from the Planning Board.

The Town Board initially sought wording in the code on PRRD projects that would curb density, not allow for 4 story buildings, increase the needed land from 20 to 25 acres, increase setbacks from Route 9W and from other buildings on the site and provide for open space, to name a few items the Town Board discussed.

Mazzetti suggested that Pizzuto go back to the Democratic web page and, “look at your platform that you made campaign promises to run on and read those very clearly.” Pizzuto responded, “I sure will Joe and we all are entitled to change their opinions”.

Last week the board did not take a vote to see if a super majority of 4 out of 5 members would override the county comments and favor the original unchanged code provisions.