Yeshiva Delays? Town Planners Stall Greenfield Park Plans For Tamarack Site By Lisa Carroll WAWARSING – A decision to continue the public hearings for Greenfield Resorts and Yeshiva of Ocean into April was not what attorney Jeff Kaplan anticipated from the March 18 Wawarsing planning board meeting. But that is precisely what the board decided needed to be done for due diligence and review of all materials before taking any further steps to a final decision regarding the proposed sub-division of the Former Tamarack Lodge site, and plans for a rabbinical college to be housed on the smaller of the two parcels alongside a proposed summer community. According to Kaplan, Chesky Landau should be regarded as a hero for not only being the only person willing to step in, clear up the dilapidated, fire-ravished property and pay the back taxes on it, but also create a more aesthetically pleasing summer community while allowing the sale of a parcel that would upgrade abandoned structures already in place. All that this hero needed, Kaplan said, was for the planning board to make an exception to a rule — that violations have to be completely cleared on a property before approving subdividing said property — so that Landau could sell the parcel to the Yeshiva for the funds he needs to continue paying back taxes on and the clean up process for his property. The Tamarack Lodge property, long in the courts when owned by the contested native tribe that called itself Western Mohegans, was the site of a massive fire last year. Kaplan explained Tuesday that Landau and he would be happy to work out a schedule for clean-up upon which the start of any new construction would be predicated. However, attendant neighbors and the public were still contending this week that there are no guarantees that such a clean-up would happen if the requested subdivision is approved; at least not on both parcels. It was further suggested that should the cost of clean-up exceed what Landau has projected, he might simply stop cleaning — unless very specific conditions are put onto the proposals final approval. Acting chair of the planning board James Dolaway read a decision from the Ulster County Planning Board advising them to consider requiring a complete demolition and clean-up of the site prior to approvals, noting how the ruins at the Tamarack Lodge site could pose health and safety concerns. At a February public hearing on the same issue, those same health and safety concerns were brought up by residents, and refuted by the Yeshiva that has started running its rabbinical college in the former Western Mohegan museum structure and several outlying buildings used as dormitories, saying that proper precautions of fencing and signs had been established. Landau said this week that he has not yet retained an environmental firm to review the properties in question, and would make such findings available to the planning board at their next meeting in April. While keeping the public hearing — and site plan/subdivision review process — open for another month, planners did decide that it was acceptable for Wawarsing building inspector Bryant Arms to issue the Yeshiva a building permit to renovate the upstairs apartment of the former museum as living quarters for the rabbinical colleges dean and his familys use, prior to a later certificate of occupancy. The board did not feel, however, that Arms should issue the college a building permit to do interior renovations to the dormitories because that aligned too closely with the special use permit currently seeking approval. Application conditions, concerns and questions will be further ironed out at the boards April 22 meeting. In other business, Dollar General received an approval for a lot density variation for its proposed Kerhonkson store, and a referral to the Wawarsing zoning board of appeals for their application, which is based in the Town of Rochester. Also, planning board chairman Brian Schug welcomed East Side Speed Shop — a motorcycle and ATV repair shop coming to Wawarsing — and advised the applicant to contact the Wawarsing-Ellenville Chamber of Commerce to work out a grand opening. Finally, the board referred applicant Bnos Jerusalem DChasidei Belz to the Ulster County Planning Board and set a public hearing for next month. The applicant wishes to get approval for demolition of a three-story dormitory on their property, to then build three additional single story dormitories in a separate location. And regarding public questions about building permits, Arms asked the board for more direction as to what they would like to see in terms of building permit approvals and allowances. He stated that he would not be willing to approve building permits without the planning boards knowledge if the applicant has an application set before the board. While Schug offered Arms his support with advice, he and the board agreed they would like not to be involved with his decision-making process unless building permits were deemed necessary for board approval first.
Posted on: Sat, 22 Mar 2014 20:11:24 +0000
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