Putnam Valley Considers Eased Commercial Zoning

By Rob Sample

Putnam Valley residents turned out in force for a Nov. 19 public hearing on zoning changes that aim to facilitate the creation of small businesses in residential areas and neighborhoods. Almost unanimously, residents spoke opposed the changes, saying the town needs to preserve its semi-rural character and find occupants for the many vacant commercial structures in town.

Town Supervisor Jacqueline Annabi described the plan as a framework for enhancing the aesthetics and neighborhood vibe for the town’s historic hamlets, by making it easier for small businesses to open and thrive. Current zoning rules make doing so difficult, she said.

The proposed commercial/neighborhood districts would foster mixed-use development.

“The CN district is designed specifically to support small-scale, neighborhood-oriented businesses that serve the surrounding community without competing with larger commercial zones,” said Annabi. “And, importantly, every project within these areas will still undergo site-specific environmental review… to ensure traffic, environmental, and community impacts are carefully evaluated.”

Bruce Barber, the town’s wetlands inspector and town planner, noted that under the current zoning rules, small businesses that wanted to set up shop in residential zones have had their proposals turned down.

“The idea behind this is to open up these types of local businesses in the community for the community, and hopefully bring people from outside the community in to shop as well,” he said.

Tom Carano, vice-chairman of the Putnam Valley Planning Board, pointed to a recent townwide survey on commercial development that would seem to favor this proposal. The survey is still ongoing, but among respondents thus far, 77 percent favor more eateries, 67 percent favor more retail space, and 62 percent want more health and wellness venues.

Nonetheless, approximately one dozen residents who spoke at the hearing were far less sanguine.

“We moved here for the amazing country character and the natural beauty of the mountains, the lakes, and the gorgeous glacial rock,” said Karla Ruth. “That’s what I’d like to see preserved. My concern is, in all the years I’ve been here, many businesses that have come in have closed. Even busy Oregon Corners has its share of vacant buildings, and our neighboring towns have many, too. I think the town should be focusing on those. You should not be adding any more.”

Sam Oliviero, a past town supervisor, noted that the town also must balance its own goals with county-level concerns.

“The county is the one that has constantly shut down anything being built because of the septic (concerns),” he said. “We’re on a watershed – these are things that need to be considered. Also, I think we need more community input.”

Oliviero also said the proposed set of zoning changes includes some good proposals but needs to contain some fail-safe measures to ensure the planning board properly analyzes commercial development.

Resident Susan Hoekstra said commercial development has a financial costs to residents. “If you lived in a purely residential, rural area and all of a sudden a mini-mart showed up, you’d have lost several thousands in real-estate value,” she said. “How will the town compensate us for that? I don’t think this has been considered.”

Nick Oliviero noted that people in homes adjacent to busy enterprises will face a loss of privacy, despite provisions calling for robust landscaping and privacy hedges as a buffer. He also mused if business owners would, themselves, be residents of the adjacent neighborhoods or live elsewhere.

“It becomes (an issue of), I’m not doing this in my backyard, but I can do it in your backyard,” he said.

Peter Kirshner called for more robust provisions in the proposals to ensure that standards such as privacy landscaping are followed through a project’s life cycle. “Standards that only came in during the proposal of a project need to be stronger and there needs to be code that takes it through the lifetime of a project,” he said.

Town Supervisor-elect Alison Joilcouer commended the work that has been done thus far on the zoning proposals, but also said it vests too much authority in the planning board.

“I do acknowledge that this proposal has been a long time coming and goes back to the comprehensive plan that stated in 2007 from 18 years ago – and many residents have been wanting to see plans that align with the vision that was laid out,” she said. “I fully support bringing in businesses that are a good fit for our community. We also need to recognize the reality we face today, and that has been set already that we have multiple commercial buildings sitting empty and some businesses that are struggling to survive. So, any zoning changes must be paired with a strategy that supports and strengthens the businesses we already have.”

No vote was taken on the zoning proposal, which will be revised and again discussed at an upcoming town board meeting and public hearing.

“Remember, everything is in draft form,” said Stephanie Russo of the Putnam Valley Neighborhood Business Council. “So, now is the time to come together for an open and productive discussion, and to make appropriate edits so that we can move forward. And rather than have dilapidated structures as part of our landscapes, we can have thriving small businesses that serve our residents.”