2
Wallkill Valley Times, Wednesday, December 5, 2018
IN THIS ISSUE
Calendar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Classifieds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Crossword. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Letters to the Editor. . . . . . . . . . 8
Maybrook. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Montgomery. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Obituaries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Opinion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Pine Bush. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
School News. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Service Directory. . . . . . . . . . . 33
Sports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Walden.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Wallkill. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
PUBLIC AGENDA
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6
Montgomery Town Board, 7 p.m. Town
Government Center, 110 Bracken Road,
Montgomery.
Shawangunk Town Board, 7 p.m. Town
Hall, 14 Central Ave., Wallkill.
MONDAY, DECEMBER 10
Valley Central Board of Education,
6:30 p.m. Administration building, 944
Route 17K, Montgomery.
CORRECTION
Pine Bush Equipment no longer rents
bucket trucks that would be used to
hang Christmas decorations. A com-
ment attributed to Walden Village
Manager in last week’s paper gave the
mistaken impression that the company
was no longer in business. They are,
however, out of (the bucket truck) rent-
al business.”
HOW TO REACH US
OFFICE:
300 Stony Brook Court
Newburgh, NY 12550
PHONE: 845-561-0170, FAX: 845-561-3967
Emails may be directed to the following :
ADVERTISING
[email protected]
CALENDAR SUBMISSIONS
[email protected]
TO REACH THE EDITOR
[email protected]
FOR THE SPORTS DEPARTMENT
[email protected]
PUBLIC NOTICES
[email protected]
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
Gardiner celebrates the season
Gardiner residents Linda and Michael Egan
attend the Gardiner Christmas tree light-
ing ceremony for the first time.
A firetruck crawled down main street
blaring Christmas tunes at the Gardiner
tree lighting ceremony last Friday night.
Gardiner residents Bill Case, Elaine Case, Ginny Esser and Diane Gleichenhaus attend the
Gardiner tree lighting ceremony.
Residents followed after, laughing and
breaking out in spontaneous carols.
Children flitted through the crowd
playing with glowsticks.
A annual tradition, the event begins
with a caroling parade led by a Gardiner
firetruck. The parade ended at town
Continued on page 10
Wallkill Town Center receives final approval
Continued from page 1
dwelling. The fourth building will include
up to 5,000 square feet of commercial
space, which can be allocated between
as many as two different commercial
tenants, one of which could feature a
drive-through facility. That component
could lead to a franchise such as Dunkin’
Donuts being established at the site, but
the exact businesses for the project have
not yet been determined.
The town is hoping that the residential
development will help revitalize the
downtown area by attracting a new
crop of residents to the region. “It will
breathe a little life into the hamlet,”
Shawangunk Supervisor John Valk said.
“It’ll bring new people and they’ll be
renting these apartments, so there will be
more residents to patronize businesses.
It’s growth.”
With nearly three dozen new dwellings
set to be built as part of the project, the
renters moving in could be a boon to
established local shops and restaurants.
“The local merchants are really struggling
in our town and I would hope that the
influx of people from this project would
really help to support the town and the
hamlet,” Planning Board Chair Mark
Watkins said. “It could make our town a
more viable place for people to want to
live.”
The initial idea for the development was
crafted by Stewart Crowell, and when the
former Wallkill Public Library Trustee
passed away in 2014, his wife Carolyn
continued the quest to build the project,
then known as Wallkill Center Properties.
But the proposed development could
never get over the finish line until Libolt
took over the proposal and amendments
to the plan were made.
“The project was never stalled out,”
Watkins said. “When Mr. Libolt took over
the project, he had every intention of
seeing it to conclusion. Working with the
board and working with Mr. Libolt, we
were able to work together in a really
good way. With the Town Board also,
there was a bunch of different issues, so
basically what we did is we all put our
heads together - the Town Board, Mr.
Libolt and the Planning Board and we did
everything we could do to make it happen
that was within the laws of our town.”
The approved Wallkill Town Center
differs from the proposed Wallkill Center
Properties project. “The prior project was
trying to go under the incentive zoning,
which would be more density, and this
is relaxed back to the standard density
that the zoning allows,” Valk said. “It’s
more acceptable. It’s what the rest of the
hamlet has.”
The adjustments made to the proposal
seemed to galvanize public support for
the project, which had previously been
met with resistance. “That was a different
project,” Watkins said of Wallkill Center
Properties. “There’s been different times
this has come back to the board. It came
for a while and went away and then came
back again and went away. Mr. Crowell
was asking for a lot of things, and when
Mr. Libolt came in and saw how the town
felt about it, when we went to a public
hearing I was so surprised, because
everybody in the room was actually for
the project. It was such a welcome change.
It was really remarkable how the town
came out and said they wanted this and
that the town needed this. Our town needs
help and we can make this happen. We
did everything we could to make it fit into
the town and make it look like something
that belongs here. As long as everything is
done per the plan, I think it will really be
an asset for the town.”
Professional Commercial Group had to
work out a deal with the Crowell family
before they presented their project to the
town for consideration. “Mrs. Crowell gave
Mr. Libolt the permission to pursue the
whole approval process with the Planning
Board,” Watkins said. “My understanding
is that once all the approvals were done
that Mr. Libolt was going to purchase the
land from Mrs. Crowell.”
The administration is hopeful that the
project will provide a boost to the town
once it finally comes to fruition. “We
haven’t had any big projects in the hamlet
in a long time,” Valk said. “Outside of
the Town Hall here there was nothing, so
we’re all looking forward to it.”
During the Planning Board’s Nov. 7
session, the council also approved an
expansion of the Catsmo fish smoking
facility on Meyers Road. The project will
see a 11,705-square-foot addition added
to the existing site and the addition will
connect two existing buildings. The
expansion will also allow the hamlet to
keep dozens of jobs provided by the local
business. “We retain 58 jobs,” Valk said.
“That’s a large employer in the town and
that’s very good for the hamlet. A lot of
those employees are local people. It’s very
important that we retain those jobs.”