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PUBLIC AGENDA

THURSDAY , AUG . 11

Montgomery Town Board Audit / Work Session . 7 p . m . Town Government Center , 110 Bracken Road , Montgomery .

MONDAY , AUG . 15 Valley Central Board of Education . 6 p . m . Administration building , 944 Route 17K , Montgomery . Town of Montgomery ZBA . 7 p . m . Town Government Center , 110 Bracken Road , Montgomery .

TUESDAY , AUG . 16 Pine Bush Board of Education . 7 p . m . District office , Route 302 , Pine Bush .

WEDNESDAY , AUG . 17

Shawangunk Zoning Board of Appeals . 7 p . m . Town Hall , 14 Central Ave ., Wallkill .

HOW TO REACH US

OFFICE : 300 Stony Brook Court Newburgh , N . Y . 12550

PHONE : 845-561-0170 , FAX : 845-561-3967

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TO REACH THE EDITOR editor @ tcnewspapers . com

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PUBLIC NOTICES legals @ tcnewspapers . com

WEBSITE www . timescommunitypapers . com

The Wallkill Valley Times , ( USPS 699-490 ) is a weekly newspaper published every Wednesday at Newburgh , N . Y . 12550 , with offices at 300 Stony Brook Court , Newburgh , N . Y . . Single copy : $ 1 at newsstand . By mail in Orange , Ulster or Sullivan Counties : $ 40 annually , $ 44 out of county . Periodicals permit at Newburgh , N . Y . POSTMASTER : Send address changes to Wallkill Valley Times , 300 Stony Brook Court , Newburgh , N . Y . 12550 for Country Inn hotels , which the town classified as bed and breakfasts with up to 15 bedrooms where guests cannot stay for more than 14 consecutive days . The legislation paved the way for the potential project , which would convert the existing greenhouses on the site into a quaint inn that could cater to travelers and host country weddings .

While the town is interested in seeing the project move forward , an appearance by the developers at the Shawangunk Planning Board meeting on August 2 suggested that the Greenhouse Hotel project is at an inflection point . The developers are trying to lock down financing for the project while simultaneously going through the delicate process of gaining approval for their plan from multiple agencies . Audrey ’ s Farmhouse co-owner Doug Posey was in attendance at last Tuesday ’ s Planning Board session and expressed his hope that the board could provide documentation stating the viability of the project in order to secure county financing benefits . The developers wanted a negative declaration or letter supporting the potential hotel from the Planning Board that would make the project more attractive to the Ulster County Industrial Development Agency .

The board made clear that the desired documentation would not be forthcoming until the developers submitted the required applications to the county for their feedback on the project . “ We can ’ t do anything with the county until this is done ,” Planning Board Chair Mark Watkins told the applicants at the meeting . “ We can ’ t submit it to them . You can go up there and you can do a cursory review to see what you need , but until we get this information there ’ s nothing we can do . What are we going to send up ( to the county ), a project that we can ’ t say will sustain itself ?”

Posey noted that the project ultimately might not be viable if development costs run too high before the financing for the project can be secured . “ We sort of have this panic behind us which is the more that we outlay and the closer we get to that threshold of the project dying , it ’ s creating this tension that is not helpful to the discipline of project ,” Posey said at the meeting . “ We ’ re going to try to alleviate it . So we ’ re going to go to the agencies and call the county and see what we can do .”

The developers have to prepare a host of documents for the county to review , including a fully-engineered site plan and a landscaping plan . “ They wanted

Wallkill Valley Times , Wednesday , August 10 , 2016

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to expediate the process because of their issues and we suggested that they go to the county and talk to the DPW ( Department of Public Works ) and talk to the Health Department ,” Watkins said .“ They have to get all of these things , and they were already told to go there .”

As evidenced by the passage of the local law in April , the town sees a lot potential in the Greenhouse Hotel and Watkins told the applicants at the meeting that Shawangunk is still very in favor of the proposal . “ That project is one of the reasons it got started ,” Watkins said of the legislation . “ We were redoing the law anyway , but we had to revisit bed and breakfasts because it ’ s one of the things that could be a really good industry in our town . Because we ’ re such a rural town , it ’ s something that could really benefit us .”

A public hearing was also held at last week ’ s meeting for the six-lot conservation density subdivision proposed by Leonette Property Management for a 98.9-acre parcel situated off Grandview Terrace . The applicants ( John and Kim Leonette ) and their representatives huddled with a group of Shawangunk officials at a meeting at Town Hall on July 26 to discuss

unresolved issues with the proposal , which would see a new house constructed at the family complex .

Town Supervisor John Valk , Watkins , Town Engineer Joe Mihm and Planning Board members Kris Pedersen and Alex Danon met with the applicants to discuss numerous issues tied to the project , and the developers will petition the Town Board at its Aug . 11 meeting for a drainage district . “ The Town Board will have to decide with the conservation easement what will be allowed and what won ’ t be ,” Watkins said . “ The drainage has already been designed , and we ’ ve already discussed that the road and the drainage would be built when the first lot is developed .”

The applicants also want to drive all-terrain vehicles on the property , but accommodations have to be made for protected wetlands at the site . The project is inching closer to gaining preliminary approval , and the public hearing could continue at the next Planning Board meeting on Sept . 6 . “ I ’ m sure they ’ ll be back next month , and we ’ re trying to do everything we can to get them through these issues ,” Watkins said .

Aidan Collins of the Arsenal , a Cal Ripken League team at Walden ’ s Bradly Park , fires a pich in a recent game