TIMES
WALLKILL VALLEY
Five vie for 4
Walden seats
By TED REMSNYDER
Vol. 34, No 9 3 WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 2016
3
ONE DOLLAR
State
Qualifiers
Emerging
artist
Page 40
Page 12
www.WallkillValleyTimes.net
Building a downtown
Maybrook seeks ‘sustainable, pedestrian-friendly, traditional’ business district
Four coveted seats on the seven-person Village of Walden Board of Trustees
are up for grabs when voters head to the
polls on Tuesday, March 15, and the candidates are making their pitches to voters
for why they’re best suited to serve their
fellow Walden residents. Four incumbents are up for re-election this year,
while one local challenger has thrown his
hat into the ring.
Balloting will take place from 8 a.m. to
9 p.m. at the Walden Firehouse at 230 Old
Orange Ave.
Deputy Mayor Sean Hoffman
Deputy Mayor Sean Hoffman was initially appointed to the board in the summer of 2011 when Trustee Midge Norman
passed away. Hoffman, a 40-year-old professional engineer who works for H2M
architects + engineers, wants to preserve
the positive work he’s done on the board
over the last five years. “At this point
I see the board doing some good work
and I’d like to continue with that,” he
said. “There’s good people on the board,
and we all work well together. I’d like
to continue our efforts. I like working
with everybody in the government, from
the Village Board to the staff. One of
the things I’ve enjoyed watching happen on the board is the improvement
of the parks. The improvements have
tremendously increased the usability of
the parks. I have two small children, and
we use the parks all the time. I think it’s
a great benefit to the village as a whole.”
While there are no specific duties
tasked to the position of Deputy Mayor,
Hoffman is sometimes called upon to handle extra responsibilities when Mayor
Continued on page 2
Maybrook officials took a walking tour of downtown in May 2014 at the beginning of the planning process.
By RACHEL COLEMAN
“A floor plan is being put into
place that is desperately needed,” said
Maybrook Mayor Dennis Leahy.
The village board met on Monday
to discuss changes to the types of
uses allowed in the downtown area of
Maybrook. Mayor Leahy noted that
many residential units are under construction in the village and soon new
residents are going to need services and
more local businesses within walking
distance.
Max Stach, of the Turner Miller
Group, presented zoning amendments
for the southern end of the village that
could “relieve restrictions that might be
stifling economic development.”
The proposed changes include allowing mixed uses in the B-2 zone, meaning
apartments over businesses, and opening up options for investors by permitting uses that are currently prohibited,
such as bowling alleys and theaters.
The amendments would also allow other
prohibited uses through special exception use permits, including shopping
centers, veterinarian offices, hotels and
taverns.
“If you want to have a traditional,
walkable downtown, it has to be more
focused,” said Stach.
Within the B-2 zone, they are looking
to establish a Traditional Downtown
Design District Overlay (TDDDO) over
a small portion of the zone, along
Homestead Avenue (Route 208).
Within that overlay, public utilities,
filling stations and repair garages,
Continued on page 4
SERVING CRAWFORD, GARDINER, MAYBROOK, MONTGOMERY, PINE BUSH, SHAWANGUNK, WALDEN AND WALLKILL